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*REISSUED ON LIMITED EDITION BLUE VINYL*

London-based electronic songwriter Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles to release his most personal work to date in the form of a mini-album titled ‘Night Melody’ through Erased Tapes on 5th August 2016. During the release of his acclaimed full-length album ‘Howl’ and heavy touring in late 2015, Ryan came out of a 13-year long relationship and found himself making music throughout the winter months. The result of his efforts is a 34-minute, 6-track mini album ‘Night Melody’, born out of and shaped by long hours working into the night. It’s nocturnal in sound; mysterious in the way that the early hours so often are.

“I found myself, in a silent home, with the days getting dark very early. I’ve never before in my life been affected by the lack of light so much. I just remember it always being night time. I would either make music into the night, go out drinking with friends, or go to parties and dance into the early hours, every day, week after week, month after month, until eventually the days became brighter again.” The opening statement ‘Pattern of the North’ starts off with a collage of spliced synth melodies, inspired by anxiety that accompanies going home for Christmas. It’s followed by ‘Johannesburg’, an early sketch gradually filled out during his tour in South Africa.


“After playing it around some of the cities, I got a lot of inspiration to bring it to life and push it into something that really moves me. I think this is one of my most colourful pieces of music, with its driving rhythm and almost a homage to Terry Riley’s ‘In C’ towards the end, with a build of very simple, hypnotic parts. I especially love that for over five minutes the piece is tied to just one note. This makes the ending very dramatic, because all of a sudden there is this harmonic change.” ‘Lone’ started life around the time Ryan was working on his ‘Sonne’ EP in 2014. It’s the result of constant adjustments to find the perfect balance of fragility and assurance. As everything on the album, it’s a carefully considered, emotionally mature piece. “I think, as I get older, I need music to represent something and not just sound interesting, though of course the two are connected.” The closing statement ‘What Sorrow’ is a fitting end to the album, building from gentle melancholia to a joyous crescendo. It’s a sensibility that’s central to the record; joy and sorrow both find their counterpoints.


“This record is very personal to me and I hope it offers something for other people, as it helped me to make it and to listen to it. Almost every synth line was recorded intuitively, without perfection but with a lot of intention and expression. I’m not interested in making something sad or making something happy. I want music to be bittersweet, to be more complex, like life – containing moments of vibrant colour and hope, as much as darkness and sadness.” This summer will see Ryan follow on from his recent North American Tour with the appearance at many festivals including Lovebox, Secret Garden Party, La Route Du Rock, Sea Change and Tale of Us-curated Afterlife party at Space, Ibiza.

During the recording of this album, band leader Duane Allman was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident. Still reeling from their loss, the band nonetheless managed to complete this classic album with Dickey Betts on guitar. In tribute to Duane, however, they chose to bring the album to a close with a 34-minute jam taken from the Fillmore East sessions, which showcased what an amazing guitar player and force to be reckoned with Duane really was. Includes 3 bonus tracks and a replica of the original insert." The 4th Allman Brothers album, originally released in 1972. 180 gram virgin vinyl, deluxe gatefold sleeve.

There are few people across the globe, who will have not been touched by the work of Frankie Knuckles. Forever regarded as ‘The Godfather of House’ for his unrivalled contribution to the house music we know today; what started as an underground movement in Chicago has grown to international heights thanks to Frankie. His records earned him recognition on a global scale, allowing him to work with some of the globes biggest names including the likes of Diana Ross, Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson.

Five years ago, Frankie passed away in Chicago on 31st March 2014 leaving behind one of the greatest house music legacies spanning almost four decades. Now he is commemorated by long time writing and production partner Eric Kupper. Eric, himself a seasoned DJ producer and writer, has worked on over 116 Billboard #1 Dance Records and played a pivotal role in a many of Frankie’s productions. Having both worked together for many years they established themselves at ‘Director’s Cut’ from 2011 and set about producing original releases and remixes based on the classic ‘Def Mix’ sound while sharing equal credits for their creations.

Together they re-produced and re-purpose classic cuts for modern dancefloors, with reworks including tracks from Marshall Jefferson, Ashford & Simpson, Artful & Ridney and The Sunburst Band, alongside Frankie Knuckles originals. These releases have now been brought together by Eric to feature on special album called ‘The Directors Cut Collection’ on SoSure Music. It includes the Director’s Cut reworks of Frankie’s classic cuts such as ‘Your Love’ and ‘Take You There’ with Jamie Principle, alongside Frankie’s first #1 single - ‘The Whistle Song’ on which Eric shares writing credits.

Within a multitude of classic reworks, highlights include a previously unreleased version of Ashford & Simpson’s ‘Bourgie Bourgie’ and a huge Director’s Cut Retro Signature mix of Marshall Jefferson’s 'The House Music Anthem (Move Your Body)' featuring Curtis McClain.

The Director’s Cut Collection is a fitting tribute to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Frankie’s passing whilst giving Eric a platform to tell his side of the creative story. This album is to be released in collaboration with The Frankie Knuckles Foundation who work to continuing Frankie’s legacy well into the future.

This July the esteemed scribe, proper DJ, and discreetly deft twiddler Bill Brewster, drops the latest instalment in his ‘After Dark’ series, for Late Night Tales.

A throbbing, louche and leisurely affair, groove is very much at the heart of this freestyle selection, a vibe which Bill de- scribes as “a basement, a red light and a sound system. Or, as the Beastie’s once rapped, slow and low, that is the tempo”.

There’s Hawaiian drum machine bossa balearica from Island Band, percussive afro post punk from Czech jazz singer Jana Koubkova, and breathy-bubbling-dubwise-slap-bass-soul from Debbe& The Code.

There’s also sultry deep house mood music from Lanowa, infectious bouncy jazz funk breaks from Canada High, and Nail’s life affirming re-edit of singer songwriter Gilbert O Sullivan’s electro pop gem ‘So What’.

Bill’s own studio skills are present and correct too, featuring an undulating bassy version of country troubadour Jeb Loy Nichols, reworked along Alex Tepper under their Hotel Motel moniker, and a chugged-up squelchy disco take on Khruang- bin, this time paired with Raj Gupta, as Mang Dynasty.

Chock full of exclusives, tracks are either completely brand new, or available digitally for the first time, whilst others are wallet-rinsing rarities if purchased elsewhere. Whichever way you slice it though, every tune is a highlight, working equally well as standalone nuggets, or within Bill’s fluidly cohesive mix.

Whether he’s taking the roof off a club with his unique selec- tion of deep and tough house music, enchanting a backroom with a genre-bending set of disco, Balearic, rock and hip hop or playing chillout music in a bay in Croatia, Bill Brewster is the man for all occasions.

In a former life, Bill was a punk rocker, a chef and also the co-editor of football magazine When Saturday Comes but has been a record nerd all of his life. He began DJing in the 1980s, but came into his own in the early 1990s, particularly during a two-year stint in New York running DMC’s office, where nights at the Sound Factory and hanging out with Danny Tenaglia gave him the musical grounding you can still hear in his music today.

Bill was also one of the founding residents at Fabric in London, a position he held for five years. There are few still playing regularly today that have his dedication, eclecticism and encyclopedic knowledge of music.

His parallel life is as a writer, and with his long-term part- ner-in-crime Frank Broughton, they have written four books together, including the acclaimed ‘Last Night A DJ Saved My Life’ (latest edition published last July), ‘How To DJ (Prop- erly)’ and ‘The Record Players’.

He has been working in the industry’s fringes for over 40 years including the running of various labels from Twisted UK and Forensic in the ’90s to Disco Sucks and Anorak in the noughties.

He is one of NTS radio’s new residents for 2023 and his ‘Low Life Loves You’ show is available on the first Tuesday of every month.

Imperial f.f.r.r. was Unrest’s breakthrough album in 1992. It has withstood the test of time and is now considered an indie-rock classic and one of the best albums of the 1990s. Formed in 1984, at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia, the band started releasing homemade cassettes on their own Teenbeat label. Imperial f.f.r.r. is their sixth album and marked the arrival of original Velocity Girl vocalist Bridget Cross joining drummer Phil Krauth and singer/guitarist Mark Robinson. It was recorded by Wharton Tiers (Sonic Youth) at his home studio in Manhattan. After the release of Imperial f.f.r.r., the band released singles on Sub Pop and K and soon thereafter signed to legendary U.K. indie 4AD, releasing their final studio album Perfect Teeth in 1993. This limited edition features the original design and layout of the very first pressing from 1992. All the details have been recreated including the lyric sheet, the blue box around the amplifier on the front, the label art, and even the Ajax and No.6 Records logos. The original didn't have a barcode, so we've created a spiffy new removeable OBI card for that featuring a photograph by Mike Galinsky (The Decline of Mall Civilization) of the band playing at New York's Spiral club in 1991.

