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Mr. K transports us to the golden era of the Loft with two disparate, but equally heavyweight classics from the Mancuso oeuvre mastered and cut loud, deep, and clear for club play.

First up is an edit of a track that embodies the spirit of early ’80s downtown New York City. Released in 1982, “Konk Party” was the band’s calling card and first hit, and represented their multicultural, no wave, hip-hop/disco hybrid perfectly, the opening sax riff itself a sly nod to Wild Sugar’s breakbeat classic “Bring It Here” that the Beastie Boys would later sample. A Loft staple — the video was even filmed there — “Konk Party” was also played widely across the influential clubs of the day, becoming an instant staple at Danceteria, Mudd Club, and other hot spots. The easy-going groove, heavy on the percussion and low-slung bass, complimented by bilingual lyrics from Angel Quiñones, has dated well, and sounds especially ready for action in this new edit from Mr. K, largely inspired by the original 12-inch’s choice Uptown Breakdown Mix. This is the first time “Konk Party” has been available on 7-inch.

The heavy percussion backing is perhaps the only similar element that links our A-side to its flip, but that only goes to show the breadth of styles that coexisted in the audio landscape of the Loft. “Hold On To Your Mind,” first released in 1970 by Northern Irish rock group Andwella, is a heavy, psychedelic tour de force that more than lives up to its cautionary, heady title. Mr. K has outdone himself with his new mix, a supercharged blend of extended percussion breaks — absent on previous 7-inch mixes — driving vocals, and fuzz guitar. For those who have never been able to track down the original single, an expensive proposition, and even for those who have, this new edit is certainly the definitive version.

This Swedish rock'n'roll machine have been with us for a long time by
now, 33 years to be exact
Albums are numerous, number of gigs too many to count – and they have always
been extremely popular, both as a liveband and as an albumselling combo. Now
it's time for (only) the second compilation of goodies – a fantastic insight in the
world of The Refreshments!

Kontinuierlich hat sich Wolfgang Haffner weiter in das Vorderfeld der Top-Schlagzeuger gearbeitet. Deutschlands einziger Jazz-Superstar mit Pop-Anklängen, der Trompeter Till Brönner mag genauso wenig auf ihn verzichten wie Nils Landgren, wenn er Abba den Funk verordnet.
Norwegens aufregendste aktuelle Stimme im Jazz, Rebekka Bakken holt ihn immer wieder in ihre Band und selbst die No Angels riefen ihn an, als es an die Produktion ihrer Konzert-DVD ging. Die letzten Veröffentlichungen des Schlagzeugers waren aus den Jazz-Charts vieler Länder nicht wegzudenken.
Neben der Virtuosität des Instrumentalisten Haffner darf man aber nicht vergessen, dass er ein ausgezeichneter Songwriter, Arrangeur und Produzent ist. Auf seinen eigenen Alben hat er diese Fähigkeiten bereits zur Genüge angedeutet, mit dem vorliegenden Album jedoch liefert Haffner sein Meisterstück ab. Durchaus seinen Helden wie Pat Metheny, Esbjörn Svensson oder auch Dhafer Youssef verpflichtet, gelingt es ihm, eine überzeugende Mischung aus innovativen Sounds, tragfähigen Melodien und brillantem Gruppensound zu erzeugen, die erstmals rein europäische Züge hat.
Dabei hat er die Creme de la Creme europäischer Jazz-Musiker wie selbstverständlich zu einem Sound geformt, der das Zeug zum Klassiker hat. Die flirrenden Gitarrensounds von Martin Koller (Rebekka Bakken Band), elektronische Effekte, die an die besten Momente aktueller skandinavischer Produktionen erinnern, hier und da kompromisslose Rocksounds (»Corazon«) und natürlich auch immer wieder Jazz Soli auf höchstem Niveau. Trompeter Till Brönner trägt mit seinem Flügelhorn – Solo dazu bei, dass »Shape Of Peace« zu einem atmosphärischen Highlight gerät.
Der magische Sprechgesang von Rebekka Bakken macht »Somewhere Else« zu einem andachtsvollen Moment des Albums, in »Momo's Dance« werden die Basslinien von Tim Lefebvre spielerisch leicht von Nils Landgren an der Posaune umtanzt, »Seventy Five« glänzt durch Reminiszenzen an Krimis der 70er Jahre. Immer wieder sind es aber auch die elektronisch verfremdeten Sounds z. B. von Saxofonist / Bass Klarinettist Johannes Enders, die »Zooming« so zeitlos und aktuell erscheinen lassen. Andererseits hat noch kein Album des Nürnbergers derart facettenreiche Schlagzeug-Sounds eingefangen, man staune nur über die intelligente Einbettung seines Solos in dem Stück »Metropolis«, die in keiner Weise aufgesetzt sondern einfach nur organisch wirken.

Musikexpress:
"Statt der Zurschaustellung seiner Trommelkünste steht hier das Bemühen um einen homogenen Gesamtsound im Vordergrund. Dabei zeigt sich Haffner hier sowohl als cleverer musikalischer Architekt, der getragene Themen und flächige Strukturen effektvoll mit lebendigen Clubgrooves kontrastiert, als auch als sensibler Klangmaler. Elemente aus Ambient, Elektronik, Fusion, Drum'n'Bass und gelegentliche Worldmusic-Tupfer addieren sich hier zu einem eleganten und sehr europäi- schen Nu-Jazz-Entwurf (…) Wahrlich coole Musik, die dem Hörer ihre Brillanz nicht sofort an den Kopf schmeißt, sondern ihre subtile Kraft und Klasse nach und nach offenbart"

Stereoplay:
"Aktuelle Euro-Sounds statt abgenudelter US-Fusion - so lautet hier das Programm von Deutschlands bestem Allround-Drummer. Mit Tim Lefebvre, Bass, und vier wechselnden Keyboardern legt Wolfgang Haffner eine fabelhafte Basis für Johannes Enders' oft elektronisch verfremdetes Gebläse und die E-Gitarre von Martin Koller. Nils Landgren, Till Brönner und Rebekka Bakken setzen schöne Akzente in den Tracks, die Electro-Jazz mit HipHop poetisch verschmelzen."

Released in 1957, Loving You did very well at box offices around the world. In the UK the album was issued on 10-inch vinyl and topped the album charts featuring popular tracks Mean Woman Blues, (Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear, Got A Lot O' Livin' To Do!, Party, Lonesome Cowboy, Hot Dog and the title song Loving You. In the US, the album was issued on 12-inch vinyl with four extra additional tracks
topping the US album charts for 10 weeks. Those four songs are equally strong with Elvis covering Blueberry Hill, I Need You So and Have I Told You Lately That I Love You? Plus, the original version of Don't Leave Me Now, which he would later re-record for his next film, Jailhouse Rock. The reception of the film placed
Elvis among the biggest selling box office stars, and he was now managing both a musical and acting career with the call of the US Army draft.

In 2020, a year shaped by stringent COVID-19 restrictions, many of us paused for thought about our collective futures. For First Light Records, this reflection, plus the support of Sound and Music's Composer-Curator programme, led to the development of Unbuilt Sound, a new series of commissions centred around acoustic ecology; the relationship between listener and environment. The first iteration of the Unbuilt Sound series sees Flora Yin-Wong retreat to an isolated cabin outside Machynlleth, North Wales, to collect the field recordings that provide the basis for her folklore-inspired album, The Sacrifice.

A collage of twisted field recordings, rich waves of synth, and whispered vocals, The Sacrifice oscillates between gentle familiarity and dreamlike distortions, inspiring a folkloric sense of place that extends across time. Softly dissonant drones envelop the sounds of rocks underfoot and rippling pools, a continuous call and response between artist and landscape. These themes are perhaps best captured on 'Willow Bends', which features spoken word written and performed by Berlin's Rachel Lyn. "Ride," she says, "these ancient and contemporary currents, carrying their secrets from up-stream. Wanderwaves, when pebbles skip across the ripples, I reflect upon it, this water mirror..."

Hypnagogia remains one of the most mysterious and haunting daily states of mind. Moments of revelation are wont to traditionally hit us particularly in the hinterland between dream and waking, It’s this particular headspace that’s very much the world of ‘Pö om pö’, the second Rocket Recordings released full-length record from Sweden’s equally mysterious OCH. Pö om pö (meaning ‘little by little’) is a journey further into inner space from ‘II’, the previous Rocket outing (which followed a 2014 cassette only release) What’s mapped out here is a trajectory on the kosmische continuum that touches on the terrain of late-‘70s Sky records style ambience, the more overgrown quarters of Swedish experimental prog and the sun-baked lo-fi DIY cassette culture of the US early ‘00s.Dwelling in a smoke-clouded glow that’s equal parts sunset gold and effects pedal red, OCH have here transcended all influences to creating a tapestry of potent psychotropic sound. A record in which new horizons open up beyond the small hours, and where primeval wah-wah-abetted skronk and mantric folk tinged repetition can collude to reveal new third-eye perceptions. Little By Little, Pö om pö , these forty minutes are here to bridge the chasms between conscious and subconscious, and in style.

