Cerca:san

Lo-fi Beats is a fine and elegant new collection made for a cosy trip in music. Relax with a jazzy sound.

Originally released as an obscure private-press LP by the Florida trio of Ben Champion, Ken Burkhart and Danny Burger.

Special guest on this super rare funky jazz outing is Mike Longo who says a few words on behalf of the group on the back cover, and sure enough he contributes scorching Rhodes in the style of his early 70s Greasy Groove sides for Groove Merchant and Mainstream. Also on board are Kelton Champion on guitar, Gary Champion on Bass, Mickey McGann on keys and David Winters on Congas and Percussion: (Just what we love to see on these kind of grooves. Added Phat Funkiness!)

The 20 minute title number weaves, bobs, and scorches with a sound that has been described as a "Headhunters Headspace" the groove never dropping for an instant with a Fender Rhodes meets Hammond B3 Prestige Style Scene with an added flavouring of some chunky Moog Synthesizer.

This has gotten a lot of chatter on the underground Jazz Vibes lately, copies changing hands for $300 and more. The track "These Are My Friends " regularly sells for upwards of $500 and is one of the most hard to find singles on the Rare Soul circuit.

The band are from South Florida, a well known melting pot of culture and music.This area has produced an impressive number of Super Star Jazz Musicians.

Among them Cannonball Adderly, Blue Mitchell, Jaco Pastorius, and Mike Longo and a multitude of others.

Jazzberry Patch can now be added to that roster with this fantastic re-issue from Jazz Room Records.

Once again DJ Click will make you travel ! A Dancefloor post-world music killer, melting with House and Electro, keeping the spirit of the original styles alive ! Fat & Crazy stuff !!

Nearly 20 years ago, Karl Sanders – the founder, principal songwriter, and driving creative force behind the exotic, devastatingly heavy stylings of American extreme death metal icons Nile – forayed from his metallic leanings to serve listeners with a transfixing dose of the cinematic, meditative, world music-driven Saurian Meditation (2004). The album explores highly original compositions of hypnotizing, primarily Middle Eastern inspired music, featuring the unique inclusion of instruments such as the balagma saz (Turkish lute) and Glissentar, often blended with dark electronic ambience and deft electric guitar work. Saurian Meditation marked the beginning of Sanders’ Saurian journey, being the first of now three Saurian releases. From the haunting first notes of “Awaiting the Vultures”, which dreamily conjures images of traversing through the dark, mysterious halls of an abandoned ancient temple, to the slithering, percussion-driven pulses and searing electric solos on the ominous album closer “Beckon the Sick Winds of Pestilence” – Saurian Meditation provides a diverse escape for both fans of Nile and the outer realms beyond. Thematically centered around its acoustically-driven, spellbinding seventh track, “Dreaming Through the Eyes of Serpents”, the album ebbs and flows from a higher, rhythmic consciousness to a darker, hypnotic inner balance, achieving a Reptilian Theta State of deep meditation. Saurian Meditation launches the multi-dimensional Saurian universe – witness the very first, transcendental solo output by Karl Sanders, available for the very first time on vinyl, as well as in CD and digital formats, via Napalm Records!

The subterranean slumber of Nile mastermind Karl Sanders’ Eastern-ambient Saurian series finally ceases with the third chapter of his darkly hypnotizing saga, Saurian Apocalypse! The album’s musical and lyrical themes detail the vexing fictional journey of Dr. Eduardo Lucciani, one of very few survivors of mankind’s self-destruction, who descends into madness after discovering the violent horrors occurring at the hands of the Saurian Masters. Emphasized by unique instruments like the baglama saz (Turkish lute), Ancient Egyptian Anubis Sistrum, Dumbek (Middle Eastern goblet drum), glissentar and gongs, the album’s score weaves cinematic auras and deep grooves, accented by the tribal percussive stylings of original Nile drummer Pete Hammoura and returning Saurian vocalist Mike Breazeale. Whispering atop the ominous sands of opener “The Sun Has Set on the Age of Man” are resonant flutes, forewarning percussion, and an exquisitely tasteful and contextual acoustic guest solo by guitar virtuoso Rusty Cooley – kicking in the massive doors of Saurian Apocalypse. Immediately, the album’s impactful production and crystal clarity versus its predecessors is apparent

Brandneues Studioalbum des früheren This Lizzy-Gitarristen, der auch oft im Hintergrund bei Pink Floyd ('The Wall'-Tour) und später Roger Waters agierte.
Snowy White hat seinen ganz eigenen, 'englischen' Bluesstil entwickelt, der sich durch klare, schnörkellose Bluesphrasen auszeichnet, die er mit härteren Riffs veredelt. Die Songs wirken dadurch sehr direkt, menschlich und authentisch - als ob er jeden Hörer ganz persönlich ansprechen wolle. Diese Kunst beherrschen nur wenige so gut wie der britische Gitarrist und Sänger.

Sounds like supergroup. Rarely have outstanding figures of such a variety of musical styles collaborated on one album to pay homage to a nearly forgotten artist, one of the few black Beatnik poets, Bob Kaufman.

"All Those Streets I Must Find Cities For" by The Plastik Beatniks is an attempt to acoustically reanimate Bob Kaufman, to return the Beat to him in a transatlantic collaboration. It is a shimmering psychedelic, at times jazzy concept album, sometimes reminiscent of Krautrock or hip hop, about a Beat-era poet who was as great as he was forgotten. It takes spoken word to a new level, as a transatlantic showcase of musical avant-gardes and a joyful "sound archaeology" of modernity, in which the tracks of the "Plastik Beatniks" meet the best voices of America.

The 12 wildly different songs and audi collages, on the transatlantically-produced album, "All the Streets I Must Find Cities For," is based on lyrics by Beat author Bob Kaufman. They were originally part of the radio play "Thank God for Beatniks," for which author Andreas Ammer ("Ammer & Einheit"), Notwist‘s Markus Acher and Micha Acher and loop maker Leo Hopfinger ("LeRoy") formed "The Plastik Beatniks." On the eastern side of the Atlantic they composed music and crafted soundscapes. On the west side of the ocean, they asked three of the most renowned singers, activists and producers in the U.S. to recite or sing Bob Kaufman's poetry.

Punk-pop icon Patti Smith immediately signed on to read Kaufman's poem "Ginsberg (For Allen)". Free jazz vocalist Moor Mother passionately performed Bob Kaufman's "War Memoir". American jazz clarinetist, composer, singer and “International Anthem” labelmate Angel Bat Dawid, a legitimate successor to Sun Ra, polyphonically read and sang such poems as "The Sun is a Negroe" and "West Coast Sound 1956" and included some clarinet solos on top. Also on the album, Bob Kaufman himself recites his previously unknown poems "Hollywood Beat", "Would You Wear My Eyes", and the "Jail Poem" "All Those Streets I Must Find Cities For". Beat chronicler Raymond Foye, who still lives at the Chelsea Hotel in New York, contributed an interview he conducted with late beatnik Allen Ginsberg about Bob Kaufman. Completing the circle was hip-hop artist Adam "DoseOne" ("13&God"), who once gave Markus Acher a well-thumbed volume of Bob Kaufman, whom he admired. He contributed some raps. Thus 12 tracks emerged, as diverse as the artists, poets and musicians who contributed to it. More than an album. An epitaph. A work for the eternity of Beat.

Regarding Bob Kaufman - of course the FBI kept a file on him – first as a sailor, then a communist, and finally a Beat poet. As one of the mainstays of the movement, he edited the literary magazine "Beatitude" in San Francisco and defined "Beatnik" to Allen Ginsberg: half rhythm, half sputnik. Bob recited his poetry loudly on the streets (when he wasn't sunk into years of silence in protest of the Vietnam War) and in the bars and bagel shops of North Beach. Once, he almost landed a pop hit ("Green Green Rocky Road"), which then made Dylan's companion Dave van Ronk famous. That Kaufman is today less known than his friend Allen Ginsberg may be because he was a black Beat poet, and also a Jew. This was not compatible with fame in the US of the 1950s. Though Kaufman had the same publisher, City Lights, as Ginsberg, he was frequently arrested and jailed, and was treated with electric shocks until he developed serious mental heath issues. There he wrote his "Jail Poems". The seventh of these lent this album its name:

"Someone whom I am is no one / Something I have done is nothing Someplace I have been is nowhere / I am not me What of the answers / I must find questions for? All these strange streets I must find cities for, Thank god for beatniks."

Waltari Mastermind Kärtsy Hatakka veröffentlicht mit HEAD FIRST deren Debutalbum. Der Status des finnischen Crossover-Monsters Waltari ist nicht leugnen, doch nur noch wenige können sich erinnern, dass Kärtsy Hatakka schon damals eine andere Band unter dem Namen HEAD FIRST hatte... die einzige echte Funk-Metal-Band aus Finnland!
In einigen der ersten Waltari Songs war der funkige Einfluss von HEAD FIRSt auch noch deutlich heraus zu hören. Und nun bringt eben diese Band ihr Debüt heraus... nach 30 Jahren des Wartens!
Basierend auf den größten Live-Killern wurde das vorhandene Songmaterial den heutigen Sounderwartungen angepasst. Dazu entstanden auch einige brandneue Stücke.
HEAD FIRST bedeutet Old-School-Funk-Metal mit einer frischen Kante grooviger Beats und mitreißender Energie!!

From Pacific City Discs, to you the listener, this summer, a DJ mix of fantasy and splash-energy is coming to you in a small edition of vinyl.  Fantasy writer/recording artist, Francesco Cavaliere, while visiting his seaside childhood vacation location, was extended an impromptu invitation, to DJ an 80s swimming club. He had this to say about his experience:

“I was at Shangri-La and a boy and girl from the bathhouse in silver swimsuits and sand-colored streaks waved me over with a drink and asked me if I would like to DJ the next day during my lesson on the beach at Tana del Pirata! I then and there I laughed but then I accepted (I had nothing at home just my mp3 player and a Nokia with music inside) The next day there was a little wind on the beach and the umbrellas swayed to the left. From the heat they could catch fire, white flames, instead the sea was rough and that wind with very long wrists cheered us up, blowing gaseous clouds in our faces. Perfect for the day ahead. After the first few pieces, I began to see that a group of kids jumped into the adjacent pool trying flips bombs and candle dives. Someone at the bar was playing Altered Beast .. so sipping a drink with ice I imagined DJ werewolf repeating catchy pieces while a kite half cobra half skyscraper inflated above us.”

This Impromptu Disc is fresh now, for you to frolic with this summer, while entertaining a daydream in the midst of entering a body of water while witnessing an apparition in the sky.

Selected and compiled by Francisco Cavaliere
Artwork by Spencer Clark

Once again Studio Mule dives deep into the music history of Japan, unearthing the multi-colored album “A-Key” by Eiki Nonaka, released as CD only on the short living japanese label Sun & Moon Records in 1995. An album, that uniquely unifies global ethnic music styles, the playfulness of Jazz, innovative electronic soundscapes, and the winding per-sonality of spiritual music.

It’s the only solo album of a musician, that is triggering the advanced electrified japanese music culture since the early 1980ees. Eiki Nonaka was part of electronic New Age quartet interiors, releasing the two minimalistic, synth-pop leaning albums “Interior” and “design” in 1982 and 1987. likewise, he was a member of Haruomi Hosono’s band friends of earth, playing, voicing, and tuning the drum machine, guitar, synthesizers, and mi-crophone on their second landmark experimental Pop Electronic album “Sex, Energy and Star”, released Hosono’s outstanding non-standard label in 1986.

His one and only solo album “A-Key” features the essence of all his musical journeys until 1995, bringing, as he puts it on his blog: viewz.jp, “all my musical career up to that point designed in sounds that were ringing in my head at that time. It's extremely introspective, but the various mental landscapes of that time are still vibrating fresh and acoustically new.”

Mikael Åkerfeldt, mastermind of Swedish band Opeth, has recorded the original score for the new Netflix series Clark, directed by renowned film-maker Jonas Åkerlund. Clark is the incredible story behind Sweden’s most notorious gangster Clark Olofsson, whose infamous crimes gave rise to the term “Stockholm syndrome.” The score for this 6-part series will be released as a Standard CD Jewelcase & Gatefold 180g 2LP vinyl via InsideOutMusic/Milan Records.