If your brain has a shortlist of bands that instantly evoke New Wave, Suburban Lawns deserve a slot right next to the likes of Devo, Talking Heads and the B-52’s. After putting out two singles on their own Suburban Industrial imprint, the Lawns signed to I.R.S. Records and released their debut LP in 1981. While the band gained cult status thanks in part to a Jonathan Demme-produced music video which aired on Saturday Night Live, their self-titled album would sadly be the five-piece’s only full-length statement. Suburban Lawns’ asymmetrical aesthetic is personified by co-vocalist Su Tissue, whose mesmerizing stage persona was at once childlike and terrifying. Her unique style embodies the awkward/arty female singer of the Reagan era, while the group’s male vocals—courtesy of Frankie Ennui, Vex Billingsgate and John McBurney—maintain the satirical themes of Southern California’s postwar mirage of limitless sprawl. Suburban Lawns’ catchiness can be attributed to their drum-tight performance and taut songwriting. Listen to the vocal trade-offs on “Anything,” which could have easily come out on any purely Punk label from LA at the time, while Tissue’s deadpan delivery on “Janitor” glides into the best art-warble this side of Lene Lovich, broaching the possibility of nuclear annihilation with a murmured “Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom.” From a West Coast scene dominated by 7-inch singles and EPs, the Suburban Lawns’ lone LP remains in a class with precious few. It’s not surprising that they found acceptance in the Hollywood punk scene, despite their Long Beach roots, and would influence other bands such as Minutemen. This is not a disc that will get parked in your collection hoping to get pulled once in a while; this is a record you will play.

‘Dear Departed’, the second album from Sam Burton, arose from a time of rebirth. In the last few years, Burton basically started over. There’s a freedom in leaving everything behind, and Burton embarked on a wandering phase. He went and stayed at a friends’ family home in a rural region further north in California, where he holed up in a cabin and helped the grandmother farm to earn his keep. He crashed with friends all around Los Angeles, until he found himself a new gig and a new apartment of his own. Along the way, he was writing songs.

‘Dear Departed’ was produced by Jonathan Wilson (Angel Olsen, Father John Misty, Margo Price), and recorded at Wilson’s Topanga Canyon studio with some of the best studio players in LA.

Wildfire was a household name in Tropical Island music circles due to their excellent albums and performances throughout Trinidad, Tobago, the Caribbean & US Virgin Islands and French Guadeloupe. In 1962 they started off as ‘The Sparks’ (a well-respected Calypso outfit who released a bunch of successful singles) but with the release of their hit single ‘Come On Down’ from 1975, they exploded into Wildfire.

Wildfire had a very fruitful career and released four top full-length albums and a vast amount of singles before calling it quits. Led by bandleader Oliver Chapman (bass & guitar player, vocalist, arranger, producer and co-writer for the majority of the bands’ songs) and comprised out of high talented musicians, Wildfire was out there with the big boys in the niche they carved out for themselves.

On the album we are presenting you today (Time Is The Answer from 1980) you’ll find the perfect mix of funk, soul and disco, basically the popular sounds of the day, and all tracks are originals. The album is FUNKY and the production quality can rival with any of their peers and records produced/recorded in the US. The performance of Wildfire on this album is beyond excellent. This release was also the first time the group took control over production and getting their album out in the world. Also included is the hit single ‘Say A Little Prayer For The Children’ which is just one of those songs that will be stuck in your head forever.

Besides virtuoso Oliver Chapman: the talent that was featured on ‘Time Is The Answer’ is exceptional. Anstey Hamilton carries around a rich noticeable tenor voice. Arthur Byron who also did vocals on the album, has a beautiful rasping tone that can knock you out anytime he gets into his act. Fitzroy Isaac on keyboards and Donald Leid on drums are the guys that were responsible for keeping the groove tight. Clifford Wilson like Oliver had been with band since the start. He is calm in his approach, he played the bass guitar and sung background vocals, he also chipped in with Oliver whenever they wrote songs together. Finally we have Cyllan Charles, who was known as the Wildfire voice. Cyllan had been doing most of the lead vocals since he joined the group in 1972, he was the most experienced of all the members, and can really take you to higher heights anytime he gets into doing his thing both on stage and on wax.

“Time is the Answer" by Wildfire is a scarce and increasingly sought-after LP. Filled with hit-bound songs it comes as no surprise that the album has now become a much-wanted item due to its addictive and original-sounding nature. This is a must-have for any self-respecting record digger!

Vibes player Johnny Lytle was one of the heroes of the early acid jazz club circuit, with his cuts 'Selim' and 'The Man' being anthems of the scene.

The Ohio-born player’s first album as a leader was on the Jazzland label in 1962 with “Nice And Easy”. His second, three years later, on Riverside, "The Village Caller", made him a star in the jazz world. When Riverside encountered difficulties, co-owner Orrin Keepnews collaborated with Lytle on two albums which came out on the Detroit label, Tuba.

The first of these, "The Loop", featured his regular trio partners, organist Milt Harris and drummer “Peppy” Hinnant. This line-up was augmented on some tracks by former Miles Davis pianist Wynton Kelly and bassist George Duvivier. A 7” version of the title track actually spent five weeks in the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1966. As for the album, as well as the acid jazz cut 'The Man', it features a stunning version of Duke Pearson's 'Cristo Redentor' and the dancefloor-friendly 'Possum Grease' and 'Hot Sauce'. The band also stretch out on extended track ‘The Shyster’.

“The Loop” is a classic album and Ace’s pressing is the first time it has been legally reissued on vinyl.

A central figure in Seattle’s fading disco scene, radio DJ, producer, engineer, writer and multi-instrumentalist…Tony Benton was the driving force behind the Seattle soul-funk sound during the late 70s & 80s. Starting off his career at the age of ten he learned how to play the piano and then finally got to take a music class in the 7th grade. Having access to an electric piano made him fall in love with the thought that he could make his own music. At the age of 16 Tony and his friends already formed their first band called ‘Crystal Clear’ and were making up songs in his basement.
Things would really start off when Tony Benton teamed up with his group to form the avant-boogie group Teleclere who went on to release their first single in 1982 (Fantasy Love / Ultra Groove). That’s when Tony started playing all of the other instruments and thus earning him the title ‘multi-instrumentalist’. Teleclere was all about creating and performing original music, there was no music scene in Seattle at that time for a black artist or group who played original compositions. Rap-music was also emerging and clubs slowly started to switch from live performances to deejays.
Through the success of their independent EP release, Teleclere followed up a year later with their Affection/Defection album which created a serious hype. This gave them the chance to regularly open at concerts for national artists in halls and clubs. They played at nightclubs, bars, festivals, private parties and did mini tours in the Washington State cities & Canada…including opening for Grammy-award winning soul-star Peabo Bryson (performing for a crowd of 3,000 in their hometown Seattle)
Sadly, radio would not play their music so folks never really had the chance to hear it unless they saw them perform live (they always won the crowd over). To add insult to injury, venues and the likes started to mainly book cover bands playing top 40 music. Disappointed by this Tony Benton became a radio personality but would continue to record and perform under the name ‘Teleclere’ with various players and vocalists for many years to come. Only a handful of his tracks recorded were released in the end.
Thankfully we are left with the unique audio-document that is the Affection/Defection LP. The album took the scene by storm in 1983 and sounds like a sci-fi space odyssey unfolding on an intergalactic dance floor…a chopped and slapped slice of 80ies electro-funk, sensual soulful serenades, pulses of Innervisions-worthy bass, top of the line vocals and a plethora of vocoder magic. Also included is the hit ‘Steal Your Love’ that was featured on the acclaimed 2014 Light In The Attic compilation ‘Wheedle’s Groove Volume II: Seattle Funk, Modern Soul And Boogie 1972-1987’.
Tidal Waves Music (in collaboration with the Numero Group) now proudly presents the first ever vinyl reissue of this fantastic private pressed Seattle electronic soul/funk album (originally released in 1983 on Telemusic Productions). This rare record (original copies tend to go for large amounts on the secondary market) is now finally back available as a limited 180g vinyl edition (500 copies) complete with the original artwork and obi strip.

Why fiddle and voice? They say the fiddle is the instrument that most resembles the human voice. It’s like I get to sing three part harmony with myself, preparing to be able to play the songs with others. I have played violin as long as I can remember… it changed to fiddle in college after being inspired by so many great fiddle players I ran into at camps and festivals. About a decade ago, when I first heard Bruce Molsky, I remember vividly listening to his album, Soon Be Time over and over, and then going down a rabbit hole to watch videos of him playing and singing at the same time. Then, as I saw others perform in this way, notably Tim O’Brien, Laura Cortese, it would continually floor me. The way the two voices weave as one. The threads of the double stops often accounted for two unique voices, lifting the authenticity of the lyrics. I could feel the lyrics, so vulnerable and exposed, cut through. I was scared to perform this way for years, finally giving it a go in a situation where I was asked to perform and my band members were unavailable. I have always felt that as a musician I want to have strength as a collaborator… Now I am realizing that requires a musician to be able to carry the song alone. If you can feel the groove, the chords, the melody and the meaning all at once, then it makes it easier for others to connect to the song, and lift it up. How is this album a natural progression for you at this point in your career? For years, I have been fortunate enough to play with some extremely talented collaborators. My hope is that never ends, and that this album gives me the chance to learn how to stand firmly on my own two feet, rooted in the song in my heart, calling in friends and collaborators with the resonance of my spirit as naturally as they appear in my life.

