Buscar:risk

Within the world of theatrical archives, there are the known, the unknown, the forgotten, and the lost. Demetrio Stratos' stage compositions for Teatro dell'Elfo's groundbreaking 1979 production Satyricon - directed by future Oscar winner Gabriele Salvatores - represents one such lost artifact now wondrously returned to life. This radical sonic work, integrating extended vocal techniques, Balinese instruments, and pioneering whale song recordings, stands as the final masterpiece of Italy's most visionary vocal experimenter, lost for over four decades until Die Schachtel's extraordinary recovery. As Stratos himself explained: "The musical operation performed on Satyricon is particular: the composer-musician here does not compose, but borrows ready-made music, vivisects it, melts it, intervenes and recomposes it on magnetic tape. The structure of the signifier, from a morphological point of view, presents itself as a conceptual collage." The music is obtained by utilizing compositions and musical elements from David Behrman, Joan La Barbara, Balinese Ketyak, Turkish Nay flute, Yugoslavian bagpipe, Pan flute, and whale song, with synthesizer interventions by Paolo Tofani. It began as part of something known - a wild, immersive theatrical event that inaugurated Teatro dell'Elfo's historic venue in 1979, was almost entirely forgotten, becoming lost and then unknown. The original production marked a radical departure for the company: no longer popular street theatre, but a dark, immersive, sophisticated spectacle that transformed their space into a rough wooden arena with a sand floor. Demetrio Stratos, working with Paolo Tofani (fellow Area member), created an entire sonic universe that subverted every conventional function of stage music. Their composition wasn't accompaniment, but autonomous sonic dramaturgy that integrated extended vocal techniques, archaic electronic elements, Nay flutes, Balinese instruments, and pioneering whale song recordings. The result was a three-dimensional soundscape that enveloped audiences, creating an otherworldly acoustic dimension. Stratos' score even intervened in the actors' vocal delivery, with the recordings capturing both the performance and his coaching sessions with the cast. The production featured young actors destined for fame - Elio De Capitani, Ferdinando Bruni, Cristina Crippa, Corinna Agustoni, Ida Marinelli - guided by Gabriele Salvatores in this adaptation of Petronius' ancient novel. Shortly after the Satyricon performances, Stratos was hospitalized for the condition that would lead to his death at just 33 years old. This work represents his final composition - a haunting farewell from one of Italy's most innovative sound artists. Die Schachtel presents this recovered work in collaboration with Teatro dell'Elfo, pulled from the original magnetic tape and carefully restored. Satyricon '79 is one of the great artifacts of 1970s Italian avant-garde - a wild, grinding sonic expose which sucks the ear into its depths, made in the spirit of collaboration and creative risk-taking. The edition includes critical apparatus with essays, testimonies from protagonists, and period photographic documentation, documenting an unrepeatable moment where theatre, vocal research and sonic experimentation converged. This release marks a poignant moment in experimental music history - Stratos' final work, now rescued from the archives and restored to its rightful place in the canon of Italian avant-garde masterpieces. A true wonder of towering historical importance. As essential as it gets for any fan of experimental music, or the history of the Italian avant-garde. Fully restored and newly mastered from the original analog tapes. Absolutely essential.

"Viva Marina" celebrates the 100th release of Marina Records. The label was founded in Hamburg in 1993 by Stefan Kassel and Frank Lähnemann. Over the years the label released many outstanding albums by artists like The Pearlfishers, Shack, Brent Cash, The Bathers, James Kirk, The Free Design, Malcolm Ross, Ashby, Paul Quinn & The Independent Group, Der Plan, and many many more - incl. the best-selling Beach Boys/ Brian Wilson tribute album "Caroline Now!". "Viva Marina" is the 4th of the label"s acclaimed compilations - following in the footsteps of "In Bed With Marina", "Ave Marina" and "Goosebumps". These compilations have all been elaborate classy affairs with lots of attention to detail (packaging / design / liner notes / photography / mastering). Artefacts of beautifully curated Pop Art. The new compilation continues in that tradition. It features 21 tracks from the Marina roster and kindred spirits like Van Dyke Parks, The Kingfishers, Frank Schmiechen and Michel van Dyke. Featuring many exclusive and previously unissued contributions. Enjoy 21 tracks / 75 minutes of pure aural pop pleasure. Viva Marina!

In the two years since Parallel Minds’ Juno-Award-winning 5th release Homesick by label co-founder Ciel, we have taken our time reassessing our next moves as the larger dance music scene experienced a paradigm shift. What does it mean to release music made by underground artists from lesser-known scenes like Toronto at a time when bookers and A&Rs are taking fewer risks than ever before? How do we truly celebrate the musical diversity of electronic music when the bottom line threatens to reduce any and all forms of risk-taking?

You just do it, of course.

In truth, few artists have come to represent the music scene in the Big Smoke more than Phèdre, and having seen the duo’s progression from indie weirdo-pop to live hardware act to breakbeat wunderkind in the last decade has been nothing short of amazing. It’s really artists like these that inspired us to start the label in 2018, and we are super elated to usher in PM006 with their long-awaited album, Liquid Constancy.

On its face, Liquid Constancy is a breakbeat record. There are housier joints, to more bassy Baltimore club bangers, to breakneck footwork and jungle steeped in sunshine. All of them share a distinctly syncopated, dubwise rhythm that grounds the album’s tracks. With some having been developed as early as seven years ago, these tracks had their genesis in Phèdre’s mostly improvised live hardware sets from some of Toronto’s most notorious warehouse raves. Primarily powered by two Korg Electribe ESX-1s and the semi-modular Moog Mother-32, the jams found new life in the studio when the duo began recording them as tracks, which demanded a mindfulness of their permanence that Daniel Lee and apè Aliermo at first found intimidating.

Over time, the pair developed a synergistic workflow that pulls from Daniel’s background in drums and apè’s keen ear for texture and movement. They sourced samples featuring voices of BIPOC and feminist icons, drew from their shared love of sci-fi and kung fu movies, and from their Filipino, Chinese, German, and Surinamese backgrounds. Samples were manipulated via techniques like lowering bit rates and adjusting speed to maximize usage due to the Electribe’s limited sample time, which was a subtle way of injecting their interests into their music without being too on the nose. Growing up in the melting pot of the GTA, going to raves as teens, bumping post-punk, industrial, electro, hip-hop and 90s R&B — these experiences all had an undeniable influence on Liquid Constancy. As kids of immigrant parents, equally informed by both their adopted and native cultures, Phèdre makes music informed by sampling and defined by cultural hybridity. In times like these, what is more feel-good than believing in music as a universal language that brings our different backgrounds together?

When NYC-based experimental dance punks Guerilla Toss, active since 2011, were in Vermont recording their new full-length album You're Weird Now, frontwoman Kassie Carlson would prepare what she called 'punk lunch': a communal meal made by raiding the studio fridge for whatever was left and assembling a sandwich from the most random ingredients imaginable. Regularly joining punk lunch were two legends from their own corners of the weird music world: Stephen Malkmus (Pavement, The Jicks) and Trey Anastasio, Phish guitarist and owner of The Barn; the recording studio where Guerilla Toss were making You're Weird Now, with Malkmus in the producer's seat. Engineer Bryce Goggin, who has worked with Malkmus since Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, and Ben Collette, Phish's longtime engineer at The Barn, were also part of the crew. While the idea of the guy from Phish and the guy from Pavement sitting around with Guerilla Toss, congenially assembling sandwiches from random foodstuffs dug up from the depths of a studio fridge, might seem absurd, it also makes total sense. Because really, if there's any band that serves as the natural bridge between slacker punks who saw Pavement way before you did, wild-eyed wooks who've seen Phish more times than you ever will, and even the eccentrics in '90s drip following former GT tourmates Primus-it's Guerilla Toss. A band so imaginative and unapologetically themselves, they're basically the real-life manifestation of a utopian, post-snob world where all musical ideas are worthy of expression and everyone is welcome. You're Weird Now powers this message. Guerilla Toss' fifth album and second for Sub Pop is a hugely creative and joyful statement about the joy of creativity. With You're Weird Now Guerilla Toss reclaim the word "weird" for everyone brave enough to let their freak flag fly and stay true to their artistic vision no matter what-a way riskier act than it's ever given credit for, and one that requires a certain amount of serene self-confidence that it takes time and effort to cultivate and sustain. And they do so with the enthusiastic support of their musical predecessors: a standout moment arrives with "Red Flag to Angry Bull," which builds to a campfire sing-along-worthy outro featuring Malkmus and Carlson duetting over a chatty, classically Phish-y (there's really no better word for it) solo from Anastasio. The band hopes the message of You're Weird Now will resonate not only with music heads but anyone who struggles with feeling weird in a world where it will always be hard to be different. At the end of the day, it's all about the spirit of punk lunch: there's room for everyone because music is for everyone. "Everyone loves and appreciates music," says Carlson. "If you don't like music, you're kind of an asshole." That's not weird-that's just true.

180g, turquoise vinyl. Perhaps the hardest thing about Soul music is convincing. If the place and the experiences don't somehow shine through and meet us, we risk missing out on what's on offer completely. "But first_ are you experienced?" as Jimi Hendrix asked. That's precisely why Soul music is difficult in Sweden. There are few who can portray their experiences in music in a way as convincing as in the Black US Soul tradition. This however seems almost provocatively easy for Bror Gunnar Jansson to do. On the album People, it's as if he pours both lyrics and melodies that have grown slowly in life and that come naturally if you grow up on the right soil. And on almost every song, it only takes a few bars for Bror Gunnar Jansson & The Escapism to show who their musical relatives are. Although Gunnar seems to move freely in musical landscapes ruled by the greats of seventies soul from Al Green, Curtis Mayfield and Aretha Franklin, as well as in some of the fringes of blues and jazz territory, both he and drummer and producer Christopher Cantillo explain that the album has took a long time brewing. And that what may appear obvious and simple has sprung out of a friendship that spans more than half of their lives.

As with The Limiñanas, rock is here an affair of the heart. Between new wave pleasures, psychedelic sensibilities and nods to the great sixties icons, Her Wild Love maintains the passion, without ever curbing the love of risk. Faithful to its intuitions, the duo refines the contours of a singular style. From Sarah's words to Rafael's notes, the pieces embroidered by Her Wild Love find their own balance. Crossed by cinematographic atmospheres and melancholic effluences, their music evokes the black magic of Mazzy Star, the incantations of PJ Harvey, but also the audacity of a band like Warpaint.

Saxophonist, flautist and producer Chip Wickham casts a formidable shadow across the worldwide jazz landscape. Originally from Brighton, but now dividing his time between the UK, Spain and the Middle-East, he has made a name for himself with a series of beautifully crafted solo albums that draw equally on the hard swinging spiritual jazz of Roland Kirk, Yusef Lateef and Sahih Shihab, alongside the music of British jazz legends such as Tubby Hayes and Harold McNair and the more contemporary sounds of Jazzanova, Kyoto Jazz Massive and Robert Glasper. His close working relationship with Matthew Halsall’s Gondwana Records has spanned close to two decades (since he played on Halsall’s 2008 debut ‘Sending My Love’) and has since released three standout releases on the label (the ‘Cloud 10’ LP, and the ‘Astral Travelling’ and ‘Love & Life’ EP’s). Once again returning to the heralded label, he now prepares to release his elegant fifth studio album ‘The Eternal Now’. Further exploring his penchant for hard-hitting soulful, spiritual jazz and modal hard-bop, it denotes an exciting new chapter in his much- revered discography, once which sees his unbridled artist flourish into new and fruitful pastures.

A beautifully crafted record, ‘The Eternal Now’ is a heartfelt ode to submitting oneself to the practice of creating art, and the freedom that’s derived from letting go. Speaking on his journey to bringing it into the world, Chip explains “The Eternal Now is a creative place where time has no purpose. A place where the past and the future don’t exist. A place where an artist can create something that is timeless and relevant. Writing this album has been a deliberate journey of exploration and drive into the furthest reaches of creativity. An attempt to push myself artistically into new spaces using new colours and new energy”. On how he approached this record in comparison to his previous offerings, he divulges ‘I had to be playful and take risks. It has taken longer than any other album to make and it has been so worth it. I have been drifting and taking the road less travelled as well as not looking back. I’ve enjoyed being on the outside and the freedom it has brought me to create something new and fresh and relevant and timeless.’

Last summer, after living across the country from each other for several years, the four members of Anamanaguchi decided to try something new. Their label Polyvinyl had rescued the famed American Football house from potential destruction, so the band took the opportunity to move in and write together. Over the course of a month, Anamanaguchi – pioneers of hyper-melodic 8-bit rock, whose extraordinary ascent has led them to topping charts with virtual pop star Hatsune Miku and scoring Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game and Netflix’s Scott Pilgrim Takes Off – flipped their typically meticulous digital process on its head. Anyway, the result, is the most personal record of their career. And it's a rock record for the ages.

Recorded straight to tape by Grammy-winning rock producer Dave Fridmann (The Flaming Lips, MGMT, Sleater-Kinney), Anyway united the members around live instruments and lyrics sung by everybody in the band. As Anamanaguchi has always been an instrumental band, the decision to sing suddenly confronted them with the question of what the band’s voice would ultimately be. They explore this newfound power in every song, making it their most emotionally resonant work yet.

Anyway captures a band creatively and personally energized by the experience of four best friends reviving their connection in a disconnected world. On “Rage (Kitchen Sink),” the band confront loneliness and boredom, two epidemics of the digital age that seem to be humanity’s only common bond. The power-pop ballad “Darcie” finds inspiration in small gestures from a local unsung hero, who brightens their lives and allows unforeseen amounts of fun to happen. Taut and dynamic, “Buckwild” is a rock sing-along that serves as the album’s genesis story: a band making an effort to do something new, while accepting the risks that may bring.

USA, Anamanaguchi’s critically-acclaimed second album and debut for Polyvinyl, anticipated a crucial cultural shift in moving from escapist, nostalgic fantasy to a more introspective exploration of digital identity. Described by Pitchfork as the band’s “most emotionally grounded record,” USA laid the foundation for the openness and honesty that defines Anyway. Where USA made sense of life online, their third album Anywayventures into the world outside the front door.

“Rob wanted the world of The Northman to feel harsh and uncomfortable, and for everything to feel like it was caked in mud and dry blood, so it was crucial for the score to mirror that.” Composers Robin Carolan (Tri-Angle Records) and Sebastian Gainsborough (Vessel) were given a task of epic proportions when director Rob Eggers (The VVitch, The Lighthouse) asked them to create the score for his ambitious and highly anticipated new film The Northman, releasing on April 22nd. They needed to make a score that both honored the immense research that had gone into the authenticity of this Viking era period piece and complimented the cinematic maximalism of the film for a modern audience. The artists stretched themselves to the depths of their creativity and the resulting album is a gorgeous sonic tableaux that places the listener right in the center of the film.

While arranging the score the composers consulted musician and ethnographer Poul Høxbro for inspiration and insight into the history of Viking music. Having backgrounds in left field electronic music, Robin and Sebastian felt liberated by the constraint of using a small selection of musical tools for this piece. “Electronic music has almost limitless potential when it comes to making sounds and that’s obviously an incredible thing, but you can also go down the wormhole and get lost in it sometimes. There’s no risk of that happening when you only have a few primary instruments to draw upon.” Robin remarked.

They utilized traditional instruments such as the tagelharpa, langspil, kravik lyre, and säckpip to build the cinematic world of The Northman but they also took creative freedoms in adding instruments likes drums, which some academics believe wouldn’t have played a big part in Viking musical culture, simply due to the lack of archaeological evidence of actual drums. “One of the pieces we wrote was intended to emulate the sound of a bullroarer; an ancient instrument used in sacred rituals or in battle to intimidate enemies. It makes a really disorienting roaring vibrato sound and low frequencies capable of traveling insane distances.” Robin says when asked about one of the more unique aspects of the score. Everyone involved put so much effort into both their research and their creativity and this richness is evident in every track. The album as a whole is a cinematic masterpiece of sound and ambiance, both gorgeous and disturbing, like the film it so beautifully accompanies.