Jason Mraz - amerikanischer Gitarrist, Sänger und
Songwriter - hat sich mit seinem entspannten,
melodischen Pop, der stilistisch an Folk, Jam-Band-Musik,
Hip-Hop und Softrock angelehnt ist, eine große
Fangemeinde erspielt. Seit der Veröffentlichung seines
2002 erschienenen Debütalbums Waiting for My Rocket to
Come wurde Mraz mit mehreren Grammy Awards
ausgezeichnet und erhielt Platin- und
Multi-Platin-Zertifizierungen in über 20 Ländern, während
er durch Nordamerika, Südamerika, Europa, Asien,
Australien, den Nahen Osten und Teile Afrikas tourte.
Sein WMG-Katalog hat bis heute über 7 Milliarden
Streams und über 12 Millionen Album-Äquivalente
generiert.

Jasons zweites Studioalbum Mr. A-Z, das ursprünglich
2005 veröffentlicht wurde, war ein Grammy®-nominiertes,
U.S. Top Five (Billboard Top 200), RIAA Gold-zertifiziertes
Album, das die Hit-Single "Wordplay" enthielt, den zweiten
Einstieg des Künstlers in die Billboard Hot 100 Chart.

Mr. A-Z wurde noch nie auf Vinyl gepresst und die
Veröffentlichung am 22. Juli fällt mit dem 17-jährigen
Jubiläum des Albums (26. Juli) zusammen. Die Doppel-LP
enthält vier bisher unveröffentlichte Instrumentals von
Songs aus dem Standard-Album.













[m] d1. Life Is Wonderful (Instrumental) [4:20]
[n] d2. Geek in the Pink (Instrumental - Lillywhite Mix) [3:55]
[o] d3. Bella Luna (Instrumental) [5:02]
[p] d4. Song for a Friend (Instrumental) [8:08]

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

Now onto its fourth volume, NuNorthern Soul’s annual Summer Selections EP is fast becoming a must-check for fans of slow-motion sunshine sounds, contemporary Balearic beats and sumptuous downtempo grooves.

Summer Selections Four showcases six hand-picked tracks from EPs and albums to be released by NuNorthern Soul in 2022. A genuine ‘cream of the crop’ or ‘best in class’ feel, with NNS label boss and curator Phil Cooper putting together a varied EP piled high with evocative melodies, atmospheric chords, tactile grooves and ear-catching instrumentation.

First to step up to the plate is experienced producer James Bright, whose cut ‘Amber’ offers a bubbly, colourful and analogue-rich stroll through mid-tempo Balearic house territory. The track is one of the highlights of Bright’s forthcoming Totem EP. It’s quickly followed by ‘Nana a Leon’ from Be.Ianuit’s Entre Dos Islas EP, a gorgeous mixture of deep bass, twinkling pianos, sultry synth-strings, sparkling synthesiser arpeggios, echoing machine drums and spoken word vocals from guest performer Marcos de la Fuente.

San Francisco’s Cole Odin offers a snapshot of his forthcoming Songs For Suns EP via ‘Growing’, a slow-motion sunset soundscape built around ethereal chords, chiming melodies and head-nodding drums, while Gold Suite’s ‘The Cowboy’ – taken from the On My Horizon EP – brilliantly joins the dots between jangling Americana, mid-‘80s Balearic reggae and sun-soaked instrumental synth-pop. While brand-new, it could easily be mistaken for the kind of obscure, hard-to-find gem that gets Balearic record collectors so hot under the collar.

Next up is another new signing to NuNorthern Soul, North of the Island, whose debut EP Feeling Free is undoubtedly a highlight of the label’s 2022 release schedule. ‘I Feel’, the track showcased here, adds attractive, sunset-ready musical flourishes to a chugging, delay-laden rhythm track and the kind if squelchy bass-line most often found in proto-house and early ‘80s electro-funk cuts. It’s a spaced-out, mind-altering delight.

Rounding off another sizzling Summer Selections excursion is ‘Smoke & Fly’ from fast-rising twosome Residentes Balearicos, an Ibiza-based Italian duo who impressed many with their 2021 EPs on Balearic Ensemble. Dusty, bass-heavy, drowsy and picturesque, the track is a simply gorgeous chunk of Balearic dub piled high with organic percussion, undulating acid lines and mazy solos. It provides a fittingly triumphant conclusion to another essential sampler EP from NuNorthern Soul.

Affirming their status as dedicated tastemakers, Crazy P call on some of their favourite producers, and deliver 12 immaculate remixes of their beloved 2019 album, 'Age Of The Ego' A cosmic, vibe heavy, and eclectic journey through low-slung, groovy balearic, big room disco, deep house, lo-fi, and beyond with artists Crazy P have admired, and friends encountered along the way.

Legendary American musician Brian Jackson announces his first solo album in over 20 years,
‘This Is Brian Jackson’, produced by Phenomenal Handclap Band founder Daniel Collás and
released on BBE Music.
Brian Jackson earned mythic status among music fans thanks to his pioneering work with Gil
Scott-Heron in the 70’s, where his flute and electric piano performances on ‘Pieces of a Man’
and ‘Winter In America’ virtually defined the sound of an era. From the 80s onwards he went
on to record with Kool & The Gang, Will Downing (whose debut album he produced), Roy
Ayers and Gwen Guthrie among many others, and while many veteran musicians tend to
stick with the sounds they know best at some point in their careers, Jackson remains an
unusually adventurous, vital and broad-minded artist to this day.
When the Phenomenal Handclap Band’s Daniel Collás first met Brian Jackson at a
performance in New York, right off the bat he said “I think I could produce you”. “I wasn’t
sure why he thought that,” says Jackson “but I considered it a challenge to find out. Turns
out that he was right.”
Early on in their friendship, Brian mentioned that he’d embarked on a solo project right
around the time he recorded ‘Bridges’ with Gil Scott-Heron in 1976. There were even some
unfinished demos, but the album had never materialised. Daniel leapt on the idea, asking
“what would a Brian Jackson album sound like if the 21st century Brian were to complete
that 1976 album today?” Completed in a series of twice weekly sessions over 11 months in
Daniel’s Williamsburg studio, ‘This Is Brian Jackson’ provides the answer.
“We sketched out musical ideas, drank way too much coffee, consumed way too many
tacos and sampled perhaps a few too many exotic whiskeys while talking about things that
were important to both of us personally. The lyrics for the songs are a result of those
conversations” says Jackson.
Contributors to the album range from Jackson’s guitarist, bassist and longtime friend Binky
Brice (Billy Ocean, Evelyn Champagne King, Roy Ayers), Collás’s occasional writing partner
Morgan Phalen, Latin Grammy-winning flautist Domenica Fossati, drummers Moussa Fadera
and Caito Sanchez, and Phenomenal Handclap Bandmates Juliet Swango and Monika
Heidemann.
And the music? Vintage, soul-stirring Brian Jackson, with the great man’s warm vocals,
distinctive flute and lyrical keys taking centre stage. The songwriting feels timeless, the
arrangement effortless, the production human and analogue. From golden-era soul-funk
opener ‘All Talk’, through soaring Afrobeat-inspired dreamscape ‘Mami Wata’ to compact
groover ‘Little Orphan Boy’ which closes the album, ‘This Is Brian Jackson’ is simply some of
the veteran artist’s best work yet, subtly and lovingly framed by Daniel Collás.

Sunny Ozuna is a living legend and a man worthy of praise on many levels. In the Texas and Latin Music pantheon, few have been at it longer and are more revered by their fans and peers than Sunny is. He became a star right out of high school in the late `50s and hasn't looked back in the seven decades since. Among countless other honors and notable achievements, Sunny was the first Latino artist to appear on Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" (in 1963). He penned "Smile Now, Cry Later," a hit for him and The Sunliners, which along with the theater masks that grace the album's cover, became staples in the Chicano Soul and Lowrider Soul cultures. We have been fans of Sunny & The Sunliners' music for a long time. We first got in touch with Sunny to try to reissue some of his records in 2013 but we didn't sign a deal until 2015. It took a trip to San Antonio and then two years of steady phone calls before they decided "if you have been chasing us for this long, you must be serious." With Sunny's blessing we started getting everything mastered, scanned, and planned. First we released 2017's Mr Brown Eyed Soul Vol. 1 compilation that put rare 7" sides next to some of his biggest hits and mixed in some choice album cuts for good measure. In the wake of that, we released three of Sunny's full lengths with their original track lists and art: Smile Now, Cry Later, Little Brown Eyed Soul, and The Missing Link - all of which were Record Store Day releases that raised money for the victims of 2017's Hurricane Harvey. For the 7" collectors, we reissued 45s, making some very hard to come by sides widely available again and pressing some tunes on the format for the first time. In 2020, as an homage to Sunny, we released Dear Sunny... a compilation of Big Crown artists covering Sunny & The Sunliners songs. Through all of this we were able to do what we set out to do: get Sunny's music to a new audience of people and make it all accessible and available again to his existing fanbase. Sunny still keeps a busy schedule and loves performing as much as he did as a teenager. His music and the music that it directly influenced are seeing a resurgence in popularity in the last few years. With any luck at all, our efforts played some small part in that, and on that note, we present Mr Brown Eyed Soul Vol. 2 - another compilation curated by us, where we dig a little deeper into Sunny's catalog and pull some lesser known gems that hold court with his hits. Hats off again to Mr Brown Eyed Soul himself, San Antonio's own, Sunny Ozuna, we are sure you will enjoy the music.

Sunny Ozuna is a living legend and a man worthy of praise on many levels. In the Texas and Latin Music pantheon, few have been at it longer and are more revered by their fans and peers than Sunny is. He became a star right out of high school in the late `50s and hasn't looked back in the seven decades since. Among countless other honors and notable achievements, Sunny was the first Latino artist to appear on Dick Clark's "American Bandstand" (in 1963). He penned "Smile Now, Cry Later," a hit for him and The Sunliners, which along with the theater masks that grace the album's cover, became staples in the Chicano Soul and Lowrider Soul cultures. We have been fans of Sunny & The Sunliners' music for a long time. We first got in touch with Sunny to try to reissue some of his records in 2013 but we didn't sign a deal until 2015. It took a trip to San Antonio and then two years of steady phone calls before they decided "if you have been chasing us for this long, you must be serious." With Sunny's blessing we started getting everything mastered, scanned, and planned. First we released 2017's Mr Brown Eyed Soul Vol. 1 compilation that put rare 7" sides next to some of his biggest hits and mixed in some choice album cuts for good measure. In the wake of that, we released three of Sunny's full lengths with their original track lists and art: Smile Now, Cry Later, Little Brown Eyed Soul, and The Missing Link - all of which were Record Store Day releases that raised money for the victims of 2017's Hurricane Harvey. For the 7" collectors, we reissued 45s, making some very hard to come by sides widely available again and pressing some tunes on the format for the first time. In 2020, as an homage to Sunny, we released Dear Sunny... a compilation of Big Crown artists covering Sunny & The Sunliners songs. Through all of this we were able to do what we set out to do: get Sunny's music to a new audience of people and make it all accessible and available again to his existing fanbase. Sunny still keeps a busy schedule and loves performing as much as he did as a teenager. His music and the music that it directly influenced are seeing a resurgence in popularity in the last few years. With any luck at all, our efforts played some small part in that, and on that note, we present Mr Brown Eyed Soul Vol. 2 - another compilation curated by us, where we dig a little deeper into Sunny's catalog and pull some lesser known gems that hold court with his hits. Hats off again to Mr Brown Eyed Soul himself, San Antonio's own, Sunny Ozuna, we are sure you will enjoy the music.

