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Discovered while working as a publishing assistant at Mute Records, Pallot signed to Polydor Records and released her first album in 2001. The release of her critically acclaimed second album 'Fires' in 2006 drew comparisons with Joni Mitchell, Fiona Apple and Tori Amos, and spawned hit singles 'Everybody's Gone To War' and 'Sophia', plus Brit Award and Ivor Novello nominations. 'Fires' has been newly remastered by Phil Kinrade at AIR Mastering and is accompanied by a second CD featuring a selection of B- sides (including 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' as featured onBBC/RTE's 'Normal People'), rarities, and eight previously unreleased tracks. Nerina Pallot will be performing the 'Fires' album in full during a headline performance at The London Palladium on 13th April 2024.

"Fires" by Nerina Pallot includes the following tracks: "Damascus", "Learning", "Mr King", "Sophia" and more.

London-born-and-raised DJ and producer Parris has announced his new EP Passionfruit, which is to be released on 22nd March 2024 via his own co-founded label can you feel the sun. Following his stand-out 2021 album Soaked In Indigo Moonlight, described as a “masterful” take on the pop genre (Crack Magazine), Passionfruit continues Parris’ affinity for polyrhythms and bouncing synths, but diving deeper into his love for clubbing and UK soundsystems, the result is a heady house compilation.

Each track on the EP is in contention with the one before it, a counterpoint to a sonic argument; melodic bubbly pop against heavy drum and bass, morning rays of sunlight against dark and swampy rhythms. Where the title track “Passionfruit” was described by Parris as imagining the “early morning of a set with the sunrise coming through the shutters”, the very next track “Slipping, Falling, Crawling” is much like the title suggests: a sludgy, percussion-heavy track which has fun with creating melody from the beat itself, stripped back and raw intent.

“Why Can’t Rabbits Wear Cowboy Boots” and “Underwater Fantasy” are almost alternate universe club classics. “WCRWCB” takes a club-formed structure, and uses it to explore the limits polyrhythms, layering chaotically over eachother, and building through the first half of the track, until it peaks with the introduction of an explosive bassline. “Underwater Fantasy” on the surface is the straightest-sounding track to come from Parris, but the disco-style vocals fight with the beat, pushing and pulling at eachother.

Parris (aka Dwayne Parris-Robinson) has dedicated himself to club culture from an early age, never missing a week at FWD>> (the club night where a generation of bass and techno DJs made their names), and was constantly tuning into Rinse FM. Immersing himself into the distinct sound of London built the foundations of the productions we hear today, with grime and drum & bass bubbling alongside slick pop references.

PHANTOM OF THE AFTERS is the 3rd album from Irish rapper Kojaque, out on his very own Soft Boy Records. With landmark projects Deli Daydreams and Town’s Dead, that saw him 2x nominated for Choice Music Prize, receive support from Radio 1, 1xtra, 6Music, support Loyle Carner & Lana Del Rey and headline festivals across Ireland, Kojaque changed the rap landscape (and Irish culture) for good. Collaborations on his latest project include Biig Piig, Wiki, Charlotte Dos Santos and Gotts Street Park. The album traces blurred outlines of childhood trauma, depression, grief and love, interweaving the physical and emotional journey of central character Jackie Dandelion with bigger questions about immigrant identity, homesickness, cultural stereotypes and ultimately the reconciliation of self. Kojaque has created a cinematic-universe that is bigger in scope but also more tender and intimate in approach than ever before. It’s this willingness to be vulnerable - grotesque, even - that’s captured in the album’s iconic artwork, which subverts the bigoted depictions of Irish caricatures in 19th and 20th century Punch Magazine cartoons and sees this particular Phantom of the Opera remove not just those distorted masks, but also his own.

With songs that are cocksure and contemplative, brutally honest but also refreshingly myth-making, PHANTOM OF THE AFTERS marks a new era from Kojaque: one of his generation’s most unique talents. In suitably audio-visual style, the album traces blurred outlines of childhood trauma, depression, grief and love. It interweaves the journey of central character Jackie Dandelion from Dublin to London with bigger questions about immigrant identity, homesickness, cultural stereotypes and ultimately the reconciliation of self. It’s this willingness to be vulnerable - grotesque, even - that’s captured in the iconic artwork, which subverts the bigoted depictions of Irish caricatures in 19th and 20th century Punch Magazine cartoons and sees this particular Phantom of the Opera remove not just those distorted masks, but also his own.

