A lot can happen in ten years.
Rewind back to Gateshead in 2008 - the producer Smoove is round his friend and keyboard player - Mike Porter's house. Together they are working on tracks for his project and all of a sudden they hear a heavenly voice from the neighbour. Transfixed by the vocals that are caressing their ears they go and investigate to find a youthful John Turrell doing his thing at a practice with a local band he played with when he wasn't teaching carpentry at the local college. Together they woo him with their Geordie charms and the initial line up of 'Smoove & Turrell' is born. The group instantly gel and soon after have penned the killer track 'I Can't Give You Up'...
Flash forward to 2019 and the carpentry community looks on with jealousy as the group has gone from strength to strength. Signed to the independent label Jalapeno Records they are now five albums deep and they have achieved multiple radio-playlisted singles, won awards, toured with the likes of Chic, gained sync success across the world and continue to wow venues in all continents with their thrilling live shows on the regular.
All of this in an age where attention spans are shorter than ever and there is more access to music than ever. This is certainly an achievement worth celebrating. Doubly so in fact as not only is it their ten year anniversary collection but also it is the 300th official release on Jalapeno Records so it only seems right that the occasion gets commemorated properly - a double gatefold LP with brass coloured vinyl somehow seems appropriate...
Comprising of 18 tracks taken from all five of their studio albums as well as two new barnstorming tunes exclusive to this release - it's a veritable feast of northern funk gems from start to finish. Favourites from their deep catalogue including 'Slow Down', 'Beggarman', 'In Deep', 'Have Love' and 'You Could've Been A Lady' are all present and correct, lining up next to the two newbies which also hold their own.
"But what about the new tracks!" we hear you cry - well Smoove's solo rework of The Spencer Davis Group - I'm A Man is the stuff of legend with physical copies changing hands for huge sums (if you are lucky enough to be able to locate one in the first place!). The track has long been a staple of S&T live sets but they've never laid it down in a studio recording... That is until now. It's a monster of a tune and the perfect way to kick proceedings off on this record.
That's not all though, as the lads also serve up the aptly reflective 'Give it Back'. It's signature Smoove & Turrell stuff - full of soul with deep and heartfelt lyricism. Turrell's chorus refrain "We love the ones who give it back" is typically honest and true of a band that prides themselves on community. Proper canny that. Proper canny.
Search:ph 1
- A1: Helicon– The Net (Vocal Version)
- A2: Siberian Heat– Pick Up The Phone (Zyx Summer Mix)
- A3: Joey Mauro Pres Fred Ventura– You And I (Vocal Version)
- A4: Amaya (10)– New Ways
- A5: Rago– Rusty Wings (Vocal Version)
- A6: Synthgo– Sei La Mia Vita
- A7: Remo Zito– Secret Agent (Vocal Version)
- A8: Heaven42– Saturday Night
- A9: M@Rgo Feat Mode-One– My Love In Your Heart (Disco Version)
- A10: The Sweeps– Voices (Extended Version)
- B1: Fred Ventura– Believe Me (Extended Version)
- B2: Digitalo– Digitalo (Extended Version)
- B3: Linda Jo Rizzo– Only One Night
- B4: M-Tracking*– Give Me Your Hand (Maxi Version)
- B5: Talking Eyes– The Summer Goes (Extended Version)
- B6: Dean Corporation– App Me (Italo Dance Mix)
- B7: Phalanx– Modern Hero (Extended Mix)
- B8: Linda Jo Rizzo Feat Ryan Paris– All Around (80S Mix Long Version)
- B9: Tq (3) Feat John Sauli– Leave It All Behind (Extended Version)
New London based quartet Qwalia, led by drummer Yusuf Ahmed, offer a plethora of influences whilst remaining resolutely itself. Assembled from musicians who play with David Byrne, Joy Crookes, Nubiyan Twist, Frank Ocean, Jordan Rakei, Sampha, Cat Stevens and more; Yusuf is joined by Tal Janes on guitars and vocals, Ben Reed on bass and keyboardist Joseph Costi. Qwalia’s debut album ‘Sound And Reason’ is set for release by Alberts Favourites on 24th March 2023.
The name Qwalia stems from the same sounding word Qualia, a philosophy of mind with the property of being an ineffable experience. Qwalia’s music is an instinctive aural expression of how things seemed in the moment of creation.
In April ‘21, Qwalia spent two days recording completely improvised music at the Fish Factory in North West London. There was no plan or preconceived idea of what the music should sound like or what was going to happen.
“We set up altogether in one room, dimmed the lights, pressed record and just played,” says Yusuf. “We came away with over 13 hours of music, which was consolidated into three albums worth of material. The final record is mainly a result of pulling faders up or down to create space and structure out of what was already there from the live recording. The production process felt akin to a sculptor chipping away excess stone to reveal a statue that was already there, and occasionally putting some makeup on it!”
The band members are Pakistani, Italian, Venezuelan, Jewish and English. A reflection of the fact that cultural categories are infinite; Qwalia’s music unconsciously explores identity, exposing what this can mean. Or perhaps that it doesn’t mean anything at all.
Early support from Mary Anne Hobbs and Gilles Peterson, support to come from Huey Morgan, Cerys Matthews.
Philophon's house band The Polyversal Souls is back with two classic songs from the back catalog.
The first one is Sad Nile, taken from the band's debut Invisible Joy (PH33001) from 2015, but in a re-mastered version which added some extra fire to the hypnotic rhythm and the lovely melancholic ethopian melody.
The second one is Florence Adooni's catchy highlife twister Mam Pe'ela Su'ure as an instrumental. The melody is passionately played on the flute by Philophon artist Jimi Tenor.
The year is 1999 and The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams & Chad Hugo) are working on a new track fo Wu Tang Clan Member, Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s new album. The track in question, “Got Your Money”, w
an unexpectedly poppy, upbeat and melodic track that would go on to have global success.
Buried within the multi-track recordings of the ODB’s hit track is an acapella by Pharrell, recorded early in the tracks production. Bringing his own laid-back style and flow, but keeping to the narrat of ODB’s track, Pharrell delivers a secret version of the track, few will have heard.
Alloy Cuts delivers two versions of Pharrell’s hidden bars, mashing up one side with Montel Jordan “This Is How We Do It”, giving the track a more golden era sound and on the flip side the classic ragga riddim, the “Snake Riddim”, is used to great effect!
- A1: The Grand Jury - Music Is Fun To Me (Instrumental)
- A2: The Grand Jury - Music Is Fun To Me (Vocal)
- A3: South Side Coalition - (Don't You Wanna) Get Down Get Down (Don't You Wanna)
- A4: Chocolate Syrup - We've Got To Get Together (Brotherly Love) (Brotherly Love)
- A5: Three Ounces Of Love - Disco Man (Part 1 & 2)
- B1: Crystal Image - Gonna Have A Good Time (Instrumental)
- B2: Crystal Image - Gonna Have A Good Time (Vocal)
- B3: Lenny Welch - A Hundred Pounds Of Pain
- B4: Prophecy - What Ever's Your Sign (You Got To Be Mine) (You Got To Be Mine)
- B5: Prophecy - What Ever's Your Sign (You Got To Be Mine) (You Got To Be Mine)
- B6: The Dramatics - No Rebate On Love
- B7: The Electric Ladies - Nothing Between Us
In the mid-70s, Bob Shad’s cult New York Jazz label Mainstream Records turned to the burgeoning underground Disco scene and released a handful of great singles produced by the likes of Tommy Stewart, Jimmy Roach or Bert DeCoteaux. Featuring artists from the early Disco hotbed including South Side Coalition, Chocolate Syrup and Three Ounces of Love, these singles, proving Shad's great flair, accompanied the rise of the New York club and block party culture that was going to revolutionise the musical landscape a few years later. Most of the singles are officially reissued here on vinyl for the first time, with Three Ounces of Love's "Disco Man" full mix previously unissued on vinyl. Remastered by Colorsound Studio in Paris, with liner notes by Charles Waring and artwork by Thomas C. Bradley
Funk and Soul in the early 70s were mutating to a new sound spearheaded by such labels as Philadelphia International Records (PIR), Scepter and Salsoul: Early Disco was taking off and Its sound was earthier and more urban, mixing the nascent Disco beat with strong funk and soul elements. New York was at the epicentre of the phenomenon, thanks to its thriving club scene and also to a new wave of DJs from the Bronx who started playing the music at block parties along with James Brown and Mandrill. bubbling under was a cohort of small independent labels that released some great music on 7" singles to meet the growing demand. Industry veteran Bob Shad and his label Mainstream Records started investigating this new scene and asked his circle of independent producers to bring him their latest production for release. For the occasion, he set up two sub labels, IX Chains and Brown Dog.
Among the producers who'd heard Shad's call were Tommy Stewart who came up with The South Side Coalition's funky '(Don't You Wanna) Get Down Get Down' in 1975 and Prophecy's 'What Ever's Your Sign' a year later. Seasoned arranger/producer Bert DeCoteaux (Patti Austin, Maxine Brown, The Main Ingredient) brought Lenny Welch's soulful 'A Hundred Pounds of Pain' and the superb mid-tempo instrumental 'Nothing Between Us' by The Electric Ladies. Arranger Jimmy Roach came with his latest single with The Dramatics ('No Rebate on Love') whom he'd worked with at Volt and with Three Ounces of Love on their aptly titled single 'Disco Man,' whose unissued long version merging Side 1 and 2 is released here on vinyl for the first time. The sister group would go on to sign with Motown in 1978 and release their sole album self-titled 'Three Ounces of Love.'
Other highlights on 'Mainstream Disco Funk' include The Grand Jury's 'Music is Fun To Me' with its languid funky rhythm arranged by Ted Bodnar, a producer and studio engineer who'd work with Sir Joe Quarterman, Blair and Al Johnson. Also featured on the set is Crystal Image's superb 'Gonna Have a Good Time (part 1 & 2) which typifies the blend of urban funk, glitzy strings and metronomic beat that were signature elements of early Disco.
The style would keep getting more commercial over the years and reach overkill in the late 70s but the block party scene which more than embraced this breakbeat-filled genre would soon morph into hip hop in the second half of the 70s with the help of a few key industry figures such as Sylvia Robinson (Sugar Hill Records). By that time, Bob Shad had ceased releasing records and relocated in Los Angeles but he left behind a small treasure trove of superb obscure singles which are now making their LP debut on 'Mainstream Disco Funk' for the delight of all funk and disco lovers.
Following 2 heavy reissues of “Silver Mirror Of Her Eyes” and “Heavy Water” from original works on D*Fusion Records in 1994-1997, Howard Dodd aka Anoesis returns to physical in 2023 for a new full feature-length album via Australian based imprint Paper-Cuts. Selected works between 2010-2022 “Memory On Memory” offers a modern take from the underground UK artist, spanning refined breaks, playful tech-house and modular experiments stretched across this 9-track LP.
One of the most spoken of dnb formations is back with a double pack that's one of the most spoken of project since their collaboration with Mayhem and KRS-One. They're taking the word collaboration to the next level with this spectacular Collision EP. 4 tracks made by Noisia colliding with other heavyweight formations from across the globe! The opener is "Cannonball", it starts off as one giant drum roll and then turns into a dancefloor roller that just "stays classy" everywhere you play it! For the second track Noisia collabs with Black Sun Empire to bring real 100% Dutch flavor to the floor. "Infusion" is a track that takes its inspiration from the Negative camp but blended to perfection by these 2 grand masterminds of music.
Plate 2 brings a tune that sounds a lot like ram trilogy's titan classic but your ears deceive you in this one. Its none other then a collab by Noisia & The Upbeats with a track titled "Mudslide"! it's heavy, it's bad, it pounds, it flows, it's just one of those records that can't be beaten! The closer is another collab by Noisia & Phace called "Levitation", this roaring production shows what this scene is all about: heavy beats combined with sick reese basses and a neurotic funk that you just can't get your hands on!
Again Noisia delivers proper quality with this slamming EP. This is one Collision you just can't wait to feel!
Comes in standard full colour Vision Recordings repress sleeve.
- 01: Morose Vandal The White-Out Memorial
- 02: Saint Advantage
- 03: A Cast Of Gray On The Arm Lights The Stovetop Pilot
- 04: Loose Jaw
- 05: Ash Wednesday, The Triage
- 06: Sky Blue Above The Gang Violent Motion
- 07: Anxiety Interlude (Feat. Andre Altrez)
- 08: Feral Pet The Ankh The Ticker Wears
- 09: Tomorrow On The Installment Plan, A Debt Unpayable
Emotion Hospice is the debut LP by New York-based sound artist and writer Chaperone on Bedouin Records. Combining layers of doom electronics, dystopian ambient, and manipulated tape loops, Emotion Hospice reflects both the artist's suffering and recovery from addiction, as well as Philadelphia's history of socio-economic decay and misanthropy.
Emotion Hospice was recorded from 2016 to 2019, when Chaperone's David Coccagna lived and worked in his hometown of Philadelphia, a city notoriously known for its poverty, redlined city divisions, and fascist policing tactics. While exploring the sound of the city and the effects of its political and social climate, Coccagna also struggled with and managed to overcome a severe addiction to alcohol, tying further the misaligned nature of the self to the maladjusted world he grew up in that is reflected in the record itself.
Sonic thrills and their destruction is present throughout the record, as Coccagna experiments with the brutal manipulation of bossa nova, varying styles of jazz, hip hop, and rap, using 4-Track tape loops, shortwave radio frequencies, various apps on his iPad, and open source audio editing software. With Emotion Hospice, Chaperone liberates the inherent darkness of the cheerful and poppy music that he samples and transforms it into an extensive, doomy sound of a future that is dystopian, maladroit, suffering, but hopeful about human beings. The album was written and recorded entirely by Coccagna aside from the track featuring New York rapper and producer Andre Altrez, whose establishment of Girard Hall in Philadelphia was a beacon of DIY ethos that became legendary in the city in its own right.
Chaperone's Emotion Hospice is his first release on Bedouin Records. His cassette release Dead Pitbulls Slung On Tired Shoulders was his first outing for Bedouin's now defunct sub-label Bastakiya Tapes in 2017. This initial tape was the catalyst to a working relationship between Coccagna and label operator Salem Rashid as collaborators and colleagues.
- A1: Quasimodo - Esmeralda
- A2: Cortex - Pourquoi
- A3: Janko Nilovic - Pop Impressions
- A4: Philippe Sarde - L'appartement (O S.t. "Deux Hommes Dan
- A5: Daniel Janin - Red Mood
- A6: Jack Arel - Tracking (O S.t "Aux Frontières Du Possible
- B1: Claude Thomain - Un Soir De Banco
- B2: Jean-Claude Petit - Turn Around
- B3: Daniel Janin - Rolly Pollyb
- B4: C C.p.p. - Clavinet Shit
- B5: Jean Vasca - Moi Je Suis De La Nuit
- B6: Godchild - Pas Un Brin De Vent
- C1: Edition Spéciale - Tu Naîtras Demain
- C2: Claude Denjean & Synthesizer - Kiss This
- C3: Tony Barthele - Running Bass
- C4: Francis Lai - Somewhere In The Night (O S.t. "Madly")
- C5: Cliff Cardwin - Funky Music
- D6: Serge Gainsbourg - Fugue (O S.t. "Les Loups Dans La Ber
- D1: Cortex - A Winning Team
- D2: Bernard Estardy - Ala Mia Thra
- D3: Bruno Leys - Maintenant Je Suis Un Voyou
- D4: Gilles Pellegrini - Caravan
- D5: Karl-Heinz Schäfer - La Victime (O S.t. "Les Gants Blan
With French Connection, discover rare tracks of Funk, Soul and Jazz made in France. 23 avant-garde nuggets from the 60"s and 70"s gathered in a nice double vinyl! With: Cortex, Janko Nilovic, Godchild, Francis Lai, Bernard Estardy, Philippe Sarde, Edition Spéciale, Bruno Leys, Jean-Claude Petit, Serge Gainsbourg...
Avid Habibi Funk listeners may be familiar with Libyan composer / producer Najib Alhoush, who’s track “Ya Aen Daly” - the Bee Gee’s “Stayin Alive” cover - was included in our second compilation. While the original track never excited us, Najib’s version managed to strip it from its pop approach that had taken over disco during the genre`s peak. At that time, disco tracks mostly were aiming to appeal to the widest audience possible. Najib had turned the original track into something different and very unique. Upon further research we found that Najib was actually the singer and founder of The Free Music band alongside Fakhreddin, Salim Jibreel, Abdulrazzak ‘Kit-Kat’, Mukhtar Wanis and Mohameed Al Rakibi.
Initially, we only licensed Najib Alhoush’s “Ya Aen Daly” from Yousef Alhoush, Najib’s son, who was pleased to hear that there was interest in his father’s music form someone abroad. In the process of exchanging and learning about Najib’s music and career, our understanding was that The Free Music only recorded the one album. This couldn’t be further from the truth, in fact, there were ten albums produced by the group, all impressively coherent with a clear influence from disco, soul, funk and reggae.
The Free Music album was probably the longest it ever took us to gather information, photos and musical source material in a good enough quality to be reissued. This is largely due to the complicated political situation in Libya, compounded by the fact that Libya is still largely cut off from international payment systems, so getting an advance payment to the right person can be a process that takes weeks. The same goes for getting master tapes to a studio abroad and afterwards back to Libya.
When we look for music that works under the umbrella of Habibi Funk, we often come across albums where bands experimented with influences from Soul, Jazz, Funk, Disco and more, usually on a single track or two but then they often go down to a different path for the rest of the album. This was not the case for The Free Music. All their albums are fully dedicated to their unique blend of Disco, Reggae and Funk and it feels that when we made the selection for this album, we could have chosen a completely different number of tracks and the album would be been equally strong.
The lead-off single is the stupendously groovy “Ana Qalbi Ehtar” out February 3rd along with LP pre-order to capitalize on Bandcamp Friday. From the outset, the rhythmic strumming of the funkified guitars give way to the galloping drums and bass, opening up to anthemic vocals and rounding out with a blistering guitar solo, a certified disco-funk classic through-andthrough.
Second single, out February 17th is the disco slammer “Hawelt Nensa Ghalaak.” Guitars, harmonized horns, synths and bouncing bass and drums collide w/ spaced out vox to make the track a dancefloor sureshot for any party.
Third single is “Mathasebnish,” out March 3rd, a pure disco-funk slammer if there ever was one – with stabbing horns, funky bass riffs, a riding rhythm guitar and anthemic vocals, rounded out with stunning flute and guitar solos – the track will surely be on repeat along with the arrival of warmer weather.
Album focus track “Men Awel Marra” is another standout disco-infused tune, showcasing the immense creativity out of Najib and The Free Music. This past summer we finally had the opportunity to get together with Yousef face-to-face at a coffee shop in Istanbul’s central Istiklal road together with our friend Anas El Horani. Yousef told us the whole story of how his father got into music, the start of the band and his father’s continued conflicts with the Gaddafi regime that probably kept his career from becoming even bigger. As always, both vinyl and CD come with an extensive booklet featuring background on The Free Music and Najib Alhoush, including words from Najib’s son, Yousef, as well as unseen photos, cassettes and more.
2023 Repress
Sasha continues to make this year his own as he drops his debut EP on Watergate, 'GameOvr'. The EP features two original tracks, including the long-awaited 'Trigonometry', and first class remixes from Cassy and La Fleur. After his recent critically acclaimed sell-out live shows at the Barbican and his 'Out Of Time' EP on Kompakt, not to mention gearing up for his RESISTANCE residency with John Digweed in Ibiza, Sasha officially confirms his debut release on Watergate Records. 'Trigonometry' has been a highlight in Sasha's sets in recent months and has sparked many a heated debate online, from excited pleas for a Track ID, to urgent demands for a release date. The track is as ethereal as it is compelling, constantly building up to the sublime break down and those iconic chords that have left ravers spellbound worldwide. Swedish born Berlin-based La Fleur puts her stamp on the remix, keeping the riff but adding gravitas with a rhythmic bassline. She's fast become a key player on the house and techno circuit, with a string of releases on the likes of Cocoon, Watergate, and Sasha's own Last Night On Earth imprint. 'GameOvr' shows the producer's tougher side; a strong techno track in keeping with Sasha's constant focus on the future, always exploring new directions, though his signature groove is still on board. Revered Panorama Bar resident Cassy, whose stunning album 'Donna' was one of 2016's outstanding releases, turns her hand to remixing the title track, delivering a harder edged driving cut with a heavier kick drum, echoing chords and hypnotic percussion. This EP marks yet another creative landmark in this, one of the most fruitful and exciting phases in Sasha's distinguished career.
- A1: Bang Bang
- A2: These Boots Are Made For Walkin
- A3: Sugar Town
- A4: So Long Babe
- A5: How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?
- A6: Friday's Child
- A7: You Only Live Twice
- B1: Summer Wine
- B2: Some Velvet Morning
- B3: Lightning's Girl
- B4: Sand
- B5: Lady Bird
- C1: Jackson
- C2: Happy
- C3: How Are Things In California
- C4: Hook & Ladder
- C5: Hello La, Bye Bye Birmingham
- C6: Paris Summer
- D1: Arkansas Coal
- D2: Down From Dover
- D3: Kind Of A Woman
- D4: Machine Gun Kelly
- D5: (L'ete Indien) Indian Summer (L'ete Indien)
LTD. COL. VINYL
Definitive compilation spans solo recordings, rarities and duets with Lee Hazlewood Newly remastered from the original analog tapes by GRAMMYr-nominated engineer John Baldwin New interviews with the legendary singer, actress, and activist, Nancy Sinatra Extensive essay by Amanda Petrusich Q&A interview with Nancy & GRAMMYr-nominated reissue co-producer Hunter Lea Never-before-seen photos from Nancy Sinatra's personal archive Deluxe CD housed in 7"x7" hardcover book w/ 64-pg booklet Beautifully packaged Double LP featuring a 24-pg book 2xLP available on Standard Black Wax plus Summer Wine Sunburst Orange Release coincides with Nancy Sinatra's 80th birthday celebration Release to be supported by international press campaign in cooperation with Nancy Sinatra // Light In The Attic Records is proud to present Nancy Sinatra: Start Walkin' 1965-1976. The definitive new collection surveys Sinatra's most prolific period over 1965-1976, including her revered collaborations with Lee Hazlewood, over 23 tracks. Remastered from the original analog tapes by GRAMMYr-nominated engineer John Baldwin, the collection is complemented by liner notes penned by Amanda Petrusich (author and music critic at The New Yorker), featuring insightful new interviews with Sinatra, as well as a Q&A with archivist and GRAMMYr-nominated reissue co-producer Hunter Lea. The CD edition comes housed in a 7"x7" hardcover book (featuring 64-pages) and the two-disc vinyl set is presented in a gatefold jacket (featuring a 24-page booklet), with special color editions available exclusively at and independent record stores. Nancy's performance of the Lee Hazlewood-penned song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" was a huge hit in 1966 and became her signature tune. The pair began a three year run of successful albums, duets and singles including "Sugar Town," "Some Velvet Morning," "Summer Wine," "Sand," "Jackson," and the title track to the 1967 James Bond film "You Only Live Twice." Start Walkin' explores Nancy's recordings with Lee, her inspired collaborations with songwriter Mac Davis ("Hello L.A., Bye Bye Birmingham"), producer Lenny Waronker ("Hook and Ladder") and the "should've been hit" song with arranger/producer Billy Strange ("How Are Things In California.") Over the years, she has been cited as an influence by countless artists, including Sonic Youth, Morrissey, Calexico, U2, and Lana Del Rey. Her haunting song "Bang, Bang" gained a new legion of fans when it appeared in the opening credits of Quentin Tarantino's 2003 film, Kill Bill Volume 1.
When Italian composer Bruno Bavota and Dutch songwriter Chantal Acda first met several years ago, they knew almost instantly that they wanted to make music together. Bavota was already a fan of Acda's dreamy, orchestral folk, and in Bavota's intimate, picturesque piano compositions, Acda saw a potential for collaboration that was begging to be explored. As it would happen, the inherent loneliness and isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic would provide a most unusual opportunity to craft an album together - without ever being ion the same room. Originally conceived as a brief two- or three-song EP, A Closer Distance is the result of a month of seemingly endless and effortless creative connections between Bavota and Acda. Spawned from the opening piano phrase that became the album's title track, the nine songs that make up A Closer Distance were written and recorded by Bavota and Acda in their respective homes. No stranger to long-distance collaboration - having worked with an array of artists from Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker of Low to guitar legend Bill Frisell - even Acda was surprised by the ease and pace with which A Closer Distance came together: "This all came so weirdly natural. It woke up a part of me that had been asleep for a while." Mostly built around Bavota's solitary piano arrangements and Acda's layered, ethereal vocals, the songs on A Closer Distance reflect the intimacy and tranquility of their conception. It is a magical collection that connects to the listener with the same air of comfort and familiarity that inspired its creation.
Ware began as an experimental electronic duo back in the 1980s, when you had to know what you were doing. Comprising Sacha Galvagna, who went on to play with acts as diverse as Rosa Mota, Horsepower, Charles Atlas, Crown Estate, The Last King of England and Carta, and Andrew Wilson a producers’ producer, noise machine maker and DJ, who found underground acclaim for his Crossed Wires output, the band reconnected earlier this decade when they found themselves with some unexpected time on their hands. From across continents the pair took advantage of 21st century technology to resurrect a sketchpad of aural experimentation that would become the foundation of Star Catalogue, Ware’s long overdue long player set for release through Absent Music.
Setting out with the spectral cha-cha of title track Star Catalogue, Ware chart their passage through diaphanous arrangements that veer off mid-song into unexpected new spaces, melting into liminal vibrations that render large parts of the album as continuous pieces inherently connected by overtones and sentiment. Threading its gossamer sounds into a surprisingly unyielding whole, the album takes in the phantasmal glam of Nerve Agency, Sable Bay’s prismatic ache, the infinitesimal disquiet of Eigen State, and the nylon strung desire of New Model. As the pair impart the unhurried entreaties of The Splintered Woods, which gives way to the cabin fever of My Life as a Ghost and its switch up into ebullient arousal, the unexpected focus-pull of Frame, the shadowy elegy of Nepenthe, and the apparitional house of The Apprentice Pillar, Ware artfully draw the listener into a heady intimacy that is a striking contrast to the cookie cutter soul-bearing histrionics of modern pop music.
In an era in which the thrill of anticipation has been extinguished by the attention-free instant gratification of streaming’s ‘what you want when you want it’ model, Ware have delivered a piece of work that is greater than the sum of its exemplary parts. Painted in exquisitely fragile figures that lead inexorably onward through its 11 tracks, Star Catalogue won’t be so vulgar as to demand your attention, but it unquestionably deserves it.
Niklas Paschburg"s third album Panta Rhei arrives via 7K! on March 17th, 2023. The title and the music are inspired by Heraclitus"s Greek philosophy that "everything flows" and finds the Hamburg-born artist exploring an unrestricted world of post-classical music drawn from deep within himself. Across two previous albums, the now Berlin-based Paschburg has been captivated by the movement of the Baltic Sea (2018"s Oceanic) and the darkness of a Northern European winter (2020"s Svalbard). As a result of being unable to travel during the pandemic, this latest album finds him looking inside his own heart and mind. Niklas"s personal journey becomes a captivating and colourful musical journey that combines his melancholic and delicate pianism with synths and electronic beats, suggestive ambient and the evocative voices of German singer Lúisa, Spaniard Bianca Steck and the Icelandic Kaktus Einarsson, frontman of post-punk band Fufanu. It is a move towards ambient-pop that is intimate and meditative but with positive and uplifting vibes.
Death and Vanilla return with 'Flicker', presenting their unique pop music that defies categorisation. Housed in a beautifully austere post-ironic de-constructed sleeve; 'Flicker' is a modern reflection on these difficult times. World crises notwithstanding, they return reborn, re-arranged and revitalised after assimilating dub reggae, the motorik spirals of Can, the modal meander of Philip Glass and The Cure's dreamier pop sounds; plus the twice removed symphonic ambience of Spiritualized and Talking Heads under heavy manners from Brian Eno. By osmosis their period of transition since 2019's much darker 'Are You A Dreamer?' has hatched new eclectic electronica anthems riddled with melody lines, and layered for lush love. - Forming in Malmö, Sweden, Death And Vanilla gravitated towards vintage musical equipment; from vibraphone, organ and mellotron, to tremolo guitar and Moog synthesisers. Soaking up soundtracks from the 60s and 70s, listening to library music, kosmiche, French Ye-ye pop and 60s psych, Marleen Nilsson, Anders Hansson and Magnus Bodin were fashioned by the city's austere industrial past and flat pack present, and all in the shadow of the Orsesund Bridge that links their dreamworld to mainland Europe and a darker reality. Death And Vanilla at once sound like everything is possible; but nothing else at all. There is a flicker of hope for everyone. - "Deploying vintage instruments in their quest for melancholic utopia." Electronic Sound * "Baroque pop through a dreampop filter." The Guardian Ltd Indie Retail Only Yellow Vinyl LP including DLC!
A year and a half ago, THE MFA returned to the fore once more, when we released their "Oranges and Lemons EP".
Their new album, “Lights Out”, which could be described as a long time coming, is definitely THE MFA’s most ambitious work to date.
As they put it in their own words: “The album is very special to us. It’s a long ambition brought to fruition. It’s an album that is at home on the dancefloor or at home. We’ve always been influenced by 90s rave culture and the club scene of that era and the explosion of creative freedom through electronic music that happened back then.”
The album sums up what THE MFA stands for; their love of electronic music intertwined their love of songs and melody, sometimes banging, sometimes pensive, sometimes longing, occasionally up-beat and happy. Melodic techno-pop-rave then.
The album opener "My Desire" pins down the essence of the album, showing some pop sensibility and a healthy dose of that early 90s spirit with longing vocals by Rhys Evans. The track shows from many angles of the intensity of what club culture was about. The track has, for sure, that pop quality which sets it apart - it is a very complete and rounded and in the true sense, a hit.
"Identify This" kicks off with blissed-out sci-fi sounds but commences with 90s rave chords that gets under your skin and creates a fantastic kaleidoscopic picture of moody UK rave with these spurts of emotional uplifting moments which are worth every penny.
"Bear Likes To Rave" takes us back to the warehouse days and reminds us of the acid warehouse parties with fanned stroboscope beams and dry ice cannons. It’s like looking down on a rave party happening from above, from a bird's eye view, which is in full swing where the euphoria spills over into the audience. "Girl Ahead" is a vocal track exclusively on the digital version of the album, again with Rhys Evans on vocal duties. Here they ponder all the possibilities of the future and the mistakes of the past. Features space toms and grand piano rave chords to evoke a housy feel within.
With "Freedom24" a Hi-NRG melody meets nightcrawler sounds ala "Klang De Familie". This is a soundtrack for the night.
"Lammas Day" has the chilling exotic quality of 808 State "Pacific State" if you grant us this comparison, paired with some phantastic Dr Who sensibilities! This track is quite a voyage!
"Warehouse"... Make Some F-...ing Noise... A TV presenter speaks about Acid house...... This is a wild mash up of impressions which nicely go together due to the melodic string composition and the 303 sequences.
"The Snapping Branch" starts with a mash up of sounds and then dives into an episodic snapshot of "happiness" when the serotonin shoots in (just before it drops). Experiencing a perfect flow that does not want to end. Every clubber knows that feeling.
"You Make Me Smile" is the third vocal track on the album featuring Rhys Evans on vocals. It has fantastic radical stark mood changes and blatant shifts, therefore throws the listener from one corner to the other. Just like the contrast of day and night. Bits here and there might conjure a Radiohead spirit, but really this is all MFA.
"Lights Out” certainly puts across the feeling you get at the end of the night - the club has closed; you are walking home. These are the sounds and feelings in your memories as you chase the vibe that is dwindling as the club becomes ever further away.