Sunny Ozuna is a living legend and a man worthy of praise on many levels. In the Texas and Latin Music pantheon, few have been at it longer and are more revered by their fans and peers than Sunny is. He became a star right out of high school in the late ‘50s and hasn’t looked back in the seven decades since. Among countless other honors and notable achievements, Sunny was the ­rst Latino artist to appear on Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand” (in 1963). He penned "Smile Now, Cry Later," a hit for him and The Sunliners, which along with the theater masks that grace the album's cover, became staples in the Chicano Soul and Lowrider Soul cultures. We have been fans of Sunny & The Sunliners' music for a long time. We fi­rst got in touch with Sunny to try to reissue some of his records in 2013 but we didn't sign a deal until 2015. It took a trip to San Antonio and then two years of steady phone calls before they decided "if you have been chasing us for this long, you must be serious." With Sunny's blessing we started getting everything mastered, scanned, and planned. First we released 2017's Mr Brown Eyed Soul Vol. 1 compilation that put rare 7" sides next to some of his biggest hits and mixed in some choice album cuts for good measure. In the wake of that, we released three of Sunny's full lengths with their original track lists and art: Smile Now, Cry Later, Little Brown Eyed Soul, and The Missing Link all of which were Record Store Day releases that raised money for the victims of 2017's Hurricane Harvey. For the 7" collectors, we reissued ­ve 45s, making some very hard to come by sides widely available again and pressing some tunes on the format for the ­rst time. In 2020, as an homage to Sunny, we released Dear Sunny... a compilation of Big Crown artists covering Sunny & The Sunliners songs. Through all of this we were able to do what we set out to do: get Sunny's music to a new audience of people and make it all accessible and available again to his existing fanbase. Sunny still keeps a busy schedule and loves performing as much as he did as a teenager. His music and the music that it directly in‑uenced are seeing a resurgence in popularity in the last few years. With any luck at all, our efforts played some small part in that, and on that note, we present Mr Brown Eyed Soul Vol. 2 – another compilation curated by us, where we dig a little deeper into Sunny's catalog and pull some lesser known gems that hold court with his hits. Hats off again to Mr Brown Eyed Soul himself, San Antonio's own, Sunny Ozuna, we are sure you will enjoy the music. Tracks: Side A 1 I Can Remember 2 Sitting In The Park 3 Give Me Time 4 Should I Take You Home (Keyloc Version) 5 If I Could See You Now 6 Come Back Baby 7 Viva Mi Triestesa Side B 1 Runaway 2 Sharing You 3 I’ve Never Found A Girl 4 Together 5 I’m No Stranger 6 Best Of Both Worlds 7 Baby, I Apologize

Santa Cruz native Oliver Tree is gearing up to release his much-anticipated sophomore album Cowboy Tears on February 18th. The internet based vocalist, producer, writer, director and performance artist has 12M+ TikTok followers and an overall social reach of 20M+. He writes and directs all of his colourful and eccentric music videos, which have received over 400M+ views to date.

Oliver Tree has collaborated with Lil Yachty, Marshmello, Trippie Redd, Ski Mask The Slump God, blink-182, Dillon Francis, grandson, Whethan and more. His hit single “Life Goes On” has over 575M+ streams, 160M video views, 25M+ TikTok creates and 30M+ TikTok video views. His debut album Ugly is Beautiful has gained over 1 billion global streams and broke into the Top 40 in the UK album chart.

Gleich mit dem hymnischen Opener „Moria“ weiss "Unholy Cross" mit zu reißen und lässt nicht wieder los. Hier ist auch erstmals der neue Sänger Patrik „Pata“ Johansson, in Aktion zu bewundern. Sein Organ ist einfach prädestiniert für diese Art von Musik und verleiht „Unholy Cross“ zusätzliche Tiefe. So werden Songs wie die emotionale Halbballade „Brothers Of War“ (vielleicht die schönste dieser Art seit Hammerfall´s „Glory To The Brave“) und das starke „The Ones We Left Behind“, aber auch Up-Tempo-Song Marke „In The Dead Of Night“ zu herausragenden Kompositionen eines durchgängig auf Höchstniveau operierenden Albums, welches nun endlich wieder als Vinyl erscheint.

Don't You Turn On Me ist das zweite Album der Poison Boys. Gestarted mit "Out Of My Head" in 2019, ist das 2. Ablbum ein großer Schritt in Richtung Punk und der Fähigkeit, knallharten Punk der späten 1970er Jahre zu schreiben mit einer großen Portion Rock 'n' Roll. Es reicht von sleazy Hits der frühen bis Mitte der 70er Jahre bis hin zu glühenden Punk-Tracks, von Instant-Punk-Klassikern bis hin zu Johnny Thunders Garage Rock. Ganz anders als viele andere Bands, die zu viele moderne Einflüsse in ihrem Streben nach Punk hinzufügen, bringen dich die Poison Boys mit diesem neuen Album zurück ins Jahr 1977 und versetzen dich in eine Zeit und an einen Ort, an dem du vielleicht noch nicht einmal existiert hast, aber auf jeden Fall wünschtest, du wärst da gewesen. Gegründet im Jahr 2014 von Matt Dudzik und Mike Lippmann, der tragischerweise an einer Überdosis verstarb, bleibt die Band den Klängen der späten 1960er / frühen 1970er Jahre Protopunk-Bands wie den Stooges, den New York Dolls und den Flamin 'Groovies treu und mischt sie mit New Yorker und britischen Punkbands der späten 1970er Jahre wie The Heartbreakers, Dead Boys, Vibrators und Slaughter and The Dogs, hinzu kommt noch ein Dosis Hanoi Rocks Glam. In der aktuellen Besetzung der Poison Boys spielen Sänger und Gitarrist Matt Dudzik, Gitarrist Steve Elfinger, Bassist Nico Bones und Schlagzeuger Matt Chaney. Poison Boys tragen die Rock'n'Roll Fackel glorreich weiter.

Neue Mini-LP des in Brüssel lebenden, spanischen Produzenten Manu Dia, der Daft Punk, Brian Eno, Bon Iver und Burial als Einflüsse nennt und bereits mit Tokimonsta, Petit Biscuit, San Holo und Panama zusammengearbeitet hat. Das Ergebnis ständiger Experimente und einer schlichten, kreativen Herangehensweise ist die Kombination aus atmosphärischen Klanglandschaften und einer ausgeprägten Pop-Sensibilität, die Dancefloor-inspirierte Euphoria und flüchtige, vom Leben inspirierte Emotionen vermengt.

Cheri Knight's music emerges from the outskirts of late seventies / early eighties Olympia, Washington, offering sound that is both performative and meditative, electronic and organic, collaborative and self-contained, and richly rewarding. Nestled in the nascent milieu of Evergreen State College, where Cheri studied music composition, her practice developed between campus studios and expeditions to San Francisco and Mt. Temper, New York, where she apprenticed and collaborated with Pauline Oliveros and Linda Montano; always adapting to the musical and philosophical timbre of those times and places. American Rituals captures an artist's environmental emergence, unearthing a unique compositional voice and spotlighting regional sonic ethos. The seven works collected here, largely from various DIY cassette and vinyl compilations, range from polyvocal chants, pensive instrumental works, spoken-word collages, primal post-punk excursions, and hymn-like incantations. All are bound by a performative energy, expressing a Cage-ian commitment to the present moment, but also harboring a meditative interior. Marrying the seeing and hearing senses, Cheri's early work primarily plays with words-spoken, sung, recited, incanted, chanted, instructed, whispered - expressing the ritualized patternings of everyday material turned beautiful and strange, musical and hummable, conceptual and devotional. Freedom to Spend excavates this verdant period of experimentation, meeting Cheri at a moment of elemental evolution. Restored and remastered from original tape sources by Josh Bonati, the vinyl edition includes comprehensive liner notes by Steve Peters, a high quality, multi-format digital download, and a future world of past possibilities.

Die zweite Split-Veröffentlichung des Jahres von 20 Buck Spin bietet den ersten Output von TERMINAL NATION seit der krachenden "Holocene Extinction"-LP, die im düsteren Pandemie-Sommer 2020 veröffentlicht wurde. Mit von der Partie auf der Split sind die japanischen Ultra-Heavy-Könige KRUELTY, die nach der Veröffentlichung der furiosen Alben "A Dying Truth" und "Immortal Nightmare" im Jahr 2020 gerade auf Tour in den USA und Europa waren.

TERMINAL NATION unterstreichen ihren Status als eine der härtesten Bands auf dem Planeten mit drei neuen Tracks auf der A-Seite, die allen Imperialisten, die die Fäden der Welt ziehen, den Krieg erklären. Die Düsternis des Death Metal, die Panzerartige Gewalt im Stile BOLT THROWERs, gepaart mit der wilden Kraft des Hardcore-Breakdowns; sind die Songs voll von der Wut einer Nation, die kurz davor ist, im totalen Chaos überzukochen.

KRUELTY haben ebenfalls den richtigen Punkt gefunden, an dem Hardcore auf stampfenden Death und Doom Metal der alten Schule trifft. "Suppression" und "Under Your Pressure" offenbaren einige der druckvollsten, strukturerschütternden Riffs und blutigen Beatdowns, die die Band bisher hervorgebracht hat.

Außerdem hat jeder Sänger von TERMINAL NATION und KRUELTY einen Gastauftritt auf einem Track des jeweils anderen, wobei Tatami von KRUELTY auf "Sacrificial Capital" von TERMINAL NATION und Stan von TERMINAL NATION auf "Under Your Pressure" von KRUELTY zu hören sind. Die drückendste Split des Jahres 2022? Aber sicher!

Die zweite Split-Veröffentlichung des Jahres von 20 Buck Spin bietet den ersten Output von TERMINAL NATION seit der krachenden "Holocene Extinction"-LP, die im düsteren Pandemie-Sommer 2020 veröffentlicht wurde. Mit von der Partie auf der Split sind die japanischen Ultra-Heavy-Könige KRUELTY, die nach der Veröffentlichung der furiosen Alben "A Dying Truth" und "Immortal Nightmare" im Jahr 2020 gerade auf Tour in den USA und Europa waren.

TERMINAL NATION unterstreichen ihren Status als eine der härtesten Bands auf dem Planeten mit drei neuen Tracks auf der A-Seite, die allen Imperialisten, die die Fäden der Welt ziehen, den Krieg erklären. Die Düsternis des Death Metal, die Panzerartige Gewalt im Stile BOLT THROWERs, gepaart mit der wilden Kraft des Hardcore-Breakdowns; sind die Songs voll von der Wut einer Nation, die kurz davor ist, im totalen Chaos überzukochen.

KRUELTY haben ebenfalls den richtigen Punkt gefunden, an dem Hardcore auf stampfenden Death und Doom Metal der alten Schule trifft. "Suppression" und "Under Your Pressure" offenbaren einige der druckvollsten, strukturerschütternden Riffs und blutigen Beatdowns, die die Band bisher hervorgebracht hat.

Außerdem hat jeder Sänger von TERMINAL NATION und KRUELTY einen Gastauftritt auf einem Track des jeweils anderen, wobei Tatami von KRUELTY auf "Sacrificial Capital" von TERMINAL NATION und Stan von TERMINAL NATION auf "Under Your Pressure" von KRUELTY zu hören sind. Die drückendste Split des Jahres 2022? Aber sicher!

Vile's krachendes zweites Album "Depopulate" ist ein moderner Klassiker des amerikanischen Death Metal! Zum ersten Mal auf Vinyl.

"Depopulate" ist Viles zweites Full-Length-Album und hat den besten Sound und die beste Albumproduktion zu bieten und zweifellos 9 Tracks puren Death Metal. Sie bauen den New Yorker Stil des Metals, der von Immolation und anderen ihrer Art entwickelt wurde, weiter aus und verbinden extreme Technik mit einer Prise Gore. Eine gelungene Kombination!

Das Talent von Colin Davis und Co. kommt in jedem Track auf allen Ebenen zum Tragen. Auch wenn der Sound hypertechnisch erscheinen mag - es gibt diese wirklich eingängigen Riffs, die einem immer wieder den Tag versüßen. Diese Art von Stücken, die man sich immer wieder anhört und die man lernen möchte, wenn man ein Instrument spielt. Das Schlagzeug von Tyson Jupin ist absolut makellos - die Double-Bass-Arbeit ist schon sehr beeindruckend, aber die Geschwindigkeit ist ein Muss für diese Art von Musik. Produzent und Sänger Juan Urteaga hat wirklich den Bauch und die Stimmbänder im Griff und gibt den Tracks eine ganz kranke Gesangsarbeit.

Last but not least haben Colin Davis und der zweite Gitarrist Aaron Strong ein brillantes Talent. Von allen Death Metal-Veröffentlichungen aus dem Jahr 2002, ist dies eine der besten Veröffentlichungen - einfach guter, altmodischer Death Metal mit Klasse.