On new record For The Birds, Atlanta-based Neighbor Lady expand the
boundaries of their country-kissed indie rock sound to encompass an
elegant style of lush and textural guitar pop sprinkled with, as songwriter
and vocalist Emily Braden puts it, with "reverb and magic
" Full of gorgeous top- line melodies, spirited rock hooks, and Braden's richly
emotive vocals (and plenty of twang), For The Birds takes a kaleidoscopic
approach to genre. The record features everything from catchy alternative
("Penny Pick It Up") and starry- eyed country ("I'm With You") to straightforward
indie rock ("Scared") and ambient- indebted otherworldly pop ("Haunted").
Neighbor Lady began as Braden's solo project, but is now a four-piece consisting
of Braden, guitarist Jack Blauvelt, bassist Payton Collier, and drummer Andrew
McFarland. The band recorded For The Birds with Jason Kingsland (Kaiser Chiefs,
Band of Horses, Belle & Sebastian) at Diamond Street Studios in Atlanta and it
was mixed by Noah Georgeson (Andy Shauf, Cate Le Bon, Devendra Banhart,
Joanna Newsom.) Though For The Birds is hallmarked by big sonic flourishes
and brave moments of experimentation, the overall feeling is one of intimacy —
four people in a room, making music together; fitting for a group of musicians
who say they feel less like a band and more like a family. "This record came out of
a lot of love and hard work and us caring so much about the music and each
other," says Braden. "And that's pretty much what we're about."

In the spring of 2020, Ben Cook _ a.k.a. Young Governor, Young Guv, or just Guv _ was holed up in the New Mexico high desert, his U.S. tour having been abruptly covid-cancelled during a southwest swing. He and his bandmates were living moment to moment in something called an Earthship, a solar-rigged adobe structure sustainably constructed with, among other things, recycled bottles and tires. And out there in the serene vastness, as a short ride-it-out stint turned into a nine-month sojourn, Ben was writing music, slowly, little by little, mostly at night while the others slept. By the New Year, almost in spite of himself, he had created a new album, two new albums actually, and through the ordeal he was forever changed. In a place he never expected to be, under circumstances no one could have predicted, and in the face of physical isolation, emotional desolation, and existential dread, Ben created GUV III & IV, a collection of songs dedicated and testifying to the eternal healing power of love _ how to find it in the world, in others, and most importantly, in himself. Written in the New Mexico wilderness and produced in Los Angeles, the double album will finally be available in it's entirety this summer via Run For Cover. Young Guv's talent as a songwriter has been with us for a long time. From forming iconic hardcore act No Warning in 1998 to joining Toronto legends Fucked Up, Ben Cook started writing songs as Guv in 2008 between a slew of other projects that were ambitiously working to define the genres they operated in. When he first started working with Run For Cover in 2019, the plan was to release a single record - but with too many songs to turn away, the project expanded into his first double album, GUV I & II. GUV III & IV finds the same ambition and expertise in hit-making, but this time the individual records hone into specific parts of Guv's sonic palette. GUV III is full of iconic hooks, power-pop guitar riffs and dancable-rock songs, while GUV IV takes notes from psych rock, electro pop and Laurel Canyon jangle to make something that as a whole, can only be defined as definitively GUV

Zur Feier ihres 25-jährigen Bandjubiläums veröffentlichen
Third Eye Blind am 15. Juli ihre Greatest Hits Compilation
A COLLECTION aus dem Jahr 2006 als Doppel-LP. Die
19 Tracks des Sets, das erstmals auf Vinyl erhältlich ist,
wurden aus den ersten drei Studioalben der Altrocker
(1997-2003) ausgewählt und enthalten ihre größten
Singles, gemischt mit ein paar Raritäten und
Fan-Favoriten.

Das Debüt der Band wurde in den USA sechsmal mit
Platin ausgezeichnet und hielt sich mehr als 100 Wochen
in den Billboard 200. Die erste Seite von A COLLECTION
enthält alle fünf Singles des Albums, darunter "How's It
Going To Be", "Graduate" und "Semi-Charmed Life", die
meistverkaufte Single der Band. Der Song wurde im Juli
1997 veröffentlicht und erreichte im August die Spitze der
Modern Rock-Charts (Platz 4 Pop). Später im Jahr wurde
die Single mit Gold ausgezeichnet und bei den Billboard
Music Awards zum Modern Rock Track of the Year
g

Amid massive global paradigm shifts Dave Hartley (aka Nightlands) became a father twice over and left his native Philadelphia for Asheville, where the pace of daily life is slower and it's easier to maintain a zoomed-out perspective on modern life. From the newfound refuge of a studio he built using the bones of a barn attached to his hundred-something-year-old house in the mountains, Hartley has tailored a collection of well-crafted pop rock, pointedly titled Moonshine. Guided by some of the harmonic sensibilities that have helped make The War on Drugs a force in modern music, Moonshine combines immaculate-yet-dense vocal stacks and billowy clouds of effected keyboards with classic songcraft, revealing previously unseen acreage in the unfurling dreamscape that is Nightlands. The surrealistic album art by Austin-based illustrator Jaime Zuverza depicts an archway opening to the stars over the surface of an idyllic sea flanked by both moon and sun. Similarly, Moonshine reveals portals within portals leading to ever deeper places in Hartley's vocal-centered labyrinth…

Beabadoobee’s thrillingly diverse and experimental second album Beatopia is a fantastical yet deeply personal world housing Bea's most impressive work to date. Marking a huge progression, in 14 songs she traverses fuzzy rock, classic singer-songwriter, psychedelia, midwest emo and outright pop whilst remaining undeniably herself throughout. Born in the Philippines and raised in London, Bea Kristi began recording music as beabadoobee in 2017. At just 21 years old, beabadoobee already has a debut album and five sonically diverse EPs under her belt, while also receiving BRIT Award and BBC Sound Of nominations. She has accumulated 4.6 billion streams worldwide and has a 3 million+ social reach, with a huge, dedicated Gen-Z fan base. beabadoobee’s highly anticipated debut album Fake It Flowers was released in 2020 to widespread critical acclaim (“a thrilling debut from Gen-Z’s newest guitar hero”, NME 5*, “the charismatic star of the indie revival”, The Times 4*, “at once raw and confessional, yet at the same time anthemic in scale”, Dazed), and debuted in the top 10 of the UK charts.