Creating an introverted version of restrained electronic music Berlin-based artist Constantijn Lange releases his second album 'Liquide' on Heimlich Musik. The album is based on sketches created in isolation during the second pandemic year. The compositions are characterized by self-reflection and an attempt to translate the abstract experience of listening to oneself into a concrete form. The sound of personal isolation, the necessary withdrawal from the world and the restriction of all social contacts is, therefore, less club oriented and focused on functionality than an expressive concept of ideas, rather oriented on Trip Hop, Breakbeat, Ambient and Jazz. The collective rediscovery of shared experience results in arrangements of melancholic but optimistic melodies recorded with vintage synthesizers, supported by complex drum patterns and diverse percussions that create a signature sound as a new liquid amalgam.
Constantijn Lange is an electronic music composer originally from Ostfriesland now based in Berlin. Besides several releases on Laut & Luise since the early days, his productions appear on labels like Get Physical, Traum Schallplatten, Sinnbus, Platon Records, Egoplanet
and many more.
His passion for thick layered synth melodies, jazzy and kraut – like vibes, atmosphere recordings, deep basslines and selfmade percussion designs give his music a recognizable vibe which can be heard on nearly every production he was involved in so far. He spends a lot of time in his studio in Berlin, working on new music, remixing other artists and also engineering for other sound projects in the art scene. On top of that, he performs as a liveact in clubs and on festivals all over the planet where his music can be described as very emotional and personal. Repeatedly this amazed people in countries like Germany, Russia, Poland, Switzerland, South Africa, Austria, Belgium, Mexico and
many more.
Constantijn’s ambition as an artist is to constantly evolve his productions and create music
which carries emotions and energies into the clubs, to festivals and living rooms alike.
- A1: Maggie's Theme 1
- A2: Juke Box Source
- A3: Evelyn Story
- A4: Beetle Search*
- A5: Rosehaven Motel
- A6: Trip To La
- A7: Maggie's Theme 2
- A8: Stressed Out/Choked Up
- A9: Janet's Mazurka
- A10: Maggie Retraced
- A11: Factory Vibe
- A12: A Wet Nothing
- A13: Suspense*/Wills' Trance Pt. 1
- A14: Bell Signals
- A15: Taken Away
- A16: Radio Source
- B1: Fm Groove
- B2: Forest Finale
- B3: Penultima Trance
- B4: Parking Lot Shuffle
- B5: Dialatone
- B6: Wills’ Trance Pt. 2/Wills’ Trance Pt. 3
- B8: Gratitude
- B9: Empty Torch/Mailman/Phone Voice
- B10: On The Move
- B11: Wills' Last Trance
- B12: End Credits
- B13: Radio Source Rhythm
- B14: Juke Box Source
By the time Lalo Schifrin composed the soundtrack for Frank Perry's psychological thriller in 1974, starring Cliff Robertson and Joel Gray (who'd just won an Oscar for his role in Bob Fosse's Cabaret) he was Hollywood royalty having worked on such iconic films as Bullitt and Dirty Harry. Perry on his side, had caused a stir with The Swimmer in 1968 starring Burt Lancaster (although he would dismiss the film after being fired from the production) and followed up with a string of great cult movies including ‘Last Summer’ (1969), Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970) starring Carrie Snodgress - whom Neil Young famously fell in love with upon seeing the film and "Play It as It lays" in 1972, adapted from Joan Didion's eponymous novel.
Breaking from the social dramas from of his previous films, Perry decided to shoot a thriller based on journalist William Arthur Clark's book "The Girl on The Volkswagen Floor." The film follows a police officer investigating a murder with the help of a strange ambiguous clairvoyant played by Gray. For the score Perry went to Lalo Schifrin who'd just come out of a bad experience on The Exorcist working with William Friedkin who'd rejected his music in favour of Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield! The score was recorded in LA with the Wrecking Crew and, although the full line up is not known, it included Emil Richards, Howard Roberts, Bud Shank and of course Schifrin on piano.
'Man on a Swing' is pure undiluted Schifrin from the early 70s. The score plays like a long suite alternating Bossa Nova ("Juke Box Source"), Lounge Jazz ("Trip to LA") and groove ("FM Groove") with superb "suspense” soundscapes like "Rosehaven Hotel". The label has gone back to the Paramount 3-track tape transfers and come up with an updated tracklist (a CD version briefly appeared in the 2010s) - re-sequenced and augmented with a handful of bonus tracks and alternate takes. A highlight is certainly "Radio Source Rhythm" which, losing the guitar and organ, reveal a jaw dropping funk breakbeat that is in the league of Dirty Harry and Enter the Dragon. This and the whole soundtrack, will ravish all the funk diggers and Lalo Schifrin fans around the world.
This unique and unconventional set combines a 7“ single with two yet unreleased songs by NON BAND and a photo magazine, both of which provide essential evidence of the tsunami-like tidal wave of the Japanese post punk movement.
The two featured songs VIBRATION ARMY and SILENCE-HIGH-SPEED perfectly capture the charismatic formative years of NON BAND, with their sound emerging as an entirely unique mix of driving punk veering from No Wave and Folk into raw post punk mutations.
Both songs were committed to tape in 1981 at the legendary facilities of Mod Studio, Tokyo, by engineer Yasushi Konichi when the band recorded their eponymous debut album which was issued via Tokyo‘s Telegraph Records back in 1982. Although both songs were miraculously omitted from the final album. Like all of Non Band recordings they have withstood the test of time thanks to their mix of direct, experimental yet disciplined rawness and studio magick.
The magazine features a text and a careful selection of photos from the vast archives of photographer Yuichi Jibiki, who was also the man behind the label Telegraph Records. Since 1978 Yuichi Jibiki was intimately involved with the early Japanese punk scene as their photographer, manager and organizer. He could be found very much in the midst of all NON BAND live shows between 79-82 as well as pulling the strings behind the scenes.
After the reissue edition of NON BAND‘s debut album via Stefan Schneider‘ TAL imprint in 2017 the label is excited to be able to offer another key release showcasing the creative peak of Japanese Post Punk.
Music by Non Band. Recorded by Yasushi Konishi in 1981 at Mod Studio, Tokyo.
Mastering by Detlef Funder at Paraschall, Düsseldorf 2022
Photographs by Yuchi Jibiki 1979-82
Black Honey's third album. Written and Directed, the bands second record (released in 2021) charted at #1 UK indies and #7 Overall, their self titled first, charted at #33. Since the end of the Written & Directed campaign the band played a sold out UK Tour including a night at Heaven, immediately followed by shows supporting IDLES, tours with Nothing But Thieves and The Vaccines across the UK and Europe. More in the touring section. The first track from this 3.0 phase of the Honeys, sees the rip roaring "Charlie Bronson", a nod to "I Like The Way You Die" and this track is the killer opener to their upcoming third record "A Fistful Of Peaches" which will be released in 2023.
Oriental Beat by Hanoi Rocks gets the redux treatment, officially mixed and revived from the original sessions, and released on March 17th on deluxe vinyl, CD and digital formats. The CD and vinyl come with the song lyrics, checked and approved by Michael Monroe. Dubbed the “re(al) mix”, this 40th anniversary edition was mixed by Petri Majuri at E-Studios in Finland in collaboration with the band. Vocalist Michael Monroe calls this release “the longest and slowest album project ever,” stating that “40 years in the making, it's not just a remix, but the REAL MIX supervised and approved by Hanoi Rocks”. Recorded in London, UK in 1981, for 200 pounds a day, Oriental Beat was made during the height of the British punk + New Wave movement, when the band was hanging out with everyone from Phil Lynott to the Damned. Hanoi Rocks’ original drummer Gyp Casino says of Oriental Beat that: “Back in the days we gave heart, soul and a bit of pain to make this record something else” but the sound of the album, originally released in 1982, did not match their efforts at the time. Bassist Sami Yaffa called it “the worst sounding album of our career” and Michael Monroe said that “the producer of the album didn’t have a clue what the band was about and his mix of the album was horribly wrong”. Oriental Beat’s original engineer Peter Wooliscroft, was not a rock producer, and according to Hanoi Rocks’ manager Richard Bishop he “tried to mix the album to sound like Spandau Ballet”. Released before the band could remix or rerecord it, as the label had run out of money, and the master tapes had gone missing, the band has always considered the original mix of Oriental Beat to be a “disaster”. With the tapes mysteriously showing up in the Universal vault recently, the band was finally able to mix and resequence the album the way they wanted it to sound. Oriental Beat is a defining masterpiece made when Hanoi Rocks was about to explode onto the world scene and written at the absolute peak of lead guitarist Andy McCoy’s creativity as a songwriter. Rhythm guitarist Nasty Suicide says “only now, with stripping it down to the bare essentials and tweaking it to bring out what was really laid down it became our dream come true! THIS is what it's all about” as this definitive edition of Oriental Beat now fully displays the ultimate arrogance and attitude which defined the band.
Oriental Beat by Hanoi Rocks gets the redux treatment, officially mixed and revived from the original sessions, and released on March 17th on deluxe vinyl, CD and digital formats. The CD and vinyl come with the song lyrics, checked and approved by Michael Monroe. Dubbed the “re(al) mix”, this 40th anniversary edition was mixed by Petri Majuri at E-Studios in Finland in collaboration with the band. Vocalist Michael Monroe calls this release “the longest and slowest album project ever,” stating that “40 years in the making, it's not just a remix, but the REAL MIX supervised and approved by Hanoi Rocks”. Recorded in London, UK in 1981, for 200 pounds a day, Oriental Beat was made during the height of the British punk + New Wave movement, when the band was hanging out with everyone from Phil Lynott to the Damned. Hanoi Rocks’ original drummer Gyp Casino says of Oriental Beat that: “Back in the days we gave heart, soul and a bit of pain to make this record something else” but the sound of the album, originally released in 1982, did not match their efforts at the time. Bassist Sami Yaffa called it “the worst sounding album of our career” and Michael Monroe said that “the producer of the album didn’t have a clue what the band was about and his mix of the album was horribly wrong”. Oriental Beat’s original engineer Peter Wooliscroft, was not a rock producer, and according to Hanoi Rocks’ manager Richard Bishop he “tried to mix the album to sound like Spandau Ballet”. Released before the band could remix or rerecord it, as the label had run out of money, and the master tapes had gone missing, the band has always considered the original mix of Oriental Beat to be a “disaster”. With the tapes mysteriously showing up in the Universal vault recently, the band was finally able to mix and resequence the album the way they wanted it to sound. Oriental Beat is a defining masterpiece made when Hanoi Rocks was about to explode onto the world scene and written at the absolute peak of lead guitarist Andy McCoy’s creativity as a songwriter. Rhythm guitarist Nasty Suicide says “only now, with stripping it down to the bare essentials and tweaking it to bring out what was really laid down it became our dream come true! THIS is what it's all about” as this definitive edition of Oriental Beat now fully displays the ultimate arrogance and attitude which defined the band.
- A1: The Kinslayer
- A2: She Is My Sin
- A3: Deep Silent Complete
- A4: The Pharaoh Sails To Orion
- B1: Come Cover Me
- B2: Wanderlust
- B3: Crimson Tide / Deep Blue Sea
- C1: Swanheart
- C2: Elvenpath
- C3: Fantasmic (Part 3)
- C4: Dead Boy's Poem
- D1: Sacrament Of Wilderness
- D2: Walking In The Air
- D3: Beauty & The Beast
- D4: Wishmaster
The live album From Wishes To Eternity offers a a glimpse into an early point in the long career of Finland's symphonic metal masters Nightwish when, three albums under their belts and already a household name in their native Finland, the world was just about to be laid before their feet. Recorded at Christmas in 2000 in Tampere, Finland in front of a packed house, Nightwish released this a year after the smash hit record Wishmaster. Unlike some CD pressings in circulation, this version contains the entire 80-minute uncut show. Never before available on vinyl, Lipposen Levy ja Kasetti presents this missing piece in the Nightwish puzzle on CD and gatefold double vinyl, remastered at Finnvox by Mika Jussila, who also mastered the original release in 2001.
Critically acclaimed rock group EELS announce
vinyl reissues of earlier records ‘End Times’, ‘Hombre Lobo’ and ‘Tomorrow Morning’, released via E Works / PIAS.
EELS will hit the road this Spring for the longawaited Lockdown Hurricane tour of Europe and North America, starting in March in Nottingham. The reissues follow EELS’ critically acclaimed
2022 record, ‘Extreme Witchcraft’, which found
praise at MOJO, NME, The New York Times,
Stereogum, SPIN and more. EELS have had one of the most consistently acclaimed careers in music. The ever-changing
project of principal singer / songwriter E (Mark Oliver Everett), EELS have released 14 studio albums since their 1996 debut, ‘Beautiful Freak’. In 2008, E published his highly acclaimed book,
‘Things the Grandchildren Should Know’, and starred in the award-winning ‘Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives’ documentary about the search to understand his quantum physicist father, Hugh
Everett III. Single LP on standard weight black vinyl in a
gatefold sleeve with matt machine varnish.
Critically acclaimed rock group EELS announce
vinyl reissues of earlier records ‘Hombre Lobo’,
‘End Times’ and ‘Tomorrow Morning’, released via
E Works / PIAS. EELS will hit the road this Spring for the longawaited Lockdown Hurricane tour of Europe and
North America, starting in March in Nottingham. The reissues follow EELS’ critically acclaimed 2022 record, ‘Extreme Witchcraft’, which found praise at MOJO, NME, The New York Times,
Stereogum, SPIN and more. EELS have had one of the most consistently acclaimed careers in music. The ever-changing
project of principal singer / songwriter E (Mark Oliver Everett), EELS have released 14 studio albums since their 1996 debut, ‘Beautiful Freak’. In 2008, E published his highly acclaimed book,
‘Things the Grandchildren Should Know’, and starred in the award-winning ‘Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives’ documentary about the search to understand his quantum physicist father, Hugh
Everett III. Single LP on standard weight black vinyl in a
gatefold sleeve with matt machine varnish.
- A1: In Gratitude For This
- A2: Magnificent Day
- A3: I'm A Hummingbird
- A4: The Morning
- A5: Baby Loves Me
- A6: Spectacular Girl
- B1: What I Have To Offer
- B2: Where It Gets Good
- B3: After The Earthquake
- B4: Oh So Lovely
- B5: The Man
- B6: Looking Up
- B7: That's Not Her Way
- B8: I Like The Way This Is Going
- B9: Mystery Of Life
Critically acclaimed rock group EELS announce
vinyl reissues of earlier records ‘Tomorrow
Morning’, ‘End Times’ and ‘Hombre Lobo’,
released via E Works / PIAS. EELS will hit the road this Spring for the longawaited Lockdown Hurricane tour of Europe and
North America, starting in March in Nottingham. The reissues follow EELS’ critically acclaimed 2022 record, ‘Extreme Witchcraft’, which found praise at MOJO, NME, The New York Times, Stereogum, SPIN and more. EELS have had one of the most consistently
acclaimed careers in music. The ever-changing
project of principal singer / songwriter E (Mark Oliver Everett), EELS have released 14 studio albums since their 1996 debut, ‘Beautiful Freak’. In 2008, E published his highly acclaimed book,
‘Things the Grandchildren Should Know’, and starred in the award-winning ‘Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives’ documentary about the search to understand his quantum physicist father, Hugh
Everett III. Single LP on standard weight black vinyl in a
reverse board gatefold sleeve.
Die Fähigkeit des Bobo Stenson Trios, weitreichende Idiome und ein breit gefächertes Repertoire im Rahmen seines eigenständigen Ausdrucks zu umfassen, ist inzwischen so etwas wie ein Markenzeichen der Gruppe geworden und brachte The New York Times zu der Aussage, der Pianist mache ”erhabene KlaviertrioPlatten, ohne jemals zu viel zu spielen.
Es pulsiert, bewegt sich in Wellen mit langen improvisierten
Phrasen; es ist lebendig”. Das erfahrene Trio zeigt sich auf Sphere als besonders eingespielte Einheit und bewegt sich auf zugleich subtile und eigenwillige Weise durch eine Reihe von Eigenkompositionen
sowie Melodien, die von diversen skandinavischen Komponisten stammen.
Der schwedische Pianist hat in jahrzehntelanger Zusammenarbeit mit ECM und Manfred Eicher – der, wie Bobo sagt, ”die besten
Qualitäten der Musiker hervorhebt” und die Platte produziert hat – eine einzigartige Mischung aus verschiedenen musikalischen Strömungen entwickelt und verfeinert. Die Mitstreiter des Pianisten, Anders Jormin am Bass und Schlagzeuger Jon Fält, die den Bandleader seit Cantando (2008) begleiten, sind mehr als ideale musikalische Partner für Bobos sanften Anschlag und unendliches Verlangen nach Zusammenspiel. Bobo: ”Wir spielen nie ’von der Stange’. Die Dinge kristallisieren sich aus dem Moment heraus und
wir passen uns dem an. Das ist die Quintessenz.
Das macht die Freude des Zusammenspiels aus; nie das Gleiche zweimal zu machen, und mit Entschlossenheit.”
Naked Cameo veröffentlichen zum 5jährigen Jubiläum von 'Of Two Minds' eine limitierte Vinylversion.
Es kommt selten bis nie vor, dass eine Newcomer Band mit ihrer Debüt Single auf Platz 1 der Spotify Viral Charts in Österreich und Platz 6 in Deutschland chartet. So geschehen bei NAKED CAMEO, das sind Lukas Maletzky (Gitarre und Vox), Maria Solberger (Synths) und Patrick Pillichshammer (Schlagzeug) mit ihrer ersten Single 'Luddite' und erreichen damit bereits über acht Millionen Streams. Darauf folgen Nominierungen wie die Music Moves Europe Talent Awards, European Boarder BreakerAwards und die Austrian Music Export Awards XA, sowie erste ausverkaufte Shows und Auftritte am Reeperbahnfestival, Donauinselfest, FM4 Frequency Festival oder Eurosonic und Support-Shows von Acts wie Wolf Alice oder Welshly Arms.
Die schwedische Metal-Band Narnia, die auf eine siebenundzwanzigjährige Karriere zurückblicken kann, schlägt mit dem neuen Album 'Ghost Town' ein neues Kapitel auf. Der erfahrene Fünfer zeigt mit diesem zukünftigen Klassiker des melodischen Metals einmal mehr, wie man ein Meisterwerk formt. Das neunte Narnia-Studioalbum 'Ghost Town' wurde von CJ Grimmark produziert und gemastert. Klingt wie Yngwie J Malmsteen, Masterplan, Europe, Dream Theater, Rob Rock, Theocracy oder Edguy.
Nach dem Xul Zolar sich Ende letzten Jahres mit dem Song "Protocol" aus einem längeren Hiatus zurückmeldeten, kündigen sie nun mit ihrer neuen Single "Underwater" ihr neues Album an, das den Namen "Heidelbach" trägt und am 17.03.2023 auf Asmara Records/Rough Trade erscheinen wird. Der sphärisch-pulsierende Track wurde wie auch das gesamte Album in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Kölner Produzenten-Duo COMA, bestehend aus Marius Bubat und Georg Conrad, aufgenommen und produziert. Musikalisch setzt die Band den verspielten Synthpop ihres Debutalbums fort, wobei "Underwater" verstärkt auf elektronische Elemente setzt. Für das dazugehörige Musikvideo zum Track zeichnet sich der Berliner Medienkünstler Philipp Carbotta verantwortlich.
First time ever on vinyl - limited gatefold edition, double 180-gram
audiophile pressing
Philadelphia- born guitarist KURT ROSENWINKEL is probably best known for his
multiple recordings on the Verve label and collaborations with Gary_Burton,
Human_Feel, Joe Henderson and the Brian Blade Fellowship.INTUIT was his
second album as leader and the only one he recorded for the Criss Cross label.
- A1: Diamond Door Feat. Princess Shaw
- A2: I’m The Best Rapper In The World
- A3: Choosy Choosy (Feat. Yunoka Berry)
- A4: My Favorite Ghost (Phantom Pains) (Feat. Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph And Nigel Hall)
- B1: Bang Bang Bang
- B2: Who’s The Best? (Dear Young Lb)
- B3: Go Ape Shit (Feat. L-Deez & Cut Chemist)
- B4: Alligator Boots (Feat. Say Sway)
- B5: Greatness On Repeat (Go Me!) (Feat. D Sharp)
“This is me at my most imaginative, freakiest, and yet still most grounded and introspective,” says Japanese American rapper/actor Lyrics Born not only about his new album Vision Board, but also his “self” and his existence. “I feel like a new man! I’m healthier physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.” The lead single and video “Diamond Door” is a pop/rap banger that lands you with an infectious barb and keeps you hooked for days, and is a thinly-veiled tribute to a particular style of female appreciation, but it can also be taken as a welcome mat to the new era of Lyrics Born. The accompanying video which shows Lyrics Born in his current physical form - svelte, stylish and with a confident swagger - reinforces this next chapter in his life. 60 pounds lighter, he lost the weight during the pandemic when he knew he needed to make a change. “Touring was becoming harder, and I was having all these weird health problems, but nothing that anybody could put their finger on,” he explains “My anxiety was high. I was not sleeping well. I was on the verge of really bad health.” And this improvement brought more confidence which shows in his new album. Vision Board is a focused affair that found him stretching his creativity farther and challenging himself to write in a way he’s never written before. Recorded primarily in New Orleans and produced by Rob Mercurio of Galactic (who also produced 2015’s Real People and 2018’s Quite a Life), it posited him in a new environment that helped his creative juices flow even more fluidly. “There’s nothing like recording in the Crescent City. It just gets in your blood, and the results are always funky and wild.” “This is about as psychedelic as I’ve ever been,” LB says. “I’m so proud of this album. I’m in a different space. The world is in a different space, and I wanted to celebrate that, loosen up and really create some imagery and share some emotion that I never have. I was listening to a lot of Shuggie Otis; a lot of obscure psychedelic soul and later Temptations,” he explained. “This is like if Alice in Wonderland was Japanese.” Vision Board was also inspired by another Bay Area rap luminary, although one who’s no longer with us - Gift of Gab. The dexterous Blackalicious MC and fellow Quannum Projects alum had a profound effect on Lyrics Born’s life, both creatively and philosophically. “I asked myself on some of these songs: ‘How would Gab approach them?’” he said. “I’d play with certain cadences, certain styles; I tried to stretch stylistically, lyrically and vocally on every single song. None of the patterns are the same.” Lyrics Born’s vulnerability shines through on the nine-track effort, something he’s not ashamed to admit (nor should he be). At one point during the pandemic, he was losing one friend, peer or family member every other week - from Zumbi of Zion I to Gift of Gab to Digital Underground’s Shock G. While many of the songs are deeply introspective, he had to “write some fun shit,” too. Celebratory horns, uptempo rhythms and fiery bars pepper the project from start to finish, and truly encapsulate Lyrics Born’s evolution of not just a groundbreaking Asian-American MC but also a human being. As the only Asian-American MC to release 10 studio albums, the first Asian-American to play major music festivals like Coachella and Lollapalooza and the first Asian-American to release a greatest hits compilation, Lyrics Born has been breaking barriers his entire life - and he’s not going to stop anytime soon. From the bombastic and tribal “I’m the Best Rapper in the World” with its self-winking boastfulness to the playful scat of “Bang Bang Bang” that slinks like an outtake from West Side Story, to the smooth and seductive “Who's The Best? (Dear Young LB)," to the psychedelic and swoony ”Alligator Boots” with it dreamy “Walk on the Wildside”-esque reverby sway, Vision Board sees Lyrics Born tackling different tones, textures and genres without fear and making them completely his own. It's an eclectic body of work that boasts more synths, more psychedelia and is generally more abstract.
You can't claim to know anything about Danish jazz unless you're familiar with the great and beloved tenor saxophonist Jakob Dinesen - aka Dino.
Dinesen's reputation as a versatile and virtuosic saxophonist has brought him all over the world and has cemented him as one of Denmark's most
sought-after musicians, performing with jazz, rock, pop and world music elite for the past 30 years. Now, at the age of 54, he is a fully-formed,
dynamic tenor titan with an instantly recognisable voice. His sound on tenor has a tenderness that's totally his own, and his phrases glide and soar
with a seemingly effortless technical command of the instrument.
In early December 2021, Dino travelled to the United States to record with one of his heroes - legendary American drummeer Jeff 'Tain' Watts - who
at 62 years old is considered by many to be the most prominent and influential drummer of his generation. In addition to Dino and Tain, this
resultant album also features two young virtuosos from Denmark - guitarist Jacob Artved and bassist Felix Moseholm - both still in their twenties but
making waves with their incredible talent, drive and taste.
The result is a recording that takes listeners on a journey offering plenty of room for each of the four musicians to shine brighter than ever before.
Jakob Dinesen - tenor saxophone; Jeff 'Tain' Watts - drums; Jacob Artved - guitar; Felix Moseholm - bass.
A limited edition 180g vinyl release.
Second part of the legendary "Screen" series.
It was hard to imagine a follow up to Yellow Screen as it was so successful. The pressure on our shoulders was quite high and rightly so, so we had to outdo ourselves for sure.
The first one to be « see the light » was New-York Philharmonic. A tasty mix of breakbeat, techno and trance. The main melody is just hypnotizing and gives a real feeling of escape. This track was chosen to be the main track of the EP.
Strawberry Milk is the most "underground" track of the EP. It is above all a personal pleasure of producers & composers in studio. We knew that New-York Philharmonic was going to be a hit so we had fun without any pressure on this track. It's a much more "mental" track that still gives off a certain melancholy.
Friday Sickness is without a doubt Mr Sam's favorite of all the tracks in the "Screen" series. It just contains all the elements that make a track perfect. It was as its name indicates composed and finished on a Friday when Mr Sam was sick.
The track was played the next day on CD at La bush and gave the audience a great moment of emotion. Mr Sam knew right away that the track was going to be a big success.
This EP is a perfect symbiosis of Mr. Sam's and Fred Baker's vision and proved that their relationship would only result in one classic release after another. The duo was only at the beginning of a great journey.
This series of remixes, stretching all the way back to 1993, continues to progress and expand its base of talented and incredible old skool talent. Part 16 brings some high caliber talent to the table with both Phuture Assassins and Tim Reaper on remixes duty for the first time. Plus we have stellar work from both Mannik and Shoreman, two of Kniteforce’s finest…
For Erika's second album "Anevite Void", she explores her live process as it permeates everything she does, including documenting the process of life in the elaborate sci fi mythology she created. Erika began performing live in Ectomorph in 1997 when she was gifted a TR-606 by BMG and asked to join the group. This grew to her building her own studio, performing solo as Erika, collaborating with people like Jay Ahern and Noncompliant, and performing as a member of Circle of Live. Her depth of thought and clarity of vision has led to her mentoring people on live performance through the In Bloom platform, where she has made a large impact on many up and coming musicians. "Anevite Void", Erika's new album, finds her organically writing songs for her live shows, allowing them to take shape through performance, and later recording them in the studio, making this the first album she has entirely written and produced on her own. Mixed by long time collaborator BMG, she finds this record as the launching point for a new process for her. Conceptually, this album was inspired by "the irregular life cycles created by three suns circling over a planetary organism that presents two major biomes: rocky crystalline desert, and deep layered forest, each of which exists above and/or below ground, depending on what phase the suns are in." From this realm the album took shape. She also chronicled this concept in drawings but found this painting by Detroit puckish punk legend Nai Sammon perfectly visually explained the concept, and chose it for the cover. She describes "each track is about an organic process that occurs: acts of survival of the biomes, or what happens between them and the multitude of other beings that they host." Erika is currently splitting her time between being based in Berlin and Detroit, is part of the triumvirate that runs Interdimensional Transmissions (BMG, Erika and Amber) that are releasing this record and produce legendary events such as No Way Back, Samhain and Return to the Source. She performs live and DJs and collaborates and oozes sonic truth in its many forms. Visit the "Anevite Void" in early 2023.
Taka Noda AKA Mystica Tribe has been releasing deep music on vinyl since 2011 on labels including SD Records, Solar Phenomena, Silent Season, and his own Mystica Tribe Records. Working in the dub/techno continuum, he is one of only a handful of artists who creates brilliant tunes at both ends of the spectrum, from heavy, psychedelic warehouse techno to beautifully orthodox reggae-infused dubwise. For his first ZamZam, he leans hard into the latter.
Noda describes his approach to these tunes as a “virtual live band,” and while “the only real live instrument is the melodica, I wanted to capture the energy of a live band with this song.”
A master of both melody and rhythm, Noda does exactly that with “Ido” (which means a well for water). The mood hits immediately with a loose & confident groove built from impossibly-live sounding drum work, a perfect orthodox bassline, and achingly beautiful interplay between piano, clav, and melodica. Somehow both melancholy and bright, it captures that moment when winter gives way to the first hint of spring, sun finally breaking through clouds after months of rain and darkness.
Rather than a simple dub of the A side, the version is a complete rebuild of the tune. “Ido - Renren Version” (which means flowing like tears, or a river) drops the tempo down to 120 but goes harder rhythmically in spite of its slower tempo. Opening with a stark, dark, and menacingly driving bassline and warped dub siren, the vibe is completely transformed from above-ground to below. Hard percussion, new melodica parts, and 4-4 hats & kick take it into that full post-punk dub territory that the world needs more of. Much more!!
repressed !
***Taken from Leaked Whatsapp messages between DJ Absolutely Shit and Il Bosco***
Yo cousin Bosco...how's ya raisin widge?
Nice one for that last lot of dough i'm starting to well buzz off all this music industry bollocks now you know...mad what you can do with a catchy DJ name and pure absolutely mega tunes wot are miles better than anyone elses init?
Anyway i've been diggin' me fuckin' 'ed off ant I recently and got some more well primo gear for yas here...done 8 this time - was thinking if i'm managing to sort me life out banging out EPs for yas - if I do and album or two i'll be mega wedged in no time deffo init.
Yeah i'm thinking fuck this i need to get out this rank shit-hole quicktime... spotted this sick 3 bed thatched cottage gaff in Cadishead the other day, well smart. Detached n everything G, so can deffo get a proper grow on in there piece of piss. Gran's doin me ed in n all here G, big style the old slapper. She keeps robbin' me cash!
Turn me back for 5 mins and she's fuckin chonged it all the little turd... fuckin fuming ta fuck g cant wait to do one from that shitty flat...and if she thinks she's keeping me dodgy sky box she suck me widge haha.
Anyway shout me soon init. fuck knows what to call this album g. ask Pharaoh to come up with a name for it the turd. i can't be arsed thinkin... Seen him the other day actually bumped into him and that Crispy Duck guy who does those sick comics. They was outside some posh coffee gaff in Ancoats with a few other chumps lobbing bricks at a pile of other bricks down near the canal drinking pink hooch the turds. Get em to do the artwork for it n all g. if they want paying or owt tell 'em to suck me widge haha.
Nice one
As a self-described “sponge for club music”, London-based Bristol transplant Ian DPM has cut a singular figure in both the West Country and the capital in just a handful of years. Already situated as the tastemaker behind music curation platform Definite Party Material, co-owner of Scuffed Recordings, and Noods Radio and Rinse FM resident, Ian DPM’s emergence as a producer has marked him as an expansively curious, bass-forward figure at the bleeding edge of genre boundaries.
After retreating to his hometown of Portsmouth during lockdown to absorb the blueprints of ‘90s techno, Ian emerged with a new phase of experimentation: techno-inspired and indebted, yet eschewing loops and grids for a loose-limbed, open minded engagement of the form.
Taking inspiration from the iconic carnival rides that are inseparable from their high-octane happy hardcore soundtrack, “One For The Waltzers” begins with a distant rumble of muffled breakbeats that inch ever closer. But rather than dizzying lights and in-the-red maximalism, “One For The Waltzers” gradually reveals its knowingly deep shimmy and groove. It is a drum-heavy and rhythmic production, masterfully using negative space to showcase every contour of its slowed-down rave horns and acid house synth lines.