* Comes with the original 1985 artworks & obi strip. * All-star line-up featuring Herbie Hancock, Mory Kante & Bernie Worrell. * 180g blue Vinyl repress. Manu Dibango needs little introduction, born in Cameroon in 1933, Manu developed a musical style fusing jazz, funk, and traditional Cameroonian music. He's definitely among the best known African artists outside of Africa. Collaborations were numerous and include top acts like Fela Kuti, Herbie Hancock, Bill Laswell, Sly & Robbie, Don Cherry and Bernie Worrell. In addition to selling hundreds of thousands of copies of the albums he recorded, he played such huge venues as Yankee Stadium and Madison Square Garden. In 1972, at 40 years of age, Manu Dibango did something almost unheard of for an African artist - he had a pop hit. His song "Soul Makossa" became an enormous hit which influenced popular music for decades to follow. First picked up by David Mancuso (The Loft), "Soul Makossa" took New York dance floors by storm & in July 1973 it became the first disco record to enter the Billboard Top 40_an early instance of Western pop experiencing a paradigm shift thanks to Africa. The song's chant of "ma-mako ma-ma-sa mako-mako sa" echoes through the greatest-selling pop album of all-time, Michael Jackson's Thriller, and it's in the DNA of the music of Kanye West, Rihanna, A Tribe Called Quest, Akon and The Fugees. By 1985, Dibango was back in Paris, one of the most successful African artists in the world, to start on the recordings for the Electric Africa album. This album hooked Manu and the Soul Makossa Gang up with New York avant garde producer Bill Laswell, jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, Parliament-Funkadelic keyboard player Bernie Worrell, Pan African synthesist Wally Badarou, New York guitarist Nicky Scopelitis, African drummer Aiyb Dieng and Malian kora virtuoso Mory Kante. This means of working gave Manu and Laswell license to fuse synthesizers and kora, talking drums and samples, ngoni and electric guitar. What it all boils down to is world beat in its truest sense. Electric Africa remains one of Manu's strongest albums. His deep growl of a honey and sandpaper voice and the energetic honk of his saxophone merge with the seamless samples and the myriad hand percussion and overt funkiness of his band. Herbie Hancock plays on three tracks, contributing an amazing electric piano solo on the title track and interacting with Manu's sax while weaving to the warp of Mory Kante's kora during "L'arbre a Palabres." Similarly but more subtly, Laswell, Badarou and Worrell play dueling synthesizers in and around the band throughout "Pata Piya." All of this makes the album an hypnotic & upbeat Afro-Funk classic that will rock every part your body (and mind). Now finally back available as a limited vinyl edition (Blue vinyl, limited to 500 copies) for the first time since 1985.

2000'S CLASSIC 'BREEDING DEATH' EP DEBUT FROM THE SWEDISH
MASTERS, PRESENTED ON MID-PRICE CD WITH BONUS TRACKS -
FEATURING THE LINE-UP OF ANDERS NYSTROM, JONAS RENKSE,
MIKAEL AKERFELDT & DAN SWANO.Bloodbath is a titan of death metal
from Stockholm, Sweden, notable for the inclusion of Katatonia & Opeth
members &, in their recent era, welcoming Nick Holmes of UK doom
legends 'Paradise Lost' to join in with the brutality
Formed in 1998 with a mutual fascination for horror & the glory days of death
metal from classic bands such as Entombed, Morbid Angel, Cancer & Autopsy,
Bloodbath has remained a leading light of extreme metal since their 'Breeding
Death' EP was unleashed back in 2000, & a formidable force for over 20 years,
cemented in recent times by their 'Grand Morbid Funeral' (2014) opus & its followup, the even blacker- hearted 'The Arrow of Satan is Drawn' in 2018. 'Breeding
Death' was the original catalyst to propel Bloodbath into the death metal sphere
with full force. Primarily dedicated to recreating the buzzsaw, high-energy sound
of mainly Swedish greats such as Entombed, Carnage & Dismember, 'Breeding
Death' was pure death metal worship to reignite the fading old school essence of
brutality as the 21st century dawned.
Bloodbath's initial line- up consisted of Anders Nyström & Jonas Renkse of
'Katatonia' joined by Mikael Akerfeldt of 'Opeth' on vocals & completed by Dan
Swanö of 'Edge of Sanity' on drums. The EP was recorded at The Sanctuary in
Sweden, with production & mixing duties also handled by Dan Swanö.
This edition of 'Breeding Death' is presented on mid-price CD & includes bonus
tracks in the shape of demo versions of the songs 'Breeding Death' & 'Ominous
Bloodvomit'.

Jetzt endlich auch als colored Vinyl erhältlich: das fünfte
Album der US-amerikanischen Deathcore-Formation von
2015. Nach Touren mit Parkway Drive, In Flames und
Betraying The Martyrs ist die Band aus Chicago, Illinois
eine bekannte Szenegröße. Sänger Brandon Butler hat
die Band nach vier Alben verlassen und wurde nun von
Lukas Magya (Arms of Empire) nahtlos ersetz

BLOODBATH'S 2002 DEBUT FULL-LENGTH STUDIO ALBUM MARKS ITS
20TH ANNIVERSARY, ON MID-PRICE CD - FEATURES THE LINE-UP OF
ANDERS NYSTROM, JONAS RENKSE, MIKAEL AKERFELDT & DAN
SWANO.Bloodbath is a titan of death metal from Stockholm, Sweden,
notable for the inclusion of Katatonia & Opeth members & in their recent
era, welcoming Nick Holmes of UK doom legends Paradise Lost to join in
with the brutality
Formed in 1998 with a mutual fascination for horror & the glory days of death
metal from classic bands such as Entombed, Morbid Angel, Cancer & Autopsy,
Bloodbath has remained a leading light of extreme metal since their 'Breeding
Death' EP was unleashed back in 2000 & a formidable force for over 20 years,
cemented in recent times by their 'Grand Morbid Funeral' (2014) opus & its followup, the even blacker-hearted 'The Arrow Of Satan Is Drawn' in 2018. Debut album
'Resurrection Through Carnage' was released in 2002 & built on the foundations
laid by the 'Breeding Death' EP, with a continuation of the classic old school
Swedish sound & d-beat style, whilst notably establishing a maturity & identity of
their own. The album introduced more dynamic & controlled, groove- laden
passages & melodic/atmospheric texturing, whilst still infusing the compositions
with influences from the genre's glorious past.
As with 'Breeding Death', Bloodbath's line-up of Anders Nyström & Jonas Renkse
of Katatonia, Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth & Dan Swanö of Edge of Sanity remained,
with production & engineering duties once more handled by Dan Swanö & the
band.
This edition of 'Resurrection Through Carnage' marks 20 years since the album's
original release & is presented on mid- price CD with 8- page booklet including
lyrics

Gleich mit dem hymnischen Opener „Moria“ weiss "Unholy Cross" mit zu reißen und lässt nicht wieder los. Hier ist auch erstmals der neue Sänger Patrik „Pata“ Johansson, in Aktion zu bewundern. Sein Organ ist einfach prädestiniert für diese Art von Musik und verleiht „Unholy Cross“ zusätzliche Tiefe. So werden Songs wie die emotionale Halbballade „Brothers Of War“ (vielleicht die schönste dieser Art seit Hammerfall´s „Glory To The Brave“) und das starke „The Ones We Left Behind“, aber auch Up-Tempo-Song Marke „In The Dead Of Night“ zu herausragenden Kompositionen eines durchgängig auf Höchstniveau operierenden Albums, welches nun endlich wieder als Vinyl erscheint.

Jeweils auf 500 Stück limitiert!

Mike Tramp, der berühmte Sänger von Acts wie White Lion und Freak Of Nature, der mit "Rock 'N' Roll Circuz" (2009) eine "neue" Banderfahrung gemacht hatte, beschloss 2011, die Formel mit seinem folgenden Album zu wiederholen. "Stand Your Ground" wurde also unter dem Namen "Mike Tramp and The Rock 'N Roll Circuz" veröffentlicht.

Es war ein schlichtes Rockalbum mit dem unverkennbaren Tramp-Songwriting. Eine Sammlung von Songs mit einprägsamen Refrains, grundsoliden Kompositionen und den tiefgründigen lyrischen Botschaften, die Mike Tramps Markenzeichen sind. In seinem Rock 'N' Roll Circuz glänzte der Star Soren Andersen, Gitarrist, der heute in der Band von Glenn Hughes spielt, aber auch ein ständiger Mitarbeiter und Produzent von Tramps Solowerken ist. Und tatsächlich wurde "Stand Your Ground" in den Medley Studios aufgenommen, mit Andersen als Produzent am Ruder.

Jetzt wird "Stand Your Ground" zum ersten Mal überhaupt auf Vinyl wiederveröffentlicht. Es wird als Doppel-LP in zwei Farbvarianten (jeweils auf 500 Exemplare limitiert) und mit einem von Marco Angioni in den Angioni Studios remasterten Sound neu aufgelegt.

"Es ist immer der wahre Test, wie gut etwas ist, wenn man es viele Jahre später wieder aufgreift", sagt Mike Tramp. "Würdest du etwas ändern, hättest du es anders machen sollen oder ist es immer noch so gut und richtig, wie du es in Erinnerung hast. Und ja, Tatsache ist, dass es so gut ist. "Stand Your Ground" ist ein großartiges Kickass-Rock-Album, und die Leistung der Band ist Weltklasse. Ich bin wirklich stolz auf dieses Album",
sagt er abschließend

Jeweils auf 500 Stück limitiert!

Mike Tramp, der berühmte Sänger von Acts wie White Lion und Freak Of Nature, der mit "Rock 'N' Roll Circuz" (2009) eine "neue" Banderfahrung gemacht hatte, beschloss 2011, die Formel mit seinem folgenden Album zu wiederholen. "Stand Your Ground" wurde also unter dem Namen "Mike Tramp and The Rock 'N Roll Circuz" veröffentlicht.

Es war ein schlichtes Rockalbum mit dem unverkennbaren Tramp-Songwriting. Eine Sammlung von Songs mit einprägsamen Refrains, grundsoliden Kompositionen und den tiefgründigen lyrischen Botschaften, die Mike Tramps Markenzeichen sind. In seinem Rock 'N' Roll Circuz glänzte der Star Soren Andersen, Gitarrist, der heute in der Band von Glenn Hughes spielt, aber auch ein ständiger Mitarbeiter und Produzent von Tramps Solowerken ist. Und tatsächlich wurde "Stand Your Ground" in den Medley Studios aufgenommen, mit Andersen als Produzent am Ruder.

Jetzt wird "Stand Your Ground" zum ersten Mal überhaupt auf Vinyl wiederveröffentlicht. Es wird als Doppel-LP in zwei Farbvarianten (jeweils auf 500 Exemplare limitiert) und mit einem von Marco Angioni in den Angioni Studios remasterten Sound neu aufgelegt.

"Es ist immer der wahre Test, wie gut etwas ist, wenn man es viele Jahre später wieder aufgreift", sagt Mike Tramp. "Würdest du etwas ändern, hättest du es anders machen sollen oder ist es immer noch so gut und richtig, wie du es in Erinnerung hast. Und ja, Tatsache ist, dass es so gut ist. "Stand Your Ground" ist ein großartiges Kickass-Rock-Album, und die Leistung der Band ist Weltklasse. Ich bin wirklich stolz auf dieses Album",
sagt er abschließend

repress !

Next up on fake is Julien Sandre with his solo melancholia EP.

Legwork is back with a new single from our favourite cosmic crusader, Brother Nebula.

The A-side consists of a tape-crushed lysergic stormer, on which the Brother helps us to be mindful, and a couple of useful DJ tools from the same session. The B-side starts with a broken affair with pensive chords floating around bleeps and sounds of the universe, and finishes with a dubbed-out version of the previously-released and extremely well-received S.I.S. featuring San Francisco stalwart Solar.

Remastered

Die Siebzigerjahre prägen Tom Waits' Image bis heute. Obwohl der 1949 in Pomona, Kalifornien, geborene Sänger, Komponist, Schauspieler und Autor seit Jahrzehnten relativ gut situiert in aufgeräumten bürgerlichen Verhältnissen lebt, hängt ihm noch immer der romantische Ruf eines vagabundierenden, exzentrischen und trinkfreudigen Sonderlings an, der als Mischung aus Charles Baudelaire und dem jungen Charles Bukowski den Menschen im Straßengraben der Wohlstandsgesellschaft seine Reibeisenstimme schenkt. Ausgangspunkt dessen war Waits' im März 1973 veröffentlichtes Debüt "Closing Time". Dieses wurde im Jahr zuvor in nur zehn Tagen unter Anleitung des Produzenten Jerry Yester mit einer Studioband eingespielt. Auch wenn die Waits-Mixtur aus Jazz, Folk, Blues, R'n'B, Vaudeville und Theatermusik stilistisch nicht so recht in die Zeit passte, kam das Album allenthalben gut an. 1974 coverten die Eagles den Song "Ol' 55", später widmeten sich Lee Hazlewood und Tim Buckley dem herzzerreißenden Stück "Martha". Ebenfalls findet sich auf "Closing Time" die Akustiknummer "I Hope I Don't Fall In Love With You".

The second part in a collection of stunning Persian-tuned piano pieces, cut from Iranian national radio broadcasts made for the Golha programmes between 1956 & 1965.

Morteza Mahjubi (1900-1965) was a Iranian pianist & composer who developed a unique tuning system for the piano which enabled the instrument to be played in all the different modes and dastgahs of traditional Persian art music. Known as Piano-ye Sonnati, this technique allowed Mahjubi to express the unique ornamental and monophonic nature of Persian classical music on this western instrument - mimicking the tar, setar & santur and extracting sounds from the piano which are still unprecedented to this day.