The very first vinyl edition of Andrew Gold’s pastiche
psychedelic masterpiece ‘The Fraternal Order of the All –
Greetings from Planet Love’.
Initially released in 1997, the album was conceived by
Andrew Gold as a tribute to late 60s psychedelic rock. His
remarkable compositions were wonderful stylistic
evocations of artists such as The Beatles, The Beach
Boys, The Byrds and The Doors.
The project saw Gold create the fictitious band The
Fraternal Order of the All, in reality Andrew playing
most of the instrumentation and singing, along with guest
musicians such as Graham Gouldman.
This Esoteric Recordings limited edition double LP is
pressed on 10-inch coloured splatter vinyl and features a
newly designed lavish gatefold sleeve.

NoCorner and Stone King proudly presents the first official collaboration between Ossia and Andy Mac. Both are fresh off a series of high-profile releases and projects - Ossia with recent releases on Berceuse Heroique and Blackest Ever Black, and Andy with his new Deep Street label and the 2nd Diving Bird 12 that just came through on Idle Hands.

Featuring three tracks written & recorded between 2015 and 2017, the record sees Andy & Ossia's mutual love for Jamaican and African rhythms, dusty records and a tape-saturated approach to guide a fresh, dubwise production process involving a battered old Roland Sampler and Ossia's infamous half-broken analogue Trident Mixing desk.

A Side Soup Riddim serves itself up as a hybrid slab of dancehall, dub and perhaps even the looser stylings of house - a fresh twist with an eternally-universal emphasis on space, and the movement within it. On the flip, Cado leans even further into negative space, allowing a gorgeous piece of samplism to drive the rhythm all the way to its conclusion in the blink of an eye, with the soft insistence of the percussion playing with the listener's sense of time. This feeling intensifies in the final track, Linguine Loop. A shapeshifting low-frequency hum underpins a hypnotic melodic loop that develops, delays and distorts into a dizzying crescendo of feedback and noise. The final minutes serve as a final reflection on what came before as the melody slowly re-filters into the mix as a ghostly, half-there form of itself, drawing the reductive conclusion to this EP, a triple version excursion of far-away sounds.

Edition of 300, six times (at least) hand-stamped, in kraft sleeve.
Mastered and cut by Lewis at Stardelta.

The Counts formed in Michigan in 1964 as the Fabulous Counts, releasing two singles, ‘Jan Jan’ and ‘Get Down People’ on the Moira label in 1968 and 1969 that became R&B chart hits. This led to the album “Jan Jan”, issued by Cotillion in 1969.

Snapped up by Westbound, the line-up that recorded “What’s Up Front That Counts” included Mose Davis (Organ), Leroy Emmanuel (guitar), Demetrius Cates (sax) and Andrew Gibson (drums). Although tenor player Jim White is on the front cover, he left the band shortly before the album was recorded. Extended, mostly instrumental tracks like ‘Why Not Start All Over Again’ and the title track are now recognized as some of the juiciest funk ever laid down in the studio. Shorter tracks like ‘Rhythm Changes’, ‘Thinking Single’ and ‘Bills’ are equally sweet. What gives the album such powerful musical chemistry was the fact that the Counts were jazz players weaned on the likes of Miles Davis who were also into the funk of James Brown and Sly & The Family Stone so every track features groove-driven interplay. One might argue this is the sound that Miles Davis was trying to find on his early 70s albums.

The Counts were to tour with Funkadelic and record more singles and albums but it is this 1971 offering that is, and remains, an all-time classic. Indeed, the track ‘What’s Up Front That Counts’ has been sampled by artists like Queen Latifah and Eric B & Rakim, keeping the music of the Counts firmly in the minds of a young contemporary audience.

Out of print on vinyl for nearly two decades, Ace is proud to reissue this beauty

Das Role-Playing-Game "Cassette Beasts" liefert einen mitreißenden 80er-Synthie-Rock-trifft-auf-britischen-Indie-Soundtrack, der vom Briten Joel Baylis komponiert wurde und bei dem die Newcomerin Shelby Harvey, den Gesang übernimmt. Der Soundtrack nimmt seine Hörer mit auf die mysteriöse Insel New Wirral und bietet alles: Von Lo-Fi Akustikballaden bis hin zu stadiontauglichen Hymnen. Apropos, willkommen in New Wirral, einer abgeschiedenen Insel, die von mysteriösen Kreaturen bewohnt wird, die man sonst nur aus den Albträumen kennt, die man niemandem wünschen möchte. Die Insel wird aber auch von einem tapferen Völkchen, das Kassetten benutzt, um gegen diese Monster in die Schlacht zu ziehen. Um wieder nach Hause zu finden, gilt es, die Insel bis in die letzte Ecke untersuchen und Monster auf Tape zu bannen, um ihre Eigenschaften zu erlangen! Joel Baylis gibt einen kurzen Einblick in seine Vision hinsichtlich des Soundtracks dem Resultat seiner Arbeit: "Mein Ziel war es, als ich die Musik für Cassette Beasts gemacht habe, etwas zu erschaffen, dass irgendwo zwischen einem Rollenspiel-Soundtrack und einem 80er Synthie-Rock-Album liegt. Ich denke, selbst wenn man diese Einflüsse in Betracht zieht, ist etwas höchst Eigenständiges entstanden. Es fällt schwer, den einen Genre-Stempel aufzudrücken, dafür versammelt die Musik zu viele Stimmungen und Stile." Darüber hinaus könnte die Freude bei Baylis über die Veröffentlichung des Soundtracks auf wunderschönem lila und mintgrünem Vinyl sowie natürlich auch auf limitiertem Tape kaum größer sein: "Die Stücke für den physischen Release wurden mit viel Bedacht ausgewählt und zusammengestellt, so dass alle Aspekte des Soundtracks perfekt in Szene gesetzt werden und das Produkt einfach großartig in jeder Sammlung aussehen sowie unter der Nadel klingen wird." Und da sich bei "Cassette Beasts" alles um die legendären Tonbänder dreht, haben sich Black Screen Records natürlich ebenfalls um eine limitierte Auflage von Tapes gekümmert. Alles bereit für die Monsterjagd! Der "Cassette Beasts"-Soundtrack ist nicht nur für Indie-Gamer ein Muss, sondern auch für Fans von Künstlern wie CHVRCHES oder Liebhaber des 80er Synthie-Sounds.

Das Role-Playing-Game "Cassette Beasts" liefert einen mitreißenden 80er-Synthie-Rock-trifft-auf-britischen-Indie-Soundtrack, der vom Briten Joel Baylis komponiert wurde und bei dem die Newcomerin Shelby Harvey, den Gesang übernimmt. Der Soundtrack nimmt seine Hörer mit auf die mysteriöse Insel New Wirral und bietet alles: Von Lo-Fi Akustikballaden bis hin zu stadiontauglichen Hymnen. Apropos, willkommen in New Wirral, einer abgeschiedenen Insel, die von mysteriösen Kreaturen bewohnt wird, die man sonst nur aus den Albträumen kennt, die man niemandem wünschen möchte. Die Insel wird aber auch von einem tapferen Völkchen, das Kassetten benutzt, um gegen diese Monster in die Schlacht zu ziehen. Um wieder nach Hause zu finden, gilt es, die Insel bis in die letzte Ecke untersuchen und Monster auf Tape zu bannen, um ihre Eigenschaften zu erlangen! Joel Baylis gibt einen kurzen Einblick in seine Vision hinsichtlich des Soundtracks dem Resultat seiner Arbeit: "Mein Ziel war es, als ich die Musik für Cassette Beasts gemacht habe, etwas zu erschaffen, dass irgendwo zwischen einem Rollenspiel-Soundtrack und einem 80er Synthie-Rock-Album liegt. Ich denke, selbst wenn man diese Einflüsse in Betracht zieht, ist etwas höchst Eigenständiges entstanden. Es fällt schwer, den einen Genre-Stempel aufzudrücken, dafür versammelt die Musik zu viele Stimmungen und Stile." Darüber hinaus könnte die Freude bei Baylis über die Veröffentlichung des Soundtracks auf wunderschönem lila und mintgrünem Vinyl sowie natürlich auch auf limitiertem Tape kaum größer sein: "Die Stücke für den physischen Release wurden mit viel Bedacht ausgewählt und zusammengestellt, so dass alle Aspekte des Soundtracks perfekt in Szene gesetzt werden und das Produkt einfach großartig in jeder Sammlung aussehen sowie unter der Nadel klingen wird." Und da sich bei "Cassette Beasts" alles um die legendären Tonbänder dreht, haben sich Black Screen Records natürlich ebenfalls um eine limitierte Auflage von Tapes gekümmert. Alles bereit für die Monsterjagd! Der "Cassette Beasts"-Soundtrack ist nicht nur für Indie-Gamer ein Muss, sondern auch für Fans von Künstlern wie CHVRCHES oder Liebhaber des 80er Synthie-Sounds.

