Search:roma

Verdammt, es ist schon wieder passiert! Nicht nur haben ADAM ANGST ein neues Album aufgenommen, ihr drittes, nein, sie haben auch schon wieder Songs geschrieben, die so gnadenlos perfekt ins gesellschaftliche, deutsche Jetzt passen, dass es wirklich wehtut. Denn sagen wir mal so: Es sieht nicht gut aus. Für uns alle. Das dritte Album von Felix Schönfuss, David Frings, Roman Hartmann, Christian Kruse und Johannes Koster hört auf den Namen "TWIST" und erscheint am 17.11.2023 über Grand Hotel van Cleef. Die erste Single aus dem Album heißt "Die Lösung für deine Probleme", und ist leider, leider, leider heute aktueller als 2021, als der Song ursprünglich geschrieben wurde.

After her album with producer High John on MPM in 2019 and collaborations with agajon, Àbáse, KUOKO, Cap Kendricks and Move 78, soul singer douniah returns with her debut solo project!

douniah imparts her debut solo project "A Lot, Not Too Much" to an unexpecting audience. Thoughtfully, the singer-songwriter invites us to embark on our own saviour. The collection of songs is steeped in artistic and emotional integrity. Production was ledand executed by Dhanya Langer, one half of band project Modha, and producer of JujuRogers' 2019 album "40 Acres N Sum Mula". Written amid the pandemic, this piece is aneffort of immense proportions - experimenting with her sound in time, wading through spirals of arduous personal challenges. 'A first impression of how my journey sounds.'Agadir-born and Hamburg-raised, douniah engages in the practice of interpreting herspirit, impressively, in German, Darija and English. We find here, a body of work that threads together the tenets of free-form poetry and romanticism, backdropped by neo-experimental jazz tendencies. In euphony, a worldly array of instruments act insymbiosis to carry us through "A Lot, Not Too Much". douniah's voice is one to fall into; her message is enunciated with every word, delivered delicately with an inventory ofriffs and ranged tone. The utilisation of choppy, note-like, freestyles bridges the EP's strong singles, into a rhapsodic whole.

After two years, Carl and Andreas present their second album, and once again, it opens up a wide associative space for us. What strikes us initially is the uncommon instrumentation: a church organ, harpsichord, glass tubes, and more. Like their first album (The Aporias of Futurism), it is mysterious and dark. But it also carries a strong touch of rebellion and adrenaline, sometimes quite pointedly. The pieces are now shorter and feature intricate yet irresistible rhythms. The impact is immediate, yet it maintains a sense of solemnity and ceremony. The Apollonian complexity of the rhythms and subtle melodic interweavings is transformed into a Dionysian, ecstatic, hypnotic, and at times tribal context. "Music for Unknown Rituals" oscillates between primitive instincts and avant-garde intrigues.

The process began in Döblitz, a small village on the Saale river in Germany, inside an old church that houses an organ built in 1886 by Johann Adolph Ibach. Carl and Andreas gained access and secluded themselves there for a few days, accompanied by the organ, an instrument made of glass tubes, and a set of modular synthesizers. After recording the basic tracks in Döblitz, the work continued in Munich and Berlin. Carl played electric guitars, harpsichord, bass, metallophone, xylophone, Indian harmonium, and various percussive instruments. Andreas added layers of electronic sounds, noises, and atmospheric drones. He also created percussive structures extracted and derived from recorded material of technical and industrial noises, which contrasted with the acoustic drums played by Carl. The antithetical approach continues with the dichotomous arrangement of the instruments, often panned hard left and right in the stereo field, creating an antiphonic communication. Some parts, especially the use of the electric guitar, evoke memories of the psychedelic sixties. However, this is anything but a nostalgic album—these musical references are merely remnants, set pieces, and fragments used from a contemporary, post-modern, post-youth-cultural, and post-romantic perspective.