An active performer and composer from a young age, Mahjubi made his most notable mark as key contributor and soloist for the Golha (Flowers of Persian Song and Poetry) radio programmes. These seminal broadcasts platformed an encyclopaedic wealth of traditional Persian classical music and poetry on Iranian national radio between 1956 until the revolution in 1979.

Presented here is a collection of Morteza Mahjubi's stunningly virtuosic improvised pieces broadcast on Golha between the programme's inception until Mahjubi's death in 1965 - mostly solo, though at times peppered with tombak, violin & some segments of poetry & song.

The vast collection of Golha radio programmes was put together thanks to the incredible work of Jane Lewisohn & the Golha Project as part of the British Library's Endangered Archives programme, comprising 1,578 radio programs consisting of approximately 847 hours of broadcasts.









i 09: Improvisation & Avaz in Isfahan (Golha-ye Rangarang #254) feat. Marzieh




feat. Abdolvahab Shahidi

First ever repress of the sought after psychedelic tinged funk rock private press album 'Eclipse of the City' from 1980 New York. Originally recorded between 1975 and 1977 in Manhattan's garment district. Eclipse of the City lay dormant on a reel to reel player whilst frontman Carlos Fire Aguasvivas muddled through life working as a data entry clerk away from his fellow band members. It wasn't till he rediscovered the tapes that a sudden life affirming moment drove him to get the music pressed. Putting pen to paper Carlos created the artwork as a homage to his love of comic art and brought the band to life on the reverse with his spindly characters engrossed in the jam. Only 300 copies were pressed at the time leading to eye-watering prices for a copy. with a recent digital re-release from Indian Summer's Anthology Records, Sticky Buttons stepped up to repress the record with a limited run of 500, lovingly manufactured in the UK in all its vinyl glory.

Arriving in the Bronx from the civil unrest of Santo Domingo in the early 60's Aguasvivas was surrounded by the raucous sounds of rock, jazz and prog. Absorbing the humdrum atmosphere of life in New York, Eclipse of the City came from the minds of close friends Carlos Aguasvivas, Steve Garcia and Eddy Garcia. Meeting at Monroe High School the three of them quickly formed a strong bond over their shared interest in music. It wasn't long after that they began rehearsing in a basement under a neighbourhood cleaners and in the attic of Steve and Eddy's family home piecing together their extended sessions of tripped out cinematic psychedelia.

Recording got off to a rocky start as a car accident left the three band members in A&E after taking an early morning cab ride through Manhattan to watch the sunrise on their way into the studio (a theatrical artistic statement of intent conceived by Steve Garcia) - as Eddy mentioned "Eclipse was forged from a lot of pain". Their recording sessions were postponed but a few weeks later they were back and with the added energy of John Ortega on Bass and Vincent Anderson on electric piano and organ - with just a few microphones and a reel to reel recorder, Eclipse of the City was laid down as the stark bold homage to New York's downtown.

Influences ranged from the cinematic behemoth Jaws to the UK prog rock bands of Genesis, Yes and Emerson Lake & Palmer but only could Eclipse of the City take its unique form in the attics and basements of New York with the full band adding their Puerto Rican and Dominican slanted New York energy. Side one includes 3 fully formed tracks breaking out into eerie moments of calm before diving into well timed jolts of reprise as each element weaves over the top of one another whilst side two presents a 30 minute narrative work following the night adventures of a young group of friends exploring the vibrant nightlife of downtown New York. A rumbling half hour of wobbling guitar, tight drumming and synth organ licks jutting out from the glistening lights of the night before the sun rises down Manhattan's East-West axis as the lilt changes and the organ lulls the friends back home. A truly idiosyncratic take on the heady world of New York in the 70's and one that still resonates with our urban landscapes and love for the nights they bring today.

a 01: Think Positive (Live) feat. Steve Garcia, Edward Garcia & John Ortega
b 02: Jennifer (Live) feat. Steve Garcia, Edward Garcia, Vincent Anderson & John Ortega
c 03: Try It All Again (Live) [feat. Vincent Anderson, John Ortega, Edward Garcia & Steve Garcia]
[d] 04: Eclipse A (Beginnings) [Live] [feat. Vincent Anderson, John Ortega, Edward Garcia & Steve Garcia]
[e] 05: Eclipse B (First Movement) [Live] [feat. John Ortega, Steve Garcia & Edward Garcia]
[f] 06: Eclipse C (Hustle Bustle) [Live] [feat. Vincent Anderson, John Ortega, Steve Garcia & Edward Garcia]
[g] 07: Eclipse D (Funky Side of Town) [Live] [feat. Vincent Anderson, John Ortega, Steve Garcia & Edward Garcia]
[h] 08: Eclipse E (Midnight) [Live] [feat. John Ortega, Steve Garcia & Edward Garcia]
[i] 09: Eclipse F (First Movement Continued) [Live] [feat. Vincent Anderson, John Ortega, Steve Garcia & Edward Garcia]
[j] 10: Eclipse G (Home) [Live] [feat. Vincent Anderson, John Ortega, Steve Garcia & Edward Garcia]

During the summer of 2020, SACRILEGA burst from the void with their debut EP, Rites of Macabre. Although a brand-new entity, the Californian power-trio features members currently aligned with Rites of Thy Degringolade, Impure Consecration, and Invocation War among others. As such, it was not surprising that that their Impious Death Metal worship was so powerful and punishing this early on. However, SACRILEGA are set to eclipse those not-inconsiderable expectations with their full-length debut, The Arcana Spear. Recorded at Ramona Studio with Charlie Koryn, SACRILEGA's debut album is a veritable firestorm of finessed fury - malice, malevolence, and mesmerizing visions writ large across throttling death metal songwriting both classic and contemporary. Driving that propulsion is underground drum-god Paulus Kressman, whose veritable eight octopus arms create a dizzying, dread-inducing landscape for his bandmates to slay with their razor-wire strings. Their songwriting always pushes forward with a near-bestial pulse that cannot be denied; still, attention is duly paid to detail within riffing and atmosphere alike, elevating The Arcane Spear beyond a mere exercise in ultraviolence. SACRILEGA thus locate that elusive balance between the cunningly precise and rabidly maximal, placing due emphasis on the songwriting itself and allowing the execution to tell the grandiose-yet-doomed tales it so requires. Featuring suitably stark-yet-grandiose artwork courtesy of Artem Grigoryev, SACRILEGA deliver one of death metal's most stunning debuts with The Arcana Spear. Embrace the grand tyranny!

Under the name Delicate Steve, guitarist extrodinaire Steve Marion has
spent the better part of the last decade establishing himself as one of the
most wildly innovative and widely revered players in the game.He's
recorded with Paul Simon, been sampled by Kanye West, toured in the
Black Keys, and released four critically acclaimed albums of genrebending instrumental music
He's your favorite musician's favorite musician, a virtuoso songwriter, producer,
and performer who occupies a lane entirely his own in the modern indie
landscape, but he's never liked the sound of the electric guitar? "I've tried
everything under the sun to get away from it," he explains. "Until now."Written and
recorded on a white 1966 Fender Stratocaster that reignited his love for the
instrument, Delicate Steve's warm and captivating new album, After Hours, marks
a first for Marion, an earnest, easygoing collection that revels in the simple joys of
plugging in and playing. The songs are sweet and breezy here, pairing vintage
soul grooves with mesmerizing, wordless melodies, and Marion's production work
is subtle and restrained, stepping back in all the right places to let the album's
masterful performances speak for themselves. In another first, Marion teamed up
with outside musicians on the record, bringing in renowned bassist Shahzad
Ismaily (Yoko Ono, Marc Ribot) and famed Brazilian percussionist Mauro Refosco
(David Byrne, Atoms For Peace) to help flesh out the arrangements and stretch
his sonic boundaries.
The result is a dreamy, introspective album built for late night comedowns and
deep dive soul searching, a cinematic, escapist fantasy for the wee hours of the
morning that draws on everything from Bill Withers and Sly Stone to Pharoah
Sanders and Salvador Dali as it explores memory and nostalgia, instinct and
intuition, serenity and transcendence.

The multiple award winning action-adventure game God Of War was first released in 2005, but became such an instant hit, that Santa Monica Studio created seven more versions of the game. The most recent one, released in 2018 for the PlayStation 4, focusses on main character Kratos' journey in the Greek world together with his son Atreus, following a path of vengeance as a result of being tricked into killing his family by Olympian gods.

God of War received universal acclaim for its story, design, graphics, combat system, characters and music. It was awarded 'Game of the Year' by numerous media outlets and award shows. God Of War (2018) performed well commercially, selling over five million copies within a month of its release. It became one of the best-selling PlayStation 4 games.

The official soundtrack won a BAFTA Award and is composed by Bear McCreary. It is set up around themes he created around primary characters in the game. Inspired by Viking folk music, McCreary used exotic instrumentation and languages from various Northern European folk traditions. It resulted in a score featuring deep choirs, pounding drums, shrieking brass and features Faroese singer-songwriter Eivør (Pálsdóttir). The American composer Bear McCreary is best known for his work on TV shows like Battlestar Galactica, Outlander, The Walking Dead and won an Emmy Award for the main title of Da Vinci's Demons.

Debut solo album from the former frontwoman of The Total Bettys. Olive Green colored vinyl, comes with Download Card. Recommend If You Like: Tancred, Adult Mom, Snail Mail, Soccer Mommy Maggie Gently is a San Francisco-based indie songwriter with a fondness for wild schemes and intimate gestures. Her identity as a queer woman is important to her and the community she creates and participates in. Maggie Gently’s music is melody-driven and heartfelt — a big-city indie rock fascination with an unmistakable emo accent. Her songs are about how making decisions for your own mental health can feel like a matter of survival. Peppermint peers around the edges of trauma for a new glimpse at what growth could look like. With songs about eternal questions of commitment and love and the terrifying possibility of being vulnerable and known, this album is about trusting something enough to let yourself get swept away. The nine songs that make up Peppermint reinforce empowering truths that can be hard to internalize or say out loud. As an artist, Maggie finds inspiration in Meg Hayertz’ “Make It, Mean It” tarot-focused guided meditations, lesbian romance novels, and the Enneagram, almost as much as fellow bands like Snail Mail, Lala Lala, and Clairo. “’Steady’ is a sun-kissed ode to rebirth, driven by sweet acoustic melodies and Maggie’s soaring serene harmonies. As steady drums and shimmering synths join the mix for the chorus, the track gains a sense of resolute hope, as if emerging from the dark of winter into the light of spring.”

Clear vinyl LP edition of 500 copies. Vacant Gardens is Glenn Donaldson (of The Reds, Pinks and Purples and a hundred others) and Jem Fanvu, collaborating on music and with the latter responsible for vocals and lyrics. The project began with the idea of combining heavy fuzz and slow-mo drum machine beats with Fanvu's gentle almost trad-folk style vocals. Almost all of Donaldson's otherworldly sounds are achieved through layers of guitar fuzz and copious delay, while Fanvu offers an ideal counterpoint, taking the listener on a celestial melancholy trip with her opaque poetry and melodies. So inspired were the duo by this blend of styles, they immediately recorded at least two albums of material, Under the Bloom and Obscene, released in quick succession in 2020 and 2021 in swiftly-disappearing micro editions on the secretive Tall Texan label. With those records close-to-impossible to find at an affordable price, Tough Love are now reissuing both LPs. From Reds Pinks and Purples' Glenn Donaldson, Vacant Gardens is an interstellar recording project that combines celestial, shimmering guitar on the verge of breaking like a massive, emotive wave and an ethereal vocal style from Jem Fanvu (visual artist, Minor Ghost Band also, plus collaborating with Tune-Yards, Cavity Fangs and many more) recalling Hope Sandoval or Liz Fraser that sails in its wake. Simply put, this is some of biggest, heart-tugging guitar music you'll hear in recent times. Sold out at once debut Under The Bloom, is followed now a continuation and development of the group's sound on Obscene: a frayed tapestry of Slowdiving, Flying Saucer Attack guitar noise wall married with an angelic vocal from Fanvu that glitters in counterpoint to the stringed distortion like Hope Sandoval or, in the way it shines bright in the fog, like Jonsi's surfing the surging waves of emotion in early Sigur Ros. Originally released in February on digital formats, Obscene gets a vinyl press and is sounding massive. Vacant Gardens' music suggests oceanic feelings, a hazy intergalactic consicousness that burbles beneath the surface of everything while also touching the visceral points in the human heart that makes groups like Galaxie 500, Yo La Tengo so timeless.

WRWTFWW Records and MEG Museum (Geneva) are honored to present the first new solo album by renowned Japanese percussionist Midori Takada (Through The Looking Glass) in 23 years, Cutting Branches From A Temporary Shelter, available on vinyl LP, housed in a 350gsm sleeve, with OBI, and liner notes, as well as on digipack CD.