Évariste is one of the rare specimens of artist-cum-scientists. Among his kind stand others like Pierre Schaeffer, a Polytechnique graduate (an engineer but also the father of musique concrète) and the eccentric Boby Lapointe (graduate of the École centrale and inventor of the Bibi-binaire system, patented in 1968). Évariste's songwriting, joyful and full of energy (albeit extremely critical), shrouds an original tragedy: born in 1943 among résistants, Joël Sternheimer (aka Évariste) grew up without a father, lost to Auschwitz. Although he makes little reference to Jewish culture in his music, his origins leave their mark: in 1974, he sings a Hebrew song on television. In 1966, the young Joël sports Princeton's colourful paraphernalia - that's because he's freshly returning from the US, where he was sent to pursue his research on "particle mass and the interpretation of observed regularities, such as the effects of a wave" (will understand who may). When he gets there the country's in the midst of the Vietnam War. With McNamara keen to find an alternative to the nuclear weapon and calling upon the country's biggest brains to undertake the task, there's a "fund shift" within the university - a diplomatic way to give notice to whoever may not be disposed to follow the government's scheme. Joël, who's under the supervision of a rebellious physician, is dismissed. He regardless keeps following the prestigious seminaries of the Institute for Advanced Study, chaired by Oppenheimer, inventor of the atomic bomb. Likely inspired by the hippie movement and music, Joël buys a guitar and starts playing in Washington Square - after all, Bob Dylan himself started there. He blithely skips Oppenheimer and receives a warm (though surprised) welcome from a crowd thoroughly unfamiliar with French. When the ageing physicist questions him about his decreasing attendance, Joël explains how drawn he is to music, and how he thinks it could help him in self-financing his research. Évariste recalls seeing the sickened man, his face torn by remorse, lighten up to his words and say: "What's keeping you - go for it! If I was still young that's exactly what I'd do." The student takes these words as a testimony from his professor - and it's enough to convince him . And so he takes the leap during the Christmas vacations he spends in Paris. A journalist friend he often sees around the Sorbonne introduces him to the artistic director of Disques AZ. The latter passes the tapes on to the label's boss, Lucien Morisse, also program manager on Europe N°1. Morisse is blown away - and signs him onto the label right away. Michel Colombier, arranger for Serge Gainsbourg and co-author of "Psyché Rock", with Pierre Henry, contributes some of his original ideas to the 7 inch "E=mc2": Évariste's preoccupation with the percussion sound on the track "Le calcul intégral" is that it goes "poom poom" and not "tock tock" - Colombier is aware of the issue and records Évariste's guitar like a percussion in an isolated booth. The organist Eddy Louis, who is to participate, in 1969, to the success of Claude Nougaro's "Paris mai", also appears on the record. It's 1966 and the Antoine phenomenon (signed on Vogue) storms through France. The two singers share similarities: Antoine is an engineer of the École centrale, gifted with a great originality in his song-writing. A godsend for the two labels who turn this resemblance into a commercial strategy, setting them out as rivals. To this day though, Évariste still denies what was little more than slushy tabloïd gossip. Success comes around swiftly and in 1967 Évariste launches into a second 7 inch, "Wo I nee", again arranged by Michel Colombier. Quantum mechanics fans finally get their anthem with "La Chasse Au Boson Intermédiaire" (or the "Intermediary Boson Pursuit"). To sum up what's a boson, say he's a close pal of the meson, photon and other gluons. A few months later, it's May 68 and everything's turned upside down. Évariste writes a series of songs inspired by the events, which he immediately submits to Lucien Morisse. When the man behind "Salut les copains", once married to Dalida, hears the song "La révolution" - a father and son dialogue - he can't take any more: AZ simply cannot release this. But there and then Lucien Morisse makes a gesture which will remain engraved in French music's history: sorry to be unable to officially stand by the singer, he encourages him to self-produce the record, but with his tacit support. He calls the pressing factory and asks they apply the same rate for Évariste as they would for AZ. The singer and his musicians use the same studio as for the previous record, all of them playing for free awaiting a return on investment. Évariste keeps singing at the Sorbonne with "Jussieu's gang" and "the young Renaud" he nicknames "le p'tit gavroche" (or "street urchin"). Renaud volunteers to type the lyrics of the song "La révolution" so that the chorus can be sung and recorded. A boy in the group is related to Wolinski and introduces them. The two get along so well that Wolinski ends up drawing the cover for the record "La révolution", for free. The self-released 7 inch "La révolution / La faute à Nanterre" is sold under the table and door-to-door for half the price of a standard record, on and around the boulevard Saint-Michel; and it runs out fast. In the end, there will be 6 releases of the record, and 25000 copies sold. When the theatre director Claude Confortès decides to adapt Wolinski's drawing series titled "Je ne veux pas mourir idiot" ("I don't want to die a fool"), he asks Évariste to write the original soundtrack. His friend, now cartoonist for Hara-Kiri Hebdo, often promotes him in accordance with a principle dear to him by virtue of which he gives a special place to his friends. Dominique Grange (writer of the song "Nous sommes les nouveaux partisans") soon joins the team. After 150 performances, Évariste leaves his place to Dominique Maurin (brother of Patrick Dewaere). Évariste composes the songs for Claude Confortès' next play, "Je ne pense qu'à ça" ("That's all I think about"), co-wrote with Wolinski in 1969. The comedians of the play record the songs on a 7 inch, with a cover signed, again, by Wolinski. In 1971, French television produces the documentary "Évariste et les 7 dimensions", but doesn't air it. Indeed, the scientific sub-comity of the programming comity (sic) censors the show. The given justification is that "Évariste dangerously mixed science with science-fiction, numerology and other non-scientific disciplines". The underlying motive might have been a will to censor the singer-mathematician's political discourse. In the documentary and among other things, Évariste discusses hierarchy, alienation and revolution. Half a century later the documentary remains invisible, though some excerpts resurfaced in 1992 in the cult show "L'oeil du cyclone", on Canal +. Though flourishing, Évariste's career is nearing its end. 1970 is the beginning of a decade in the course of which he is to make a decisive discovery in the musical and scientific domains. Following this breakthrough, he moves away from self-produced music and gaucho magazines to focus on science. He keeps Oppenheimer's encouraging words in mind, now freely pursuing his research thanks to the sales of his records. Joël realises that when decoding protein sequences, one finds musical sequences recognisable to humans. He names them "proteodies". If, when listening to a proteody, one responds by being so sensitive as to finding it beautiful, then it reveals a deficiency of the related protein - and this peculiar music may be the cure. We could trace back the music history in light of proteins lacking in a given artist, or within a public's majority. You always thought these hysterical groupies who'd throw their underwear with passion and faint in the pit had miraculously appeared because they had never heard anything as wonderful as the Beatles? Make no mistake! For Évariste, it all boils down to an intro's protein content. Indeed, the beginning of their first hit "Love Me Do" corresponds to dopamine, the neurotransmitter linked to compulsive buying. An intro like this could only unleash the fervour of groupies, victims of fashion and biology. Évariste's success is such that the income from his sales gives him the autonomy to which he had aspired when confiding to Oppenheimer. It made it possible for him to pursue his research without any institutional constraints. He now devotes himself to his proteodies, sat in the offices of the European University for Research, just around the corner from the Sorbonne he knew so well. Évariste is no more. Joël regained control of this strange and comical beast.

Strangeland is Keane's fourth studio album, original released in May
2012, and is being re-issued on vinyl for its 10th anniversary year
Produced by Dan Grech-Marguerat the album includes three singles: Silenced By
The Night, Disconnected and Sovereign Light Café.
The album charted at #1 in the UK and has gone on to sell over 200k. It also
charted at #1 in Ireland and the Netherlands whilst in the US it peaked at #17.
This re- issue is pressed on 180gm vinyl and faithfully reproduces the original's
gatefold sleeve and full colour inner bag with lyrics.
This re-issue will be promoted on all of Keane's socials. Tour dates: 10 Jun 2022
Westonbirt Arboretum, Gloucestershire, UK/ 11 Jun 2022 Cannock Chase Forest,
Staffordshire, UK/ 12 Jun 2022 Live In The Wyldes, Cornwall, UK/ 17 Jun 2022
Thetford Forest, Suffolk, UK/ 18 Jun 2022 Delamere Forest, Cheshire, UK/ 19 Jun
2022 Hop Farm, Kent, UK/ 30 Jun 2022 Summer Series Trinity College, Dublin, IE/
03 Jul 2022 Rock Werchter Festival, Werchter, BE/ 08 Jul 2022 Mouth of the Tyne
Festival, Tynemouth, UK/

Nightlands is the solo project of The War on Drugs’ bassist and multi-instrumentalist Dave Hartley. Amid massive global paradigm shifts Dave Hartley (aka Nightlands) became a father twice over and left his native Philadelphia for Asheville, where the pace of daily life is slower and it's easier to maintain a zoomed-out perspective on modern life. From the newfound refuge of a studio he built using the bones of a barn attached to his hundred-something-year-old house in the mountains, Hartley has tailored a collection of well-crafted pop rock, pointedly titled Moonshine. Guided by some of the harmonic sensibilities that have helped make The War on Drugs a force in modern music, Moonshine combines immaculate-yet-dense vocal stacks and billowy clouds of effected keyboards with classic songcraft, revealing previously unseen acreage in the unfurling dreamscape that is Nightlands. The surrealistic album art by Austin-based illustrator Jaime Zuverza depicts an archway opening to the stars over the surface of an idyllic sea flanked by both moon and sun. Similarly, Moonshine reveals portals within portals leading to ever deeper places in Hartley's vocal-centered labyrinth. Throughout the album, there are plenty of buoyant high moods where the pitter-patter of drum machine and humming digital organ hints at Hartley's low-key tropicalia streak, but the lyrics anchor the dreaminess in real-world sorrow and resignation. Nowhere are these sentiments more apparent than on the title track, a nearly acapella recitation of "America the Beautiful" that poignantly hovers over a mirage of soft keyboards before dovetailing into Hartley's own words about the hypocrisy of the American dream. "This was never intended to be an overtly political record" he admits. "I have so many friends who are able to process the frustration of current events gracefully or with wisdom or in a nuanced way, but I often find myself just consumed with anger about it all. I decided to just let that come out, and it manifested itself lyrically." Moonshine's wide-eyed, utopian instrumental backdrops provide sharp contrast to Hartley's lyrics, which sting even harder within the sweetness. Even in light of the album's vocal emphasis, Hartley's history as a bassist brilliantly beams through Moonshine, giving effortless and sprightly movement to songs like "Down Here," which also features an extended section of saxophone lent by his Western Vinyl labelmate, Joseph Shabason. In addition to Shabason, the album hosts a short list of remote collaborators including four of Hartley's bandmates from The War on Drugs, Robbie Bennet, Anthony Lamarca, Eliza Hardy Jones, and Charlie Hall, as well as exotica virtuoso Frank Locrasto (Cass McCombs, Fruit Bats), and producer Adam McDaniel (Avey Tare, Angel Olsen). Hartley was forced to keep the guest list small out of the necessity of pandemic isolation, coupled with his move to a smaller city, all of which challenged him to do most of the album's heavy lifting right down to the mixing duties, resulting in the most independent effort of his career. By that measure, Moonshine is also the clearest image yet of Dave Hartley as a person and creator.