Imagine if Eric Carle had been signed to Ghost Box, or if the Look Around You team had ended up taking over the Radiophonic Workshop. If you can picture that kind of sound, we’re ready to welcome you to the Cosmic Neighbourhood.

Cosmic Neighbourhood’s Gatherings is an album made for wild imaginations and deep daydreams. Its fourteen tracks provide the kind of trip you can take if you close your eyes tight enough and let your mind wander. It’s the music of small things, groovy sounds from way underground that’s inspired as much by Martin Rev and Moondog as it is by walking trees, pine cones catching the bus, nocturnal farmyard symphonies and the movements of butterflies reimagined through restless drum machines. Sounds good? Come join the gathering. There’s room for everyone.

Cosmic Neighbourhood is the musical alias of York-based illustrator and musician Adam Higton. Adam’s work encompasses comic strips, collage and sound art and documents the daily goings-on of the forest folk within the realm of the Cosmic Neighbourhood. His two albums on Kit (|Collages I and II) see each song acting as a response to a series of paper-and-scissors compositions. Sonically, these records straddle new and old, taking modular electronics, flutes, bells and softly pattering drum machines, before colouring them all with the amber glow of some forgotten, psychedelic kids' TV programme. Higton's benign toots and echoing jingles bring to mind Daphne Oram's early delay experiments or the meandering playfulness of Tom Cameron. Radiophonic and time-worn, it still somehow sounds like the future.

Gatherings follows previous Cosmic Neighbourhood albums Library Vol 1 and Collages I and II. Previous Rivertones releases include spoken word and found sound collages by Robert Macfarlane & Chris Watson, poetry and elemental music by Will Burns & Hannah Peel and the soundtrack to Wolfgang Buttress’ Hive structure at Kew Gardens by Be.

To call Current Affairs a Glasgow band may initially seem misdirection. Though Joan Sweeney (ex-Rose McDowall’s Band, Aggi Doom, The Royal We) is a lifer, Sebastian Ymai (Comidillo Tapes, Pissy, Anxiety) came from Chile via York, recently relocating to Berlin in 2021, and new member Gemma Fleet (The Wharves, Order of the Toad, Dancer) alongside Andrew Milk (Shopping, Pink Pound) were persuaded to leave London for the ‘second city’ after touring through with previous bands. However, Glasgow is the heart and hub of the band’s music, musical life and the place where Off the Tongue was solidified and produced. Their current line up formed in 2020, but the four have been circling each other for years, touring and playing with their previous bands within the close UK network of DIY music. Stalwarts of their respective scenes they finally began working together through the creation of the Spitehouse collective – a project designed to promote Queer and female-fronted music through events mainly held at Transmission Gallery and Glasgow Autonomous Space, putting on many local and international acts (Sneaks, Sacred Paws, Still House Plants and Comfort amongst others). When an opening for a new bassist arrived, Gemma was the obvious compliment, the slogan of Spitehouse being the language of Current Affairs – “Everyone’s welcome, but don’t get it twisted.” Following on from 2019’s singles collection, Object & Subject, the wait for their debut full-length may belie the urgency of its sound. Songs that were written in pieces over a long time and distance, but fully formed in the instant of the recording room across just a few days by producer Ross McGowan at Chime Studio. Current Affairs’ song-writing process has always been collaborative. Songs are developed responsively, with each of the band’s members sending/bringing elements or hooks to each other, but practices being the place where the songs flesh out, structure and are fully realised. These new songs feel a little brighter than their previous offerings, yet still hold true to their propulsive and caterwauling sound. Still embryonic in the most exciting way that that can be. Current Affairs’ music straddles new-wave pop and gothic post-punk in the way that you should expect a Glasgow-Berlin band to do so: with grit and panache. Written from within the world of crumbling services, broken bonds and wounded spirits, Off the Tongue rolls off an ecstatic rage, filled with hope for you, them and everyone else. It’s a rallying cry away from hopelessness, forgiving your fears and laying them to waste. Their album holds a place for you to be angry and to be focussed. In lieu of having anything else, we’ve always got each other, and an uncertain future is open game for us too

First time on vinyl ever, remastered in 2023. Zeke- Live Tracks Uncensored LP. This LP shows Zeke live ... raw, wild, untamed and uncensored. If you’ve seen Zeke before, you know that these guys can be a total beast on stage. This LP offers a bunch of killer live recordings to make it sound like the band is playing in your kitchen: loud, fast and furious. You know that Zeke are the real purveyors of speed rock and roll and that can’t be better heard than here. The LP includes some of their best songs including tracks from ‘Super Sound Racing’, ‘Flat Tracker’, ‘Kicked in the Teeth’, ‘Dirty Sanchez’ and ‘Death Alley’ recorded in different venues from Seattle to Las Vegas to Minneapolis. One of the other special treats this LP offers is it includes two very rare studio tracks that are pretty hard to find. 26 tracks in all with top notch production. Genre: Alternative / Rock n Roll / Pun

First time on vinyl ever, remastered in 2023. Zeke- Live Tracks Uncensored LP. This LP shows Zeke live ... raw, wild, untamed and uncensored. If you’ve seen Zeke before, you know that these guys can be a total beast on stage. This LP offers a bunch of killer live recordings to make it sound like the band is playing in your kitchen: loud, fast and furious. You know that Zeke are the real purveyors of speed rock and roll and that can’t be better heard than here. The LP includes some of their best songs including tracks from ‘Super Sound Racing’, ‘Flat Tracker’, ‘Kicked in the Teeth’, ‘Dirty Sanchez’ and ‘Death Alley’ recorded in different venues from Seattle to Las Vegas to Minneapolis. One of the other special treats this LP offers is it includes two very rare studio tracks that are pretty hard to find. 26 tracks in all with top notch production. Genre: Alternative / Rock n Roll / Pun

Texas born guitarist Melvin Sparks is one of the godfathers of Acid Jazz. He first came to prominence in the bands of Jack McDuff and Lou Donaldson, providing an essential element in their funky groove-based classics of the late 60s. He then became part of the Prestige Records funk team, under the tutelage of producer Bob Porter. He made his debut LP “Sparks”, for the label in 1970, alongside Idris Muhammad, Leon Spencer and Houston Person. Two further exciting albums appeared on the label with “Spark Plug” and “Akilah” and over a dozen side-man appearances.

When Porter left to set up Eastbound Records in Detroit - as part of Westbound Records - Sparks followed, recording his label debut "Texas Twister” in 1973. The following year, after Porter left, he recorded the album that became “’75” with some of the label’s top session players, including members of Funkadelic and vocalist Jimmy D Scott, who sang on ‘I Got To Have You’ and ‘If You Want My Love’. The nine tracks featured a slicker sound, that mirrored the contemporary soul jazz of the time and included club classics like 'Get Ya Some' and 'Get Down With The Get Down’.

Sparks began recording one more album for the label which languished in the vaults for decades and then mostly concentrated on session work before he was rediscovered by the acid jazz scene in the late 80s, and was brought over to Europe to tour as part of the BGP All-Stars and this late revival saw him record five further albums.

This is the first vinyl reissue of this album since 1975.

Borrowed Tongue is the debut solo album by Korean singer-songwriter Minhwi Lee. It’s a mysterious, strangely compelling thing, an album of rare poetry, and remarkably self-assured. Originally released in November 2016, the album made waves, winning best folk album of 2016 at the 14th Korean Music Awards. Its eight songs, written and predominantly arranged by Lee, don’t reveal their secrets easily, or at first blush; rather, they take their time slowly to unfurl in her listeners’ worlds. There are hints of other music here, from time to time: the intimacy of Stina Nordenstam, perhaps; the gauzy haze of Hope Sandoval, on the blissed-out pop of “Broken Mirror”; there are touches of acid-folk, and ECM jazz, and a slyly filmic approach to songwriting and arrangement that makes every song fit perfectly into the album’s arc.

Lee arrived at her solo music through a complex, circuitous route. After studying musicology in Seoul, she learned her trade, film scoring, in New York and Paris. She also studied classical music, blowing off steam in a wild punk duo, Mukimukimanmansu, who released one album, 2012, on Korean indie label Beatball. Subsequently, Lee has been refining her music, focusing both on her solo songs, and on writing for television series and films; she’s written scores for films by such directors as Sangmoon Lee, Jeongwon Kam, and Wanmin Lee. She also plays in the jazz outfit Cubed, and recently joined doom metal group Gawthrop on bass.