Recorded in a live setting and played with instruments conserved in the collections of the MEG Museum, Cutting Branches For A Temporary Shelter is Midori Takada’s very own rendition of "Nhemamusasa", a traditional work emblematic of the musical repertoire for mbira of the Shona of Zimbabwe, well known worldwide, thanks notably to its version by Paul F. Berliner included on the famed 1973 album The Soul of Mbira.

The choice of this title by Midori Takada evokes the links between traditional African and contemporary music which are the foundation of this work, and it also translates the resolutely multicultural vision of the artist.

Midori Takada explains: "African music is remarkable for its polyrhythms. Not only are there simultaneously several rhythmic motifs, sometimes as many as ten, but furthermore it may be that the part played by each musician has its own starting point and its own pace, all combining to form a cycle. All the cycles progress at the same time according to a single metrical structure which functions as a reference point, but which is not played by any one person from beginning to end. The structure emerges out of the multi-level parts, all different. With the Shona, the musical system is based on the polymelody: one performs simultaneously several melodic lines which are superimposed, each having its own rhythmic organization. It is truly captivating. In Western classical music, one four-beat rhythm induces some precise temporal framework and regular reference points, which come on the strong beats 1 and 3. But in the logic of the Shona musical system, and in other African music, the melody can begin in the very middle of the cycle and be continued up to some other place in an autonomous manner, as if it had its own personality. It’s very rich."

The album comes with in-depth liner notes that include an interview by Midori Takada, a point of view by Zimbabwean scholar, musician and activist Forward Mazuruse, and background information on the project by Isabel Garcia Gomez and Madeleine Leclair from MEG Museum.

The sleeve features an artwork by celebrated Zimbabwean painter Portia Zvavahera.

Part of the budget for the album was donated to Forward Mazuruse’s Music For Development Foundation whose aim is to identify, nurture, and record young but underprivileged musicians in Zimbabwe.

The album is released in conjunction with Midori Takada and Shomyo of Koya-san's You Who Are Leaving To Nirvana, also available on LP and CD on WRWTFWW Records.

The Woggles are proud to announce the release of “The Wicked Coolest Songs” which compiles “Coolest Songs of the Week” the Woggles have had on Little Steven’s Underground Garage, while on Wicked Cool Records. These tracks also coincide with the years that Flesh Hammer aka Jeff Walls was the guitar player in band. It has 12 tracks, with an insert featuring the Woggles pictured as 8" Mego styled dolls. Layout and design by Scott Sugiuchi and doll concept by by Austin Hough. All proceeds benefit the “Flesh Hammer Family Fund.” Jeff Walls passed away on May 29, 2019 from pancreatic cancer. As a member of the Woggles, he spread joy to people all over the planet. Let's join together to honor him by raising funds to help his family with the overwhelming medical expenses.

Experimental and improvisational psychedelic rock, for fans of White Heaven, Les Rallizes Denudes, Headroom, Düngen, Heron Oblivion, Comets On Fire, The Renderers, Bardo Pond. Mountain Movers arguably are the perfect band for all the true "heads" out there. The New Haven quartet have been at it for 15 years, and the "newest" lineup (now at it for well over a decade; vocalist/guitarist Dan Greene, bassist Rick Omonte, guitarist Kryssi Battalene and drummer Ross Menze) have firmly grasped what it takes to fry brains; achingly beautiful melodies buoyed by a life raft of white-hot guitar scree and mind-melting feedback. "World What World" is the band's eighth album and third for Trouble In Mind Records. "World What World" is the newest chapter of the group's continued explorations and efforts to refine their sound. The lyrics of "World What World"s songs all imply a protagonist on a quest; the title itself is an implied query with no question mark; is it a question, or a statement?. The one-two punch of opener "I Wanna See The Sun" and "Final Sunset" lay out what's in store; Crazy Horse-inspired sandpaper melodies sit comfortably next to improvised, PSF-influenced six-string ragers. The group performs together effortlessly and telepathically, subverting the loud/quiet/loud dynamic that has saturated independent music since the late-Eighties. The loud parts and quiet parts are like waves; indistinguishable from each other, creating a fluid dynamism and intensity that swallows the listener up in its current, sweeping it toward oblivion. Hyperbole, you say? Watch out for midway through "Then The Moon" when the tune's lilting waltz pivots into a casually blistering solo by Battalene before fading into the melancholic "Haunted Eyes" - beckoning you with a mournful sidelong glance. Side Two opens with "Staggering With A Lantern", an elegant, lumbering instrumental improvisation again showcasing the synergistic shredding of the group's guitarists. The sticky lyrical hooks and sideways jangle of "Way Back To The World" and "The Last City"s midnight-hour, mellow singe come next, before concluding "World What World"s journey with "Flock of Swans". The song is the perfect closer and culmination of the album's mission statement. The subjects that populate Greene's songs and visual imagery augment his elegiac lyrics, awash in magical realism and fantastic symbolism; knights, fighters, dragons, masks. Poetic missives are launched from the heart straight into the neural pathways, guided by the rhythm section's otherworldly chemistry and Battalene's masterful control over her instrument. Mountain Movers have been at it too long to care about acclaim. They do it because the music calls out to them, and they let it carry them away.

Led by vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Simi Sohota, Healing Potpourri specialize in effervescent guitar pop that incorporates elements of ‘70s soft rock, chamber pop, lounge, and more, to create songs that are all but guaranteed to leave the listener in a better mood. But on the San Franciscobased band’s sophomore LP, Paradise, the group offers more than just sonic escapism. Written and recorded over the past two tumultuous years, Paradise finds Sohota and company processing the often overwhelming deluge of stress, frustration, and despair that’s become a part of modern life—but rather than be completely deflated, the band have created some of their most vibrant and instantly appealing music to date. The result is eleven hopeful songs that seek to imagine a better world and strive to make it a reality, while still taking the time to appreciate the moments of brightness that can shine through in hard times.

"Fashion Nugget" ist das zweite Studioalbum der Alternative-Rock-Band Cake. Es wurde 1996 veröffentlicht und enthält 14 Songs. "The Distance" und "I Will Survive" wurden die erfolgreichsten Singles des Albums. L'adhésion de CAKE à ses principes directeurs originaux n'a fait que se renforcer. Formé à l'origine comme une réponse quelque peu antagoniste au grunge, les processus démocratiques de CAKE, son autosuffisance provocante et sa musique lucide mais toujours inventive en ont fait un État-nation à part entière, sans pairs évidents, n'appartenant à aucune école. En plus d'écrire, d'arranger, de produire et d'interpréter leur propre musique, ils ont appris à concevoir leurs projets d'enregistrement dans leur studio à énergie solaire, qui produit en fait plus d'énergie que nécessaire pour le faire fonctionner, ce qui fait tourner le compteur électrique du bâtiment à l'envers.

“V I N C E N T” is FKJ’s second album and signals a new dawn, not just as a go-to producer and remixer for artists like PinkPantheress and Moses Sumney but as an artist in his own right, continuously selling out headline tours across the globe with his acclaimed ‘one-man-band’ live shows, and having a billion plus streams across all platforms for his music.

The concept for “V I N C E N T” came about during a solo trip to Los Angeles before 2020. “I just stayed in this house totally on my own, turned my phone off and had some time away from everything to figure out what I wanted to do.” He realised he wanted to tap into the freedom of being a teenager: “back then, I was making music strictly for playfulness, without overthinking it,” he says. “V I N C E N T’s” opening and closing songs underline the sentiment of the new album: the future-jazz of ‘Way Out’ (a playful mini soundtrack in one; a dainty piano motif underscored by a skittering trap beat and serene strings) and the lullaby-styled “Stay A Child”. “I wanted to get back some of that lost innocence of making music purely for pleasure,” he says.

Back in his home studio in the Philippines, with no wifi and an impending global lockdown, FKJ was quite literally cut off from the world, able to explore music’s endless possibilities. “Sometimes I would get into it for the whole night and go to bed when the sun came up.” Out of this freedom comes an expressionistic, touching album that’s impossible to pin down. There’s no more hiding behind a branch of leaves, as he did on the cover of his 2017 debut: “V I N C E N T” marks FKJ out as a crucial new voice. He’s redefining chillout music with his bursts of late-night jazz sax and piano, coupled with his wood-cabin whispery vocals, recalling Bon Iver’s early work, and those Santana-styled guitar flourishes.

Much of “V I N C E N T” is wilfully romantic, sometimes super sexy, and often with its head in the clouds, as on tracks like “Us”, a dreamy ode to his wife June, or “IHM”, which has a 90s hip-hop flavour slowed right down to lights-out tempo. Not entirely a solo record, ((( O )))) appears on ‘Brass Necklace’ – which has the soft power of The Internet and Stevie Wonder’s keys. It’s no wonder that lead single ‘A Moment of Mystery’, featuring Toro Y Moi, has a spacey vibe: while recording in San Francisco together, FKJ, Toro and his keyboard player Tony took some of what Tony called “holy water” – “we shared this bottle and took a bit of a trip,” laughs FKJ. The result is a gentle electronic ode to long-term love that could rival Tame Impala for melodic progginess.

Little Dragon’s Yukimi Nagano vocal, meanwhile, laces its way through the stunning “Can’t Stop”, and there is a call back to FKJ’s dancier beginnings with “Let’s Live”, a galvanising techno-pop number that blends piano, handclaps and soulful vocals to dazzling effect. Each of FKJ’s songs glistens, lambently, with a myriad of ideas but it never sounds overblown or too dizzying.

“V I N C E N T” is a marvel – and testament to the magic that can happen when you dig deep. “This was a challenging record,” he says. “I’m a perfectionist and it’s hard to shake that off. But once I did, and I let the music take over, I felt totally free.”

Petter Eldh's explosive ensemble Koma Saxo continues their adventures with a new album "Koma West", out on We Jazz Records, 18 March 2022. The album sees Koma Saxo expand on their previous sound with the addition of vocalist Sofia Jernberg and a strong cast of featured artists, including cellist Lucy Railton, violinist Maria Reich, pianist Kit Downes and accordionist Kiki Eldh (Petter's mom!). The hard-hitting key quintet remains, including Eldh on bass and assorted instruments, Christian Lillinger on drums, plus saxophonists Otis Sandsjö (of Y-OTIS), Jonas Kullhammar and Mikko Innanen bringing the SAXO to the KOMA operation.

At 14 tracks, "Koma West" is a full menu of monumental compositional ideas that could spawn entire albums. True to his chop & go production style, Eldh relies on continuous movement while presenting another all killer no filler program taking Koma Saxo on a sonic outing not quite like anything that had previously appeared under the band's name. That being said, there's very much the Petter Eldh touch here, one which might be hard to pinpoint and verbalise, but nevertheless a recognisable style of composing, producing and arranging.

Thematically, the album is rooted in the West Coast of Sweden, where Eldh grew up – he's from a tiny town called Lysekil. There's a thread of Swedish folk song tradition that has been part of the Koma Saxo DNA from the get-go and you can hear that here as well, especially on cuts such as "Närhet", beautifully sung by Sofia Jernberg.

Petter Eldh says:

"In a way, it's a concept album and a celebration of the Swedish West Coast. The first single is called 'Koma Kaprifol', and kaprifol is the landscape flower of Bohuslän on the West coast, where I grew up. I'm not too wild about attaching strong narratives to my music but there's no way around it this time. The oysters, a common snack around the coast, are a strong conceptual presence here. Anyway, they seem to pop up here and there quite often already thus far in the Koma Saxo narrative, even though it's not always so obvious. Koma Vocals! Koma Strings! I love the presence of Sofia Jernberg here and I love writing string arrangements, too, although I never thought I would do it for Koma, but of course, Koma should have some strings, why not?. Koma Saxo should and can become anything."