Although Andreas and Carl continue on their chosen path of composing music with an almost literary narrative structure, this album is conceptually and formally completely different from their first effort. If “The Aporias of Futurism” was a revolutionary manifesto (in a pataphysical sense), "Music for Unknown Rituals" is more like the implementation in action; it is the practical application of the previous statement. To put it another way, if "The Aporias of Futurism” was the conceptual manifesto of a dark utopia of modernity, "Music for Unknown Rituals" is the staging of free will surrendering to the myths and catharsis of a Greek tragedy. And in response to this, the artwork features a leitmotif of histrionics with hands, the hands being the first and intuitive part of the body to express something: a ritual, a prayer, a defeat...

— Andreas Gerth is one half of Driftmachine, and Carl Osterhelt is part of F.S.K and collaborates with Hans-Joachim Irmler of Faust. Both became connected through their participation in the Tied & Tickled Trio.

Erlebe die zeitlose Anziehungskraft von The Kinks mit der Best Of "The Journey - Part 2". Eine aufregende Odyssee durch die ikonischen Hits der Band, darunter das elektrisierende "Till The End of The Day", das überschwängliche "David Watts", die sonnengetränkten Vibes von "Sunny Afternoon" und die rebellische Hymne "20th Century Man", sowie viele, viele mehr.

Diese Veröffentlichung enthält drei unveröffentlichte, neu abgemischte Live-Tracks von den legendären "New Victoria Suite"-Aufführungen, die euch in die erste Reihe bringen, um die rohe Energie und musikalische Brillanz der Band zu hören.

Um die Magie von "The Journey Part 2" noch zu verstärken, enthält diese Veröffentlichung wunderschön gestaltete Linernotes von der Band selbst. Sie beleuchten die bemerkenswerte Reise der Band, den kreativen Prozess, denkwürdige Anekdoten und das bleibende Vermächtnis der Kinks und geben einen Einblick in die Welt der Band und die Geschichten, die hinter diesen zeitlosen Klassikern stehen.

Für die ultimativen Kinks-Fans gibt es auch eine 2CD-Version mit einer erweiterten Tracklist. So wird sichergestellt, dass jeder Fan in den Genuss dieser geschätzten Klassiker und seltenen Live-Perlen kommt.

Lass dich von der Nostalgie anstecken und genieße die unvergleichliche Klangwelt der Kinks.

JD McPherson presents what he calls "A truly romantic garage rock record". Undivided Heart & Soul produced by Dan Molad (Lucius) & McPherson, and developed largely in the studio (that studio being the historic RCA Studio B in Nashville), carries a sense of immediacy and irreverence. Putting the hands of Dan Molad on the wheel of the record ensured that the music didn't take too many expected turns. "Having toured with Lucius and befriended Dan, I knew he was the guy to push my buttons and challenge me to try new things. He's a tireless worker. He's constantly tinkering away on something... and music just falls out of him." The vintage recording equipment and instruments still housed in RCA Studio B greatly informed the direction of the record. "Each night, at the end of tracking, someone would invariably say, "You wanna put vibes on this?", speaking of the old RCA Vibraphone. I mean, you can hear THAT vibraphone on Roy Orbison's "Crying"... we couldn't keep our hands off of it. It guided some of the songs into some strange and wonderful places. "Lucky Penny" took such a cool turn once Ray (Jacildo, keys) added some to it. We wrote several songs on the piano that Floyd Cramer played "Last Date" on. We were soaking up so much of the phantom energy in that room, it led to some incredible sonic territory." "Most folks know

We're excited to welcome Mako back to the label with a followup to his LP 'Death Of A Romantic'.

Primera / Vamos both capture and convey the accomplished and unmistakable Mako sound refined once again for a Samurai Music focused delivery. Primera steps deep with a slicing riff leading into a perfectly honed amen jumpstart, while Vamos recalls echoes of Spirit with a persistent stab attack riding across a characteristically warm and weighty rhythmic bounce.

