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Im nächsten Krisenjahr erzählt Das Feuilleton von düsteren Zeiten. ,Ab morgen bin ich unpolitisch" Post-Punk, der mit Gitarren und zäh durch hübsche Abgründe driftet. Das Debut in Session auf Tape (Bandmaschine von Mario Thaler/The Notwist aus Weilheim dafür ausgeliehen) von Tobias Siebert aufgenommen, legen die neun Stücke hypnotische Teppiche unter deutschsprachige Texte. Musikalisch wird gependelt zwischen Indiepop und Post-Punk. Avantgardistische Drums, völlig enthemmte Gitarren und unverstellte Vocals. Es werden Perspektiven eingenommen, Grenzen ausgelotet und es wird pointiert. Politik ist dabei nur eine Randnotiz, deren Auswirkungen auf das Handeln und die Vorstellung der Protagonisten gewaltig erscheint. Das Feuilleton knüpfen in vielerlei Hinsicht an die wieder in Mode kommenden 90er Jahre an. Energetische Gitarrenmusik in Dreierbesetzung. Stark komprimierte, vieldeutige Texte, mit deutlich lyrischem Anspruch. Zeitlos, gewagt und dabei kantig bis schroff. Irgendwo zwischen Fabel und Parole. Neu auf WINDIG (auch Klez.e, Cave To Cosmos etc.)!

Real groups like Empirical are a rarity in contemporary jazz, where musicians so often come together for single projects then disperse again once they are done: groups that endure for fifteen years, without slackening in their quest for the new and the fresh, are all but unheard of. Having started their journey in 2007, Empirical now makes a triumphant return, re-taking their rightful place at the centre of the UK scene with "Wonder is the Beginning". Their first full-length album since 2016, is a mature musical statement that shows the band"s fire is still undimmed and their commitment to maintaining the legacy while forging their own unique path is as strong as ever.

Hinter dem Bandnamen Potato Beach versteckt sich ein Wiener Indie-Surf Kollektiv rund um Mastermind Jannik Rieß. Bislang gab es eine EP, die als Tape erschienen ist. Der Strand ist für alle da! "Back on the road, driving slowly, sipping coke" - Mit den ersten Zeilen auf "DIP IN" legt Jannik Rieß direkt ein Geständnis ab. Der deutsche Wahlwiener und Multiinstrumentalist hinter dem Musikprojekt Potato Beach, bekennt sich mit seinem Debüt zum Softdrink bei Einhalten des Tempolimits - und damit zur eigenen Kartoffeligkeit. Sympathisch! Potato Beach's durchaus nostalgischer Garage-Rock versucht gar nicht erst, dem Bravado und Machismo alter (The Kinks) oder neuer (Foxygen) Inspirationen nachzueifern. Rieß erzählt lieber seine eigenen Geschichten in der lähmenden Sommerhitze Wiens, irgendwo zwischen zu lang jung bleiben und zu früh alt werden. Die Platte braucht keine waghalsigen Salti vom Zehner schlagen, um in die Tiefe zu gehen. Vielmehr lädt sie uns dazu ein, mit baumelnden Füßen am Beckenrand tief ins Rot-Weiß der Freibadpommes zu tauchen. Schmeckt vertraut - und ziemlich lecker. So wabern simple, aber sorgfältig arrangierte Vintage-Riffs und schrullige Orgeln wie Hitzeschlieren am Horizont, wenn Rieß "Why are we feeling guilty for not doing anything?" oder "How can anyone go to work?" die blöden Fragen stellt, über die wir alle rätseln. Potato Beach's Selbstreflexionen sind am Puls der Zeit getaktet und sprechen dabei ganz ungezwungen 0,5 bis 2,5 Kartoffelgenerationen von der Pelle. So handeln sie nicht etwa von Heroin und Manic Pixie Dream Girls, sondern von Ghosting, Fernbeziehungen oder dem Gefühl der Einsamkeit unter Vielen. Potato Beach befreit den Küstenrock der 60er vom alten Rost und verleiht ihm mit ehrlichen, nachdenklichen und bodenständigen Anekdoten einen zeitgenössischen Anstrich. Dass Potato Beach mit "DIP IN" nicht dem Mackertum seiner Blaupausen folgt, ist kein Zufall. Nachdem Rieß' musikalische Vorbilder durch ihren Sexismus unhörbar wurden, sah er sich gezwungen, seine Lieblingsmusik selbst neu zu schreiben. Dass er das komplette Instrumentarium und den Gesang der 11 Tracks im Alleingang aufgenommen hat, zeigt: Dem ist das wirklich wichtig. Hingabe, Leidenschaft und Weltschmerz hallen jedenfalls deutlich hörbar aus dem Röhrenverstärker. Nur vereinzelt tauchen Vertraute Musiker:innen der Schwesterbands Peter the Human Boy oder Gardens auf, um ein Cello hier oder ein Keyboard dort einzuspielen. Die sind auch dabei, wenn die Freibäder Wiens warm genug werden, um die Platte live zu performen. Bis dahin sorgt "DIP IN" mit seiner warmen Melancholie für süße Tagträume vom Sehnsuchtsort Strand. "DIP IN" erinnert uns: Ob Potaetoe oder Potahtoh, every Body is a Beach Body!