“KE01” inhabits the flipside of the same sonic world “One For The Waltzers”. Here, feverish percussive energy contrasts against pensive melodic synth chords. It’s a heady warehouse affair, familiar and complex, referential yet contemporary, and only adds to the momentum that Ian DPM is gathering.
- A1: Global Tracks - Hither Green
- B1: Globaltracks - Shelley
- C1: Kanot - Bottenmannen
- D1: Kanot - La Danse Des Corneilles
- E1: Tecwaa - Cï
- F1: Tecwaa - Xentæh
- G1: Dame Bonnet - Portamento
- H1: Dame Bonett - Dark, Slow
- I1: Birds - Transcendental Phases
- J1: Birds - Tunnel Visio
- K1: Purple Desert Rain God - Invisible Matter
- L1: Purple Desert Rain God - Bridge To Nowhere
- M1: Jesse - Possibilities
- N1: Jesse - Shazzy
- O1: The Exorcist Gbg - Stonerdisco
- P1: The Exorcist Gbg - Superstandard
- Q1: Timothy J. Fairplay - Pathfinder Theme
- R1: Timothy J. Fairplay - Ufos Over China
- S1: Pink Skull - Taki Chrome
- T1: Pink Skull - Strummer Maxx
The Mothership has come! It has arrived in the form of the strictly limited collection box “Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe”, containing all singles released on the label between 2019 and 2021. The Höga Nord – galaxy resounds of all good between strict electro and loose jams, fluffy krautrock and moist world music to underwater techno and space funk. Although, what it is that defines the Höga Nord sound is not genres, instead it is, to cite Mathias Nilsson, founder of and boss for the label, music “strongly connected to fantasy, to the creative world.” Creativity over profit!
The collection is an overview on Gothenburg’s underground music and on an international scene that breathes similar air as the local Swedish acts that Höga Nord Rekords has chosen to highlight. The kinship between Jesse’s 80’s varnish sports car-electro and Purple Desert Rain God’s more traditional mountain sound can appear distant but the artists come together in their free spirited approach to their own productions – what all acts on this collection has in common is that they move toward something new, something beyond the genre they are in.
“Music Is The Healing Force Of The Universe ” mark the closer for Höga Nords first run. The 2010s are over and the 2020s lies open for further investigation of the cream of the Swedish and international of underground scenes!
Mute reissue ‘Our Likeness’ by the renowned avant-garde artist Phew.
Originally released in 1992, ‘Our Likeness’ was Phew’s second solo album, following her self-titled debut.
This long out of print album saw Phew collaborate with the legendary and peerless Alexander Hacke (hackedepicciotto, Einstruzende Neubauten), Jaki Liebezeit (CAN) and Chrislo Haas (Crime & the
City Solution, DAF, Liaisons Dangereuses).
After leaving the pioneering Japanese punk band Aunt Sally, she worked with many other innovative
artists from around the globe, although this particular line up is hard to beat and sounds as
great as you’d imagine it would.
This reissue follows Phew’s latest album, ‘New Decade’, which was released in October, 2021.
- A1: Kimina - Aliamka
- A2: Kmru - I Had The Impression
- A3: Barno - Calm, Chaos
- B1: Manch!Ld - Escape From Nyawawa
- B2: Budalagi - Mura
- B3: Ngat Maler - Nam Lolwe
- B4: Nyokabi Kariuki - Anjiru
- C1: Nabalayo - Mtwapa Siren
- C2: Avom - Waza
- C3: M3 - I Choose Violence
- C4: Munyasya - Borrowed Cadences
- D1: Snse - Ng'eetich
- D2: Mr Lu - Kaa Tukachome
- D3: Rushab Nandha - Sunset Over Vienna
In Kenyan cultural communities’ musical performance has always been linked with a long chain of related events and ideas. Music was often used to illuminate a specific topic and its implications to society. Through this method of explanation, musicians were able to reveal several underlying social concepts that determined people’s behaviour towards each other and the community.
This common recurring theme was seen mostly in ceremonies. African musical productions are abstract configurations that demonstrate a common fundamental creative principle of mediating the physical and metaphysical worlds. INSHA is centered on time and the evolution/relationship of these cultural-creative influences. The compilation inquires aspects of traditional cultures, physical or metaphysical from communities in Kenya, and act as inspirations and sonic paraphernalia. INSHA serves as a bridge between the past and future music creators on a more fundamental level than usual record keeping.
- A1: Johnny "Hammond" Smith - Dig On It
- A2: Sonny Philips - Sure 'Nuff Sure 'Nuff
- A3: Houston Person - Soul Dance
- B1: Billy Butler - The Twang Thang
- B2: Boogaloo Joe Jones - What It Is
- B3: Charles Earland - Spinky
- C1: Idris Muhammad - Super Bad
- C2: Ivan "Boogaloo" Joe Jones - Hoochie Coo Chickie
- C3: Charles Kynard - Reelin' With The Feelin
- D1: Cal Tjader & Bernard Purdie - Mamblues
- D2: Funk Inc - Bowlegs
- D3: Bernard Purdie - Cold Sweat
- D4: The Round Robin Monopoly - Life Is Funky
- A1: Rashoumon (Feat The Blue Jeans)
- A2: Sado Okesa (Feat The Bunnys)
- A3: Tsugaru Goze (Feat The Blue Jeans)
- A4: Tsugaru Jongara Bushi (Feat The Blue Jeans)
- A5: Abashiri Bangaichi (Feat The Blue Jeans)
- B1: Dannoura (Feat The Blue Jeans)
- B2: Tsugaru Hanagasa (Feat The Blue Jeans)
- B3: Taiyou Ni Sakebou (Feat The Blue Jeans & Rui Takahashi)
- B4: Komoro Oiwake (Feat The Bunnys)
- B5: Amefuru Machikado (Feat The Blue Jeans)
Japan's guitar hero Takeshi Terauchi reworks traditional songs and lets everything go wild with his magnificent and frenzied guitar sound. Enter the electrifying world of Eleki!
Gatefold 180g heavy vinyl LP, reverse board print. Comes with extensive liner notes by Japanese pop culture writer Julien Seveon (Cinexploitation)
All tracks licensed by King Record Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan.
Mastering and lacquer cut by Jukka Sarapää at Timmion Cutting Lab, Helsinki, Finland.
Artwork by Nker
The aftermath of World War II gave rise to a global phenomenon that saw new generations of young people rise up determined to forge new paths from their elders – culturally, politically, and musically. Japan was no exception and the recent past made the local youth angrier, hungrier and even more determined to fully experience something different from their parents. The country caught on to the early rock & roll craze almost in tandem as it was happening in the States. Teenager Chiemi Eri singing "Rock Around The Clock" and Kazuya Kosaka with "Heartbreak Hotel" were among the first to make what would soon be called Rokabiri accessible to a large audience. Teacher and parent associations showed concern regarding this new music when teenagers started missing school to attend afternoon shows – one of which most notably being the Nichigeki Western Carnival where all the top names of Rokabiri played to sold out audiences. But by the end of the 1950s, the youth of Japan had moved on to something else entirely: Eleki.
The 50s and 60s were a time of rapid change that saw trends come and go. Japan, like all other industrial countries, saw its youth move from one musical sensation to the next. And in the early 60s, there was one band in particular that created a distinct new flavor: The Ventures. Leaving behind vocals and focusing strictly on the impact of the sound of the electric guitar, The Ventures drove kids crazy all over the world. Other bands followed, most notably The Shadows, but in Japan, no other instrumental rock band managed to leave such an impact. The sound of The Ventures helped boost guitar sales in Japan and soon hundreds of cover bands were popping up all over the country. The Eleki Bumu (electric boom) was now in full effect with Takeshi Terauchi emerging as its first and greatest guitar hero.
Terauchi was born January 1939 in the prefecture of Tochigi, north of Tokyo. His mother taught music and played the shamisen – a traditional Japanese stringed instrument – while his father ran, among other things, an electronics shop. Their respective professions were to be decisive in the path that Terauchi would later take. Serendipitously, at the age of five, Takeshi was given his first instrument – a guitar. His destiny sealed, he quickly began experimenting with different tools from his father's shop to give his instrument a stronger sound. The technological approach came from his father, the technique from his mother. Terauchi's signature playing style owes a lot to his mother's instrument of choice, as he attacks the notes on his guitar as one plucks the strings of a shamisen.
This exceptional compilation you are holding in your hands explores some of the best works by Takeshi Terauchi, recorded between 1966 and 1974, where the guitar hero looks inwards to Japan for inspiration. A meeting between traditional folk songs and the unique way Terauchi and his band play: the content is explosive, inspired, and highly addictive! The 60s and 70s were undoubtedly Terauchi's finest hours, and in the late 60s, one Japanese critic said that Terauchi was not only the best guitarist in Japan, but also in the world. You can now find out why.
- A1: Omni Trio - Soul Promenade (Nookie Remix)
- A2: Prisoners Of Technology - Trick Of Technology
- B1: Dope Skillz - 6 Million Ways
- B2: Amazon Ii - King Of The Beats
- C1: Wax Doctor - Heat
- C2: Roni Size / Reprazent - Watching Windows (Dj Die Gnarly Instrumental Mix)
- D1: Jonny L - Wish U Had Something
- D2: Optical - Bounce
In 2021 Velocity Press published Who Say Reload: The Stories Behind the Classic Drum & Bass Records of the 90s, an oral history of the records that defined jungle/drum & bass straight from the original sources. The deluxe coffee table book has since sold thousands of copies and prompted many to comment that it should have an accompanying soundtrack.
Now author Paul Terzulli has compiled a Who Say Reload album. However, where the book focused solely on classics and anthems, the compilation takes a different route and offers up a selection of top-quality tunes from some of the scene’s most respected artists and labels.
Like the book, the album covers the genre’s nineties golden era, and the many styles of D&B are represented. Pioneering producers and crowd-pleasing favourites sit alongside a few sought-after obscurities by the unsung heroes of the scene. Most importantly, there are some absolute bangers!
The 16 tracks are spread over two volumes of 2 x 12"s, and there is also a 13-track digital version, taking you on a journey through music forged from raw breakbeats and basslines that soundtracked a culture of all-night raves, specialist record shops and pirate radio stations.
Jungle/drum & bass is approaching its 30th anniversary. Its sonic and cultural legacy is still being felt today. There’s still plenty of old music that might be “new” to some, and these tunes still pack as much of a punch as they did back in the day. That unique energy generated by a combination of breakbeats, bass and creativity never gets old.
Produced in conjunction with Above Board distribution. All tracks mastered from original sources and fully licensed. Mastering by Beau Thomas @ Ten Eight Seven Mastering. Liner notes from Who Say Reload author Paul Terzulli. Photography by Eddie Otchere. Artwork and design by Protean Productions.
Dismantling the acoustic to feed the electronic, Editions Mego presents Telepath, the new album by Material Object. Born out of a single improvised recording session with a lone Violinist, Telepath is a startling album of future electronic music, resulting in an LP of unique and timeless tracks that reimagine a classic sound for an endless future.
Boldly departing from his previous canon of largely 'ambient' work, Material Object's Telepath renders itself out as something much stranger, something more spacious, more subtle and gradual. Moments of bouncing minimalism meet moirés of delayed pure tones phasing in and out of resolution, giving way to a series of strobing foreground gestures arranged and offset in disorienting landscapes which scatter themselves asymmetrically amongst crystal pools of reverb.
Revelling in the creative dismemberment of the original source material, Material Object slowly and patiently induces the violin to undergo every category of torsion, pressure and rupture. Its vivid acoustic qualities pass over and across the event horizon of the digital domain. Shattering then crystallising into points and coordinates, intersections, disjunctions, planes and reverberant figures. An uncanny geometry perceived only between the ears, at once dissolving and reconstructing itself.
Not to be missed here is the essential, but bonus only, add-on (available with all Bandcamp purchases) "Auxiliary Apparition", a hallucinatory expanse that traverses the same liminal geography as the LP proper but as some refracted, ghostly counterpoint. More nocturnal, overpowering phantasms looming out of a droning noise floor before fading away. A hypnotic and time-dilated recapitulation of what's gone before as if looking back from beyond a mirror. When it finally resolves in the closing moments and returns you home, you realise you haven't really moved at all.
Equally abstract, haunting and daring, Material Object’s Telepath is a singular work that abandons all notions of genre. Erupting with a tension of opposites that unfolds as a truly unique story, told in four dimensions and draped in deafening colour.
In the late 1980s, the renowned American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger John Hicks formed one of the most influential ensembles consisting of musicians that had played music at the highest level all their lives and gained their status as both stand-alone artists and important sidemen. Each of them had participated in many of jazz’s great moments and all shared the ability, documented on many albums, to inspire their fellow musicians to even greater heights. The ‘John Hicks Trio’ had several line-up changes over the years that included greats such as Clifford Barbaro (Strata East, Blue Note, Sun Ra Arkestra, Charles Tolliver), Clint Houston (Prestige, Nina Simone, Roy Ayers, Azar Lawrence), Ray Drummond (Freddie Hubbard, Art Blakey, Lalo Schifrin), Marcus McLaurine (Muse, Verve, Weldon Irvine, Kool & The Gang) and Victor Lewis (Steve Grossman, Stan Getz, Charles Mingus, Cedar Walton, Chet Baker).
On the album we are presenting you today (I’ll Give You Something To Remember Me By from 1988) the trio consists out of some of the biggest and best players in the jazz, funk and soul scenes:
On piano we have the Atlanta based trio’s bandleader JOHN HICKS (1941-2006). He served as a leader on more than 30 albums and played as a sideman on more than 300 other recordings. After being taught piano by his mother, Hicks went on to study at Lincoln University of Missouri, Berklee College of Music, and the Juilliard School. After playing with a number of different artists during the early ’60s (including Oliver Nelson and being part of Pharoah Sanders’s first band) he joined Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers in 1964. In the early ’70s he taught jazz history and improvisation at Southern Illinois University before resuming his career as a recording artist. Next to his many solo recordings for labels such as Strata East and Concord, Hicks would collaborate with all the big names in the scene, including Archie Shepp, Mingus and Alvin Queen. In 2014 & 2015, J Dilla paid homage to John Hicks by sampling two of his songs.
On drums we have the legendary IDRIS MUHAMMAD (1939-2014) who to this day is still considered as one of the most influential drummers covering a multitude of genre-transcending styles. Born in New Orleans, he showed early talent as a percussionist and began his professional career while still a teenager, playing on Fats Domino’s ‘Blueberry Hill’. He then toured with Sam Cooke and would later go on to work with Curtis Mayfield. Next to his landmark solo recordings for Prestige Records, Idris would collaborate with iconic musicians and acts from the likes of Manu Dibango, Ahmad Jamal, Melvin Sparks, Charles Earland, Walter Bishop, Ceasar Frazier, Roberta Flack, Gato Barbieri, Nathan Davis, Sonny Rollins, Lou Donaldson, Galt MacDermot, Lonnie Smith…and countless others. Idris Muhammad’s work was sampled by renowned performers such as Drake, Beastie Boys and Fatboy Slim.
On bass we have CURTIS LUNDY (born 1955) who originates from Florida. Lundy is a well-respected bass player (and a master of his instrument), choir director, arranger, composer and producer who was part of performances and recordings of renowned acts and artists such as Pharoah Sanders, Frank Morgan, Cole Porter, Chico Freeman, Khan Jamal… and many others!
On I’ll Give You Something To Remember Me By (recorded at the legendary Dutch Studio 44 in March 1987 and released on Limetree Records in 1988) the listener is treated to eight majestic tracks of the highest caliber (including an excellent Thelonious Monk cover-tune) and features a remarkable outing of advanced musicianship by three jazz-giants in their prime, delivering an inspirational gem of an album.
These recordings sound as successful, young and vibrant as ever! Expect supercharged ragtime Post Bop with striking notes, no-holds-barred musicianship, high swinging solos, screaming choruses and plenty of solid virtuosity to spare. The up tempo none stop Latin beat is complimented by the terrific drum solos of Idris Muhammad and the rhythmic bass strokes of Curtis Lundy. This electrifying set of tracks makes this release a bonafide hit and a must have for any self-respecting jazz fan or collector.
Nachdem Steve Winwood die erfolgreiche Spencer Davis Group verlassen und die hellen Lichter zugunsten
der Countryside und der Jam-Sessions mit Jim Capaldi, Dave Mason und Chris Wood hinter sich gelassen
hatte, gründeten sich Traffic in Birmingham im April 1967. Traffic begannen als Psychedelic Rockband
und diversifizierten ihren Sound durch den Einsatz von Instrumenten wie Keyboards sowie durch die Einbeziehung von Jazz- und Improvisationstechniken. Bald darauf, im Dezember 1967, veröffentlichten Traffic
”Mr. Fantasy,” ihr Debütalbum, über Island Records. Das Album nannte der Rolling Stone „one of the
best from any contemporary group“ und es ist zu einem festen Bestandteil fast jeder Umfrage zum besten
Album des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts geworden!
Nun erscheint das Album als individuelles Re-Issue aus dem phänomenalen ”Traffic 2019 - The Studio
Albums 1967-74 Boxset.” Aus den Originalaufnahmen remastered und auf 180 g schweres Vinyl gepresst,
ist es ein Muss für jeden neuen oder erfahrenen Traffic-Fan.
”Mr. Fantasy” erscheint als Deluxe LP und digital.
"And we"re coming out of dreams / And we"re coming back to dreams" is the first thing you hear Bill say as you remake your acquaintance on YTILAER. Right out the gate, he"s standing in two places at once: meeting up with old friends behind the scenes and encountering them on the record, finding himself coming round the bend and then again as someone else on down the line. Like the character actor he played on Gold Record, writing stories about other people, telling jokes about everyone, and in singing them, becoming the songs. "You do what you"ve got to do / To see the picture" Bill"s got a full band sound going on this one, with him and Matt Kinsey on guitars, Emmett Kelly on bass and backing vocals, Sarah Ann Phillips on B3, piano and backing vocals and Jim White on drums. Jim and Matt sing on one song, too, and some other singers come in, too. Bill plays some synth here and there, and Carl Smith drifts in and out of the picture with his contra alto clarinet, as do Mike St. Clair and Derek Phelps on brass. Somehow in between them all, you might think you hear the distant sound of a steel guitar. And you might - but you might not, too. In this company, Bill continues his journey, tunneling underneath the weathered exterior of what seems to be and into the more nuanced life everything takes on in the dark. With Bill"s voice making the extraordinary leaps and bounds that measure the lives of the songs, the band follow him through passages that seem to invent themselves; other times playing with deeply soulful grooves and/or desperate intensity, as these moments come and go. There"s nothing they can"t do. "I wrote this song in five and forever / I"m writing it right now" Bill sings on "Natural Information" - an admission of the everyday alchemy he"s forever trafficking in. Time passes, triangulating the encounters that went into any one record with two out of any three others, all of it made flesh, new constitution, in our stereo speakers. If every album is its own life, it stands to reason that they"re invariably passing in the night. Cascading images flowing from the stream of consciousness. Turning like pages from the journal, unspeakably personal, then suddenly become tall tales, like a book pulled off the shelf, completely unbound. Headlines flow through. Mirror images, mirthful ones. Bill"s lyrics strain at the lines on the page, not content to separate the printing of the fact from the myth or be confined to ink on paper. They want to fly free. And they do. "I realize now that dreams are real" On YTILAER"s inner sleeve, alongside his lyrics, Bill celebrates the "exhilaration and dread" of cover artist Paul Ryan"s paintings. Paul"s another one met up with again down the road, his indelible cover imagery on Apocalypse and Dream River now an axis of meaning in the Callahanian world - and in the bright colors found in these new images, a parallel to Bill"s recognitions here. "A breath of exquisite air as we come up from drowning", sounds like the desired hope for those hearing the songs of YTILAER.
Am 20. Januar 2023 erscheint das mit Spannung erwartete neue Album von Lukas Graham, ‘4 (The Pink Album)’. Ab sofort könnt ihr euer eigenes physisches Exemplar exklusiv als leuchtend pinke Limited Edition CD oder LP vorbestellen – die beide einen exklusiven zusätzlichen Track „Hard Way“ enthalten.
‘4 (The Pink Album)’ besteht aus 12 Songs von der bemerkenswerten musikalischen Reise von Lukas Graham – einem weltweiten Phänomen, das die kleine Kommune Christiania in Kopenhagen mit seiner unverwechselbaren Mischung aus Pop und Soul, einer charismatischen, ausdrucksstarken Stimme und echter Poesie berühmt gemacht hat. Auf ‘4 (The Pink Album)’ reflektiert Lukas nicht nur über sein Leben, sondern entwickelt sich auch zu dem, der er sein soll.
Die Veröffentlichung von ‘Lie’ Ende 2019 war der erste Vorbote des neuen Albums. 2020 folgte der weltweite Megahit ‘Share That Love’ feat. G-Eazy und dieses Jahr der gemeinsam mit Ryan Tedder von
One Republic geschriebene Track ‘Wish You Were Here’ feat. Khalid. Auf dem unveröffentlichten Track ‘Home Movies’ ist der vierfach GRAMMY-nominierte Countrysänger Mickey Guyton als Gast zu hören.
‘Hard Way’ erscheint exklusiv auf dem physischen Pre-order.
CLEAR BLUE VINYL
`Oh Me Oh My' is both elegant and ferocious. It is stirring in one moment and a balm the next. It details histories both global and personal. Lonnie Holley's harrowing youth and young manhood in the Jim Crow South are well-told at this point _ his sale into a different home as a child for just a bottle of whiskey; his abuse at the infamous Mount Meigs correctional facility for boys; the destruction of his art environment by the Birmingham airport expansion. But Holley's music is less a performance of pain endured and more a display of perseverance, of relentless hope. Intricately and lovingly produced by LA's Jacknife Lee (The Cure, REM, Modest Mouse), there is both kinetic, shortwave funk that call to mind Brian Eno's `My Life in the Bush of Ghosts' and the deep space satellite sounds of Eno's ambient works. But it's a tremendous achievement in sonics all its own. It's also an achievement in the refinement of Holley's impressionistic, stream-of-consciousness lyrics. On the title track which deals with mutual human understanding", Holley is able to make a profound point as ever in far fewer phrases: "The deeper we go, the more chances there are, for us to understand the oh-me's and understand the oh-my's." Illustrious collaborators like Michael Stipe, Sharon Van Etten, Moor Mother and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver serve as not only as choirs of angels and co-pilots to give Lonnie's message flight but as proof of Lonnie Holley as a galvanizing, iconoclastic force across the music community.
"Denial” and "Anger" are the first and second movements in Michael Leonhart’s, The Normyn Suite #1: (Soundtrack to the Five Stages of Grieving), which is both a requiem and celebration, inspired by the life and death of Leonhart’s 15-year-old dog, a female mini dachshund named Normyn.
Suite #1 first appeared on the Michael Leonhart Orchestra 2022 album "The Normyn Suites" (Sunnyside Records) and was inspired by “The Kübler-Ross Grief Cycle,” a model introduced by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her 1969 book, On Death and Dying. “The Five Stages of Grief” is a critically acclaimed study on how humans handle loss.
For Leonhart's suite in five parts, he expands the MLO’s live performance palette of brass, woodwinds and strings to include choir and found percussion over gritty breakbeat drums from Nick Movshon. Leonhart shares, “I wanted ‘Denial’ and ‘Anger’ to have an emotional tension and raw quality, almost a whiplash effect..."
The Normyn Suites is an elegy; to listen is to spend time in that space of loss, reckoning, questioning, and mourning. At the same time, though, with each note, each phrase, we are propelled back into life,” reflects author Alexandra Horowitz in the stirring liner notes.
In 1980, Bootsy Collins released two studio albums, including Ultra Wave. The title is an homage to the Detroit- based studios where Collins collaborated with core Rubber Band contributors Phelps “Catfish” Collins (guitar), Robert “P-Nut” Johnson (vocals), and the dynamic horns of Fred Wesley (trombone) and Maceo Parker (sax). Ultra Wave was produced by George Clinton, in collaboration with Bootsy himself. For the recordings of the album, additional vocals were provided by other P-Funk alumni Jeanette Washington and Debbie Wright amongst others, who were the first women to join Parliament-Funkadelic.
Ultra Wave is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on turquoise coloured vinyl and includes an insert.
If there is a space in this place for a voice of this age, it’s still sealed in wax. Above the din of the noise a vocal appears, in calm
reflection, it delivers a message of hope in a time of despair. Ivan Ave is back. A lot has transpired since we last heard him on a
full-length project, there's a lot to ponder as we get into his latest LP, All Season Gear.
On his 4th solo album, Ivan offers a glimpse into the various seasons he and his friends went through in the last three years. All
Season Gear was recorded on highs and lows through a pandemic, through healing, falling in love and observing the chaos that
is the hyper-textual information age. Lyrically an all-weather-proof record, breaking even with with a joie de vivre, backed by
production from the likes of Sasac, Mndsgn, Like, DJ Harrison and Ivan Ave himself.
The Norwegian rapper’s sixth solo release percolates between desperation and buoyancy, through a tide of beats, as Ivan taps
into his signature observations. His lyrics are an astute surveillance that exploit the mundane in a pensive exploration, touching
on hedonistic heights, with a constant focus on the beauty of the everyday.
The Mutual Intentions mouthpiece breezes through a record of wistful sonorities brought together by the larger Mutual intentions
collaboration. Keys swell and bass undulates, as the production convene on vintage aesthetics, repurposed for air-pod traveling.
It extends the sonic palette of his last LP, Double Goodbyes, and plunges the sound deeper than ever before.
Ivan Ave reinforces our vision of him as a voice for our time. A philosopher’s touch-stone in a world where the incongruous prevails over the sincere.
With his new album, Gecko Turner confirms that he is a standout artist in the global groove scene, a must for the outernational sounds aficionados.
Somebody From Badajoz is the fifth studio album in his much lauded discography and his first in seven years, eagerly anticipated by both his fans and himself: "this business of dedicating yourself to music and making songs... it's a long game."
With the release of his first two, remarkable, albums, Guapapasea! (2003) and Chandalismo Ilustrado (2006), Gecko started cultivating what one astute journalist defined as Afro-maduran soul—the "maduran" bit referencing Extremadura, a region in central-western Spain.
Badajoz, Gecko's birthplace, is the biggest city in the area, on the border with Portugal, by the Guadiana River. It is a place that oozes history, where there is constant movement at the border, and people's character is friendly and open-minded with foreign habits.
Gecko's Afro-maduran soul isbuilt on Afro-American music and drenched in Brazilian, African, Latin American and Jamaican sounds. There are also echoes of a youth marked in equal parts by our man's admiration for the Beatles and the flamenco that could be heard everywhere in Badajoz in the seventies. It makes for a singular sound and a musical language of its own—spicy, succulent, full of nuances, but with a very personal flavour.
The album opens with the Nigerian talking drums of Twenty-twenty Vision, (neo) soul in a magical falsetto, carried by a sumptuous orchestral arrangement with a cinematic flavour: "I'd been thinking about doing something called 'Twenty-twenty Vision' for some time, making a play on words with the vision we have of the world after the year 2020 and the medical expression, which, in ophthalmological terms, means 'normal or complete vision.' Beyond that particular song, I think that's the mood of the album: a look at society in the twenties of the 21st century and the feelings and demons it produces."
It's followed by De Balde, a very special song born from a posthumously discovered lyric by the great writer Carlos Lencero, a regular collaborator of Camarón, Pata Negra, and Remedios Amaya, and also from Badajoz. While conceived as a fandango, Gecko has moulded it into his sound in such a seamless way it now seems as if the words could only have been written to be embraced by the percussion, brass, and backing vocals heard on the album. It's the only lyric on Somebody From Badajoz not written by Turner, still it sits rather comfortably with the rest, sharing the same emotivity and sensitivity, as well as the trademark humour and irony.
Other tracks see more protagonism for the rhythm.The beat-driven Ain't No Fun Preachin' to the Choir features Gecko's vocals walking the thin line between singing and talking over a phenomenal afro-disco-funk-infused trailblazer. In Am I Sad? it's impossible to not bob your head to the queen of Papatosina's mongrel rhythm, as close to the banks of the Guadiana river as it is to the shores of the Mississippi. Qué Siesta Tan Buena, He Babeao Y To! is an ode to the snooze in true Afro-Maduran fashion. And in Come And Try, the Caribbean influence is evident—lovers' rock that invites you to dance in good company.
In these songs, and throughout the album, for that matter, the musicians accompanying Gecko, who himself plays many of the instruments as well, shine brightly. All hailing from Extremadura, Javi Mojave (percussion), Álvaro Fdez 'Dr. Robelto' (bass), and Rafa Prieto (guitar) have been carrying him with delicate forcefulness since he started out as a solo artist. At the same time, the wonderful and essential voices of Deborah Ayo, Astrid Jones, Fani Ela Nsue, and Miriam Solís give the album a sunny variety of colours. And there are many more—a sensational group of musicians contributes dazzling harmonic bursts to many of the songs. The palette of sounds is very diverse and rich in textures and nuances, including, for example, the ngoni, bells, and various repurposed kitchen utensils.
The groove is always around, moving between the magical border sound of Everybody Knows Somebody From Badajoz and Little Dose, the silky soul of The Sibariteo Appreciation Society, and the exultant celebration of End Of The World (which surprisingly sees Gecko turning to the occasional use of autotune), a piece that could be used for the final credits of a Monty Python film and, in fact, closes the album.
Gecko Turner has done it again with Somebody From Badajoz, looking to the future without losing sight of the roots. In times of upheaval all over the globe, when people are looking for purity, he delivers a formidable piece of work: risky, optimistic in spite of everything, and with a decidedly bastard sound. Let's rejoice.
- A1: Atta Frimpong - Bepo So Dua
- A2: Alan Cosmos & His Bam-Baara Soundz - Soca For Your Pleasure
- A3: Ab Crentsil - Mama Dwen Meho
- B1: Dj Lawyer Okyere - Ohia Kannye Ya (Medley)
- B2: Alan Cosmos & His Bam-Baara Soundz - Onua Gyae
- B3: Pope Flyne Ackah - I Think You Are Right (Jepense Que Tu A Raison) (Jepense Que Tu A Raison)
- C1: Atta Frimpong - Yaako
- C2: Pat Thomas - Obae
- C3: Mawuli Decker - Mawu Nafako Nam
- D1: Nana Aboagye Da-Costa - Sikyi (Medley)
- D2: Alan Cosmos & His Bam-Baara Soundz - Yebi/Fontonfrom
Kalita are proud to unveil the second volume in their "Borga Revolution!" compilation series, focussing on the phenomenon of "Burger Highlife", a crossover of West African melodies with synthesizers, disco and boogie that took over Ghanaian airwaves during the 1980"s and beyond. Featuring both highly sought-after recordings by artists including Atta Frimpong and D.J. Lawyer Okyere, as well as seminal performances by greats such as Pat Thomas, A.B. Crentsil and Alan Cosmos, Kalita once again come to the rescue of audiophiles, DJs and music-lovers alike with "Borga Revolution! - Volume 2". Spread over a double-LP housed in a gatefold sleeve. Accompanied by a 12-page booklet featuring extensive interview-based liner notes on each artist and never-before-seen archival photos.
Party Dozen is a sonic partnership loosely based on improvisation between saxophonist Kirsty Tickle and percussionist Jonathan Boulet. Their debut album, The Living Man, earned critical acclaim upon release in 2017. They've toured relentlessly ever since - each performance a trial of physicality and an expression of maximalism. Like the legendary Dirty Three, the members seem to meld into one mind, oblivious to the viewer. Tickle effortlessly navigates Boulet's ever-shortening attention span and wild tempo changes; form gradually materializes from chaos.