The record drops alongside one of its more brooding moments, ‘WHAT IF?’: a soulful ode to anxiety, and the crippling impact of fear in moving forward in life or your relationships. “I’ve been obsessed with Charlotte Dos Santos ever since I heard her project Cleo,” Kojaque comments. “She’s just got such a distinct voice and sound. I sent the track over hoping she’d be into it and she sent me back a near perfect hook.” A fully independent artist, Kojaque has brought a stellar lineup of guests together on his latest work: from Biig Piig, Charlotte Dos Santos and NY rapper Wiki (who featured on ‘JOHNNY MCENROE’) to Gotts Street Park (‘BAMBI’) plus production credits such as Calvin Valentine (Ryan Beaty), Tony Seltzer (Eartheater, Freddie Gibbs) and Karma Kid (Hak Baker, Shygirl).

PHANTOM OF THE AFTERS will see Kojaque continue to blaze a trail around the world. He first came to prominence with the genre-bending concept record Deli Daydreams: it became the first mixtape to ever be nominated for the Choice Music Prize, and demonstrated his prowess not only as a polymathic artist, but DIY label-head (co-founding Soft Boy Records, which was subject to a Boiler Room documentary) and visual artist (Kojaque has received a prestigious Royal Hibernian Academy Award for his film-making). Even as the rest of the world sat up and paid Irish Art some long-overdue attention, Kojaque’s creative output has remained thrillingly uncompromising. Tour-de-force debut album Town’s Dead examined everything from gentrification, masculinity and mental health to a gnarly love-triangle unfolding on New Year’s Eve, held together by a multi-hyphenate attitude. Once again nominated for the Choice Prize, Kojaque played a sold-out UK & European headline tour around the restrictive local lockdowns, with the album landing additional support across the likes of Radio 1, 1xtra, 6Music, plus shows with Lana Del Rey and Loyle Carner (who also sampled Kojaque on hugo). With his landmark projects to date, Kojaque changed the rap landscape (and Irish culture) for good. On PHANTOM OF THE AFTERS, you sense he’s just getting started.

The "ongakudō / droga muzyki" project is ("The way of music" in English). Initiated by Groh - head of the JuNouMi label (est. 2002 Polish hip-hop label), the project is the result of cooperation between Polish and Japanese artists.

First, Twardowski created music based on samples from Japanese albums. Then MCs KANETSUGU (JP) and Prykson Fisk (PL) were invited. The next element were DJs - 1an from Tokyo and DJ Eprom from Warsaw (former IDA world champion).

An important element of the project is the graphic design, for which Małgorzata "Mauko" Korczak is responsible - exploring the art of Japanese Shodō calligraphy. As many as three versions of covers were created. One limited edition (hand-numbered 100 pieces), a version with a black wax and a version exclusively for the Japanese market.

This 7" is the first part of the Polish-Japanese series. It is the beginning of our journey.

Revision of new beats on the horizon
Every 20 years or so, certain musical movements come full circle. Young musicians are inspired by genres dating back two decades, channelling them through their modern sensibility. The legendary J Dilla’s Donuts album was released in 2006 and instantly marked a starting point for the work of musicians worldwide, laying the foundations especially for the beat scene in Los Angeles. A whole young generation of musicians brought up on the new, instrumental and abstract hip-hop has carried jazz into a new era. The four London-based musicians who make up Uniri have gone one step further by abandoning the idea of a jazz band and "bedroom production" in favour of collective composing, creating a new look at the new-beat aesthetics, framing it as a road novel set in an unspecified time and space.

Uniri translates as ‘one unified dream’ and is the key driving motto of the project conceived by Chiminyo (Cykada, Maisha), the band's founder and head honcho. The project materialised in his private studio, where he invited fellow jazz musicians Amane Tsuganami (Jorja Smith, Maisha), Al Macsween (Nubya Garcia, Gary Bartz, Kefaya) and Luke Wynter (Nubyan Twist, Golden Mean) to spontaneously compose together. Hence, despite this being the band's first album, it wouldn't be right to call them rookies. The result of Uniri's collaborative work is the psychedelic, rhythmic album Infinite Reflections, packed with cosmic and warm synths, which neatly balances hip-hop beat and jazz composition. It's safe to say this music is even more appealing when played live, although it's equally suited to the club dancefloor.

