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Die texanische New-Southern-Gothic-Band OCEANS OF SLUMBER verwandelt sich auf ihrem unglaublichen neuen Album 'Starlight and Ash'. Die Puppenstube, die von 'Winter' (2016) bis zum wild beklatschten 'Oceans Of Slumber' (2020) dauerte, ist nun vorbei. Ausgestattet mit einem tiefgründigen musikalischen Hintergrund, einer unerschütterlichen Verehrung für den amerikanischen Süden und einer künstlerischen Neugierde mit leuchtenden Augen haben OCEANS OF SLUMBER einen klanglichen Ausdruck wie kein anderer geschaffen. Sie sind einzigartig geworden, der erste (und wahrscheinlich nicht der letzte) Zugang zu einem Stil, den man nur New Southern Gothic nennen kann. Angeführt von der unnachahmlichen Kraft, Bandbreite und Anmut der Sängerin Cammie Beverly, stellt 'Starlight and Ash' OCEANS OF SLUMBER in eine eigene Liga. Es ist ebenso eine eloquente Erweiterung der berühmten Singer-Songwriter Nick Cave und Chris Stapleton wie der herzzerreißende Puls von Type O Negative und Katatonia. 'Starlight and Ash' ist kein Metal, aber seine Kanten sind es

Nachpressung des Albums von 2015. Obwohl er vielleicht nicht so bekannt ist, hat sich die sinnträchtige, deutlich amerikanische Musik von Kenniff zu einem allgegenwärtigen Sound gemausert, der im Radio, in Filmen, im Fernsehen und in Werbung von Apple, Facebook, Google und anderen auftaucht. Aufgenommen über drei Jahre hinweg fungieren die Songs auf seinem neuen Album ,Sometimes" wie ein Tagebuch, das die kurzen Momente am Tag dokumentiert, in denen Kenniff sich für Trost und unendliche kreative Möglichkeiten dem Klavier zuwandte. Kenniff schrieb und nahm alles auf dem Album selbst auf, mit der Ausnahme von ,A Word I Give", das eine Kollaboration mit dem japanischen Pianisten Ryuichi Sakamoto ist, der die Musik von GOLDMUND einst als ,so, so, so wunderschön" beschrieb. In einem Interview mit NPR diskutierte Keith Kenniff seine Vorliebe für Musik aus der Zeit des Bürgerkriegs und ihre Möglichkeit, ,in nur wenigen Noten solche Geschichten" zu erzählen. Auch die Improvisationen auf ,Sometimes" schaffen es, trotz ihrer technischen und kompositionellen Einfachheit, tiefgründig zu sein. Subtile Details und Dynamiken drücken das aus, was sonst nicht zu artikulieren wäre. ENG Though he may not be a household name, Kenniff's evocative, distinctly American music has become quietly ubiquitous in the past few years, often appearing on NPR, in films, on TV, and in ads for Apple, Facebook, and Google among others. Recorded over the course of three years, the material on his new album Sometimes functions as a journal, documenting brief moments in Kenniff's day when he could turn to the piano as a source of solace and unending creative possibilities. Kenniff wrote and recorded everything on the album with the exception of the track "A Word I Give", which is a collaboration with preeminent Japanese pianist Ryuichi Sakamoto, who once described Goldmund's music as "...so, so, so beautiful." In an interview with NPR's Weekend Edition Keith Kenniff discussed his appreciation of Civil War era music, and it's ability to covey "...so much story in so few notes." Similarly, these improvisations manage to be richly evocative despite their technical and compositional simplicity, using subtle details and dynamics to express what might otherwise be inexpressible.

7A Records announces the 50th Anniversary expanded reissue of Michael Nesmith’s ground-breaking 1972 album ‘And The Hits Just Keep On Comin’’. The album has been expanded with bonus tracks and features extensive liner notes. The Vinyl issue is pressed on 180g Honey Beige Coloured vinyl and comes in a gatefold sleeve.

"'AYII' is a collection of roadside Souvenirs on the rural highway of our
inevitable evolution," shares Jon Stone.
"Polaroids
Storms. Open fields. Tears. Therapy. Burning of fields to make way for new
growth. We've attempted to open personal doors that have been patiently waiting,
annoyingly, stubbornly waiting for a sliver of truth. Hopefully we've delivered."
Kristy Osmunson adds, "Parenthood. This album was created during the most
pivotal time in life made while creating two humans. If I could capture the
process this music brought about in five words I would say, sobriety, health,
growth, responsibility and joy. This last five years has been a massive transition.
Playing festivals, weddings, funerals, therapy sessions, and music lessons has
become the soundtrack of life. 'Gonna Be You' landed on this planet the same
weekend as my first son so I will love that song through eternity. As she always
does, this music brought about a full revolution in my existence as a human." The
11-track project was produced by American Young, Kyle Schlienger, Lee Brice, and
John Vesley.

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

The impressive new LP from Cypress Hill, Back In Black, is the group's
10th studio album - They are arguably one of the most successful hiphop groups of all time, celebrating 30 years of non-stop touring
They are the biggest-selling Latin hip-hop group in the world and the first hip-hop
group to have sold multi- platinum albums, having sold over 30 million albums
worldwide.Cypress Hill are considered to be among the main progenitors of West
Coast and 1990s hip-hop, and the group has received critical acclaimed for their
first five albums. As well as this, all of the group members advocate for and are
very vocal about the medicinal and recreational use of cannabis in the United
States. In 2019, Cypress Hill became the first hip-hop group to have a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Cypress Hill will join heavy metal giants Slipknot on the 2022 Knotfest Roadshow
(April 2022 tour).

Raw Poetic produzierte sein neues Album 'Laminated Skies' mit seinem Buddy und häufigen Kollaborateur Damu The Fudgemunk und Gastmusikern wie Pat 'P' Fritz (git) und Luke Stewart (bass). Musikalisch schöpft das mehrdimensionale Werk aus den Genres, die Hip-Hop ausmachen, und Einflüssen aus allen Facetten des Spiritual Jazz. 'Laminated Skies' ist Raw Poetics sechstes Soloalbum und das erste offizielle auf einem Label. Qualität ist ein stetiges Synonym des Künstlers, der auf einen reichhaltigen Lebenslauf mit den Eltern in der Black Panther-Bewegung, mit seinem Onkel Jazzlegende Archie Shepp, als Lead-MC des Duos Panacea (Rawkus) und mit Kollabos mit K-Def, Blu und Kev Brown zurückschauen kann. Das gemeinsam mit Damu produzierte 'Ocean Bridges' (2020) mit dem Saxophonisten Archie Shepp wird als eines der besten Alben des Jahres gefeiert.

Raw Poetic produzierte sein neues Album 'Laminated Skies' mit seinem Buddy und häufigen Kollaborateur Damu The Fudgemunk und Gastmusikern wie Pat 'P' Fritz (git) und Luke Stewart (bass). Musikalisch schöpft das mehrdimensionale Werk aus den Genres, die Hip-Hop ausmachen, und Einflüssen aus allen Facetten des Spiritual Jazz. 'Laminated Skies' ist Raw Poetics sechstes Soloalbum und das erste offizielle auf einem Label. Qualität ist ein stetiges Synonym des Künstlers, der auf einen reichhaltigen Lebenslauf mit den Eltern in der Black Panther-Bewegung, mit seinem Onkel Jazzlegende Archie Shepp, als Lead-MC des Duos Panacea (Rawkus) und mit Kollabos mit K-Def, Blu und Kev Brown zurückschauen kann. Das gemeinsam mit Damu produzierte 'Ocean Bridges' (2020) mit dem Saxophonisten Archie Shepp wird als eines der besten Alben des Jahres gefeiert.

This hip hop dancefloor gem from 1989 has been lovingly remastered and reissued in Tribute to Stezo's sad and far too early passing last year! The original '89 copies, backed with the equally strong "It's My Turn" are changing hands for £100+ and the iconic label Sleeping Bag Records can't have that! This isn't Antiques Roadshow, music is for all...but this is a rare find! Original '89 designed Sleeping Bag Sleeve. Often played by Steve Lamaq on 6 Music which surprises us too.