Decomposed recalls classic American hardcore like Bad Brains, Poison Idea and Jerry’s Kids or Japanese ragers like Paintbox, The Comes, Eiefits and Skizophrenia. But there’s also a healthy slug of classic UK and US punk and even a bit of Krautrock, psychedelia and Black Sabbath in there too. Nottingham has always been a melting pot for heavy music. For a small city, it has boasted more than its fair share of genre defining bands and artists, not to mention record labels. Bands cross-pollinate, form projects and offshoots and play one-off gigs that would result in lengthy careers and world tours if they had happened across the Atlantic. It has always been like that there. No big deal (but yet, a really big deal if you know). One such band/project/offshoot were Endless Grinning Skulls. Formed by guitarist Andy Morgan (also from Bloody Head, Army Of Flying Robots, Nadir and countless more), drummer Steve Charlesworth (Heresy, Wolves Of Greece, Meatfly, Geriatric Unit) and bassist Gords (Hard To Swallow, John Holmes, Geriatric Unit) in the early twenty-teens, they re-set the bar for the 3-piece hardcore band before (perhaps inevitably) burning out in 2018. Morgan and Charlesworth weren’t done though. They’d forged a bond in EGS and wanted to carry on playing together so - in a familiar Nottingham storyline - they recruited former Pitchshifter guitarist Stu Toolin on bass and Anmarie Spaziano (who you might know from running a famous burger joint) on vocals and formed Blind Eye. They knew Toolin was about to relocate to Portland, Oregon so they wrote and recorded an EP (released on Morgan’s own Viral Age Records). Quick-sharp. No messing about. And that – by rights – should have been that: over and out. New band please. However, the demo captured a rare intensity and vitality that more considered projects often fail to achieve. This was a band let loose, free from previous shackles and loving the noise they made. It seemed a shame to stop there. Recruiting Matt Grundy (a former bandmate of Morgan’s in both Nadir and Dead In The Woods) to the bass vacancy they went back to Stuck On A Name Studios in 2021 with Ian “Boulty” Boult at the helm again and delivered the album Decomposed.
Decomposed genuinely rocks out without losing one iota of the effervescent anger that made the demo such an essential listen. From the insistent, minimal opener Ready To Go Now via the unhinged thrash of Straw Man and the menace of the stomping Pero No Quieres, to the measured chugging and epic crescendo of closer Broken Star, this record is a fucking blast. Needle off, flip it back over, play it again. Your neighbours are loving it so much they’re banging on the walls to tell you. “I suppose the intention was to write high energy, catchy hardcore, with a nod to what has come before, but also to do our own thing,” explains Andy. “Lyrically, the album was written during the pandemic, and although it’s not ‘a pandemic album’, I think it deals with a lot of the feelings of loss, separation and isolation

DENGUE FEVER's debut album was all covers of the cute, romantic
Cambodian pop of the 1960s - Having gotten that out of their systems,
they've followed it with an album of original material that shatters the
language barrier with mildly psychedelic, blissed out pop
On "Tip My Canoe", Zac Holtzman takes a stab at singing in Khmer, laying those
long, mellifluous syllables over a tweaky vamp, as Nimol uses her imposing pipes
to trace accents so dynamic that they sound almost vocodered as she leaps
around her impressive range. "Sni Bong" channels Dick Dale through its verses
and explodes into crunchy garage rock choruses, with a– wait for it– Cambodian
rap bridge. "One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula" pairs sun- baked spaghetti
western guitars with Nimol's clipped, forceful singing, and acoustic ballad
"Hummingbird" closes the album on a quiet note, with Nimol sliding between
English and Khmer. If that fact that Dengue Fever's music has been used in films
as diverse as Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers and the John Cusack vehicle Must
Love Dogs isn't proof enough of its potent versatility, then the ease and unity with
which the band conflates idioms should be.

By popular demand 1993 now available on a Limited edition vinyl release.

C.M. Toni originally released music on Partners Inc Records for a short spell between 1991 and 1993. The label was inspired by the deep jazzy, soulful US house labels like Nervous, Strictly Rhythm and the NY house scene in general. These previously unreleased tracks were found recently on a tape recorded in 1993. The raw classic sound of 12 bit samplers, drum machines and early synths are all over these lost cuts recorded in the Dollis Hill attic, authentic house music from 1993.

Rudolf Abramov is taking a step in a different direction from his last release on Höga Nord Rekords. This 7” contains the works of deep mining in an old hard drive during the introversion of the pandemic quarantine. These two gems have been going under a bit of tasteful polishing before reaching the point of release and the result is a punk meets Stoner rock experience propelled by hard sequencers and drum machines.

This record is as English/Irish as you find em: straight forward instrumentation and lyrical performance presented with a dirty and rough production. The beats are stripped with an edgy punch and the synthesisers are overdriven, giving them guitar like qualities.

The Paracetamol/Clonex 7” is a release of covid demons, and the sound of spitting out the bitter taste of isolation, or to use his own words: “On this 7" you will find absurd and desperate lyrics accompanied by heavy English and Irish accents, driven robotic drum machines, dirty synths, crunching bass, and as unpolished as your dad's old Angle grinder. All that served alongside your favourite cheese and onion crisps”

Stockholm post-punk band V**gra Boys (**= "ia" because spam FILTERS) are announcing a new album Cave World due out July 8th via YEAR0001 Produced by past collaborators Pelle Gunnerfeldt (The Hives, The Knife, etc.) and DJ Haydn, the album is inspired by current events, and aims to tear through the insanity and confusion the world currently finds itself in. Like sin- eaters if sins had to be ingested from a very small spoon, V**gra Boys have consumed the utterly incomprehensible chaos of our era and distilled it into the 12 immaculate tracks that make up Cave World.

As 2021’s Welfare Jazz was earning rave reviews from the likes of Pitchfork, NPR, GQ, NME, Stereogum, Fader, and more, Viagra Boys were in the midst of rerecording what would become their followup. After putting together an entire album at the legendary Silence Studio in the town of Koppom, the band decided they could push harder. "We let it marinate for a while and then rerecorded absolutely everything," Murphy explains. S

ome of the music made it through to what would become Cave World, but replacing the lyrics. In that iterative process,
Murphy found himself returning time and again to a misconception with deeper roots: the idea that humanity is moving forward. After watching a video late one evening about a theory that suggests evolution involved trading in some cognitive
abilities for others, Murphy began stewing on the fact that the result was mass shootings and science denial. "I just wrote down, 'Who is the true ape?'" he says.

"People look down at apes as primitive life forms, but we're just this horrible, lazy society killing each other and starting wars, while they’re able to love and feel.
Does that make them the true ape or us?"

Swedish progg is not to be confused with "prog" as in progressive rock music. When we are talking about progg, we are referring to the Swedish music movement influenced by the political climate of the late 60's, to some extent the hippie movement and in many cases also Swedish folk music. Music highly driven by a political agenda. Blod's Knutna Nävar, originally released in an edition of 150 copies on Förlag För Fri Musik in 2018 and later a small cassette run, is pretty much a lost progg classic from the 70's. This is not a case of copying a certain sound though, far from it, neither are ideas really rehashed nor does the album feel nostalgic in that sense. Rather it feels like if someone has read about the progg movement and all the records but never actually heard it, yet decided to do an album and somehow managed to succeed big time. Further developing the sound palette and ambience initiated with parts of the Leendet Från Helvetet recording, the music feels slightly louder and more in your face. It's like it's more of everything. The melodies are immediate and it's quite impossible to resist the brash catchiness of it all. Albeit mentioning progg music and its importance for this recording, the actual musical side of Knutna Nävar has in reality more in common with soundtrack/library music and Swedish composers like the late Björn Isfält when you attempt to break it down. The crude DIY approach and anything-goes mentality just adds an extra dimension to it all and ultimately places the music somewhere else. There's a rather blunt use of samples throughout the record (sources probably best to leave out, though you don't have to be a Einstein to figure these out), but then again this is made by the same guy that gave the world the ABBA album. Those samples has managed to become an integral part of the music through the few years that has passed and though well familiar with the records those snippets are now to me genuinely Blod and nothing else. It seems like everyone has their own favourite but Knutna Nävar is the Blod album I have returned to the most. It has that extra something that sets it apart and if I would have to pick up a few records that sums up why Gothenburg has been a pretty damn awesome place to be in the last 10 years or so, this would definitely be one of the top picks.