UK Jazz has become a permanent fixture in the London landscape, but also across Europe and the US. Today, the musicians who shape the new wave of jazz are drawing on more and more genres, reducing solo improvisation for the benefit of composition and increasingly drawing on influences from the beat scene. Among such formations are the British NOK Cultural Ensemble, the Polish Błoto, the Belgian ECHT!, and the Dutch Comité Hypnotisé. Uniri is part of this emerging yet already international trend, creating an entirely fresh aesthetic that echoes artists such as Flying Lotus, Samiyam, Dorian Concept, Ras G and Nosaj Things oriented around the Californian 'new beats generation' scene.

The title Infinite Reflections alludes to a phenomenon observable on the open sea or during intercontinental flights. Gazing at the horizon blurs the boundary between the ocean and the sky, forming an infinite palette of blue shades. This inspiration sparked an elusive musical narrative, navigating between a sea voyage and an astral journey, destination unknown.

French producer Panthera steps up to Melodize with a pair of Italo inspired cuts that come remixed by the legendary Lauer and Endrik Schroeder.

Panthera prefers to remain secretive about his identity, but his music has plenty of people talking. It has come out on labels such as Bordello A Parigi, Polaris and Correspondant so far and contains a distinct, synth-heavy, euphoric sound.

This is evident from the beginning with ‘Hustle’, a colourful and cosmic cut with rich melodies, occasional vocal touches and shimmering arps. They bring sugary rushes of joy to the mid-tempo nu-disco drums and will douse dance floors in subtle euphoria. Remixing this one is the underground stalwart Lauer, who always brings his retro style to his disco and house on labels such as Permanent Vacation and Running Back. His version is faster and more direct, though still packed with starry melodies and subtle synth motifs that bring it to life.

Panthera’s ‘Western Union’ then brings more raw percussion and slapping drums but again takes flight through the cosmos on sleek synth lines with hints of 80s nostalgia. It’s a track that is always on the rise and full of bright, irresistible melodic suspense. Remixer Endrik Schroeder also hails from France and is a fast-rising talent with credits on the taste-making Bordello A Parigi, Ritmo Fatale, and Roam Recordings. He flips the original into a more propulsive and urgent nu-disco weapon with crashing drums and synth loops spiralling around the track as extra melodies fall like stardust to light up the groove.

There is real quality as well as plenty of feel-good energy to these four shiny, synth-heavy tracks.

Utilising a mammoth bank of saxophone samples, Shmuel Hatchwellpresents his new alias hoyah with an engrossing album captured in tape and digital form on Bruk.

The process leading to Set + Setting started out with a need for limitations to provide some focus for long-serving sound engineer and producer Hatchwell. He set out the following guidelines to accompany the overarching idea of 'set + setting':

No 'beats'
Saxophones are the voice
Stay away from the computer for as long as possible

Hatchwell took a deep dive in search of every saxophone sample he could find, threw them all into his MPC and then proceeded to weave together a variety of pieces. The focus on a particular instrument brings cohesion to the album, but equally the limited sound inspired freedom to experiment with other techniques and tools. At times one or two sax voices sound naked and undisturbed, while elsewhere you might only hear jagged shards or distant ghosts as they pass through aggravated processing.

Beyond the sound itself, the name hoyah was born with the flippancy of the 21st Century and ratified by ancient tradition. After the music had been made, After the music had been made, Hatchwell plucked the name out of thin air as a play on the TikTok meme 'can I get a hoya,' and subsequently discovered on a dive into his Jewish heritage that in old Hebrew hoyah means, 'to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.' This distinction between Jewish concepts and modern political conflations is important to Hatchwell, who finds himself consistently having to separate Judaism from the situation in the Middle East and its ongoing genocide.

Subtly calling to mind the understated cosiness of real-life sax players like Sam Gendel as well as the fragmented sample manipulation of Matmos and Tim Hecker's approach to processed noise, hoyah's debut album absolutely manifests an idea and musical practice as something new and intentional