Since its release in 2016, Borrowed Tongue has slowly bewitched listeners with its idiosyncratic arrangements and evocative songwriting. It’s an album that hints at plenty, but refuses to make grand statements, something Lee seems intent to pursue: in correspondence, she’s very clear that she wants these songs to enact a kind of transmutation, to be adopted into the listeners’ lives and exist within their own imaginings. She does, however, offer a few hints to what propels these mercurial songs, explaining, “this album is about a person who again opens their mouth, which was once shut. The album deals with what it means to speak: things that are known but not said, things that should be said but are not, things that cannot be said but nonetheless are.”

This may well explain the curious mood of Borrowed Tongue, the multiple ‘voices’ that inhabit the album; Lee’s singing voice is pliable and mutable, approaching each song as its own diorama and ensuring the song is sung with just the right tone. The arrangements Lee conjures for her songs are all in service to narrative and melody; they appear to her alongside the composition, which is surely why everything here fits together so beautifully. From there, Lee approaches her songs carefully, in deference to their ‘need to be sung’ a certain way. There isn’t a moment wasted: everything on Borrowed Tongue is as it needs to be, whether a melancholy folk song taking to the air, or a psychedelic reverie dreamed into being. It’s a beautiful, poised and confident debut.

Back in stock!

Produced by Philadelphia's Legendary Sonny Hopson, Santiago is Indeed Neftali Santiago from Mandrill who took a break from the band in 1975 and did a little experimenting, this came out of a 6 hour sessions in which 3 tracks were recording, two being on this 45 and is Santiago's only lead vocal to date . The band lasted a year in that time supporting Gil Scott Heron and The Ohio Players live. A two sided disco stormer with all the right ingredients, great guitar hook, solid horn section and great vocal.Essential Disco

She may be making her first appearance on NuNorthern Soul, but Zeynep Erbay is no newcomer. A classically trained pianist who took a turn towards the dancefloor while at university, the Turkish DJ/producer earned her first release on Compost Records way back in 2007 after taking part in 2006’s Red Bull Music Academy programme. Since then, her career has been on an upwards trajectory, with releases on Fools Gold and Soul Clap Records confirming Erbay as a genuine rising star of underground electronic music.

On the Healer EP, the Istanbul-based producer showcases the more atmospheric, sun-kissed end of her productions, taking a turn away from synth-powered, disco-leaning club tracks towards something more suitable for al-fresco events, sun-down sets, and sofa-bound listening sessions.

Inspired by a poem inscribed on the back cover of the EP, Erbay’s two original instrumental tracks simply ooze with emotion. The poem tells the story of a whale searching for her family while helping others along the way, which acts as a metaphor for our wider search for belonging and acceptance.

This aural narrative unfolds firstly across ‘Heart of a Healer’, a slowly unfurling stunner in which emotion-rich chords, gentle electronic melodies and Erbay’s poignant and picturesque piano motifs, gently rise above a chunky dub disco bassline and mid-tempo, triple-time drums.

Delving further, the effortlessly emotional, life-affirming composition ‘Healer Whale’, where Erbay’s impeccable piano playing ushers in languid, jazz-flecked drums, dubby bass, sumptuous synth-strings and colourful, slow-moving chords.

On remix dutires, NYC-based Italian Danilo Braca, who also mastered the release, provides a fine club-focused fix of ‘Heart of a Healer’, laced with crunchy machine drums and undulating TB-303 acid lines. NuNorthern Soul regular Marshall Watson handles ‘Healer Whale’, first delivering a fine ‘Remix’ version that effortlessly blurs the boundary between dub disco and Balearic nu-disco, before serving up a shorter, ambient ‘Reprise’ version.

Pinchy & friends is delighted to present the latest offering from Kaifeng-born and raised, Vancouver-based musician Yu Su.

In her first major release of original music since 2021’s acclaimed “Yellow River Blue” LP, Yu Su says elements for the EP began to form during time spent in the deserts of Ojai, California and the fertile coastal areas around her home in British Columbia. Of the new release, Yu Su says the ideas are thanks to “the objects around (colors, reflections of light, wood burning in the fireplace, and material rhyme with the sounds in the room) the desert and valley plants, the ground where citrus grows, and the flood a rainstorm created.” She notes that “the golden earth is the changing point of the matter, earth centers, stabilizes, and conserves, nurtures, and seeks to draw all things together with itself.”

Likewise, the four varied pieces of the EP match four very different landscapes: Earth-of-water (Wet/Cold Earth) Earth-of-Fire (Arid/Hot Earth) Earth-of-Metal (Dry/Hard Earth) Earth-of-Wood (Loose-Fertile/Warm Earth).

Additional guitar and bass were provided by Scott Johnson Gailey and Aiden Ayers - who also play in Yu Su’s live band.

The vinyl release comes on 180g vinyl in a full-colour sleeve by Seoul based Lobde Kim, with OBI STRIP.

Irish DJ and producer, Ben Prophet, has caught the attention of some of the electronic scene’s most influential names in recent years. Currently residing in the underground music hub of Newcastle, his dark and exhilarating tracks have proven to captivate dancefloors. Now the artist is set to embark on his most monumental release to date, with the four track EP ‘From Dusk’. Staying distinctly true to himself, the EP channels Prophet’s love for bassline, electronica, and techno, whilst placing a key focus on mechanical vocals that add a mind-bending element that listeners can get lost in. ‘From Dusk’ will be released to the world via HAAi and Alice Pelly’s Radical New Theory label, a proven base for projecting emerging talent.

‘From Dusk’ is an EP that serves as a bold declaration. Prophet was determined to take listeners on a journey across the four tracks. Never resting on his laurels, the artist ventured into many corners of the dance world, whilst maintaining a core signature sound. Opener ‘Telepathy’ Sees Prophet build an emphatic, heavy hitting techno track, centring around a manipulated spoken-word vocal. It’s a sound that holds nothing back and is showcased again on ‘Down The Rabbit Hole’. Equally dark in its design, Prophet once more places distorted vocals at the forefront, this time displaying an industrial take on breakbeat. On the flip side, we see ‘Ocarina’ and title track ‘From Dusk’ turn the dark energy on its head with a distinctly melodic approach which adds a touch of psychedelia and high emotion to the EP. What’s clear is there’s something on ‘From Dusk’ for anyone that loves club music.

Speaking on the release, Prophet states:“HAAi has been one of the biggest inspirations for my sound, so to have become friends and to release my music on her label Radical New Theory is a massive moment for me. I’ve taken a different approach on each track, but each has my signature sound and is ready for the dance floor.”

HAAi also offers an insight into why she wanted to release ‘From Dusk’ on Radical New Theory: “Ben Prophet’s tracks have such a driving force and a dark energy to them, which is so powerful in the club. I’m extremely excited to get this record out in the world.”

Prophet’s previous releases ‘Hyper Funk EP’ and ‘King Of Rock’ on Chapeau music and Happy Wax Records respectively reached dancefloors across the world with regular plays from the likes of Mall Grab, Skream and VTSS. His gritty and energetic productions are born for the peak-time dance floor where its power creates intoxicating effects. No longer a hidden gem of the North East, the artist's music has gathered serious momentum and ‘From Dusk’ might well be the record that makes Ben Prophet a household name.

‘From Dusk’ is the third release on Radical New Theory, a label created in 2020 by HAAi and Alice Pelly which aims to shine a light on unique emerging talent, and the inevitable stars of tomorrow. Last year the label released LUXE’s debut ‘Belonging EP’ which was championed by MaryAnn Hobbs on BBC 6Music, and the artist has since gone on to tour across Europe. Whilst Ozzy, who released the labels first record ‘Een’, has since released on Barnt’s Schalen imprint. Radical New Theory was born out of a love for the craft of dance music and the careful consideration of what they release ensures the highest standards. A safe space for emerging talent, be sure to keep your eyes out for what comes next from the label

Throughout 2022, The Wedding Present’s ‘24 Songs’ series saw the legendary indie band release two new tracks a month as double A sided 7”s, ultimately creating a much-sought-after box set. David Gedge has now re-curated full-length versions of all twenty-four tracks for a new compilation album that will also comprise five bonus recordings including one featuring The Wedding Present’s first guitarist, Peter Solowka.

‘24 Songs’ was a doff of the cap to The Wedding Present’s ‘Hit Parade’ project of 30 years previous. That series proved to be a real milestone for the band with them becoming only the second-ever artist to achieve twelve Official UK Top 40 hits in a calendar year – at the time something that only Elvis had achieved!

David Gedge says: “When it came to compiling the ‘24 Songs’ album, I decided not to sequence the tracks in chronological order. With six sides of vinyl, you have six ‘beginnings’ and six ‘ends’ to play with, and I felt that the opportunity to build some kind of a musical journey was too good to miss! Listening back to this collection, I have to say that I genuinely believe that, for this project, The Wedding Present have recorded some of the best tracks in our history. I loved releasing the singles, but it’s satisfying to have them all rounded up together.”

“The idea of releasing another collection of twenty-four tracks did initially seem quite daunting,” admits David Gedge in the deluxe-CD sleeve notes but, with Jon Stewart (also of Sleeper) having joined the band at the end of 2019 and their subsequent writing partnership flourishing, he began to feel confident that they would be able to produce a year’s worth of music. And, with one of the UK’s most influential independent record labels by their side in Clue, a key partner to EMI North who will be distributing the record - there was no looking back.




