White Vinyl

The Duo met on a rainy day in Tilburg (NL) while working for a dance project — they came down from very different roads. Fhunyue, a stage director–performer–musician chameleon, works alone or collaborate with Annalena Fröhlich (Robinrobin, Just Another Woman In Space), Thom Luz, Unplush, Peeping Tom, Dorit Chrysler, Ko Murobushi, Damien Jalet, The Scottish Dance Theatre, Bern Ballett, for a most colourful variety of venues in Europe. She is a member of the music association Bongo Joe (Switzerland). Sven, an established musician living between Hamburg and Nairobi, who released several records on Honest Jons and Bureau B and collaborated with several artists like Shabaka Hutchings, Ogoya Nengo, Marc Ribot, John McEntire, Sofia Jernberg, Nils Frahm, Hauschka, F.S. Blumm and Stefan Schneider.

Their encounter quickly revealed that both their musical sensitivity and their instruments (Marimbas, Drums, Percussions, Electronics, Theremin, Buchla Synthesizer, Piano) matched stunningly, and that they had to play together. After a short while of rocky life adventures and theatre projects in which they collaborated, their off rehearsal sessions would become a lively necessity. The wish to give birth to a project entirely their own, grew so strong that they locked themselves in Sven’s studio at Jaffestrasse in Hamburg, and started working on the debut of their duet. They are happy to present and share with you their labour of love, in hope that it will be good to your heart.

Paris-based producer Alexandre Bazin returns to Umor Rex with another side to his music approach. If in Full Moon (Umor Rex 2016) he explored the analog electronic music merged with classical minimalism, in this new work, Bazin dives into totally rhythmic terrains while maintaining his devotion to electronic exploration and acoustic drums. Four Steps even rubs shoulders without discretion with techno music and the dancefloor, and retains his refined obsession with melody and structure.

In these pieces, Bazin lends space to electronic soundscapes, experimentation, and computer programming, everything derived from precise compositions. With melodies created with Buchla Music Easel, EMS Synthi, among other instruments, Four Steps –through the drone and ambient music– crosses roads with elegant and infinite techno loops. The album is a 4 track EP released in vinyl 12" in 45 rpm, finely mastered by John Tejada with a focal point in harmonics and dimension, offering an exquisite hi-fidelity experience even for the digital lossless audience.

Alexandre Bazin has been a member of the France GRM (Groupe de Recherches Musicales) since 2005.

Composed & mixed by Alexandre Bazin at Château Rouge. Drums in Four Steps III by François Desmoulins. Mastered by John Tejada in Sherman Oaks. Artwork & photos by Daniel Castrejón in Mexico City.

The Duo met on a rainy day in Tilburg (NL) while working for a dance project — they came down from very different roads. Fhunyue, a stage director–performer–musician chameleon, works alone or collaborate with Annalena Fröhlich (Robinrobin, Just Another Woman In Space), Thom Luz, Unplush, Peeping Tom, Dorit Chrysler, Ko Murobushi, Damien Jalet, The Scottish Dance Theatre, Bern Ballett, for a most colourful variety of venues in Europe. She is a member of the music association Bongo Joe (Switzerland). Sven, an established musician living between Hamburg and Nairobi, who released several records on Honest Jons and Bureau B and collaborated with several artists like Shabaka Hutchings, Ogoya Nengo, Marc Ribot, John McEntire, Sofia Jernberg, Nils Frahm, Hauschka, F.S. Blumm and Stefan Schneider.

Their encounter quickly revealed that both their musical sensitivity and their instruments (Marimbas, Drums, Percussions, Electronics, Theremin, Buchla Synthesizer, Piano) matched stunningly, and that they had to play together. After a short while of rocky life adventures and theatre projects in which they collaborated, their off rehearsal sessions would become a lively necessity. The wish to give birth to a project entirely their own, grew so strong that they locked themselves in Sven’s studio at Jaffestrasse in Hamburg, and started working on the debut of their duet. They are happy to present and share with you their labour of love, in hope that it will be good to your heart.

"We're a bunch of outsiders who refused to be kept out," says High Pulp drummer Bobby Granfelt. "We've never had an academic approach to jazz-most of us grew up playing in DIY bands-so it was the rawness and the energy and the absolute freedom of the music that called to us in the first place." Indeed, there's something defiant, something utterly liberating about High Pulp's remarkable ANTI- Records debut, Pursuit of Ends. Drawing on punk rock, shoegaze, hip-hop, and electronic music, the band's brand of experimental jazz is both vintage and futuristic all at once, hinting at times to everything from Miles Davis and Duke Ellington to Aphex Twin and My Bloody Valentine. The songs here balance meticulous composition with visceral spontaneity, and the performances are nothing short of virtuosic, fueled by raw, ecstatic horn runs ducking and weaving their way around thick bass lines and dizzying percussion. While the Seattle-based collective is centered around a crew of six core members, they also make judicious use of a broad network of collaborators on the album, wrangling special guests like sax star Jaleel Shaw (Roy Haynes, Mingus Big Band), harpist Brandee Younger (Ravi Coltrane, The Roots), GRAMMY-nominated trumpet?er Theo Coker, and keyboardist Jacob Mann (Rufus Wainwright, Louis Cole) to help stretch the boundaries of their already-expansive sonic universe. The result is a lush, cinematic collection that's as unpredictable as it is engrossing, an urgent, exhilarating instrumental album that manages to speak to the moment without uttering a single word.

"Satriani and his touring band, who all recorded remotely in separate areas of the world during lockdown, deliver an album-length journey that never dulls. The Elephants of Mars crackles with an exciting new energy, briskly traveling through stylistic roads that feel freshly updated, viewed through new eyes.
From the gripping, sci-fi madness of “Through A Mother’s Day Darkly,” to the isolation felt in a decaying urban landscape, as depicted in “Sahara,” to the general endorphin levels that peak as the elephants finally roar in the title track, The Elephants of Mars will stampede across your mind, leaving a sonic imprint that doesn’t fade.
Thanks to the pandemic removing all time constraints, The Elephants of Mars truly represents the album that Satriani himself hoped he could deliver with his band. “We did everything. We tried the craziest ideas. And we entertained every notion we had about turning something backwards, upside down, seeing what could happen.”"

"Satriani and his touring band, who all recorded remotely in separate areas of the world during lockdown, deliver an album-length journey that never dulls. The Elephants of Mars crackles with an exciting new energy, briskly traveling through stylistic roads that feel freshly updated, viewed through new eyes.
From the gripping, sci-fi madness of “Through A Mother’s Day Darkly,” to the isolation felt in a decaying urban landscape, as depicted in “Sahara,” to the general endorphin levels that peak as the elephants finally roar in the title track, The Elephants of Mars will stampede across your mind, leaving a sonic imprint that doesn’t fade.
Thanks to the pandemic removing all time constraints, The Elephants of Mars truly represents the album that Satriani himself hoped he could deliver with his band. “We did everything. We tried the craziest ideas. And we entertained every notion we had about turning something backwards, upside down, seeing what could happen.”"

Repress in soon!!

Morning Trip & Yoga Records are proud to finally reveal one of the ultimate lost masterworks of new age music: Alice Damon’s Windsong. Gently propelled by Damon's haunting breath-of-life vocal winds reminiscent of Joan La Barbara underscored by field recordings and Damon's fretless bass sound calling to mind mid-70 Joni Mitchell, Windsong is traveling music, for the roads or for the skies. Instantly moving, it conjures vistas both romantically familiar and cosmically mysterious — waterfalls and wind, the voice of the earth, as heard through heavenly prisms.

Damon attended college in Massachusetts, where she formed and fronted the all-female garage band called The Moppets in the late 60s. The band began to garner national attention, but Damon moved instead to the wilds of northern Vermont to homestead and raise a family. In 1981 or thereabouts she was able to gain use of an early Sony digital home recorder, and created her masterwork, Windsong.