Outsider rock is no longer an invite-only endeavor with DIY touring art pop band Summer Like The Season. Their sophomore record “Aggregator" is a DM to come hang out on discord servers and twitch streams. Opening with the track “Meet Me On The Internet” this anthem is a welcoming call to summon a court of weirdos and misfits. Genre bending across the spectrum of indie rock to hyper pop, the musical musings of Summer Krinsky are an exploration of this cyborg era. As a LGBTQIA female producer, percussionist and singer, Summer fronts the band from a unique perspective in more ways than just physically behind the drum kit. Summer is an audio engineer and co-owns Atonuv, a recording studio in Detroit with bandmate Scott Murphy. She composes all of the music, playing piano, bass, guitar, drums, erhu, synths, found sounds, singing bowl, banjo, auxiliary percussion, melodica, kazoo and more on this album. Locking themselves in the studio for many months in a marathon of micro-details, Summer and Scott mixed the record to their exacting standards. The presentation of the band’s first album “Hum” was a polished product from out of thin air, finding fans in person as they toured from town to town. For this new record Summer’s goal was to allow audiences to witness, engage, and participate in a far more intimate manner. Summer live-streamed slices of the composition process, refining tracks such as “Android Hymn” and “Crosstalk” realtime on twitch. “Aggregator” is an album about nowness, living in the time of technological revolution, at the intersection of optimism and anxiety. These songs are a balance, a flip of a coin, the outcome of which is yet to be determined.

First studio recording collaboration from Saba, Mick Jenkins, and Noname. The song has over 2M streams on Spotify. Saba, Mick Jenkins, and Noname counted among the top Hip Hop artists of their generation. This single is part of the Closed Sessions 45 series, which also features Westside Gunn, Currency, Open Mike Eagle, Raekwon, Blu, and more. Colour Sleeve 7". Limited to 500 copies WW. "Realer Than Most" is the 8th entry in the Closed Sessions 45 series, featuring rare recordings with some of the most exciting and respected Hip Hop emcees and producers. "Realer Than Most" was recorded in 2014 - during the peak of a nasty Polar Vortex. In the studio, with the heat on full blast - promising emcees Saba, Noname, and Mick Jenkins and producers OnGaud, linked with Closed Sessions for their first-ever collaborative track. "Realer Than Most" went on to be a fan favorite, and was a step for each artist on their path to breakout success. Saba, Mick, and Noname continue to be at the top of their game, and this song shows that promise in full display. The vinyl includes the original and instrumental, new front cover art by Spectacular Diagnostics, back design featuring original artwork from Niko Washington.

When Bob Vylan won the first MOBO award for Best Alternative Music Act in 2022, the punk-grime duo took to the stage and used the platform to speak about how they managed to achieve the impossible as independent artists in a genre-defying space. “We released an album this year that we produced entirely, mixed entirely, recorded entirely, all from my bedroom…so everybody that’s here, bigging up Atlantic and bigging up Warner, fuck that, us man did it ourselves”.

It was an acceptance speech that rattled the room and built anticipation for their next projects.

Humble as the Sun, the forthcoming album from Bob Vylan continues with much of the rage and urgency that they have come to be known and loved for, but this latest project shows that they are now stronger and wiser, bolstered by the wins and learnings that they have fought hard for along the way. The resulting tracklist aims to leave the listener feeling power alongside their anger, and brings a fresh and compelling blend of punk, rock, grime and rap together in an experimental way.

Following on from the last album, Bob Vylan Presents the Price of Life, the message woven throughout Humble as the Sun remains dark in places but is high-energy, defiant and unapologetic in its critique of a broken social and political system that so many have fallen victim to, but feel powerless against.

This album is for the underdogs, the ones who come out swinging and those who refuse to be defeated in the face of injustice, and aims to remind listeners that anger is a fire that can be harnessed and put to use. The album creation started from a conversation with the sun, which is, after all, a big ball of fire that sustains life.

From masculinity to myths about the G Spot, the themes and topics explored on Humble As The Sun make for an often humorously empowering celebration of the peoples ability to endure, overcome and bring about change.

The lyricism on this album is even more layered than their previous projects, still darkly humorous, anti-establishment and unforgiving but at times pauses to deliver much-needed words of afrmation to listeners, “You are loved. You are not alone. You are going through hell but keep going.” Bobby assures the listener, ofering an antidote to the state of the world, aiming to give some power and agency to those who hear it. At a time when so little trust or faith exists between the people and the powers that be, Bob Vylan ofers out a hand in the despondent darkness that has overwhelmed so many in the shadow of a burning planet. They guides the listener to a place where they can see some light and feel empowered to do something, to fight back, to continue pushing forwards despite the challenges faced along the way.