[xa] 27. Jump In, The Water’s Fine [Japanese Edit]
[xb] 28. We All Came From The Sea [Utah Saints Remix]

Western Massachusetts band Landowner play abrasively clean minimalist-punk. Singer Dan Shaw began Landowner in 2016, writing and recording Impressive Almanac with a practice amp and a laptop drum machine. Those available tools would inform the band’s unapologetic sound—clean, confrontational, and absurdly stark. With a stated goal to sound like “Antelope playing Discharge”, Landowner’s diamond hard structures, repetitious instrumentals and caricatured hardcore make space for lyrics that reflect on the global systems our lives are tangled in and the dark absurdities we take for granted.

Landowner’s fourth Born Yesterday full length Escape the Compound focuses on the powerful grips manipulators and reality-deniers have on their victims, examining the social, political and interpersonal damage of cult-like influence and control. “A lot of the lyrics focus on cult manipulators and narcissists: falling victim to their toxic dynamics, and the difficulty of escaping their grip” says Shaw. From climate change deniers and conspiracy theorists to deceptive narcissists and actual cult leaders, Landowner explores the ubiquity of modern unreality through evocative imagery and a keen sense of awareness. The band’s plain instrumentation sheds and subverts hardcore punk’s noisy veil in favor of a direct, unswerving examination of these themes.

Written and recorded following the release of 2020’s Consultant, Escape the Compound finds Landowner leaning into the studio through deeper experimentation with a wider palette of sounds. The group’s lineup of Josh Owsley (bass), Elliot Hughes (guitar), Jeff Gilmartin (guitar), Josh Daniel (drums) and Dan Shaw played often since coming together in 2017. But with pandemic restrictions in place, the making of Escape the Compound became a much more insular pursuit, one where the mixing and mastering process helped turn the band’s most varied batch of material into a cohesive, thematic collection of songs.

Album opener “Witch Museum” is a collage of dark Massachusetts historical imagery. The song evokes a kind of cult dynamic travelling like a shadow through time, where dark absurdities are taken for granted, toxic behaviours are excused, and normalcy begins to shift. The line “Gail's behaviour has changed” casts fictional “Gail” as the dark manipulator, whose whim we’re at the mercy of. She sheds her toxic behaviour and the crisis finally ends - “and peace returns to the Commonwealth”- an absurdity, given that cult leaders and narcissists rarely seem to change.

By considering the past, Landowner sheds light on the present. The band challenges egomaniacs reluctant to accept an uncomfortable reality with both cynicism and concern. The literal landowner described in “Heat Stroke” collapses in exhaustion, cooked by a suffocating bass line and sizzling hi-hats. “You'd rather die of heat stroke than to let anybody see you change your mind,” Shaw gasps, later pleading with the character in “Floodwatch” to “please reconsider” their brazen stubbornness as they plunge through the rising waters of a flooded road.

The character in “Swimmer of Note” refuses to admit their miscalculations, instead doubling down on an ever-growing and increasingly-unsteady tower of lies. The sneering “Damning Evidence” sets a scene all too familiar: a smoking gun scenario with zero consequences. Shaw’s exaggerated vocal refrains and sarcastic inflections mock false hope: “how will they be expected to keep their minds intact, at the shock of simply hearing such damning evidence?”

“Beyond the Darkened Library” creaks open a secret passageway into a dimly lit, endless labyrinth of conspiracy theories, in which the character becomes hopelessly lost. “Aftermath” sounds the alarms: “stare so long that you start getting used to it; one glance says you should never get used to it.” The pair of “Tactics” tracks express what Shaw calls “an interpersonal microcosm of the album’s themes.”

Perhaps the most ambitious arc on Escape the Compound loosely begins with the title track. The subject in “Escape the Compound” gradually recognizes their own victimhood and plans a calculated flight from the “captivating shepherd” – hop the fence, flee, and regain autonomy. As the narrator escapes their stifling and abusive cult microcosm, a much grander existential timeline begins to appear. “Thousands of Years in Fast Forward” narrates a psychedelic surrender to the shared human experience through space and time, an ego-death adjacent to our ancestry, our own existence, and the before and after. “At the site of the crater, molecular hands unclasp molecular hands as you lose conditioning,” Shaw sings on the title track, “Your grandmother's garden. Your grandmother's kitchen. Your grandmother's primordial ocean.” It’s a profound actualizing glimpse into a true, forgotten reality and a startling reconnection with the self.

Western Massachusetts band Landowner play abrasively clean minimalist-punk. Singer Dan Shaw began Landowner in 2016, writing and recording Impressive Almanac with a practice amp and a laptop drum machine. Those available tools would inform the band’s unapologetic sound—clean, confrontational, and absurdly stark. With a stated goal to sound like “Antelope playing Discharge”, Landowner’s diamond hard structures, repetitious instrumentals and caricatured hardcore make space for lyrics that reflect on the global systems our lives are tangled in and the dark absurdities we take for granted.

Landowner’s fourth Born Yesterday full length Escape the Compound focuses on the powerful grips manipulators and reality-deniers have on their victims, examining the social, political and interpersonal damage of cult-like influence and control. “A lot of the lyrics focus on cult manipulators and narcissists: falling victim to their toxic dynamics, and the difficulty of escaping their grip” says Shaw. From climate change deniers and conspiracy theorists to deceptive narcissists and actual cult leaders, Landowner explores the ubiquity of modern unreality through evocative imagery and a keen sense of awareness. The band’s plain instrumentation sheds and subverts hardcore punk’s noisy veil in favor of a direct, unswerving examination of these themes.

Written and recorded following the release of 2020’s Consultant, Escape the Compound finds Landowner leaning into the studio through deeper experimentation with a wider palette of sounds. The group’s lineup of Josh Owsley (bass), Elliot Hughes (guitar), Jeff Gilmartin (guitar), Josh Daniel (drums) and Dan Shaw played often since coming together in 2017. But with pandemic restrictions in place, the making of Escape the Compound became a much more insular pursuit, one where the mixing and mastering process helped turn the band’s most varied batch of material into a cohesive, thematic collection of songs.

Album opener “Witch Museum” is a collage of dark Massachusetts historical imagery. The song evokes a kind of cult dynamic traveling like a shadow through time, where dark absurdities are taken for granted, toxic behaviors are excused, and normalcy begins to shift. The line “Gail's behavior has changed” casts fictional “Gail” as the dark manipulator, whose whim we’re at the mercy of. She sheds her toxic behavior and the crisis finally ends - “and peace returns to the Commonwealth”- an absurdity, given that cult leaders and narcissists rarely seem to change.

By considering the past, Landowner sheds light on the present. The band challenges egomaniacs reluctant to accept an uncomfortable reality with both cynicism and concern. The literal landowner described in “Heat Stroke” collapses in exhaustion, cooked by a suffocating bass line and sizzling hi-hats. “You'd rather die of heat stroke than to let anybody see you change your mind,” Shaw gasps, later pleading with the character in “Floodwatch” to “please reconsider” their brazen stubbornness as they plunge through the rising waters of a flooded road.

The character in “Swimmer of Note” refuses to admit their miscalculations, instead doubling down on an ever-growing and increasingly-unsteady tower of lies. The sneering “Damning Evidence” sets a scene all too familiar: a smoking gun scenario with zero consequences. Shaw’s exaggerated vocal refrains and sarcastic inflections mock false hope: “how will they be expected to keep their minds intact, at the shock of simply hearing such damning evidence?”

“Beyond the Darkened Library” creaks open a secret passageway into a dimly lit, endless labyrinth of conspiracy theories, in which the character becomes hopelessly lost. “Aftermath” sounds the alarms: “stare so long that you start getting used to it; one glance says you should never get used to it.” The pair of “Tactics” tracks express what Shaw calls “an interpersonal microcosm of the album’s themes.”

Perhaps the most ambitious arc on Escape the Compound loosely begins with the title track. The subject in “Escape the Compound” gradually recognizes their own victimhood and plans a calculated flight from the “captivating shepherd” – hop the fence, flee, and regain autonomy. As the narrator escapes their stifling and abusive cult microcosm, a much grander existential timeline begins to appear. “Thousands of Years in Fast Forward” narrates a psychedelic surrender to the shared human experience through space and time, an ego-death adjacent to our ancestry, our own existence, and the before and after. “At the site of the crater, molecular hands unclasp molecular hands as you lose conditioning,” Shaw sings on the title track, “Your grandmother's garden. Your grandmother's kitchen. Your grandmother's primordial ocean.” It’s a profound actualizing glimpse into a true, forgotten reality and a startling reconnection with the self.