In Berlin geboren, aber in der Kleinstadt Bad Salzuflen aufgewachsen, pendelt Mina zwischen den Welten und entdeckt in der CD-Sammlung ihrer Tante Schätze wie Joan As Police Woman und Nina Simone. Soul und Blues, die Hip-Hop-Kultur und die Revolte der großen Singer-Songwriterinnen stehen Pate, als sie an ihrer Debüt-EP ,Jaywalker" (2022) arbeitet, mit der sie als beste Newcomerin für den PopNRW Preis nominiert wird. Von ihrem Vater ,aus Versehen" zur Feministin erzogen - wie sie es einmal in einem ,Zeit"-Interview formulierte - bediente sie sich für ihren Künstlerinnennamen beim berühmten Cher-Zitat ,Mom, I am a rich man". Ihr Solidaritäts-Song ,Baba Said" geht während der Revolution im Iran schlagartig viral und verschafft der Sängerin über Nacht auf dem ganzen Globus Aufmerksamkeit. Das Musikalische mit dem Gesellschaftlichen zu verbinden war ihr schon immer ein Anliegen. Mit renommierten Festivalslots bei dem New Fall, Herzberg und Reeperbahn Festival und Supportshows für Maxim, Anna Calvi und Alice Merton zeigt Mina, dass sie ,mit 25 Jahren schon eine ganz schöne Powerfrau ist." (WDR 5, 2022) Mit ihrem Debütalbum ,Grown Up" stellt sich Mina Richman nun dem Erwachsenwerden. Mit schonungsloser Ehrlichkeit kehrt sie in ihre Kindheit zurück und verarbeitet streitende Eltern, kulturelle Entwurzelung und den gesellschaftlichen, wie auch ihren persönlichen Umgang mit ihrem Körper. Ehrlich. Queer. Selbstbestimmt. Auch musikalisch ist Mina gereift und stellt einen Sound mit Einflüssen aus Soul, Folk, Indie und HipHop vor, zeigt dass Amy Winehouse, Ronda oder die Alabama Shakes nicht spurlos an ihr vorbei gegangen sind, beleuchtet die schönen Seiten des Erwachsenwerdens: Mut und liebe Menschen, die einen begleiten. Das Album ,Grown Up" wird am 15. März 2024 über Windig erscheinen und anschließend auf einer großen Release Tournee vorgestellt.

Der Dark-Ambient-Pionier, die stygische Drone-Legende und das fast schon mythische Wesen LUSTMORD durchstößt mit "Much Unseen Is Also Here" einmal mehr den Schleier - die neueste Solo-Veröffentlichung des Künstlers in einer beeindruckenden, 40-jährigen kreativen Karriere an der Spitze der Industrial-Musik. Auf Drängen von Cosey Fanni Tutti und Chris Carter von Throbbing Gristle, Musik zu machen, die seine unverwechselbare Aura einfängt, übernahm Brian Williams 1980 Lustmord und begann mit Sounds zu arbeiten, weil die Musik, die er hören wollte, einfach nicht existierte. Lustmord veröffentlichte 1989 sein drittes Album "Heresy", das zu einem Meilenstein in der Industrial-Szene wurde und heute allgemein als Ursprung des Dark-Ambient-Genres gilt. 35 Jahre später führt Much Unseen Is Also Here" das Vermächtnis von Heresy" fort und knüpft an dessen fesselnden Erzählbogen an. "Much Unseen Is Also Here" besteht aus drei verschiedenen Teilen und ist dazu gedacht, in einer einzigen, ununterbrochenen Durchgang angehört zu werden; es entführt den Hörer in eine kompromisslose Parallelwelt, die nur in der Musik existiert, bevor es ihn am Ende für immer verändert wieder hinauswirft. Lustmord, der seit 1994 in L.A. lebt, hat auch als Komponist und Sounddesigner an der Musik für ikonische Film- und Fernsehproduktionen mitgewirkt, darunter "The Crow", "Strange Days", "From Dusk Till Dawn", "Underworld" und in jüngerer Zeit die FX-Serien "Fear The Walking Dead" und "First Reformed"von "Taxi Driver"-Autor Paul Schrader aus dem Jahr 2017. Immer noch entschlossen, die Grenzen von Sound, Genre und Medien zu erweitern, hat Lustmord auch zu den Soundlandschaften von Videospielen wie Assassin's Creed, League of Legends und, passenderweise, dem von H.R. Geiger inspirierten Survival-Horror-Spiel Scorn von 2022 beigetragen. Other Woes Are Yet To Come Edition (single colored (pink) vinyl, ltd to 220 copies ww)