- A1: Biohazard' // "Punishment
- A2: Madball // "Set It Off
- A3: Stormtroopers Of Death // "March Of The S.o.d
- A4: Life Of Agony // "River Runs Red
- A5: Obituary // "The End Complete
- B1: Mercyful Fate // "Curse Pf The Pharaohs
- B2: King Diamond "'Abigail
- B3: Annihilator // "Alison Hell
- B4: Deicide // "Dead By Dawn
- C1: Trivium // "Pull Harder On The
- C2: Strings Of Your Martyr
- C3: Killswitch Engage // "My Last Serenade
- C4: Chimaira // "Pure Hatred
- C5: Fear Factory // "Replica
- D1: Type O Negative // "Black No. 1
- D2: Roadrunner United // "Tired ?N Lonely
- D3: Stone Sour // "Brother
- D4: Roadrunner United // "The Rich Man
- E1: Roadrunner United // "The Dagger
- E2: Roadrunner United // "The End
- E3: Soulfly // "Eye For An Eye
- E4: Sepultura // "Refuse/Resist
- F1: Slipknot // "Surfacing
- F2: Machine Head // "Davidian
- F3: Slipknot // "(Sic)
- F4: Sepultura // "Roots Bloody Roots
Roadrunner United war ein Projekt des berühmten
Hardrock-Labels Roadrunner Records, das 2005 zur Feier
des 25-jährigen Bestehens organisiert wurde und seinen
Höhepunkt in den "All-Star Sessions" fand, einem Album,
das für Chart-Platzierungen in Deutschland, den USA,
Großbritannien und weiteren Ländern sorgte. Vier
"Spielführer" (Joey Jordison von Slipknot, Robb
Flynn von Machine Head, Dino Cazares von Fear
Factory und Matthew K. Heafy von Trivium) wurden
auserkoren, sich mit 57 Artists aus 45 ehemaligen und
aktuellen Roadrunner-Bands einzufinden. Ein
Metal-Familientreffen der besonderen Art!
Ab dem 10. März 2023 sind sowohl das Original-Album
der "All-Star Sessions" als auch das Konzert selbst in
Vinyl wieder erhältlich.
- A1: Sunshine
- A2: The Number One
- A3: Rftc
- A4: Mattress
- A5: Don't Forget
- B1: Peyote
- B2: Party Over Here
- B3: Makes The Sun Come Out
- B4: The Rooster
- B5: Lyndale Avenue User's Manual
- C1: Don't Stop
- C2: 66Th Street
- C3: They All Get Mad At You
- C4: Beautiful
- C5: Ha, This One Is About Alcohol Too
- D1: Less One
- D2: Good Daddy
- D3: Carry Me Home
- D4: Happymess
- D5: Not Another Day
Since its incarnation as a string of tapes and CDRs for the band to sell on tour in 1999, the Sad Clown series has taken on numerous forms, including 4-track demos, live shows, a DVD, a mixtape, and 7" singles. While preparing for 2007's When Life Gives You Lemons, You Paint That Sh*t Gold, Atmosphere launched the next phase of the series, releasing Sad Clown Bad Summer Number 9, the first of four EP's dedicated to the four seasons. These seasonal releases were the first in the Sad Clown series to receive distribution, being made available on both vinyl and CD. Showcasing Slug and Ant at their best, the four Sad Clown seasons encompassed fan favorites such as "Don't Forget," `The Rooster," "Not Another Day," "Happymess," and "Sunshine," Atmosphere's biggest song to date. These four iconic EPs are now packaged into one 2xLP vinyl release titled Sad Clown Bad Year, complete with an 8-page activity book of custom coloring pages, connect-the-dots, a word find and a maze. The entire package comes housed in a reverse board jacket featuring black & white illustrations with an uncoated finish so you can color and customize yours anyway you like!
Close to five years on from their last transmission, Ulrika Spacek resurface from self-imposed exile with their third album, Compact Trauma, a collection of songs that function as a chance treatise of sorts for our current collective condition. With a title like that arriving at this point in time, it's tempting to interpret the record solely in the context of the global events of the past few years, but the roots of these ten songs arc back much further in time, charged with their own personalised internal damage. Trauma, in its myriad forms, is often hard to qualify, even harder to rationalise. When something begins to go wrong, how do you gain perspective? What is a temporary roadblock, and what is unmitigated disaster? In its first phase of life, Compact Trauma was a document of a band striving to perfect an idea while the universe around them seemed to want to shut down. And then, at an impasse of sorts and with a record halfway complete, it suddenly did. If Ulrika Spacek were a band in need of the breaks applying, it was the force of a global pandemic that made it happen. As the world stood still, Compact Trauma was filed away, unfinished and unheard by the wider world, possibly to remain that way forever. And yet, there was to be a second act. If mutability is our tragedy, it's also our hope, clearer days slowly began to emerge as the bad slipped away. The wound, as the saying goes, is the place where the light enters you. The prolonged break enforced by myriad lockdowns may have separated the group but it also afforded the five time to reflect on what had already been committed to tape.. As the lights came back on and the shutters up, they found themselves drawn back towards Compact Trauma. What they rediscovered was a record that seemed to preempt the shared grief of a global pandemic. Even if the specifics were different, the themes were uncannily similar. Addressing existential freak out, displacement, substance reliance and encroaching self-doubt, these highly personalised songs suddenly took on a wider significance, speaking in part to a bigger narrative. They could have left it alone, but in coming back to what they knew, Ulrika Spacek found their best work yet. RIYL: Mercury Rev, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Radiohead, Deerhunter, Atlas Sound, Stereolab.
Mixed Vinyl[30,21 €]
High Roller Records, reissue 2023, black vinyl, ltd 350, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, 4 page insert, 2-sided poster, A5 photo card, restored & mastered for vinyl by Patrick W. Engel at Temple of Disharmony
Black Vinyl[30,21 €]
High Roller Records, reissue 2023, black vinyl, ltd 350, 425gsm heavy cardboard cover, 4 page insert, 2-sided poster, A5 photo card, restored & mastered for vinyl by Patrick W. Engel at Temple of Disharmony
- A1: Biohazard "Punishment
- A2: Madball "Set It Off
- A3: Stormtroopers Of Death "March Of The S.o.d
- A4: Life Of Agony "River Runs Red
- A5: Obituary "The End Complete
- B1: Mercyful Fate "Curse Pf The Pharaohs
- B2: King Diamond ''Abigail”
- B3: Annihilator "Alison Hell
- B4: Deicide "Dead By Dawn
- C1: Trivium "Pull Harder On The Strings Of Your Martyr
- C2: Killswitch Engage "My Last Serenade
- C3: Chimaira “Pure Hatred
- C4: Fear Factory "Replica
- D1: Type O Negative "Black No. 1
- D2: Roadrunner United “Tired ‘N Lonely
- D3: Stone Sour "Brother
- D4: Roadrunner United "The Rich Man
- E1: Roadrunner United "The Dagger
- E2: Roadrunner United "The End
- E3: Soulfly "Eye For An Eye
- E4: Sepultura "Refuse/Resist
- F1: Slipknot "Surfacing
- F2: Machine Head "Davidian
- F3: Slipknot "(Sic)
- F4: Sepultura "Roots Bloody Roots
We have opened the vault to bring to you for the first time on a 2CD set Roadrunner United ‘The Concert (Live at the Nokia Theatre, New York, NY, 12/15/2005)’, featuring members of Slipknot, Anthrax, Trivium, Machine Head, Fear Factory, Sepultura & more. Roadrunner United was a project organized by the heavy metal record label Roadrunner Records to celebrate its 25th anniversary. On December 15th, 2005, in New York City, the label produced the Metal Concert to end all Metal Concerts: 39 musicians, representing 25 different Roadrunner bands, performed 25 songs from 19 different bands’ repertoire. This unique and unprecedented aggregation of musicians was no jam session. Each song was studiously rehearsed and arranged, coming together with exuberant perfection, to produce a concert that can only be called “Legend.”
Conceived as a follow-up to the Roadrunner United All-Star recording sessions, the label recruited the core team of musicians (Dino Cazares, Adam Duce, Paul Gray, Joey Jordison, Andreas Kisser and Roy Mayorga) as the backbone of the performance. Sure enough, as they fine-tuned the songs and rehearsed them tirelessly, dozens of other musicians came on board.
This 3LP set represents the gathering of a community of musicians that spans the heavy metal history of the first 25 years of Roadrunner Records: from King Diamond to Slipknot and beyond. Those who were lucky enough to be there experienced a night they will never forget. For the first time as a live concert album, this 3LP set on red, white and black coloured vinyl is a chance to relive that special night again and again.
Born somewhere in the Arizona desert, Puscifer is an electro-rock band, multimedia experience, traveling circus, and alien abduction survivors. The group’s catalog consists of three full-length studio albums—“V” is for Vagina 2007, Conditions of My Parole 2011, and Money Shot [2015]—in addition to a series of EPs and remixes. The group will be releasing a special physical version of ssMoney Shot March, 2023.
Beyond the core trio of Maynard James Keenan [vocals], Mat Mitchell [guitar, production], and Carina Round [vocals, songwriting], the group’s ever-evolving ecosystem encompasses Greg Edwards (bass, guitar, keys), Gunnar Olsen (drums), as well as a cast of characters such as Billy D and his wife Hildy Berger, Major Douche, Special Agent Dick Merkin, and many more. Renowned for an immersive live show, the group’s performances blur the lines between concert and theater, traversing the dusty American Southwest with Billy D and Hildy or the sweaty squared circle with Luchadores. They’ve brought this to life everywhere from Coachella to Bonnaroo
The stunning orchestral soundtrack is written by three-time academy award winning composer and conductor Howard Shore. Shore’s score credits span over 90 films, most notably for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies. A long-term collaborator with writer and director David Cronenberg, Crimes of the Future marks Shore’s 16th feature film collaboration with him since 1979.
Set in a not-so-distant future, Crimes of the Future depicts humankind learning to adapt to its synthetic surroundings and, as humans alter their biological makeup - some naturally, some surgically - the body itself becomes art. With his partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux, No Time to Die, The French Dispatch), celebrity performance artist Saul Tenser (Viggo Mortensen, A History of Violence, Eastern Promises), publicly showcases the metamorphosis of his organs in avant-garde performances. Timlin (Kristen Stewart, Spencer, Twilight), an investigator from the National Organ Registry, obsessively tracks their movements, which is when a mysterious group is revealed… Their mission – to use Saul’s notoriety to shed light on the next phase of human evolution.
Dooley-O commands you to STICK YOURSELF! But not before stocking his new 45 please. Bankrupt Europeans (who have previously produced for RA The rugged Man, Roc Marciano, Chill Rob G, Chubb Rock, AG, Phill Most Chill, Rise and MC Juice) started a back&forth with 90s legend and Stezo cohort Dooley-O a few years ago, even recorded a couple of demos but it wasn't until 2021 that we all had a chance to do this properly! Hands down two of the hardest and snappiest Bankrupt Europeans beats to complement Dooley-O's incredible punchlines and murderous flow. Dooley-O shows that not only has he not lost a step since the days of releases on Stones Throw and Lewis Recordings, but if anything his skills have sharpened over the years!
The A-Side is Stick Yourself and sees Bankrupt Europeans bring this absolute head nodder of a beat, heavy but very funky and laced with modular synth sounds and cuts from DJ Grazzhoppa throughout. Dooley-O’s tongue-in-cheek rap style is sharper than Rambo’s knife as he proceeds to encourage you to Stick Yourself or risk being taken out by himself. There is this comedic bravado here that has Dooley-O displaying just how good his rap style is, while between the lines he saying ‘I’m that good, I shouldn’t have to take you out, that’s your job But, If I have to do it, it ain’t gonna be pretty.’ Flipping it to the B-Side for track 2 we have Death Blow that hits hard with a brooding intro before the heavy bass and eastern sounds inject more adrenaline into your veins! Dooley-O continues the lyrical assault he began in Stick Yourself. Here he delivers a cold and calculated volley of witty punchlines with ease. His plan here is plain and simple, which is to deliver a brutal Death Blow to all those suckers left walking and talking
Available in black wax in 250 hand numbered copies in a company sleeve with a sticker.
- A1: Dawn Of Epiphany
- A2: Whither Goest Thou
- A3: Conjuction Underneath The Alpha Wheel
- B1: As Orphans Drifting In A Desert Night
- B2: The Agony Of A Dying Phoenix
- B3: Epicedium To A Broken Dream
- B4: Love Is A Dog From Hell
- C1: Era Of Threnody
- C2: Txfo 10. My Eternal Grief, Anguish Neverending
- D1: Era Of Threnody (Duet With Audrey S. Bonus)
Silver Vinyl[52,31 €]
Die Kult-Black-Metal-Band NARGAROTH veröffentlicht jetzt 4 ihrer Full-Length-Alben via Season of Mist auf Vinyl!
FFV: Tsjuder, Gorgoroth, Mayhem, Darkthrone, Marduk
- A1: Dawn Of Epiphany
- A2: Whither Goest Thou
- A3: Conjuction Underneath The Alpha Wheel
- B1: As Orphans Drifting In A Desert Night
- B2: The Agony Of A Dying Phoenix
- B3: Epicedium To A Broken Dream
- B4: Love Is A Dog From Hell
- C1: Era Of Threnody
- C2: Txfo 10. My Eternal Grief, Anguish Neverending
- D1: Era Of Threnody (Duet With Audrey S. Bonus)
Black Vinyl[52,31 €]
Die Kult-Black-Metal-Band NARGAROTH veröffentlicht jetzt 4 ihrer Full-Length-Alben via Season of Mist auf Vinyl!
FFV: Tsjuder, Gorgoroth, Mayhem, Darkthrone, Marduk
First time ever on vinyl - limited gatefold edition, 180-gram audiophile
pressing. One of the most highly acclaimed trio albums by New York pianist Bill Charlap,
originally released in 1997 on CD by Criss Cross and now reissued for the very first time on vinyl.
Widely known for his work on the Blue Note and Venus labels, his résumé includes performing with many of the leading artists of our time, ranging from Phil Woods, Gerry Mulligan, Wynton Marsalis, Freddy Cole and Houston Person, to singers Tony Bennett and Barbra Streisand. Charlap's album with Tony Bennett,The Silver Lining, The Songs of Jerome Kernwon them both Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album in the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.
Known also for his interpretations of American popular songs, Charlap he has recorded albums featuring the music of Hoagy Carmichael, Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin.
Jazz critic Scott Yanow gave All Through The Night 4.5 stars on the online jazz platform AllMusic and described it as a superior modern mainstream set.
Bill Charlap: piano
Peter Washington: bass
Kenny Washington: drums
- A1: Alone Together
- A2: How High The Moon
- A3: It Never Entered My Mind
- B1: Tis Autumn
- B2: If You Could See Me Now
- B3: September Song
- B4: You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
- C1: Time On My Hands
- C2: You And The Night And The Music
- C3: Early Morning Mood
- C4: Show Me
- D1: I Talk To The Trees
- D2: Thank Heaven For Little Girls
- D3: I Could Have Danced All Night
- D4: Almost Like Being In Love
Perennial jazz stars Chet Baker and Bill Evans rarely recorded together and this 2LP set, including a bonus track, represents all of their collaborative sessions.
By the time the music was taped, Chet was already known as much for his singing as for his trumpet playing, but all of the performances here are entirely instrumental. After cutting these sides Baker and Evans would go their separate ways and these recordings remain the only testimony of their subtle and elegant musical
interactions.
Chet Baker trumpet
Bill Evans piano
Herbie Mann, flute
Pepper Adams, baritone sax
Kenny Burrell, guitar
Paul Chambers, bass
Connie Kay, drums
Philly Joe Jones, drums
Zoot Sims, alto sax.
Pepper Adams, baritone sax
Earl May, bass
Clifford Jarvis, drums
- A1: Buio Omega (Main Title) (Main Title)
- A2: Quiet Drops
- A3: Strive After Dark
- A4: Pillage
- A5: Rush
- A6: Keen
- A7: Ghost Vest
- B1: Bikini Island
- B2: Buio Omega (Suite 1)
- B3: Quiet Drops (Film Version)
- B4: Strive After Dark (Suite)
- B5: Buio Omega (Alternative Version)
- B6: Strive After Dark (Alternative Version)
- B7: Buio Omega (Synth Effects - Alternative Take Suite)
- B8: Buio Omega Theme (Reprise)
"Buio Omega",soundtrack to a famous horror/splatter film soundtracked by Goblin
Directed in 1979 by Joe D'Amato, it still impresses with the rawness and morbidity of its scenes, the trademark of a director who, much more than others, befits the term 'extreme'. The soundtrack , whose main instruments are keyboards and synthesizer, echoes the Alan Parsons Project, funk / fusion and a melancholic atmosphere. It was never officially released with the film, and was
finally released on CD by Cinevox Record in 1997 (CD MDF 304) and again in 2008 (CD MDF 631) with two completely different tracklists. Goblin here appear in an unusual combination, with Massimo Morante (guitar) with Claudio Simonetti (keyboards) replaced by Carlo Pennisi and Maurizio Guarini respectively, completing the line- up was Fabio Pignatelli (bass) and Augustin Marangolo (drums).
"Buio Omega" is released on vinyl today for the first time ever, a release waited for years by Goblin fans; the LP is housed in a beautiful gatefold cover showing inside recording sessions photos and promotional flyers/postcards.
The tracklist is the same as the first 1997 CD edition.
180gr. clear purple Ltd. Ed. vinyl edition.
Acid architects joined their force to build up this second Opus.
Mental to hardfloor !
Acid to acidcore !
Christine and the Queens return with new album PARANOÏA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVE, released on 9 June via Because Music on 3xLP, 3xCD, single LP and single CD.
The record’s first single, ‘To be honest’ is an ethereal, synth-driven first glimpse into the French phenomenon’s most personal and ambitious album to date. PARANOÏA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVE is written, performed and produced by Christine and the Queens, with co-production by Mike Dean (Lana Del Rey, Beyonce) and guest appearances from 070 Shake and Madonna.
Originally released in 1975 by RCA via its subsidiary Midland International—and recorded at the legendary Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia—these two tracks have never since both been released on the same single up until now, appearing once in unison on an acetate reference recording, copies of which have never sold on Discogs and are believed to be in the hands of 4 collectors worldwide.
Touch of Class effortlessly blend together the classic Motor City Sound and Philadelphia’s hard-driving disco groove in one fell swoop, records that sound like they have been produced from both the Gamble and Huff and Dozier playbooks, while retaining a unique register exclusive to the group.
- A1: Model | Minority (Live From Unlimited Nation Summer 2020)
- A2: Wake Up Thoughts
- B1: Lust In The Times Of Love
- C1: The Cliff Of Cancun (Live From Unlimited Nation Summer 2020)
- C2: Lando’s Revenge (Try Me)
- D1: End Of Times
- D2: Tandem Beat 2
- E1: Black Poetry
- E2: Sweet Children (Live From Unlimited Nation Summer 2020)
- E3: Southside Sue
- F1: Shake Ya Body *Cover*
- F2: The Savage Lurks
- G1: Lend Me An Ear
- G2: 1000 Truths
- H1: Little Kenny Broooke
- H2: The Things We Do For Affection
4x LP and Zine (ft. photos, historical text and track narrations by the artist) set. Nation bring it.
An essential delve in to the retrospective works of SSPS. Limited edition. No repress. HUGE TIP ON THIS!
" You can't fake the funk, as they say and SSPS is pure funk embodied in all he does, the man oozes the funk 24-7!
One of my earliest encounters with SSPS was at one of the infamous Rubulad parties out in Brooklyn....
the man was decked out extravagantly...a cross between Blowfly and some futuristic being zapped
down to earth directly from the P-Funk mothership. Who was this masked man?
The disco vampire, was beating fast disco tracks relentlessly while slamming in his 707 over the records in real time...
not an easy feat, the beauty of the imperfections making it that much more exciting hearing the gallop and wild energy
he was bringing to the crowd, we were eating it up. This is SSPS, fearless in his approach and execution,
a modernist looking to the future but rooted in the past, an artist committed to his art...
all presented with unhinged emotion. It's all or nothing...everything on the table....do or die...the true epitome of style!!!!
Declaring someone a "cult figure" or a "legend" is a huge weight to carry and is often a term that is carelessly thrown around,
but those of us who have dwelled in this "underground" over the last 30 years can say with confidence that SSPS is just that
to many of us, no questions asked, it's not up for debate.
Now, many years later we see the culmination of his electronic works from 2002-2021 committed to record in this 4xlp,
16 track boxed set (plus 45 page booklet) titled SSPS, "The Life and Times of GiGi Black" thus solidifying
Mr. Nicholson's place in the secret world of dance not dance music.
The only way to describe this offering is "full spectrum electronic musical madness" not to be categorized,
never to be pigeonholed, full of surprises and straight from the gut with a direct hit to the heart.
We could go on about the production processes, about his Furr City studio space or his cross country excursions
for work with a truck packed with paintings (but also his music equipment) plugging in and recording during his
pit stops in Motel 6's across the US. But again it doesn't do justice to simply have a small peek inside the man's mind...
the music is beyond the mind. The process is the process and nothing has or can stand in the way of what the SSPS
has done in his long musical life. Punk Rock, Hardcore, House, No-Wave, Industrial, Jakbeat/Slow-Beat and Noise.
it's all there for the taking, it's all intertwined. If you want it, you will find it within SSPS's works.
Nicholson's path is the embodiment of true culture within "dance music" cultivated from years of learning, experimenting,
and pushing the limits with total commitment and immersion. "The Life and Times of GiGi Black" is true life experience,
it is a reflection of someone delving deep into his craft and presenting it with care in opposition to the fast, disposable,
self gratifying click bait culture we see dominating the pages today. The proof is here, drop the needle, enter the world of SSPS.
n G2 1000 Truths Balearic Inaugural Mix
Rua Sound's new sub-label SPHERES is proud to introduce its first release from Rome-based producer Noroi. The Adrastea EP is a richly imaginative work of electronic music, showcasing Noroi's uniquely melancholic and futuristic sound.
Comprised of four tracks, the EP opens with "Stay," a powerful blending of emotive breakbeat and evocative vocals. "Untitled Jungle," a collaboration with VSC, is a genre-defying jungle track that builds to a genre-appropriate fist pumping crescendo. "Chrysalis" is on a more introspective tip, where delicate layers of reverb-drenched instrumentation and the transcendent vocal delivery of Tokyo Witch creates a restorative atmosphere. The EP concludes with "Transoceanic," an energetic piece that blends percussion and atmospherics for a sound that can't be defined.
The Adrastea EP shows off Noroi's flare for innovative sound design, offering a vision of the future of electronic music. Out on March 10th on the Rua Sound Bandcamp and in online and physical stores worldwide, it is a must-listen for fans of the deep, adventurous tracks that work in your headphones as well as on the emotional end of the club sets.
This is the first in a series of releases from the SPHERES label, which named after one of Jupiter's moons. Each one features original artwork by Josje Bijl aka Yorobi, inspired by the sketches of these moons by Galileo in 1610.
All music by Noroi
King of Town (KoT), originally from Johannesburg but now in the UK, is back after a nearly a decade hiatus from his mutant disco-inflected remixes.
Prior to his long break, King of Town remixed the likes of Franz Ferdinand, Slow Club, Alice Russell, the Detachments and the Phenomenal Handclap Band.
His remix of Desmond and the Tutus' 'Kiss You on the Cheek', released on Tigersushi in 2009, has become a regular feature of Spotify playlists and has racked up a few million listens across various streaming platforms.
For this release KoT serves up four exclusive re-edits.
Lord Have Mercy is a retouch of Willie West's slow-burn R&B lament of his own elegiac defiance, where KoT underpins West's groove with a 303 acid bassline and synth flourishes.
Swimming in Your Eyes is a beefing up of Pasteur Lappe's 1979 Rhodes-heavy space disco groove.
Troubles of this World takes OV Wrights ridiculously soulful take on a gospel classic and transforms it into a retro-futurist track aimed firmly at the dancefloor.
And with Khomo Tsaka Deile Kae KoT nods towards his roots and inserts drive and snap into fellow South African Marumo's 1982 kwela-touched stomper.
As always the artwork has been completed by the very talented Pedro Carvalho de Almeida.
Vinyl Only.
I:Cube has made a new album. It is a very “hands on” album, as the eight tracks on show were created almost entirely by improvising with electronic hardware – synthesizers, sequencers, drum machines and effects units – and recorded in real time, with very little after-editing. It is also his first album in a decade, should you be keeping track.
During the time he spent recording it, which was in part inspired by the processes behind his ‘Cubo Live Sessions’ series, I:Cube had fun, experimented, unleashed the raw, primitive energy of his machines, and emptied his head of thought. The resultant tracks are instinctive, immersive and otherworldly, driven by the emotion of the moment rather than the formulaic structures of dance music. They are unpolished and immediate, but also immersive and sincere.
Think of it as a soundtrack to time spent alone in the studio, daydreaming in darkness and light, translating mental and physical messages in real time. It is not calculated, overblown or over-produced like much modern electronic music, but gently odd, engaging and pleasingly rough round the edges. In some ways, it is I:Cube’s most personal and emotional album to date.
Matt Annis
Repress
Palms Trax signals the arrival of his new label CWPT with ‘Petu’, a new single featuring South African vocalist, Nonku Phiri. Originally debuting in dub form during the Berlin-based DJ and producer’s set at The Music Locker as part of Grand Theft Auto Online, ‘Petu’ re-emerges here as a soulful collaboration, neatly complimented by a wide-eyed take from Masalo.
Initially written as a slow-heating instrumental to connect the various musical dots across a DJ set, Palms Trax nonetheless had a vocalist in mind throughout, a fresh voice to lend ‘Petu’ universality and energy. Introduced through mutual friend Esa, Johannesburg’s Nonku Phiri draws on her signature style influenced by vintage Afropop styles and folk traditions, delivering a smooth and vulnerable tale of desire. Triumphant brass recorded by instrumental collective Jungle By Night adds to the depth of instrumentation and feeling throughout, each element driven by Palms Trax’s ebullient percussion and an altogether celebratory energy felt across both the original and dub cuts.
Closely associated with Dutch dance music staple Rush Hour Records, Masalo subtly raises the tempo on his high-energy rework of Petu, spinning off the interconnected elements of the original into a memorable and gloriously Italo-tinged house trip.
Established in 2021, CWPT will play home to Palms Trax original productions alongside collaborations, mixtapes, new-generation artists and vital reissues. An online blog will feature interviews, reportage and charts exploring the stories past and present at the fringe of Palms Trax’s wide-reaching record collection.
Lawrence Hayward knew that he wanted to be a pop star as a teen, and he devised a plan to release ten albums and ten singles over ten years to make that dream come true. A particular and determined individual, he would only be known as Lawrence from that day forward. His hopes for stardom would be pinned on his newly formed band, the succinctly named Felt. Soon signed to Cherry Red Records, Lawrence’s achingly cool vocals and the group’s way with walking melodies were evident on their debut for the label, “Something Sends Me To Sleep.” This compilation collects material from Felt’s Cherry Red period of 1981 to 1985, kicking off with that confident start, assembling numerous high points, and closing with their biggest hit, “Primitive Painters.”
This phase of the band is defined by the songwriting partnership and unique interplay of Lawrence and guitarist Maurice Deebank, with Deebank’s stylish and confident playing the envy of many of their counterparts. He delivers a constant string of shimmering hooks that wrap themselves around and over top of Lawrence’s more traditional beat combo song structures, as if trying to fit four songs worth of ideas into a pre-set radio friendly cutoff time. It works wonderfully as Lawrence always counters with a solid bedrock.
In one of many brushes with the brass ring, in 1984 Felt recorded versions of “Dismantled King Is Off The Throne” and “Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow,” for the newly formed and Warners-backed label Blanco y Negro, in hopes that the band would follow their A+R man Mike Alway to the executive suite. Despite putting forward two of their finest songs, it was not to be. While major label dreams had to remain on the shelf, fans were delighted to be able to hear these beautifully stripped down and more direct versions when this compilation was released a few years later.
By 1985 the Felt roller coaster was something Maurice Deebank was constantly getting on and off of. As Gary Ainge always kept the beat, and Lawrence never lost focus, they were joined by local teen prodigy Martin Duffy on keyboards, filling out the arrangements, and following Deebank’s racing six-string cascades in “The Day The Rain Came Down” you can even hear a tiny hint of the next phase of the band in Duffy’s organ before Maurice swoops to the finish. The newly expanded Felt would then put everything they had into making one of the defining releases of the 80s: “Primitive Painters.”
Lawrence Hayward knew that he wanted to be a pop star as a teen, and he devised a plan to release ten albums and ten singles over ten years to make that dream come true. A particular and determined individual, he would only be known as Lawrence from that day forward. His hopes for stardom would be pinned on his newly formed band, the succinctly named Felt. Soon signed to Cherry Red Records, Lawrence’s achingly cool vocals and the group’s way with walking melodies were evident on their debut for the label, “Something Sends Me To Sleep.” This compilation collects material from Felt’s Cherry Red period of 1981 to 1985, kicking off with that confident start, assembling numerous high points, and closing with their biggest hit, “Primitive Painters.”
This phase of the band is defined by the songwriting partnership and unique interplay of Lawrence and guitarist Maurice Deebank, with Deebank’s stylish and confident playing the envy of many of their counterparts. He delivers a constant string of shimmering hooks that wrap themselves around and over top of Lawrence’s more traditional beat combo song structures, as if trying to fit four songs worth of ideas into a pre-set radio friendly cutoff time. It works wonderfully as Lawrence always counters with a solid bedrock.
In one of many brushes with the brass ring, in 1984 Felt recorded versions of “Dismantled King Is Off The Throne” and “Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow,” for the newly formed and Warners-backed label Blanco y Negro, in hopes that the band would follow their A+R man Mike Alway to the executive suite. Despite putting forward two of their finest songs, it was not to be. While major label dreams had to remain on the shelf, fans were delighted to be able to hear these beautifully stripped down and more direct versions when this compilation was released a few years later.
By 1985 the Felt roller coaster was something Maurice Deebank was constantly getting on and off of. As Gary Ainge always kept the beat, and Lawrence never lost focus, they were joined by local teen prodigy Martin Duffy on keyboards, filling out the arrangements, and following Deebank’s racing six-string cascades in “The Day The Rain Came Down” you can even hear a tiny hint of the next phase of the band in Duffy’s organ before Maurice swoops to the finish. The newly expanded Felt would then put everything they had into making one of the defining releases of the 80s: “Primitive Painters.”
- A1: ) Siamese
- A2: ) First Day On A New Planet
- A3: ) Pow R Ball
- A4: ) Kewpies Like Watermelon
- A5: ) Phasers On Stun/ Sola Kola
- A6: ) Black Hole Love
- B1: ) Velvy Blood
- B2: ) Plastic Ashtray
- B3: ) Death 2 Everyone
- B4: ) Pachinko
- B5: ) (-)
- B6: ) Kernel
- B7: ) Road Song
- C1: ) It Is
- C2: ) On Yr Mind
- C3: ) Teen Dream
- C4: ) Majesty
- C5: ) Burriko Girl
- C6: ) Got The Sun
- D1: ) Silver Krest
- D2: ) Sucker/ Kitty Litter
- D3: ) Lo-Fi Scary Balloons
- D4: ) The Power Of Negative Thinking/ The Love That Brings You Down
Remastered reissue of “We Are Urusei Yatsura” (originally released in 1996), with bonus vinyl of unreleased demos and B-sides
Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the founding of Glasgow “Geek Rock” band Urusei Yatsura
– Double Clear-Vinyl Reissue of 1996 Album
In the days before “landfill” indie, and in rebellion against a developing Britpop orthodoxy, there were some weird but melodic bands coming of age outside London that drew inspiration from the US underground and the sparkly retro-futurism of Japan. Primitive guitar noise with art rock leanings, post punk DIY and fanzine culture. The best known of these bands was maybe Urusei Yatsura; “noisy stars”, named in honour of Rumiko Takahashi, legendary manga creator.