But Damon waited until 1990 to release a packaged version of this album, now titled "Windsong II", and sent samples to regional distributors like Vermont’s fabled Silo-Alcazar, where a copy of the album was first discovered, but little evidence exists of a proper commercial release. Alice Damon passed on in 2011 and remained essentially unknown until the landmark I Am The Center: Private Issue New Age In America 1950-1990 first revealed her genius to a wider audience two years later. Now, just in time for the recording's 40th anniversary, Alice Damon's Windsong may at last be heard as one of the most singular, moving and profound examples of new age music's psychedelic essence. Morning Trip & Yoga
Records proudly present Windsong.

***
Marching feet at dawn,
walking off the earth.
Two roads diverged,
I took the one less traveled by.
***

Following the release of Collision and Coalescence, Slovakian label mappa commits to the duo Grykë Pyje, releasing their third LP "Squirlich Stroll". Maintaining the fabled tone of their debut on the label, Jani Hirvonen (Uton) and Johannes Schebler (Baldruin) dig deeper into the sonic vein of myth and fabric of yonder. The music in "Squirlich Stroll" unravels as a yarn brought back from a wild voyage.

On uncharted areas of medieval maps where potential dangers were thought to exist, the inscription "Here be dragons" was used to warn as much as to tempt explorers willing to cross limits. Myth awaited them as a blank page of dormant territory, yet also to be proved unlike and reinvented. In such pliable borders, wonder had the favorable conditions to blend experience and imagination, crafting creatures with an eye instead of a bellybutton, arms instead of ears and ears instead of fingers, hypnotizing spirals where a mouth should have been. These chimeras, though fictitious, allowed explorers to express their delusions along with their fears. "Here be dreams", we hear nightmares. Here be mushrooms the size of pyramids that sing lullabies for mountains. Here be talking roads that lead to volcanoes throats and spit you back to flight. Here be art of bending trees into braided bridges like in Meghalaya, and the time gap between seed and living ruins.

Let that be the compass, the astrolabe. Yet, the music in Squirlich Stroll comes with these journeys already embraced, unraveling as a story told by wanderers visiting town, nourishing fantasy. The sonic language and diction employed here are crystal clear. Sounds are sharp and pure. Growls, howls, shrieks, tingles, rattles, moans, excretions and even hymns sung by landscape and creatures alike do not run over each other. There is no chaos, but ambience, cohabitation. The duo masters dramaturgy, providing every voice with focused turns and character, guarding their parley with caution and care, convoking them mainly through soothing synth melodies that enable an analgesic, sedative mood. Clusters of sounds gathered are articulated through the album with the inherent luminosity and required stability to accomplish what peaks in, as the title of the final track reads, a new dawn.

Raw Poetic produzierte sein neues Album 'Laminated Skies' mit seinem Buddy und häufigen Kollaborateur Damu The Fudgemunk und Gastmusikern wie Pat 'P' Fritz (git) und Luke Stewart (bass). Musikalisch schöpft das mehrdimensionale Werk aus den Genres, die Hip-Hop ausmachen, und Einflüssen aus allen Facetten des Spiritual Jazz. 'Laminated Skies' ist Raw Poetics sechstes Soloalbum und das erste offizielle auf einem Label. Qualität ist ein stetiges Synonym des Künstlers, der auf einen reichhaltigen Lebenslauf mit den Eltern in der Black Panther-Bewegung, mit seinem Onkel Jazzlegende Archie Shepp, als Lead-MC des Duos Panacea (Rawkus) und mit Kollabos mit K-Def, Blu und Kev Brown zurückschauen kann. Das gemeinsam mit Damu produzierte 'Ocean Bridges' (2020) mit dem Saxophonisten Archie Shepp wird als eines der besten Alben des Jahres gefeiert.

Quindi Records returns once more to the swooning romanticism of Cabaret du Ciel, the long-running project from Andrea Desidera and Gian Luigi Morosin. After the contemporary material which made up long-player The Breath Of Infinity, Raintears heads back into the group's archives and focuses on a limited cassette release from 1991.

Originally released on Morosin's own Ionisation Tapes, Raintears is described as heralding a new phase for Cabaret du Ciel following their earlier Solarisation and Weather Colours cassettes. This revised, expanded version of the release opens with 'Raintears (Piano Version)', which originally came out on an Ionisation compilation entitled Imago Sonora 1. Truly evoking the spirit of the track and its meaning, it was recorded on a rainy Sunday afternoon when Desidera's friend and trained pianist Francesco Martignon heard the original melody for 'Raintears' and proceeded to improvise on the theme, with Desidera and Morosin embellishinbg Martignon's exquisite playing with subtle touches of synth and sampling. In its fragile, tape-worn repose, the piece is loaded with the delicate ambience a rainy Sunday afternoon implies - calm, melancholic and wistful.

'A New Day' is a piece cast in light and shade, contrasting two core melodic phrases expressed through synth and guitar, with a light touch of speech sampling adding to the cinematic poise of the track. 'Time Of The Twins' originally appeared as a single track on the cassette release, but here it's framed as two distinct parts which meet in the middle. The first half is patient, gliding ambience rich in the harmonic interplay and winding narratives which typifies Cabaret du Ciel overall. The second half opens up like a flower looking for the sun, all pronounced keys pirouetting across the fundamental chord progression established in the first chapter.

'A Delvaux Postcard', previously titled 'East Roads', takes on a spectral, spacious form as it passes by slow, rhythmic pulses and freewheeling synths, momentarily joined by scattered shards of sampled voice layered and filtered in a manner which reminded Morosin of Belgian surrealist painter Paul Delvaux. The EP closes with the original version of 'Raintears' (billed here as 'Raintears II'), a plaintive and disarmingly beautiful ambient piece centered on Desidera's light and poignant playing. As Morosin himself describes, "Andrea is in a full state of grace, touching the listener through his fingers with the notes into their deepest emotions. The first time I listened to the basic version, I was just speechless."

In the early 1970s the island of Jamaica, and in particular its reggae musicians, developed a love affair with small Japanese motor bikes. Honda bikes were eulogised in Big Youth’s ‘S90 Skank’ and Dillinger’s ‘CB200’, whilst their rival was lauded on Shorty The President’s ‘Yamaha Skank’, to name the most obvious examples. The plot of the film ‘Rockers’ revolved around how transformative a motorbike could be, providing a livelihood whilst projecting an image of success in the ghetto.
Vivian ‘Yabby You’ Jackson had been fiercely independent as a singer and producer, and the success of his early self-pressed productions, mostly on the Prophets or Vivian Jackson labels, had given him a sense of hard earned autonomy. A motorbike was one of the fruits of his labours, acquired as a way of zipping around the capital’s roads to deliver records and organise recording sessions. His wife Jean could often be see hanging on to the back. Twelve years after his death, she remembers various exploits on the pot-holed roads of Kingston.
Jean Vencella Williams: ‘His first motorbike was a Honda 50 and then a 100, a Yamaha. I remember the Yamaha, it was a dark blue colour, it must have been from the mid 70s til the early 80s. I used to ride around on the back and we ride all over, like we go to the country cos his mother lived in Clarendon. And he had a little carrier thing for boxes of records, so we go to Mandeville in Manchester, sometimes to Spanish Town fe sell records. Most of the time he sell them to the shops, like Randys, and the people them buy it from there. He had pressing plants like Byron Lee and later Tuff Gong, so when the records pressed we find out the time when we get back the records, which usually was at least a couple of days or about a week. And later when we living in Clarendon we come into Kingston to pick them up at the pressing plant. And when he book the studio he might book two or three days and we come in and usually stay til late.