Mixing all of the best quintessentially British - and Jamaican - musical elements from punk to drum and bass, grime and rock, Bob Vylan creates a sound that reflects the state of the nation, at once voicing the frustrations that normal people have, while also highlighting one’s ability to persevere, overcome hardship and to change.

The Cover Ups vinyl edition is a double LP consisting of the first Cover Ups (digital only release 2016) and the new Cover Ups 2 (released April 2023).

Recorded mostly on Flunk's annual Christmas parties, "julebord" in Norwegian, with a big dinner and plenty of drinks, rounding off with an acoustic recording of a favourite cover version.

Cover Ups / LP1 consists of coversongs from New Order, Yazoo, Depeche Mode and Fink.

Cover Ups 2 / LP2 consists of coversongs from Rod Stewart / Everything But The Girl, Simon & Gafunkel, Jesus and Mary Chain, The Stranglers, Soft Cell and Radiohead, and some new acoustic versions of old Flunk-songs.

The acoustic downbeat version of Yazoo's "Only You" was featured on the Designated Survivor TV-series.

, Old fat furry cat-puss , Wake up and look at this thing that I bring, Wake up, be bright , Be golden and light , Bagpuss, Oh hear what I sing. 12th of February, 1974, and for an audience of small children at 1:45pm, a life irrevocably coloured by the wayward wonderings of one saggy cloth cat. Some 44 years later and Earth Recordings opens the door to Bagpuss & Co. once again, revealing for the first time the original music in all its newly-mastered splendour. The 32 tracks that make up the main body of the compositions are – like all good folk music – a patchwork of traditional pieces, half-remembered tunes and pure improvisation. It's testament to Sandra Kerr and John Faulkner's musicianship that the recordings work so well, not only within the context of the television episodes, but as an album in its own right. Of the recording, Oliver Postgate (in his exquisite autobiography 'Seeing Things') says: "Between them Sandra and John could play every sort of instrument from a mountain dulcimer to an Irish fiddle. They knew and could sing every tune in the world and didn't bother with written music, except as a last resort. They were exactly suited to Gabriel the Toad and Madeleine the Rag Doll and in those roles were happy to play whatever music and sing whatever songs would be needed." Those songs manifested themselves as reworkings of familiar tunes ('I Saw A Ship'; 'Row Your Boat'; 'Bucket's Burning'), takes on traditional ballads ('Brian O'Lynn'; 'The Frog Princess'; 'Weaving Song'; 'The Old Woman Tossed Up in a Basket') and delicious flights of fancy ('The Bony King of Nowhere'; 'Turtle Calypso'; 'Uncle Feedle'). The counterpart to Madeleine and Gabriel's more polished ditties are the interludes from the mice; a raggle-taggle chorus that accompanies the creatures' efforts of help (with the mice once famously going on strike when they were not permitted sang as they worked). Again, Postgate muses: "Once I had worked out a few episodes I would make a very rough list of the bits where I though music would be appropriate. I would send it to Sandra and John to think about. Then we would borrow a fairly silent room in a remote house and, taking the various articles that we intended to celebrate with us, would spend a happy day with a tape recorder, thinking up and recording whatever songs and tunes came to mind." The outtakes provide an intimate – and often very humourous – insight into the trio's work ethic, if it can be called such a thing. (By all accounts they sound as though they're having a very jolly time indeed.) Highlights include alternative opening words and end music, as well as Postgate sound-checking in character as Bagpuss. This never-before heard audio provides a real treat for fans (and indeed those new to the Smallfilms stable) – affirmation again to the enduring quality of these special recordings, and the beloved programme that inspired them. "An accidental classic of the folk-roots underground that we never dared hope we’d hear with such clarity."Stewart Lee

Dog Unit sind eine Post-Rock-Band, zu der man tanzen kann, und ihre Debüt-LP 'At Home' ein betörendes Amalgam aus bezauberndem Drone, taktilen Strukturen, Zeitlupen-Polyrhythmen und Skewiff-Riffs. Dog Unit sind Henry Scowcroft und Sam Walton an Gitarren, die zwischen heulendem Feedback und souveräner Melodik wechseln, Pop-Dub-Bass-Maestro James Weaver, dessen minimalistischer Stil ein Genie für Prägnanz und Motorik offenbart, und Schlagzeugerin Lucy Jamieson, die zuverlässigste Zeitnehmerin diesseits einer Atomuhr. Gemeinsam auf der Bühne oder auf Platte hat man das Gefühl, es handelt sich hier nicht um vier Musiker, sondern um ein 16-gliedriges Geschöpf, das seine Zuhörer auf eine hügelige Reise eleganter modernistischer Wunder führt, wie ein Hochgeschwindigkeitszug, der wunderschön durch die japanische Landschaft fährt.