Back in 1996, after several increasingly well-received 7’s, the band travelled to Leamington Spa to record their debut album with John Rivers, producer of Swell Maps and Glasgow scene godparents, The Pastels. The resulting album won the group legions of new fans and gained them their first Independent #1 chart placing, alongside peers Ash and Super Furry Animals.
“These were fertile years in Glasgow, a scene with no name, no single sound, where the magic thread tying everyone together was words and works so personal, they couldn’t be mistaken for anyone else’s. ‘We Are Urusei Yatsura’ is a cascade of ‘why not?’ thinking. The way ‘Phasers on Stun’ spirals into ‘Sola Kola’; the sunburned 23-second improv at the end of ‘Pachinko’; the slack-echoing strings of the outro to ‘Road Song’ sprayed with the shrapnel of toy electronics. Pure pop magic, Ren & Stimpy on upstairs, ray-guns, Ian’s homemade walkie-talkie speaker, a beatbox, all sealed with a “Talking Tina” doll’s emphatic endorsement: “I love it”” – Nick Soulsby
The vinyl-only double LP set comprises the original 1996 album recorded by John Rivers, accompanied with an extra disk of unreleased demos, rare singles and B-sides which have not been available since the 90’s. It documents the time leading up to the release of the LP and the singles that came from it, capturing the development, lost pop moments and essential experiments from the eccentric and joyful Glasgow band. The cover has been completely remixed using archive
photos and artwork from the time, with new interviews and extensive notes. The release marks 30 years since the official birthday of the band, 9/3/93.
“When I drove the transit van that took them down to Leamington Spa to record their first proper LP, there was a sense of quiet, assured anticipation. I couldn’t wait to hear it and when I came back a couple of weeks later to pick them back up, I remember so clearly when they played it from the van’s tape deck. Fergus and Graham were hunched over, focusing intently on what they wanted to change about the mix. The reverb wasn’t right or something. Maybe they didn’t like how high the vocals were in the mix. I said to them, you’re listening to the details, but missing what is most important–this is a fantastic record! It was. It is. It is a fantastic record. They were a brilliant live band and I am so lucky to have been able to have been there to see their formation.” – Alex Kapranos.
- 01: D Ski's Intro
- 02: Ninteen Seventy Something
- 03: Son Of Yvonne
- 04: Da'pro
- 05: Store Frontin
- 06: Me And My Gang
- 07: Crush Hour Feat. Pav Bundy
- 08: Think I Am Feat. Big Daddy Kane &
- 09: Fresh Fest Reggie B
- 10: Hoe-Tel Leftovers
- 11: Slow Down
- 12: Home Sweet Home Feat. Pav Bundy
- 13: Dedication
- 14: I Did It
- 15: In Da Spot Feat. Milani The Artis
- 16: Outtakes
Repress! Following the success of two collaborative releases (EMC "The Show" / 2008 and Ace & Edo G "Arts & Entertainment" / 2009), Masta Ace joins forces with the metal faced MF Doom for Son of Yvonne, a highly personal concept album that celebrates the life and legacy of Ace's recently departed Mother. Like his 2004 landmark Disposable Arts, Son of Yvonne is meticulously constructed with stories, settings, and characters that resonate with flesh and bone humanity. Interstitial vignettes provide a thematic backbone to the experience, and each track complements and completes the previous to form a narrative whole: a sometimes visceral, sometimes nostalgic slice of Ace's young life in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Entirely underscored by MF Doom's iconic Special Herbs instrumentals, Son of Yvonne features the Juice Crew general Big Daddy Kane, new comers Pav Bundy (The Bundies), Reggie B and even MF Doom on the mic. It's Masta Ace's no frills flow, however, that looms largest above the dusty samples and digger loops that define Doom's production. Ace's photo-realistic rhymes about stick-up kids, spraycan artists and wack emcees add extra gravity to his already celebrated reputation as "truly an underappreciated rap veteran and underground luminary" (Allmusic Guide). Like Eminem recalls in his 2008 autobiography The Way I Am, "Masta Ace had amazing storytelling skills. His thoughts were so vivid."
2023 Repress
Greyscale is extremely proud to bring Martin Schulte to its long growing and talented roster.
Not only is this a double-single but each track is supported with a remix from a top-tier artist in Vril and our very own grad_u! Dancing Street & Skyscraper Street is special in many ways!
On 'Dancing Street', Martin gives your equilibrium a real test with its off-axis beat structure and fantastic chord definition. As the track releases the pressure nearing the end is nothing short of genius. This is not for the faint of heart! 'Skyscraper Street' is the ideal counterpoint to 'Dancing Street'. A perfectly tempoed tech masterpiece, it soars over a city soundscape riding a confident beat. For the B side, grad_u on the remix gives us a wall-shaker! A serious
main floor sound and the only relief from the intense bass is the beautiful chord work. The word epic comes to mind from our label leader! There is a handful of names that are buy on site when you see them and VRIL is no doubt one. This remix of 'Skyscraper Street' is drenched in layer upon layer of shimmering and fractured melodies. This experimental and almost dreamlike state of consciousness is auditory sensory overload of the highest order! Martin Schulte, VRIL and grad_u on the same EP!
Mastered at the legendary Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin on white 180 gram vinyl. The depth of these should not be understated!
Analogue photography by Rima Prusakova
As the lead singer and songwriter of duo Savage Garden, Australian born Darren Hayes quickly dominated the pop landscape achieving an impressive 10 UK Top 40 hits from I Want You, To The Moon and Back, to I Knew I Loved You to U.S Billboard number ones including the timeless Truly Madly Deeply. With Savage Garden and as a solo recording artist in his own right, Darren has sold over 30 million albums globally.
The evolution of Darren Hayes continues to flourish with the release of the iconic artist’s new single, All You Pretty Things (in August) and the announcement of his first new album in over 10 years, Homosexual.
The phenomenal Homosexual was entirely written, performed and produced by Darren over the past two years from his base of Los Angeles. Released as a 2LP standard edition turquoise coloured vinyl
When the pandemic hit, Hannah van Loon adopted a dog named Gizmo, who became a much-needed companion while the Bay Area musician wrote her second album as Tanukichan. Aptly Named after her new four-legged friend, GIZMO is an exercise in release, whether from situational hindrances—a forced lockdown, for one—or from self-imposed hedonistic coping mechanisms.“ A theme I always had floating around was escape,” van Loon explains of her follow-up to 2018’s Sundays. “Escaping from myself, my problems, sadness and cycles.”
To channel the more uplifting spirit she wanted for GIZMO, van Loon turned to the radio pop-rock of her childhood: “I was struck by the in-your-face positivity of the lyrics,” she adds,referencing artists like 311, The Cranberries, and Tom Petty. “I wanted to bring that positivity while writing about the sad and helpless emotions I’d been grappling with.” But GIZMO’s lightheartedness doesn’t make it shallow: “I think that I could let it go, as beautiful as snow,” she murmurs on “Don’t Give Up,” a nu metal-meets-Cocteau Twins groove about the sudden awareness that all the relationships you depend on could vanish instantaneously. Van Loon’s main collaborator on GIZMO was Toro y Moi’s Chaz Bear, and the jangly pop earworm “Take Care” showcases the heavily distorted, in-your-face guitar work reminiscent of Bear’s own psych joints What For? And Mahal. On the hypnotic, wall-of-sound-rocker “Thin Air” featuring Enumclaw, van Loon channels the triumphant grit of The Smashing Pumpkins as she ponders the impermanence of even the most impactful relationships: “I’ll always have the memories/Of how you used to make me see/Until they fell in the ocean/They’re not swimming/They’re not floating.”
Existentialism aside, GIZMO also sees van Loon break out of her sonic comfort zone. “One ofthe main changes of how I’m approaching music now is that I want to have more fun in the process,” she says, and she walks the line between melodrama and whimsy gracefully: “I can learn something because I’ve been here before,” she sings on the soaring, bittersweet “Been Here Before.” Deftones-inspired thrash drums and screeching electric guitars are gracefully contrasted with van Loon’s hypnotic, almost deadpan vocal style and a crystal clear acoustic guitar she describes as “cute.” Gizmo the dog suddenly passed away right as van Loon finished the album, but he’s immortalised with his photo on the cover—a fitting emblem of this new era of Tanukichan.
Kate NV's WOW offers listeners a prismatic shift in perspective and scale, a parallel dimension in which the mundane becomes funny, unfamiliar, and altogether sensational. Turning the contents of her 2020 album Room for the Moon upside down and spilling them across a floor checkered with intrigue and surprise, Kate places sound, object, and ritual under the microscope to magnify the delight hidden in plain sight of everyday life. WOW is Kate Shilonosova's fourth full-length release as Kate NV in six years, and third for RVNG Intl. Her prolific musical output aligns with a highly attuned aesthetic and a deep commitment to visual world building. WOW is one of many of these worlds in which music is fully saturated with color, deeply tactile and textural. Shiny, sproingy, plastic. Where Room for the Moon embraced structure (abstractly speaking) and veered pop, WOW happily abandons conventional song shapes, parsing the experience of musical time into ecstatic fragments. It's difficult to imagine a more fitting album title: pure exclamation, an organic pitch of delight leaving the mouth, with no clear etymological links. On Room for the Moon, Shilonosova's voice was layered and lyrical, with sweeping and urgent melodies. WOW finds her as a peripheral purveyor of high jinks, peeking out from the corners, commenting on her surroundings in non-verbal, and arguably non-human, utterances. Instead of employing lyricism, Shilonosova steps outside of language, and rewards us with a gum ball machine of textures: soda fizz and wind-up teeth and scraps of bubble wrap become comically huge, as if heard from an insect's perspective. Words are tasty plosives, onomatopoeias, percussive chirps and one-liners, and singing serves as another form of what Shilonosova refers to as "funny tiny sounds." WOW skews and skitters, trips over its own feet and laughs about it, plays out of tune on purpose, tilts and leans like a top-heavy flower. Shilonosova is a longtime user of Found Sound Nation's Broken Orchestra sample pack, a sound catalog of over one thousand dilapidated instruments sourced from Philadelphia public schools. These perfectly imperfect instruments are tightly spliced into WOW's patchwork of synthesizer and reworked snippets of Shilonosova's friends playing clarinet, flute, and marimba. It's central to the record's internal logic: a disregard for what is, and isn't, broken, what is, and isn't, a sentence or a song. A commingling of subject and object, with a firmly new wave sensibility. Shilonosova has long had an unusual relationship with inanimate objects (citing her bicycle as her best friend), as if the joys they evoke for her are personality traits of the objects themselves. On WOW, she evinces a kind of inverted anthropomorphism: she shrinks her voice and becomes an object among multitudes, toylike in size and perspective, cohabitating with sedentary, indifferent roommates. This pursuit of childlike perspectives is a thread that runs through much of her catalog, and places her work on a plane with that of her personal hero Nobukazu Takemura, who for decades has treated his music as a portal to childlike curiosity, both in subject matter and tone. With an invitation to pursue this curiosity, WOW further confirms Kate NV's deeply inventive, fluid and technically dizzying artistry. By refusing constraints and rules, Shilonosova embodies a profound freedom, allowing objects, sounds, and processes to unfold organically; or, as she puts it, a commitment to "accepting randomness." She succeeds terrifically at a breed of auditory defamiliarization that is all her own, and the rewards for listeners are many: through her lens, the small becomes monstrous, the abstract becomes sensorial, and the old becomes new. Kate NV's WOW will be released on February 10, 2023 on vinyl and digital formats. On behalf of Kate NV and RVNG, a portion of the proceeds from this release will benefit War Child, an organization that supports children and their families impacted by conflict, and working to build sustainable peace for generations to come.
Yellow Vinyl
Kate NV's WOW offers listeners a prismatic shift in perspective and scale, a parallel dimension in which the mundane becomes funny, unfamiliar, and altogether sensational. Turning the contents of her 2020 album Room for the Moon upside down and spilling them across a floor checkered with intrigue and surprise, Kate places sound, object, and ritual under the microscope to magnify the delight hidden in plain sight of everyday life. WOW is Kate Shilonosova's fourth full-length release as Kate NV in six years, and third for RVNG Intl. Her prolific musical output aligns with a highly attuned aesthetic and a deep commitment to visual world building. WOW is one of many of these worlds in which music is fully saturated with color, deeply tactile and textural. Shiny, sproingy, plastic. Where Room for the Moon embraced structure (abstractly speaking) and veered pop, WOW happily abandons conventional song shapes, parsing the experience of musical time into ecstatic fragments. It's difficult to imagine a more fitting album title: pure exclamation, an organic pitch of delight leaving the mouth, with no clear etymological links. On Room for the Moon, Shilonosova's voice was layered and lyrical, with sweeping and urgent melodies. WOW finds her as a peripheral purveyor of high jinks, peeking out from the corners, commenting on her surroundings in non-verbal, and arguably non-human, utterances. Instead of employing lyricism, Shilonosova steps outside of language, and rewards us with a gum ball machine of textures: soda fizz and wind-up teeth and scraps of bubble wrap become comically huge, as if heard from an insect's perspective. Words are tasty plosives, onomatopoeias, percussive chirps and one-liners, and singing serves as another form of what Shilonosova refers to as "funny tiny sounds." WOW skews and skitters, trips over its own feet and laughs about it, plays out of tune on purpose, tilts and leans like a top-heavy flower. Shilonosova is a longtime user of Found Sound Nation's Broken Orchestra sample pack, a sound catalog of over one thousand dilapidated instruments sourced from Philadelphia public schools. These perfectly imperfect instruments are tightly spliced into WOW's patchwork of synthesizer and reworked snippets of Shilonosova's friends playing clarinet, flute, and marimba. It's central to the record's internal logic: a disregard for what is, and isn't, broken, what is, and isn't, a sentence or a song. A commingling of subject and object, with a firmly new wave sensibility. Shilonosova has long had an unusual relationship with inanimate objects (citing her bicycle as her best friend), as if the joys they evoke for her are personality traits of the objects themselves. On WOW, she evinces a kind of inverted anthropomorphism: she shrinks her voice and becomes an object among multitudes, toylike in size and perspective, cohabitating with sedentary, indifferent roommates. This pursuit of childlike perspectives is a thread that runs through much of her catalog, and places her work on a plane with that of her personal hero Nobukazu Takemura, who for decades has treated his music as a portal to childlike curiosity, both in subject matter and tone. With an invitation to pursue this curiosity, WOW further confirms Kate NV's deeply inventive, fluid and technically dizzying artistry. By refusing constraints and rules, Shilonosova embodies a profound freedom, allowing objects, sounds, and processes to unfold organically; or, as she puts it, a commitment to "accepting randomness." She succeeds terrifically at a breed of auditory defamiliarization that is all her own, and the rewards for listeners are many: through her lens, the small becomes monstrous, the abstract becomes sensorial, and the old becomes new. Kate NV's WOW will be released on February 10, 2023 on vinyl and digital formats. On behalf of Kate NV and RVNG, a portion of the proceeds from this release will benefit War Child, an organization that supports children and their families impacted by conflict, and working to build sustainable peace for generations to come.
Mit seinem packenden Stilmix aus Schlager, Pop und Rock begeistert Wolfgang Petry nun schon seit mehr als viereinhalb Dekaden ganze Generationen von Musikfans. Dabei immer an seiner Seite: Seine Ehefrau Rosie, die mit dem Kultsänger in den letzten Jahrzehnten loyal durch dick und dünn gegangen ist. Zu ihrem gemeinsamen 50. Hochzeitstag am 20.11.2022 macht Wolle seiner Rosie nun eine ganz besondere Liebeserklärung - in Form der brandneuen Single "Du gehörst zu mir und ich gehör zu dir", mit der er gleichzeitig den ersten Vorboten seines kommenden Studioalbums STARK WIE WIR vorlegt!Wolfgang Petry ist ein waschechter Ausnahmemusiker, der nicht nur den deutschen Schlager, sondern die gesamte deutschsprachige Musiklandschaft mit seiner authentischen, geerdeten und unverstellten Art geprägt hat. Knapp zwanzig Millionen verkaufte Einheiten seiner insgesamt 26 Studioalben (davon fünf Top 1-Scheiben und acht Top 5-Entrys in den deutschen Album-Charts) hat Wolle mittlerweile auf der Uhr. Mehrere goldene Schallplatten, eine Multiplatin-Auszeichnung, fünf ECHOS in der Kategorie "Schlager/Volksmusik" sowie insgesamt zehn Goldene Stimmgabeln (inklusive zwei "Platinum Life Award"-Stimmgabeln für sein Lebenswerk) sind die mehr als beeindruckende Bilanz seines bisherigen Wirkens. Doch wie sagt man so schön: Hinter jedem starken Mann steht auch immer eine starke Frau. In Wolfgang Petrys Fall seine Jugendliebe Rosie, die den Sänger und Musiker stets hinter den Kulissen begleitet, ihm in hektischen Phasen den Rücken freigehalten und ihm Trost und Kraft in schwierigen Tagen geschenkt hat. Wolles Fels in der Brandung, auf den sich der 71-Jährige bis heute blind verlassen kann. Nie hat sich Petry davor gescheut, in seinen Songs Fehler und Schwächen einzugestehen, aber andererseits auch danke zu sagen für den Support, den er in guten wie in schlechten Zeiten von seinen Fans erhalten hat. Mit dem ersten Album-Vorboten "Du gehörst zu mir und ich gehör zu dir" möchte sich Wolfgang Petry nun für fünfzig ereignisreiche Ehejahre bei seiner geliebten Frau Rosie bedanken. Als ganz besondere Überraschung ist Gattin Rosie im Clip zu dem Song zu sehen - das allererste Mal, dass die fest aufeinander eingeschworenen Eheleute gemeinsam vor der Videokamera standen! "Ich hab mir den Kopf zermartert, wie ich dieses besondere Gefühl auf den Punkt bringen kann", so Petry über die Entstehungsgeschichte des schwungvollen Ohrwurms. "Zuerst hatte ich eine lyrische Idee, die ich aber schnell wieder verworfen habe. Ich wollte meine Emotionen ganz einfach und simpel ausdrücken; beim Texten entstand dann ganz spontan die Melodie zu `Du gehörst zu mir und ich gehör zu dir`. Der Dreh war komplett anders, aber irgendwie auch vertraut. Schließlich ist sie ja die Frau, mit der ich schon so lange zusammenlebe. Ein berührender Moment in meinem Leben." Und auch für Wolles Rosie waren die gemeinsamen Dreharbeiten ein einmaliges Erlebnis: "Es war eigentlich ganz witzig, aber auch das einzige Mal. Ich fühle mich im Hintergrund wesentlich wohler." Trotzdem fühlt sich Wolfgangs Herzensdame durch diesen ihr gewidmeten Song natürlich sehr geehrt.Auf seinem neuen Album STARK WIE WIR gibt Wolfgang Petry in 12 brandneuen Songs tiefe Einblicke in sein Gefühlsleben. "Die Arbeit an dieser Platte war eine große Reise für mich und hat mir das nochmal eine oder andere vor Augen geführt", resümiert der Sänger. Neben verschiedenen musikalischen Facetten und einer absoluten Ohrwurm-Garantie erwartet den Zuhörer auch der ein oder andere Gänsehaut-Moment.Wolfgang Petrys neue Single "Du gehörst zu mir und ich gehör zu dir" erscheint am 18.11.2022. Das zugehörige Video wird passend zur Goldenen Hochzeit am 20.11.2022 veröffentlicht. Das brandneue Studioalbum STARK WIE WIR folgt am 03.03.2023 als CD, streng limitierte farbige Vinyl, Download sowie auf allen Streaming-Plattformen und ist ab sofort vorbestellbar.
Scottish composer and multi-instrumentalist Bill Wells and virtuoso tuba player Danielle Price once more team up for Karaoke Kalk under the name The Sensory Illusions. The two further explore the affinities between their idiosyncratic musical approaches across a variety of styles and genres while also expanding their sound palette. After its predecessor saw Wells working strictly with his electric guitar, on the »Sensory Illusions II« the piano enters the mix on two of the eleven pieces. Much like his brass-heavy collaboration album »Osaka Bridge« with Japanese collective Maher Shalal Hash Baz—made available again on vinyl by the German label Karaoke Kalk in February 2023—this album injects melancholic atmospheres with a sense of playfulness. Picking up on elements from jazz, pop, blues, and classic songwriting while acknowledging their debt to techniques from the worlds of avant-garde and improv music, The Sensory Illusions weave together disparate elements into a colourful, imaginative suite of songs.
Starting with the folky chords of opener »Four Chord Dream,« the track titles spell out Wells’ characteristic use of ideas that literally come to him in his sleep (the project was even named after a record he found while browsing a store in a dream). The National Jazz Trio Of Scotland leader then fleshes them out together with Price, who again serves as a one-woman rhythm section, as she does throughout most of the album. When Wells enters 1960s spy movie territory with a swirling rendition of John Barry’s »Theme from Vendetta« and picks up on those dynamics with a rolling riff in the next song, her versatile playing provides the backdrop for that. Once Wells sits down at the piano for the tender »Flotsam Bodes,« however, their roles are being reversed and Price—a seasoned and multifaceted musician who was one of only six applicants chosen to attend Chilly Gonzales' Gonzervatory in 2019 and who is currently working with acclaimed London-based trumpet player and composer Laura Jurd—takes the lead. »I’m the Urban Spaceman« makes it even more apparent how seamlessly these two experienced players leave each other space to showcase their respective talent and expand on their individual ideas: Marked by Wells’ soloing and exploring different sonic possibilities of the guitar, it also sees Price showcasing her reduced yet agile solos before they both return to the idea at the heart of the song.
It is precisely those ideas that guide the duo’s way through the individual pieces, but their sometimes widely different approaches yield very distinct results. While working with the piano once more on »Mr. Sophie« results in a fuller and more anthemic sound, they opt for a more restrained, melancholic one the album closer »Desk Aunt«. It is precisely these kinds of variations in mood and tone that underscore how these two musicians are perfectly attuned to each other. As the second duo record in their six years of working together, »The Sensory Illusions II« proves once more how much musical ground they are able to cover with their instruments and open minds alone.
“Mt. Hadamard National Park” is the Hallow Ground debut by composer, programmer, and instrument designer Matthias Puech. Informed by mathematical and artistic approaches that aim to both contemplate on and control complexity, the eponymous five-part composition explores natural and mystical forces through what he calls “audio-naturalist noise”. The composition is complemented by two further pieces that follow similar concepts: “Suspension” emulates the chemical phenomenon of the same name, while “Imperceptible Life” hinges on the musical possibilities of stridulation. Over the course of the entire album, Puech’s singular take on electro-acoustic and electronic music creates unique sonic spaces as much as it pays its dues to the unpredictability of the world that we inhabit. Jacques Hadamard was a pioneer among physicists and mathematicians who, in the early 20th century, were puzzled by processes that are deterministic but hard to predict. The sounds, arranged in sweeping and tense dynamics, serve as multiple agents within a complex system. The synthetic flora and fauna created through the use of the composer-performer’s instruments feels uncannily familiar or even disturbingly hostile at times... This process is mirrored in aquatic yet tangible sounds as well as dynamics that slowly converge towards density before the composition ends on a quiet note. The 14-minute-long “Imperceptible Life” is based on a 2019 live performance first conceived as a full-scale test drive of some new electronic equipment Puech was designing at that time. It explores the musical potential of stridulation, the act of creating sounds by rubbing together certain body parts—in the insect world, a common means of communication. Again, Puech’s approach is neither purely naturalistic nor only mimetic. Rather, “Imperceptible Life” offers yet another artistic reflection on the theme of chaos and order, and how human perception and emotion relate to it.As a whole, “Mt. Hadamard National Park” thus not merely mirrors natural phenomena but transforms them in ways that are emotionally evocative: the complexity and apparent arbitrariness of Puech’s compositions reveal an underlying beauty that is equal parts haunting and comforting.
- 1: Margaret Murie 02 46
- 2: Crux 04 07
- 3: Nameless 0 6
- 4: Eidetic 01 36
- 5: Thursday Night 03 09
- 6: Halve 03 12
- 7: Osco Drug 01 19
- 8: Lillian Isola 02 3
- 9: Safn 01 10
- 10: Maple Seed 02 21
- 11: Viridiana 03 29
- 12: Tet 01 51
- 13: God Innocent Controller 01 36
- 14: The Void 03 17
- 15: Alces 01 06
- 16: Pastel Dust 03 30
- 17: Where To 04 02
Dark Green Vinyl[24,33 €]
American singer-songwriter, poet, and photographer Thomas Meluch, known musically as Benoît Pioulard, returns with his most structured and vocal release to date. Titled »Eidetic,« a word denoting the ability to recall mental images with extraordinarily rich precision, the album presents unprecedented clarity and vitality for Benoît Pioulard. To access its thematic ground, Meluch looked inward with an affinity towards the people he loves during a period marked by his move from Seattle to Brooklyn in 2019. The resulting work engages with the universe's unflinching mortality and, as he says, »the ways it has modified and improved my relationships, especially with family.« Embodied by the creek, leaves, and ferns of the cover photography — taken in Michigan’s Burchfield Park, where he and his dad used to hike and »muse on existence« — the music glistens and unfurls with the flow of life he’s come to know. »Eidetic« is the culmination of Meluch's craft both as a producer and writer. An evocative sonic vocabulary meets deft lyrical introspection, articulated with the nuance, vulnerability, and confidence of a longtime artist hitting a stride.
Meluch has continually refined, redefined, and adjusted the focus of his gentle pop project over the last 20 years. Recorded primarily with guitar, tapes, and voice — and spanning labels with albums for Kranky, Morr Music, Beacon Sound, and Past Inside the Present — his catalog flows seamlessly between ambient improvisation and pop composition. Much like the analog photos that often accompany his releases, songs can feel dreamily softened and distant, and others beautifully vivid and detailed. 2021 full-length »Bloodless« found Meluch deep in droning decay, expressive yet wordless. With »Eidetic,« he swings back to sharpened forms. Lush banks of treated guitar and synth brush against hushed percussion; there is mist in the distance, but everything up close is intricately constructed and radiant. Meluch's voice is notably forward in the mix — a warm and calming tenor, a harmonic coo more than a whisper — ever-observant and actively processing.
To record much of the album, Meluch filled a cabin in rural Maine with his usual setup of simple percussion, a couple of Fender electrics, and a parlor guitar made by his friend who does bespoke luthier work. The modest utility is what he knows best, and here he pushes the output to its most pristine potential.
»Eidetic« opens in a swirl of familiar haze; »Margaret Murie« eases listeners in, as lush and verdant as the landscapes conserved by its famed namesake. With the setting established, Meluch, the narrator, enters the foreground with »Crux,« a tender piece written about finding new motivations in a new city. »We covet this rare green hue / Here at the farthest point from home,« he sings above a reassuring pattern of strums and percussion. Meluch's prose shines on the swiftly-moving »Nameless,« inspired by the neurological effects that came with the antiquated practice of manufacturing mercury mirrors; »folks would slowly go insane while looking into their own reflections every day,« he adds. The idea informs a series of surreal abstractions before everything drops out in the final minute, and we are left free-floating in eerie nothingness.
Across the album, labyrinthine lyrical ponderings scatter with dazzling imagery, artfully blurring scenes from world history with Meluch's more personal, present-day. The propulsive and earnest »Thursday Night« catches his mind overly active and too stoned, riffing on black holes and songwriting itself. »Halve« references the splitting of the atom, what he considers »the beginning of man's downfall,« and the unrealized initiative proposed by the US government that would have created 'nuclear refuges' in its national parks. Meluch's loved ones weave throughout; »Tet« holds his father's experience in Vietnam and its lasting effects. »Lillian Isola« touches on his maternal grandmother's spinal curvature, and »Pastel Dust« navigates the wake of his cat, who died on New Year's Eve 2020.
At first blush, Meluch's atmospheric and melodic sensibilities resonate purely in their own right. Upon closer meditation, his ability to render stories — many of which surround human tragedy, misfortune, and understanding — through the prism of his poetry makes »Eidetic« even more rewarding.
- 1: Margaret Murie 02 46
- 2: Crux 04 07
- 3: Nameless 0 6
- 4: Eidetic 01 36
- 5: Thursday Night 03 09
- 6: Halve 03 12
- 7: Osco Drug 01 19
- 8: Lillian Isola 02 3
- 9: Safn 01 10
- 10: Maple Seed 02 21
- 11: Viridiana 03 29
- 12: Tet 01 51
- 13: God Innocent Controller 01 36
- 14: The Void 03 17
- 15: Alces 01 06
- 16: Pastel Dust 03 30
- 17: Where To 04 02
Black Vinyl[24,33 €]
Dark Green Vinyl
American singer-songwriter, poet, and photographer Thomas Meluch, known musically as Benoît Pioulard, returns with his most structured and vocal release to date. Titled »Eidetic,« a word denoting the ability to recall mental images with extraordinarily rich precision, the album presents unprecedented clarity and vitality for Benoît Pioulard. To access its thematic ground, Meluch looked inward with an affinity towards the people he loves during a period marked by his move from Seattle to Brooklyn in 2019. The resulting work engages with the universe's unflinching mortality and, as he says, »the ways it has modified and improved my relationships, especially with family.« Embodied by the creek, leaves, and ferns of the cover photography — taken in Michigan’s Burchfield Park, where he and his dad used to hike and »muse on existence« — the music glistens and unfurls with the flow of life he’s come to know. »Eidetic« is the culmination of Meluch's craft both as a producer and writer. An evocative sonic vocabulary meets deft lyrical introspection, articulated with the nuance, vulnerability, and confidence of a longtime artist hitting a stride.
Meluch has continually refined, redefined, and adjusted the focus of his gentle pop project over the last 20 years. Recorded primarily with guitar, tapes, and voice — and spanning labels with albums for Kranky, Morr Music, Beacon Sound, and Past Inside the Present — his catalog flows seamlessly between ambient improvisation and pop composition. Much like the analog photos that often accompany his releases, songs can feel dreamily softened and distant, and others beautifully vivid and detailed. 2021 full-length »Bloodless« found Meluch deep in droning decay, expressive yet wordless. With »Eidetic,« he swings back to sharpened forms. Lush banks of treated guitar and synth brush against hushed percussion; there is mist in the distance, but everything up close is intricately constructed and radiant. Meluch's voice is notably forward in the mix — a warm and calming tenor, a harmonic coo more than a whisper — ever-observant and actively processing.
To record much of the album, Meluch filled a cabin in rural Maine with his usual setup of simple percussion, a couple of Fender electrics, and a parlor guitar made by his friend who does bespoke luthier work. The modest utility is what he knows best, and here he pushes the output to its most pristine potential.
»Eidetic« opens in a swirl of familiar haze; »Margaret Murie« eases listeners in, as lush and verdant as the landscapes conserved by its famed namesake. With the setting established, Meluch, the narrator, enters the foreground with »Crux,« a tender piece written about finding new motivations in a new city. »We covet this rare green hue / Here at the farthest point from home,« he sings above a reassuring pattern of strums and percussion. Meluch's prose shines on the swiftly-moving »Nameless,« inspired by the neurological effects that came with the antiquated practice of manufacturing mercury mirrors; »folks would slowly go insane while looking into their own reflections every day,« he adds. The idea informs a series of surreal abstractions before everything drops out in the final minute, and we are left free-floating in eerie nothingness.
Across the album, labyrinthine lyrical ponderings scatter with dazzling imagery, artfully blurring scenes from world history with Meluch's more personal, present-day. The propulsive and earnest »Thursday Night« catches his mind overly active and too stoned, riffing on black holes and songwriting itself. »Halve« references the splitting of the atom, what he considers »the beginning of man's downfall,« and the unrealized initiative proposed by the US government that would have created 'nuclear refuges' in its national parks. Meluch's loved ones weave throughout; »Tet« holds his father's experience in Vietnam and its lasting effects. »Lillian Isola« touches on his maternal grandmother's spinal curvature, and »Pastel Dust« navigates the wake of his cat, who died on New Year's Eve 2020.