‘He used to carry the records from the different pressing plants on the bike, but because of the rain and weather you know it not so good for the records, and also the sun beating down. Then Wayne Wade had an accident on the Yamaha, and he was hurt quite bad, and he had to go to the hospital for quite a while. Well Yabby didn’t ride it after that, cos it was getting dangerous with so many cars coming in. So he gave up the Yamaha and bought a Toyota Carina, and that car was very good to him. Then the Carina become a little shaky, so he got a Toyota Corolla which he drove until his death.’

This album presents a sample of the best of those ‘Dubs and Versions’ that Yabby was ferrying around town, whether rarities, B-sides or tracks culled from albums that showcase the breadth of Yabby’s productions between 1975 and 1982.

This release comes with sleevenotes original artwork.

The Neptune Power Federation brings back the love song and rocks as furiously as ever on their fifth studio album, Le Demon De L’Amour! The Imperial Princess and her crew of Aussie rockers lord over eight love songs that prove few can push the boundaries of rock and metal like The Neptune Power Federation! Heading into the creation of their fifth studio album, Le Demon De L’Amour, Australian psychedelic rock and roll brigade The Neptune Power Federation couldn’t let go of the fact that love songs had been commandeered, in their words, by “soft rockers, bedwetters and the introvert crowd.” Whereas rock had its glory period during the 1970s and 80s, the art of the love song is now lost within heavier music. Few bands are now willing to venture into such territory — metal and rock have settled comfortably into typical, predictable lyrical tropes that fail to pull at the heartstrings the way they used to. On Le Demon De L’Amour, The Neptune Power Federation reclaims the art of the love song as their own. Off the heels of their acclaimed 2019 Memoirs of a Rat Queen studio album, the members of The Neptune Power Federation utilized the unexpected downtime afforded from the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic to craft an album that takes more chances than its predecessor. While the band’s trademark rock swagger and prog tendencies still come into play, Le Demon ups the voltage and energy. True, there is a multitude of genre-blurring taking place, but the album’s infectious choruses and leaden riffs easily re-imagine metal and rock’s glory eras without blatant thievery.

Of course, all roads to The Neptune Power Federation run through lead vocalist Screamin’ Loz Sutch and her stage persona, “The Imperial Priestess.” Le Demon’s eight cuts find the indomitable frontwoman in top form, belting out tales of love from a female’s perspective, weaving in stories of cult worship, murder and hypnotism. The album’s artwork (created by guitarist Inverted CruciFox) also introduces her new nemesis — The Wizzard Princess. Recorded at bass player JayTanic Ritual’s The Ped Food Factory in Marrickville, Sydney, with mixing duties provided by Clem Bennett, Le Demon De L’Amour leads The Neptune Power Federation into their tenth anniversary next year. Their journey has taken them from the sweaty clubs of Sydney to a global audience. Now armed with eight love songs sure to melt and captivate the most hardened metal hearts, The Neptune Power Federation boldly goes where few bands dare to go.



"Maybe their best album so far!" - Deaf Forever (DE), 8.5/10, Soundcheck pos. 7 !!

"They can even top the phenomenal predecessor!" - Metal Hammer (DE), 5.5/7

"'Le Demon De'L'Amour' is definitely their most mature and complete album to date!"

"Finest party rock music of the most beautiful kind!" -(DE), 9/10

"An album full of thick, good riffs, solos, melodies and choruses that stick in mind - definitely recommended!" - Rockmuzine (NL), 85/100

"They are in impressive form!" - Saitenkult (DE), 8.5/10

"The Neptune Power Federation add a great piece of music to their list of achievements." - Heavy Music Blog (DE), 8/10

"The band rocks a bit straighter and more pleasing than before through their love song concept." - Rock Hard (DE), 8/10, Soundcheck pos. 6 / Dynamit !!

Fabio & Grooverider have been at the forefront of UK dance music for over 3 decades. This is the roots of their story told through music. The 2 London DJ's are part of the DNA of the global Jungle / D&B movement and they have remained relevant, cutting edge, authoritative and essential to this truly underground art-form since it's inception. RAGE could arguably be the ground zero of Jungle. The party was started at London's cavernous Heaven club by Fabio & Grooverider in 1988, at the height of Acid House fever that was making it's way up and down the motorways, slip-roads, fields and warehouses of the M25 and further beyond every weekend, troubling the nation, the police, your parents and the press as it went. RAGE was a different beast, it certainly channelled some of that Acid energy but pitted it against the new and exciting sounds emanating from Belgium, Amsterdam, Detroit, Sheffield, Essex and Hackney and in turn created a new style, a new sonic attitude and energy in the process. Rumbling bass-lines, narcotic synth rushes and roughly chopped and sped-up breakbeats all merged into a style that we now know as Jungle. Nothing like this had been heard before, this was a brand new style and it was coming out of London's West End and Fabio & Grooverider were the people firmly behind it. RAGE is approaching its 30th anniversary. Its sonic and cultural legacy is still being felt today, Fabio & Groove are still shutting down raves and festivals every weekend all over the world with their superior DJ sets and musical knowledge guided by their pioneering spirit. This musical selection you hold in your hands, the first of 4 parts, sees them delve into their prodigious memories and record boxes to select a true musical representation of the very beginning of one of the UK's most unique and influential musical movements of the last 50 years. Across 4 x 2 x 12"s compilations we are taken on the journey through the sounds of RAGE, accompanied with track by track notes from Fabio & Groove themselves. This is the sound of the underground, from the inside out. This is a masterclass in the old-school. The roots. There is no filler here, it's simply ALL killer. Lovingly selected and programmed by the masters - 'The Living Shock' & 'The Ladies Choice'. Produced in conjunction with Above Board distribution and Fabio & Grooverider. All tracks mastered from original sources and fully licensed. Mastering by Optimum, Bristol. Artwork and design by Atelier Superplus. 2019

In 2006, Jimmy Hunt (then a proverbial punk-troubadour usually found in bars) and Ysael Pepin (bassist for Demon's Claws) started to jam here and there in one of the rooms of an apartment located above the late Zoobizarre in Montreal. Brian, Martin, and Dale eventually joined and the quintet recorded their first garage EP in two winter afternoons. Going against the ebb and flow of indie-pop, receiving praise in both languages all over Canada (La Presse, Exclaim!, Voir), Chocolat participated in the Francofolies de Montréal in 2007 and, in 2008, they were one of the first bands signed on a new label named Grosse Boîte, the French section of Dare To Care Records. They went on to release their first album, Piano élégant, which was met with great acclaim. It featured Beatle- esque melodies, a clearer sound and an addictive chanson side. During the two years that followed, between disheveled yet jolly efficient performances, Chocolat strung together shows and insolence, and even performed at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. Then, wanting to try something new, the band decided to take a break in the middle of 2010 and Jimmy Hunt eventually released his first solo album. Jimmy and Ysael kept contact and kept playing together, laying the foundations of an abstract project named Fantôme. Then, at the end of 2013, during the Holidays, while on a break from the tour promoting his second solo album, Maladie d'amour, Jimmy Hunt pitched some ideas on his tablet. The few demos he recorded consisted of linear sequences with drawling riffs interspersed with rhythmic breaks and rudimentary electronic effects. Realizing that Chocolat represented the ideal band to play these, Jimmy got the members together and invited his close friend Emmanuel Ethier (Jimmy Hunt, Cour de pirate) to replace Dale who had left for Europe. After only 3 practices, Jimmy booked the Victor studio in January 2014. For a few days, the guys recorded live and full band. In general, they stuck to the second or third take for each of the tracks. This allowed them to take advantage of the spontaneity of Ysael and Brian's garage games played on the mechanical tracks composed by Jimmy. As spring blossomed and schedules filled up, the guys managed to remotely mix what would become Tss tss, an album recorded between friends, a pop dump of white heat, a discharge of hypnotic rock, and, still under the Grosse Boîte label, an essential tool to hit the roads and travel across Quebec again.

She Drew The Gun are today announcing their return with new album Behave Myself. The follow-up to the critically acclaimed Revolution Of Mind, which was named among BBC 6 Music’s Albums Of The Year, is produced by Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, The Fall, The Kills, Working Men’s Club). The first music from the record is confirmed to arrive next month.