Bill Evans and Jim Hall had first recorded together in July of 1959, during the making of John Lewis’ LP Odds Against Tomorrow, and the two musicians also participated on Gunther Schuller’s Jazz Abstractions (recorded in December of 1960). However, those were big band albums and had no space at all for any real interaction between the pianist and guitarist. Undercurrent, presenting them as a duet, was their third studio encounter and one of their most rewarding collaborations. 180-GRAM BLUE COLORED VINYL - THE COMPLETE ALBUM + 2 BONUS TRACKS

After a hiatus of quite some time, the Belgian duo composed by the world renowned model Kim Peers and post-metal band Amenra’s guitarist Mathieu Vandekerckhove, is finally back with a new full-length album.

Four years have passed since their debut Benevolence. Meanwhile Skemer took the time to let all sides of their personality grow and eventually explode. You remember their minimalist cold wave deconstructions equally made of brutal and erotic components. A duality deeply rooted in the band’s music as well as in their line-up and obviously their live shows, where romantic and ethereal atmospheres collide with the gothic side of electronic and techno music. This is even more present on their new LP Toasts & Sentiments.

Eleven new cuts where every side of Skemer’s nature gets its own share of expression only to leave you wrapped in one pitch black cloak. A few episodes in the duo’s native language Dutch, add even more mystery to the occult receipt.

Get in the introspective, tranche insistent riff on the opening track Eyelashes and get catapulted, quite literally, on the dark side of the moon. Keep on wandering the alien surface with Seen and its solemn gait. Pick up your pace with the pounding drums of Easy To Embrace and Kiss Me Kill Me. Go down the stairs to the dungeon of the club culture with lead singles Overgave and Out Of Favor claustrophobic electro. Remain bogged down in the darkness with New Born Babe, get slapped by Apocalypse’s industrial trance crescendo. Rest and collapse with the final track’s texture of ambient synths and reverberating guitars.

It may have taken four years for Skemer to present their new creation but it was definitely worth the wait. Walk the night with us.

Born in Roma in 1959, Guiseppe “Peps” Cotumaccio arrived in South Africa when he was two years old. He was the mastermind behind the band “Sweet Reaction”, singing and playing keyboards.

In the early 80’s, the group used to back various artists including one of the South African top singer “Neville Nash”. Both artists were on the same record label: Music Team. Throughout his lengthy career, Peps has collaborated with Johnny Clegg, Ronnie Joyce, Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse, P.J. Powers, Mark Alex, Neville Nash, and Mara Louw just to name a few.

The lead singer of the band, Dion Williamson, started performing in Johannesburg’s nightclubs and got quickly very successful, always in demand! People loved his gravel and sensual voice as he used to sing some of Joe Cocker’s popular songs. Unfortunately, during the Apartheid, the South African Government were not allowing black and white audiences, and the band split.

On this BIG5 Boogie#2, Enoch Ndlela produced 2 Modern Soul killer tracks.
Recorded in 1981, "Take it easy", where the music is evidently influenced by Willie Hutch (Easy does it - 1978) offers Dion a way to fully explain himself doing his own version of the tune. And what an explosive result!

On the same side of this 12”, our 2 Frenchies in Cape Town aka Simbad & Fred Spider enjoyed delivering us a fat broken beat version of the track, while the very “En Vogue” Aroop Roy from London turned it into a funky house summer hit.
Side B starts with a superb composition from the band: “African Sunrise” where Dion Williamson is on top, this tune is a bomb!
To finish this E.P, the well-known Kid Fonque from Johannesburg, who freshly moved to London working for the glorious house record label Defected, couldn’t wait to produce a super groove deep house refix. The result is a second essential dancefloor release from Voom Voom Records!