Punk pioneers Crass continue their vinyl reissue series, re-pressing their limited releases by adjacent artists through Crass Records, in association with One Little Independent. The series, including over twenty bands and solo artists recorded at the legendary Southern Studios and produced by Penny Rimbaud, continues with two more historic pieces from the Crass Records catalogue; ‘Barbed Wire Halo’ by Annie Anxiety and ‘Neu Smell’ by Flux of Pink Indians.

They follow records from the likes of Captain Sensible, Omega Tribe, Honey Bane, Jane Gregory, Lack of Knowledge, Sleeping Dogs, Rudimentary Peni and Zounds. First released on 7” vinyl, limiting the sound, the new series has been remastered for 12” by Alex Gordon at Abbey Road Studios, allowing them to be heard as never before. This, plus enlarged replicas of the original covers, brings new gusto to their already radical sound.

New York City musical maverick and performance artist Annie Anxiety, aka Little Annie aka Annie Bandez, began her illustrious career (including work with Adrian Sherwood, Coil, Current 93, and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry) with Crass. They released her first solo single, 1981’s ‘Barbed Wire Halo’ alongside ‘Cyanide Tears’, an extraordinarily prescient piece of jagged electronics, samples, and skeletal rhythms, led by Annie’s nightmarish vocals.

She tells us; “When creating this single with Penny I hadn’t heard the word ‘avant-guard’ nor could I spell it – I only got explained ‘concretism’ via an interview I did in Berlin regarding some of my work three years ago – My father was a printer so I grew up with sound of printing press and subway train beats and always heard melodies and cross rhythms within those beats – I was just making dance music / disco tunes to my mind and Pen heard those same tunes I was hearing – my first recording, in retrospect I guess, was pretty ‘out there’ at its release, but to us it was dance floor for a club yet to be invented- one day”.

Penny Rimbaud expands; “Annie Anxiety is a total enigma, a passionate voice in the wilderness of consensual reason. Dada in instinct, Monroe in affection, Rambo in inflection, Annie rams it home with divine thunder. An instigator and innovator, she’s the bonkers angel of Yonkers, NYC. With no time to spare, Annie takes to the road with complete conviction, overtaking Kerouac halfway down 5th Avenue. Catch her if you can”.

Am 31. Dezember 1973 spielten AC/DC ihre erste Show im Chequers Nightclub in Sydney. Heute, 50 Jahre nach diesem Gig, sind sie veritable Rocklegenden, die Millionen von Tonträgern verkauft haben, aber nicht im Entferntesten daran denken, sich aufs Altenteil zurückzuziehen. Erst vor kurzem hat die Band ihre unzähligen Fans mit der Ankündigung der ‘POWER UP’-Tour, die sie im Sommer 2024 durch Europa führen wird, wieder in einen Freudentaumel versetzt.

Um das 50-jährige Thronjubiläum der Rock’n’Roll-Könige angemessen zu feiern, veröffentlicht Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings den Backkatalog der Band in wahrlich royaler Ausstattung: als goldene, limitierte Vinyl-Edition. Jeder LP dieser Sonderedition liegt ein Druck (30cm*30 cm) mit brandneuem AC/DC-Jubiläums-Artwork bei.



DIRTY DEEDS DONE DIRT CHEAP – Dieser Longplayer war fünf Jahre lang nicht in den USA erhältlich. Als er dort schließlich auf den Markt kam, kletterte er auf Platz 3 der Billboard Charts und verkaufte sich mehr als 6 Millionen Mal.

Most audiophiles know Alan Parsons Project's I Robot by heart. Engineered by Parsons after he performed the same duties on Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, the 1977 record reigns as a disc whose taut bass, crisp highs, clean production, and seemingly limitless dynamic range are matched only by the sensational prog-rock fare helmed by the keyboardist and his creative partner, Eric Woolfson. Not surprisingly, it's been issued myriad times. Can it be improved? Relish Mobile Fidelity's stupendous UltraDisc One-Step 180g 33RPM box set and the question becomes moot.