Air, Nico, St Etienne, Kid Loco, Young Marble Giants, Sandy Denny, Vashti Bunyan, Andrew Weatherall, Robert Wyatt and Serge Gainsbourg. Limited edition first pressing of 500 copies on "Mock Turtle" Blue. International collaboration between artists in Glasgow, London, Paris & New York. Mastered by Shimmy-Disc founder Kramer. Accompanying visual art work by Film and art director Tim Saccenti. Inspired by the intensity of lockdown, the self-titled debut album by electro-pop project Gates of Light, is the result of a collaboration between five artists across four cities, three time zones and two continents. Hailing from Glasgow, singer-songwriter Louise Quinn and producer Bal Cooke teamed up with London-based DJ and producer Scott Fraser; Parisian musician, DJ and producer Kid Loco; and film director and photographer, New York’s Tim Saccenti - who has previously worked with Run The Jewels and Pharell- to create a sublime, electro-pop reflection on the grief, insularity and peculiar highs of lockdown. Immediately after hearing the album, revered post-punk musician and producer Kramer offered to release the vinyl edition on his iconic cult label Shimmy-Disc, which boasts an impressive back catalogue of artists including Daniel Johnson, Low and Galaxie 500. A project grounded on collaboration - born from a period of disconnect - Gates Of Light perfectly amplifies the longing, confusion, lucid dreams and appreciation of the outdoors that the pandemic ignited in so many over the last couple of years. Originally written and recorded by Louise and Bal from their bedroom studio in Glasgow whilst their one-year-old twins slept, the tracks were then sent to Scott and Kid Loco who remixed the tracks from home studios in London and Paris before Tim created the artwork and a video for the track ‘When The Leaf Falls’. Gates Of Light is the latest project from Louise and Bal who have released music in the past as A Band Called Quinn and DAWNINGS. Louise and Scott Fraser have also previously collaborated following a chance encounter at a nightclub in Glasgow. Their single ‘Together More’ was released on Andrew Weatherall’s renowned Birdscarer vinyl imprint in 2019 and featured a remix by the Guv’nor himself who described the track as “sublime magik”.

The Remix Machine has been pumping through Nickodemus’ studio since the late 90’s with over 100 remixes as far & wide. In this special vinyl selection of 8 remixes, Nickodemus chose some rare unreleased on vinyl remixes including Preservation Hall Jazz Band uptempo driving Jazz stomper, to the funky afro-latin dance-floor main stays of Gabriele Poso, Pernett & Vieux Farka Toure afro-latin mid tempo sure-shots, to the Colombian dubbed out Empresarios, Quantic & Atropolis.

Here we have 4 songs on each side, a very limited edition for the DJ’s & vinyl collectors.

Orange Vinyl

RAWAX presents a new ten inch series on CHIWAX!
We love this format and it's a pleasure to start it with a good friend and Shift Imprint label boss, Angelo Santos aka Audiopath who already released two heawy weights on HOUSEWAX.
The limited orange vinyl edition
Supperted by Laurent Garnier, Dan Curtin and others!

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.

It’s been a long way. All seems to blend naturally with ‘A Long Way’, the debut album from Parisian duo Jacques Bon & Drux.

Jacques is a long term friend, who was running the Paris branch of the Smallville record store for 13 years (2006 – 2019). He made himself a name also outside of Paris as a DJ and with music released on Giegling, Kann, Mule Musiq and of course Smallville. Jacques shares his studio in Paris with Vincent Drux, a producer and sound engineer, who recently started his own imprint Cabale Records. Both got together naturally in the studio for hour-long sessions to craft an album together. House music at its most meticulous form.

First, as a short form, in which every track captures another time zone of the dancefloor experience. And then as longform, as a whole album with a narrative that combines futuristic aesthetics, classic ethos and human warmth.

From the rolling percussion and windy-city style bassline of opener ‘Distant Voices’, with its cut yet longing distant voices, through deepy, dubby and raw ‘Celeste’, the haunting synths of ‘Mirage’; The snares that arrive mid through ‘Space Ways’ and launch into another level; ‘Radiance’’s Techy vibe ride; The late night chords and peak time beat programming of ‘Your Wings’; And then final couple stick the landing with enough energy, deepness and beauty - ‘Elevate’, which channels Bon and Drux’s inner Fred P, and ‘Sandstorm’, a mastery percussive tale with a long, repetitive chord that opens and closes, teases until it disappears and remains nothing but a whispery dying effect.

Words by Niv Hadas


All Tracks are written, produced and mixed by Jacques Bon & Vincent Drux

“A Lucid Dub” and “Metronomik” get the remix treatment for the companion 12” to Louis’ Metronomik EP.

Diahgonal and John Beltran handle the a-side with masterful remixes of A Lucid Dub.
Santiago Salazar and Shawn Rudiman add their knowledge to the techno discussion with their remixes of Metronomik.

"The letter X marks the spot, crosses over, literally with a cross. It’s the former, the ex-. The ex-lover known simply as “an ex”. Ex- is the latin prefix meaning “out”. Exterior, an exit. Extraordinary. Excellent. It’s exciting. Generation X. X-files. X is the unknown. X is Extreme“

Extreme is Molly Nilsson’s tenth studio album. Recorded in 2019 and throughout the 2020 global pandemic at home in Berlin, Extreme is a departure for Nilsson, an explosion of angry love. It’s an album of anthems for the jilted generation, soaked with joy and offering solace, bristling with distorted, Metal guitars and planet-sized choruses that bring light to the dark centre of the galaxy. It’s an album of the times, by the times and for the people. It’s a record about power. About how to fight it, how to take it and how to share it.

Absolute Power explodes with massive guitars, double kick beats and the instantly iconic line “It’s me versus the black hole at the centre of the galaxy.” Nilsson’s performance itself portrays absolute power in its confidence but the song is a call-to-arms, an entreaty to grasp the here and now, to take the power back. It’s Nilsson pacing the ring and we’re instantly in her corner. Earth Girls takes familiar Molly Nilsson themes - female empowerment and subverting the patriarchy - but casually throws in one of the choruses of her career. “Women have no place in this world” she sings, but it’s the world that isn’t good enough. Stadium-sized but still warmly hazy, Earth Girls has its fists in the air, glorifying in harmony, almost ecstatic in its feeling good. Nilsson’s Springsteen-level conviction and righteousness bleeds through the speaker cones, the cognitive dissonance between the song’s cadences and angry lyrics redolent of Bruce in his prime. Female empowerment isn’t always an angry energy on Extreme, however. On Fearless Like A Child, Nilsson’s anthem to the female body and women’s sovereignty of it, she croons over a mid-80s blue-eyed Soul groove. It sets a nocturnal scene as the narrator surveys her past and her surroundings. Before we’re fully submerged in a dreamlike, Steve McQueen-era Prefab Sprout poem to learning from your mistakes the song erupts into one of those lines only Molly Nilsson can get away with: “I love my womb, come inside I feel so alive” she fervently sings. Against the backdrop of ever-encroaching, conservative rulings on women’s reproductive rights in places like Texas, it’s simultaneously angry and full of love.

Every song on Extreme is a gleaming gem in a pouch of jewels. On Kids Today, Nilsson is the voice of wisdom, archly commenting on the eternal struggle between youth and authority. Wisdom infuses Sweet Smell Of Success with a transcendent love that forgives the narrator’s shortcomings and celebrates the moment, it’s a letter to the author from the author that asks “what is success” and concludes that this is it, this song, this moment. It’s a rare moment of simple reflection that is generous in its insight to Nilsson’s inner life. “Success” is a tool of power and we don’t need it… We need power tools and there are moments on Extreme where it feels like Nilsson is showing us how to find them. It's an open conversation through out Extreme. She’s a warm, comforting presence through out the album and specially on these songs of encouragement, songs perhaps sang to a younger Molly Nilsson or, really, to whomever needs to hear them. “They’ll praise your efforts, they’ll call you slurs a rebel, a master, an amateur / Merely with your own existence, you already offer your resistance.” On Avoid Heaven she’s even more direct, pleading with us to avoid concepts of purity and to embrace the glorious, ebullient, emotional mess we’re often in as a method of upending the power structures who need things to be perfect.

They Will Pay brings back the big, distorted power chords in the form of a agit-punk, pop slammer. Of course, when Molly Nilsson does punk pop we get the catchiest chorus this side of The Bangles or The Nerves. It’s rendered in an off the cuff, throwaway manner that is just perfect in its roughness. However, it’s on Pompeii that Nilsson delivers the album’s epic, emotional heartbreaker. Like 1995 on Nilsson’s album Zenith, or Days Of Dust on Twenty Twenty, the lyrics of Pompeii are heavy with a transcendent sadness, an aching poetry that cuts to the truth of the heart like the best Leonard Cohen lines, though here delivered with an uplifting, life-affirming love. It contains the most personal moments of Extreme, a song lit by the dying embers of romance. Yet it’s here where the alchemy at the base of all Nilsson’s best work is found. Turning small nuggets of personal truth into big, generous universal moments that invite everyone to cry, to love and to fight the power. In an album of jewels, it might be the shining star.

Molly Nilsson’s biggest, boldest and most vital album to date, Extreme is about power. Against the love of power and for the power of love.

Inspiriert von der Black Lives Matter Bewegung formuliert der britische Pianist und Komponist Alexis Ffrench seine Lebensaufgabe: Mit klassischer Musik möchte er für eine Gesellschaft der Vielfalt, Gleichheit und des gegenseitigen Respekts eintreten. Auf seinem Album "Truth" bringt er seine Vision zum Erklingen. "Was ist meine Aufgabe in der Welt" - diese grundlegende Frage versucht der britische Pianist und Komponist Alexis Ffrench mit seinem Album "Truth" für sich zu beantworten. Die Frage geht für den Sohn jamaikanischer Einwanderer auf den Tod von George Floyd zurück. Schockiert sah Alexis Ffrench das Video von Floyds Ermordung durch einen Polizisten am 25. Mai 2020. Ungläubig und überwältigt setzte er sich an sein Piano und begann zu komponieren. Musik zu schreiben, war der Weg für Alexis Ffrench mit den Bildern umzugehen. "Nach der Trauer kam die Wut, dann die Hilflosigkeit", erklärt er, "Ich fragte mich, wie ich als Musiker an den Protesten teilhaben könne, weil ich in dieser Zeit in der Pandemie isoliert war. Ich begann auf meine eigene, kleine Weise am Klavier. Es war Aktivismus für mich selbst, denn ich musste mich beteiligt fühlen, und es war mir wichtig, mit meiner Musik die Hoffnungen und Ängste zum Ausdruck zu bringen und andere zu ermutigen, ihre eigene Stimme zu erheben." Alexis Ffrench verfolgte die Berichterstattung über die weltweiten Demonstrationen der entstehenden Black Lives Matter Bewegung und untermalte die Szenen protestierender Menschenmassen mit Musik. Das Stück "Walk With Us (For Black Lives Matter)" veröffentlichte er bereits 2020 als Single. Andere Kompositionen aus dieser Zeit bilden die Grundlage für sein Album "Truth".Sein Engagement für mehr Vielfalt und Chancengleichheit durchzieht die Karriere von Alexis Ffrench wie ein roter Faden. Zusammen mit dem Princes Trust unterstützt er ein Programm, das Kindern aus besonders benachteiligten Familien Zugang zu Musikunterricht ermöglicht. Zudem hat Alexis Ffrench, der selbst aus finanziell bescheidenen Verhältnissen kommt, zusammen mit dem Sony Music UK Social Justice Fund ein jährliches Stipendium für People of Color an der Royal Academy of Music ins Leben gerufen. Auch er konnte nur dank eines Stipendiums dort studieren und war damals einer von nur zwei Schwarzen Studierenden in seinem Jahrgang. Alexis Ffrench vergleicht sich jedoch nicht mit einem Politiker, der Kraft seines Amtes Veränderungen herbeiführt. Sein Medium ist die Musik und sein Ziel, Menschen über alle Vorurteile hinweg zusammenzubringen, schlägt sich in seiner ganz eigenen Art des Komponierens nieder. "Meine Kompositionen sind kurz und wie ein Popsong strukturiert, weil ich so mit meinen Melodien die größte Wirkung erzielen kann", erklärt er. Seiner Vision, möglichst viele Menschen mit seiner Musik zu verbinden, ist er seit seinem Sony-Debütalbum im Jahr 2018 in großen Schritten nähergekommen. In Großbritannien ist Alexis Ffrench nicht nur ein Medienstar und kann Top 30 Charts-Erfolge feiern, er ist auch einer der meist-gestreamte Pianisten weltweit. Mit "Truth" hat Alexis Ffrench seine künstlerische Vision nun weiter gefasst. Das Album mag zwar aus Gefühlen der Trauer, Verzweiflung und Wut geboren sein, es ist jedoch von einer ungebrochen positiven Vision für eine Gesellschaft der Gleichheit, Vielfalt und des gegenseitigen Respekts getragen, die Alexis Ffrench mit den sanften Tönen seines Pianos in den Raum malt.

Sechstes Album der norwegischen Kultband. Oliver und Svein Kersbergen zaubern einen neuen Mix aus Drones und Soundscapes mit wunderschönen Melodien. Mit dabei, eine sehr ungewöhnliche Zusammenstellung an Gästen: Kjetil Manheim (Mayhem, Order, Big Robot), Sandy Dedrick von der 60s Sunshine-Pop-Band Free Design sowie Mark Refoy von Spacemen 3 und Spiritualized.
Für Fans von Fans von Vintage, verträumtem Pop und Kraut.
Yellow Vinyl-Version in streng limitierter Auflage!