Editrix is a Massachusetts-rooted trio known for their wild, gnarly take on experimental rock. Blending jagged guitar riffs, unpredictable rhythms, and bursts of cartoonish eccentricity, the band creates a sound that's both chaotic and compelling. Composed of singer and guitarist Wendy Eisenberg, drummer Josh Daniel, and bassist Steve Cameron, Editrix thrives on musical risk-taking, often veering into noise-rock territory with a playful edge. On their latest release, The Big E, Editrix unleashes their fangs, resulting in a demonic wall of scuzz. But for as intense as Editrix sounds, the act is convivial and easygoing _ ingrained in deep friendships and speedy, yet jovial recording sessions. Editrix's most pummeling moments seem to be founded on a heartfelt connection, adding emotional resonance to their most feral noise. In the three years since their second LP Editrix II, Eisenberg, Daniel, and Cameron have thrived in individual states of motion _ in and away from music. New York City-based Eisenberg is an accomplished solo artist in the avant-garde realm, receiving recent acclaim for their album Viewfinder (released by American Dreams in 2024). They are also a prolific collaborator, performing in a handful of projects alongside the likes of romantic partner more eaze, Bill Orcutt, David Grubbs, and others. Cameron relocated from Massachusetts to New York City around the same time Editrix II came out, taking a slight step away from music to return to school. Daniel is the only member of Editrix left living in Massachusetts, and performs with the eclectic bands Landowner, Hot Dirt, and The Leafies. Due to Editrix being scattered, the band's new album, The Big E, found them toying with a fresh process. Editrix was quick to write off the idea of collaborating remotely, as the act relishes the warmth of happy accidents that only happen in person. The Big E sparked with Eisenberg, Daniel, and Cameron compiling a list of albums they each admire to establish a self-professed "vibe" up front. King Crimson, My Disco, and Horse Lords were a few key touchstones that shine through, their grounded grooviness balancing erraticism. Eisenberg also found themself infatuated with `70s outlaw country and Van Dyke Parks production. The Big E is titled after a comedic bit between band members, sharing its name with a prominent regional fair in Western Massachusetts, although the title-track aptly features massive E chords. When held up alongside Editrix II _ which found the act toying with Finnish death metal and harsh noise _ The Big E feels settled in its skin. Editrix recorded The Big E with legendary tech death producer Colin Marston (Krallice, Behold_, Dysrhythmia) at his soon-to-be-shuttered studio in Queens. Though these tracks sound toiled over and technical, they are very spontaneous. The majority of The Big E was captured live, with a handful of overdubs added after the fact and came to life over the course of four focused, but rewarding days. Eisenberg uses zen words like "meditative" and "evocative" to describe Editrix's methods, but the end result is crunchy, intricate, and impressively baffling. Easygoing as the band's operation may be, The Big E is a strong jump forward for Editrix inching them towards the center of the avant-rock constellation.

Seedbed is a new revolving-door collective project helmed by Atlanta songwriter JJ Posway (Sloping, Scooterbabe). After six years of recording what was to be the ambitious final studio album of Posway’s long-running Athens-based band Scooterbabe, most traces of the group’s scrappy indie pop had been burnished off to reveal something entirely new. What emerged from the ashes was Seedbed.

Largely composed of performances and songwriting contributions by Scooterbabe’s final lineup (Anna Staddon vocals, keyboard, Michael Buice [bass], Zach Spires [drums]), the formation of Seedbed marks the calling in of producer Terence Chiyezhan to help mix and arrange years of piecemealed recordings. The result is an intensely imposing stylistic shift for Posway and company, as tense as the apt title of Seedbed’s growing pains-fueled debut album Stalemate implies.

Stalemate stares straight into an all-consuming whirlpool of a million swirling emotions spanning the past seven years; It’s glistening and reflective on “Unit 4” and “C c c c c c c c c c c,” while cacophonously turbulent for “Fingertips Like Ice” and foreboding album opener “Mouse At Your Feet.” But the entirety of Stalemate is nostalgia-soaked and dripping with the painful necessity of change. It brazenly steeps in the tension and grief that accompanies evolution - even at the risk of drowning in it completely.

Haunting, discordant and deeply unsettling, `Les Maîtres Fous' (`The Mad Masters') was written by French post-metal collective Year of No Light in response to French filmmaker Jean Rouch's controversial 1950's docufiction of the same name. Commissioned by Musée Du Quai Branly in Paris for their 2012 `L'Invention Du Sauvage' exhibition, trance-metal pioneers Year of No Light approached the ritual practices of the Hauka movement as depicted in the film and responded with their uniquely hypnotic heaviness. Performed only twice, once at the exhibition on the 6th January, 2012 and again in Bordeaux on the 29th January, 2015; this release is a live recording of the second and final performance of `Les Maîtres Fous'. Whilst Year of No Light have a long history of collaboration with forward-thinking filmmakers and visual artists, the sensitivity of this documentary's problematic subject matter and the intensity of the band's performance made this performance both a physically and emotionally demanding experience; something that can be keenly felt upon listening. Founded in September 2001 by a collection of Bordeaux's heavy scene stalwarts as an ongoing side project encompassing elements of sludge metal and shoegaze, Year of No Light released their debut album, Nord, in 2006 to critical acclaim. The subsequent years however saw a significant lineup change with the band replacing their vocalist with a third guitarist to become a fully instrumental sextet incorporating aspects of black metal, drone electronica and dark ambient into their already formidable sound. 2010's four track epic Ausserwelt and the 2013 follow up Tocsin saw Year of No Light distilling their punishing sound even further; stalling the tempo to a glacial crawl and tuning guitars ever downwards to new uncharted depths. Consolamentum, the band's first full-length release in nine years and their first with Pelagic Records, brought the outfit's crushing double-drumming percussion to the fore as a masterclass in dynamic control saw Year of No Light embrace the highest highs and the lowest lows of the intervening years. Now approaching their 25th anniversary, `Les Maître Fous' is a pressing reminder that, despite the band's long and ongoing journey, Year of No Light have never been afraid to experiment, to take risks, to square up to life's ugliness and look it straight in the eye. FOR FANS OF Neurosis, Cult of Luna, SWANS, ISIS, Russian Circles, My Bloody Valentine, Chelsea Wolfe

Haunting, discordant and deeply unsettling, `Les Maîtres Fous' (`The Mad Masters') was written by French post-metal collective Year of No Light in response to French filmmaker Jean Rouch's controversial 1950's docufiction of the same name. Commissioned by Musée Du Quai Branly in Paris for their 2012 `L'Invention Du Sauvage' exhibition, trance-metal pioneers Year of No Light approached the ritual practices of the Hauka movement as depicted in the film and responded with their uniquely hypnotic heaviness. Performed only twice, once at the exhibition on the 6th January, 2012 and again in Bordeaux on the 29th January, 2015; this release is a live recording of the second and final performance of `Les Maîtres Fous'. Whilst Year of No Light have a long history of collaboration with forward-thinking filmmakers and visual artists, the sensitivity of this documentary's problematic subject matter and the intensity of the band's performance made this performance both a physically and emotionally demanding experience; something that can be keenly felt upon listening. Founded in September 2001 by a collection of Bordeaux's heavy scene stalwarts as an ongoing side project encompassing elements of sludge metal and shoegaze, Year of No Light released their debut album, Nord, in 2006 to critical acclaim. The subsequent years however saw a significant lineup change with the band replacing their vocalist with a third guitarist to become a fully instrumental sextet incorporating aspects of black metal, drone electronica and dark ambient into their already formidable sound. 2010's four track epic Ausserwelt and the 2013 follow up Tocsin saw Year of No Light distilling their punishing sound even further; stalling the tempo to a glacial crawl and tuning guitars ever downwards to new uncharted depths. Consolamentum, the band's first full-length release in nine years and their first with Pelagic Records, brought the outfit's crushing double-drumming percussion to the fore as a masterclass in dynamic control saw Year of No Light embrace the highest highs and the lowest lows of the intervening years. Now approaching their 25th anniversary, `Les Maître Fous' is a pressing reminder that, despite the band's long and ongoing journey, Year of No Light have never been afraid to experiment, to take risks, to square up to life's ugliness and look it straight in the eye. FOR FANS OF Neurosis, Cult of Luna, SWANS, ISIS, Russian Circles, My Bloody Valentine, Chelsea Wolfe. The Dim Gleam edition is kind of a beige vinyl colour

12” Signed & Embossed Art Print

‘Well let me tell you a little something and it goes like this
Those New York Doll boys they were always looking for a kiss’
Those New York Dolls

The group that started it all back in those pre-punk days. The New York Dolls had it all, style, sass and the tunes to back it up. But as the title of their second and last studio album incurred they were simply `Too Much Too Soon’. For outside of New York and L.A. their humour and drag look was all too much for the mainstream listening public, so they imploded. But a few other bands were taking notes and by softening the edges they took over the world and as the title track of Mal-One’s latest 12” release points out;

‘But who wants a thrill without a little risk
I think we’ll just leave all that up to bands like Kiss’
Those New York Dolls

So Mal-One thought he ‘d better pay homage and let the kids know how great they were.
So we hope you enjoy this tribute to those New York Dolls that make you wanna go…
‘Yeah Yeah Yeah’.

Carrying on from recent archival releases from masters of Indian classical tradition such as Kamalesh Maitra and the Dagar Brothers, Black Truffle is pleased to present a previously unheard recording of a concert by Pakistani vocalist Salamat Ali Khan. Born to a musician family in Hoshiarpur in the northwestern state of Punjab, Khan moved with his family to Lahore in Pakistan after the 1947 partition of India, becoming a child musical prodigy. Khan was a master of the kyhal form of Hindustani classical vocal music, a style integrating influences from Middle Eastern musical traditions that gives the singer a great deal of improvisational freedom. Travelling widely across the globe from the 1960s until his death in 2001, Khan approached ragas performed in the kyhal style as expressive forums for risk-taking improvisation, enlivened by ceaseless ornamental invention.

This remarkable recording was captured by Michael Hönig (of krautrock legends Agitation Free) in concert at Berlin’s Neue Nationalgalerie as part of the MetaMusik festival in 1974 (which also featured Nico, Tangerine Dream, and Roberto Laneri’s Prima Materia, among many others). Khan, who is also heard accompanying himself on a specially tuned alpine zither (in place of the traditional swarmandal, an Indian style of zither), is joined by Shaukat Hussein Khan on tabla and Hussein Bux Khan on harmonium. The lack of a familiar underlying tanpura drone gives this performance a weightless, floating quality, with all three of the musicians playing masterfully with the interaction between silence and the pulse propelling each section of the raag.

As Khan explains in his opening remarks, this performance of the rainy season Raag Megh is divided into three parts, each with its own tempo and rhythmic scheme (tala). The opening vilambit, in a twelve-beat tala, stretches out for over twenty minutes, lingering for a long time in a space of meditative calm, Khan lightly strumming the zither while exploring the lower end of his range in languorously extended notes. Virtuoso tabla interjections at first barely state the tempo, and the interplay between musicians is so spacious that we hear scraps of audience noise and the squeak of the harmonium’s mechanism in between the notes. Gradually picking up rhythmic definition and melodic complexity, after around fifteen minutes the music builds dramatically, with Khan letting out emotive yelps and swooping scalar shapes ranging across his full vocal range. This flows seamlessly into the following jhaptal, at a faster tempo in ten beats, which then makes way for the concluding teental, very fast in sixteen beats, which becomes a frantic improvisational exchange of daring rhythmic disruptions from the tabla, flowing harmonium melodies, and a stunning variety of vocal approaches from Khan, ranging from rapid-fire staccato consonants to guttural growls.

Accompanied by stunning black and white concert photographs, the LP also contains a moving and entertaining recollection from acclaimed German musicologist Peter Pannke, looking back on his experience assisting Khan and his musicians in Berlin at the Metamusik festival (including a mouth-watering description of a feast cooked by the maestro himself). As Pannke describes in his account of attending the concert, the beauty and spiritual intensity of this music leaves the listener speechless.

Hyper-limited (500 only) vinyl release, deep West Coast jazz-rap future classic, 140g vinyl.

This authorised vinyl reissue of the ultimate Finnish death metal cult LP comes with the original cover art and all the lyrics. In the late days of the early life of death metal in the early nineties, the death metal "community" had strayed from an appreciation of the majestic possibilities of sound, and were making a mundane product instead. They wanted the most "brutal" sound so the largest crowd could hear it, consider themselves "extreme," and go back to work with a hangover. This made the music escape its tiny audience, but killed off exploration as well. In addition, it was defensive and under-confident, feeling its chops lagged behind the rock, blues and jazz genres. Stagnation struck even as the genre accelerated. Enter the dark horse, Demilich. These inventive Finns reintroduced amazement at the possibilities of music. Where most people look at a forest and see wood for sale, a death metal fan after Demilich sees an intricate organism in itself, with the smallest details corresponding to the broadest concepts. The labyrinthine riffs of Demilich corresponded to a worldview that saw the connection between details as a design, and a design as conferring a purpose to life, cycling between birth and death as it spelled out the cryptic intricacies of ancient mysteries. Demilich was like finding a submerged city, or discovering a new path through the mountains, or even confronting a glowering enemy on the open plain. It brought risk, uncertainty, ambiguity and a sense of sublime beauty back to death metal, pulling it away from the slump in which it treated itself as a hammer and every listener as a nail.

This authorised vinyl reissue of the ultimate Finnish death metal cult LP comes with the original cover art and all the lyrics. In the late days of the early life of death metal in the early nineties, the death metal "community" had strayed from an appreciation of the majestic possibilities of sound, and were making a mundane product instead. They wanted the most "brutal" sound so the largest crowd could hear it, consider themselves "extreme," and go back to work with a hangover. This made the music escape its tiny audience, but killed off exploration as well. In addition, it was defensive and under-confident, feeling its chops lagged behind the rock, blues and jazz genres. Stagnation struck even as the genre accelerated. Enter the dark horse, Demilich. These inventive Finns reintroduced amazement at the possibilities of music. Where most people look at a forest and see wood for sale, a death metal fan after Demilich sees an intricate organism in itself, with the smallest details corresponding to the broadest concepts. The labyrinthine riffs of Demilich corresponded to a worldview that saw the connection between details as a design, and a design as conferring a purpose to life, cycling between birth and death as it spelled out the cryptic intricacies of ancient mysteries. Demilich was like finding a submerged city, or discovering a new path through the mountains, or even confronting a glowering enemy on the open plain. It brought risk, uncertainty, ambiguity and a sense of sublime beauty back to death metal, pulling it away from the slump in which it treated itself as a hammer and every listener as a nail.

Silver Vinyl. Metalhorse is Billy Nomates' third studio release, following 2023's critically acclaimed, CACTI, and her self-titled 2020 debut. A concept album revolving around the image of a dilapidated funfair, representing the tumultuousness of life - risk and pleasure, danger and exhilaration. The 11 new songs here explore blues, folk and pianodriven arrangements that take Billy Nomates' stark punk sound in a more pastoral direction. Metalhorse is the first Billy Nomates album to be made in a studio and with a full band, the line-up inc. bass player Mandy Clarke (KT Tunstall, The Go! Team) and drummer Liam Chapman (Rozi Plain, BMX Bandits) plus a special feature from The Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell on "Dark Horse Friend". Metalhorse is a balancing of extremes. Reckoning with loss, material insecurity, and trying to stay true to yourself against an increasingly unpredictable backdrop of global chaos, the scales could easily have tipped towards darkness, but the more Maries has had to weather, the more precious those smaller moments of happiness have become. Metalhorse begs the listener to find their own funfair; there will always be things that feel perilous. At the same time, you have to marvel at the lights while they're still on. Dancing with those feelings of uncertainty and joy, Metalhorse is awash with both pain and perseverance.

Silver Vinyl. Metalhorse is Billy Nomates' third studio release, following 2023's critically acclaimed, CACTI, and her self-titled 2020 debut. A concept album revolving around the image of a dilapidated funfair, representing the tumultuousness of life - risk and pleasure, danger and exhilaration. The 11 new songs here explore blues, folk and pianodriven arrangements that take Billy Nomates' stark punk sound in a more pastoral direction. Metalhorse is the first Billy Nomates album to be made in a studio and with a full band, the line-up inc. bass player Mandy Clarke (KT Tunstall, The Go! Team) and drummer Liam Chapman (Rozi Plain, BMX Bandits) plus a special feature from The Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell on "Dark Horse Friend". Metalhorse is a balancing of extremes. Reckoning with loss, material insecurity, and trying to stay true to yourself against an increasingly unpredictable backdrop of global chaos, the scales could easily have tipped towards darkness, but the more Maries has had to weather, the more precious those smaller moments of happiness have become. Metalhorse begs the listener to find their own funfair; there will always be things that feel perilous. At the same time, you have to marvel at the lights while they're still on. Dancing with those feelings of uncertainty and joy, Metalhorse is awash with both pain and perseverance.