Mastered from the original master tapes and pressed at RTI on MoFi SuperVinyl, I Robot comes to life with reference-setting realism on this numbered, limited-edition reissue. Boasting immaculate highs and lows, generous spaciousness, and see-through transparency that takes you into the studio with Parsons and Woolfson at Abbey Road, this definitive edition is designed to demonstrate the full-range capabilities of the world's best stereo systems while offering listeners the convenience of having all the music on one LP.

Featuring a nearly inaudible noise floor, this transcendent UD1S edition functions as a repeat invitation to savor reference-grade soundstages, immersive smoothness, sought-after instrumental separation, three-dimensional imaging, and consummate tonal balances. Able to be played back at high volumes without compromise or fatigue, it is a demonstration record for the ages – the likes of which are no longer being made. This is the very reason you own and invest in high-end audio gear.

The special characteristics of this UD1S version extend to the premium packaging. Housed in an elegant slipcase, the reissue features special foil-stamped jackets and faithful-to-the-original graphics. Aurally and visually, it is made for discerning listeners who prize sound quality and production, and who desire to fully immerse themselves in everything about this conceptual landmark. The Alan Parsons Project's most famous record deserves nothing less.

Inspired by and loosely based around the Isaac Asimov stories of the same name, I Robot delves into themes of artificial intelligence and technological dominance that make the record extremely relevant in the 21st century. Indeed, Parsons and Woolfson's pinnacle creation dovetailed with the ascendency of Star Wars, which itself is experiencing a rebirth in an age of self-driving cars, smart devices, and mindless automation. Lyrically, songs such as "The Voice" call into question human behavior – and their relationship to increasing robotic supremacy – in everyday life. Parsons and Woolfson reflect the associated paranoia, dichotomy, and transformation via shifting sci-fi arrangements steeped in drama and moodiness.

The absorbing tunes on I Robot also continue to fascinate due to their perfectionism and innovation. Borrowing from Pink Floyd's strategies, Parsons and Woolfson utilize a looped sequence on the title track to create new downbeats. "Some Other Time" employs two different lead vocalists and yet gives the illusion that only one is involved. Captivating strings, a piccolo trumpet, and bona fide pipe organ grace "Don't Let It Show." The origins of "Nucleus" stem from a unique analog keyboard concoction dubbed "the Projectron," devised by Parsons and electronic engineer Keith Johnson. Andrew Powell's orchestral and choral arrangements top it all off, with "Total Eclipse" arriving as a frightening track that presages the climactic "Genesis Ch. 1 V. 32."

Does man or machine win in the end? Decide as you get lost in Mobile Fidelity's UltraDisc 180g 33RPM LP pressing. Secure your numbered copy today!

More About Mobile Fidelity UltraDisc One-Step and Why It Is Superior
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S) technique bypasses generational losses inherent to the traditional three-step plating process by removing two steps: the production of father and mother plates, which are created to yield numerous stampers from each lacquer that is cut. For UD1S plating, stampers (also called "converts") are made directly from the lacquers. Since each lacquer yields only one stamper, multiple lacquers need to be cut. Mobile Fidelity's UD1S process produces a final LP with the lowest-possible noise floor. The removal of two steps of the plating process also reveals musical details and dynamics that would otherwise be lost due to the standard multi-step process. With UD1S, every aspect of vinyl production is optimized to produce the best-sounding vinyl album available today.

MoFi SuperVinyl

Developed by NEOTECH and RTI, MoFi SuperVinyl is the most exacting-to-specification vinyl compound ever devised. Analogue lovers have never seen (or heard) anything like it. Extraordinarily expensive and extremely painstaking to produce, the special proprietary compound addresses two specific areas of improvement: noise floor reduction and enhanced groove definition. The vinyl composition features a new carbonless dye (hold the disc up to the light and see) and produces the world's quietest surfaces. This high-definition formula also allows for the creation of cleaner grooves that are indistinguishable from the original lacquer. MoFi SuperVinyl provides the closest approximation of what the label's engineers hear in the mastering lab.