Stepping out of the bedroom and into the Real World, Liverpool’s Strawberry Guy headed down to Peter Gabriel’s idyllic Real World Studios with Manchester’s Northern Session Collective in tow and set about trying to soften and expose the bare bones of his two biggest streaming tracks 'F Song' and 'Mrs Magic'.
Stripped of drums & synths, the music is pared down to piano and romantic new strings arrangements, bringing the careful melodies & indrawn lyrics to the fore.
Having recorded the original tracks in his Liverpool bedroom, swapping the originals’ string samples for their real-life counterparts lends the tracks an even more ethereal quality than the self-produced originals. The trip to Real World marks a first foray into studio recording for Strawberry Guy, and a new high-fidelity direction for the project, as he begins the process of making his sophomore album.
The vinyl edition of these new songs is out November 10, and features the two new strings versions along with the originals of both tracks, meaning fans can finally get their hands on a physical version of early single “F Song.”
While the music of Strawberry Guy favours a hermetic, headphones-forward sound lying somewhere between Bryter Layter-era Nick Drake, The Clientele, Slowdive’s Pygmalion, and the psychedelic 70s output of fellow Liverpudlian Paul McCartney, it’s nonetheless become a smash on TikTok and streaming services with a fanatical young and diverse fan base.

"Keep You Close" ist das sechste Album der belgischen Rockband dEUS - ursprünglich erschienen am 17. September 2011. "Keep You Close" ist eins der erfolgreichsten dEUS Alben und hat Platinstatus in ihrem Heimatland! Im Rahmen des 40-jährigen Jubiläums von PIAS erscheint das Album nun endlich wieder auf Vinyl.

A viral phenomenon reissued. After 23 million YouTube views, multitudes of tattoos, dozens of cover versions, eight sold-out 7" pressings, comes this NINTH vinyl version.àSpread by word of mouth, click of mouse and without radio play.àThe entrancing romantic love song (murder ballad?) with guest vocalist Sparky Phillips of Demented Are Go counterpointing HME's Emanuela Hutter, hits the sweet spot for obsessive lovers“

The Hillbilly Moon Explosion continue with their gigging schedule across Europe this fall and plan a new album next year.àThe band - two Englishmen, a Frenchman and a Swiss/Italian chanteuse - reside in Switzerland and are one of the classiest exponents of rockabilly alive today, subtly mixing in swing, ska, country, Europop and more without compromising their roots.àTheir widely-sourced rock"n"roll is exciting and enduring; this song is a proven earworm and a worldwide infatuation

Neues Konzept-Album der einzigen "Winterdoom"-Band Deutschlands! Die Würzburger, die ursprünglich 2014 als Nebenprojekt der einzigartigen Instrumentalband OMEGA MASSIF gegründet worden waren, ballern uns einen fiesen und massiven dunklen Brocken um die Ohren: Black- und Postmetal vermischen sich mit Sludge, Ambient und Post-Punk auf hohem Niveau, ich wäre tatsächlich überrascht, wenn die Band nicht beim Roadburn 2024 aufschlagen würde, da gehört sie nämlich hin. Grundsätzlich melancholisch und episch, unterlegt von maschinenhaftem Stakkato-Drumming, düster, kalt und wütend. Für die 6 schleppend-schleifenden Songs muss man sich Zeit nehmen, das ausgezeichnete Songwriting entfaltet sich Schicht für Schicht zu einem Albtraum-Szenario, das stetig zu lauern scheint, angriffslustig geduckt und im Schatten. Der Kontrast zwischen sanft-melodischen E-Bow Leads und Klargesang bzw. auch Sprechgesang auf der einen Seite zu präzise drückendem Riffing, Sprachsamples und viehischem Gegrowle auf der anderen Seite verstärkt nur noch das Unwohlsein beim Hören. Insgesamt merkt man den Songs deutlich an, wieviel Mühe darin steckt, es gibt sehr viele Details zu entdecken und zu den Texten, also der Story bin ich noch gar nicht vorgedrungen: Inhaltlich orientiert sich die Platte am Romanzyklus "His Dark Materials" von Philip Pullman, was den Eindruck eines Soundtracks durch den Einsatz von Sprechtexten bzw -samples (teils englisch, teils deutsch) noch verstärkt.