Machine Head - fierce, relevant and unstoppable!

Very few bands make it to their 11th album. Even fewer do so with the same fire and fury that defined their early years. But Machine Head isn’t just any band. For over three decades, the personification of determination, Founder/Vocalist/Guitarist Robb Flynn, has led Machine Head on an uncompromising path – one fueled by defiance, reinvention, and a relentless pursuit of evolution. Now, with ‘UNATØNED’, they’ve once again sharpened their sound into its most direct and impactful form to date.
Determined to challenge himself, Flynn set strict songwriting parameters for ‘UNATØNED,’ shorter, more focused songs with a decidedly American feel, unconventional key changes, and shifting structures that break expectations. That self-imposed restraint resulted in a lean, unrelenting album that captures Machine Head at their most potent.
The album drips with melancholy melodies, and yet hammers with bludgeoning riffs, soars with anthemic sing-a-longs of love-lost and sadness, to bellowing power and undeniable confidence.
‘UNATØNED’ is Machine Head proving once again that longevity in metal isn’t about comfort – it’s about taking risks, standing firm in conviction, and refusing to stagnate. Eleven albums deep, they remain as fierce, relevant, and unstoppable as ever.

Maazn Records unveils its inaugural release "Lost in Transit” by Guzman & Terraflow. Inspired by the breadth of London's current sounds, this record gives a taste of their vision for the future.

The A-side features label co-founder Terraflow infusing his signature style of old-school drums and intricate synth work. "Atomic" lays down a catchy bass riff that summons an ethereal feeling of the past, whilst "Totaled Larynx" takes a hypnotic turn, embellished with haunted melodies suited to the early hours of a certain pit in Norfolk.

Guzman takes the wheel on the B-side, starting with the punchy, sleazed-out rhythms of “Neo (Trance Mix)”, steering the EP further into the depths of the peak-time dance floor. Finally, “Time Deprivation” details clever vocal sampling atop of an arsenal of dangerous waveforms - a fitting verdict that is guaranteed to send the audience into a bass-laden frenzy.

These are no warmup tracks, play out at your own risk

Danish drummer Daniel Sommer completes his internationally acclaimed Nordic Trilogy (featured in Stereogum, Downbeat Magazine, Bandcamp"s Best of Jazz and more...) with the release of Lost Threads on March 21st, 2025, via April Records. Following As Time Passes and Sounds & Sequences, the highly anticipated third chapter features Finnish pianist Artturi Rönkä and Swedish bassist Thommy Andersson. Together, the trio embarks on a deeply introspective exploration of time, space, and their shared Nordic spirit of improvisation. Described by Sommer as "a process-oriented project prioritizing musical risk and flow," the Nordic Trilogy has sought to illuminate Nordic approaches to composition and improvisation across generational and stylistic divides. With Lost Threads, this vision culminates in a collection of music that embraces vulnerability, spontaneity, and togetherness. "Most of the music emerged as Daniel and I improvised in my living room in Helsinki," Rönkä recalls. "Later, when Thommy joined us for a couple of concerts and recording sessions... his highly personal way of playing the bass inspired Daniel and me to try to develop the music in further, unexpected directions." The result is a dynamic and emotionally resonant album, recorded live in a Helsinki studio with all three musicians in the same room, without headphones or edits whatsoever. The title track and Den ensommes dans pulse with energetic groove and rhythm, while pieces like Meditation, Silent Steps, and Forgotten Song float with a haunting, rubato lyricism. With influences ranging from Nordic folk, Western Classical music and the jazz tradition, Lost Threads continues the trilogy"s history of blurring the boundaries between composition and improvisation. The trio"s collective sound-anchored by Rönkä"s nuanced piano, Andersson"s deeply personal bass tones, and Sommer"s textural drumming-creates a sonic landscape both timeless and contemporary. As the trilogy closes, Lost Threads invites listeners into a contemplative space where silence and sound intertwine, offering a balm for the modern world"s relentless pace. True to the spirit of the Nordic Trilogy, it stands as both a conclusion and a testament to the boundless possibilities of collective improvisation.

I wrote The Shit Punx Hate for Realicide in 2005. This version was made for Decide Today around a decade later, maybe 2015? It was about the pathetic narrow-minded dogmas that were common in Cincinnati punk, being discriminated against when our approach defied dominant aesthetic criteria, chronically misunderstood and rejected without consideration.

This experience in my formative years led to a long path of thought as I entered adulthood. Those feelings of being "other"ed, treated poorly based on who I was, started to seem less significant compared to the prejudices I saw friends faced with. Targets of bigotry due not to a subcultural choice, but aspects of themselves they were born into. Of course I mean things like race, gender, class, abilities. If being dissed by punk rockers sucked for me, imagine what it must feel like being the only black kid in a social circle that can't even recognize its own racism, the only woman in places misogyny is the celebrated standard, having a non-white family at risk of deportation, growing up "male" or "female" when you've always known they are wrong about you, etc. This was my mental gateway into prioritizing these struggles, wanting to become an ally, then even more so an accomplice.

Revolutionary Reason was written in 2018 during my time working with Mass Action for Black Liberation, and revised abruptly this year while recording for this record, as it was inconceivable not to address the epitome of merciless colonial atrocity orchestrated by the state of Israel. While I write this, the IOF is massacring families in the West Bank. The death toll in Palestine is currently estimated at around 41,000 and it hasn't even been a year since this modern Nakba began. I hope these songs help make apparent that whatever you said you "would do" during Jim Crow America, Nazi Germany, Apartheid South Africa, any archetypal history now synonymous with wrongness, yes I can confirm NOW IS THAT TIME to do it ...if you were for real about it that is.

Big respect to my Arab friends who are so patient while I learn the stuff my school conveniently omitted, to my Jewish friends tirelessly combating the violence of their ethnicity being shackled to a cult of Zionism, to native resistance across Turtle Island that articulates so well that this fight is also still/always very domestic, to contemporary hiphop telling today's stories while rock music often merely offers retro fashion, and of course to Kieren and Borg my homies in OZ.

All my love to intifada direct action everywhere dismantling the imposed global suicide pact that is white supremacist capitalism.

~ Robert Inhuman 28 August 2024

The Tubs' second album, Cotton Crown, sees the Celtic Jangle boyband venture into darker, more personal territor y while continuing to hone their highly addictive brand of songcraft. It 's a true level up album which sees the band expand their sonic palette to take in a kaleidoscopic range of influences: everything from soulful pub rock (Chain Reaction) to Husker Du aggression (One More Day) to melancholy sophisto-pop (Narcissist) gets a look in. As Pitchfork noted, The Tubs see jangle as a `vast world of moods and muses' and Cotton Crown sees them continuing to explore this world and creating a distinctly Tub-ular sound in the process. This is in no small part down to Owen `O' Williams' vocal performance- often compared to a young Richard Thomson- and his frank, bleakly funny lyric writing. Cotton Crown sees him delve further into his favourite themes of love-psychosis, unsympathetic mentally ill behaviour, and the humiliations of being a musician in London. This time around, however, there's a palpable sense of risk in his self assessments/confessions. No more so in the track's closing track Strange- an accounting of the clumsy, intrusive, well-meaning social interactions that took place in the period following the suicide of his mother (the folk singer Charlotte Greig.) As Williams says: "I'd tried a few times to write a song about it. The result had always seemed either mawkish, simplifying or like I was hawking my trauma. But then this one came out, and it felt right because it looked at something smaller: the weird, unsatisfying, strangely funny ways everyone, including myself, acted after the dust settled." The album artwork features an image of Williams as an infant being breastfed by Greig in a graveyard- a promotional shot taken around the release of her debut album (the re-issue of which was featured in The Guardian in 2023.) The essential trick Cotton Crown plays is to offset Williams' lyrical bleakness with joyous, hook-laden blasts of pop perfection. This is largely down to the guitar work of George Nicholls, who, across the album, effortlessly slips between the virtuoso jangle of Marr, the driving folk-rock of Pentangle and the chorus-heavy hi-fi grooves of contemporary bands like Tops or The 1975. Add to that the breakneck rhythm section of Taylor Stewart (Drums) and Max Warren (Bass)- who attack each song with power-pop ferocity, recalling Guided by Voices at their drunken-yet-tight best- and you've got yourself a recipe for indie rock greatness. The band's debut `Dead Meat' was a word-of-mouth sensation that saw the band earn accolades from Pitchfork, The Guardian, MOJO, SPIN and more. They even gained some celeb fans: the inimitable Mark Proksch (The Office (US), Better Call Saul, What We Do in the Shadows) starred in the video for their "Round the Bend" single & punk legend Iggy Pop has praised them on his BBC 6Music radio program. Standing in opposition to the UK norm of post punk, and hookless high-minded indie prog, the album was described by Kitty Empire (Observer) as a "shot in the arm for indie rock". The band's hard touring and raucous, beer y live show have seen them stand out at festivals like Greenman, End of The Road, Melbourne Rising and Canela Party. The band (minus Stewart) were previously members of Joanna Gruesome- who won the Welsh Music Prize, toured the UK and US extensively, and were praised in Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The NY Times, The Guardian and others. Lan Mcardle (Joanna Gruesome, Ex-Void) also provides backing vocals on several tracks. The Tubs are part of the Gob Nation collective- the London-based network of bands, writers and promoters who were recently profiled in The Guardian.

The Tubs' second album, Cotton Crown, sees the Celtic Jangle boyband venture into darker, more personal territor y while continuing to hone their highly addictive brand of songcraft. It 's a true level up album which sees the band expand their sonic palette to take in a kaleidoscopic range of influences: everything from soulful pub rock (Chain Reaction) to Husker Du aggression (One More Day) to melancholy sophisto-pop (Narcissist) gets a look in. As Pitchfork noted, The Tubs see jangle as a `vast world of moods and muses' and Cotton Crown sees them continuing to explore this world and creating a distinctly Tub-ular sound in the process. This is in no small part down to Owen `O' Williams' vocal performance- often compared to a young Richard Thomson- and his frank, bleakly funny lyric writing. Cotton Crown sees him delve further into his favourite themes of love-psychosis, unsympathetic mentally ill behaviour, and the humiliations of being a musician in London. This time around, however, there's a palpable sense of risk in his self assessments/confessions. No more so in the track's closing track Strange- an accounting of the clumsy, intrusive, well-meaning social interactions that took place in the period following the suicide of his mother (the folk singer Charlotte Greig.) As Williams says: "I'd tried a few times to write a song about it. The result had always seemed either mawkish, simplifying or like I was hawking my trauma. But then this one came out, and it felt right because it looked at something smaller: the weird, unsatisfying, strangely funny ways everyone, including myself, acted after the dust settled." The album artwork features an image of Williams as an infant being breastfed by Greig in a graveyard- a promotional shot taken around the release of her debut album (the re-issue of which was featured in The Guardian in 2023.) The essential trick Cotton Crown plays is to offset Williams' lyrical bleakness with joyous, hook-laden blasts of pop perfection. This is largely down to the guitar work of George Nicholls, who, across the album, effortlessly slips between the virtuoso jangle of Marr, the driving folk-rock of Pentangle and the chorus-heavy hi-fi grooves of contemporary bands like Tops or The 1975. Add to that the breakneck rhythm section of Taylor Stewart (Drums) and Max Warren (Bass)- who attack each song with power-pop ferocity, recalling Guided by Voices at their drunken-yet-tight best- and you've got yourself a recipe for indie rock greatness. The band's debut `Dead Meat' was a word-of-mouth sensation that saw the band earn accolades from Pitchfork, The Guardian, MOJO, SPIN and more. They even gained some celeb fans: the inimitable Mark Proksch (The Office (US), Better Call Saul, What We Do in the Shadows) starred in the video for their "Round the Bend" single & punk legend Iggy Pop has praised them on his BBC 6Music radio program. Standing in opposition to the UK norm of post punk, and hookless high-minded indie prog, the album was described by Kitty Empire (Observer) as a "shot in the arm for indie rock". The band's hard touring and raucous, beer y live show have seen them stand out at festivals like Greenman, End of The Road, Melbourne Rising and Canela Party. The band (minus Stewart) were previously members of Joanna Gruesome- who won the Welsh Music Prize, toured the UK and US extensively, and were praised in Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The NY Times, The Guardian and others. Lan Mcardle (Joanna Gruesome, Ex-Void) also provides backing vocals on several tracks. The Tubs are part of the Gob Nation collective- the London-based network of bands, writers and promoters who were recently profiled in The Guardian.

The Tubs' second album, Cotton Crown, sees the Celtic Jangle boyband venture into darker, more personal territor y while continuing to hone their highly addictive brand of songcraft. It 's a true level up album which sees the band expand their sonic palette to take in a kaleidoscopic range of influences: everything from soulful pub rock (Chain Reaction) to Husker Du aggression (One More Day) to melancholy sophisto-pop (Narcissist) gets a look in. As Pitchfork noted, The Tubs see jangle as a `vast world of moods and muses' and Cotton Crown sees them continuing to explore this world and creating a distinctly Tub-ular sound in the process. This is in no small part down to Owen `O' Williams' vocal performance- often compared to a young Richard Thomson- and his frank, bleakly funny lyric writing. Cotton Crown sees him delve further into his favourite themes of love-psychosis, unsympathetic mentally ill behaviour, and the humiliations of being a musician in London. This time around, however, there's a palpable sense of risk in his self assessments/confessions. No more so in the track's closing track Strange- an accounting of the clumsy, intrusive, well-meaning social interactions that took place in the period following the suicide of his mother (the folk singer Charlotte Greig.) As Williams says: "I'd tried a few times to write a song about it. The result had always seemed either mawkish, simplifying or like I was hawking my trauma. But then this one came out, and it felt right because it looked at something smaller: the weird, unsatisfying, strangely funny ways everyone, including myself, acted after the dust settled." The album artwork features an image of Williams as an infant being breastfed by Greig in a graveyard- a promotional shot taken around the release of her debut album (the re-issue of which was featured in The Guardian in 2023.) The essential trick Cotton Crown plays is to offset Williams' lyrical bleakness with joyous, hook-laden blasts of pop perfection. This is largely down to the guitar work of George Nicholls, who, across the album, effortlessly slips between the virtuoso jangle of Marr, the driving folk-rock of Pentangle and the chorus-heavy hi-fi grooves of contemporary bands like Tops or The 1975. Add to that the breakneck rhythm section of Taylor Stewart (Drums) and Max Warren (Bass)- who attack each song with power-pop ferocity, recalling Guided by Voices at their drunken-yet-tight best- and you've got yourself a recipe for indie rock greatness. The band's debut `Dead Meat' was a word-of-mouth sensation that saw the band earn accolades from Pitchfork, The Guardian, MOJO, SPIN and more. They even gained some celeb fans: the inimitable Mark Proksch (The Office (US), Better Call Saul, What We Do in the Shadows) starred in the video for their "Round the Bend" single & punk legend Iggy Pop has praised them on his BBC 6Music radio program. Standing in opposition to the UK norm of post punk, and hookless high-minded indie prog, the album was described by Kitty Empire (Observer) as a "shot in the arm for indie rock". The band's hard touring and raucous, beer y live show have seen them stand out at festivals like Greenman, End of The Road, Melbourne Rising and Canela Party. The band (minus Stewart) were previously members of Joanna Gruesome- who won the Welsh Music Prize, toured the UK and US extensively, and were praised in Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, The NY Times, The Guardian and others. Lan Mcardle (Joanna Gruesome, Ex-Void) also provides backing vocals on several tracks. The Tubs are part of the Gob Nation collective- the London-based network of bands, writers and promoters who were recently profiled in The Guardian.