Michael A. Muller, Multiinstrumentalist und Mitbegründer von Balmorhea, hat sich ganz ins Komponieren vertieft und veröffentlicht sein DG-Debüt Mirror Music. Reflexion ist das Thema dieses Albums. In Zusammenarbeit mit elf Künstlern sind zehn Tracks entstanden, die auf Mullers Ambient-Kompositionen basieren. Muller schrieb sie am Mellotron, einem Oberheim Two-Voice Synthesizer und einer Rhodes-Orgel und teilte sie mit den Musikern, wobei jeder für sich einen Part in einem bestimmten Stück übernahm. Mirror Music eröffnet mit der taktilen, offen gestimmten zwölfsaitigen Gitarre von Danny Paul Grody, geht über in die irisierende Pedal-Steel-Gitarre von Chuck Johnson und mündet ins vokal Atmosphärische von Vestals. Es folgen Jonathan Sielaffs Bassklarinette und Ilyas Ahmeds Gitarre, die einsamen Wüstenklänge von Douglas McCombs von Tortoise, die flirrenden Rhythmen des indonesisch-australischen Perkussionisten Rama Parwata, die modularen Synthesizer-Reflexionen von Jefre Cantu-Ledesma, der samtige Gesang von Hania Rani, die weichen Soundmodulationen von Jon Porras und schließlich das gefühlvolle Cello von Clarice Jensen. Mirror Music kommt am 1. März 2024 digital heraus und am 15. März als LP in limitierter Auflage.

Die 7fache Grammy Gewinnerin Kacey Musgraves veröffentlich mit ”Deeper Well” am 15. März ihr 5. Studioalbum. Mit der gleichnamigen ersten Single stellt Kacey wieder ihr großes Talent für eingängige Melodien gepaart mit in die Tiefe gehenden Texten unter Beweis. Schon in ihrem letzten Album, das die Spitze der US Charts erreichte, zeigt Kacey wie fließend die musikalischen Grenzen zwischen Pop, Americana und Country sind und hat sich somit weltweit eine riesige Fangemeinde erschaffen. In den USA schon ein Megastart wird sie mit diesem Album nun auch schnell den Rest der Welt erobern. Weltweite Touren- und Promotionbesuche sind schon angekündigt. Bestellen Sie jetzt!

Am 15.3. feiert die Jazz-Welt den 86. Geburtstag von Saxofon-Legende Charles Lloyd. An genau dem Tag erscheint auch “The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow”, sein erstes Studioalbum seit sechs Jahren! Es handelt sich dabei um seine ersten Studioaufnahmen seit den Sessions von 2017, aus denen die beiden Blue-Note-Alben “Vanished Gardens” und “Tone Poem” hervorgingen. Neben einigen Lloyd-Klassikern beinhaltet das neue Album auch sechs Song-Premieren aus Lloyds Feder. Aufgenommen wurde „The Sky Will Still Be There Tomorrow” mit Pianist Jason Moran, Bassist Larry Grenadier und Schlagzeuger Brian Blade im Frühjahr 2023, rund um die Konzerte zu Lloyds damaligem 85. Geburtstag. So ist das grandiose Album eine Art doppelter Geburtstags-Event zu Ehren des SaxofonGroßmeisters geword

50 years after the genre turned the music world upside-down, GRADE 2 bring the raw power of old school punk to a new generation. Their second release on Tim Armstrong"s legendary Hellcat Records is a thumping 15 track tour de force melding the uncompromising ethos of punk with the howl of contemporary injustice, personal identity and frustrations of Gen-Z youth, authentically told by three lads with punk coursing through their veins. Formed on their native Isle of Wight when they were just 14 years old, Jack Chatfield (guitar & vocals), Jacob Hull (drums) and Sid Ryan (bass & vocals) honed their craft covering punk pioneers before creating a sound uniquely theirs: ten years on, the eponymous Grade 2 is their magnum opus. The new album was produced by the band along with Tim Timebomb (Armstrong) and T.J. Rivers at Armstrong"s Ship Rec Studio in Los Angeles. "Returning to Ship Rec Studio resparked that magic dynamic" says guitarist Jack Chatfield. "When we"re in there I feel like we reach our full potential. Tim would offer tweaks and tips for some songs, while others he"d compliment as finished first time we played them." "We worked flat-out recording this record," says drummer Jacob Hull, "but we never felt pressured, Tim keeping us in the zone to make the best tunes of our li ves.

For a few years Leo Robinson was the sort of hidden secret you sometimes come across in local music scenes. First in Manchester and now in Glasgow, he’d pop up regularly on DIY bills or as local support to a touring act, quietly blowing them off stage with his rich baritone vocal and homespun lo-fi tales of folklore and animism. With The Temple – his debut on PRAH Recordings – he looks set to cross over from being a cult concern.

“There's a spectrum within the album between fully mythologising or symbolising my lived experience, and just stating it in very matter of fact terms - that push and pull between the need to abstract and the need to break through the abstraction and have an honest moment with oneself” he explains. “This is one of the themes of the album as well as part of the process. The aim was to take all these anecdotal or symbolic elements and merge them into one narrative and one world, in a way that you can find your way through the record as if it were a landscape or language with its own logic.”