Under the moniker She Drew The Gun, songwriter Louisa Roach began by playing solo gigs around Liverpool, she quickly caught the attention of The Coral’s James Skelly who she began working with at Skeleton Key Records, recruiting band members along the way. At first glance Roach’s fuzzy psych-pop may suggest that the Wirral born songwriter is another ‘Cosmic Scouser’ but then you’re drawn into the spirit of rebellion, songs that rally against injustice and food banks and celebrate outsiderdom.

She Drew The Gun are today announcing their return with new album Behave Myself. The follow-up to the critically acclaimed Revolution Of Mind, which was named among BBC 6 Music’s Albums Of The Year, is produced by Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, The Fall, The Kills, Working Men’s Club). The first music from the record is confirmed to arrive next month.

Under the moniker She Drew The Gun, songwriter Louisa Roach began by playing solo gigs around Liverpool, she quickly caught the attention of The Coral’s James Skelly who she began working with at Skeleton Key Records, recruiting band members along the way. At first glance Roach’s fuzzy psych-pop may suggest that the Wirral born songwriter is another ‘Cosmic Scouser’ but then you’re drawn into the spirit of rebellion, songs that rally against injustice and food banks and celebrate outsiderdom.

"Rock and metal music have always been a haven for those who have bigger stories to tell; who have grander emotions to convey. For more than thirty years, Finnish figureheads Amorphis have done their best to carve their very own niche in heartfelt yet aggressive, melancholic yet soothing tunes. On “Halo”, their staggering fourteenth studio effort, the Fins underline their trailblazing status as one of the most original, culturally relevant and rewarding acts ever to emerge from the land of the thousand lakes. In the past, mythology and legend took the role of today’s pop culture: Stories and a set of values uniting us by giving us a voice and a tapestry on which we can find each other and identify with something. By weaving the tales of Finnish national epos “Kalevala” into their songs and interpreting them in a timeless way, Amorphis combine the role of ancient minstrels and luminaries of the modern world, honouring tradition without getting stuck in the past. The vibrant, lively, and touching beauty that is “Halo” highlights their musical and storytelling mastership on a once again soaring level: It’s a progressive, melodic, and quintessentially melancholic heavy metal masterwork plucked from the fickle void of inspiration by original guitarists Esa Holopainen and Tomi Koivusaari, bassist Olli-Pekka Laine, drummer Jan Rechberger, longtime keyboardist Santeri Kallio and vocalist Tomi Joutsen, the band’s long-standing lyrical consciousness Pekka Kainulainen and a selected group of world class audio professionals led by
renowned Swedish producer Jens Bogren. Considering the band’s prolonged journey in the forefront of innovative metal music, it’s difficult to grasp how Amorphis manages to raise the proverbial bar time and time again, presenting a more than worthy finale to the trilogy begun with 2015’s “Under the Red Cloud” followed by 2018’s “Queen of Time.” “It really is a great feeling that we can still produce very decent music as a band,” says Holopainen, a founding member of the band. “Perhaps a certain kind of self-criticism and long experience culminate in these latest albums.” To the songwriter himself, “Halo” sounds both familiar and different. “It is thoroughly recognizable Amorphis from beginning to end but the general atmosphere is a little bit heavier and more progressive and also organic compared to its predecessor,” he elaborates. Tomi Joutsen, the man with vocal cords capable of unleashing colossal, bear-like growls as well as singing soothing, mesmerising lullabies, adds, “To me, ‘Halo’ sounds a little more stripped down compared to ‘Queen Of Time’ and ‘Under The Red Cloud.’ However, don’t get me wrong: when a certain song needs to sound big, then it sounds very big.” He’s right, of course: By stripping down some of the arrangements, the monumental moments become even more monumental. That’s of course also thanks to producing renaissance man Jens Bogren who harvested the thirteen final tracks from a batch of thirty songs Amorphis offered him. “Jens is very demanding, but I really like to work with him,” says Holopainen. “He takes care of the whole project from start to finish, and he allows the musician to focus on just playing. I may not be able to thank Jens enough. Everything we’ve done together has been really great, and this co-operation has carried Amorphis significantly forward.” Indeed. Setting off with the stormy grandeur of opener “Northwards,” Amorphis take us on an epic journey through the lands of the north, their rich cultural and historical heritage and musical traditions. This is not only an album for fans or metal connoisseurs. It’s a must for every imaginative mind out there with a soft spot for cinematic soundscapes, triumphant melodies and breathtaking dynamics measuring the borderlands of light and dark. However, no Amorphis album would be complete without the imaginative and poetic storytelling of renowned lyricist and “Kalevala” expert Pekka Kainulainen. “From day one, Pekka has always been an enthusiastic and prolific lyricist for Amorphis,” says Joutsen. “It is a slow process of translating archaic Finnish poetry into English and adapting it our progressive rhythms. Fortunately, Pekka does everything on time and with great care.” Since 2007’s “Silent Waters,” Kainulainen has been navigating the mythological waters of his homeland with great skill and respect. For “Halo,” he outdid himself once again. “‘Halo’ is a loose themed record filled with adventurous tales about the mythical North tens of thousands of years ago,” he explains. “The lyrics tell of an ancient time when man wandered to these abandoned boreal frontiers after the ice age. While describing the revival of a seminal culture in a world of new opportunities, I also try to reach the sempiternal forces of the human mind.” Thirty-one years after their inception, with uncounted global tours under their belt and fourteen albums deep in their career, Amorphis still proves to be the musical fountain of youth, an extraordinary band constantly reinventing itself without abandoning its mystical roots. With “Halo”, they deliver an astonishing album that deserves to be played everywhere, transcending the realms of metal and rock by its sheer profoundness and musicality."