Baby Rose makes healing music for the aimless and heartbroken. The Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter and producer's uniquely rich voice naturally lends itself to her powerful, smoke-filled ballads lamenting lost loves and broken futures. "I make music to help myself get through things," she says. The piercing honesty and vulnerability she brings to her lyrics in turn helps others process their feelings and find a place of healing. For Rose, it's a journey that's still ongoing. "If I'm going to leave anything behind, it's going to be getting people back to themselves," she says. "As I get back to myself, it's a constant reset: Remember who you are, remember who you want to be." You can hear the impact of this approach in Baby Rose's upcoming second album, Through and Through. Take the hypnotic "Fight Club." Over the track's simmering baseline and crashing cymbals, she declares, "I don't need no one else to show me the way." She describes the song as a "breaking of the shell. It encourages me to just go for it and not care about what anyone else thinks." Therein lies Baby Rose's strength: a determination to live, love, and create on her own terms. "I'm not just a singer with a unique voice," she says. "I'm somebody that has something to say." In the years since releasing her last album, To Myself, Rose has been painstakingly piecing together its sequel. Started almost immediately after its release, her new body of work finds her in a state of musical and personal transition. It's a subtle merging of new sounds_stirring rock, upbeat r&b, psychedelic funk, pop, and soulful ballads_, all mastered through analog tape to make the music feel warmer and all-encompassing. It's also a journey inward as she battles past fear and self-doubt to finally discover_and love_who she is, where she is. Finishing an album with such peace and firm resolution is a first for Rose, but she makes it clear: She's nowhere near done writing her story. "I think as long as I'm being raw and trying to push past my comfort zone, it will feel rewarding," she says. "I don't want to be the type that doesn't take risks because I'm afraid. I have to trust that as long as the music is honest and innovative, it'll be timeless."

"Kind Regards" is the second duo release from guitarist Oren Ambarchi and drummer Eric Thielemans, out via AD 93. The record captures an expansive performance in Poitiers, France in November 2023. First working together in an unpredictable trio with minimalist legend and eccentric extraordinaire Charlemagne Palestine, Ambarchi and Thielemans quickly established a remarkable musical chemistry that led to an ongoing series of duo concerts, including the performance documented on their LP Double Consciousness (Matière Mémorie, 2023). Kind Regards finds the duo refining their shared language while continuing to take risks, allowing the music"s gravitational pull to lead them from meditative calm to unexpectedly expressive passages of melodic invention and rhythmic drive.

All the shades of green. Plants. Water. The absolute necessities of life. Music, too, is an absolute necessity. To capture both color and sound in a bottle to put atop a piano like a houseplant. A clock. A fern. Synesthesia. This music is meant for that. To close your eyes and see green. To drown in the color of piano. A melancholic covey that pulls hard on the heart strings musically and lyrically, brushed over with a plethora of improvisation in smooth watercolors.

With Tim Hill’s new trajectory, we are offered a fresh neuron sprawl, branching beyond lyrics in interrupted pieces of sound. He takes our reptilian brains and welds them to our unborn futures, placing us inside of his droplet. Here, we're forced to reflect out, something singular multiplies, nature brings her face in, something shifts, our speed changes, the Self refracts and what's left jumps on sustained lines that eventually arch into meditation milk. It becomes a karmic cleanse of the amygdala, a launch from normal feeling life. Tim takes the risk, committing to diving deeper into his own bottomless pool of art, gifting us with sensory treats that dilate our old perimeters. It's sky as theatre, handing out everything but answers to questions. And where do we go? Where starlight mingles. Where minds never land.

A seasoned musician in all forms, Tim Hill has toured the world as a keyboardist, guitarist, saxophonist, and drummer, with a long time stint with LA group the Allah Las, and well known acts such as Nick Waterhouse, Curtis Harding, PAINT, and others.

SIDE B marks a new chapter as a label and welcomes rkeat for the first release.

Gracie Abrams veröffentlicht am 21.06.24 ihr mit Spannung erwartetes zweites Album „The Secret Of Us“. Nach zwei gefeierten EPs war das letzte Album ”Good Riddance” (2023) das erste musikalische Statement in voller Länge – Gracies Definition von vertonter Poesie und intimem Pop - mit lebensnahen Texten und ganz viel Tiefgang. Wie auch schon der Vorgänger ist „The Secret Of Us“ wieder von Aaron Dessner (The National) produziert. Schon als Achtjährige zu ersten eigenen Songideen inspiriert, gab Gracie Abrams ihr erstes musikalisches Lebenszeichen Ende 2019 von sich. Für ihre ersten beiden EPs „Minor“ und „This Is What It Feels Like“ als Rising Star gefeiert, verzeichnen viele ihrer bisherigen Songs (u.a. „I miss you, I’m sorry“, „21“ und „Feels Like“) Streamingzahlen in zwei- bis dreistelliger Millionenhöhe. Für ihr letztes Album „Good Riddance“ wurde Gracie Abrams für einen Grammy in der Kategorie „Best New Artist“ nominiert. Zuletzt war Gracie Abrams als gefeierter Support Act auf einigen Taylor Swift Konzerten zu sehen.

When Greg Freeman quietly released his debut album I Looked Out in 2022, it was immediately clear to the small community who heard it that the Vermont songwriter captured something intangibly exciting and distinctly American. Across 10 explosive songs that meld knotty indie rock with pastoral twang, he sings with a zealous urgency of shipwrecks, biblical visions, doomed drifters, dams breaking, and lives left in rearview mirrors. His evocative writing paints a world where revelation or ruin is behind every corner but it always leaves room for hope and human connection. A resoundingly confident LP, it’s a testament to Burlington’s vibrant music community and the pure magic of opening yourself up to creative risks and collaboration.

Now, for the first time, I Looked Out has been pressed to vinyl. Out digitally on Nov. 20 and on vinyl Jan. 17 via Canvasback/Transgressive, two bonus tracks are also available. On the digital release, there’s an acoustic duet version of “Long Distance Driver” with Merce Lemon, and on the vinyl, there’s the noisy sound collage “Sound Tests, Scraps, Lists.” Greg Freeman will release new music and this album’s full-length follow-up in 2025."

When Greg Freeman quietly released his debut album I Looked Out in 2022, it was immediately clear to the small community who heard it that the Vermont songwriter captured something intangibly exciting and distinctly American. Across 10 explosive songs that meld knotty indie rock with pastoral twang, he sings with a zealous urgency of shipwrecks, biblical visions, doomed drifters, dams breaking, and lives left in rearview mirrors. His evocative writing paints a world where revelation or ruin is behind every corner but it always leaves room for hope and human connection. A resoundingly confident LP, it’s a testament to Burlington’s vibrant music community and the pure magic of opening yourself up to creative risks and collaboration.

Now, for the first time, I Looked Out has been pressed to vinyl. Out digitally on Nov. 20 and on vinyl Jan. 17 via Canvasback/Transgressive, two bonus tracks are also available. On the digital release, there’s an acoustic duet version of “Long Distance Driver” with Merce Lemon, and on the vinyl, there’s the noisy sound collage “Sound Tests, Scraps, Lists.” Greg Freeman will release new music and this album’s full-length follow-up in 2025."

"This record explores the relationships between mid century architecture, consumerism and community. The gradual or sometimes brutal removal and change of places in the name of progress. These changes leave traces that people have to deal with on a psychological level but probably never really acknowledge. This record explores loss of community and loss or unsympathetic altering of shopping spaces. When something is unceremoniously knocked down or altered and something else replaces it then the thing before it becomes ghost like and is at risk of being forgotten. Not dissimilar to when the Christian faith built their buildings upon Pagan sites. It has a similar purpose (to pray or to shop in this case) but the older thing becomes dreamlike and is confined to folklore. The community is always fed the propaganda of progress but looking back, I certainly cannot deny the beauty of what has now gone. Maybe there is a sense of dissolution and denial about such matters. The record is also interested in the sense of community of these past spaces and how shopping centres have generally declined mainly due to the rise of neo liberalism and tech giants. When you see old footage of these spaces in their prime, you get a sense of a space age future, everything looks new but paradoxically the people look to be from an older time. Today I can see real poverty and complete disenfranchisement from being in these new spaces. It's not all doom and gloom though as spaces, especially the ones in Plymouth are not that much altered and could be brought back to the architects original dreams."

David A.

Obscure & outstanding free jazz album reissued for the first time since it’s original release in 1969. Old-style gatefold sleeve LP, with liner notes by Ed Hazell.

In the late 1960s, young jazz musician Bobby Naughton, a keyboardist and vibraphonist, faced significant challenges as he sought to record his first album. With major record labels and jazz clubs catering only to big names, Naughton and other creative musicians of his generation found themselves sidelined by the mainstream music industry. They turned to self-reliance and self-production, becoming part of a movement of independent musicians. Naughton’s debut album, Nature’s Consort, was a DIY effort in every sense—recorded on home equipment and featuring a hand-printed woodblock cover. The album was distributed independently at concerts and by mail, receiving little attention initially, but over the years it gained a reputation as a rare, sought-after artifact of the period.

Though recorded during an outdoor concert in Connecticut, Nature's Consort reflected the "loft jazz" scene in New York City. This avant-garde jazz movement centered around musicians who lived and played in loft spaces in lower Manhattan. Naughton commuted from his home in Southbury, Connecticut, to play with his bandmates Mark Whitecage, Mario Pavone, and Laurence Cook in New York's lofts. These musicians regularly performed at venues like Studio We, a key gathering spot for free-form jazz, where musicians could experiment and develop their sound, often with no audience present.

Naughton’s journey into jazz was a winding one. Originally from Boston, he played rockabilly and blues-rock before transitioning into free jazz. Inspired by avant-garde artists like Carla Bley and Paul Bley, Naughton sought to explore new forms of music that went beyond traditional jazz structures. His bandmates, Mark Whitecage and Mario Pavone, were both deeply affected by the death of John Coltrane in 1967, which prompted them to quit their day jobs, attend Coltrane’s funeral, and move to New York to pursue jazz full-time.

Nature’s Consort was a collective project, with band members sharing equally in any profits. However, Naughton was the driving force behind the group’s creative direction. He composed much of the original material and selected pieces by Ornette Coleman and Carla Bley for the band’s repertoire. Jazz critic Nat Hentoff praised the album for its “high-risk improvisation” and the musicians' ability to anticipate each other’s moves. Though Nature’s Consort received little press at the time, it has since been recognized as a significant early document of the loft jazz era, representing Naughton’s disciplined, improvisational approach to music.

This band, and this album, function as critical missing links that takes one from The Fall to Yard Act, from Television and The Minutemen to Parquet Courts and Sleaford Mods, from punk as a sound to punk purely as an ethos. While any Van Pelt album is a stand alone album, the unique approach they take begs one to enter their world and dig deep in.

RELATED TO: The Lapse, Native Nod, St Vincent, Blonde Redhead, Enon, Jets to Brazil, Vague Angels, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, American Football, Texas is the Reason.

‘The lines between post-hardcore, indie rock, and emo blurred on the two mid-’90s full-lengths from the Van Pelt.’ Pitchfork

‘New York City’s The Van Pelt are an influential, but too often overlooked indie rock band -- cult favorites for many an emo-inclined crate digger.’ Consequence of Sound

‘...should be mentioned a lot more than they are when you talk about the history of emo.’
Washed Up Emo

Back in the day there was this thing called an A&R guy. They would hang out at small venues looking to throw money at the next big thing. In the early 90s, everyone was looking for the next Nirvana of course. NYC's The Van Pelt had just released an album of anthems called "Stealing From Our Favorite Thieves" that seemed to be just that. The only thing is, they didn't want to sign. Legend has it $2 million was turned down over pierogies and coffee one Monday morning because The Van Pelt didn't want to risk crashing and burning. Instead, they were gunning for a long and stable stride even if that meant they would largely remain out of the public's eye forever.

Lack of willingness to play the game didn't mean people weren't waiting with baited breath for their follow up album though. In 1997 The Van Pelt released "Sultans of Sentiment", an album nearly devoid of the anthems and licks people were expecting. In fact, it's a complete bummer of an album that subjects the listener to the point on life's curve where the hubris of youth gives way to a cresting crashing defeat no kid with heart could ever have seen coming. Seeing as humanity are sick fuckers who revel in the misery of both themselves and others, the popularity of Sultans grew and grew and continues to win new loyal fans even today. It's for this classic album The Van Pelt has never fallen off the radar.

That being said, their swan song "The Speeding Train" was recorded while they were working on their third album. In any other age, in any other way, this song would have been a hit. The Van Pelt broke up mid-recording, released Speeding Train as a single, and the rest of the songs from that session didn't see the light of day until they were released in 2014 as the "Imaginary Third" lp.

Why are we here talking about them today in 2023? Because in preparation for the release of "Imaginary Third" The Van Pelt started playing some reunion shows. Soundchecks revealed to them that this band has a voice that was prematurely muted by their inability to see clearly in the thick of it. Returning to explore just what that is 25 years later has led to this first collection of 9 songs, "Artisans & Merchants". This is not a reunion album. This is vindication for that decision made over pierogies and coffee decades ago. The Van Pelt is a band in it for the long haul, free from whatever trappings the mayflies of trends and markets may bring.

For lovers of The Van Pelt, listening to "Artisans & Merchants" is like hearing the voice of a dear friend you haven't seen in years, a friend you used to share countless beers with over banter that went nowhere other than delivering a solid night. Your friend is older, they've changed. In some ways you're worried for them, looks like they might be teetering on the brink of something. In other ways it's the same old them, a nugget of a soul too unique to ever be altered. It's for those unfamiliar with The Van Pelt though for whom we should be truly jealous. This is a stand alone album, incredible vital song writing in and of itself regardless of the long history this band has. The climax of the single "Image of Health" perhaps describes the beautiful desperation best: "And you never felt more alive / Than when the priest came to read you your rites!"

Gracie Abrams veröffentlicht am 21.06.24 ihr mit Spannung erwartetes zweites Album „The Secret Of Us“. Nach zwei gefeierten EPs war das letzte Album ”Good Riddance” (2023) das erste musikalische Statement in voller Länge – Gracies Definition von vertonter Poesie und intimem Pop - mit lebensnahen Texten und ganz viel Tiefgang. Wie auch schon der Vorgänger ist „The Secret Of Us“ wieder von Aaron Dessner (The National) produziert. Schon als Achtjährige zu ersten eigenen Songideen inspiriert, gab Gracie Abrams ihr erstes musikalisches Lebenszeichen Ende 2019 von sich. Für ihre ersten beiden EPs „Minor“ und „This Is What It Feels Like“ als Rising Star gefeiert, verzeichnen viele ihrer bisherigen Songs (u.a. „I miss you, I’m sorry“, „21“ und „Feels Like“) Streamingzahlen in zwei- bis dreistelliger Millionenhöhe. Für ihr letztes Album „Good Riddance“ wurde Gracie Abrams für einen Grammy in der Kategorie „Best New Artist“ nominiert. Zuletzt war Gracie Abrams als gefeierter Support Act auf einigen Taylor Swift Konzerten zu sehen.

Souls Of Mischief, the Oakland, CA quartet and members of the mighty Hieroglyphics Crew, are proud to announce the first-ever vinyl release of their fifth album "Montezuma's Revenge." Notably, the album’s striking cover featured a fifth member of the group: the legendarily innovative producer Prince Paul, who executive produced the LP, handling most of the beats and overseeing the musical direction of the album from start to finish.

Emcees A-Plus, Opio, Phesto, and Tajai take turns showing off the multisyllabic flows, witty similes, and smooth lyrics that have made the crew a household name in rap for over 30 years. Souls' trademark juxtaposition of complex, multi-syllabic lyricism against laid-back Cali flow remained as strong as it was in 1993 on “Montezuma’s Revenge,” and Paul’s magic touch on production took the Souls’ sound to a new level.

While the aforementioned and unmistakable SOM sound remains very much intact, Paul's vision and risk-taking come through on the finished product. Tajai was comfortable from the start in working with the visionary producer: ”Paul is a perfectionist and so are we so we took time with the beats and subject matter. This album to me is a great insight into who we are as people and how important it is to progress stylistically, yet it retains a classic, timeless feel."

Where would a painter paint if it were not on a white canvas? Where would a composer compose if it were not on the stave and the spaces in between the lines? How would a musician play his instrument if there were no melodies composed, written down, painted for him to follow?

The magic of art needs a frame, a somewhat solid container to hold the freedom that can only be found once we integrate some form of structure. And that also holds in every other area of life. We all need a frame, a structure, a rhythm, or else, we fall apart. This human form needs the body, and yet it transcends the limitations of the body - through art.