The record takes on a pastoral, slightly baroque nature that Robinson partly attributes to a friend screening a lot of ‘70s BBC material in his book shop that they used to hang out at. There are also elements of jazz, flickering to life in “The Spring”’s piano-led finale and coda.

Thematically, Robinson likens it to a Jungian ‘Hero's Journey’, his voice possessing a character who goes through several defined stages of consciousness. From conception and the beginning of an earthly life, the first half of the album recognises the development of the protagonist’s narrative and identity, before “The Pink Light”’s freeform departure from the hitherto more song-based suite devastatingly shatters this. The second half of the album then sees the protagonist witness “the uncontainable” water; learning that true divinity lies not in the individual self or lofty notions of gods and temples, but in the unremarkable nettles, insects and dogs on the roadside riverbank - referenced on tracks “The Cormorant” and “The Spring”.

Although now residing north of the border, The Temple was written while Robinson was finding his feet in Manchester, having moved there to go to art school as a teenager (as a visual artist, he has exhibited at the Tiwani Contemporary in London and Cardiff’s Chapter Arts Centre). As a result, many of the tracks bear out the shadows of his experiences in the northern city – at their most visible and explicit on the beautifully fragile storytelling of “The Pavement”. Written the day after the Manchester Arena Bombings, it recalls Robinson waking up to go to work on a hot summer’s day to discover that his street had been blocked off for terrorism investigations; it then progresses through the rest of his day, amidst the grimly surreal aftermath of the previous night.

Having written the chords, melodies and lyrics to the album, Robinson fleshed out the tunes by scoring out parts for the additional instrumentation, but it was only when a friend sent a demo to PRAH that he was able to fund its full recording. Guitars, vocals, piano and French Horn (the latter recorded by Lauren Reeve-Rawlings) were put down at Green Door Studios in Glasgow. Microphones were placed around the room and the sound of the musicians stepping on creaky floorboards and opening creaky doors were left audible to further the record’s live feel. The harpsichord heard on “The Serpent”, meanwhile, came from University of Glasgow lecturer David McGuinness. Strings were then recorded at PRAH Studios by Francesca Ter-Berg and Raven Bush, the Social Singing Choir adding their choral vocals to “Temple II”.

The result is an album that feels both luscious and yet intimately raw; as grand as Richard Dawson at his most panoramic but containing the rough edges and skeletal looseness of a Calvin Johnson work. At times Robinson lyrically moves towards the surreal, but ultimately this is a record grounded in reality; a true showcase of Robinson’s skill as a lyricist and songwriter.

Founded by Joe Laycock and Jack Sharp as a successor to theatrical punk group Cheap Teeth, the pair birthed the project from their joint love of immersive, beat-driven soundscapes and subtle shifts. Featuring members of Catholic Action and Pressure Retreat, the band aims to urge the listener"s ear into progressively choppy waters whilst simultaneously grounding them in firm lyrical soil.

"Es war ein langes Jahr, weil ich so langsam war" lautet der Einstieg zum neuen Album "endlich Wienerlieder". (Release 15.03.2024, Medienmanufaktur Wien). Das Album ist Ninos Großvater Rudolf Mandl gewidmet, einem Wienerlied-Sänger. Für Nino eine "Hommage an meine familiäre Verbindung zur Wiener Musiktradition." Ob Nino nun von Heurigen zu Heurigen ziehen wird, um den lustigen Gesellschaften seine Liedkunst zu schenken, kann man nicht versprechen. Was man definitiv bekommt, ist eine tiefe Auseinandersetzung des Künstlers mit seinem Lebensmittelpunkt, aus verschiedenen Lebensepochen. Damit besteht eine gewisse Verwandtschaft zu Ninos "Kochbuch Take 16". Spezialgäste sind mit dabei am Album. So singt er gemeinsam mit Ernst Molden bei seiner Version von "La Paloma" eine Ode an die Wiener und Wienerinnen.

Pt. 9 of the 'Dub me crazy' series by Mad Professor.
Reggae meets twisted electronics for wild dub trips!

Originally released in 1989 on the same Ariwa imprint.
True D.I.Y. business from this UK dub pioneer.

Four complete masterpieces by the Bill Evans trio, limited edition of 500 copies.