Limited Edition 100 Only Red Vinyl LP - Hand Signed and Numbered / Quantity: 100 - Beth Blade and The Beautiful Disasters are a melodic Hard Rock band based out of Cardiff, South Wales. The four-piece provide monster riffs, huge choruses and a dose of old school rock and roll attitude. With aggressive muscle and melodic sensitivity, this band is reigniting the flame of British Hard Rock. They have an unmistakable modern presence whilst keeping the spirit of old school rock and roll alive. The band have been a non-stop force to be reckoned with, building a strong pedigree touring with Marco Mendoza and The Electric Boys, and have supported old and new legends such as Kee Marcello, Y and T, Dan Reed and Danny Vaughan, Ricky Warick and Damon Johnson, Massive Wagons, Those Damn Crows, Tyketto and Graham Bonnett. They are no strangers to festivals either having performed at Hard Rock Hell, Planet Rockstock, Monsterfest and most notably with KISS on the globally renowned KISS Kruise in the US. The band's first two albums received glowing reviews across the rock press and resulted in international radio airplay including heavy rotation on major networks in the UK. Beth herself has sung backing vocals on the last two Thunder albums with the latter reaching number 3 in the U.K. Top 40 Album Chart and number 1 in the U.K Rock Chart in March 2021. The band are currently working on album number 3 and have a number of live shows and festivals already booked alongside The Treatment, Mason Hill, Collateral and will be hitting the road again on a UK tour with Swedish Rockers Thunder Mother. The band is fiercely determined and has the grit to surpass their previous accomplishments through intense live performances and a passion for rock and roll that is unrivalled.'

North London-by-way-of-Suffolk soundsmith Gerry Read delivers his first release for Circus Company with the Lean on Something EP. After countless examples of his bold production moves on many of our brother and sister labels including Herbert’s Accidental Jr to more recently on Koze’s Pampa Records, Read has always displayed a kindred spirit mindset to ours in his adventurous musical angles, and we are very happy to present this particular set of rock-solid and uniquely diverse pieces.
The title track “Lean on Something” starts things off in fine and classic Read form, with knocking found-sound percussion, fizzing textures and slick use of chopped and disorienting vocal sample
bits, as the track layers unfold into a whimsical and wondrous melodic stargazing anthem. “Wooer at the Well” then follows and picks up the tempo with those fly live acoustic drum lines that gives
Gerry’s tracks that special beyond-electronic feeling, while once again the deft layering of such a rich sound palette builds and builds giving other mavericks like Four Tet a sincere run for their money. The mood then brilliantly shifts on the next track “Paramol”, where Read treats us to an almost Robotnik-era Italo sprinkling amidst his otherwise forward-thinking club floor-filling tendencies, with an amazing array of synth sections and an arrangement that should satisfy even the neo-purists out there amongst us. Finally, “Risotto” wraps up the proceedings with a warm, jazzy bouncer reminiscent of both Read’s as well as our own catalog’s charming early offerings, and a kind of landing-at-home-base sensation with smoky cubist funk feelings and an equal parts rough-yet-undeniably cool effervescent groove.

(Half-Speed Remastered 2021)


Am 8. Juli veröffentlichen The Who ihr Album ”Tommy“ erneut, welches als eines der wichtigsten Alben
aller Zeiten gilt.

Das Album ist eine Rockoper über einen taubstummen und blinden Jungen und enthält Songs wie ”Pinball Wizard”, ”The Acid Queen” & ”I’m Free”. Es wurde 1969 veröffentlicht und erreichte Platz 2 in den
britischen Charts und Platz 7 in den USA. ”Tommy“ wurde vom langjährigen Who-Ingenieur Jon Astley von den Originalbändern gemastert und ist in einer Originalhülle mit Obi und Echtheitszertifikat verpackt.

Diese schwarze Vinyl-Version wurde von Miles Showell in den Abbey Road Studios mit einer Half-SpeedMastering-Technik gemastert, die einen hochwertigen Vinylschnitt erzeugt.

These limited-edition black vinyl versions have been mastered by long-time Who engineer Jon Astley and cut for vinyl by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios with a half-speed mastering technique which produces a superior vinyl cut and are packaged in original sleeves with obi strips and certificates of authenticity.Tommy - Regarded as one of the most important albums of all time, Tommy is a rock opera about a Deaf Dumb and Blind Boy, which, when released in 1969, reached number 2 in the UK charts and #7 in the US. The album contains songs such as “Pinball Wizard”, “The Acid Queen” & “I’m Free” and is packaged in the original sleeve artwork. Sell Out - Released in 1967 Sell Out was the third album released by the Who and is revered for being one of the first concept albums, celebrating the short-lived pirate radio stations of the late 60s with its groundbreaking use of fake adverts and jingles between songs. Highlights include such as “I Can See for Miles”, “Armenia City in the Sky” and “Tattoo”

These limited-edition black vinyl versions have been mastered by long-time Who engineer Jon Astley and cut for vinyl by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios with a half-speed mastering technique which produces a superior vinyl cut and are packaged in original sleeves with obi strips and certificates of authenticity.Tommy - Regarded as one of the most important albums of all time, Tommy is a rock opera about a Deaf Dumb and Blind Boy, which, when released in 1969, reached number 2 in the UK charts and #7 in the US. The album contains songs such as “Pinball Wizard”, “The Acid Queen” & “I’m Free” and is packaged in the original sleeve artwork. Sell Out - Released in 1967 Sell Out was the third album released by the Who and is revered for being one of the first concept albums, celebrating the short-lived pirate radio stations of the late 60s with its groundbreaking use of fake adverts and jingles between songs. Highlights include such as “I Can See for Miles”, “Armenia City in the Sky” and “Tattoo”

Repress back in soon, now on black vinyl. Genre: Rock-Alternative; Dreampop, Indiepop, Lo-fi. RIYL: Jesus and Mary Chain, Galaxie 500, Belle and Sebastian, Sarah Records.

The purest a band can aim for is to present their milieu as a time capsule from the morning of. April Magazine deals deep in the hypnagogic charm of their surroundings. Since the 2018 release of “Shirley Don’t” a sneaky classic that first turned ears outside their SF Bay Area home the band has stirred out a handful of cryptic indie pop recordings nestled in warm aerosol hiss and scrappy hand-drawn cover art. Music that glints in the far back of an urban daydream where guitars could be bells, bells could be voices, and voices hardly find use in words. If The Ceiling Were A Kite is a document of things losing definition and time gone slack. The songs on If The Ceiling Were A Kite were recorded over a span of about two years, after Peter, Mike and Kati started playing together around a four track cassette player in Peter’s bedroom. Other kindred spirits like Julia Waves, Ian Collins, Anthony Comstock OBC, Zach Vito, and eventually David Diaz joined in on some of the recordings and live shows adding to the collective ‘whatever works’ ethos of April Magazine. April Magazine is Peter Hurley, Katiana Mashikian, Mike Ramos, David Diaz.

Much deserved, remastered reissue of ‘We Are I.E.’ by Lennie De Ice, arguably the first proto jungle tune, now coming correct with fresh remixes from Solo & Blades alongside Borai, as well as the sought-after Horsepower Productions remix.

Released in 1991 on I.E. Records, an imprint based out of De Underground Records, a store in London’s Forest Gate run by Mike De Underground alongside Uncle 22 and Randall, it famously featured elements that paved the way for the Jungle sound. Centered around the Amen break, ragga style basslines, vinyl spinbacks and gun shot samples, it stood out as something different back in ’91, A certified classic, rinsed on dancefloors everywhere and anywhere, from back in the day to the present.

Solo & Blades are the first of the new versions, hitting hard with a heavyweight jungle remix, as Borai steps up with a beefy bassline rework. Horsepower Productions killer and sought after remix rounds off the package.


DJ Feedback:

Foul Play
Moving Shadow
"All the remixes totally land, great package, respectfully done. gonna hear a lot of these over the summer I think."

Jerome Hill
Super Rhythm Trax, Don't, Kool FM
"Was a little sceptical seeing these were remixes as its such an iconic track - BUT fair play ! Borai and Ed Solo & Blades both knocked it out of the park and i'll be playing both these, plus replacing my personal (slightly. crusty) vinyl rip of the original ! Bigups !!"