Worthy re-issue of Robert Cotter's second late 70's soul album! Comprising five songs, with four of them being quite lengthy and well-structured for the dance floor, was entirely recorded in the United States by top-notch American musicians. "Timeless", a fresh and lively expression of late 70s soul music, was recorded at the Sundragon Studio in New York. This studio was home to legendary bands such as Talking Heads and Ramones, as well as a few 'disco studio groups' like Andrea True Connection, Tony Valor Sound Orchestra, and Camouflage, who recorded songs that later became considerable hits. For this reason, it's believed that the positive outcome of the album can be partially attributed to Ned Liben, an eclectic New York musician and co-founder of the studio in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, served as an exhaustive interlocutor for any artistic and technical needs. He was also the arranger of "Rock Me With Your Love", the most significant song on the album. Ned's successful mission was to capture the maximum timbral fidelity of Robert Cotter's voice using appropriate recording techniques, assisted by Michael George Ewing, a talented engineer who had previously worked on similar projects with well-known artists like Carol Williams, Maryann Farra & Satin Soul, Touch and Tony Valor. In fact, the piece features original and melodious lines, coupled with an excellent steady rhythm, spanning approximately 8 minutes and 30 seconds - in short, "a delightful sound for every beat." This ensured that the performance of the young singer-songwriter from New Jersey was faithfully reproduced without neglecting the overall musical landscape. The other four songs, arranged by Ben Lazzaroni with the same musicians as the first piece, are no exception. Best Record also delivered on the promise to Robert's older brother, Karl Potter, a powerful percussionist transplanted to Rome, for whom the roman label produced "Sweet & Salty Cha-Cha-Cha" (12", 1986). Robert Cotter, an artist about whom almost nothing has been written, is poised to gain recognition once word spreads about his album, which has been entirely remastered by Dom Scuteri and features a more congenial tracklist. This album is destined to be truly 'timeless', ready to captivate audiences around the world. Even the new cover artwork, created by Nerina Fernandez, pays homage to an artist who, despite expressing himself with elegance and simplicity, radiates energy and exudes love. "Timeless" is an inevitable revelation for anyone who missed it at the time, and for the next 40-plus years, it will remain an absolute must-listen for Robert Cotter's many fans, leaving them all in awe. In addition to the reissue on the classic glossy black vinyl, a strictly limited edition on red vinyl will be released exclusively by Clone Distribution.

Worthy re-issue of Robert Cotter's second late 70's soul album! Comprising five songs, with four of them being quite lengthy and well-structured for the dance floor, was entirely recorded in the United States by top-notch American musicians. "Timeless", a fresh and lively expression of late 70s soul music, was recorded at the Sundragon Studio in New York. This studio was home to legendary bands such as Talking Heads and Ramones, as well as a few 'disco studio groups' like Andrea True Connection, Tony Valor Sound Orchestra, and Camouflage, who recorded songs that later became considerable hits. For this reason, it's believed that the positive outcome of the album can be partially attributed to Ned Liben, an eclectic New York musician and co-founder of the studio in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, served as an exhaustive interlocutor for any artistic and technical needs. He was also the arranger of "Rock Me With Your Love", the most significant song on the album. Ned's successful mission was to capture the maximum timbral fidelity of Robert Cotter's voice using appropriate recording techniques, assisted by Michael George Ewing, a talented engineer who had previously worked on similar projects with well-known artists like Carol Williams, Maryann Farra & Satin Soul, Touch and Tony Valor. In fact, the piece features original and melodious lines, coupled with an excellent steady rhythm, spanning approximately 8 minutes and 30 seconds - in short, "a delightful sound for every beat." This ensured that the performance of the young singer-songwriter from New Jersey was faithfully reproduced without neglecting the overall musical landscape. The other four songs, arranged by Ben Lazzaroni with the same musicians as the first piece, are no exception. Best Record also delivered on the promise to Robert's older brother, Karl Potter, a powerful percussionist transplanted to Rome, for whom the roman label produced "Sweet & Salty Cha-Cha-Cha" (12", 1986). Robert Cotter, an artist about whom almost nothing has been written, is poised to gain recognition once word spreads about his album, which has been entirely remastered by Dom Scuteri and features a more congenial tracklist. This album is destined to be truly 'timeless', ready to captivate audiences around the world. Even the new cover artwork, created by Nerina Fernandez, pays homage to an artist who, despite expressing himself with elegance and simplicity, radiates energy and exudes love. "Timeless" is an inevitable revelation for anyone who missed it at the time, and for the next 40-plus years, it will remain an absolute must-listen for Robert Cotter's many fans, leaving them all in awe.