Consistency being one of them seems oftentimes less tangible, for it resides more in the act of doing, and showing up for the practice, for devoting energy and presence. Strangely, if we consistently show up for our practice, regardless of its form, the solid frame of the hour we devote to playing the instrument, learning a language, doing the sport, sitting silently for that meditation: It feels different every single time. It feels new every single time.

The repetitive consistency in being present again and again allows for nothing short of magic to happen. Magic feeds consistency. Consistency feeds magic. Consistency sets a foundation that strengthens over time. It allows us to slowly but surely develop any kind of skill, to find and hence to embody expertise. On the fertile grounds of such a solid foundation, creativity fosters, and innovation blossoms.

Establishing consistent rituals and routines can bring a sense of comfort and safety into every-day-life. For routine beholds repetition and its frame enables our experience within to change. In the familiar, we dare to explore, maybe even experiment, merely because a part of us remembers we depart from, and always return to, a safe space. We do not get lost. We do not fall apart. As we practice, again and again, we build resilience in overcoming obstacles or literally persevering through challenging situations and stretches of time.

While consistency gifts steadiness and stability, its overdose risks to result in what may appear as uniformity. It feels like constantly - consistently - dancing on the fine line of freedom within a structure. Life is filled with unexpected twists and turns, adjustments need to be made to accommodate change and avoid rigidity. By striking a balance between consistency and flexibility, we can create harmony in our lives, just like a beautiful melody that flows smoothly from one note to the next.

Within the magical waves of music, skills are needed, too. Consistency is key to show up and do the work. It frames the freedom of magic that resides beyond and only beyond effort. Learning to play an instrument, learning to sing, does never happen within the blink of the eye. It takes time. Time to show up for the practice, to do precisely that: practice. Again and again, every single time, again and again. Precision feeds perfection that falls apart inside the structure of a song, a line, a rhythm, dissolving into magic.

Consistency in practicing, in composing and sharing music with the world regardless of the form allows any musician to refine his style, to carve out his uniqueness. For any artistic expression is, after all: Unique. And this uniqueness is born inside the vessel of any structure, over and over again. Sharing music in the form of new releases and public performances nourishes the bond between artist and audience. And for that to unfold, both parties need to show up - while the underlying beat of this never-ending practice is presence fuelled by consistency.

When the Beat Konducta and his trusty alter ego link up for the sequel, another southern California blunt cruise ensues. The Adventures Of Lord Quas consists of a slow ride through the deepest corners of the crate, leaving no genre unearthed until it claims space in the haze of one’s imagination. It’s business as unusual: Madlib funnels his most twisted impulses and comedic sensibilities into a sonic slacker flck complete with good dope, bottom-shelf liquor, and a penchant for gazing mouth agape into the great unknown. But he knows Lord Quas like a good needle on wax, and they casually strut through the loops, much ado about frontin’. (Not like fake shit ain’t a big deal, but it ain’t a big enough deal.) This record captures Madlib and his id at their most frantic, indulgent, and often confusing; they trade neatness for chaos, continuity for collage in a barrage of the finest sounds this side of the B-side. It’s hip-hop that takes every visible risk, often striking gold and proving how in control the Loop Digga truly is. Don’t hit it too hard, your other selves might pay you a visit.

“Everything here is a gem. Neneh triumphs with a seamless and unorthodox blend of hip-hop, R&B, dance music, and pop” 4 ½/5 Allmusic

Coloured vinyl reissue of Neneh’s second album – first UK reissue on vinyl since its release in 1992. On release the album gained favourable reviews (4/5 in both Q and Rolling Stone) with Allmusic labelling the album “magnificent and risk-taking”.

The singles “Money Love” and “Buddy X” charted internationally with album track “Trout” featuring Michael Stipe and receiving heavy airplay on US alternative radio. Portishead’s Geoff Barrow co-wrote and co-produced “Somedays” and “Move with Me” appeared on the soundtrack of the 1993 Sharon Stone film Sliver.

The Swedish-born, UK-based artist started her musical career in The Slits going on to gain global recognition as a solo artist with her 1988 single ‘Buffalo Stance’ from the album “Raw Like Sushi’. Always irreverent, unpredictable and stylish, she has now released five studio albums and collaborated with Peter Gabriel, Massive Attack, Michael Stipe, Lenny Kravitz, Geoff Barrow and Four Tet, won two Brit Awards and been nominated for a Grammy.

From Cape Town to Cairo, and now to fans, stages and screens around the world, PJ Morton shares his newest album, fully made in the motherland. Cape Town to Cairo is a collection of songs that he created in 30 days throughout 4 countries in Africa — South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana and Egypt. Described as the best trip of his life, this transformative journey began as just the seed of an idea last fall, but instantly grew into his most sonically-sprawling and immediately-inspired record to date. With no music, lyrics or preconceptions, he stepped foot onto the continent with two thoughts: a wild dream to write and record his next LP in less than a month, and a mission to immerse himself in as many different cultures, stories and communities as he could.

Surrounded by featured collaborators like Fireboy DML, Mádé Kuti, Asa, Ndabo Zulu, and Soweto Spiritual Singers, as well as additional producers including P.Priime and The Cavemen., his own live band and local musicians, PJ Morton used music as his common language. Always his greatest way of communicating, he expressed his feelings and experiences of Africa through songs he and others were forming together on the spot, side-by-side in different studios, cities and towns for the very first time. None of the tracks were written before he arrived or after he left, and the arrangements showcase both the countries’ native genres as well as the innate, stylistic instincts that have made Morton a 5x GRAMMY-winner and 20x GRAMMY-nominee, whether it be his soul, R&B and gospel roots, or the pop prowess he has further honed as a member of Maroon 5.

“When you’ve been in music as long as I have, you’re constantly looking for inspiration,” says PJ Morton. “And you’re looking for the things that made you want to do it in the first place. I’ve made albums every type of way you can think, so I wanted to try something I hadn’t done before. As a Black American who had never been to South or West Africa, I knew there was something there waiting for me. So I put a little pressure on myself to make a full record in a month, but I also said, ‘If I’m gonna go to Africa, I want to see Africa.’ We made music, but we also formed connections. We made new friends, and this is just the start.”

ESSENCE adds, "This trip is not just a physical move, it's a spiritual return…The soul of Africa pulses through every note he plays and every word he sings,” and VIBE adds that “the multi-faceted artist is fully embracing a new phase in his life.” Cape Town to Cairo marks PJ Morton’s first album since 2022’s Watch The Sun, which featured collaborations with Stevie Wonder, Nas, JoJo, Wale, Jill Scott, Alex Isley and more. Since then, Morton has become the first Black composer to write an original song for a Disney attraction, having just finished making the music for Tiana's Bayou Adventure, opening on June 28th, 2024 at Disney World and Fall 2024 at Disneyland. He also won his latest GRAMMY earlier this year, worked with Samara Joy on “Why I’m Here” for Regina King’s Netflix film Shirley, and landed a cover of his song “Don’t Let Go” as the soundtrack to Apple’s iPhone 15 commercial.

PJ Morton recently returned from headlining his debut shows in Asia, New Zealand and Australia, and announced an extensive Cape Town to Cairo Tour for North America summer and fall 2024. Following iconic performances at New Orleans Jazz Fest, The Kennedy Center, Roots Picnic and Newport Jazz Fest, Morton will embark on a run of more than 25 dates across the country, including New York City’s Beacon Theatre, Chicago’s Chicago Theatre, Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, Los Angeles’ The Wiltern, and dozens of others.

On the heels of his headline tour and Maroon 5’s Las Vegas residency, PJ Morton will publish a life-spanning new book titled Saturday Night, Sunday Morning. The memoir sees him recounting and reflecting upon a trailblazing path that continues to defy expectations and straddle the tensions of music and faith, race and culture, expression and identity. As the son of two pastors and gospel artists, Morton grew up grounded by the sound of the Church, but soon found himself drawn to R&B, pop and soul, writing songs that the industry, his family and community struggled to understand. In the face of mounting pressure, rejection and constant miscategorization, he committed himself to a steadfast path of independence: making music on his own terms, launching his own record label, joining one of the biggest bands in the world while staying true to his New Orleans roots. The risks he took paid off, and through his transformation from preacher's kid to the busiest man in showbiz – performing everywhere from his local congregation to the Super Bowl, collaborating with everyone from his father to Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu, Jon Batiste and Lil Wayne – he hopes to encourage readers and listeners to overcome obstacles as they seek their dreams.

Das Debütalbum des für einen Grammy nominierten R&B/HipHop-Künstlers Blxst, der zu den heißesten Newcomern im Hip Hop gehört.
Produziert von Grammy-Preisträger Sounwave (Kendrick, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Baby Keem, Kali Uchis), ist I'll Always Come Find You das bisher
klanglich vielfältigste und introspektivste Projekt von Blxst. Das 20 Tracks umfassende Konzeptalbum besteht aus vier Akten, in denen Blxst in die
Rolle von "Birdie" schlüpft, einem jungen Mann, der den Chauffeurservice Evgle & Son" seines Vaters erbt.
2022 erklärte die LA Times: "Blxst führt die neue Welle des L.A.-Hip-Hop an", und wir bereiten uns jetzt darauf vor, dass er mit der Veröffentlichung
seines Debütalbums I'll Always Come Find You erneut die Führung übernimmt.

"Co-produced by Jerry Finn (Rancid, Green Day, Jawbreaker) and Butch Vig (Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins), Sing the Sorrow retains the Bay Area outfit’s signature aggression and pathos – forging ever forward into uncharted territory like the virtuoso guitar intro of “The Leaving Song Pt. 2” or the industrial-leaning break and Dead Can Dance-worthy outro of “Death Of Seasons.”
Meanwhile, from its sublime intro through beautifully subdued verses and infectious choruses, first single “Girl’s Not Grey” is a standout that both recalls AFI coming into its own on 2000’s The Art Of Drowning and hints at a myriad of future directions. For the purists, “Dancing Through Sunday” and “Bleed Black” come strapped with generous chant-along opportunities and heavy-as-hell, bolt-tight riffs and rhythms. And as with virtually every track on Sing The Sorrow, these are all imbued with alternately brooding and celebratory lyrical imagery of rebirth, resurrection, apocalypse, all somehow deeply personal – in other words, classic AFI.
“When you’re playing a style of music that doesn’t really fit anywhere, you run a risk. You’re challenging people to leave their niche, to leave their predetermined ideas of what they’re supposed to like. Luckily, we have a lot of people who just focus on the music and appreciate us for what we are. So we get fans from all different genres of music, the jocks, the spooky kids, skaters, college kids, punk rockers, hardcore kids, metal kids, all that.” — Davey Havok"

Tristania's klassisches Gothic Metal Debüt endlich wieder erhältlich!
Limitierte Deluxe-Edition mit der klassischen Debüt-EP. "Widow's Weeds" ist nicht nur ein unverzichtbares Gothic-Album, es ist die genredefinierende
Gothic-Metal-Veröffentlichung aller Zeiten. Es gibt viele Bands mit guten Debütalben. Es gibt auch eine Menge Bands mit hervorragenden
Debütalben. Und dann gibt es gelegentlich eine Band, die scheinbar aus dem Nichts auftaucht und alle anderen in den Schatten stellt - so wie
Tristanias Debütalbum "Widow's Weeds", welches bei seiner Veröffentlichung die Metal-Welt im Sturm eroberte und die Messlatte für Gothic Metal
in ungeahnte Höhen hob. Das Bemerkenswerte an diesem Album ist, dass es gelungen ist, die reinste Essenz des Gothic Metal einzufangen, vielleicht
sogar wiederzubeleben: Kummer und Traurigkeit zu beleben und die schöne Energie hervorzuheben, die in der Melancholie steckt. Musikalisch ist
"Widow's Weeds" ein nahezu perfektes Gothic-Album, von Anfang bis Ende. Intros und Outros sind immer eine riskante Angelegenheit und haben nur
selten einen wirklichen Mehrwert auf einem Album. Diesmal jedoch nicht, denn sie fügen sich perfekt in den orthodoxen Ansatz von Tristania ein.

Permanent Parts is the second album released by visual artist Katharina Grosse (synthesizer) and musician Stefan Schneider (synthesizer; So Sner, To Rococo Rot). Grosse and Schneider were joined at Galerie Max Hetzler on 29 April 2023, performing as part of the Spectrum without Traces exhibition, by three artists who all generally work within improvised music – Carina Khorkhordina (trumpet), Tintin Patrone (trombone and electronics), and Billy Roisz (noise generator, piezo and mini cymbal). Permanent Parts is an extraordinary set of recordings that inhabits multiple zones at once: within its thirty-five minutes, we can hear the interactions of non-idiomatic collective music making, and the electronic glimmers of electro-acoustics, while, at the same time, the music remains untethered to genre.

This capacity to work within liminal zones makes perfect sense when thinking about both Grosse’s and Schneider’s prior work, whether the energetic diffusions and spatial explorations of Grosse’s artistic practice, or the slippery texturology of Schneider’s recent work with electronics. Khorkhordina, Patrone and Roisz all find their own ways into this dynamic, too, and Permanent Parts feels like an equal exchange of presence and contribution; there are no hierarchies here. This might explain the music’s curious sense of development, where several elements are allowed to exist alongside each other, not in direct contact but in a mode that’s somewhere between carefree layering and unconscious juxtaposition. The musicians are listening, but not just with their ears – their skin, their bodies are hearing, too.

When talking about Permanent Parts, Schneider is careful to place it within contexts that are specific, to some degree, but which allow for difference to blossom. “Although it was recorded live, it somehow was not meant to be a documentation of a live event in the first place. The five piece line up that appears on the record had met for the first time only a few hours before the concert took place.” While it might take a leap of faith for all parties to walk together, and so willingly, into a place of such freedom, of such risk, there is clear sympathy here between the musicians, and a shared appreciation of the immediacies of the situation.

It also throws some of our preconceptions about this music out of the window. “The record does not feel like a document of a performance as the music was not pre-composed and there was no reference,” Schneider continues. “Perhaps it was not even an improvisation?” For Grosse, her musical relationship with Schneider similarly shakes free from expectation: “My sound does not exist without Stefan’s. It is neither written down nor is it improvised. It is instantaneous.” When thinking about the five-piece exploration on Permanent Parts and asked to expand on what each musician brings to the table, she continues, “We all love the thrill of an unknown encounter and we seem to have a need for building connections through the thicket of our voices.”

There’s a curious phrase on the back cover of the album, before the artists are listed: “Wir sind eine Batterie / We are a battery.” This sums up the spirit of Permanent Parts. Schneider recalls that Grosse said this phrase to the musicians at the start of the performance. Grosse explains further, “The figure of the battery referred to our placement in the space building out a small circle facing one another from where the sound could spill into the impressive volume of the gallery.” The battery as an arrangement of similar devices; but I also think of charge, and the conversion of chemical energy, and of fortification. It’s a poetic metaphor that sums up much of the febrile pleasure of the music contained on these Permanent Parts.

– Jon Dale, Melbourne

Mutant, in proud partnership with Back Lot Music, are proud to present the premiere physical release of Dominic Lewis’ score to THE FALL GUY.

The Fall Guy is our favourite kind of movie - it's a love story not only between the film’s two leads but also a love letter to the cinema. Its also a love letter to the people who risk their lives to tell us stories. That it's scored like a stadium rock anthem also helps.

Dominic Lewis has produced a soundtrack that makes you want to stand up and cheer in the theater and blast at full volume at home.

It is pressed on 2x 140-gram Black vinyl and features liner notes by the film’s director, David Leitch, and composer, Dominic Lewis.