Om Unit
"Untouchable until now tbh"

jd Twitch
optimo
"even though I have probably heard it ten thousand times you can't beat the original. remixes are cool though."

Louise Chen
"this hits so hard it's tough choosing a fave mix!"

Emerald
BBC 1xtra/ Rinse FM
"Yeeeeeh found the dubstep remix vinyl of this in barcelona recently"

Werdna (Circular Jaw)
"Classic, lovely to see Hooj bringing in the big guns for the remixes. These are going off!"

Cortese
"Sick breaks on this one"

Truss/ MPIA3/ Overmono
"wicked"

Oli Warwick
Crack/ RA/ International Orange/ JunoJuno Plus
"Absolutely seminal bomb drop here, and the remixes are no joke either!"

Chris Farrell
"Always good to see this come round again, original and borai mix for me"

Smolny
"CLASICK !"

Doc Martin
Sublevel USA/Fabric UK.
"Complete Rave Warehouse Flashbacks!!!!"

Lil Mofo
The Trilogy Tapes / Tokyo
"wow!"

Moody Boyz
all over the worldstudio rockers records
"classic tune feeling the Filter Dread Remix"

Ciel
Rinse FM / Refuge Worldwide
"really nice collection of tunes!"

dop
"love the original"

We can't think of many other performers like the singer/songwriter/dancer/actress Asha Puthli who have excelled in such a broad range of genres. From 60s psych, Classical Indian music, Free Jazz, Pop, Soul, Disco, to Rock, the list goes on. A 'best-of' or an 'essential collection' is always going to be a subjective thing, but for what is unbelievably the first official compilation covering the full breadth of Asha's illustrious career, we aimed to provide a snapshot into her ever-evolving musical journey and a tribute to the vast richness of her catalogue.

Some singers want to be famous, others are pop star icons, and some are artists; Asha is the latter. Asha is a true force of nature, regardless of the genre she explores, she fully commits, moves on, and reinvents herself, always progressing. Looking back on Asha's career, it is evident what a trail-blazer she was, opening doors for her contemporaries and those who came later to step through. Whether it was conscious or not, you can recognise Asha’s influence in aspects of Kate Bush's ethereal image and performance, in Donna Summer’s high-smooth vocal sound and disco stylings, and in the gumption and power of Grace Jones.

Kick-starting the compilation is ‘Pain’, the Indian psychedelic garage rock sounds of The Savages featuring Asha. We have to admit, we had to strongarm Asha into letting us include this track at first; also due to its rare nature (and lack of any master tapes) the recording we present here is raw and low-fi. However, we felt its inclusion was important to fully represent the journey of Asha's career, the same consideration was also applied to two of the Asha & The Surfers’ songs that we have included in this collection.

Asha saw a link between jazz and classical Indian music "the improvisation, the minor chords, the free form, the liberalness of the art" we showcase her love of jazz here with seminal works with the legendary Ornette Coleman, taken from the revered 'Science Fiction’ album. Asha's 'CBS years' are represented here, how could we not include 'Space Talk' on this collection, and how these years progressed into her amazing disco offerings such as 'I'm Gonna Dance' & 'Music Machine'. The bizarre 'We're Gonna Bury The Rock With The Roll Tonight' from 1980 has also won us over. A pseudo-50s throw-back song that sounds not un-similar to the post-modern, leftfield, pop of an MIA production to come years later. Rounding off the compilation we have Asha's interpretation of a Michael Jackson classic that sat lost on a cassette-only released in India.

Repress incoming...

Far Out Recordings proudly presents Milton Nascimento's Maria Maria. Recorded in 1974 and unreleased until almost thirty years later, the album was written as the soundtrack to a ballet which dealt with the legacy of slavery in Brazil. Raw, atmospheric and emotionally charged, Maria Maria reveals one of Brazil's greatest ever songwriters at his creative peak. Featuring an all-star cast of fellow Brazilian legends including Nana Vasconcelos, Joao Donato, Paulinho Jobim, and members of Som Imaginario, Maria Maria holds what Milton considers to be the definitive versions of some of his classic songs, including 'Os Escravos De Jó' and 'Maria Maria'.

Originally released in 2003 as a double CD package, with Milton Nascimento's 1984 follow up ballet soundtrack Ultimo Trem, Maria Maria will be available on vinyl for the very first time from December 2019, with Ultimo Trem set for vinyl release early 2020.

Milton Nascimento possesses one of the most immediately recognizable voices in Brazilian music: high and sweet and as breathtakingly sublime as that of any soul singer. It was this voice that the legendary Brazilian singer Elis Regina fell in love with back in 1964, having heard Milton perform his song 'Canção do Sal (Sultry Song)' at a private party in Sao Paulo. Ellis went on to record the song in 1967 -giving Milton his first hit in Brazil and beginning a career that has spanned over 50 years.

Born in Rio on the 26th October 1942, Milton moved with his adoptive parents at the age of 18 months to Tres Pontas, a rural town in the state of Minas Gerais, 500 miles north of Rio. He began his musical career as a young teenager, singing in a crooner style he learnt from listening to Brazilian singers and US groups such as The Platters on the radio. Hungry for more opportunities to perform, Milton moved to Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, at the age of twenty. By the beginning of the 60s Milton had made a name for himself both as an accomplished singer and guitarist.

Milton became part of a local network of musicians, film makers, dancers, theatre directors and writers that included the journalist and song writer Fernando Brant as well as lyricist Marcio Borges and his younger brother Lo Borges. Together these four wrote and produced what would become Milton's milestone album, 'Clube da Esquina (Club on the Corner)'. The originality of 'Club da Esquina' shaped the local scene, and it reflects the essence of 'the Nascimento Sound'. Milton's religious upbringing as an Afro-Brazilian Catholic saw him exposed to church choral music from an early age. His love of this genre of music is apparent in both his celestial falsetto and vocal choral arrangements. This collection also displays his early fascination with evocative, non-verbal, scat-style singing, spare, harmonic guitar work and local folk music, jazz and rock.

In 1976, Milton and Fernando Brant teamed up with a new contemporary dance company called Grupo Corpo, whose Argentinian choreographer Oscar Araiz, would become a collaborator with the two musicians. Together, they conceived a show based on the composite life story of the daughter of a black slave called Maria. Nascimento wrote music to Brant's lyrics and "Maria Maria" was premiered in the main theatre of the Belo Horizonte Palacio das Artes that year. "Fernando wrote the lyrics for the ballet, but there were originally no lyrics for the theme song, "Maria Maria'". Milton and Fernando worked on the lyrics together, basing them on folk stories about black women of the countryside. Adds Milton "These memories are mostly things that we witnessed – Fernando and I – rather than what we experienced ourselves.

Milton's music is impressionistic, emotional and romantic. Relying on songs without lyrics as well as evocative vocalizing and choruses, Milton experimented heavily with Afro-Brazilian percussion and taped jungle sounds. His composing method for these recordings was highly unconventional: "I wrote the music for 'Maria Maria' in a tiny Rio apartment with friends and their kids running around and having fun! I love to be in noisy places, surrounded by people", he says.
The music on 'Maria Maria' was performed by an impressive group of young musicians who are today household names in Brazilian music, including Naná Vasconcelos (percussion and effects), Toninho Horta (guitars) and Paulo Moura (sax). Several vocalist including Naná Caymmi, Fafá de Belém, Beto Guedes, and Milton himself, had hits in years to come with reworkings of these songs.

Milton says his compositions follow his visions "like a movie", and he believes that reflects his long love affair with cinema. "I only began composing because of enjoying the movies so much," he says. "I wrote my first song "Peace for the Coming Love" after seeing 'Jules et Jim' (the cult 60s French film directed by François Truffaut), with my friend Marcio Borges. We went early in the morning and watched it four or five times in a row, then went to Márcio's home and wrote the song."

The songs also include solo spoken passages set to music, clearly influenced by this style of French art cinema. On the title track, Maria's story is narrated and translated to music through the use of African Percussion, drums and metal signifying the field slave tools of the day. 'Trabalhos (Works)' runs to work rhythms and whipcracks: no words, just pain. 'Lília' documents the beating of the slave woman. After 'A Chamada (The call)' and the triumphant 'Era Rei e Sou Escravo (I was a king now I am a slave' things begin to turn and Milton employs tropical jungle cries to symbolize freedom. 'Santos Catholicos x Candomble (Catholic Saints vs Candomble)' represents the battle between African and European religions through the music of both sides. Milton's heavenly falsetto pours into 'Francisco' and 'Pai Grande (Great Father)' and the outstanding 'Eu Sou Uma Preta Velha Aqui Sentada no Sol (I'm an old black lady, sitting under the sun)' conjures images of an old woman sitting deep in the forest, her memories painted in drums, piano and voices.