At first blush, Meluch's atmospheric and melodic sensibilities resonate purely in their own right. Upon closer meditation, his ability to render stories — many of which surround human tragedy, misfortune, and understanding — through the prism of his poetry makes »Eidetic« even more rewarding.
Faitiche presents the album Exq I by Berlin underground techno legends Muellie Messiah & Punk not Punk, mainly known under their 100Records moniker. Weighing in at 36 minutes, the track was recorded in 2010, effortlessly intermingling dub, drone and collage, a blend achieved thanks to the duo’s jazz-inspired approach to improvisation.
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100records is one of the last undiscovered treasures of the Berlin underground of the 1990s and 2000s. Like Elektro Music Department, 100records is unthinkable without techno and the club scene, but with a few exceptions the duo’s tracks are not aimed at the dancefloor. With a claim to universality and a broader frame of reference, 100records developed a more extensive understanding of sound that rests on three pillars: the understated analogue drums of the Roland TR-808, a blurred, dubby sound, and improvisation.
On first hearing, Exq I has little in common with the groovy, detailed, variation-rich sound usually associated with 100records. Recorded at the end of a highly productive decade, it is an echo speaking of exhaustion in which dub, drone and collage converge to form something whose jazz sensibility makes it readily identifiable as the work of 100records.
100records was founded in 1994 by Muellie Messiah (Dirk Budde) and Ekki 808 (Ekkehard Rau), who were joined in 1999 by Punk not Punk (Martin Osti). Around 2002, Ekki departed, leaving Budde and Osti to continue as a duo. Since then, their relationship has shaped 100records: Budde is the driven lone genius doggedly pursuing sounds, Osti the pragmatist who turns ideas into music.
As well as making music, Budde is also a musicologist. In 1997 he published his PhD thesis entitled Take Three Chords... Punk Rock and the Development to American Hardcore. As well as being his specialization, punk is also part of his identity: in the 1980s he sang and played keyboards in various punk bands in Kassel, the best known being Haunted Henschel.
After the fall of the Wall, attracted by the freedom of the newly reunited Berlin, Budde packed his bags and drove to the formerly divided city, having already become acquainted with techno at Kassel’s influential Stammheim club.
Innemuseum is the debut album by Danish composer, singer and multi-instrumentalist Cisser Mæhl. The 10 fragile compositions for vocals, sparse electronics and a myriad of instrumentation illuminate a hushed charm unlike few other Sonic Pieces releases to date.
The album sparked off while Cisser was working in a mountain lodge in mid Norway during summer 2019. On her spare time she would find herself recording mountains, rivers, stones, plants and animals in the beautiful scenery. After moving to Oslo shortly after, she rented a studio to further work on her own music, songs and sound processing. Through some friends she met Norwegian artist Jenny Hval who became an inspiration as she started taking solo classes with her. Jenny then pushed to contact producer Lasse Marhaug to work together. This became the last piece of the puzzle for Innemuseum to come to fruition as Lasse ended up putting the final touches on the album. When Cisser returned to Copenhagen after 7 months in Oslo, the album was finished. The title “Innemuseum” refers to both the dark months in Oslo and the retraction towards the inner self. An inner museum - music from within, both as a person and as in physical places.
This is undeniably a very personal record that sounds like the musical embodiment of Cisser herself. She sings in Danish in a close-miked way like she's sitting right next to you, all while gentle rhythms and soft strings together create a sort of bright, minimal chamber music with hints of pop sensibility. It almost feels like a Scandinavian reflection of Colleen's work in her more quiet, vocal periods. A music box of weightless compositions for the conscious mind.
- 1: On Warmer Music
- 1: 2 All My Kin
- 1: 3 It's Alright, You're O.k
- 1: 4 The Mutable Mercury
- 1: 5 The Town Crusher
- 1: 6 The Unthinkable Is True
- 1: 7 River High
- 1: 8 Every Is A Good Trip
- 1: 9 Do Go On
- 1: 0 Privileged & Impotent
- 1: Oh Dear Friends
- 2: 1 An Amateur Thief
- 2: In Our Time
- 2: 3 Morley Timmons
- 2: 4 The O.t.s
- 2: 5 Rip Off The Gift
- 2: 6 The Last Good Time
- 2: 7 The Guns Of Meridian Hill
- 2: 8 The Town Crusher (Live)
- 2: 9 Morley Timmons (Early Version)
- 2: 10 Every Is A Good Trip (Extended)
- 2: 11 The O.t.s. (Early Version
Brown Vinyl[31,51 €]
In late 1996, after two years of persistent touring, Chisel was eager to document its quickly evolving sound. Decamping from their native D.C. to Brooklyn's Rare Book Room, the power trio of Ted Leo, Chris Norborg, and John Dugan teamed with engineer Nicolas Vernhes and came away with Set You Free, a remarkable, but largely overlooked, classic of the era. Originally issued on the venerable Gern Blandsten imprint in April 1997, Set You Free presaged the turn of the century 60s rock revival, providing a counterpoint to second-wave emo. This deluxe 25th anniversary edition has remastered and expanded the original's 17-song track list with five period alternates and rarities, plus a booklet of lyrics, photos, and an essay by Jes Skolnik. Get ready for the invasion.
- 1: On Warmer Music
- 1: 2 All My Kin
- 1: 3 It's Alright, You're O.k
- 1: 4 The Mutable Mercury
- 1: 5 The Town Crusher
- 1: 6 The Unthinkable Is True
- 1: 7 River High
- 1: 8 Every Is A Good Trip
- 1: 9 Do Go On
- 1: 0 Privileged & Impotent
- 1: Oh Dear Friends
- 2: 1 An Amateur Thief
- 2: In Our Time
- 2: 3 Morley Timmons
- 2: 4 The O.t.s
- 2: 5 Rip Off The Gift
- 2: 6 The Last Good Time
- 2: 7 The Guns Of Meridian Hill
- 2: 8 The Town Crusher (Live)
- 2: 9 Morley Timmons (Early Version)
- 2: 10 Every Is A Good Trip (Extended)
- 2: 11 The O.t.s. (Early Version
Black Vinyl[30,21 €]
In late 1996, after two years of persistent touring, Chisel was eager to document its quickly evolving sound. Decamping from their native D.C. to Brooklyn's Rare Book Room, the power trio of Ted Leo, Chris Norborg, and John Dugan teamed with engineer Nicolas Vernhes and came away with Set You Free, a remarkable, but largely overlooked, classic of the era. Originally issued on the venerable Gern Blandsten imprint in April 1997, Set You Free presaged the turn of the century 60s rock revival, providing a counterpoint to second-wave emo. This deluxe 25th anniversary edition has remastered and expanded the original's 17-song track list with five period alternates and rarities, plus a booklet of lyrics, photos, and an essay by Jes Skolnik. Get ready for the invasion.
Green Marbled Vinyl
Following up to his maiden transmission for the label, "Cosmic Silence", issued a year ago, Italian producer Alessandro Cozzolino AKA Cioz resurfaces on Stil vor Talent with his longed-for debut album "Supermassive Whole" - a ten-track cosmic odyssey in sound percolating staple elements of Cioz's palette of choice, from otherworldly techno to Latin-inflected house, via the obvious injection of kosmische and electronica soundscaping.
The lead single "Wachaka" - recorded in collaboration with Cape Town producer Ryan Murgatroyd, exemplifies Cozzolino's electrifying approach to a T. An inch-perfectly balanced mix of Afro-infused polyrhythmic bravura and seesawing synth moves, the track swells with a blazing fire at heart that keeps on sprawling infectiously with each and every bar. Trading the linear buildup for most sensuous levels of syncopation, "Me Monkey" serves up a warmer kind of funk, perfect for getting snug and cozy before an avalanche of seesawing chords up the ante towards space-opera-esque amplitude. All in elusive sinuosity and processed machine talk, "Harakat" dwells the confines of wonky house templates and polyamorous EBM, while "I Always Wanted To..." goes the slo-burning, counterclockwise route, primed for languid moments in the alcove.
"B1" is perhaps the most spitting avatar of the Italian whiz's hybrid rolling-and-pounding rhythmic style, nicely embodying both its quirky, hip-swaying and fanfare-like percussive aspects. The ecstatically bouncy "Do It The Way You Feel" showcases Cioz's more rousing, floor-friendly facet with a killer combo of hi-octane electro dynamics, pop-rock motif'd hooks and slashing breaks taking the controls. The mood also happens to be melancholic at times, such as on the beautifully understated "Is This Real", which bridges the gap betwixt piano-house déjà-vu - here tweaked to distinctively soul-wrenching effect, and a prog buildup glossed under a thick sauce of FX, similar to that of "Sudpol Birgit"'s inflating saturation in the post-prod treatment. Somewhat brushed with balearic shades in mind, "Pace e Amore" follows a more classic curve, slowly veering off onto ambient-laced territories, while "Lost in Space" evokes a certain idea of gravity-defying plenitude through that ever intuitive and subtly arranged collage of tender wistfulness and endless attraction towards the groove, which defines Cozzolino's phraseology so fittingly.
Prior to tracking First Step Beyond, Chicago proto-metal quintet Medusa headed three miles west to the Village of Oak Park and cut their debut 7" at Stephen Wilcox's Pepperhead custom studio. The resulting versions of "Strangulation" and "Temptress" are a touch further unhinged than their sororal album twins, as phased-out scraps of psychedelia and bleeding solos maxed out Pepperhead's 8-track rig. Pressed in a strictly limited quantity of 1000 copies.
The Young Senators are an exemplary progenitor of DC's hyper-local, hyper-celebrated Go-Go scene. Peers of Chuck Brown's Black Heat and Soul Searchers, the septet was led by energetic singer and conga player Jimi Dougans, and featured saxophonist Leroy Flemming, guitarist Calvin Charisty, keyboardist Frank Hooker, drummer James Johnson, bassist Wornell Jones, and trumpeter Phillip Guilbeau. The band issued two singles on the the tiny Innovation label, before joining up with Motown's Eddie Kendricks in 1972 for his sophomore effort People... Hold On. The Young Senators' fuzzed-out brand of psychedelic soul is often bootlegged, but finds it first legitimate release in 45 years via these remastered sides.
“On this, their second LP, P16.D4 solicited tapes from several artists from Europe, England, the U.S., Canada, and Japan, and mixed that with their own material. Though in the current digital age collaborations from artists thousands of miles apart is quite normal, this was a quite radical approach back in 1982, when work on this LP began – an interesting concept that actually works quite well, since these artists, which include Bladder Flask, DDAA, the Haters, Merzbow, Nocturnal Emissions, Nurse With Wound, and several others – work in a similar free-ranging experimentalism as P16.D4, and their particular elements, usually just vocals or one instrument or noise implement, blend well without diluting P16.D4’s own peculiar brand of avant-garde post-industrialism, but merely give it another facet. One of the best tracks, “Aufmarsch, Heimlich,” consists of a choir submitted anonymously from Eastern Europe phasing in and out of static while a skronky alto sax bleats away. Most of the pieces exist somewhere just beyond the borders of free jazz, industrial, and even classical avant-garde, full of jarring noises and strange transitions and with a heavy overlay of electronics. What started out as an experiment yielded one of P16.D4’s best albums.” - Rolf Semprebon / AMG
“Distruct is organized around sounds provided by the cream of experimental musicians of the early ’80s, from Nurse With Wound to Nocturnal Emissions, via De Fabriek, Die Todliche Doris, The Haters, Merzbow, and others. Obviously, there is no question of remixing here, and at no time do P16.D4 seek to hide its sources, clearly identifying the contribution of each artist in the liner notes. It would be futile to try to find the paw of each artist, the trio operating vis-à-vis its collaborators the same methods as in their own work. Reworked, distorted by various effects, cut, edited, aggregated with other sounds, produced by P16.D4 themselves, reprocessed. Exchange, communication, two other data that will constantly recur in the work of P16.D4, rich in external contributions and encounters of all kinds. Musically, and despite the diversity of sources treated, Distruct escapes the heterogeneous character, which often marks this type of collaboration, to offer a coherent whole: fragments of opera, Soviet speeches, out-of-tune guitar, saxophone, tattered violins, overdriven and metallic noisy attacks, jackhammers, field recordings, battered choirs, and many other less identifiable sounds. In addition to the desired dialogue between the artists, Distruct also offers a real reflection on listening, and on the expectations of the listener.” - Dissolve
P16.D4 was a German electronic noise music collective, active primarily from 1980 to 1988. P16.D4 embraced tape cut-ups, musique concrète, endless recycling and transformation of previously published material, and many long-distance collaborations with like-minded artists such as DDAA, Vortex Campaign, Nurse With Wound, and Merzbow. Their active participation in the international industrial tape scene yielded collaborative output such as their release Distruct, where bands such as Nurse with Wound, Nocturnal Emissions, Die Tödliche Doris, and The Haters provided the source material. The longest-term collaboration was with the installation and conceptual artist Achim Wollscheid, who used P16.D4 sounds as the basis for LPs he recorded under the name SBOTHI. Ralf Wehowsky, the only constant member of the group, later released solo material under the alias RLW.
Members of P16.D4 were also involved with Selektion, a collective of people involved with sound as well as the visual arts. Selektion published LPs, CDs, books, visual art and design.
The collective worked in a strongly improvised, spontaneous and anti-professional way, using acoustic and electronic instruments, using existing sound fragments, duplicating and alienating them, using repetition, distortion, changes in speed and playing direction. For this they used not only sounds of other artists but also their own material from earlier productions. Late works of the collective are associated with musique concrete.
Bladder Flask’s debut (in fact only) LP, originally issued by Orgel Fesper Music in 1981, is one of the most eclectic albums of the post-Industrial era. It is both challenging and perplexing… So, put down your puny instruments of normality and breathe in the frenzied fungal spores of Bladder Flask.
The fact that Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound is a big fan of this album is testament to its greatness: »I love Bladder Flask’s »One Day I Was So Sad That The Corners Of My Mouth Met & Everybody Thought I Was Whistling« and what a great title, perhaps my favourite ever. I must have listened to the album so much in the ’80s. I listened to it again recently and it was like welcoming an old friend.«
Personnel: Richard Rupenus, Philip Rupenus + Sean Breadin, John Mylotte, Nigel Jacklin Recorded at Wrongrong Studio and Spectro Arts Workshop 1980-1981 Audio Restoration & Mastering: Colin Potter @ IC Studio
Crystal Clear Vinyl
Unverwechselbar: dEUS sind nach zehn Jahren zurück!
Die legendäre belgische Rockband dEUS meldet sich mit 'How To Replace It', ihrem achten Studioalbum und dem ersten seit zehn Jahren zurück: Unverwechselbar und einfallsreich, melodisch und doch trotzig schräg. Einzigartig. Und vor allem unverkennbar dEUS. Lyrisch gibt sich 'How To Replace It' mysteriös und kreist um Themen wie Romantik, Altern und die Moderne, liefert Fragen und Antworten zugleich und lädt die Zuhörenden zur eigenen Interpretation ein.
Die belgische Band hatte noch nie wirklich eine Philosophie. Und wollte vielleicht auch nie eine haben. Dennoch sind sie bestimmten Grundsätzen treu geblieben: "You don't want to repeat yourself, but you have your style", erzählt Tom Barman, Frontmann der Band, der auf dem Album seine bisher persönlichsten und rauesten Texte präsentiert. "You want to try new stuff and just react to whatever feels fresh at the time."
Auch 28 Jahre nach ihrem Debütalbum bleiben dEUS weiterhin Alternative-Rock-Vordenker, die immer nach vorne drängen, endlos neugierig und kreativ rastlos sind.
Bei Daisy Jones & The Six handelt es sich um die fiktive
70ies-Band aus dem gleichnamigen Buch Bestseller von
Tayler Jenkins Reed. Die reale Band wurde im Rahmen
der Buchverfilmung nun gecastet und hat im Zuge dessen
das Album AURORA aufgenommen.
Zur Besetzung der "Daisy Jones & The Six" Band &
Show gehören u.A. Reiley Keough, Sebastian Chacon,
Sam Claflin und Suki Waterhouse.
Die 11-Song-LP AURORA wurde vom
GRAMMY®-nominierten Autor, Produzenten und
Multiinstrumentalisten Blake Mills produziert..
Geschrieben wurden die Songs u.A. von Marcus
Mumford, Phoebe Bridgers und Jackson Browne.
SYNOPSIS: Im Jahr 1977 waren Daisy Jones & The Six
ganz oben auf der Welt. Mit den beiden charismatischen
Leadsängern Daisy Jones (Riley Keough) und Billy Dunne
(Sam Claflin) war die Band aus der Bedeutungslosigkeit
zum Ruhm aufgestiegen.
Und dann, nach einer ausverkauften Show im Chicagoer
Soldier Field, löste sich die Band auf. Jetzt, Jahrzehnte
später, sind die Bandmitglieder endlich bereit, die
Wahrheit zu enthüllen. Dies ist die Geschichte, wie eine
ikonische Band auf dem Höhepunkt ihrer Macht
implodierte.
Daisy Jones & The Six wird ab dem 03. März als Serie
auf Amazon Prime zu sehen sein. Das Album AURORA
erscheint am selben Tag.
In the wake of their acclaimed comeback album Figures (2020), Aksak Maboul took a playful sideways step to create this total work, a 63-minute, continuous suite of fifteen pieces, which could be described as an experimental audio play. The thread running through Une aventure de VV (Songspiel) is Véronique Vincent"s text, an enigmatic philosophical-poetical tale unfolding through monologues and dialogues, spoken and sung by a series of characters. The music was written & arranged by Marc Hollander and features his characteristic genre-hopping tendencies: strands of electronica, pop, jazz, collage, techno, ambient, improv, krautrock, contemporary classical & systems music are merrily woven together, in the inimitable Aksak Maboul style. The album"s subtitle, Songspiel, highlights its theatrical/musical aspect: the work pays oblique homage to the those experimental radio plays that once emerged from the creative workshops of the BBC, the RTF and the RAI, and especially to those German Hörspiels which, at their best, might combine spoken word, instrumental or electronic music, songs and sonic research. The album features appearances by Alig Fodder, Audrey Ginestet & Benjamin Glibert (Aquaserge), Lætitia Sadier (Stereolab), Blaine L. Reininger (Tuxedomoon), Don The Tiger, and the members of AKsak Maboul"s current live line-up.
Opaque Brown Vinyl[32,31 €]
In late 1996, after two years of persistent touring,
Chisel were eager to document their quickly
evolving sound. Decamping from their native DC to
Brooklyn’s Rare Book Room, the power trio of Ted
Leo, Chris Norborg, and John Dugan teamed with
engineer Nicolas Vernhes and came away with
‘Set You Free’, a remarkable, but largely
overlooked, classic of the era.
Originally issued on the venerable Gern Blandsten
imprint in April 1997, ‘Set You Free’ presaged the
turn of the century 1960s rock revival, providing a
counterpoint to second wave emo.
This deluxe 25th Anniversary edition, available on
River High Brown coloured vinyl or black vinyl, has
remastered and expanded the original’s 17-song
tracklist with five period alternates and rarities, and
both formats include a booklet of lyrics, photos,
and an essay by Jes Skolnik
Black Vinyl[30,88 €]
In late 1996, after two years of persistent touring,
Chisel were eager to document their quickly
evolving sound. Decamping from their native DC to
Brooklyn’s Rare Book Room, the power trio of Ted
Leo, Chris Norborg, and John Dugan teamed with
engineer Nicolas Vernhes and came away with
‘Set You Free’, a remarkable, but largely
overlooked, classic of the era.
Originally issued on the venerable Gern Blandsten
imprint in April 1997, ‘Set You Free’ presaged the
turn of the century 1960s rock revival, providing a
counterpoint to second wave emo.
This deluxe 25th Anniversary edition, available on
River High Brown coloured vinyl or black vinyl, has
remastered and expanded the original’s 17-song
tracklist with five period alternates and rarities, and
both formats include a booklet of lyrics, photos,
and an essay by Jes Skolnik
Silver Vinyl[34,66 €]
After Belgian electro-samba wunderkinds Antena
split at the end of 1985, singer Isabelle Antena
immediately shed her cold wave crown for a
sophisticated pop princess tiara.
On 1986’s Martin Hayles-produced ‘En Cavale’,
echos of Madonna and city pop abound, with a
lipstick stain of L80s Euro dance and spilled
cosmopolitan’s worth of bossa nova stirred in for
good measure.
This elegant second chapter of a French pop diva
has been expanded to include Antena’s shelved
Island Records demo, adjacent B-sides and
rarities, plus an expansive essay and previously
unpublished photographs.
Coloured vinyl format pressed on Seaside Silver
vinyl
Black Vinyl[32,98 €]
After Belgian electro-samba wunderkinds Antena
split at the end of 1985, singer Isabelle Antena
immediately shed her cold wave crown for a
sophisticated pop princess tiara.
On 1986’s Martin Hayles-produced ‘En Cavale’,
echos of Madonna and city pop abound, with a
lipstick stain of L80s Euro dance and spilled
cosmopolitan’s worth of bossa nova stirred in for
good measure.
This elegant second chapter of a French pop diva
has been expanded to include Antena’s shelved
Island Records demo, adjacent B-sides and
rarities, plus an expansive essay and previously
unpublished photographs.
Coloured vinyl format pressed on Seaside Silver
vinyl
Fingier Records were established in 2020 as a
group label of Acid Jazz Records to showcase the
Latin American productions of Argentine producer,
Kevin Fingier.
The label has produced a series of sell-out and
collectable 7” singles, with some going for
hundreds of pounds on collector sites.
This compilation brings these singles together onto
one album, with graphics and photography to
match the sound and style of Fingier Records.
Features the vocals of Diane Ward, Jo-Ann
Hamilton and Gerri Granger, Brazilian singer Jose
Dias and Senegalese vocalist / percussionist
Abdoulaye Badiane, backed by the all-star Kevin
Fingier Collective.
Radio - BBC Radio 6 Music Craig Charles Funk & Soul
Show.
BLUE NOTE TONE POET EDITION: produziert von Joe Harley, komplett analog von Kevin Gray von den Originalbändern gemastert, RTI-Pressung (180g), stabiles Tip-on-Gatefold, wattierte Innenhülle.
Der Pianist und Komponist Andrew Hill gehörte in den 1960er Jahren zu den visionärsten Musikern im Blue-Note-Stall. Tatsächlich waren einige der 12 Alben, die er zwischen ’63 und ’70 für das Label einspielte, ihrer Zeit so weit voraus, dass sie erst Jahrzehnte später veröffentlicht wurden.
So wie das brillante Album “Dance With Death”, das 1968 entstanden war, aber erst 1980 das Licht der Welt erblickte. Zu hören ist Hill hier mit sechs höchst orginellen Eigenkompositionen zwischen Post-Bop, modalem Jazz und Avantgarde.
Exzellente Unterstützung erhielt er bei der Einspielung von gleichgesinnten Modernisten wie Trompeter Charles Tolliver, Saxophonist Joe Farrell, Bassist Victor Sproles und Drummer Bill Higgins.
24 Jahre jung war der Trompeter Carmell Jones, als er 1960 von seiner Geburtsstadt Kansas City nach Los Angeles ging. Schon kurz nach seiner Ankunft erhielt der vielversprechende Youngster, den manche
mit Clifford Brown verglichen, dort einen Plattenvertrag bei Pacific Jazz.
1961 konnte er für das Label sein phänomenales Debüt “The Remarkable Carmell Jones” aufnehmen. Im Zusammenspiel mit Tenorsaxophonist Harold Land, Pianist Frank Strazzeri, Bassist Gary Peacock und Schlagzeuger Leon Pettis präsentierte er auf dem Album eine hochinteressante Mischung aus Cool Jazz und Hardbop.
BLUE NOTE TONE POET EDITION: produziert von Joe Harley, komplett analog von Kevin Gray von den Originalbändern gemastert, RTI-Pressung (180g), stabiles Tip-on-Gatefold, wattierte Innenhülle.
Der Pianist und Komponist Andrew Hill gehörte in den 1960er Jahren zu den visionärsten Musikern im Blue-Note-Stall. Tatsächlich waren einige der 12 Alben, die er zwischen ’63 und ’70 für das Label einspielte, ihrer Zeit so weit voraus, dass sie erst Jahrzehnte später veröffentlicht wurden.
So wie das brillante Album “Dance With Death”, das 1968 entstanden war, aber erst 1980 das Licht der Welt erblickte. Zu hören ist Hill hier mit sechs höchst orginellen Eigenkompositionen zwischen Post-Bop, modalem Jazz und Avantgarde.
Exzellente Unterstützung erhielt er bei der Einspielung von gleichgesinnten Modernisten wie Trompeter Charles Tolliver, Saxophonist Joe Farrell, Bassist Victor Sproles und Drummer Bill Higgins.
24 Jahre jung war der Trompeter Carmell Jones, als er 1960 von seiner Geburtsstadt Kansas City nach Los Angeles ging. Schon kurz nach seiner Ankunft erhielt der vielversprechende Youngster, den manche
mit Clifford Brown verglichen, dort einen Plattenvertrag bei Pacific Jazz.
1961 konnte er für das Label sein phänomenales Debüt “The Remarkable Carmell Jones” aufnehmen. Im Zusammenspiel mit Tenorsaxophonist Harold Land, Pianist Frank Strazzeri, Bassist Gary Peacock und Schlagzeuger Leon Pettis präsentierte er auf dem Album eine hochinteressante Mischung aus Cool Jazz und Hardbop.
Die Stoner Psychedelic Rockers von VILLAGERS OF IOANNIA CITY betören Athen!
VILLIGERS OF IOANNIA CITY wagen einen nostalgischen Blick auf die große Bühne Athens und liefert mit ihrer einzigartigen Mischung aus psychedelischen Hard Rock und klassischen Folk Instrumenten eine
explosive Bühnenshow ab. Inspiriert von der griechischen Natur und ihren kosmischen Phänomenen hat die Band seit ihrer Gründung in 2007 zwei packende Studio Alben und eine EP veröffentlicht.
Seit ihrem ersten Albums, Riza (2014), haben VILLAGERS OF IOANNIA CITY auf den größten Rock Festivals gespielt und sorgten für ausverkaufte Hallen bei den größten Shows der griechischen Musikszene.
Nach vielen großartigen Auftritten wagt die Band nun den nächsten Schritt und präsentiert ihr erstes Live Album! Basierend
auf ihrer Live Erfahrung und der kurzen aber beeindruckenden Diskographie, erscheint das Album Through Space and Time (Alive in Athens 2020) am 03. März 2023 via Napalm Records.
Die Show baut auf den Songs ihres letzten Albums, Age of Aquarius (2019), auf und wird mit weiteren Songs ihres Debut Albums und der vorherigen EP durchmischt.Through Space and Time (Alive in
Athens 2020) zeigt die unglaubliche Detailverliebtheit der Band, die sich durch die fantastische Produktion und ihre unvergleichbare Live Präsenz zeigt. Mit Gewissheit werden VILLAGERS OF IOANNIA CITY auch mit zukünftigen Shows ihren Platz im Rock Olymp sichern und ihrem musikalischen Können jedes Mal aufs Neue überzeugen.
- 1: Jean-Jacques Perrey - E.v.a
- 1: 2 Janko Nilovic - Drug Song
- 1: 3 Vladimir Cosma - Exkalibur (O.s.t. "Sam Et Sally")
- 1: 4 Michel Magne & David Gilmour - I Must Tell You Why (O.s
- 1: 5 Syntaxe - L'anthropofemme (Chanson)
- 1: 6 Philippe Sarde - L'appartement (O.s.t. "Deux Hommes Dan
- 1: 7 Paul Martin & Jean-Pierre Castaldi - Le Troublant Témoi
- 1: 8 Bernard Lloret - Digen
- 1: 9 Jacques Arconte - Movie Town
- 1: 0 Cliff Cardwin - Work City
- 1: Janko Nilovic - Soul Impressions
- 1: 2 Jean-Claude Pierric - Move Man
- 2: 1 Edition Spéciale - Monsieur Business
- 2: Jean-Claude Petit - Skyway
- 2: 3 Christian Chevalier - Tecumseh
- 2: 4 Francis Lai - Somewhere In The Night (O.s.t. "Madly")
- 2: 5 Eden Rose - Reinyet Number
- 2: 6 Karl-Heinz Schäfer - Kidnapping (O.s.t. "Les Gants Blan
- 2: 7 Bruno Leys - Dans La Galaxie
- 2: 8 Francis Lai - Young Freedom
- 2: 9 Daniel Janin & Jean Luc Ferré - Dig Yourself Up
- 2: 10 Le Patchwork - Patchwork
- 2: 11 Roger Renaud - Turn Me On
Rare Groove Collection Explore the fusion of world music with soul, funk and disco through the Rare Groove Collection. With this new volume, discover unique groove tracks straight from Jamaica! Fully remastered original versions French RARE GROOVE This "French Rare Groove" volume offers us a oneâÇ`way ticket to France from the late 60"s to the early 80"s. From confidential releases to forgotten movie soundtracks, discover the grooviest tracks from the french scene. Have a good trip!
- 1: Jamaica Girls - Rock The Beat
- 1: 2 Denroy Morgan - High On Your Love
- 1: 3 The Jiving Juniors - Sugar Dandy
- 1: 4 Chico Booth & The Upsetters - The Shimmy
- 1: 5 Lloyd Williams - Funky Beat
- 1: 6 Tommy Mccook & The Supersonics - Work Your Soul
- 1: 7 Owen Gray - Something To Remind Me
- 1: 8 Stranger & Patsy - Give Me The Right
- 1: 9 Vernon Vermont - Too Late
- 1: 0 Jimmy James - Come To Me Softly
- 1: Pat Kelly - Try To Remember
- 1: 2 Ronald Russell - Rhythm Hips
- 2: 1 Denroy Morgan - Happy Feeling
- 2: Marcia Griffiths - Everything I Own
- 2: 3 Norma Lee - Hurt
- 2: 4 The Downbeats - Thinkin' Of You
- 2: 5 Laris Mclennon - Turn Me Loose
- 2: 6 Jimmy James & The Vagabonds - Hey Girl
- 2: 7 Adiche - Chuka-Ja (Get Ready)
- 2: 8 Norma Lee - Rolling On
- 2: 9 Phyllis Dillon - Humpty Dumpty
- 2: 10 Hoagy Benson - Kangaroo
- 2: 11 Sugar Simone - Take It Easy
- 2: 1 Maynell Wilson - Motown Feeling
Rare Groove Collection Explore the fusion of world music with soul, funk and disco through the Rare Groove Collection. With this new volume, discover unique groove tracks straight from Jamaica! Fully remastered original versions Jamaican Rare Groove From the beginning of the 60s to the end of the 80s, Jamaica had a worldwide influence with ska, rocksteady, dub and reggae, but the small Caribbean island did not escape the global trends of funk, soul and disco. This mix of influences has given birth to unique groove songs, highlighted by this Jamaican Rare Groove. Double vinyl Jamaican Rare Groove From the beginning of the 60s to the end of the 80s, Jamaica had a worldwide influence with ska, rocksteady, dub and reggae, but the small Caribbean island did not escape the global trends of funk, soul and disco. This mix of influences has given birth to unique groove songs, highlighted by this Jamaican Rare Groove.
Recorded at the height of the global pandemic, and at a time when remote communication was becoming increasingly prevalent, "Choreological Exchanges" is part of Hastings Of Malawi's continuing investigations into the medium of communication itself. Prior to telephony becoming digital, all phone calls were routed through mechanical telephone exchanges, and the majority of the sounds on side one are the sounds of these exchanges and some of the voices of the engineers who worked with them.
Hastings Of Malawi make strange records and this one is no exception although it has a more linear narrative structure in opposition to what critics have described as their Dadaist approach. Their records certainly resist genre classification and do not really fall into the category of music. Hastings Of Malawi have themselves described previous records as films without light, radio plays and as poems. This one is a dance - a dance that takes place within the chain, or pipe, that is brain - mouth - telephone - telephone exchange - telephone - ear - brain.