"Rock and metal music have always been a haven for those who have bigger stories to tell; who have grander emotions to convey. For more than thirty years, Finnish figureheads Amorphis have done their best to carve their very own niche in heartfelt yet aggressive, melancholic yet soothing tunes. On “Halo”, their staggering fourteenth studio effort, the Fins underline their trailblazing status as one of the most original, culturally relevant and rewarding acts ever to emerge from the land of the thousand lakes. In the past, mythology and legend took the role of today’s pop culture: Stories and a set of values uniting us by giving us a voice and a tapestry on which we can find each other and identify with something. By weaving the tales of Finnish national epos “Kalevala” into their songs and interpreting them in a timeless way, Amorphis combine the role of ancient minstrels and luminaries of the modern world, honouring tradition without getting stuck in the past. The vibrant, lively, and touching beauty that is “Halo” highlights their musical and storytelling mastership on a once again soaring level: It’s a progressive, melodic, and quintessentially melancholic heavy metal masterwork plucked from the fickle void of inspiration by original guitarists Esa Holopainen and Tomi Koivusaari, bassist Olli-Pekka Laine, drummer Jan Rechberger, longtime keyboardist Santeri Kallio and vocalist Tomi Joutsen, the band’s long-standing lyrical consciousness Pekka Kainulainen and a selected group of world class audio professionals led by
renowned Swedish producer Jens Bogren. Considering the band’s prolonged journey in the forefront of innovative metal music, it’s difficult to grasp how Amorphis manages to raise the proverbial bar time and time again, presenting a more than worthy finale to the trilogy begun with 2015’s “Under the Red Cloud” followed by 2018’s “Queen of Time.” “It really is a great feeling that we can still produce very decent music as a band,” says Holopainen, a founding member of the band. “Perhaps a certain kind of self-criticism and long experience culminate in these latest albums.” To the songwriter himself, “Halo” sounds both familiar and different. “It is thoroughly recognizable Amorphis from beginning to end but the general atmosphere is a little bit heavier and more progressive and also organic compared to its predecessor,” he elaborates. Tomi Joutsen, the man with vocal cords capable of unleashing colossal, bear-like growls as well as singing soothing, mesmerising lullabies, adds, “To me, ‘Halo’ sounds a little more stripped down compared to ‘Queen Of Time’ and ‘Under The Red Cloud.’ However, don’t get me wrong: when a certain song needs to sound big, then it sounds very big.” He’s right, of course: By stripping down some of the arrangements, the monumental moments become even more monumental. That’s of course also thanks to producing renaissance man Jens Bogren who harvested the thirteen final tracks from a batch of thirty songs Amorphis offered him. “Jens is very demanding, but I really like to work with him,” says Holopainen. “He takes care of the whole project from start to finish, and he allows the musician to focus on just playing. I may not be able to thank Jens enough. Everything we’ve done together has been really great, and this co-operation has carried Amorphis significantly forward.” Indeed. Setting off with the stormy grandeur of opener “Northwards,” Amorphis take us on an epic journey through the lands of the north, their rich cultural and historical heritage and musical traditions. This is not only an album for fans or metal connoisseurs. It’s a must for every imaginative mind out there with a soft spot for cinematic soundscapes, triumphant melodies and breathtaking dynamics measuring the borderlands of light and dark. However, no Amorphis album would be complete without the imaginative and poetic storytelling of renowned lyricist and “Kalevala” expert Pekka Kainulainen. “From day one, Pekka has always been an enthusiastic and prolific lyricist for Amorphis,” says Joutsen. “It is a slow process of translating archaic Finnish poetry into English and adapting it our progressive rhythms. Fortunately, Pekka does everything on time and with great care.” Since 2007’s “Silent Waters,” Kainulainen has been navigating the mythological waters of his homeland with great skill and respect. For “Halo,” he outdid himself once again. “‘Halo’ is a loose themed record filled with adventurous tales about the mythical North tens of thousands of years ago,” he explains. “The lyrics tell of an ancient time when man wandered to these abandoned boreal frontiers after the ice age. While describing the revival of a seminal culture in a world of new opportunities, I also try to reach the sempiternal forces of the human mind.” Thirty-one years after their inception, with uncounted global tours under their belt and fourteen albums deep in their career, Amorphis still proves to be the musical fountain of youth, an extraordinary band constantly reinventing itself without abandoning its mystical roots. With “Halo”, they deliver an astonishing album that deserves to be played everywhere, transcending the realms of metal and rock by its sheer profoundness and musicality."

Lake Havasu is a community of winding hillside roads, launched in the 1960s alongside a brick-for-brick rebuild of the original London Bridge. “It’s this very synthetic, gimmicky place set in this soulful, desolate landscape,” laughs Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan, who moved to the Arizona city for one year in seventh grade. Bazan collected his earliest childhood experiences for 2019’s Phoenix, the prolific artist’s celebrated return to the Pedro moniker and the first in a planned series of five records chronicling his past homes. To write its sequel, Bazan traveled to Havasu four times over several years, driving past his junior high campus, a magical skating rink, and other nostalgic locations that evoked feelings long suppressed. “An intersection I hadn’t remembered for 30 years would trigger a flood of hidden memories,” he says. “I was there to soak in it as much as possible.” Driving the inscrutable loops of Havasu’s lakeside, Bazan listened through an audiobook of Tom Petty’s biography, eventually dialoguing with Petty’s voice in his mind. A revelation from the book—that Petty subconsciously wrote the song “Wildflowers” as an act of kindness toward himself—inspired Bazan to approach his own work with radical generosity toward his young self. “I wanted to be there for that kid,” he offers. “That twelve year old still needs parenting, and still needs to process.” To revisit his past with openness, Bazan modified harmful work habits he’d accepted as necessary. That meant doing away with deadlines, and accumulating moments of play as he felt moved to—“Rather than squeezing stones every single time. I’m on a slow journey away from that,” he clarifies. As he worked through the music that became Havasu, flexibility and curiosity informed the arrangements. Bazan began writing on a simple synthesizer and drum machine setup. He detoured to a more elaborate assortment of analog electronic equipment, then woodshed his original two-handed keyboard arrangements on fingerpicked acoustic guitar. Concurrently relearning his catalog for a weekly series of livestream concerts also renewed his gratitude toward songwriting. “I was trying to evaluate what I have to show for 20 years of kicking my own ass,” Bazan quips about the strenuousness of full-time touring. “But the garden of my songs is what I’ve been building. It doesn’t have to be an ego test.”

Outernational Sounds very proudly Presents The Mallory-Hall Band "Song of Soweto" & "The Last Special".
Limited, fully licensed digital and vinyl reissues of two crucial South African sessions led by Charles Mallory and Al Hall, Jnr., featuring Kirk Lightsey, Marshall Royal, Rudolph Johnson, Billy Brooks and more! Essential companion pieces to Kirk Lightsey’s legendary ‘Habiba’.
Featuring tracks:
Song Of Soweto: Side A – ‘Song of Soweto’, ‘Hamba Samba’; Side B – ‘Cape Town Blues’, ‘Moroka Rock’, ‘The African Night’
The Last Special: Side A - ‘The Last Special’, ‘Princess of Joh’Burg’; Side B - ‘Amafu (Clouds)’, ‘Blue Mabone’
Never released outside South Africa, and out of print since 1974, Outernational Sounds presents two long-lost Johannesburg sessions from the Mallory-Hall Band – an all-star review of West Coast jazz stars who toured apartheid South Africa in the mid-1970s.
Sanifu Al Hall, Jnr. is a musician’s musician. During a storied career stretching across six decades, Hall has recorded with the greats of the music including Freddie Hubbard, Doug Carn, and Johnny Hammond, and leads his own Cosmos Dwellerz Arkestra. But until recent years, the only records on which he had appeared as leader were a brace of rich, funky LPs, Song Of Soweto and The Last Special, issued only in South Africa under the moniker of The Mallory-Hall Band (named for Hall and his co-leader, guitarist Charles Mallory – musical director for Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Mallory was conductor for Dusty Springfield touring bands, and had worked with John Lee Hooker, Stevie Wonder, and many others). Neither LP had any wider release, and both have remained out of print since 1974. How did a young stalwart of the Los Angeles jazz scene end up in a recording studio in apartheid South Africa?
Al Hall, Jnr. and Charles Mallory had arrived in South Africa as part of the touring band for the singer Lovelace Watkins. Sometimes billed as ‘the Black Sinatra’, the Detroit-born Watkins sang standards and ballroom classics on the Las Vegas circuit. He never made it big in the US, but in his 1970s heyday he was a huge star in southern Africa, and 1974 he hired a jazz big band to accompany him on a tour of South Africa – Hall and Mallory were part of the line-up, alongside Mastersounds bassist Monk Montgomery, pianist Kirk Lightsey, tenorist Rudolph Johnson, drummer Billy Brooks, and Marshall Royal, musical director of the Count Basie band. The tour was a huge success, and during downtime from performing, members of the group managed to independently record no fewer than three albums. Lightsey and Johnson’s stunning Habiba was the first (reissued as Outernational Sounds OTR.013), and it was followed by two crucial sessions led by Hall and Mallory – Song of Soweto and The Last Special, issued on the local IRC imprint.
Visiting apartheid South Africa in 1974 was a controversial choice for any artist. Numerous artistic and cultural bodies around the world had already announced that their members would boycott the country in solidarity with the struggle against apartheid, and working in South Africa was severely frowned on by anti-apartheid activists everywhere. For a Black band, touring the country to play to mostly white audiences could have been seen by many both inside and outside South Africa as a questionable decision. ‘It was a batch of mixed reactions when I choose to visit South Africa whilst apartheid policies were in place,’ Hall recalls. ‘To me the choice was a simple one – “I wanna see for myself!” I also wanted to be a part of breaking down racial barriers, having been down some of the same roads in my own country.’
The albums were recorded by a twelve-piece band at Johannesburg’s Video Sounds Studios in December 1974, and feature the legendary pianist Kirk Lightsey, Black Jazz recording artist Rudolph Johnson, and the rest of the touring band. Both records are superbly arranged slabs of peak 1970s funky big band soul jazz, with tasteful Latin inflections and more than a nod to South Africa’s upful township jazz sound. They are the sonic traces left by a seasoned African American band who were touring South Africa in the depths of the apartheid era, and who immediately moved beyond the segregated hotels and ballrooms to build links with local South African players and audiences.
Never previously available outside South Africa, Outernational Sounds’ new editions of Song of Soweto and The Last Special (alongside our edition of Kirk Lightsey’s Habiba) represents the first time these albums have been in print for nearly fifty years. Fully licensed from Gallo Records and pressed at Pallas in Germany from Gallo’s original masters, they feature new sleeve notes from Francis Gooding (The Wire) based on interviews with Al Hall, Jnr., and a reminiscence from pianist Kirk Lightsey.