Velella Velella, the debut solo album from I:Scintilla's powerhouse vocalist Brittany Bindrim, showcases her versatility as an artist. From moody, ethereal ballads to gritty dance bangers, Velella Velella explores themes of transcformation, the darker side of human nature, While Bindrim's vulnerable, unapologetic lyrics showcase themes of self-discovery, empathy, apathy, disillusionment, & growth

Fast sechs Jahre nach seiner letzten Solo-Veröffentlichung meldet sich 21 Savage mit seinem lang erwarteten neuen Studioalbum "American Dream" zurück. Das Album, das zwei Wochen in Folge auf Platz 1 der Billboard Top 200 Charts stand, setzt die Trap-Tradition des Rappers fort, fügt aber einige neue Elemente hinzu, darunter R&B auf dem Track "prove it" mit Summer Walker und Pop auf der Doja Cat-Kollaboration "n.h.i.e." Mit Featurings von Metro Boomin', The Weeknd, Young Thug, Travis Scott, Lil Durk und anderen fehlt es aber auch nicht an Hip-Hop-Elementen.

Fast sechs Jahre nach seiner letzten Solo-Veröffentlichung meldet sich 21 Savage mit seinem lang erwarteten neuen Studioalbum "American Dream" zurück. Das Album, das zwei Wochen in Folge auf Platz 1 der Billboard Top 200 Charts stand, setzt die Trap-Tradition des Rappers fort, fügt aber einige neue Elemente hinzu, darunter R&B auf dem Track "prove it" mit Summer Walker und Pop auf der Doja Cat-Kollaboration "n.h.i.e." Mit Featurings von Metro Boomin', The Weeknd, Young Thug, Travis Scott, Lil Durk und anderen fehlt es aber auch nicht an Hip-Hop-Elementen

"The True North" ist das zweite Soloalbum von Peter Garrett, dem Sänger von Midnight Oil und Vorreiter des weltweiten Umweltkampfes. Es bezieht seine Inspiration und Kraft aus den lebendigen Farben der australischen Natur und Landschaften. Die Band, die an seiner Entstehung beteiligt war, besteht aus Martin Rotsey (Midnight Oil) an der Gitarre, Heather Shannon (The Jezabels) an den Keyboards, Evan Mannell am Schlagzeug und Rowan Lane am Bass. Freya Schack-Arnott am Cello und Ollie Thorpe an der Pedal Steel schlossen sich ihnen an, ebenso wie 2 von Peters Töchtern May und Grace, die bei den Key-Tracks sangen. "The True North" wurde von Tony Buchen (Smashing Pumpkins, Montaigne, G-Flip, Tim Finn) produziert

Les Big Byrd, at this point, one probably has to call them veterans on the Swedish psych- and kraut scene, is back with a new album which sees them delving even deeper into the experimental side of themselves Long, improvisatory excursions and suggestive soundscapes unfold during some of the album's 6 tracks.

Although they never lose touch with their melodic sensibility, offering up a look into a more suggestive and psychedelic side to the band.

Recorded in Oslo in September 1970, Afric Pepperbird was released on New Year's Day in 1971. Half a century later, it still conveys the freshness and excitement of discoveries being made. The album signalled the arrival of four Norwegian improvisers - Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Arild Andersen and Jon Christensen - at the fledgling ECM label. It was the start of a lifelong association with each of the musicians, whose influence was soon to reach far beyond the borders of their homeland. In extended passages on Afric Pepperbird, with Christensen and Andersen stretching out, it's quite often Rypdal effectively holding the centre with taut chords. Everybody is roaring here, with Garbarek deep into his free jazz vocabulary. "Garbarek should be heard," wrote reviewer Joe Klee in DownBeat. "I would venture that not since Django Reinhardt has there been a European jazz musician so original and forward-looking as this young Norwegian."

Redrum Recordz and Fremdtunes present:
Maj Rachel - 'My Shadow Was a Nun'
With her debut "My Shadow Was a Nun", Maj Rachel creates anamalgam of soul, musique concrete, sound design experimentsand classical. She employs objects as percussion, fieldrecordings, piano, guitar, synths, violin and effects incompositions that are rich in color and contrast. Her music isabstract, paradoxical, full of emotion. At times, her voicesubmerges into a tumultuous sea of reverb and distortion, onlyto emerge in soft, bittersweet melodies. She sounds dark andeerie. She sounds romantic and whimsical. In short, it's apowerful debut album that engages the mind, heart, and gut.
This is what Maj herself says about "My Shadow Was a Nun":
"So sensitive yet so immune. Light beams shine through millionsof holes. The sun makes the black thick wall seem light grey.The light pulls apart to colors. Love feels painful yet beautiful.You are around even though you're not. A brain doesn't like tothink it's alone. Arranged sound into personal stories, all self-recorded. Because sound creates deep emotion."