Following on from the warm reception to Hell Yeah and Music Conception reissuing Calm's cult Before album, the labels have come together once more to offer up a reissue of the Japanese master's highly sought-after long player Moonage Electric Ensemble. The hard-to-find original has been given an all-new mixdown from original stem files and then re-mastered by Calm himself, and the double LP will also come with a bonus 12" featuring his very own Daydream Dubs plus an obi-strip and original artwork by FJD.

The blissful yet soul-stirring Moonage Electric Ensemble, which landed first in 1999, was Kiyotaka Fukagawa's stunning sophomore album and the one that kept the bar high following his debut Shadow of the Earth. It investigated all new worlds of future jazz, ambient and downtempo and has since become a cult classic that often fetches three figures on secondhand markets. He has released over 18 albums since including Before which was reissued in 2022, though Moonage Electric Ensemble remains a favourite with those who enjoy the most accomplished and innovative sounds from the first wave of chillout.

This escapist charmer opens with the suspensory synths and piano keys of 'Unseen Small Steps' featuring spoken words from Dan Gamble, then 'Light Year' has gently tumbling rhythms and shimming synth moving about the soothing mix. 'Noon At The Moon' brings gorgeously fizzing future jazz drums and mellifluous piano playing full of subtle joy, and 'The Other Side Of The Moon' then layers up melancholic chords and chunkier rhythms that are detailed with gorgeous persuasive details and mystic flutes. 'Tsukiyo' is a new age charmer with paddy hand drums and romantic interplay between sax and trumpet, 'Between Worlds' is an ambient interlude with distant winds blowing and intimate whispers from Gamble before closer 'Authentic Love Song' rides on dusty trip hop breaks as lazy piano chords melt the heart and Gamble serves up another aloof monologue.

This is another welcome reissue of a sublime album that is not only one of Calm's finest but also a true gem in the wider world of downtempo music.

“I hope you die by my side, the two of us at the exact same time, I hope we die not long from now, the two of us at the exact same time”
By the time Molly Nilsson released History, she had already established a fledgling cult status built on homemade YouTube videos and home-burnt Cdrs. Writing from a distance, it’s clear that History is the first classic album in her canon and arguably a classic of the 21st Century underground music panorama.While the methodology on History hadn’t changed from Nilsson’s previous 3 albums – it was recorded solo at The Lighthouse, Nilsson’s home studio based on a Berlin crossroads – on this record the songwriting reached a new peak and the emotional scythe cut deeper. Here, Nilsson managed to combine a cosmic, outward looking perspective with an intimate knowledge of the human condition and its place in these turbulent times. In truth, no other songwriter has excavated the modern psyche so clearly and perfectly.
The tracklist to Nilsson’s fourth album reads as an early greatest hits for Molly Nilsson followers and also serves as the perfect entry point to a whole world the artist has been building for the last 10 years. In Real Life crystalises the millenial obsession with relationships built online, with a generation paying for the baby boomer’s excesses with their anxiety towards the harshness of every day life. It’s a call to arms for a generation who fell in love on Skype. On I Hope You Die, one of Molly Nilsson’s most iconic songs, the songwriter flips the song title into a tale of doomed romance, a relationship based on discommunications and the thrill of the other. It’s also one of the most heartfelt songs full of pathos written by anyone, an ode to obsession. Doomed romance, life lived on the flipside of day and the role of the outsider in society are themes that crop up through-out History. On
Bottles Of Tomorrow, the narrator is sweeping up, in love with the night and examining the remains a society leaves behind.
On City Of Atlantis, Nilsson veers from the plaintive balladry she had begun to make her name with, embracing trance-like synth and dance music details to create an unlikely anthem using the mythological city as a means to comment on the patriarchal rendering of history by power. With by now trademark panache, she turns complicated subject matter into a glorious song that transforms into an ecstatic pop moment.
Hotel Home, another Nilsson classic, paints loneliness not as a debilitating anxiety, but as a powerful to that propels the artist forward through her travels. It’s a song that hints at an endearing self-awareness also; the writer is never at home, living life on the road, content that “the world will find me when the time is ripe.”
There’s never been a greater time.