Top, the chart-topping second studio album from the still rising, Multi-Platinum rap superstar YoungBoy Never Broke Again and featuring the hit singles ‘Callin (feat. Snoop Dogg)’, ‘Kacey Talk’ & ‘All In’, is out on vinyl on January 28th 2022.

With 76 total RIAA certifications and over 72.5M certified units under his belt thus far, YoungBoy Never Broke Again is without question among the landmark hip-hop artists of this or any era. 2020 and 2021 have both seen him become America’s #1 most video on demand streamed artist of any genre. His second studio Album, Top, is officially platinum certified after an explosive debut at #1 on the SoundScan/Billboard 200 upon its September 2020 release. YoungBoy was also last year’s #3 most audio on demand streamed artist industrywide and is currently #5 for 2021 thus far and it serves as a testament to his remarkable talent and versatility, showcasing the Baton Rouge, LA-native’s true heart & soul.

'The second pressing of Mountain Caller's debut album 'Chronicle I: The Truthseeker' is limited to 500 copies, cream vinyl housed in a single sleeve with printed inner, plus a full download.' Mountain Caller are ready to engage hyper-drive and launch their debut album into the riff time continuum. Mountain Caller are El, Claire and Max and hail from London. They describe themselves as a heavy progressive instrumental three-piece, who are driven to tell stories with music and want listeners to conjure up cinematic scenes in their minds. And that they do … in spades. If one needs a sonic ballpark, think the infectious jamming of Elder and the dynamic cinema-scapes of Mogwai, underpinned by the mantric riffs of Sleep. A rich amalgam of Progressive Rock, Post Metal and Doom. Nevertheless, Mountain Caller do succeed in weaving their own unique spell. The band are already buzzing, pricking up the ears of those in the know, and now after two years honing their chops with a clutch of immersive live performances under their belts (including a slot at Desertfest) Mountain Caller are ready to bring you their debut album. Chronicle I: The Truthseeker. Recorded in January of 2020 at No Studio in Manchester by producer Joe Clayton of Pijn, and mastered by Magnus Lindberg of ‘Cult Of Luna’. For the band, it’s a labour of love; the fruit of three years of jamming, crafting, and conceptualising; a collaborative piece, where each instrument takes centre stage, within a heady mix of chasmic riffs and panoramic, reflective soundscapes. Chronicle I: The Truthseeker is a feminist allegory created in tandem with the music. As the band describe it … In The Truthseeker, we join The Protagonist at the edge of the Twilight Desert, compelled by an indefinable but urgent need to set forth on an Odyssean journey to rediscover her memory and her voice. Over the course of 42 minutes, we travel from barren wastelands to mysterious cities, encountering trials of both body and spirit. It is indeed a 6 track instrumental journey. Full of winding roads, brooding valleys and strange encounters, all vividly evoked by a canny grasp of dynamics, melody and heavy, but hooky riffs, executed with peerless playing. 'Journey Through The Twilight Desert' opens the album in soundtrack mode, and develops in weight and riff (as if Goblin have taken up the baton) and closes in a full wide screen Mogwai trip .... and that's just the opening track. Elsewhere Mountain Caller pushes to noisier, heavier groovier places. Whether it’s the chiming guitars on the Krautrock/post-rock groove of 'I remember Everything' or 'Trial by Combat' and its doom meets Deftones vibe. To album closer 'Dreamspirals' with its melodic hooks and huge earworm riffs, it’s an album that more than stands up to listening on repeat as there plenty to discover.

Massachusetts hardcore band Defeater have announced their new self-titled album. Defeater will be released May 10 on Epitaph. This is Defeater's fifth full-length release and their first in 4 years. The first new single, "Mothers' Sons" features blistering guitars that take the song into something chaotic and beautiful. Defeater was produced with Will Yip (Quicksand, La Dispute, Blacklisted, Ms. Lauryn Hill) whose enthusiasm and talent pushed the songs to their fullest potential. Defeater showcases the band at their most devastating and sonically arresting to date. It is as pummeling as it is atmospheric. Yet it's been a long journey to where the band is now. Years of touring took their toll on the friends that make up the current lineup of Derek Archambault (vocals), Jake Woodruff (guitar), Adam Crowe (guitar), Mike Poulin (bass) and Joe Longobardi (drums). Health, substance abuse issues, and ejecting a longtime member had made a touring hiatus necessary. After a few months at home, working and decompressing, the fire to write a new record caught everyone in a major way. The result of time off and the band's renewed energy, Defeater has created their most organic batch of songs yet. And in Defeater fashion, the instrumentation is complimented by a narrative approach. Archambault explores his own "Glass family" (an homage to the J.D. Salinger characters) from new perspectives.

For Andy and Edwin White, the brothers behind Orlando’s Tonstartssbandht, a song is a living, breathing thing. Through constant touring, the Whites’ songs both take shape and change shape, becoming something a little different every night as they explore the possibilities inherent within them. With time, attention, and intention, these songs—long, languid, full of open musical questions and temporary answers—become distinct objects, and the process begins again. On Petunia, Tonstartssbandht’s 18th album and second for Mexican Summer, they bring us to the earliest moments of this process, showing off a barn full of hatchlings already decked with splendid plumage. Using little more than a 12-string guitar and a drum kit, Andy and Edwin weave together the gentle headiness of Laurel Canyon and the sweaty pacing of Cologne; like a gyroscope, its constant motion produces the illusion of stillness—and that stillness gives it a sense of intimacy and introspection, something that’s further illuminated by the new emphasis placed on the brothers’ vocals. It allows the quiet wisdom of the lyrics—what Andy self-deprecatingly calls “generic broad platitudes that I still think resonate when I say them”—to slip in almost unnoticed, delivering their emotional truths while preparing a feather bed for you to collapse into. “All roads will lead to the heart of town, when you’ve been running too long,” he sings in the album’s opening moments. “Being at peace only slows you down, but you’ve been running so long now.” If Petunia feels like a journey in the direction of peace, that, too, is a reflection of how it was made—the entire thing was written and recorded in Orlando in 2020, rather than pieced together in spurts over the years. This is an album built on level ground that shows what can happen when the artistic environment is stable, even while the world’s environment is anything but. Petunia is not Tonstartssbandht’s definitive statement on these songs, because how could it be? But it is a portrait of Andy and Edwin White at home in Florida, an artfully staged landscape rich in detail, its winding passages and airy environment waiting to be explored.

Over nearly 20 years, Howlin Rain may have become the quintessential independent American rock ’n roll band: a steam-spitting Hydra of cranked guitars, kicking asphalt dust through a kaleidoscoping travelogue of desert motels and dives, volleying forth transmissions of sci-fi poetry from the blacktop veins of this cracked and aching country.

Now, in America 2021, capping these strangest and sorest of times, the band returns with The Dharma Wheel, a six-track, 52-minute dive into a joyous fantasy realm of exaggerated present.

“I wanted The Dharma Wheel to be a portal from our everyday world, the one from which you stand on hard ground and hold the album in your hands and peer into the artwork, and into another universe,” says songwriter, guitarist and vocalist, Ethan Miller. “You enter into that universe with your eyes and ears and mind and take a ride through free-form meditation on these ideas — from big, fundamental concepts about our existence right down to the grease that rolls down the arm of a pulp novel killer as he eats a gas station hot dog in an old Dodge in an alleyway.”