"It is a dance record but not in the way that these are usually understood. An invitation to dance appears twelve minutes in on the first side. It is a dance within the wires, movement around noise used as a sculptural material rather than unwanted signals and a joyful exploration of sonic materiality. The second side begins with the voice of a telephone engineer, who states that in the top floor switch room of the exchange is the only vestige of human control. Is this top floor switch room the human brain? The sounds on this side, float between the mechanical telephone exchange and the body where the messages are created and interpreted - it is an exploration of the relationship between thought and the material devices in which telephone sound is propagated and transformed. Side two ends with a long list of randomly generated words created by digital voice synthesis." - HOM
Die Single ”Calm Down” war auf Platz 1 der Schweizer Single Hitparade und sogar für über 100 Tage auf Platz 1 bei Shazam. Die Single hat in der Schweiz Multiplatin Status. Ausserdem hat der Song ”Soundgasm”, ebenfalls aus diesem Album, Doppel Platin Status.
Das musikalische Wunderkind Rema veröffentlicht sein mit Spannung erwartetes Debütalbum ”Rave & Roses”.
Drei Jahre nachdem Rema von Mavin Records-Gründer Don Jazzy der Welt vorgestellt wurde, hat der aus Benin City stammende Musiker mehr erreicht, als man sich je hätte träumen lassen.
Als der wohl größte und international bekannteste Vertreter aufstrebender Afrobeat-Stars, tritt Rema mit seinem kommenden Album ”Rave & Roses” in eine neue Phase seines Lebens ein.
Dabei ist der als Divine Ikubor in Nigeria geborene Sänger bereits ein Popstar, der mit seinem Debütalbum beweisen will, warum der Hype um ihn von ganzem Herzen verdient ist. ”
Manchen mag Remas Erfolg erscheinen, als sei er über Nacht gekommen. Doch zwischen seinen Anfängen im Chor bis zu dem Moment, als Barack Obama ihn seiner ”Summer 2019”-Playlist hinzufügte und Drake ihn begeistert ins Studio einlud, lag viel Arbeit, die auch über die Musik hinausgeht.
Belgian-Japanese piano wizard Alex Koo seemed destined for a career as a classical concert pianist, but in his teens, he became completely enamored with jazz. Driven by his passion, he moved to New York, where he studied and taught at the renowned NYU Steinhardt. There he came into contact with jazz greats Mark Turner and Ralph Alessi, with whom he released the album "Applebueseagreen" in 2019, which was promptly included in the prestigious list of "Best Albums of 2019" by the legendary Downbeat Jazz Magazine with the words "Stunningly original". Domestically, too, one blazing review upon another: "Belgium is too small for pianist Alex Koo" or "We are stunned ", we read in national newspapers De Tijd and Le Soir.
With his brand new Etudes for Piano, composed for and commissioned by BoZar Brussels, he shows how his passion for both worlds - jazz and classical - merge perfectly. Adventurism and virtuosity go hand in hand with melancholy and elbow work (literally, for those who really know Koo knows). His music sounds like a marriage between Debussy, Chopin, Reich, Rachmaninov on the one hand and Keith Jarrett, Craig Taborn, Brian Eno and Philip Glass on the other. Alex Koo is a conjuring natural born storyteller on piano.
Xiu Xiu setzen sich seit 20 Jahren mit Verarbeitung, Empathie, Ungehorsam und Neuordnung des Grauens auseinander. Ihr neues Album 'Ignore Grief' ist eine Platte mit zwei Hälften. Angela Seo singt auf der einen, Jamie Stewart auf der anderen. Die eine Hälfte ist real, die andere imaginär. Die realen Songs versuchen, das Schlimmste, was das Leben den 5 Bandmitgliedern zu bieten hat, in eine Art verzweifelte Form zu bringen, die ihre Herzen und ihr Gedächtnis in diesen schrecklichen Erfahrungen nicht zermalmen und verrohen läßt. Die imaginären Songs sind eine abstrakte Erkundung des frühen Rock'n'Roll-Genres 'Teen Tragedy' als Ausgangspunkt, um die Emotionen der Band zu dekontaminieren, weil sie weiß, was diesen fünf Menschen widerfahren ist.
- LP auf Silver Ghost farbenem Vinyl mit DL Code in breiter Außenhülle mit Booklet (Lyrics, Poesie)
2018 war ein außergewöhnliches Jahr für Beth Hart. Sie spielte die größten Headline-Shows ihrer bisherigen Karriere, unter anderem vor 12.000 kreischenden Fans im Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam, einer ausverkauften Royal Albert Hall in London und ihrer ersten Solo-Tournee in den USA, die komplett ausverkauft war. Von diesem Erfolg beflügelt, meldet sie sich nun mit ihrem brandneuen Studioalbum War In My Mind zurück, bei dem sie mit Rob Cavallo (Dave Matthews Band, Phil Collins, Green Day, etc.) zusammengearbeitet hat. Auf dem Album zeigt sich Beth Hart von ihrer leidenschaftlichsten und gefühlvollsten Seite und sie plant größere Shows und Festivals als je zuvor.
Beth Hart - War In My Mind ist jetzt wieder auf Vinyl erhältlich und zum ersten Mal auf Purple Vinyl. Limitiert auf 3000 Exemplare weltweit!
Zwischen 1998 und 2003 hat der Pixies-Sänger sechs Alben unter dem Namen Frank Black And The Catholics eingespielt. Diese alle live und direkt auf Zweispurband aufgenommenen Songs gehören zu den energiegeladensten, rauesten und wesentlichsten in Frank Blacks Karriere. "Snake Oil" ist eine Sammlung von Coverversionen, die während dieser fruchtbaren Zeit im Studio aufgenommen wurden. Zu den Highlights gehören donnernde Takes von Bob Dylans "Changing Of The Guards", Bruce Springsteens "I'm Going Down" und Angsts "Some Things (I Can't Get Used To)". Bisher nur als digitaler Download erhältlich, präsentiert Demon Records die erste physische Veröffentlichung dieser Compilation, die von Phil Kinrade bei AIR Mastering neu gemastert und auf 140 Gr. Vinyl gepresst wurde. Inkl. neuem Artwork mit Fotografien von Steve Gullick.
Following her 2021 debut, ‘Save My Day’, remixed by DJ Python, PYTKO returns to Phantasy with ‘Silent’, experimental and introspective electronic songwriting this time radically reworked by beloved pop-experimentalist, Bullion.
On ‘Silent’, PYTKO invites listeners to lean in closer than before. Seemingly untangling the frustrations of a faltering love affair, it’s vulnerable lyrics arrive buried beneath a sophisticated arrangement that, with bit-crushed electronics and rumbling bass notes, seems to decay with haunting effect. In contrast, the austere ‘Orchids & Limes’ mines an equally original sound, a striking sort of cyber-balearica sculpted around PYTKO’s intricate guitar work, conjuring an even darker sense of romance.
In radical contrast, Bullion proves a perfect fold to PYTKO’s vision with his positively high-spirited flip of ‘Silent’. The man behind DEEK Recordings and cult hits such as Blue Pedro keeps PYTKO’s perspective front-and-centre, while performing an alchemy of magic and melancholy that results in one the most memorable remixes in Phantasy’s fifteen-year history.
- A1: Yasper, Moods - Blessed
- A2: Aves - Stay Positive
- A3: Psalm Trees - Curosau
- A4: King I Divine - Reflections
- A5: Makzo, Jacuzzi Jefferson - Zephyr
- A6: Mommy - Jellyfish-Lamp
- B1: The Doppelgangaz - Dialed Up
- B2: Poldoore - Serenity
- B3: Bao, Venuz Beats - In Between
- B4: Kissamile - Daylight
- B5: Cygn - 2Girls 1Rose
- B6: Enzalla - Morning View
- C1: Sadtoi, Akulta - Billie & Zanaho
- C2: Mama Aiuto - Beach Safari
- C3: Vhsceral - Gimetime
- C4: Benson & Hedges - Masked Man
- C5: Evil Needle, Misha - Lost In This Moment
- C6: Chromonicci - Summer's Delight
- D1: Ian Ewing, Philanthrope - Barcade
- D2: Plusma - Luumi
- D3: Oddfish - Indian Summer Rally
- D4: Comodo - Last Up
- D5: Arbour - Solarium
- D6: Sleepy Fish - Pond Sketch
Vinyl Sampler 1[17,61 €]
The inception of 49North marks the beginning of a brand new era for Duncan Forbes; who most emphatically made his mark on the WW scene as one half of legendary duo - Spooky - alongside Charlie May; releasing a string of landmark singles and albums over 3 decades, not to mention timeless remix / production work for International heavyweights like Depeche Mode, M83, Sasha, William Orbit, Mr.G and Apparat.
A1: ‘Burning Bright As Magnesium’
“Heading up this second ‘Distilled & Amplified’, 12” sampler is one of Duncan’s most leg-sweeping, curveball originals to date - 'Burning Bright As Magnesium'... a super tripped-out, Techno head-spinner; powered by an eerie, almost spectral kind of funk.
B1: ‘In The Mansion Of The Gods’ (Mr G’s ‘Home Alone’ Remix)
“And on the flip, we see Duncan’s second ever solo release - 'In The Mansion Of The Gods' - get the rework treatment from close friend Mr G, and his unrivalled brand of analogue magic. And if you haven't heard the Phoenix G man go full-throttle before - you're in for a barn-storming treat.”
BITE label head Phase Fatale aka Hayden Payne drops his first EP in 5 years 'Nailed To The Net' and his first solo release on his own record imprint. The Berghain and Khidi resident develops his sound further into the dancefloor and techno sphere while still maintaining his signature post-punk influence. The innovative techno producer and DJ combines his spectrum of dystopian, gritty, industrial electronics with his deep understanding of synthesis and sound design. This sonic approach is all the more exemplified in Rrose's remix of 'Desecrating Vows'. The release finds Payne taking his productions to new levels by including different musical elements such as breakbeats, arpeggiations, and massively layered chordal sequences. Reflecting the last year when he produced it in Berlin, injecting all broken hearted emotions from then, each track contains more groove and nuance while having dense, shoegaze-alike atmosphere and melodies. Even containing distant voice and guitar elements, 'Nailed To The Net' maintains his trademark balance between the dancefloor and his eclectic influences.
Like a US house producers' version of the fabled grime MC battle competition 'Lord of the Mics', Brawther and Chez Damier came up with the idea of a producer contest to bring together the members of the Interweaved community, with the winners of the first round of submissions sharing their stems with the rest of the community, inviting remixes.
French born Roy Vision received the most votes in the online poll for his track '4 One Another' - a house bomb full of sub-bass pressure, craftily employed vocals and deft drum programming. The original is featured here, alongside mixes from Australian underground hero Marley Sherman, who took the trophy for his uplifting remix. London Based DJ Rouge, meanwhile hails from Ireland but loves original Italian deep house of yesteryear, and his offering was the second most voted work and is included here, slower and more wistful but still chunky in the beats department, with Dunique's spoken word part adding a quietly philosophical dimension to both the original and chirpy, cheery sounding mix from Montreal wonderkid South Shore Garage.
If you find the time, please come and stay a while in abracadabra’s beautiful neighbourhood; a magically wonky wonderland where strangers leave as friends to a block party soundtrack as eclectic as it is infectious. The California duo’s album shapes & colors is a dazzling collage of psych-fuelled synthscapes and contemporary Baroque-pop of anti-capitalist movements and escapism, precisely pieced around their own working lives in a blue-collar town.
In the heart of Oakland’s industrial Jingletown above a former auto-repair shop in what was once a mechanics’ break room where poker rounds ensued, Hannah Skelton (Vocals, Synthesizers) and Chris Niles, (Bass, Synthesizers) constructed the angular 80s-tinged anthems (think John Hughes montages to Talking Heads) of their new album, to positively offset the pandemic’s amplification of dysfunctional society. “It reflects our current reality: a huge mess that is systematically broken but isn’t entirely lost,” Hannah tells. “We’re inviting listeners to conjure up every drop of hope and willpower left inside them, pour that into the giant vat of anger and frustration bubbling inside us all, and with this potion collectively enact the necessary change to bring love and light into this dark space.”
When Covid forced Hannah from her salon in San Francisco to become a backyard mobile hairdresser, what she saw inspired them both and the lyrical foundations for their new record. “I’d drive to mansions and people would complain about how hard the pandemic had been next to their swimming pool and tennis courts.” First meeting after the album’s co-producer Jason Kick (Mild High Club, Sonny and the Sunsets) recruited the pair for a Halloween band covering Eurythmics’ art-rock debut ‘In The Garden,’ the pair hit it off and shapes & colors is a product of the years that followed. It combines Chris’ own rhythmic demos following years on the road touring and opening for Amon Tobin, Matthew Dear and Generationals in Maus Haus with Hannah’s lyrical musings honed from project Cassiopeia, so even when topics are as heavy as the beats, they’re met with luminously positive arrangements of hope and warmth.
The by-product of a psychedelic New Year’s Eve escaping a monotonous 2020 reality, the title track itself captures fireworks over East Oakland as viewed from the pair’s couch whilst listening to Mort Garson’s Plantasia for 6 hours straight. The daydream collage of ‘inyo county’ is “a little souvenir taking me back into the bottled-up essence of a slow lazy morning, waking up in bed far from home,” Hannah tells recalling those enforced stay-at-home days. “It fell out of me because I was craving that blissful flavour.” Meanwhile ‘dawn of the age of aquarius’s new parallel reality evolved from a happy accident when their demos had reset to a drone which Jason reworked into a Laurie Anderson-esque breathy vocoder effect. Even bloops and beeps from a forgotten recording session at the Vintage Synthesizer Museum in Emeryville can be heard, where the pair used Mini Moog, Fairlight EMI and ARP 2600 to arrange their sound into shapes whilst distortion and dirt from mixing on 1979 Neve 5313 Console added to the recordings’ color.
Casting a brighter rainbow still, in all its pastel-hued glory, Hannah, also illustrated a self-portrait of the band for the album artwork. “It reflects our makeshift recording studio to encapsulate all aspects of that time and space,” she shares of their abode where, over an intense two-week period and fuelled by the aroma of fermenting vino from the winery below, their single chord, bass and drum-heavy, groove-first momentum took them on an unexpected journey whilst the next-door couple would fire pizzas in their yard and a grandfather across the road would sweep the street clean. “We’d drink coffee and start the day, consistently working, without interruption,” Chris tells of finding their flow. “The loft is a cool space with skylights, tall ceilings and no shared walls so we could be as loud as we wanted to be.”
Just as well. Diving into decades of electronica and crunchy sound effects, field recordings and animal sounds, blended with an infectious Latin influence, shapes & colors is bolstered by live percussionists Greg Poneris (drums), K. Dylan Edrich (Vocals, Percussion: congas, bongos, chimes, cow bells and wood blocks, tone drum and tri-tone whistle) and Tom Smith (Guitar, Synthesizers, Vocals).
NIMBY crews grab those earplugs now. abracadabra is your new noisy neighbour, and there’s no turning this party down.
On her third album, Berlin-based Dutch-Italian composer and sound designer Aimée Portioli, aka Grand River, asks what guiding forces might be driving, enticing, and affecting us. “All Above” is rooted in her deeply personal philosophy as an artist, blurring the boundaries between electronic music and acoustic music and sculpting familiar ambient forms into personal themes painted with rich emotional colours. Written painstakingly over the last two years, the album is the most ambitious and divergent set of music Portioli has assembled so far, with a wide variety of instrumentation (including voices, strings, organs, guitars, and synthesisers) focused around the piano. She‘s keen to assure listeners that while that instrument isn‘t always heard, it‘s constantly at the forefront of the album, shepherding its emotions and anchoring its mood. It makes sense then that on the opening track ‘Quasicristallo’, the acoustic piano is the first element we hear, recorded closely, so its characteristic rattle and creak can speak as loudly as the familiar tones themselves. When the music blooms into abstraction and processed electronics, it‘s almost imperceptible: reverb mutates into ghostly vapour trails, and distortion forms the keys into another instrument entirely.
“All Above“ follows 2020‘s acclaimed “Blink A Few Times To Clear Your Eyes“ and 2018‘s “Pineapple” released on Donato Dozzy and Neel‘s Spazio Disponibile imprint. Having garnered praise from outlets like Resident Advisor, XLR8R, The Quietus, Inverted Audio, and The Verge, Portioli operates in a unique space within the electronic music scene, straddling the art world and the wider electronic music scene. She‘s developed sound art installations for Rome‘s La Galleria Nazionale and the Terraforma Festival-related Il Pianeta, and has appeared at Barbican, MUTEK, Le Guess Who?, Kraftwerk, and other internationally renowned venues and festivals, often collaborating with Marco Ciceri on A/V presentations. Ciceri also maintains the visual identity of Portioli‘s label One Instrument, a concept imprint that asks artists to create music only using a single device. All this experience is poured into “All Above”, a richly visual album that‘s far more than just an imaginary film score. While on ‘Human’, her piano punctuates a rhythmic synthesised bassline and smudged choirs that can‘t help but trace out the silver screen. The composer is keen to clarify that she doesn‘t think of her music (or sound in general) in visual terms.
Portioli studied as a linguist and used her art to develop an emotional language that‘s not bound by expected cultural constraints. When she adds a different instrument or process, it‘s not to reference a visual cue but to mark a journey through different states of being. Each element embodies a different emotion or mood: the electric guitar represents strength or violence, synthesisers shuttle us into the dream world, and the acoustic instruments highlight intimacy and warmth – even heart. Read like this, the tracks are like meditative poems rather than cinematic vignettes: ‘The World At Number XX’ is seemingly centred around a chugging synthesised arpeggio, but the cosmic, Klaus Schulze-esque pads, strangled guitar and evocative organ tones hint at the open-hearted, literate psychedelia of the 1970s; ‘In The Present As The Future’ meanwhile is breathy and windswept, juxtaposing urgent rhythmic phrases with light, flute-like gusts of harmony.
Dedicated to Editions Mego founder Peter Rehberg, who died suddenly last year, “All Above” demands engagement and refuses to evaporate into the background. The album asks listeners not just to absorb the album as a whole but notice the cracks in the structure and discern the tension they cause. That‘s never more evident than on the closing track ‘Cost What It May’, a piece of music almost jarring when Portioli chops into noisy waves of electric guitar. In the wrong hands, this might sound like a power move – some rock posturing to act as a finale. But Portioli‘s expression is different. She‘s forcing a level of engagement that perceives the negative space as just as necessary as the saturated positive, and what could be more haunting and emotionally resonant than that?
Composed, produced and mixed by Aimée Portioli.
Mastered by Stephan Mathieu.
Cut by Andreas Kauffelt at Schnittstelle, Berlin.
Photography by Federico Boccardi.
Design and layout by Riccardo Piovesan.
- A1: The Devil
- A2: Freedom For A Promise
- A3: War-Torn Wasteland
- A4: Wretched Woodland
- A5: Wedding Dance Macabre
- A6: A Mute Reunion
- A7: The Devil Fits - God In His Youth
- A8: Through The Door - Theador
- A9: Your Father Is Dead Young Lord (Be Cursed)
- A10: Broken Boudoir
- A11: Theador And The Rifles
- A12: The Bordel
- A13: Mother
- A14: Daughter Of The Sin
- A15: Zakonnica
- A16: Rope Him To The Horse
- A17: Around You Is A Void Circle Save For The Stinking Corpses
- B1: Understand Nothing
- B2: No Blackberries In Winter
- B3: Cancel The Evil Gently
- B4: Mother Snake
- B5: The Fiery Sword
- B6: The Duel
- B7: Not The Horse
- B10: Theador Go Back To God
- B11: The Black Dog
- B8: The Quill - What’s Not Written Does Not Exist
- B9: The World Is Beautiful (Climb The Tree)
Wipe your blade clean. The bloodline of Eastern European kosmische and groundbreaking, grinding cinematic psych rock finally emerges from fifty years of forbidden forestland to fill your thirsty grails. Poland’s prime progressive provocateurs Żuławski and Korzyński finally expose the jagged roots of Possession and The Silver Globe and give the devil his due via this historical vinyl release.
If an opening strapline that reads “Forget everything that you thought you knew about the history of psychedelic rock and horror movies” appeals to you, then further potentially hyperbolic phrases like “Lost Grail” and “Banned Forever” will surely clinch the deal, leaving the hugely significant wider context of this dream come true release surplus to requirement. But as we hope you have come to expect from Finders Keepers releases “The devil is in the detail” and the fact that any mention of the perpetually elusive original master tapes to a 1972 project entitled Diabeł and the phrase “Holy Grail” have become synonymously associated only adds the twisted irony that surrounds this genuine masterpiece of both aforementioned fields.
For those fastidious enough to pursue the hunt, these unearthed recordings represent the crowning glory of the lifelong unison of Maestro Andrzej Żuławski and filmmaker Andrzej Korzyński, two genuine mavericks of Polish experimental cinema who challenged artistic and societal norms, on both sides of a politically restricted regime and on an international artistic stage, without compromise. Friends since childhood, Korzyński and Żuławski may have become divided by limelight and geography (Żuławski the intrepid emigre), but they remained united in their kaleidoscopic creative vision, resulting in a fractured stream of troublesome and mind-bending golden era collaborations such as Possession, The Silver Globe, and Third Part Of The Night. This long-awaited liberation of the psychedelic masterpiece known as Diabeł finally completes the duo’s full vista with what many consider the most vital piece of the prism.
If we want to look into the future, we have to start considering the implications more holistically. All too often, science fiction is a dystopian projection of the current era's grimmest realities spiked with pragmatic historical hindsight - but what if instead it was able to reflect our needs, hopes, and dreams? On "SPINE", award-winning Danish composer SØS Gunver Ryberg considers a sustainable alternative, buoyed by interconnectedness, empowerment, and understanding. Channeling her dextrous sound design into advanced, time-bending music that fluctuates through techno, experimental ambient, and soundsystem-vibrating bass music, she maps out an artistic landscape that's futuristic and complex, but never oppressive.
Ryberg is an accomplished producer who's developed her sound over many years, playing concerts and working tirelessly on video game soundtracks, film scores, dance, performance, and multichannel installation pieces. Her first solo album "Entangled" appeared in 2019 on Berlin's esteemed Avian imprint, and was praised for its sensitive approach to noise and abstracted techno, while its EP-length followup "WHYT 030" was nominated for the Nordic Council's prestigious music prize this year. "SPINE" is the inaugural release on Ryberg's own label Arterial, and stands as a thematically dense statement of intent. The label provides a platform to extend Ryberg's artistic goals and reflect not just her world but a world she wants to see develop in the future: somewhere connected and creative, where exploration and free expression is prioritized over genre division and petty compromise.
This philosophy is central to the sounds on "SPINE", which have been carefully sculpted to accurately lay out Ryberg's worldview. Opening track 'Unfolding' presents a sonic ecosystem that flourishes as it spreads itself out, and quivering kick drums vibrate alongside unstable atmospherics. There's the faint fingerprint of Chain Reaction's notional dub techno in there somewhere, but Ryberg interrupts the thought before it can coagulate, assuring the listener that her vision isn't ponderous but playful and optimistic. This mood flickers into view again on the title track 'Spine', as fragmented breaks rumble beneath disorienting synths, faint images of a life we once knew refracted into cosmic beams of light. 'Mirrored Madness' meanwhile is warm, assertive, and optimistic, contrasting skittering cybernetic percussion with dense, enveloping harmonies.
When she pushes rhythm into the background, like on the cinematic 'We tumble on the edges', Ryberg's compositional skill is placed under the microscope. We're presented with the opportunity to examine another dimension of her work, the mystery beneath the stone, hearing saturated, alluring pads infused with hidden harmonies. In these moments, Ryberg implores all of us to consider the environment, asking us to think about the earth's essential nutrients on the dreamy 'Phosphorus Cycle', and what we might do to save ourselves on the delirious 'Where do we go from here'. Ryberg's concern isn't chastising, it's laid out in a warm embrace. The future could still be bright - there's something beautiful in the complexity if you just take the time to look closely.
Jessica Winter is the queen of sad-bangers, a purveyor of dark glittery synth-pop and a truly unique artist, as well as an acclaimed producer and writer (The Big Moon, Jazmin Bean, Phoebe Green, Walt Disco & more). Growing up on a diet of Nine Inch Nails and Siouxsie and the Banshees, her music is just as likely to channel Madonna, trap, pop, and indie disco. Much of her childhood was spent gazing out of the window from her hospital bed due to hip dysplasia, which led to a very vivid imagination to grow.
Across Jessica Winter’s debut EP ‘Limerence’ for new label Lucky Number, Winter shows her versatility as an artist, from the cinematic-pop aesthetics present in ‘Choreograph’, to a more raucous, dance-heavy approach with ‘Funk This Up’. Grounded within her unique, unmistakable style, Winter delves into everything from synth-pop, punk, and 80’s glam and cements her glimmering pop vision.
“Limerence was written during a time when I was trying to understand my relationship to love and my behaviours around it.” says Jessica; “Love confuses me so much and I think this EP demonstrates that.”
This album features Pharoah Sanders playing some no-nonsense tenor in a quartet with pianist John Hicks, bassist Walter Booker, and drummer Idris Muhammad. Sanders performs "It's Easy to Remember" (in a style very reminiscent of early-'60s John Coltrane), an original blues, and two of his compositions, including the passionate "You've Got to Have Freedom."
The musicianship is at a high level and, although Sanders does not shriek as much as one might hope (the Trane-ish influence was particularly strong during this relatively mellow period), he is in fine form. Review by Scott Yanow/AMG
Beware! This is hot stuff! Wear asbestos clothing while listening. Four world-class musicians at the very pinnacle of their art relating closely to one another in the vortex of a cyclone of jazz music. They're all burning, but listen particularly to John Hicks (R.I.P Mr. Hicks) on "DOKTOR PITT." Is he not the best thing to happen to the keyboard since McCoy Tyner? And when I state John Hicks was burning, if you've ever had the opportunity to view the video of this performance (maybe still on YouTube) recorded at the Great American Music Hall in 1981, you'll see
Mr. Hicks melting with perspiration. That's cookin' brother...
review by James S. Grogan
At the time of release Ebony reviewer Phyl Garland said "One needn't be a "piano freak" to appreciate a truly new recording. First of all imagine seven gifted and talented pianists sitting down to seven grand pianos and proceeding to tear up these instruments - musically, that is. ...the torrent of sound springing from their 70 fingers is so powerful and majestic as to be unlike anything one has ever heard."
The next release on Phase Group is a truly singular and original album from Rotterdam-based producer Ayaz.
With ‘Unpinned’ Ayaz presents a window into a uniquely crafted and highly personal sonic environment, where intercepted radio broadcasts tune in and out of focus, modulating drones echo through cavernous space and the sound of experimental synth explorations are layered over heady dub-laden beat work, deep bass lines and expertly programmed traditional sampled artefacts from the music of his native Azerbaijan.
This is an uncanny and evocative sound universe both cinematic and driving, music that would work equally scoring science fiction cinema as in the most avant-garde club environments. Mind-bending and visionary music for those that explore.
The Earth is burning, covering all environments in ashes. Smoke comes to us from computers-from social networks accelerating the spread of burnt affects, damaging our ability to feel and respond to what the planet strives to express. We need to cool down. Thomas Köner's music can help change the pace of our perceptions: 1) In DAIKAN (2002) - a Japanese term meaning "the coldest" or "the coldest part of the year"-the ear stretches until touching the depth of time that persists in the ice; a sonic drama offers the slowness thanks to which the skin of perceptions can reconstitute themselves; icequakes awaken listeners to the frozen life without scaring them. 2) Banlieue du Vide, considered by many to be Thomas Köner's most iconic audiovisual work and best kept secret, has not been released previously. It is in the collection of a couple of art museums, e.g. the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and has been awarded the Golden Nica at Prix Ars Electronica in 2004, in the category Digital Musics. Banlieue du Vide is the result of months of time-lapse observations of empty streets in the Finnish Arctic Circle, shown in glacially slow slow-motion. Phase cancellation, on which all noise cancelling technology is based, here affects the perception of time, the sense of the flow of time extinguishing itself. At this stage the void is not yet empty, traces of past noise fill the listeners mind with their haunting presence. A remastered stereo version of the soundtrack is released as a special premiere as Bonus Track of the DAIKAN album. Listening to this album, an excess of heat turns into an empowering coldness-like the transient feeling of our terrestrial embodiment in the midst of entropy.
- A1: Marie Knight And Sister Rosetta Tharpe - Calvary
- A2: The Dundees - Evil One
- A3: The Heartbreakers - Wanda
- A4: Helene Polite - Love For Sale
- A5: Oscar Pettiford - Oscalypse
- A6: Bixie Crawford - Go Away Blues
- B1: Preston Love - Ali Baba's Boogie
- B2: Mamie Ree - I Wake Up Early In The Morning
- B3: Monchito - Caldonia
- B4: Betty Mattson - What Is This Thing Called Love
- B5: Effie Smith & Johnny Criner - Mambo Blues
- B6: Titus Turner - Big Mary's
- C1: The Blasts - Canaveral Rock
- C2: The Royals - I Want You To Be My Baby
- C3: Eunice Davis - My Beat Is 125Th St
- C4: Frank Butler - Girl Of My Dreams
- C5: Mr Bo - Heartache & Troubles
- C6: Otis Smith - You're So Good Looking
- D1: The Dukes Of Rhythm - Buddah's Boogie
- D2: Innocentay - Voodoo Shango
- D3: Lawrence Stone - Dark Of Night
- D4: Lawrence Peel And The Filatones - Song Of Sadar
- D5: Kiki Williams - When Love Is New
Ten years after our initial survey of Afro-Latin accented rhythm & blues from the mid-century, Jazzman proudly presents a fourth installment, packed with as many musical surprises as the first. With music plucked from an era spanning the late 1940s into the early 60s, Jukebox Mambo IV highlights yet again the unparalleled musical creativity of the post war era, and shows how the infusion of afro-latin rhythms was key to these revolutions.
Lovingly and painstakingly researched and curated, the album boasts 23 tracks, many previously uncompiled, touching on jazz, blues, doo wop, calypso, rock & roll, gospel and more. Featuring individual track notes for every song along with some never seen before photographs of the artists, Jukebox Mambo Vol IV maintains the same high production values of each previous volume, and indeed the wider Jazzman catalogue.
WRWTFWW Records is very excited to present a new full-length collaborative project by Japanese ambient/environmental legend Takashi Kokubo (Ion Series) and Italian/Swiss trombonist Andrea Esperti (Esperti Project): Music for a Cosmic Garden.
Recorded during the heights of the pandemic and completed in February 2021, the majestic 8-track ethereal/botanical soundscape created by Kokubo and Esperti is available as a limited edition double LP, a digipack CD, as well as in digital format.
Takashi KOKUBO, environmental music figure, celebrated sound designer, and founder of Studio Ion, has released over 20 albums, including the genre-defining and highly sought-after Ion Series. He's also played a major role in the sonic identity of Japan, creating the country’s mobile phone earthquake alert sound, credit card payment validation jingles, and much more. In 2020, Takashi Kokubo received a Grammy nomination for his track "A Dream Sails Out to Sea, Scene 3" off Light in the Attic’s Kankyo Ongaku compilation. He is known for recording “sound scenes from nature” around the world using a binaural CyberPhonic microphone of his own invention and for his very unique brand of healing music.
Andrea ESPERTI is a Swiss trombonist and composer originally from Puglia (Italy). He plays in multiple genres (classical, pop, world, electro, jazz) with a globe-trotting approach: encounters with peers, rhythmic exchanges, and unplanned music projects; this is where lies the foundation of his work.
Music for a Cosmic Garden is an ode to celestial botanics, a contemporary and hallucinogenic take on the soothing ambient genre immortalized by artists such as Midori Takada and Satoshi Ashikawa, a beautiful pairing of synthesizers and the mighty trombone, taking you to a meditative galaxy far, far away, where other-worldly is just another word for cozy.