Coming out on September 6th on Sharptone Records, Sundiver is Boston Manor’s fifth album and one that represents a glimmering dawn for the Blackpool five-piece. Grown from a seedbed of optimism and sobriety, the LP celebrates new beginnings, second chances and rebirth. With two members recently stepping into fatherhood, hope is baked into every note. “Datura came out of these really dark few years over the hangover of the pandemic,” Henry reflects. “I'd been struggling a lot with drinking and not taking care of myself and bad mental health and stuff. We wanted Sundiver to be the next morning of the following day.” He explains that it feels good this time round to write through the lens of positivity. “The themes began to emerge, of rebirth, spring, dawn, sunshine and then other elements just started to fit into that.” It was during the making of Sundiver that Henry found out he was going to be a dad. This album is a significant one for the band. Originally coming out of the emo and pop punk scene, they’ve explored sonics and genres throughout their career, taken risks and achieved more than they could ever had dreamed of. They’ve grown up as Boston Manor – their lives and the world changing around them. They’re now taking stock, at a crossroads of the band they were and the band they could be.
While writing the album, they revisited the bands that shaped them in the late 90s and early 00s. “I was listening to the music I loved when I was a teenager and I just thought, why don't we make music like our favourite bands?”, guitarist Mike Cuniff remembers with a smile. “So we brought our interests to the table that way. Y2K kind of vibe. There are elements of Deftones, there are elements of Portishead in there, some Garbage, The Cardigans.” He laughs and adds NSYNC to the list of inspirations. From this cocktail of classics comes a dynamic and ambitious record, rich with depth, groove and more hooks than Peter Pan’s nightmares. Lyrics that foxtrot from parallel universes to personal growth, vivid dreamscapes to raw grief. Individually they’re single strokes full of meaning and magic. Together they’re a landscape.
Container (out Feb 15th) is the first single and it’s them at their best – impassioned and infectious. “This song is about the stagnancy of life creeping up on you & how that can bring about change.,” Henry explains, citing Ocean Song by US band Daughters as an inspiration.

The concept of the butterfly effect is present on Sundiver – how small actions can lead to big changes. This is no clearer than on their second single, Sliding Doors (out April 5th). It has the golden sound of late 90s Lollapalooza rock – think Smashing Pumpkins - rebooted with crisp 2024 production and a potent heaviness. In the lyrics Henry wonders, what if?, pondering on what could be. The idea that there are infinite versions of you whose lives splinter off in different directions at every decision you make. That there’s another you out there somewhere right now reading this sentence, and another me writing it. “So much is down to chance and circumstance,” Henry says. “You might catch that train and your life totally changes. Or you might miss it and things stay the way they are.”
Heat Me Up (out May 30th) is defiant and victorious, the audio equivalent of quitting your shit job and driving into the hot summer sun with a head full of dreams. “The lyrics are about love and gratitude,” Henry shares. “Another theme on the record is just appreciating what you have. It’s about not taking for granted the things that you've been afforded.”
There was some natural magic in the creation of Sundiver. They worked with their usual producer, Larry Hibbitt, and engineer, Alex O’Donovan, but instead of recording in London again they ended up in the green pastures of Welwyn Garden City. “Because Larry lives out in the countryside now, it was a way different environment and way different experience recording this time,” Mike remembers. “That contributed a lot to the brighter sound of the record.” The daily barbecues they had during their recording sessions imbued the process with harmony – five old friends spending quality time together and making quality music.
However, the album is by no means one-note. Birthing this new world they’ve created wasn’t without it’s pain, and that can be heard in the heavier moments on Sundiver. What Is Taken Will Never Be Lost is the most-stripped back on the album, a slow rock number seasoned with the downtempo Portishead influence. The heartfelt lyrics are Henry’s way of processing the loss of his grandfather, who died in a hospice last year(?). “It was just fucking horrible. It was always cold when I went there and they were always trying to get rid of me. The song title, What Was Taken Can Ever Be Lost, is the idea of his memory fading at the time because of dementia.” Henry goes onto explain that shoeboxes of photographs, diaries and a legacy is what he’s left behind. “He lived a really rich life and it has really impacted me and my father. His legacy is etched into the fabric of history in a very small way.” This song continues the connection between his grandfather and the band, as his painted face is emblazoned on the cover of the very first Boston Manor EP, Driftwood. As well as emotionally heavy themes, there’s heaviness in the music of Sundiver too. The closing song, Oil In My Blood, descends into an intense shoegaze outro with Debbie Gough from Heriot screaming hellfire. It’s in moments like this that the band show us aggression and fury can be as much a part of positive change as quiet introspection. The last lyrics of the song, “It resets and starts again,” leaves us in contemplation as the final chord rings out.
Touring the US, Europe and Japan over the years makes for an impressive CV, but if you know anything about Boston Manor you’ll know that they’re all about their hometown. Their choice to work with Blackpool-based photographer Nick Barkworth is testament to that. They’ve been working with him since the pandemic. “He captures Blackpool in a light that really reflects the weirdness and quirkiness of the town,” Henry says.” He's got a really good way of presenting that.” For the Sundiver cover, Nick photographed a 30ft tall abstract glass sculpture made by the local artist John Ditchfield. A striking and bewitching monolith that’s familiar to them but unusual to most people. “It has such kind of a gravity and power to it,” Henry describes the sculpture which stands in a field just outside of the seaside town. “It reminds me of either an explosion or a star or a supernova. To me it represents new life, power and radiance.” Boston Manor have got a knack for that - connecting the otherworldly and the everyday, the stars and the streets.
They’re a band known for using their music to make bigger statements about society. This time round they’re harnessing the uplifting power of music, and the communion it creates, as an antidote to the daily doom and isolation. “It seems like absolute chaos out there at the moment,” Henry says. “You’ve got Gaza and Israel, you've got Russia, you've got the fact that 40% of the world is going to have an election this year and increasingly most governments are leaning very far to the Right. The internet is dividing everybody, people are getting poorer and more desperate. It's really, really scary.” They considered trying to tackle the weight of it all in their music. “We could’ve written Welcome to the Neighbourhood on steroids, where it's just absolute darkness and misery”. He’s referring to their 2018 concept album that deals with class, inequality and the bleaker side of Blackpool. “But I think it's really important to write something that people can be immersed in and find some sort of solace in. Somewhere they can escape to from the modern day pressures and everything that’s going on. We’re all in this together.”

From the inimitable husband and wife folk-punk duo that started a movement, Shovels & Rope's new studio album 'Something Is Working Up Above My Head' is a catalog of vulnerable characters with sweet and sordid narratives. "Many times we've made records that we loved and then, after figuring out how we'd perform it live, we end up falling in love with the live arrangement because being a 2 piece band, it took some real risk and struggle which led to innovation, which gave it a whole new life. So with this one we just started there and worked backwards. The result encapsulates, more than anything we've done before, the sound of our live performance. Resulting in what one might consider by definition, a definitive album."

After years of visiting graveyards, combing through haunted houses, and pursuing (heh heh) dead ends, we finally tracked down the rights to the legendary Frankie Stein and His Ghouls series! Why did we risk life, limb, and livelihood to find these records? Well, first of all, long-time Real Goners know we LOVE these campy ‘60s takes on horror rock—witness our previous macabre moves into the Zacherle, Munsters and Groovie Goolies franchises. But there’s something extra special about these Frankie Stein and His Ghouls records. You wouldn’t think that Halloween records released by a subsidiary (Power Records) of a children’s specialty label (Peter Pan Records) would be so…er…visceral, but these records are definitely the most out there of their kind. And there might be a reason for that…you see, it has been revealed that the Power label enlisted the aid of some very, very interesting musicians for some of its projects. For instance, the imprint’s 1966 album Batman and Robin by The Sensational Guitars of Dan and Dale was actually produced by Tom Wilson of Bob Dylan, Velvet Underground, and Mothers of Invention fame—and the band was made up free jazz legend Sun Ra and members of The Blues Project! Which has led to all sorts of speculation about who Frankie Stein and His Ghouls actually were; among the names bandied about are guitarist Duane Eddy, jazz saxophonist Max Greger, and, yes, Sun Ra and the Blues Project again. At any rate, prepare yourself for frenetic rock-and-twist workouts punctuated by deranged howls and shattering sound effects. And with a back story like this, it’s no wonder original copies of these albums sell for downright horrifying prices…here come the last two for a truly fiendish finale!

Comes with insert and download coupon.

Imagine a Latin remake of Back to the Future. The mad scientist is Arsenio Rodriguez (the godfather of salsa) and the young student who travels through time with him is Eblis Alvarez (Meridian Brothers). This album can only be described as the perfect soundtrack for that movie that never was.

After the massive buzz generated by his first solo album, Mentallogenic, Alex Figueira got back in the studio to work in a more collective fashion this time, carefully assembling the second album of his largest project to date, Conjunto Papa Upa; a team of 6 musicians, spanning 3 generations of some of the best talent in the Latin and avant-garde scenes.

In an era where tropical music is dominated by purely electronic and rhythmically uniform sounds, the ten songs encompassed in “Fruta Madura” (“Ripe Fruit”) wander through the most diverse tempos, rhythms, and motifs effortlessly. A real breath of fresh air that gracefully incorporates soul, funk, jazz, psychedelia, and electronics into a solid tropical, irresistibly polyrhythmic foundation, without ever succumbing to the many genre clichés.

The distinctive production and catchy songwriting of Figueira shine in a very distinctive light on this second full-length. Living up to his reputation (Miles Cleret, founder of Soundway Records, called him “one of the scene's truly authentic and eccentric producers”), he takes the opportunity to show he’s not afraid to keep walking his own path.

Taking the band for a wild ride through the traditions of Africa, America, and the Caribbean; contrasting them with a ridiculously wide plethora of vintage, contemporary, and futuristic sounds, and pivoting on the exuberant musicality displayed by his musicians; the result leaves no doubt: this album is destined to be considered a future classic of the exciting tropical psychedelic music of the 21st century.

Addressing the most diverse themes in this new collection of songs, things take on a much more mature tone, as the title clearly suggests.

The opening track “El segundo es más sabroso” (“The second one is tastier”) sets the tone in the most assertive way imaginable, with the band boldly declaring, through multiple metaphorical references (laid upon a crazy mix of Dominican merengue, Detroit techno, classic and free jazz, dub, and electro), that the bar will be set higher with this second album.

The remaining compositions touch upon the most diverse subjects, with a fair dose of humor, sarcasm, and postmodern “magic realism”. “El Algoritmo” (The Algorithm) is a parranda-cumbia hybrid (for lack of a specific term) about the omnipresence of technology in our lives. The sophisticated Latin soul of the titling track “Fruta Madura” makes a case for the beauty of the maturity process. Some key philosophical teachings of Marcus Aurelius (the role of causality, the impositions of “the logos” and the importance of self-control) get a twisted cumbia treatment on “Reos del Deseo” (Prisoners of Desire). “No le pongas Coca-Cola” (“Don’t put Coca Cola in it”) shows us the most satirical side of the band, accusing those who mix Coca Cola with Rum of committing "sacrilege", on a powerful base of Dem Bow (the grandfather of Reggaeton), intertwined with touches of soul, salsa, and Cuban comparsa.

"Háblame Claro" (“Talk to me clearly”) is a story of heartbreak that evokes in its first part the spirit of the erotic salsa of the 80s (a subgenre deeply despised by purists), and after an unexpected samba interlude, leads to the hardest salsa of the 70s (a subgenre adored by purists), to end up in the surprising form of pure Afro-Cuban ceremonial music.

“Tu mamá tenía razón” ("Your Mom Was Right") is an attempt to exalt the spirit of the Latin American soap opera in the key of “acid bachata”, to recount a real-life case, witnessed by the band on countless occasions: the partying woman who arrives at the show accompanied by her bitter husband, who obviously does not like to dance. A very cheeky song to talk about the very serious and pertinent topic of female empowerment.

“La misma vaina” (“The same thing”) with its indescribable blend of bantú, candomblé, and Mozambique rhythms with abstract synthesizers, is an ode to adventure in favor of the aversion to taking risks and seeking predictability.

“Amigas picadas” (“Salty friends”) is another humorous song recounting another real-life case witnessed by the band on countless occasions: a love encounter sabotaged by the girlfriend's friends, who all happen to fancy the same guy. A jazzy take on the ancient Dominican rhythm of pambiche (grandfather of merengue), with generous psychedelic touches, resembling the classy late 60s releases of Guadeloupe's legendary producer / label owner Henri Debs.

“Vinimos a hablar” (“We came to talk”) takes sarcasm to the highest level, to ridicule the absurdity (also experienced by the band firsthand) seen in live music venues where people pay a ticket to go and have conversations that could be carried out much better on any bar, where no band is playing. The music alternates between a delicate melody with loose, sparse percussion and a full-on, pumping Angolan semba, with a techno kick drum included; bringing things to an apotheotic grooving finale, where the peculiar swing of Venezuelan calypso from the Callao region is thrown on top of all the precedent elements; closing the album in the most uplifting, “end of the carnival parade” feel.

The artwork is a delicate and impactful oil painting by Colombian artist Kevin Simón Mancera, who has collaborated many times with the label before (“Maracas, tambourines and other hellish things” tape and the Lola’s Dice LP).

What the experts are saying:

“Alex (Figueira) dove into this work with a brutal cohesion between lyrics and synths. Timbre poetry, sound poetry (you name it). And that, superimposed on his always impeccable percussive base, confirms the title of “avant-garde visionary of our beautiful Latin music”".
EBLIS ALVAREZ (MERIDIAN BROTHERS)
“Papa Upa's infectious quirkiness is a balm against boredom. A mature album, but without an expiration date”.
GLADYS PALMERA

“Here there is a lot of strength, drum, cadence and psychedelia, lost dance rhythms, united in an intercontinental Latin/African/and Caribbean journey, a unique winning combination that we could consider the new “Ritmo Figueira”.
DISCODELIC

Conjunto Papa Upa are: 



Alex Figueira - Timbales, percussion, vocals. 

Gerardo Rosales - Congas, percussion, vocals. 

Ramón Mendeville - Bongos, percussion, vocals. 

Randy Winterdal - Bass.

Andrew Moreno - Guitar.

Nico Chientarolli - Organ, piano, synths.



All songs written by Alex Figueira. 

Arranged and performed by Conjunto Papa Upa. 

Recorded, produced, mixed and mastered by Alex Figueira at Heat Too Hot, Amsterdam.


"Foreigner, released in 1973, was Cat Stevens’ fifth LP with Island Records and represents the adventurous, risk-taking streak in his character. In a departure from his largely acoustic sound, the album saw Cat explore his love of R&B and Soul music, as can be heard on the record’s main single, ‘The Hurt.’ Recorded largely in Jamaica with an all-star band and the first record to be produced solely by Cat himself, Foreigner is deep, funky and rich with layered meaning.
Newly remastered, Foreigner will be reissued on 180g black 1LP vinyl with replica 12” lyric card insert. The initial production run will feature the super rare color-front cover (originally released only on first US pressings in 1973)."

Ben Reed has worked with Frank Ocean, David Byrne, Sampha and many others, but his own music is unpredictable, passionate and tinged with melancholy and has drawn comparisons to the so-called Canterbury sound of Progressive rock.


‘Bandaged’ is much more in the singer/songwriter vein than Ben's previous releases, albeit tinged with an undeniable British proggy-ness. The richness of melody and harmonic vocabulary remains, and the influence of jazz is still detectable, this time via more concise song forms.


Past review comparisons to the Canterbury sound aren't too far wide of the mark here, especially as Jimmy Hastings (Caravan, Hatfield & the North) is present on two of the songs.


Throughout the album there is a detectable combination of sentimentality and melancholy combined with playfulness and a dark sense of humour making ‘Bandaged’ one of the most interesting and innovative new albums of its genre in 2023.