Zurich bass guitarist and composer Martina Berther is known for her delicious basslines in experimental rock outfits Ester Poly and AUL. On this solo debut, she conjures something utterly unique from her instrument.

'Bass Works' showcases Berther's talent and ingenuity across 12 startlingly varied one-take compositions. Taking root in improvisation, the collection unfolds like a playbook of strange and beautiful techniques.

Voided melodies, harmonics and surfaces that prickle and collapse in solitude and wonder; Berther's bass is a Geiger counter, etching the contours of abandoned landscapes and forgotten languages.

Recommended if you like the alien transmissions of Éliane Radigue, Mica Levi, Olivier Messiaen.

New Juice WRLD album Fighting Demons cover and tracklist has been revealed. The album, features collaborations with Justin Bieber, Trippie Redd, SUGA of BTS, and Polo G.
“There was nothing Jarad “Juice WRLD” Higgins enjoyed more than delivering new music to his millions of fans around the world. He left behind an astonishingly deep catalog of music that will ensure his fans will have new songs to listen to for years to come. Jarad was always searingly honest about his struggles and through his musical genius he articulated what was on his heart and mind vividly through his art. He never gave up and his friends and family never gave up on offering their support to him. Today we announce a new album “Fighting Demons” out Dec 10th. We encourage all of you who struggle with addiction and mental health to never give up the fight. We continue to extend free support to you via LiveFree999.org created in his honor.”
- Ms. Carmela Wallace and Grade A

Released on July 10th, 2020, Legends Never Die had a record-shattering debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and spent two weeks at the top spot and has since landed five singles in the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100.

In April of 2020, Juice’s mother Carmela Wallace announced the establishment of the Live Free 999 Fund, which receives additional support via Grade A and Interscope Records in addition to individual donations. The Live Free 999 Fund honors the legacy of her son by supporting young people in their battles and to do so with love, joy, and emotional honesty.

Sie sind die größte Band, von der Sie noch nie gehört haben. Unbesungene Helden, deren Musik politisch und spirituell war und ihrer Zeit um Generationen voraus. Ihre Geschichte ist nie erzählt worden. Bis jetzt... Cymande, eine Gruppe schwarzer britischer Musiker, die alle als Kinder aus der Karibik nach Großbritannien gekommen waren, veröffentlichten Anfang der 70er Jahre kurz hintereinander drei brillante Alben und wurden in den USA begeistert aufgenommen. Doch im Vereinigten Königreich sahen sie sich mit einem Musikgeschäft konfrontiert, das von Vorurteilen gegenüber einheimischen schwarzen Talenten geprägt war, und wurden weitgehend ignoriert. 1975 lösten sie sich auf. Aber ihre Musik lebte weiter, da nachfolgende Generationen von Künstlern und Fans ihre Songs entdeckten und sich für sie begeisterten.

Die brandneue Neuauflage des bahnbrechenden selbstbetitelten Albums der Band, Cymande, wurde 2022 in den Abbey Road Studios neu gemastert.

In diesem Jahr kommt die gefeierte Cymande-Dokumentation "Getting It Back: The Story Of Cymande" in die britischen und internationalen Kinos. "Getting It Back" wurde unter der Regie von Tim Mackenzie-Smith gedreht und enthält Interviews mit einer ganzen Reihe von Musikern und Produzenten, die beeinflusst und begeistert sind von der Musik Cymandes, darunter Mark Ronson, Jim James, Kool DJ Red Alert, DJ Maseo und Louie Vega.