Minru is the project of Caroline Blomqvist, a Swedish musician based in Berlin. Woven from light and shadow, the interplay of her folk and indie-rock blend appears from a personal space of finding life after death. On her debut LP »Liminality« she paints melody in soft tones, whispering secrets to navigate feelings of loss.

Built around winding layers of acoustic guitar, piano, and strings, Minru is a surprisingly uplifting and stirring testament to Blomqvist’s own suffering from the passing of someone close to her. Returning to Berlin from Sweden feelings of grief, confusion, and pain travelled with her, and these emotions prompted the journey both of and within the album, heard as a dreamlike actualisation of wandering lost between them. "I read that Carl Jung used the word "»Liminality«” to describe the psychological process of transitioning. I instantly felt seen; it reflected my own experience and the feelings I carried whilst making the album – a sense of the old certainties being gone, but the new not being quite there yet,” she says.

Defined as "the threshold separating one space from another" »Liminality« moves between feeling the ground beneath your feet fall away, fighting through the darkness and the doubt, and the emerging shades of hope and light as you painstakingly make peace with mortality and find yourself as a person again. "I am happy to have encapsulated this moment of time in sound," Blomqvist says, "it will always be there as a memory."

Flourishing from a preferred position of solitude, »Liminality« sees Blomqvist’s vision radiate with intensity from her home-based studio in Neukölln - a small, 2-room apartment with squeaky old wooden floors. Capturing the intimacy of the space, she recorded vocals and synth on gear partly borrowed from friends (to swiftly reunite it with its owners), and the songs flow with a stream of consciousness as feelings become entwined with melody. Time-restraint drew the process to a natural close, preventing Blomqvist from losing herself to experimentation. “Maybe I would have been stuck in »Liminality«, trying out sounds forever,” she suggests of the way ‘Into the well’s instrumental swims into a warm stream of synth pads. "It’s the cosiest moment on the album,” she says, “Cosy is a feeling I always strive for in life."

Finished and self-produced at a Berlin-Lichtenberg recording studio alongside musical friends (Povel Widestrand, Tobias Blessing, Sunniva Lilian Shaw Of-Tordarroch, Marlene Becher and Liv Solveig Wagner), the result is beautifully detailed and rich like the folk of her Swedish roots. First picking up a guitar as a kid and becoming obsessed with it, she would skip school to spend extra hours mastering the instrument, grappling to perfect the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ intro. “As a child I was fascinated by my dad’s acoustic guitars around the house and would hit the strings to make them sound,” she recalls. After attending music high school in Gothenburg and playing in bands during her teens, Blomqvist later moved to Germany. As well as enjoying walks at Tempelhofer Feld and coffee at Leuchtstoff café, she performed with Tuvaband, Adna, and Tara Nome Doyle and played in Berlin venues Loophole and Schokoladen, where music became her world. With the passing of time she felt a growing urge to find an outlet for her own songs; Minru was the answer along with her first »Yearnings« EP.

Now writing whenever she returns to Sweden, within the calm and stillness of her family’s mountainside cabin, her skilfully constructed arrangements summon the comforting atmosphere of home. “I hope listeners will feel inspired to slow down a bit, create, draw, cook something. Just be in the moment that is now.” »Liminality« is the kind of record that rewards attention. Give this album your time, it will give you its soul.

Die Geschichte von The Boppers begann wie ein Märchen über ein paar Teenager aus Stockholm, die zur falschen Zeit am richtigen Ort waren.
Sie gründeten die Band 1977, als der Punkrock auf der ganzen Welt explodierte, und ihre Interpretation des Doo Wop und Rock n Roll der 50er Jahre hätte nicht unpassender sein können, aber sie weigerten sich, sich anzupassen und machten daraus einen Erfolg.
Ihr Debütalbum 'Number One', das hauptsächlich Coverversionen ihrer 50er-Jahre-Lieblingslieder von Roy Orbison, Dion & Belmonts usw. enthielt, verkaufte sich in Schweden über 450 000 Mal! Eine Empfehlung für Fans von Bands wie Rockpile, Drifters, Darts, Dion, Beach Boys, Chuck Berry, Marcels, Blasters, Stray Cats oder Coasters!

"Astro's death came as such a shock, and I'm still reeling from it,” comments Ali. “This album is now more poignant and special than either of us could have imagined when we were recording it. Astro heartbreakingly passed just two weeks after we'd finished the final mixes, so this is a way of keeping his memory alive.”The follow-up to 2018’s A Real Labour Of Love – which debuted at No.2, the highest charting album by any incarnation of UB40 since 1993's Promises And Lies, and spent a month in the Top 10 – Unprecedented is fueled by the roots rocking spirit that powered UB40's original incarnation, and is an album to inject a little reggae sunshine into even the darkest days.Recorded in studios in London and Jamaica in between lockdowns, the album is a collection of songs that Ali and Astro have loved for many years by artists they admire such as Steve Wonder and Kris Kristofferson alongside self penned tracks that were inspired by the pandemic and the state of the UK at the moment.

Cardiff alternative rock duo James and the Cold Gun are pleased to announce the details of their debut EP False Start, set for release on April 29th 2022 through Gallows' label Venn Records and Seattle-based label Loosegroove Records, owned by Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam) & Regan Hagar (Malfunkshun, Brad, Satchel). False Start is available to digitally pre-order now, with a vinyl release scheduled for the summer: https://orcd.co/falsestartep Speaking of the new partnership between the band and Loosegroove Records, the influential indie label that was founded back in 1994, which has issued records from acts such as Critters Buggin, Malfunkshun, Weapon of Choice and Devilhead, and was the launching point for Queens of the Stone Age’s debut album in 1998, Stone Gossard said: “I heard James and The Cold Gun’s ‘Long Way Home’ on KEXP last year and thought this band fricken rocks! Who are these upstarts?! "This new track, ‘It's Mutual’ takes it to another level. Totally unhinged and letting it all hang out. Loosegroove Records is thrilled to be working with James and the Cold Gun on this new EP with a future full-length coming soon.” On 'It's Mutual', James Joseph said: "It's a song that embodies the feeling that you get when you hit a stalemate in a relationship, that feeling when you're both sat together but neither person is able to speak. We've all had those awkward silent car journeys where there has been an argument or something isn't right but we can't even chat about it. Next time you have an awkward car journey, grab the aux and chuck some Cold Gun on." James Biss adds, "We wrote these songs for False Start in our flat in 2020 during the pandemic and our first time playing them live as a band was to record them. It was pretty mad recording live around our drummer, hearing the songs played loud with real drums for the first time after months of being stuck inside writing them on the computer. Recording with Adrian Bushby was a dream though, he was bopping around the control room and egging us on to play louder and harder, he's technically the first person we ever played in front of." Taken from the EP, lead single 'It's Mutual' is out now: https://orcd.co/itsmutual The band have rapidly been building support from some of rock’s most respected taste-makers, including Kerrang! Magazine, Rock Sound, Punktastic, Dead Press, Running Punks, BBC Introducing Wales, Deezer’s Hot New Rock playlist, Triple J’s Short Fast Loud, Apple Music’s New In Rock, Beez at Mosh Talks on Twitch, Alex Baker at Kerrang! Radio, John Kennedy at Radio X, and Daniel P Carter on the BBC Radio One Rock Show.

Combining power pop and street rock with a sour but raw power, Kiss Disease sign with Svart Records! Kiss Disease’s praised self-titled EP from 2020, together with their fierce performances, sparked a wide interest in the underground circles. Encouraged by the fantastic feedback, the band took a conscious risk and began recording their debut album with no record deal in sight. Soon after hearing about this, Svart Records struck a deal with the band, whose brave blend of power pop, street rock and catchy choruses is only becoming more multifaceted and personal. Kiss Disease’s debut album, titled You Met Me at a Strange Time, is based on the raw and sour force displayed on the garage punk EP from last year. On the other hand, the band wanted to expand their sound to a grander and more versatile direction. The guidelines were sought from the worlds of power pop and protopunk. “The core of our album is formed by a strong group effort. The songs were written both together and by everyone on their own, with the whole band having a say on their final form. This time we took influences from a wider spectrum, and it’s precisely this lack of a clear guideline that made us pursue a more emancipated and personal version of our sound”, says the band’s lead guitarist Alex Stöd. The band’s sound has evolved greatly in the last year. You Met Me at a Strange Time is diverse, fierce, sensitive, and surprising, all at the same time. According to singer/guitarist Ella Laine, an existential transformation of some sort took place amid album’s creation: “For me personally, this album embodies some sort of turning point between adulthood and the craziness of adolescence, a place where you sit up and take notice of first yourself and then the people around you. Difficult and untold situations are squeezed from between the lines in the lyrics, revealing both everything and absolutely nothing.” The first single Season Creep took a while for the song to be born since the band’s style was expanding from straightforward punk songs towards a more melodic expression.