Rejected Unknown is a 2001 album released by the acclaimed musician, Daniel Johnston. This is the first time the record has been pressed to vinyl in over 20 years. "The main themes on Rejected Unknown are the themes Johnston has explored throughout much of his career: hopeless longing, unrequited love, and as might be gathered from the album's title, fear of rejection. This fear probably took on very real terms for Johnston as he was finally dropped from Atlantic Records after being held for years in contractual limbo. Rejected Unknown is unmistakably Johnston's album; he sings and plays piano and guitar, and even adds some percussion to the oddly quirky pop songs."

Second album from West London, singer-songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, Oscar Lang. A split from his childhood sweetheart sent Lang spiralling, dramatically changing the course of the follow-up to the psychedelic-tinged fuzzy-rock of his 2021 debut Chew The Scenery at the same time as driving Lang into the most creatively fruitful period of his short career. The diversion has resulted in Look Now, an astounding record that makes Lang’s previous output sound like he was just testing the waters. Chew The Scenery and three melodically-breezy EPs that preceded it introduced Lang as a songwriter of rare talents but here is where he really lays down a marker, emerging with an album that takes in playful hooks, poignant lyricism, orchestral swells, ba-roque-pop instrumentation, a record that’s expansive but never overblown, intimate at the same time as being epic. It is his definitive artistic statement. Formats; CD, LP

Pelican and Thrill Jockey are proud to present a deluxe edition of the band"s acclaimed 2005 album The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw, newly remixed, remastered and featuring special bonus rarities including an early version of "Red Ran Amber," (previously only available on a split with MONO) and demos of "Autumn Into Summer," "Last Day of Winter" and "Sirius". The Fire In Our Throats established Pelican as indisputable masters of their craft. Pelican"s ability to alchemize their influences into a sound so wholly original and then expand on that sound into a work of captivating beauty remains a marvel. The album indelibly shifted the paradigm of heavy music and the ripples of that shift can be heard in the countless bands who have risen to prominence since its release. The genre-busting nature of the album"s melodicism and refined dynamics was a harbinger of things to come in a genre whose strict boundaries were rapidly being shattered; a fact recognized and cemented by the album"s critical reception, which engendered everything from an Album of the Year nod from Decibel, to pontifications about Pelican representing a rising wave of intellectualism in metal from the New York Times. Nearly two decades since the album"s release on Hydra Head Records, The Fire In Our Throats has stood as not just one of the band"s most celebrated releases, but as a watershed work of avant-metal. The album arrives with a fresh mix by its original engineer Greg Norman and mastering by Josh Bonati, imbibing the songs with a new ferocity while also granting increased clarity, highlighting the developing interplay between each member. The refreshed mix brings an additional punch to the rhythm section of bassist Bryan Herweg and drummer Larry Herweg, bolstering the brightened melodicism and interlocking riffing between guitarists Trevor Shelley de Brauw and Laurent Schroeder-Lebec. The more articulate presentation of the album showcases the power of each individual player while buttressing Pelican"s distinct sound as a unified force.

Pelican and Thrill Jockey are proud to present a deluxe edition of the band"s acclaimed 2005 album The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw, newly remixed, remastered and featuring special bonus rarities including an early version of "Red Ran Amber," (previously only available on a split with MONO) and demos of "Autumn Into Summer," "Last Day of Winter" and "Sirius". The Fire In Our Throats established Pelican as indisputable masters of their craft. Pelican"s ability to alchemize their influences into a sound so wholly original and then expand on that sound into a work of captivating beauty remains a marvel. The album indelibly shifted the paradigm of heavy music and the ripples of that shift can be heard in the countless bands who have risen to prominence since its release. The genre-busting nature of the album"s melodicism and refined dynamics was a harbinger of things to come in a genre whose strict boundaries were rapidly being shattered; a fact recognized and cemented by the album"s critical reception, which engendered everything from an Album of the Year nod from Decibel, to pontifications about Pelican representing a rising wave of intellectualism in metal from the New York Times. Nearly two decades since the album"s release on Hydra Head Records, The Fire In Our Throats has stood as not just one of the band"s most celebrated releases, but as a watershed work of avant-metal. The album arrives with a fresh mix by its original engineer Greg Norman and mastering by Josh Bonati, imbibing the songs with a new ferocity while also granting increased clarity, highlighting the developing interplay between each member. The refreshed mix brings an additional punch to the rhythm section of bassist Bryan Herweg and drummer Larry Herweg, bolstering the brightened melodicism and interlocking riffing between guitarists Trevor Shelley de Brauw and Laurent Schroeder-Lebec. The more articulate presentation of the album showcases the power of each individual player while buttressing Pelican"s distinct sound as a unified force.

Renowned agent and jazz pioneer Wim Wigt founded Timeless Records in 1975. This Dutch record label has specialized in bebop, although it also did a sub-series of releases of Dixieland, Swing and Classical recordings. As of today, Timeless Records has, together with its three sub-labels, released over 900 albums. Notable releases include Dizzy Gillespie Meets Phil Woods Quintet, McCoy Tyner's Bon Voyage, Lou Donaldson's Forgotten Man, Eastern Rebellion and albums by the George Adams-Don Pullen Quartet, Chet Baker, Bill Evans, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and many more.

To celebrate the legacy of Wim Wigt's Timeless Records, Music On Vinyl is releasing a 45th anniversary jazz series. The series features albums that are part of the Timeless Records legacy and will be released throughout 2021/2022. To kick off this series, Pharoah Sanders' Africa is released on the 19th of November 2021.

Pharoah Sanders possesses one of the most distinctive tenor saxophone sounds in jazz, which has earned him royal status amongst free jazz players, critics and collectors. Harmonically rich and heavy with overtones, his sound can be as raw and abrasive as it is possible for a saxophonist to produce. His 1987 album Africa is soulful but also searching for a strong groove at the same time. The album is recorded with John Hicks, Curtis Lundy and Idris Muhammad and was an explicit tribute to his late mentor John Coltrane, another giant of jazz.

Africa by Pharoah Sanders is available on black vinyl. The album includes an insert with upcoming Timeless Records titles from the Timeless Records 45th Anniversary Jazz series. The sleeve contains liner notes by Kevin Whitehead.

OUTER HEAVEN return with their crushing new album, Infinite Psychic Depths! The album, an exploration into the darkest depths of extreme music, showcases OUTER HEAVEN's muscle, as the band churns out some of 2023's most visceral and frenetic slabs of twisted Death Metal. Taking advantage of guitarists Jonathan Kunz’s and Zak Carter’s penchant for technical prowess and rhythmic galloping with melodic catchiness, OUTER HEAVEN bridges the worlds of dark n’ dank despair and upbeat hookiness. Austin Haines' vocal delivery is as unchained as ever, barking and growling through interwoven stories of societal collapse, hallucinogens, mutations, and more, connecting Infinite Psychic Depths to their acclaimed debut, Realms of Eternal Decay. Methodological riffing swirls around muscular half-time clobbering in both “Soul Remnants” and “Unspeakable Aura". “Pillars of Dust” and “Liquified Mind” take the listener on a journey from the furthest reaches of the Earth’s exosphere to the sweat and spilled beer of a dive bar moshpit. “Fragmented Suspension” gives a backhand to the genre tunnel vision with a tendinitis-inducing palm muted shuffle that’s part Norwegian black metal iciness and part classic ‘80s L.A. hardcore skate punk. Recorded by Ryan Reed and mixed and mastered by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios, Infinite Psychic Depths throws a few tricks and guest appearances into the mix with bass playing by Derrick Vella from Tomb Mold, as well as vocal contributions from Pig Destroyer’s JR Hayes, Morbid Angel’s Steve Tucker and Alex Jones from Undeath. The new album also features a special appearance by Dave Suzuki (Churchburn, ex-Vital Remains) doing a trade-off solo on “Rotting Stone/D.M.T.”

If you are a death metal fan, GRACELESS shouldn’t need an introduction. Three full lengths and two split EPs have granted the Dutch ensemble a respectable reputation across the globe. Closer to home, the four piece has played countless live shows since their 2016 inception. The rock solid line up -unchanged since day one- has delivered ferocious, high energy live performances at Eindhoven Metal Meeting, Into the Grave, Party San Metal Open Air, Ruhrpott Metal Meeting, Stonehenge, SDF2021 and many more festivals and clubs. Joining forces with LISTENABLE RECORDS in 2023 is the next thundering milestone for GRACELESS. Tirelessly working on their fourth full-length, the next chapter for GRACELESS will be another step deeper into the abyss that started with Shadowlands (2018), via Where Vultures Know Your Name (2020), to Chants from Purgatory (2022). For fans of DEATH, ASPHYX, GORGUTS, BOLT THROWER, AMON AMARTH, BLOODBATH

'Seven Years Of Love' is our second label compilation with nine original tracks by resident artists and friends from around the world. The versatile vibe spreads across two parts, each dedicated to a certain dancefloor mood: System 108 and RadugaDiscoClub. Outstanding artwork has been created by Uno Moralez.