Lyrically, Miller has completed his evolution into a mushroom-plucking Whitman of the West, singing outlandish tales in a topographic blend of Humbead’s Revised Map of the World and an inverted U.S. where downtrodden bodhisattvas roam the back streets and moonless country roads.

“Down in Florida swamps, run by nature’s law, standing in the water, Eden gone. Two men loading rifles, beasts making time, they shot a boy from an orange tree and watched the colored birds take flight, watch the colors as they soar and dive.” — ‘Under the Wheels.’

The band, Jeff McElroy (bass, backing vocals), Justin Smith (drums/percussion, backing vocals) and Dan Cervantes (guitar, backing vocals), again sounds hardwired into Miller’s vision, building tracks that swagger and sway in response to his verse. Lending a hand this time around is the legendary Scarlet Rivera (Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue) on violin, and the endlessly inventive Adam MacDougall (Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Circles Around the Sun) on keys.

Songs were shaped via the blast furnace of endless gigs, then recorded often mere hours after the band slipped the stage.

“The captured sonic fact about this record is that it’s the sound of a band that rehearsed this material a lot and put a ton of work into its construction and was on the road a lot and recorded on days off in the tour schedule,” Miller says. “In some cases we were on stage on Saturday night playing these songs at quarter-to-2 in the morning and by Noon the next day we were sipping coffee in the studio playing them for the machine.”

Rivera’s violin is the first sound heard as the album dawns on the instrumental “Prelude.” Soon, the band joins, twirling the theme into a psychedelicized awakening. “Don’t Let the Tears” brings the boogie, with MacDougall’s madcap synth work and wah-wah guitars showering 70’s glitter upon a parquet dance floor of the mind. “Under the Wheels” and “Rotoscope” center the album with taut, compositional epics populated by murdering drifters and fuzz pedal explosions. The blue hour comedown of “Annabelle” meditates upon the weariness of lost love, with Rivera again amping the heartache via her violin strings.

“In the evening the trains go by, and shake the dust from dirty walls, sometimes I feel like a spider in an old mason jar, who threatens only convex light from down the hall. I’ve been lost to the world since the photos of the black hole, landed on my desktop screaming, perhaps the all and nothing all-in-one is just too much to take, for particles and matter that never found their way.” — ‘Annabelle’

The record closes with the 16-minute title track, a multi-movement suite which cycles from Crazy Horse-meets-Traffic jams through colossal, mass-moving funk stomp, eventually cresting and washing into a sing-along gospel lament.

The Dharma Wheel is an album of great depth, and one steeped in good vibes: a rich, glistening world of the ultra-vivid. As illustrated in Arik Roper’s cover art, the grand dharmachakra has been set in motion, churning off the California coast.

“We were trying to build a world big enough that the imagination won’t go soft on you after just a few listens and where our love for this music, and music in general — along with a good dose of audacity — create a magic carpet ride through the world of The Dharma Wheel,” Miller continues. “In pursuing that I think we also managed to make a record that has a lot of joy in it: the joy of playing music, the joy of experiencing music, the joy of storytelling and poetry, the kind of singular joy and extended ecstatic moment that only a real ‘band’ can express in just that way.”

And it’s this joy, this exuberance and dedication to the lines of cosmic expression — all centered in the exalted art of the everyday — that constructs the heart of the record. At its core, The Dharma Wheel is the triumph of a working band, a transmission from a never-paused before arriving for our strange, bruised, spectacular now.”

Over nearly 20 years, Howlin Rain may have become the quintessential independent American rock ’n roll band: a steam-spitting Hydra of cranked guitars, kicking asphalt dust through a kaleidoscoping travelogue of desert motels and dives, volleying forth transmissions of sci-fi poetry from the blacktop veins of this cracked and aching country.

Now, in America 2021, capping these strangest and sorest of times, the band returns with The Dharma Wheel, a six-track, 52-minute dive into a joyous fantasy realm of exaggerated present.

“I wanted The Dharma Wheel to be a portal from our everyday world, the one from which you stand on hard ground and hold the album in your hands and peer into the artwork, and into another universe,” says songwriter, guitarist and vocalist, Ethan Miller. “You enter into that universe with your eyes and ears and mind and take a ride through free-form meditation on these ideas — from big, fundamental concepts about our existence right down to the grease that rolls down the arm of a pulp novel killer as he eats a gas station hot dog in an old Dodge in an alleyway.”

Lyrically, Miller has completed his evolution into a mushroom-plucking Whitman of the West, singing outlandish tales in a topographic blend of Humbead’s Revised Map of the World and an inverted U.S. where downtrodden bodhisattvas roam the back streets and moonless country roads.

“Down in Florida swamps, run by nature’s law, standing in the water, Eden gone. Two men loading rifles, beasts making time, they shot a boy from an orange tree and watched the colored birds take flight, watch the colors as they soar and dive.” — ‘Under the Wheels.’

The band, Jeff McElroy (bass, backing vocals), Justin Smith (drums/percussion, backing vocals) and Dan Cervantes (guitar, backing vocals), again sounds hardwired into Miller’s vision, building tracks that swagger and sway in response to his verse. Lending a hand this time around is the legendary Scarlet Rivera (Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue) on violin, and the endlessly inventive Adam MacDougall (Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Circles Around the Sun) on keys.

Songs were shaped via the blast furnace of endless gigs, then recorded often mere hours after the band slipped the stage.

“The captured sonic fact about this record is that it’s the sound of a band that rehearsed this material a lot and put a ton of work into its construction and was on the road a lot and recorded on days off in the tour schedule,” Miller says. “In some cases we were on stage on Saturday night playing these songs at quarter-to-2 in the morning and by Noon the next day we were sipping coffee in the studio playing them for the machine.”

Rivera’s violin is the first sound heard as the album dawns on the instrumental “Prelude.” Soon, the band joins, twirling the theme into a psychedelicized awakening. “Don’t Let the Tears” brings the boogie, with MacDougall’s madcap synth work and wah-wah guitars showering 70’s glitter upon a parquet dance floor of the mind. “Under the Wheels” and “Rotoscope” center the album with taut, compositional epics populated by murdering drifters and fuzz pedal explosions. The blue hour comedown of “Annabelle” meditates upon the weariness of lost love, with Rivera again amping the heartache via her violin strings.

“In the evening the trains go by, and shake the dust from dirty walls, sometimes I feel like a spider in an old mason jar, who threatens only convex light from down the hall. I’ve been lost to the world since the photos of the black hole, landed on my desktop screaming, perhaps the all and nothing all-in-one is just too much to take, for particles and matter that never found their way.” — ‘Annabelle’

The record closes with the 16-minute title track, a multi-movement suite which cycles from Crazy Horse-meets-Traffic jams through colossal, mass-moving funk stomp, eventually cresting and washing into a sing-along gospel lament.

The Dharma Wheel is an album of great depth, and one steeped in good vibes: a rich, glistening world of the ultra-vivid. As illustrated in Arik Roper’s cover art, the grand dharmachakra has been set in motion, churning off the California coast.

“We were trying to build a world big enough that the imagination won’t go soft on you after just a few listens and where our love for this music, and music in general — along with a good dose of audacity — create a magic carpet ride through the world of The Dharma Wheel,” Miller continues. “In pursuing that I think we also managed to make a record that has a lot of joy in it: the joy of playing music, the joy of experiencing music, the joy of storytelling and poetry, the kind of singular joy and extended ecstatic moment that only a real ‘band’ can express in just that way.”

And it’s this joy, this exuberance and dedication to the lines of cosmic expression — all centered in the exalted art of the everyday — that constructs the heart of the record. At its core, The Dharma Wheel is the triumph of a working band, a transmission from a never-paused before arriving for our strange, bruised, spectacular now.”