Straight Outta Caledonia is the first commercially available “Greatest Hits” of the outsider songwriter Jackie Leven, an artist
who has largely remained in obscurity in his native Scotland despite being one of the greatest wordsmiths – and singers – it ever
produced. A well-travelled musician who began making psychedelic, progressive music in the late 60s before emerging as an
epic storyteller full of pathos, humour and humanity in the 90s, Leven lived and wrote like many of the fragile, gregarious
characters of his songs; large, full of life and empathy. Leven passed away in 2011 after recording 30+ albums under different
guises or with his briefly successful New Wave band Doll by Doll. Straight Outta Caledonia is a compilation collated by Night
School Records on its Archival label School Daze that seeks to introduce Leven’s music to new generations.
In an age of isolation, alienation and loss of visceral experience, Jackie Leven’s music can be massive and welcoming. It feels
connected to some universal humanity and vibrates with vitality. His songs are often full of tragedy and comedy simultaneously,
cutting straight to the heart, often plugging directly into the nervous system of the listener. His lyrics are rich, dense with imagery
that can veer from apocalyptic to the comically banal in a sentence, with a songwriting panache that can be heavy handed to
almost bursting point before skewering the song with a clownish, warm punchline. His productions ranged from Bob Dylan’s
Rolling Thunder Revue style rock band orchestrations with strings and organ as on the epic Ancient Misty Morning or they could
be pared down to the purest form of folk song as on Poortoun: Leven on stage alone with an acoustic guitar, albeit played with a
mastery of the instrument that he often only hinted at. Musically his sound can bend traditional structures or stay completely
confined within them yet still forever push towards an ecstatic release, as on the cinematic Snow In Central Park.
The most exciting, jaw-droppingly effective tool at Leven’s disposal was his voice. A multi-octave instrument that, though
damaged during a savage assault in Fife, he used with flair; he had both a brazen disregard for the rules and a deep humility, all
of which is evidenced with every phrasing. A baritone that could flit up through the register – always touched by his gentle
Kirkcaldy accent – it’s the prime delivery method for his songs. Leven’s voice enabled him to inhabit the characters in his songs to
an uncanny degree, a skill that in turn enables the listener to empathise with them and, subsequently, the singer. It’s most evident
in stand out song The Sexual Loneliness Of Jesus Christ, a breathtaking re-telling of the life of its protagonist, not as a pure,
sinless messiah but as a sexually frustrated, solitary man condemned to an existential loneliness no one else will ever feel. In
many ways the track is the archetypal Jackie Leven song. Produced by Pere Ubu’s David Thomas, what strikes the ear first –
after the samples of unemployed workers in Glasgow following the closing of the Clyde shipyards – is the audacious, rhythmic
tremolo effect Leven employs through the verses before the production opens up to allow Leven’s vocal to lift into a soar, a
freeing glide powered both by the force of the singer’s chutzpah and the inherent, doomed destiny of the protagonist. With any
other singer such subject matter could come across as gauche or worse, pretentiously sonorous, but Jackie Leven’s genius was
such that he could be this cinematic and brazen while touching something elemental and true in the beholder. It’s a skill evident in
every song on Straight Outta Caledonia, the trademark of a songwriter who revelled and excelled in intensity with a lightness of
touch.
In his lifetime, Jackie Leven toured, wrote and recorded at a ferocious rate. He recorded under aliases to avoid record contract
restrictions, played house shows in Europe after or instead of official concerts, events which were often spoken word story telling
masterclasses as well as performances of his often bewilderingly dense songbook. His music has traditionally been catalogued
as “folk” music and has been largely banished to a small, dedicated group of international fans and apostles both private and well
known, like author Ian Rankin or Glenn Matlock. Since his passing in 2011 however, there has been a growing recognition
amongst a newer generation, with artists like James Yorkston or Molly Nilsson publicly stating the influence of the unsung
troubadour on their own craft. Jackie Leven’s fairytales for hard men are often forensic deconstructions of masculinity, sad and
ecstatic, light and shadow, always endlessly rich, a resource as bountiful as Leven himself’s human spirit undoubtedly was.