While Sass Jordan is celebrated as a multi-platinum selling premiere rock
singer, her 2020 album, Rebel Moon Blues, demonstrated that she sings
the blues with as much power and authenticity as she personified in the
rock world
Following up on the rave reviews garnered by Rebel Moon Blues, Sass continues
to mine her talent as a blues singer with 8 new tracks on Bitches Blues, on Stony
Plain Records.Reflecting on the impact the past two years has had on us all, Sass
has recorded songs that examine the visceral emotional territory of a pandemic,
and the multiple conflicts that the world is reeling from in the aftermath. "Still
Alive and Well' is Sass's triumphant take on a Rick Derringer song that leads off
the album. Her original song, "Still The World Goes Round" marks the mid-point
with a look at power structures, both within and without, while another new
creation" Change Is Coming" ends the collection with a trance- like chant that
offers an uplifting perspective.
As we have come to expect from Sass, the album features fierce guitar licks,
driving tempo's, the raw and soulful Sass Jordan rasp, and a glorious assortment
of rambling road dogs, known as the Champagne Hookers. This particular
collection of Hookers includes longtime associates and rebel rouser guitarists
Chris Caddell and Jimmy Reid, drummer Cass Pereira, keyboardist Jesse O'Brien
and the magnificent Mr. Steve Marriner on bass and harmonica.
Netherlands tour in June 2022.

This three album Limited Edition Numbered set of Fleetwood Mac live
and studio tracks on Blue Vinyl recorded after the departure of Peter
Green and before the arrival of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham
Fleetwood Mac made it big twice over: first as young kings of the late 1960's
British blues boom – blues fanatics who nonetheless made the pop charts with a
batch of memorable songs penned by founder Peter Green.
Then secondly, as the band that with its Rumours album Californian line- up,
tapped into a whole new market in the mid-1970's which became known as AOR -
adult oriented rock.
The music here is from a pivotal eighteen months in Mac's history as it lost its
original if- it- ain't- blues- we- don't- wanna- know attitude and looked to its own
songwriters - and America's West Coast sound - for inspiration.
After Peter Green's exit in May 1970 the rest of the band bravely decided to carry
on as a 4-piece, and so rented an oast house called Kiln House to try and 'get it
together in the country. Christine McVie joined, and one of the stand-out songs,
'Station Man', would endure for Mac in the bleak years before they moved to
California in 1974 where they struck gold with their eponymous white album and
then Rumours. 'Station Man' eventually found its way into the live set-list of the
Buckingham/ Nicks line- up and listening to it again here you can hear why: in
there, as far back as 1970, are some trademarks of the Rumours sound: threevoice harmonies, in- song tempo changes and ringing guitar sounds. Similarly,
'The Purple Dancer' and 'Jewel Eyed Judy' showcase a vocal harmonies and
melodic sense of things to come for Fleetwood Mac many miles down the line.

Soul icon Otis Redding made immeasurable contributions to the form. As a singer-

songwriter, producer, arranger and talent scout, Redding was responsible for some of the

music’s biggest and most lasting hits during the 1960s, though his death in an airplane crash

in 1967 brought his life and career to a tragically premature end. He was born Otis Redding

Junior in 1941 in the small town of Dawson, Georgia, the son of a sharecropper and preacher,

and moved to the city of Macon at the age of two, where he learned to sing at the Vineville

Baptist Church. After singing in the high school band, he performed weekly gospel songs on

radio station WIBB, winning local talent contests after being inspired by Little Richard and

Sam Cooke. Since his father became ill with tuberculosis, Redding began supporting the

family at the age of 15, working as a gas station attendant, a digger of water wells, and

occasionally by playing piano with pianist Gladys Williams at the Hillview Springs Social

Club. Then, in 1958, Redding had a repeat prize run at a talent contest held by broadcaster

Hamp Swain, bringing him first into a group called Pat T Cake and the Mighty Panthers, and

later into Little Richard’s band (during a time when Richard switched rock and roll for

gospel). Moving to Los Angeles in late 1960, debut single “She’s All Right” was issued on

the Trans World label (a subsidiary of Al Kavelin’s Lute Records), credited to The Shooters

featuring Otis; following the birth of their first child and his subsequent marriage to Zelma

Atwood, Redding recorded the popular “Shout Bamalam” for Macon’s Confederate Records

(who swiftly reissued it on the Orbit label since some radio stations objected to the original

label’s confederate flag logo, during a time of terrible racial segregation in the South).

Redding cut the movingly emotive “These Arms Of Mine” at Stax studios in Memphis in

1962, backed by Booker T and the MGs, which surfaced on the subsidiary Volt label in

October, reaching the charts some six months later (and eventually selling a reported 800,000

copies). Subsequent singles “What My Heart Needs” and “Pain In My Heart”/“Something Is

Worrying Me,” recorded in September 1963, formed the bulk of debut album, Pain In My

Heart, which was padded out by standard cover tunes of songs such as “I Need Your Lovin’,”

Ben E King’s “Stand By Me” and Little Richard’s “Lucille.” The album, which surfaced at

the start of 1964, reached the top 20 of the US R&B chart and also hit the Billboard Hot 100;

this edition has an alternate track listing that includes the Trans World debut single tracks

“She’s All Right” and “Getting’ Hip,” as well as “Mary Had A Little Lamb,” the B-side to

“That’s What My Heart Needs.” Carefully remastered, spinning at 45 rpm for enhanced qudio quality.

Lush Fresh Handmade Sound and Mark Constantine are proud to unveil
'Life's What You Make It', following from the acclaimed compilation
albums 'Self Preservation Society' and 'Instant Replay'
This stunning vinyl triple album has once again been personally curated by Mark
Constantine, co founder of Lush and passionate music fan.It features 30 brand
new versions of songs originally recorded between 1981 to 1991, including some
of the finest pop, folk, rock and ballads of the time.
You'll find the familiar and the unfamiliar, unexpected collisions of styles, radical
reworkings and faithful renditions, all in celebration of a musical golden era.
Many of these tracks will have specific associations for each of us, but
collectively they formed the soundtrack to Mark's decade during Cosmetics to Go
and the pre-Lush Cosmetics years: "What I remember from that time is working
every hour God sent," he says. "We'd be waking up at 4am, switching on the
boilers and mixing up product as fast as we could. And there'd always be music
playing."
Compositions by artists as diverse as The Cure, Phil Collins, Tina Turner, Kate
Bush and Nirvana have been reinterpreted by a galaxy of established and rising
stars including Teddy Thompson, Eliza Carthy, Jackie Oates, Marry Waterson,
Stealing Sheep andHoneyfeet, many of which you'll found on Lush's bespoke Spa
Treatment soundtracks.
The result is a magnificently diverse, six-sided jewel of a record

BBE Music presents the first ever reissue of ‘Classifieds’, an ultra-rare, privately pressed 1985 album by Moonshine aka Monica Rypma & Friends. A naive and charming dose of dreamy DIY synth-pop interspersed with off-kilter, ambient interludes, original copies of ‘Classifieds’ are now almost impossible to dig up, but lately, thanks to the internet, the album has earned a cult following from music obsessives all over the globe. Created by aspiring songwriter and recent music-school dropout Monica Rypma, incredibly the album’s recording and production was entirely financed from sponsorship and advertising, way back in 1985. Inspired by René Van Helsdingen, the Amsterdam based composer, pianist and crowd-funding pioneer, Monica decided to sell advertising space on the album sleeve and name the album 'Classifieds', designing the cover to mimic a newspaper’s small ads layout. Written and recorded in only 5 days with René Van Helsdingen collaborator, synth wizard and multi-instrumentalist Brian Batie producing, the album was engineered by Wil Hesen at Studio Farmsound in Heelsum. With Rypma assisting, Batie composed and arranged almost all of the music on the spot, and lyrics were dreamed up by Batie, Rypma and Brian’s friend Jenny Garner. With an album full of music she could be proud of, Monica called in help from friends and family to print, fold and assemble the albums. “The original cover sleeve had three coloured bands; yellow, green or pink” says Rypma. “These were not different pressings, as most people presumed, but came from the limited budget that was left for printing. As one ink ran out, another colour was used, and this method produced the three versions.” Once copies had been distributed to the record’s advertisers and sponsors, hardly any were left. Until now, that is!