Part 1 of the compilation is opened by new Locked Club gem that playfully recycles a well known video meme, 'Smog Izdevatsya'. Followed by Philipp Gorbachev's industrial / house / dub infused (!) fairy tale about a bird. ('Raven'). The last track of side A comes from our new shooting star, Maksimovna. Originally sent as a demo, '3a Gribami' tells a story about collecting mushrooms, it got signed immediately and is destined to become a big hit! Time to flip the side and enter the kingdom of dark physical beats and fun acid blackouts on side B: it is Kovyazin D who is back at it with 'Brainwash'. Disconnected electro mind, disconnected electro mind, disconnected electro mind! Closing out the EP is an exclusive by Inga Mauer. Rare to hear Inga's vocal experiments provide a transcendental experience in 'Comes From Nothing'

Everybody Digs Bill Evans was Evans's second album, done two years after his first record as a leader. Though his producer (Orrin Keepnews) had wanted Evans to record a follow-up album to his debut sooner, the self-critical Evans felt he had "nothing new to say" before this album.

The recording captures Evans at a time when he frequently played extended musical ideas using block chords, a technique also favored by Milt Buckner, George Shearing, Oscar Peterson, and other jazz pianists. That combined with his use of pedals gave him a sound considered by critics to be innovative. Though Evans had quit the Miles Davis band a month before the album was recorded, Davis was enamored of Evans's piano sound as it was developing through 1958, and decided to use him as the pianist for four of the five tracks on the 1959 recording Kind of Blue.

Repress!

Funkiwala Records presents the third in the series of "Lokkhi Terra meets"albums, with the London fusionistas creating another unique sound-clash, this time with ex-Fela Kuti keyboardist and legendary UK Afro-beat ambassador Dele Sosimi, and members of his critically acclaimed Afro-beat Orchestra.

This particular collaboration has been bubbling away for a few years now, teasing audience expectations with a handful of sold out shows each year in between both bands busy schedules.
Featuring the two pianos of Kishon Khan and Dele Sosimi – Cuban percussionists/vocalists Geraldo De Armas (Yoruba Andabo), Oreste Noda (Ariwo), Javier Camilo (Ibrahim Ferrer) - a horn section led by Justin Thurgur (Bellowhead) featuring Yelfris Valdes (Sierra Maestra) and Graeme Flowers (Kyle Eastwood) to name a few – this is an All-star cast.

Kishon Khan's Lokkhi Terra have over a number of years now been quietly establishing themselves as one of London's more unusual heavyweight outfits, described as "Stunning Headliners… A majestic multi-cultural blend of sounds… effortlessly builds bridges between rolling Indian raga rhythms, Afro-Cuban grooves, Acid Jazz/funk and free flowing improvisation" (Timeout London). Included amongst the band members are London's top Cuban musicians, adding their infectious rich musical history to the city's melting pot.
When the band wanted to explore Cuban links with another of their favourite traditions, Afrobeat, who better to bring in then one of the Afrobeat originators – maestro Dele Sosimi – "Sosimi creates some of the most bewitching grooves in modern African music" E Jazz News.
Bringing together two Yoruba speaking musics - with different accents, from different sides of the Atlantic - Havana meets Lagos in London – A Cuban-Afrobeat-Experience. CUBAFROBEAT.

All About Jazz 4star review

A younger version of London's Grand Union Orchestra, founded by world-jazz pioneer Tony Haynes in 1982, Lokkhi Terra was put together by keyboard player Kishon Khan in 2005. Both ensembles have made a specialism of jazz / South Asian fusion, with Lokkhi Terra also giving as much attention to music from Cuba, where Bangladeshi-born, London-based Khan lived for a while in the early 2000s.

Cubafrobeat, as the title foretells, is a blend of Cuban dance music and Nigerian / Yoruban Afrobeat—a fusion rendered seamless by the synergies existing between Afro-Cuban and Yoruban music, language and mythology. The album is Lokkhi Terra's third and partners the band with the keyboard player and vocalist Dele Sosimi .

A young-going-on-child-prodigy member of Fela Kuti's Egypt 80, Sosimi went on to become musical director of Femi Kuti's Positive Force, before relocating to London and setting up Dele Sosimi's Afrobeat Orchestra, the finest Afrobeat band outside Nigeria, bar none, now with a string of consistently engaging albums under its belt. Cubafrobeat features Sosimi as lead vocalist on all four tracks, and on Fender Rhodes on two of them. His singing plays a prominent role in the Afrobeat Orchestra, but, such is the whirlwind impact of the band in full instrumental flight, that Sosimi is often thought of first and foremost for his keyboard and arranging talents. That may change by the time 2018 is over. Cubafrobeat is the third album in as many months to feature Sosimi as guest vocalist, spotlighting the gravitas, air of mystery, intimacy and ferocity his voice can bring to an occasion.

The first of these albums was the genre-bending spiritual-jazz band Emanative's Earth (Jazzman). One of the stand-out tracks, "Ìyáàmi," features Sosimi making obeisance to the titular Mother Goddesses of the Yoruba spirit worlds. His raw and intense invocations carry the track for nine mesmerising minutes. Otherwordly is not the half of it. Next up was dub / reggae / jazz band Soothsayers' Tradition (Wah Wah 45s), which featured Sosimi as lead vocalist on the compelling "Sleepwalking (Black Man's Cry)." Earth and Tradition are both outstanding albums and have previously been reviewed here.

Cubafrobeat is a total stonking blinder, too. It is an effectively nuanced affair, opening with the fiery "Afro Sambroso" and closing with the relatively reflective "Rumbafro." Sosimi's vocals light up the music, as do the several solos from trumpeters Graeme Flowers and Yelfris Valdes Espinosa and trombonist Justin Thurgur (a member of both Lokkhi Terra and the Afrobeat Orchestra). Sosimi and Kishon Khan's intertwining Fender Rhodes solos on "Cubafro" are also a delight, as is the drum and percussion section throughout.

The sound of summer, for sure, Cubafrobeat has enough depth and variety to make it something for all seasons.

Songlines 4star review

Lokkhi Terra are one of London's most authentic groups. They are a Latin-flavoured collective whose keyboard player and bandleader Kishon Khan segues from percussive montunos to complex Bengali rhythms and back, with jazz chops sparking funky and outward-looking fusions. Their collaboration with Dele Sosimi, Britain's foremost Afrobeat ambassador, has been bubbling for a while; here four tracks at ten minutes see musical conversations that never lose their sense of flow. An extensive line-up of stellar players, including trumpeter Yelfris Valdés, conguero Oreste Noda and trombonist Justin Thurgur, highlights the genre-crossing potential of world traditions. Opener 'Afro Sambroso' showcases batá drums from Gerardo de Armas Sarria before the track links Cuban grooves with Afrobeat. 'Timbafro' crackles and sways via Khan's organ, Sosimi's vocals and Oscar Martinez's timbales. 'Cubafro' features dazzling interplay between Khan, Sosimi and Javier Camillo's Spanish-language vocals. 'Rumbafro' is all rumba choruses, Yoruba vocals and Afrobeat horns. Rooted in their sources, but with musical threads intertwining, separating and reconfiguring – with grooves at a premium – this is a fusion lover's dream

Indonesian City Sound: Panbers’ Psychedelic Rock and Funk 1971-1974

The Pandjaitan Brothers or Panbers came from the North Sumatra minority Christian group, the Bataks, whose ancestry traces back to an island at the center of Lake Toba. As a minority group within Indonesia's Muslim-dominated society, this ethnic minority has produced top military generals, celebrity lawyers, and a legion of pop and rock superstars.

Suffice to say, some of the biggest names in the country's pop history were Bataks. Panbers fit the bill perfectly.

The band's strong Christianity belief looms heavily in the music they produce. The prominent use of the Hammond organ in their early materials is evocative of church music the band members have been around in their whole life. Bandleader Benny Pandjaitan's fills his characteristic wail with existential dread, with many utterances of the word "mengapa" (why).

Guilt is another central theme Pandjaitan repeatedly comes back to in his lyrics. But they balance it with joy, on songs such as "Come on You Dance" "Let's Dance Together" or "Haai" (a play on the word high), where references to recreational substances are plentiful.

Although they modeled themselves after the era's rock bands Beatles and fellow countrymen Koes Plus, Panbers had a unique aversion to the electric guitar. In "Jakarta City Sound," a fiery three-note guitar solo is laid so far down in the mix that they are barely audible. In "Haai" they modify the guitar to sound like a jungle instrument playing traditional North Sumatran music. In "Rock and the Sea," arguably their most well-known song globally, they decided to ditch electric guitar altogether and replace it with a sitar.

In the absence of an electric guitar, Panbers had to rely on Doan's inventive bass playing and Asido's drum works to do the heavy lifting - and boy, do they deliver (Their 1971 debut "Volume 1" saw plenty of drum breaks). In this compilation, listeners will hear recordings from Panbers' fertile four-year period - a time that produced in some of the grooviest and hardest-sounding psychedelic music in Indonesia's rock history.

For those uninitiated on the glory Panbers, consider this compilation an introduction to some of earliest and heaviest rock sound to come out of Indonesia.