Kaiju is the floor-shaking, speaker-knocking new album from Canibus, one of hip-hop’s greatest lyricists who continues to push himself as an artist. It also serves as his first solo release since 2015’s excellent Time Flys, Life Dies... Phoenix Rise, which was produced entirely by Bronze Nazareth. It’s only fitting, then, that ‘Bus would once again work with only one producer for this project, which finds him spitting mind-melting bars over beats from Oxnard, CA beatsmith/rapper Body Bag Ben.

The 11 tracks on Kaiju strike a balance between personal experiences and striking grandiosity that ‘Bus expertly crafts with his pen. They also all boast the rewind-worthy lyrics you’d want from one of the genre’s most creative and truly timeless talents. You can hear this immediately on the opening track, “Curmudgeon,” where he spits raw bars with his signature growl over BBB’s monstrous production. That vibe carries on throughout the record, from the snarling, DMX-assisted “Entameta (Remix)” through to the hip-hop epic of “Verzuz.”

This is truly Canibus at his best, blending surrealist wordplay and turns-of-phrase with sharp, witty commentary about the state of the world today. Even better, he’s backed by some of BBB’s best production to date, which rumbles and stomps as much as it sounds like it’s covered in a thick layer of grime. It’s much like the inspiration for the album’s title—a giant monster (kaiju, in Japanese) like Godzilla rising from a slumber, ready to wreak havoc on his opponents.

2003 gegründet, gehört das Trio zur festen Institution der Extreme Metal Szene. Und immer gilt: so brutal wie möglich; so gnadenlos hart wie nur möglich. Das neue 12 Song Album "Mountain Fleshriders" bietet alles was brutalen Death Metal ausmacht.

Samantha Togni makes her TITDM debut with five uncompromising cuts, exploring the darkest corners of techno and channeling her artistic expression in a flurry of controlled yet innovative directions. This compulsion to work without boundaries isn't new to Samantha, having always leaned toward a 'do it your own way' attitude, leading to Samantha founding Boudica in 2017; a collective aiming to give visibility to women and non binary artists through their events, conference, radio show and podcast.

'Trust The Heat' rattles through the speakers with its bone twitching bass, spilling out from its kickdrums and marching forward at an unnerving pace. The accompanying grooves give way to primal movements and an added layer of welcomed spice. There's no sing-songy samples here, just a vocal phrase with the energy of a megaphone edging through a busy club; guiding dancers to keep moving. 'No Pressure to Fit In' follows up with its spiraling basslines opening and closing, providing the movement against a backdrop of percussive power. Togni brings back the vocal snippets. this time to greater hypnotic effect.

'Sensible Social Lies' sounds like the type of techno you'd expect to hear on a planet from Dune; shapeshifting its way through sand with a heavy onslaught of newly discovered sounds. 'Cockroaches' scales back, remaining functional and still packing a serious punch, before the record comes to a pupil dilating close with 'In Vivo' a melodic, left-leaning piece honoring what makes techno so great, while remaining fiercely contemporary and unique to the artist who created it.

Die mehrfach mit Platin ausgezeichnete Rockband SEETHER veröffentlicht die Deluxe Version ihres achten Studioalbums ”Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum”, übersetzt ”If You Want Peace, Prepare For War”, eine Mischung aus Euphorie und Elend, zweifellos die wohl stärksten Songs in SEETHERs illustrer Karriere.

”Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum” wurde von ihrem Sänger Shaun Morgan produziert und von Matt Hyde (Deftones, AFI) in Nashville abgemischt. Das neueste Mitglied der Band, Corey Lowery (Ex-Gitarrist/Sänger
von Saint Ansonia und Stuck Mojo), ein langjähriger Freund von Morgan, ist auf dem Album zu hören.

”Corey has a lot of experience and is an inspiring guitarist as well; he’s the older brother I’ve always wanted”, fügte Morgan hinzu. SEETHER besteht aus dem Bassisten und Gründungsmitglied Dale Stewart und dem Schlagzeuger John Humphrey.

Das Push-Pull-Gefühl auf ”Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum” ist ebenso dynamisch wie einprägsam, da Morgan die intime Sensibilität eines Singer-Songwriters in schwere Rockgrooves der Band einbringt. Mit Einflüssen wie der dunklen und rohen Ehrlichkeit von Grunges epischer Gitarrenattacke und dem südafrikanischen Underground-Punk und Metal, ist SEETHER’s klangliches Gebräu unverwechselbar und zeitlos.

One of Swedish Death Metal most sought after albums, and rightfully so! Therion’s relatively unknown beginnings as a “standard” Death Metal band seem to be misunderstood by many Metal listeners. Although the general consensus seems to be that “Beyond Sanctorum” is just “straight up Death Metal” while their later releases are neoclassical style, upon closer inspection, the opposite seems to be true. Although “Beyond Sanctorum” uses mainly instruments and performance aspects of standard Death Metal, the songs are alreafy composed in a style more similar to actual classical music. “Future Consciousness” starts the album off with a churning Morbid Angel style intro alternating with dark tremolo melodies and some heavy groove. Other bright spots include “Cthulhu”, featuring deep, cavernous doom sections evoking the famous sunken city, alternating with frantic fast passages. “Enter the Depths of Eternal Darkness” goes from a sludgy opening section to fiery death metal, with some eerie lead guitar moments and is also quite satisfying. “Symphony of rhe Dead” has an early The Gathering feel, that bursts into Death Metal later on. The highlight of this album is definitely “The Way”. This is where the bands developing symphonic style is most obvious, so “Theli” fans should definitely hear this song first. We cannot recommend it enough - “The Way” is not only the best song on the album, but one of the best examples of adventurous, progressive (yet uncompromising) Death Metal one is ever likely to hear. This album released around the time when Death Metal was abandoning its primitive roots and going off into more complex territory. For anyone willing to take the time to really listen to music beneath surface level aesthetics, this is actually a surprisingly complex and rewarding listen. This album is light years ahead of their debut.

Japanese experimental group Les Rallizes Denudes are the ultimate rock ‘n’ roll enigma. Sometimes referred to as Hadaka no Rallizes or even as Hadaka no Rarizu, each appellation a variant of the name “Fucked Up and Naked” which equates to being high on hard drugs, they are seen as noise-rock pioneers, yet sifting fact from fiction isn’t easy with their oddball tale. Emerging from the radical hippie communes of Kyoto during the late 1960s, the band was formed in November 1967 by university student Takashi Mizutani, taking the overamplified, distorted guitar of the Velvet Underground as a starting point. Early demo recordings apparently suffered from poor sound quality, leading the perfectionist Mizutani to retreat from the studio environment, meaning that most of the group’s output has appeared as live bootlegs, with the occasional studio demo surfacing as well. Performances were initially staged as part of avant-garde theatre, though the band’s propensity for super-loud noise soon put paid to such collaboration; the ever-changing membership saw Mizutani the only permanent force, despite his embroilment in the 1970 Red Army hijacking of a civilian Japan Airlines flight, enacted partly through bass player, Moriaki Wakabayashi, who defected to North Korea in its aftermath. Though perhaps not quite as notorious, fellow improvisational group, Taj Mahal Travellers, has a backstory of random international travels that is almost as intriguing as that of Les Rallizes; formed in 1969 by six experimental musicians and an electronic engineer, they embarked on a series of improvisational gigs across Japan, notably including an all-day marathon held at a Kanagawa beach, and made their way to Europe in 1971, where they crossed paths with Don Cherry and other likeminded practitioners. They later drove from Holland to the Pakistan border, acquiring santoors in Iran on the way to help broaden their already unpredictable repertoire. The Oz Days Live release is culled from the Oz Last Days festival held in the autumn of 1973, to benefit Tokyo’s Oz Rock Café, which had been closed following repeated drug busts. Here the Taj Mahal Travellers are suitably cosmic, their echoing jams featuring looped vocal chants, disjointed string instruments and sparse, off-kilter percussion; in contrast, the contributions from Les Rallizes are more standard examples of instrumental psychedelic rock, which veers more towards the acid rock end of the spectrum as the performance progresses.

Dallas-born Roger Kynard Erickson, better known as Roky Erickson, is a legend of psychedelic music and culture. Playing piano at five years old and guitar at ten, he dropped out of high school in Austin shortly before graduating, since the school dress code demanded short hair. In 1965, his group, The Spades, made an impact with “We Sell Soul” and the following year, The 13 th Floor Elevators burst onto the scene with debut album The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13 th Floor Elevators, but the band’s non-conformist attitude and open endorsement of drugs such as marijuana and LSD put them in repeated conflict with the authorities. Then, in 1968, during a performance at the San Antonio edition of the World’s Fair, known as HemisFare, Erickson began speaking incomprehensible nonsense on stage, leading to a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia and confinement in a Houston psychiatric hospital, where he was forcibly given electroshock therapy. The following year, after being busted with a single joint, Erickson pleaded not guilty by means of insanity, leading to a 3-year stay in Rusk State Hospital, with further electroshock and Thorazine treatments. Following his release Erickson formed a group initially called Bleib Alien, which evidenced a more hard-rock orientation, later renamed The Aliens, though Erickson was also working with Austin’s The Explosives in the same era. Aliens material produced by Stu Cook of Creedence Clearwater Rival was issued by CBS and an independent, 415 Records. Then, in the early 1980s, Erickson became fixated with junk mail and unsolicited letters, writing to lawyers and celebrity figures on a regular basis; in 1985, solo mini-LP Clear Night For Love was produced at Music Tracks in Austin by bassist/guitarist Speedy Sparks, with former Joe “King” Carrasco and Delbert McClinton drummer, Ernie Durawa, plus Supernatural Family Band alumnus John Reed on guitar. Released by France’s New Rose label in small numbers, the release found Erickson back in semi-psychedelic/country rock mode on opening track “You Don’t Love Me Yet,” the plaintive “Starry Eyes” and the anthem-like title track, while “The Haunt” is more in swamp/horror rock vein and “Don’t Slander Me” has heavy blues leanings.

Ever since the release of his first solo album more than 20 years ago, German musician and producer Christian Kleine has experimented with blending and contrasting the varying textures and approaches of post-rave IDM, breakbeats, shoegaze and punk. His latest album offering, Touch & Fuse, shows he's continued to refine and perfect that combination, which is less a conscious concoction and more of a natural outcome of the music he likes. From the edgy Aphex-isms of 'Val 2' and the heavily filtered breaks of 'Reverse Angle' to the slowed down grunge meets pure electronics of 'Return of the Underground', this is unique, accomplished stuff.

The career defining fourth album from French Tech Death masters EXOCRINE - showcasing a level of musicianship that can only be described as jaw dropping, EXOCRINE are the bridge between the ferocity of ARCHSPIRE or CRYPTOPSY and the potent Progressive leanings of OBSCURA & GOROD.

Back in stock on Black Vinyl !

Stars Are the Light, the luminous seventh album by the American psych explorers Moon Duo, marks a progression into significantly new territory. From a preoccupation with the transcendental and occult that informed Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada’s guitar-driven psych rock, and reached its apotheosis in the acclaimed Occult Architecture diptych, Stars Are the Light sees the band synthesize the abstract and metaphysical with the embodied and terrestrial.

Branching out from Occult Architecture Vol. 2, the album has a sonic physicality that is at once propulsive and undulating; it puts dance at the heart of an expansive nexus that connects the body to the stars. These are songs about embodied human experience — love, change, misunderstanding, internal struggle, joy, misery, alienation, discord, harmony, celebration — rendered as a kind of dance of the self, both in relation to other selves and to the eternal dance of the cosmos.

Nicki Bluhm's creative confidence and authentic vocals are front and
center on 'Avondale Drive', her sophomore solo album and the follow up
to her critically-acclaimed 2018 release 'To Rise You Gotta Fall'
The native San Franciscan who now calls Tennessee home possesses a
gorgeously emotive voice and her clear-eyed perspective on life informs the 10
tracks on the new release.
Produced by Jesse Noah Wilson and recorded in East Nashville, the new album
features a cast of musical luminaries including Oliver Wood, James Pennebaker,
Jay Bellerose, Jen Condos, Erik Slick, Erin Rae, Karl Denson and AJ Croce. The
album combines nostalgic country- rock with distinctly modern lyricism– an apt
contrast for the process of studying one's past in order to make a better future.
Stand out tracks include a duet with Oliver Wood on "Friends", the folksy "Juniper
Woodsmoke, the reflective "Learn to Love Myself and "Wheels Rolling," a
windows-down, hit-the-gas banger that ends the album.