INSIDE is the third album (and second in a row on Brixton Records) by the respected ten-piece group from Barcelona that fuses Jamaican music and jazz. DROP COLLECTIVE bravely faces the so-called third album syndrome and makes a sincere declaration of principles, a public manifestation of their musical identity. The two sides of the album are clearly identified. Side A is Inside-Out, displaying five own-penned compositions, including three songs sung in Catalan and two in English, in which DROP COLLECTIVE make it clear what they like to do and what they are capable of offering. The album opens with "Com Estimo Jo" (The Way I Love), a reggae ballad composed by Andreu Domènech (baritone sax) that is dedicated to the growth and learning we do when we love. It is followed by "Let Us Dance", a fluid ska with Latin airs and an invitation to dance, which recaptures the sound of some of the most celebrated passages from their previous album. "Estel" (Star) is a melancholic reggae song, sung in Catalan, in homage to someone who is no longer here - "now you are the star that watches over us from up there, bright, bright". Prior to the release of this LP, four advance tracks have been published on digital platforms, but "Life's Too Short" is, perhaps, the album's single. This resounding reggae with a powerful brass section could have easily taken more elaborate instrumental and studio developments, however, the band has preferred to produce a compact track brimming with strength and lasting less than three minutes. “Ombra" (Shade) closes this side of the album with solemn roots sonorities. The B-side is Outside-In, four reinterpretations of jazz classics that DROP COLLECTIVE internalize, make their own and, therefore, also form part of their identity. The choice of pieces is hair-raising, because of the risks they take. "Yearnin'" is a cover of the song originally included in one of the most epic albums in the history of jazz, "The Blues and the Abstract Truth", by saxophonist Oliver Nelson. DROP COLLECTIVE take the song to their own territory with the skill and freshness of expert ska-jazzers and with the special collaboration of trumpeter Joan Mar Sauqué, they make one of the most famous riffs in jazz sound unashamedly contemporary and... Caribbean. "Day by Day" is an adaptation of the standard from the late forties of the last century that was part of the regular repertoire of, among others, Frank Sinatra. The result is a swinging ska love themed, sugary and romantic, with an exquisite interpretation. And to close the album, two extraordinary trials by fire for Maria del Rio, the band's vocalist, which she solves with total ease and mastery of the situation. "What a Little Moonlight Can Do", a composition by Harry Woods that the legendary Billie Holiday recorded in 1935 and which, after 90 years, still sounds fresh in up tempo ska mode, and "Sinnerman", a traditional spiritual from the early 20th century made popular worldwide by Nina Simone, becomes a lively ska-jazz with soulful touches and an infectious organ solo by Daniel Ferruz. INSIDE is an album with a compact, solid, and synchronous sound, but full of details, which gives a total sense of permanence and singularity to their skareggae- jazz mastery, in which many universes fit.

The first signee to Conway The Machine’s Drumwork Music Group imprint, Jae Skeese helped usher in Drumwork’s 2023 Spring Takeover with his collaborative project with Conway, Pain Provided Profit, the labels first compilation album, Conway The Machine Presents: Drumwork The Album and Skeese’s own Drumwork debut album Abolished Uncertainties.

After releasing focus tracks “Skyscrapers” & “Cantonese Characters” featuring Rome Streetz and Ty Farris, Jae Skeese and Superior have officially released their new collaborative project Testament Of The Times.

Testament Of The Times is produced in its entirety by Superior and features guest appearances from Rome Streetz, OT The Real, Ty Farris and Kota Savia.

“Testament Of The Times is an encapsulation of my current plight in striving to carve out my own unique space in hip-hop; starting from ground level” Jae Skeese testifies. “Anyone that has accomplished anything had a starting point, and different things motivate individuals to push forward. I want to be the voice that helps guide people through the “figuring it out stages” by letting them know they are not alone; sometimes that’s all the reassurance you need to make it to the finish line.”

Going solo while still keeping intact his devotion to RS Produções, Nuno appears as a true heartbreaker. Silky, space soul, why not even risk the patented future r&b? But this music exists and manifests itself apart from the established production centres, the golden arches of hype edifices and synthetic promotion regurgitated by a thousand cloned fingers. "Sai Do Coração" is a very brave, romantic improbability, shying away from DJ bravado and dancefloor top speed. Through these grooves comes a pure distillation of love, an alchemical sublimatio resulting in the much sought-after "higher substance", a bright globe issuing rays of affection all around.

With love we most likely also buy into a degree of suffering, and though this is not at all the ID of the album, Nuno explicitly connects the two sentiments in "N'Dengue", a cathartic cold cut one grows to cherish intensely by the time it is over. It's a key moment, grief pours out, liberation achieved in the dance - "I will love, I will suffer, I will shout, I will dance". Flip to the other side for "Confusão No Ghetto", another gritty expression, a richly percussive, slow tempo observation of things gone wrong. All the rest in the album feels simple, direct and yet sophisticated like photosynthesis. Like the soil, through which geological becomes biological. Nuno whips up a variety of textures and flavours into the invisible form of Music, romantic fiction into action.

After her debut album “OUCH” on 10K in late 2022, the Brooklyn native returns with her most polished work to date and presents her latest project titled “Wooden Floors”.

Inspired among other things by a scene in the 80's movie "Risky Business"; she treats each song as a journal entry where she depicts her life in New York and touches on various subjects like love, family, personal achievements, morals and future goals.
Delivering an array of multiple flows and emotions on groovy beats; she stands out from other mcs with her sweet voice tone, raw style and poignant lyrics.

For their fifth collaboration Marc Barreca and Kerry Leimer set aside their more abstract creative approaches to composition in favor of basing the music of Arrhythmian on beats. Using rhythm as texture, the tracks gravitate to concussive and bass voices, high bpm rates, and constantly evolving timbres shaped by granular synthesis, sampling, heavy processing, audio manipulation, rich distortion, with the maximum dynamic range vinyl can offer. “We’re always thinking about sound quality, about what’s possible in a recording for vinyl demands a very specific approach. Pitch, dynamics, layering, density all play a more significant role in analog recording and reproduction,” says Leimer, as Barreca continues, “Let’s just say it’s not music you can dance to...” Arrhythmian is released as a double disc vinyl set, produced to safely allow the grooves their maximum possible excursion while giving one’s stylus a rewarding and demanding workout. Marc Barreca and Kerry Leimer have worked on a nearly parallel musical course for more than forty years. Nearly parallel because their musical paths do occasionally cross. First in 1980 with “Four Pages From An Unfinished Novel” on K. Leimer’s first solo album Closed System Potentials. Again during the live performance of Music For Land And Water and for the massive loop piece “Heart Of Stillness” from The Neo-Realist (At Risk) by the virtual group Savant. K. Leimer founded Palace Of Lights in 1979 and has been actively producing music since the mid 1970s. Marc Barreca has created and performed electronic music since the mid-1970s. His 1980 vinyl album, Twilight, was among the first releases for Palace of Lights Records. Their work is part of the Collection of the British Library. With Steve Peters, Leimer and Barreca form the collaborative trio Three Point Circle

Lenticular Sleeve / White Vinyl. When Jack Tatum began work on Life of Pause, his third full-length to date, he had lofty ambitions: Don't just write another album; create another world. One with enough detail and texture and dimension that a listener could step inside, explore, and inhabit it as they see fit. "I desperately wanted for this to be the kind of record that would displace me," he says. "I'm terrified by the idea of being any one thing, or being of any one genre. And whether or not I accomplish that, I know that my only hope of getting there is to constantly reinvent. That reinvention doesn't need to be drastic, but every new record has to have its own identity, and it has to have a separate set of goals from what came before." What came before: a rightfully acclaimed, much beloved display of singular pop craftsmanship. Tatum's dreamy, unexpected 2010 debut, Gemini, was written while he was still a student at Virginia Tech University. Its equally disarming follow-up, 2012's Nocturne, marked the first time he'd been able to bring his bedroom recordings into a studio, to be performed and fully realized with the help of other musicians. There has been a set of wonderfully expansive EPs in between_each hinting at new directions and punctuating previous ideas_but with Life of Pause, Tatum delivers what he describes as his most "honest" and "mature" work yet, an exquisitely arranged and beautifully recorded collection of songs that marry the immediate with the indefinable. "I allowed myself to go down every route I could imagine even if it ended up not working for me," he says. "I owe it to myself to take as many risks as possible. Songs are songs and you have to allow yourself to be open to everything." After a prolonged period of writing and experimentation, recording took place over several weeks in both Los Angeles and Stockholm, with producer Thom Monahan (Devendra Banhart, Beachwood Sparks) helping Tatum in his search for a more natural and organically textured sound. In Sweden, in a studio once owned by ABBA, they enlisted Peter, Bjorn and John drummer John Ericsson and fellow Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra veteran Pelle Jacobsson, to contribute drums and marimba. In California, at Monahan's home, Tatum collaborated with Medicine guitarist Brad Laner and a crew of saxophonists. From the hypnotic polyrhythms of "Reichpop" to the sugary howl of "Japanese Alice" to the hallucinogenic R&B of "A Woman's Wisdom," the result is a complete, fully immersive listening environment. "I just kept things really simple, writing as ideas came to me," he says. "There's definitely a different kind of `self' in the picture this time around. There's no real love lost, it's much more a record of coming to terms and defining what it is that you have_your place, your relationships. I view every record as an opportunity to write better songs. At the end of the day it still sounds like me, just new."

These are recordings from the Berlin club Au Topsi Pohl where ism played 4-nights in a row, May 18-21 2022. For the concerts a Bösendorfer grand piano was brought in to the small club - the trio barely fit on stage, but the acoustic sound, all the more omnipresent and precise, was embraced by a highly crafted and risky playing evoking notions of dreams, form and human vibrations.

In einer langen Winternacht, mit viel Kaffee und Bier, wurde die Band 2021 von 5 Freunden in der hessischen Provinz gegründet. Die Mission und das Ziel war klar... New York Hardcore mit melodischem Hardcore Punk zu verbinden. Ende 2022 hatten GROUND2A ihr Live-Debüt, dem 2023 rund 30 Live-Shows folgten, darunter Festivals und Support-Shows für bekannte Bands wie Born from Pain, Sheer Terror, Risk It! und viele mehr. Macht euch bereit, eure innere Bestie mit GROUND2A zu entfesseln. Diese Band wird euere Art Musik zu hören auf ein ganz neues Level heben. Von hymnischen Refrains bis hin zu unerbittlichen Breakdowns bietet die Band ein breites Spektrum an Klangwelten, die einen bleibenden Eindruck hinterlassen werden. Ihre Musik überschreitet Grenzen und spricht direkt die rohen Emotionen an, die in uns allen pulsieren.

Unveiling an unheard scene: Glossy Mistakes presents "Atlantic Mavericks: a Decade of Experimental Music in Portugal 1982-1993"
Glossy Mistakes is proud to announce the upcoming release of "Atlantic Mavericks: a Decade of Experimental Music in Portugal 1982-1993," a groundbreaking double LP compilation that offers a unique glimpse into the vibrant landscape of Portuguese experimental music. Set to launch on June 10th, this monumental release showcases the evolution and innovation of the Portuguese music scene during a transformative decade marked by political upheaval and artistic experimentation.
Compiled by Glossy Mario and featuring liner notes by Rui Miguel Abreu, "Atlantic Mavericks" captures the essence of a generation of artists who dared to challenge conventions and push the boundaries of what was possible in music.
The compilation stands as a testament to the eclecticism of the Portuguese music scene during this period, featuring a diverse range of genres and styles. From ambient and new age to electro, rock, and synth-pop, "Atlantic Mavericks" offers something for every listener, inviting them to explore the rich tapestry of sounds that defined the era.
The 1980s in Portugal were a time of profound transformation, marked by the aftermath of a peaceful revolution and a burgeoning desire for artistic expression. As the country emerged from political turbulence, a new generation of musicians began to explore uncharted territories, paving the way for a wave of experimentation and innovation.
From the emergence of artists like Rui Veloso and bands like UHF, who ushered in a new era of Portuguese rock, to the founding of independent record labels like Fundação Atlântica and Ama Romanta, the 1980s saw a surge in creativity and a desire for independence within the music industry.
"Atlantic Mavericks: a Decade of Experimental Music in Portugal 1982-1993" offers a comprehensive overview of this dynamic period, featuring tracks that span the spectrum of experimental music. Each song tells a story of artistic evolution and creative risk-taking, reflecting the diverse influences and eclectic tastes of the Portuguese music scene during this transformative decade.
Spanning from 1982 to 1993, the compilation includes contributions from a wide range of artists, including SPQR, Croix Sainte, Linha Geral, Balladium, Ban, Santa Maria, Gasolina Em Teu Ventre!, Fé de Sábio, and Telectu, among others. With each track carefully curated to showcase the breadth and depth of Portuguese experimental music, "Atlantic Mavericks" promises to be a must-have for music enthusiasts and adventurous listeners alike.
"Atlantic Mavericks: a Decade of Experimental Music in Portugal 1982-1993" will be available on June 10th as a double LP release, offering listeners a chance to immerse themselves in the sonic landscapes of 1980s Portugal. Whether experienced on vinyl or through digital channels, this monumental compilation is sure to leave a lasting impression on all who encounter it.

A 2xLP discography from the late 90s post-hardcore/early screamo band, The Red Scare. The band existed during an interesting period when hardcore music was evolving and splintering into various sub-genres. They perfected a blistering hardcore that will appeal to fans of Born Against, Heroin, and Universal Order of Armageddon, as well as fans of later hardcore bands like Saetia, Jerome's Dream, City of Caterpillar, and Ampere. This record comes on high end paper, custom gatefold packaging, and limited edition colored vinyl. "Smoky Mountain High" gathers both of the bands LPs, their singles, as well as 4 live songs from their session at WNYU.

ZamZam 95 is a link with the enigmatic French producer Hiss Is Bliss. We’ve been fans since the very first drop on their 777Hz label and these two sides drive straight to the heart of the dub techno galaxy.

Little is known about Hiss Is Bliss beyond the fact that they hail from France, are steeped in esotericism, and create tunes as masterfully grounded in roots reggae as they are in techno and related strands of electronic music. Their releases are utterly free of hype, beautifully crafted 10” vinyl plates that let the singers and tracks speak for themselves.

At the risk of being cheeky, “Nope” is absolute dub techno bliss. The 808 kick propels the track relentlessly forward, saturated washes of color streak the night sky, while syncopated hi hats and warm, soulful chords bring life- dare we say funk- to a style too often stiff and clinical, too in thrall to the past to truly step forward. Matching Hiss is Bliss in mystery, Ras Lys’ vocal brings a Dread perspective on music and the sometimes shady business of music, a grounded contrast to the deep inner space explored by the tune itself. The B-side version “Abbadia” splits musical atoms through the desk, focusing squarely on the stripped 4/4 elements and gloriously distorted pads that echo and cycle like tides in a darkly shimmering sea.

With words as weapons and public infrastructure as his blank slate, John Fekner's City Squad are always questing for the ineffable, even as they yearn for concrete change - Make no mistake, Idioblast is a serious party where everyone is welcome.

Released in 1984, Idioblast is a lost classic, a future shock narrative ahead of its time, and yet completely of its era, like few artifacts before or since. The cover tips you off from the jump--a crude but effective collage featuring classic Fekner slogans like Toxic Junkie, Growth Decay and Soft Brains Watch The Screen And Buy The Jeans. In an uncanny and tragic coincidence, the very first lyric on the album--"The place to be is on the space shuttle/if you're brave enough to get on it"--seems to anticipate the Challenger disaster just two years later.

But for the most part, the tracks on Idioblast directly reference the concepts that inspired Fekner's visual art. Musically, "Rapicasso" utilizes pneumatic pounding with an industrial edge as Fekner equates the great and controversial painter with risk-taking graffiti kids bombing trains and billboards across the city. Art is in a constant state of exploding--forms, paradigms, outdated ideas.

Splitting the difference between hip-hop and new wave, the Santaniello-sung "The Beat" is like Thomas Dolby meets Run-DMC and should've been a radio staple for at least one sticky summer. It could soundtrack either a couples roller skate or a drug-fueled evening out. Channeling Fekner's slogan-stencil aesthetic, "Travelogue The 80's" is a tour de force reminiscent of Negativland's experiments in audio culture jamming. As Fekner details, "I grabbed all of the sounds via a shortwave radio picking up transmissions from LaGuardia airport and the TV. I recorded and edited on a Sony Pro Walkman and an Aiwa dual cassette deck."

DEATH LENS relentlessly seeks a place in your consciousness, a persistent presence whispering in your ear. Concealing ferocity beneath a stylish veneer, their live shows unleash energy and chaos, leaving spectators disarmed and forever transformed. After successful tours with Militarie Gun and Together Pangea and hometown support, DEATH LENS is poised to release their latest album, Cold World, on May 3rd, through Epitaph Records. In recordings, DEATH LENS forges unyielding rock, blending West Coast surf punk with Britrock"s tight, bouncy rhythms. Despite their deceptive chill and vibe-focused portrayal, live performances brim with hardcore intensity. Rooted in slick guitar sonics and sugary backing vocal harmonies, reminiscent of indie punk and shoegaze, DEATH LENS channels the energy of bands like Turnstile and Militarie Gun on stage, creating soundtracks for indelible memories of high-energy, sweat-soaked singalongs. Hailing from La Puente, the self-described "five Brown boys" transition from showcasing explosive energy in recordings to embodying a refined representation of hard work and early influences gaining traction in their scene. Growing up as minorities east of Los Angeles amidst police harassment and gang violence, DEATH LENS faced risk factors that could have led them astray. Evolving from a party garage punk band, they now serve as a platform addressing life in heavily policed and immigrant-dominant areas, advocating for immigration reforms, and utilizing resources to support their community. Their experiences form a powerful narrative within their music.