Recommended track for maximum pleasure: "Gaia’s Love Theme".
Bartosz Kruczyński, also known as artist Earth Trax, is arguably among the leading names in Poland’s current electronic music scene. Based in Warsaw, his music is deeply emotive and explores a wide-ranging sonic palette that is complemented by well-defined artistic concepts. He has already featured on labels including Phonica Records, Growing Bin, Into The Light and Shall Not Fade –with whom he released his acclaimed debut album in 2020–.
His Lapsus release 'Closer Now', takes a different trajectory to his previous album 'The Sensual World' Shall Not Fade, 2022, fundamentally an energetic and high tempo club record. In contrast, 'Closer Now' focuses on fresh and disparate ideas, with tracks that could typically be classified as more unrestrained B-sides that deconstruct sounds aimed at the dancefloor.
‘Closer Now' is influenced by liminal spaces and cultivates surreal and dreamlike qualities. Conversely it also possesses a sense of strength and grit, highlighted by moments where electronic distortion bares its teeth. It is an album that both refers both to IDM and chill out rooms.
Equipped with a cassette porta studio and a mic found in a recycling bin, Your Planet Is Next has put together an album of 10 tracks stripped down to their essentials. Half of the them were produced using a Yamaha CS-01 synthesizer and a Yamaha MR-10 drum machine — the perfect 1982 budget combo — while the other half were made solely with a Yamaha CS-10 synthesizer and a Boss DR-55 drum machine, both from the late 70s and budget options even in their heydays. As many times before throughout music history, pristine sound quality had to be sacrificed for pristine creativity... After all, ideas are what makes the world turn, not high fidelity!
Started as a reggae band, Chequers were formed by the Matthias Brothers, John & Richard, in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire in 1973. Inititally releasing in the early part of the 1970s (with their first single Rudi's In Love charting in the UK) their sound then developed to also incorporate Philly soul influences in the mid-70s, then releasing a rare but solid LP 'Check Us Out', in 1976. The group eventually evolved into a seven piece funk outfit in the late 70s, playing shows to larger and larger audiences and touring throughout the UK & Europe.
1980 saw the birth of the Matthias brothers' own small independent outlet for the group, Matthias Records. The press release of the new label's first single declared that their "roots in the reggae and soul music of the last mod era" were being brought up to date, now embracing "the music of today and tomorrow...". That 45 (the cheeky pop-punk meets ska cover version of Midnight Hour, backed with the uptempo instrumental funk of Move Up) didn't necessarily come good on that promise. 3 years would then pass until this 45 showcased the throughly-updated & stellar electro-boogie sound of Hard Times and it's equally strong b-side If You Want My Love.
Following this neither Matthias Records nor Chequers as a group ever released anything further - the record's scarcity (and hideously inflated prices on today's secondhand market) hint at low sales and potential distribution problems upon it's original release, perhaps leading to the label and the group calling it a day. Conjecture aside, there's really no denying this record slaps, and with discogs prices reaching beyond ridiculous levels there is only one option - get it before it's gone!
Anne's 7th Opus in 13 Years, Containing 6 Fantastic Covers and 6 of Her Own Songs, Recorded in One of the Most Prestigious Studios in Montreal with Her Original Blue Mind Team
Fresh from the success of her single "Killing Me Softly" from her previous album Keys to My Heart, Anne Bisson, singer-songwriter and jazz pianist, decided to perform and record more standards from the American jazz songbook, as well as new arrangements of classic songs that were so much a part of her teenage years.
Be My Lover, Anne's seventh album is, therefore, a savoury feast of original compositions and classic songs in her own bold new arrangements for acoustic trio. While still in the 'Smooth Jazz' genre, the presence of a Fender Rhodes, the legendary '70s keyboard, along with an electric bass, impart the album with quite a unique tone.
After over 18 months of musical experimentation and other creative endeavours, Anne once again brought together master drummer Paul Brochu (Gino Vanelli, Michel Legrand, UZEB) and proficient bassist Jean-Bertrand Carbou from France, for a series of informal sessions to explore the songs that were being considered for this seventh release.
These two musicians have been valuable collaborators for several years now. Paul has been featured on many of Anne's albums, notably Blue Mind, which made a huge splash when it appeared, with over 35,000 hard copies sold, while Jean-Bertrand's playing has also graced several of her albums.
Since 2009, the three have performed at several important venues, including Le Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, as well as other festivals in the United States and Mexico.
What holds them together is an evident complicity which is present from the very first notes. Their musical contributions are precise and deeply heart-felt. Their virtuoso playing greatly enhances these songs without turning them into mere technical exercises.
With precision playing, subtlety and attention to detail, as well as being recorded in impeccable High Definition, these songs will definitely please Anne's audiophile fans, while also appealing to a wider audience.
All About Ultimate High Quality CD (UHQCD)
Many years have passed since the birth of the Audio Compact Disc (CD) back in 1982. By use of High-Quality materials and a totally different manufacturing method, the definitive version of audiophile audio CD was born. Playable on any CD player, the Ultimate High Quality CD greatly surpasses all previous CDs before it!
The Ultimate High Quality CD (UHQCD):
UHQCD is a radical change to the CD manufacturing process itself. The conventional wisdom about CD manufacturing, which had remained largely unchanged across the world for over 30 years, has been exhaustively questioned. Through this effort, the ultimate in quality was attained - a level of quality that is certainly impossible to achieve with existing CD discs.
The Ultimate High Quality CD was developed through an effort to improve audio quality by simply upgrading the materials used in ordinary CDs to higher quality materials. For the substrate a high-transparency and high-fluidity polycarbonate (a type of plastic) of the type used for LCD panels was used, while for the reflective layer, low-cost, common aluminium was replaced with a unique and expensive alloy of high-reflectivity.
Differences in manufacturing methods:
Conventional CDs are produced using the technique of injection moulding to form "pits" of data on polycarbonate material. Metal plate on which "pits" representing audio source data are formed is used as a die. This is called the "stamper." Polycarbonate is melted at high temperature and poured into the die to duplicate the pit patterns on the stamper.
This method is efficient because it enables high-speed production, but it does not enable totally accurate or complete duplication of the pits on the stamper. As a melted plastic, polycarbonate is inevitably viscous, so it cannot penetrate completely into every land and groove of the tiny pits of the stamper.
The Ultimate High Quality CD photopolymer is used instead of polycarbonate to replicate the pits of the stamper. In their normal state, photopolymers are liquids, but one of their characteristic properties is that they harden when exposed to light of certain wavelengths. The advantage of this property, perfect replication of very finely detailed pits was achieved. Photopolymers in the liquid state are able to penetrate into the tiniest corners of pits on the stamper so that the pattern of the pits is reproduced to an extremely high level of accuracy. The Ultimate High Quality CD reproduces audio with greater precision and at a level that is impossible to achieve using conventional CD production technology!
Russell Small and DNO P jump on remix duties delivering an upbeat house music interpretation that will put your feet firmly on the dance floor and a smile across your face.
Russell Small has had a string of chart topping tunes with Phatts and Small and the Freemasons so this remix has a pedigree that is second to none.
LazerGirl is a Brighton based European Electronic Dance Music singer and songwriter. She is bright and full of sass, just like her music. Her pulse racing dance music with a euro twist allows her to stand out from the crowd as her style is fresh and catchy and each song is packed full of energy.
Brighton producer and DJ Steve Mac delivers a full on acid house excursion with his stylish remix of LazerGirl's "Tocarme".
Steve Mac has a prestigious bio and discography that most producers can only dream about and this remix exudes all the class you would expect from an artist of this calibre.
With its feet planted firmly in 2020, the remix effortlessly transports you back to the second summer of love combining the old school with the new decade.
Pure Class!
First Word Records is extremely proud to welcome the legendary New Sector Movements to the label, and the first new release from this moniker in 15 years! A 5-track EP for 'These Times', comprised of street soul, hip hop, jazz and bruk-tinged vibes.
Founded, headed and produced by DJ & musician IG Culture (CoOp Presents / LCSM), this all-new quasi-group project also features the vocal talents of Allysha Joy, Mike City and Natalie May with additional accompaniment from Wonky Logic, Wayne Francis, Alex Phountzi and the NSM Fusion Starship!
New Sector Movements (aka NSM) were the first out the gate at the dawn of the original broken beat movement, releasing their first single 'Groove Now / New Goya' on the People label in 1997, then releasing several singles and EPs through to the late noughties, and dropping a classic album on Virgin entitled 'Download This'. The previous incarnation featured several other artists from the bruk foundation era, including Kaidi Tatham, Izzy Dunn, Julie Dexter and Eska Mtungwazi amongst others.
Awarded a 'Lifetime Achievement Award' at the 2019 Worldwide Awards, NSM's IG Culture is a hugely pioneering prolific artist in the UK music scene. His catalogue of releases over the years has seen numerous aliases, collaborations, remixes and productions. Appearing on the scene in 1990 as part of Dodge City Productions, to producing several solo albums throughout the noughties, to recent years with his hugely-acclaimed cosmic jazz outfit LCSM (Likwid Continual Space Motion), additionally to co-running the CoOp Presents label, continuing the legacy of the award-winning club night whilst showcasing new artists, IG Culture has been omnipresent at every corner of British black music for three decades deep, influencing many a sound.
This is all additionally to projects like NameBrandSound, Likwid Biskit, Da One Away and Son of Scientist to name just a few. His work has appeared on releases by Roots Manuva, Young Disciples, Les Nubians and Monday Michiru, while remix work over the years has included Gang Starr, Femi Kuti, José James, Miraa May, Slum Village, Digital Underground, Luniz, Naughty By Nature, Airto Moreira & Flora Purim.
As a DJ, he's shut down dances all over the world, recently at places like Fabric, We Out Here festival and Summer Dance Forever in Amsterdam, as well as regularly rocking the airwaves on Worldwide FM and combining the two at BBC 6 Music's All Points East stage in the Summer. IG Culture also founded Selectors Assemble; a collective of forward thinking DJs and producers.
So, as we head towards Winter 2022, New Sector Movements has returned (but don't call it a comeback!). After a turbulent few years in the world, it seemed a poignant moment to reinvigorate the soul, and reflect upon 'These Times'. Here we have five brand new tracks, each illustrating a pertinent mood and attitude representing the current climate. Allysha Joy leads the vocal on EP opener 'These Times', a sumptuous slice of street soul with a deeply infectious horn hook. 'Stand' is next - uptempo boom bap for the dancers, this one featuring the soulful pipes of Mike City. 'Hope' is a midtempo jazz-funk dub again feature vocal licks from Allysha, and introducing the mysterious NSM Fusion Starship into the fold. 'H.E.A.T.' picks up the pace with some infectious jazz-bruk business, this one lead by Natalie May on the vocals, who explains "heat = movement, motion". And finally 'Bless' with closes the set on a four-four riddim with bruk sensibilites, inviting Mike City back with an uplifting vocal requesting we "bless the people just trying to make it".
An essential EP of cross-genre vibes to resonate cross-generations, New Sector Movements do not ramp. IG Culture and crew proceed to give you what you need for 'These Times'.
'These Times' is released on vinyl and digital worldwide via First Word Records late February 2023.
Sound Of Smoke sind eine vierköpfige Psychedelic Soul- & Bluesrock Band aus Freiburg mit einem ordentlichen Vintagevibe. Die Bandmitgliedern um Frontfrau Isabelle Bapté schaffen es mit einem Mix aus Blues, Soul und Stonerrock auf eine Reise durch die Zeit mit zu nehmen, als Klänge a la Jefferson Airplane, Black Sabbath und Led Zeppelin in Ihren Bann zogen. Mit "Phases" veröffentlicht das Freiburger Psychedelic-, Soul- & Bluesrock Quartett kaum ein Jahr nach der Platte "Tales" ihre zweites Album über Tonzonen Records. In zahlreichen psychedelischen Jamsessions entstanden elf neue Songs, welche man im legendären Big Snuff Studio in Berlin aufnahm. Das Album wurde in einer 10-tägigen Session komplett analog mit der Technik aus den 60er & 70er Jahren auf Tonband von Szenen-Ikone Richard Behrens (Kadaver, Elder, Odd Couple, All Them Witches uvm.) aufgenommen. "Phases" überzeugt mit eingängigen Bluesrockriffs, orientalische Klängen, bis hin zu schwebenden, sphärischen Klangwelten aber auch Krautrock. Das Leitmotiv bleibt jedoch Isabelle Baptés versiertes Flötenspiel und ihre warme, individuelle Stimme, welche Grace Slick wieder aufleben lässt. Florian Kiefer, welcher den Titel "Reincarnation of Lemmy Kilmister" mit seinem markanten, grollendem Basssound (und Backenbart) für sich beansprucht, bildet mit Johannes Braunstein ein groovendes Fundament im Stile von John Bonham. Getreu dem Motto "Im just tryin to write the best guitar riff in history" wie schon einst Jimmy Page oder Richie Blackmore und einem Faible für Wildwestromantik, trägt Jens Stöver letztlich das gewisse Etwas zum "Sound Of Smoke" bei. Veredelt wurde "PHASES" danach noch mit Orgel- und Synthoverdubs von Isabelle und Florian. Sound Of Smoke freuen sich mit " Phases" ihr anspruchsvollstes Album einem großen Publikum präsentieren zu können.
- 1: A Letter To Dub
- 2: Champian Dub
- 3: Up And Down Dub
- 4: A Spliffing Dub
- 5: Crucial Dub
- 6: Dance Inna Dub Style
- 7: Aarafat Version
- 8: No Funny Dub
- 9: Next To Version
- 10: Live Good Dub
At the beginning of the eighties reggae music became increasingly in tune with what was happening in Kingston’s dance halls… probably more so than at any time since the sound system operators had started to make their own shuffle and boogie recordings in the late fifties. The international audience and the critics were too busy looking for a new Bob Marley to appreciate what was happening downtown and failed to acknowledge that this was a return to the real, raw roots of the music. Brash, confident, young record producers who were totally in tune with the youth audience stepped forward and seized the moment…
Oswald ‘Ossie’ Thomas began his apprenticeship in the music business at the age of
fourteen and served his time as a record salesman for Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee and Winston ‘Niney The Observer’ Holness before moving on to Miss Sonia Pottinger’s Tip Top Records.
“I ended up working in three record stores on Orange Street from 1976 to 1981… Yeah man! Me deh ‘pon me bicycle till I buy my motorcycle! Them days records were coming out left, right and centre… every day!” Ossie Thomas.
It was during his time with Miss Pottinger that Ossie began to produce records for
himself and in 1979 Ossie and Phillip Morgan began the Black Solidarity label based deep in the Kingston ghetto on Delamere Avenue. Phillip initially inspired Ossie to start the label and soon Triston Palma, Phillip Frazer and “a youth named Gary Robertson” joined in although Gary later left for Canada.
The Soul Syndicate rehearsed in the Delamere Avenue area and Tony Chin gave Ossie a cut of a rhythm that he used for Triston Palma’s ‘A Class Girl’… the label’s inaugural release. The record was a sizeable success and paved the way for hit after hit after hit on Black Solidarity. Ossie worked with just about everybody who was anybody during this critical period of the music’s development including vocalists Robert Ffrench, Little John, Sugar Minott, Frankie Paul and most notably Triston Palma.
For this release we have compiled some of the version sides to those releases. Dub still being an integral part of the Reggae Sound System Sound. So sit back and listen to what Black Solidarity, one of the most important and often overlooked labels were bringing to the dance, dubwise, back in those heady 1980’s times.
With grateful thanks to: Paul Coote, Nick Hodgson & Hasse Huss
The 2LP Great Moments With documents the music of Pharoah Sanders from 1983 to 1990, showcasing both the raw energy and tender nature of his music. It contains 12 of his recordings, including “Africa”, “Naima”, “You’ve Got To Have Freedom” and also the previously unreleased version of “Central Park West”. Featured guest musicians are John Hicks, Idris Muhammad, Curtis Lundy, Benny Golson, Cedar Walton, Ron Carter and more jazz masters. For this compilation, Bret Primack has written new liner notes and Timeless Records founders Ria and Wim Wigt here share additional great moments from Sanders’ sublime work.
Great Moments With is available as a limited edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on translucent blue coloured vinyl, housed in a gatefold sleeve.
- A1: Back On The Road
- A2: Beats On A String
- A3: Come Down
- A4: Down Right Funk
- A5: Funky Magic
- A6: Back To The Ol Skool
- B1: My Streets On Fire
- B2: Ital Stew (Skeewiff Mix)
- B3: I Got U
- B4: Sunshine
- B5: Take It Back
- B6: We Love You Jb's
- C1: Ital Stew
- C2: Ancestors
- C3: Call Me
- C4: I Got U
- D1: New Day Comin
- D2: Sunshine 2K4
- D3: The Brothers
Green & Red Vinyl[33,15 €]
First time on vinyl, expanded version of Japan-only CD album from 2006! Now a double LP with unreleased tracks on audiophile grade colored vinyl (Disc 1: Opaque Baby Blue, Disc 2: Opaque Brown) The Jungle Bros embraced of a range of styles -- including house music, Afrocentric philosophy, a James Brown fixation, and of course, the use of jazz sample , on this reissue double LP Release on Colored Audiophile grade Vinyl , the I got U album is remastered and re-released with additional tracks .Michael Small (Mike Gee), Nathaniel Hall (Afrika Baby Bam), and Sammy Burwell (DJ Sammy B). Known as the pioneers of the fusion of jazz, hip-hop, and house music, they were the first hip-hop group to collaborate with a house-music producer. The trio released their debut album, Straight out the Jungle in July 1988. Their hip-house club hit single, "I'll House You" was added to the album in late-1988 reissues. Fostered by Kool DJ Red Alert, the Jungle Brothers success would pave the way for De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and eventually the Native Tongues collective that they founded. Hip-Hop-House with a jazzy feel including "I Got U", a re-recorded "Sunshine" and four bonus tracks/versions. -- The Jungle Bros embrace of a range of styles -- including house music, Afrocentric philosophy, a James Brown fixation, and of course, the use of jazz samples -- _John Bush, All Music
- A1: Enter: Planet Madness
- A2: Medicine Man
- A3: Gorilla State Of Mind
- A4: Eternal 1220
- A5: 21 Suns
- A6: I.d.g.a.s
- A7: Sky Dweller
- A8: Rusty Heat
- A9: Black Rain
- B1: Just Me
- B2: Head Bussa
- B3: Pure Magic
- B4: Straight Servin
- B5: Dust Angel
- B6: Footsteps On The Sun
- B7: Guns & Roses
- B8: Alte Donau Yacht Rock
- B9: The Sparkle Interlude
- B10: The Sparkle
- B11: Exit: Planet Wave
Mit dem 2008 erschienenen Album „Gumbo“ fiel der Startschuss für Brenk Sinatras interna-tionale Producerlaufbahn. Vom JUICE Magazin zu einem der Top 20 besten Instrumentalalbenaller Zeiten gewählt, schaffte „Gumbo“ mit seinen brachialen und zugleich sehr souligen,sample-basierten Instrumentals den Sprung raus aus Österreich und rückte Brenk als Aus-nahmeproducer erstmals in den Fokus.Der Nachfolger„Gumbo II“erschien 2011 über das Kölner Label MPM, das mit Brenk Sinatra so-wie weiteren Ausnahmeproducern an Bord den wachsenden Hype um instrumentalen Hip-Hopmitzündete. Brenks kompromissloser, zweiter Part der Gumbo-Reihe katapultierte ihn kurzer-hand in die Riege der gefragtesten Beat-Produzenten Europas. Seither war auch der dritte undfinale Teil der Gumbo-Reihe in Planung, jedoch hinderten die immer mehr werdenden musi-kalischen Projekte und nicht zuletzt auch der Druck, die ersten beiden Albumteile zu toppen,Brenk an der Fertigstellung seiner Instrumental-Trilogie. Der Folder mit den dafür selektiertenInstrumentals wuchs auf weit über 100 Beats, wurde teilweise gelöscht und ständig in seinerZusammenstellung verändert, bis Brenk das gezielte Sammeln von Gumbo-Material 2017 vor-erst einstellte. Damals vollzog Brenk einen stilistischen Wechsel, der ihn weg von klassischen,Samplebasierten Beats hin zu jenen entspannten Trap-Hybriden führte, die heute als seinTrademark-Sound bekannt sind. Auch wollte sich das Mindset für die Fertigstellung von „Gum-bo III“ nicht einstellen und andere Projekte wurden vorgezogen, bis das Album komplett in denHintergrund rückte. Über die Jahre wurden Fans und Journalist*innen auf die Frage nach einemRelease Date immer wieder von Brenk vertröstet, „Gumbo III“ wurde zu einem sehnsüchtigerwarteten Phantomprojekt.
Fast Forward in das Jahr 2021: erstmals seit vier Jahren klickt sich Brenk wieder durch den Folder mit den einst für die „Gumbo III“ produzierten Interludes, musikalischen Skizzen undbereits fertiggestellten Beats. Mit einer neuen Label- und Verlagssituation im Hintergrund(2021 gründete Brenk das MusiklabelWave Planet Recordssowie den dazugehörigen VerlagWave Planet Publishing) fällt er den Entschluss, dass die Zeit für den Abschluss der Gumbo-Trilogie nun reif ist und Wave Planet Records zur neuen Heimat dieses Projekts werden muss.Danach folgt eine wochenlange und mühselige Wiederherstellung der in den Jahren 2012 bis2016 produzierten Instrumentals. Brenks Hauptaugenmerk war es, den musikalischen Spiritder Instrumentals unverändert zu lassen und den Sound nicht zu modernisieren. Aus heutigerSicht klingt das mit unzähligen Vinyl-Samples gespickte Chop-Gewitter auf der „Gumbo III“wie man es von Brenks früheren Beats kennt, anachronistisch und gerade dadurch erfrischendanders. Als einziges Update für die „Gumbo III“ Instrumentals wurden lediglich ein neuesMixing von Brenk sowie das Mastering seines hochkarätigen Producer-Kollegen Dexter zu-gelassen.Für die perfekte visuelle Ergänzung des Gumbo-Sounduniversums sorgt das verspielte, vorDetails strotzende Cover-Artwork von Cone The Weird, der bereits das markante Artwork zum„Gumbo II“ Album lieferte.Die Vollendung der Trilogie wird unter anderem mit einer ganz besonderen „Gumbo TrilogyBox“ zelebriert, die im Oktober 2022 erscheinen und das Herz jedes passionierten Sammlershöherschlagen lässt
• Jah Cure is one of the best known and most loved singers in the reggae genre with multiple hits to his credit.
• His 2015 effort The Cure topped Billboard's Reggae Album Charts its debut week and earned Cure a Grammy nomination, thanks in part to a hit cover version of John Legend 's "All of Me." 2019's guest-heavy Royal Soldier also topped the same Billboard chart and featured contributions from Damien Marley, Junior Reid, Popcaan, Phyllisia Ross, and many more.
• David Jeffries, Rovi Now comes Undeniable, the eleven song collection that returns Jah Cure to his roots as a singer of love songs.
• The album features performances from Stonebwoy and newcomer Kaylan Arnold on the title track. ¨ Targeted digital advertising campaign will support album launch.
Parisian quintet En Attendant Ana have dazzled since day one. From the muted strains of their 2016 EP "Songs From The Cave", to the assured 2018 TiM debut "Lost & Found", to the sparkling refrains of "Juillet"; released just before the world collapsed around us, and which stood as the band's rebirth and purest statement of their music ambitions - until now. "Principia" is the band's third album and is without a doubt their best yet. Bandleader & principal songwriter Margaux Bouchaudon's voice anchors many of the songs on "Principia", her crystalline delivery ringing out like a bell as the band swoons & sways beneath her. The songs on "Principia" were composed from a place of confusion about the state of the world and her place in it, looking outward and inward for answers. They question our perception of others, the one they have of us and finally the one we have of ourselves in a society where the individual is king and the group is forgotten. Guitarist Max Tomasso - newly joined just before the recording of "Juillet"- feels more "moved-in" on these tunes, his sly guitar-work gliding effortlessly through. No showboating - only prickling at the precise moment necessary in suit of the song itself. New member Vincent Hivert (their touring sound man, Hivert joined the group just as touring was underway for "Juillet", replacing founding member Antoine Vaugelade)'s bass-work is rubbery & flexible, bouncing around and thru the melodies on a rhythmic sugar-high, practically urging on drummer Adrien Pollin's metronomic swing. The band's secret weapon, multi-instrumentalist Camille Frechou's trumpet & saxophone are more present & considered in the arrangements, adding a new layer of sophistication to the group's already debonair indie pop. Her beatific harmonies add a yearning to Bouchaudon's lilting phrases; sometimes uplifting, other times melancholic. Bouchaudon says "One of the most important points we tried to focus on was the place given to each instrument. For the first time, we withdrew parts, we were careful not to play everyone at once and I think that the result is a much lighter album in which every musician has a specific place and moment". But this album is also the first one to have been shaped entirely by the band, from the conception to the production. The meeting of Vincent Hivert and Margaux Bouchaudon gave birth to a duet in which the technical and artistic aspects were intertwined from the very beginning of the conception of "Principia". Apart from reshaping En Attendant Ana's dynamic, Vincent Hivert was able to think as a musician and producer as soon as they started working on Margaux Bouchaudon's demos which brought a new dimension to their music. The two of them recorded and mixed the album together reuniting their references and artistic goals. "Principia" is a great step forward without sacrificing the things that make the band unique. The nods to French pop (both current & classic) still permeate the proceedings, and the group's penchant for Anglo-Saxon indie pop from The Nineties (think Electrelane, Stereolab, American Analog Set) still rings out, but there's an air of - dare we say - maturity in "Principia"s twelve songs. The group always felt a little 'out-of' and 'ahead-of' its time, but tunes like "Wonder" "The Cutoff" and "Same Old Story" are cinematic and romantic, and absolutely feel like the next great phase of an already great band.
Peach Vinyl
Parisian quintet En Attendant Ana have dazzled since day one. From the muted strains of their 2016 EP "Songs From The Cave", to the assured 2018 TiM debut "Lost & Found", to the sparkling refrains of "Juillet"; released just before the world collapsed around us, and which stood as the band's rebirth and purest statement of their music ambitions - until now. "Principia" is the band's third album and is without a doubt their best yet. Bandleader & principal songwriter Margaux Bouchaudon's voice anchors many of the songs on "Principia", her crystalline delivery ringing out like a bell as the band swoons & sways beneath her. The songs on "Principia" were composed from a place of confusion about the state of the world and her place in it, looking outward and inward for answers. They question our perception of others, the one they have of us and finally the one we have of ourselves in a society where the individual is king and the group is forgotten. Guitarist Max Tomasso - newly joined just before the recording of "Juillet"- feels more "moved-in" on these tunes, his sly guitar-work gliding effortlessly through. No showboating - only prickling at the precise moment necessary in suit of the song itself. New member Vincent Hivert (their touring sound man, Hivert joined the group just as touring was underway for "Juillet", replacing founding member Antoine Vaugelade)'s bass-work is rubbery & flexible, bouncing around and thru the melodies on a rhythmic sugar-high, practically urging on drummer Adrien Pollin's metronomic swing. The band's secret weapon, multi-instrumentalist Camille Frechou's trumpet & saxophone are more present & considered in the arrangements, adding a new layer of sophistication to the group's already debonair indie pop. Her beatific harmonies add a yearning to Bouchaudon's lilting phrases; sometimes uplifting, other times melancholic. Bouchaudon says "One of the most important points we tried to focus on was the place given to each instrument. For the first time, we withdrew parts, we were careful not to play everyone at once and I think that the result is a much lighter album in which every musician has a specific place and moment". But this album is also the first one to have been shaped entirely by the band, from the conception to the production. The meeting of Vincent Hivert and Margaux Bouchaudon gave birth to a duet in which the technical and artistic aspects were intertwined from the very beginning of the conception of "Principia". Apart from reshaping En Attendant Ana's dynamic, Vincent Hivert was able to think as a musician and producer as soon as they started working on Margaux Bouchaudon's demos which brought a new dimension to their music. The two of them recorded and mixed the album together reuniting their references and artistic goals. "Principia" is a great step forward without sacrificing the things that make the band unique. The nods to French pop (both current & classic) still permeate the proceedings, and the group's penchant for Anglo-Saxon indie pop from The Nineties (think Electrelane, Stereolab, American Analog Set) still rings out, but there's an air of - dare we say - maturity in "Principia"s twelve songs. The group always felt a little 'out-of' and 'ahead-of' its time, but tunes like "Wonder" "The Cutoff" and "Same Old Story" are cinematic and romantic, and absolutely feel like the next great phase of an already great band.
Tape
Parisian quintet En Attendant Ana have dazzled since day one. From the muted strains of their 2016 EP "Songs From The Cave", to the assured 2018 TiM debut "Lost & Found", to the sparkling refrains of "Juillet"; released just before the world collapsed around us, and which stood as the band's rebirth and purest statement of their music ambitions - until now. "Principia" is the band's third album and is without a doubt their best yet. Bandleader & principal songwriter Margaux Bouchaudon's voice anchors many of the songs on "Principia", her crystalline delivery ringing out like a bell as the band swoons & sways beneath her. The songs on "Principia" were composed from a place of confusion about the state of the world and her place in it, looking outward and inward for answers. They question our perception of others, the one they have of us and finally the one we have of ourselves in a society where the individual is king and the group is forgotten. Guitarist Max Tomasso - newly joined just before the recording of "Juillet"- feels more "moved-in" on these tunes, his sly guitar-work gliding effortlessly through. No showboating - only prickling at the precise moment necessary in suit of the song itself. New member Vincent Hivert (their touring sound man, Hivert joined the group just as touring was underway for "Juillet", replacing founding member Antoine Vaugelade)'s bass-work is rubbery & flexible, bouncing around and thru the melodies on a rhythmic sugar-high, practically urging on drummer Adrien Pollin's metronomic swing. The band's secret weapon, multi-instrumentalist Camille Frechou's trumpet & saxophone are more present & considered in the arrangements, adding a new layer of sophistication to the group's already debonair indie pop. Her beatific harmonies add a yearning to Bouchaudon's lilting phrases; sometimes uplifting, other times melancholic. Bouchaudon says "One of the most important points we tried to focus on was the place given to each instrument. For the first time, we withdrew parts, we were careful not to play everyone at once and I think that the result is a much lighter album in which every musician has a specific place and moment". But this album is also the first one to have been shaped entirely by the band, from the conception to the production. The meeting of Vincent Hivert and Margaux Bouchaudon gave birth to a duet in which the technical and artistic aspects were intertwined from the very beginning of the conception of "Principia". Apart from reshaping En Attendant Ana's dynamic, Vincent Hivert was able to think as a musician and producer as soon as they started working on Margaux Bouchaudon's demos which brought a new dimension to their music. The two of them recorded and mixed the album together reuniting their references and artistic goals. "Principia" is a great step forward without sacrificing the things that make the band unique. The nods to French pop (both current & classic) still permeate the proceedings, and the group's penchant for Anglo-Saxon indie pop from The Nineties (think Electrelane, Stereolab, American Analog Set) still rings out, but there's an air of - dare we say - maturity in "Principia"s twelve songs. The group always felt a little 'out-of' and 'ahead-of' its time, but tunes like "Wonder" "The Cutoff" and "Same Old Story" are cinematic and romantic, and absolutely feel like the next great phase of an already great band.































































































































