Prisoners Of Love And Hate' is an offering to community, to desires that imprison and liberate, to people in all their divinity and ugliness. Apostille - aka Night School Records’ captain Michael Kasparis - presents is third album with a bang, a bursting ball of NRG, empathy and bristling living.
Like its predecessor 'Choose Life', 'Prisoners…' was recorded at Full Ashram Celestial Garden in Glasgow with Lewis Cook (Free Love) through 2022. A nine song treatise on pop music, trauma, ecstasy and the mundanities between the extremes, Kasparis takes on classic 80s synth pop, 90s house music, 00s trance, wistful balladry, 70s power pop. The thread that runs through the album is a boundless energy, an openness to the moment, to living
the pains and joys equally, open armed.

This is a place of no judgement, of possibility, challenge and comfort. The nine songs on 'Prisoners…' can be read as separate ruminations on the feelings and desires that imprison our experience. Through it all the narrator struggles against them, transported and fooled by love and longing, peering through the bars of anguish, flailing in a cell of emotions. 'Saturday Night, Still Breathing' breaks the album open with an invigorating scream and pounds into the night with a nod to Whigfield, Kasparis’ punk roots and house music. Over a thumping 909 kick and bassline, Kasparis pens a love letter to being with people, the collective energy of hearts in a room, thrumming together, making it through together. Written as private ritual magic, manifesting community during a time of isolation, it’s as if the party is the most important thing in the world. 'Rely On Me' imagines 80s Mute synth pop, Erasure fronted by Bruce Springsteen, romance doomed and forever perfect in the mind. 'Spit Pit' completes the opening triptych of fast paced rollercoasters, an ode to childhood forged out of change and discomfort told with a bold, epic production by Lewis Cook, AFX breakbeats, 160BPM kicks and a commanding vocal performance.

On 'People Make This City', Kasparis eases off the gas, lets the mist blowing in from the Clyde River blow over his version of Glasgow. A wistful ballad about small town gossip and coming through anger to leaving it all behind, it provides some shadow to the bright light of the vibrancy of the album. 'Natural Angel' owes much to 70s and 80s power pop, guitar melodrama, Thin Lizzy and Rick Springfield through the prism of co-dependence in relationships. It’s a theme that’s picked up in slow burner 'Nothing But Perfect', a hazy synth soul-inflected song about building your own mythology, constructing a dream to hide in, to hold on to. The most surprising track of the album, 'Summer of ’03' re-imagines the trance music of early noughties Europe into a lament for an eternal summer or as a fan once put it, “Meat Loaf with a donk on it.” A recognition that all ecstasy has tragedy laced within it, it’s a theme that is sewn throughout the LP and continued on the final song 'Feel Good (You Can Make Me)'. Referencing Shalamar’s 1982 mega hit by way of N-Trance’s piano riffs, the epic closer is riddled with heartbreak, vulnerability and power. It’s a testament to the new confidence in Kasparis’s songwriting, sure, but also to the enduring power of people to come together in mutual dependence and love. If ecstasy is always laced with tragedy, then 'Prisoners of Love and Hate' can always reach out between the bars to meet in the middle, the eternal now.