Kulku return to Phase Group with the release of their new album ‘Reset To Be’.

Formed in Berlin at the turn of the millennium, Kulku have evolved as a highly unique and free-formed collective of musicians that make trance-inducing, jazz-entwined, percussive and soulful (mostly) acoustic music that takes cues from the rhythmic propulsion of Jaki Leibezeit’s Can, the street-folk of Moondog, the minimalism of Steve Reich, and the droning rock n’ roll of the Velvet Underground, forming a sound that they themselves have coined ‘No-Age Krautrock’.

Following on from last year’s sold out debut LP ‘Fahren’, ‘Reset To Be’ offers 5 new songs across 2 sides of vinyl. This is a record that perfectly showcases the unique identity the band have been developing over the past 20 years, a sound crafted through experimentation and innovation with primarily acoustic instruments; droning harmoniums, repetitive and phasing xylophones, timpani, cello, scrap metal and woodwind reeds, all sitting alongside soulful saxophone and the voice of frontman Andreas Riska, singing in both German and English.

‘Reset To Be’ is a truly special offering that we’re proud to be able to share with you on Phase Group. The album will be available on April 30th 2024 on vinyl and digital, with distribution via Bordello A Parigi.

Die vier-köpfige Band Porij aus Manchester gehört mit ihrem Alternative-Dance-Sound zu den aufregendsten und spannendsten Newcomern aus UK und durfte bereits Größen wie Coldplay, Metronomy, Friendly Fires und Jungle supporten. Nicht umsonst steht die Band auf „ones to watch“ Listen von u.a. The Guardian, NME und BBC 6. Nun erscheint das Debütalbum 'Teething'. Ein Coming-Of-Age Album, eine Kollision von Indie-Rock und Dance, das organische und elektronische Klänge einzigartig vermischt zu zärtlichen und zugleich transzendenten Songs.

Advitam Aeternamour, Cléa Vincent's third album, will be released on 29 March 2024 by Midnight Special.

If the 90s gave us “French touch,” then the 2010s ushered in “French pop,” and it was in the midst of this revival that Cléa began her artistic journey. As early as the music video for

“Achète-le-moi” from her debut LP Retiens mon désir (2016), we witness the singer striking selfie-like poses with her French pop comrades (La Femme, Bertrand Burgalat), appearing pell-mell on screen in the form of their vinyl records. Since then, whether singing with Philippe Katerine or co-producing (and composing) Jeanne Balibar's D'ici là tout l'été (2023), Cléa Vincent has effortlessly carved out a niche for herself in the French pop scene. The advantage of being a “jack-of-all-trades” — Cléa is a writer, composer, and producer — is that her music casts a wide net. Both highly acclaimed in the indie circuit and “as seen on TV” (on Quotidien, among others), she has also enjoyed a stint as the host for web-TV show Sooo Pop, for which she regularly interviewed a plethora of French artists. Beyond France, the singer tours extensively. After a run of concerts in Europe, Asia, North and South America, it was her visit to Latin and Central America that inspired Tropi-cléa (2017-2020-2022). The three EPs bathed in a tropicalist glow do more than just dip their toes in the water; they mark a deep desire to escape in a post-lockdown world.

In between these projects emerged Cléa’s LP Nuits sans sommeil (2019). The album quickly became an instant classic and lives up to its name, since Clea never seems to stop — writing, composing, singing, or dancing. Mixed by Stephane ALF Briat, who has lent his magic touch to records by Phoenix, Bonnie Banane, Air, and Flavien Berger, Cléa Vincent's third LP Advitam Aeternamour proves once again that her music is in perpetual renewal. The artist takes risks both in her pursuit for innovative sounds and in the themes she tackles: coming out, incest, grief...and of course, she will always be a true romantic at heart; there’s no need to be ashamed of loving love. Cléa’s songs are full of “explicit lyrics,” but not in the typical sense: rather than ringing harsh and raw, her words are tinged with sweetness and melancholy, at the risk of shocking less sentimental listeners.

Written hand-in-hand with Raphaël Léger, her creative soulmate for the last ten years who also recorded and produced the album, Advitam Aeternamour features lyrics charged with Epinal and equinox imagery. On the poignantly sober title track, sudden flashes of light are padded by tinkling synthesizers swathed in the voices of an angelic choir, as also heard on “Nuit de Yalda.” Cléa offers a modern take on 90s house music (“C'est Ok”) and 2-step garage (“Free Demain”). Particularly influenced by The Beloved, she is not above dipping pop songs into the electronic melting pot to get them through the club door (“État Second,” where we “turn up the BPM”). And whether on “Shut down ma tête,” or “Douce Chavirée,” Cléa pushes the champagne cork down even further so that the party never stops. The bass gets louder, the rhythm intensifies — the melodies of these eternal hits are an invitation onto the dance floor, lit up by her smile.

As depicted in the soothing embrace that appears on the album artwork, the bright psychedelic hues are the perfect complement to her therapeutically inclined synthetic pop. Even if they tackle themes such as breakups, Cléa's songs, which are vitamin-packed and deep on the surface, are intended to heal and repair. “Se laisser partir,” with its light vocoder echoes, emulating the vocal shadow of a loved one, is an optimistic breakup song. Advitam Æternamour gives us life, from birth to grief — and in the middle, wild, beating passion. If her songs resonate with us, it's because Cléa speaks to us in her songs, as heard on the girl power anthem “Free demain,” where she addresses the listener as a friend (“put the pedal to the metal and you’ll take off for the stars”). When she shares the microphone with Jacques on “État Second,” enveloped by the sounds of unidentified musical objects, the complementary nature of the two artists is evident. The album is as much a tribute to the healing virtues of music as it is a self-portrait of Cléa inhabited by her art. Ad vitam æternam and with love.

Welcome back to Demon’s ‘Disco Discharge’ series, originally issued in a series of 2CD collections between 2009 and
2012. The themed compilations of full-length, extended Disco originals, lovingly curated by the mysterious “MrPinks”
and with detailed sleeve notes by author and Disco aficionado Alan Jones, have remained in-demand among collectors
and the club cognoscenti. This time around, the series kicks off with ‘Classic Disco’ and ‘Disco Fever USA’, both issued
in new-formatted 2CD Deluxe gatefold sleeves and, for the first time, as 2LP coloured 140-gram vinyl editions.
While Disco happened the whole world over, ‘Disco Fever USA’ cherry-picks 12 milestones hailing from its American
birthplace on 140g White vinyl. Alongside lesser-known cuts from the likes of Fern Kinney, Gloria Gaynor and Boys
Town Gang there’s also another wealth of treasures including a rare instrumental version of Earth, Wind & Fire’s
‘Boogie Wonderland’, the sublime ‘Like An Eagle’ by sometime gay porn actor Dennis Parker and Bionic Boogie’s ‘Risky
Changes’, a track you could say predicted Chicago House sound a full ten years before the fact.

With time, we come to understand the way the joy of connection is mirrored by the void of loss, how the constancy of love is matched only by the impermanence of life, the simple idea that we could not create light if we did not risk the dark - we'd never need to. So it is with METZ, a band once known for blowing out eardrums with songs of joyous rage who have, over their past few records, begun exploring ways to turn abrasiveness into atmospherics, the evolution of their sound not only a reflection of the maturing of the band themselves but also of a changed world that demands nuance and compassion to comprehend and to survive. It was a journey already underway on 2020's Atlas Vending, but one that reaches new heights on Up On Gravity Hill, where the Canadian trio creates a kaleidoscopic sonic world as tender as it is dark, aided once again by engineer Seth Manchester (Mdou Moctar, Lingua Ignota, Battles, The Body). Deep, detailed, and unyieldingly personal, it is not only METZ's most powerful record to date but also their most beautiful. Still three punks from Ontario at heart, guitarist and vocalist Alex Edkins, drummer Hayden Menzies, and bassist Chris Slorach waste no time as opener "No Reservation/Love Comes Crashing" sweeps in like a wave, sonically and thematically setting the scene for the record to come. A dynamic song about feeling suspended in stasis, layers of dissonance melt into a restlessly heady outro marked by escalating crescendos of shimmering noise that reach for the stars - and is that a violin quivering brightly beneath those elegant swells of guitar, those charging drum fills, those intricate bass lines? It is indeed, courtesy of composer Owen Pallett; his presence an immediate indicator that METZ are thinking more cinematically than ever before. The change is partially inspired by Edkins' work as a scorer for film and television and his pop-leaning solo project, Weird Nightmare, where, he says, he learned to write more intuitively, letting his emotions lead the way. But make no mistake: Up On Gravity Hill is a total band effort, the work of three musicians who have been playing together for over a decade, with all the trust that entails. For those who believe in the power of the rock band to exemplify the highest resonance of human connection, there is much on Up On Gravity Hill to lift the spirit, a puzzle worth repeated listening to unlock or just to get lost in again and again. Rather than the music being flattened into a single plane, the band explores "the space above the cymbals," resulting in some of the most spacious, sympathetic, and accessible songs - could we call them pop? - of their career. If this seems contradictory, well, METZ has always been something of a contradiction. "We've never been heavy enough for metal or hardcore purists, but we're way too heavy for indie rock. We just don't have a lane - and that's okay. We exist outside the lines of delineation. I think this record is even more like that," says Edkins.

After a successful tour following the release of "Alors quoi!" on Bongo Joe records, accompanied by a drummer/percussionist change, the prospect of what comes next naturally arose. Elements surfaced, including a desire for more low frequencies, a fascination with the marimba/vibraphone, and a liberating indifference to the difference between recorded and live performances. To evolve, the team collaborated with outsider Kwake Bass, known for collaborations with Kae Tempest, Tirzah, Mica Levi, and others. Despite aesthetic differences from Meril Wubslin's previous albums, this divergence was seen as key—an enriching risk that resulted in a unique blend of influences. The acoustic core of Meril Wubslin now embraces electronic elements, revealing a more powerful and urban dimension. While maintaining a commitment to French lyrics, the themes explore the concrete yet remain grounded in the intimate and the sensitive, avoiding overly clear and univocal messages.

What a difference a year makes, right? HOUSE Of ALL's follow-up to their self-titled debut came about at some risk to band and label . . . so absolutely sure of their debut, Martin Bramah asked for an advance on recording costs for the follow-up before their self-titled album had even been released. Needless to say, things went pretty well with the debut, which led to a few sold-out tours, wildly enthusiastic press and great sales. Follow-ups do come with perils, but perhaps Bramah's presumption was the very thing which has allowed CONTINUUM to escape the dread second album syndrome, because . . . it's fantastic! Whatever initial re-establishment of synaptic connection was needed to get things grooving on their debut, after many years since they'd last played together (excepting Peter Greenway, whose genuine bravery in joining four former members of The Fall whom he alone had never played with before) is history now. The grooves are bigger, the lyrics brilliant, Tomos Williams' production is top-notch and the necessity sitting on this album while the first one kept on rolling offered the advantage of allowing Dave Trumfio (of The Mekons and Pulsars) time to fine-tune the mixing and mastering . . . and it sounds HOT.

Tauchen Sie ein in eine harmonische Mischung aus rauen Emotionen und musikalischer Brillanz. 'The Color Purple (Music From and Inspired By)' verspricht ein Hörerlebnis, das zutiefst nostalgisch und erfrischend neu zugleich ist. So trumpft das Album mit einem Ensemble auf, das seinesgleichen sucht - der für den Golden Globe nominierten Fantasia mit ihren gefühlvollen Melodien, Taraji B. Henson mit ihrer emotionalen Tiefe, Colman Domingo mit seiner fesselnden Energie, der für den Golden Globe nominierten Danielle Brooks mit ihrer kraftvollen Resonanz, H.E.R. mit ihrer zeitgenössischen Kunst und Hallie Bailey mit ihrem strahlenden Gesang. Und Musik von den Grammy-prämierten Songwritern des Musicals - Brenda Russell, Allee Willis und Stephen Bray. Doch hört die Magie nicht bei den zeitlosen Klassikern auf.
Tauchen Sie noch tiefer ein und lassen Sie sich verzaubern von einem neuen Kapitel und neuer Musik von Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Keyshia Cole, Coco Jones, Jorja Smith, Celeste, Mary Mary und October London sowie einer atemberaubenden Kollaboration von USHER & H.E.R.
Von Liebe und Schmerz bis hin zu Widerstandskraft und Erlösung - diese Songs fangen die Essenz von 'The Color Purple' ein und ebnen gleichzeitig den Weg für eine neue musikalische Ära. Und für diejenigen, die einen modernen Twist suchen, gibt es Remixe von Missy Elliot featuring Megan Thee Stallion und Timbaland featuring Black Thought. So schlägt 'The Color Purple' auch eine Brücke zwischen Generationen von Musikliebhabern.

Saint Saviour, the alt-pop solo act from singer-songwriter Becky Jones, has released her much anticipated fourth album, Sunseeker via VLF Records. Produced again by Bill Ryder-Jones, Sunseeker is an experiment in challenging dourness; eleven tracks of warm, light, baroque pop that swim in light. It features collaborations with the aforementioned Bill Ryder-Jones as well as indie-pysch duo Jadu Heart and The Maccabees frontman Orlando Weeks.

Returning to Intrepid Skin after her brilliant debut EP, and following on from a string of acclaimed releases since then, Berlin-based producer, DJ, and label owner Valerie Ace presents four new cuts of powerful hard dance and techno. Strass and Stress is out 1st March as both vinyl and digital.

With a background in organising DIY raves and a commitment to community-led efforts in electronic music, Valerie carefully fuses references from a range of genres into a singular, contemporary take on techno. Guided by an instinctive ear for experimental, groove-driven frameworks, her strain of dance music is hard-edged but mischievous, playful but heartfelt.

Diving straight into the peak hours, opening track 'Taking a Risk' is a swirl of hard kicks, frantic alarms and distorted leads; a statement of intent for what is to follow. Hot on its heels is the aptly-titled 'Slay'- a marching roller with double drops of acid, warped sonics and echoing glitches. Plunging into a hazier zone, 'Anxious not Afraid' takes an intoxicated spin on psytrance, building a vast acoustic space with equal parts tension and release. Closing off the EP, 'How To Fit In' jumps back onto the floor with an unrelenting spiral of
industrial-leaning hard drum chaos.

Strass and Stress is an all gas no brakes package of four crucial cuts from a producer on top of her game.

Whatdufaque?! Dutch artist Renée Van Trier is back on Swiss label CAF? for another record! Following her first album released in early 2020, she comes back with “HUMBLE,” the soundtrack of her new eponymous show performed at De Pont Museum (NL) and Arsenic (CH).

“At birth you are a promise, but at the same time also the greatest possible risk.” Inspired by children’s dances on TikTok where happy facades coexist with exploitative backgrounds, Renée Van Trier creates a fantasy world that’s anything but Disneyland. You’re invited to experience its soundtrack, taking you through dark atmospheres, eerie voices, glitched techno, and uplifting climaxes. Over the course of the 11 tracks, Renée Van Trier morphs into a dolphin, a puppet, and many other different characters, maintaining a blurry border between amazement and creepiness. Everyone wants the best for their children, but sometimes it doesn’t end well.

The Snuts präsentieren "Millennials": einen scharfen, knurrenden 10-Track-Kracher. Von Anfang bis Ende, von oben bis unten, wurde Millennials komplett nach dem Skript von The Snuts produziert. Das Ergebnis: eine knackige, straffe, fettfreie Meisterklasse in Sachen Songwriting und Produktion. The Snuts haben ein Chartstürmer- und ein Top-3-Album in der Tasche, Songs, die Themen angreifen, die die Jugend von heute betreffen.

The Snuts wollen etwas riskieren. Und mit Millennials haben The Snuts dieses Versprechen eingelöst und drehen zu Höchstform auf!