Returning from a period of intense and concentrated seclusion in its purest form, WRISTMEETRAZOR make their return in 2024 with their upcoming third album, Degeneration. The US metalcore outfit’s latest full length will be released via Prosthetic Records on March 29. Following the release of their 2021 sophomore effort, Replica of a Strange Love, the WRISTMEETRAZOR’s line-up went through of metamorphosis with Justin Fornhof abdicating his role on bass in favour of lead vocals - bringing Elaine Dalton (bass) and Nate Billmyer (guitar) to the fold in the process. Extensive North American touring soon followed with stints on the road among the likes of Seeyouspacecowboy, Traitors, Eighteen Visions and festival appearances at Furnace Fest and Code Orange’s Code World, respectively. Having solidified and fine-tuned the strengths of their latest incarnation onstage, the newly upgraded quintet found themselves with a renewed focus leading into Degeneration’s gestation period. During this moment of rare quiet for the group, WRISTMEETRAZOR sought the production skills of Randy Lebeouf (The Acacia Strain, Dying Wish, Kublai Khan). Ushering themselves into near total isolation in the woods of New Jersey, the writing and recording process for Degeneration was one of acute solitude, only leaving the studio’s cabin three times during the 30 day lock-in between almost non-stop 12 hour recording sessions. Degeneration’s backdrop of self-imposed seclusion bore fruit as the album’s lyrical focus began to develop. Whilst there are still traces of WRISTMEETRAZOR’s established world of Nietzchian philosophy and twisted romanticism, Fornhof found himself gravitating towards themes of misanthropy, apoplexy, and moral, political and religious hypocrisy within society. With WRISTMEETRAZOR’s ire pointed outwards rather than inwards, societal degeneration is explored through allegorical tales of mechanical decline and system failure that pull together to reveal a larger picture of the band’s disdain for humankind’s more repulsive traits. Songs such as Turn On, Tune In, Drop Dead, DogdayGod and The Greatest Love Offering in the History of the World reference intentional exits from society and sordid real life stories of assassination, against deftly woven industrial and EBM influences with groove based nu-metal flourishes at the fore. Degeneration’s post-apocalyptic production values lend a cold and methodically calculated quality to WRISTMEETRAZOR’s new skin, without losing the visceral core of their identity. Seeking to ensure a fully realised aesthetic to represent the absurdity of seeking justice in an unjust world, the cover was put together by Philadelphia, PA visual artist Alex Eckman-Lawn (END, Dim Mak, Woe).

LEGENDO is a work of sonic weird fiction. A pulp fantasy. A descent through the cracks in reality, punctuated by bizarre encounters and freaky transformations. It oozes an odd mixture of wonder and fear, a fascination with whatever might be lurking around the next unlit corner, met with relentless excitement and leading towards ghastly discoveries. Like a vision of a new mythological age, one that aims more at subverting and making fun of itself than educating towards any kind of morality. Or a self-conscious fantasy RPG turning into a full-on immersive experience. The author, Lubomir Grzelak AKA Lutto Lento, arranged this eccentric narrative as a follow up to his previous LP, the ominous Dark Secret world, while also settling out to subvert the atmosphere of that record. In his Haunter debut he embraces his own quirkier side, delving further into eerie derision and surreal trickery. He achieves that by remodeling his penchant for heavy bass and gloomy dub into a kind of otherworldly folk music, drawing in deterritorialized string instruments, cheeky digital sound design, Coil-ian horror synths, and drums that remind as much of heavy metal as of Hollywood neo-classicism. It is by pushing the envelope on the most contradictory elements that LEGENDO ascends to a form of mocking poetry. Many weird characters are encountered through the narrative: from the various musicians that contributed to the music (such as vocalist John Glacier, guitarist Adam Repucha and koto player Katarzyna Karpińska), but also many fringe fascinations that hail from Grzelak’s native Poland: from the 1897 painting ‘Skarby Sezamu' by Stanislaw Wyspiański that inspired the track of the same name, to the delirious paganism of outsider artist Stanislaw Skukalski, to the lullaby referenced in ‘Iskiereczka’. These entities all dwell inside LEGENDO and conduct its chapters, rendering the liminal dimension of its sound as real as it is in its creator’s mind.

'Clannad in Concert' was the first live album by, now globally recognized, Irish folk band Clannad, released in 1978 by Ogham Records It was recorded at an unknown location during their 1978 tour of Switzerland, during which the group decided to continue with the band full time. This 2023 remastered CD re- issue replicates the original artwork as it was first released. The cover features an elaborate mythological Celtic design by artist Roy McCullough. The interior artwork also features lyrics in the original Irish language. The line-up consists of Ciaran O Braonain, Maire Ni Bhraonain, Pol O Braonain, Noel O Dugain and Padraig O Dugain. The band line up features O Braonain and O Dugain siblings without sister and niece Eithne Ni Bhraonain (better known as Enya) who joined the group for two years between 1980 and 1982. Nicky Ryan, who would later become Enya's long-time production partner, was on producer duties for this live recording