Axis of Time is the stunning debut album from Philadelphia mallet percussionist and poet Angelo Outlaw. Featuring Eraserhood Sound's signature synth & soul production, Axis of Time is a dazzling blend of jazz, rare groove, funk, soul and r&b. According to Outlaw, the album is meant to transport the listener to a dream-like state, where space and time slowly fade away and reality is merely a distant memory. Each song sets a unique scene, as the pace of the music swells and sways_from the euphoric highs of lead single "Free My Mind" and uninhibited groove of "Speed of Light" to the trance-like meditation of "Dreams" and mournful melodies of "Invisible Clock," Angelo and the Eraserhood Sound house band truly go to the cosmos and back. The record is an extraordinary debut from Outlaw, a young gay Black man who hopes to serve as an inspiration to others who might be perceived as different or other. His work transcends race, creed, religion, and politics, and has the power to speak to the universality of time, space, and human connection.

Obwohl erst Februar 2012 in Aachen zusammengefunden, veröffentlichen FJ¥RT im März 2014 ihr zweites Album "D'accord". Ja, das geht fix bei den Jungs, die scheinbar keine Ruhe und Pause kennen. Das Rackern und Malochen hat sich auch schon definitiv für die Drei ausgezahlt, denn auch schon ihr Erstling "Demontage" sorgte für dicke Wellen in der hiesigen Post-Hardcore-Szene. Wütend, zerstörerisch, bildgewaltig - so könnte man die sechs Songs des Debut bezeichnen. An der Schnittmenge zwischen modernem Hardcore, klanggewaltigem Postrock und Emo im Sinne der 90er Jahre, malmen, stampfen und kämpfen sich die düsteren Songs ins Bewusstsein des Hörers. Chris (Gitarre, Gesang), David (Bass) und Frank (Drums) wissen als klassisches Three-Piece Radau für ein ganzes Orchester zu inszenieren. Die zehn neuen Songs auf "D'accord" fügen dem bereits gelegten FJ¥RT-Grundgerüst nun noch eine weiter Dimension hinzu - sie verschachteln, stapeln, experimentieren und verwüsten, mit einer unglaublichen Bandbreite und Abwechslung. FJ¥RT können ruhig und laut, aber auch episch und kurz & knackig. Sie spielen mit Elementen die auf einer Turbostaat oder Pascow Platte sowie auf einer Piano Become The Teeth-Platte Platz finden. Und das Spannende dabei ist, daß es ohne angestrengt zu sein geil klingt! Wenn Du in Schubladen denken möchtest, dann sag ich's mal so: Das hier könnte die Hardcoreplatte für den eigentlichen Punk-Fan sein und zwar, weil der Gesang die Brücke baut. Stimmlich ist das hier vielleicht der richtig angepisste Jan von Turbostaat der zu einem Tidal Sleep-artigen Soundtrack düstere Bilder heraufbeschwört. Irgendwo zwischen frühen Escapado, den The Wave-Bands und düsteren Post Rock!

"Ausgezeichneter Gruselrock! Allein die Songtitel: ,The Dead Won't Sleep", ,Forbidden Forest", ,At The Mountains of Madness" oder ,Stone Age Funeral"! Da krieg ich gleich gute Laune von, das sind die wichtigen Dinge im Leben. Musikalisch befinden wir uns ungefähr in 1970, und die Rockmusik wird irgendwie heavy & treibend und vor allem düster und unheimlich. Mountain Witch verschreiben sich auf ihrer zweiten Platte erneut diesem Sound, den Black Sabbath und andere in die Welt gerufen haben, und mit ihrem Vintage Equipment Wahn kommen sie so dicht dran, dass man es nicht für möglich hält, dass das eine neue Platte sein soll. Erfreulich finde ich, dass hier mehr gesungen wird als auf dem Debut ,Cold River", das steht den Songs ausgezeichnet und unterstreicht eben das eingangs erwähnte Gruselfeeling. Wer auch nur am Rande was hält auf alten Hardrock oder konsequenten Stoner, muss unbedingt reinhören. Absolutes Meisterwerk ist der gut sieben Minuten lange ,At The Mountains of Madness", der sich langsam aufbaut und eine recht eigene Note mitbringt, außerdem gruselt es mich hier am meisten, wenn kurz vor Schluss dieser Psychedelik-Part verhältnismässig weit raus rudert für Berghexen-Verhältnisse. Gut gemacht! Wer also auf alten Kram wie Witchfinder General, Legend, Manilla Road, epic 70ies Protometal oder neueren Kram wie Demon Head, Kadavar oder natürlich die erste Mountain Witch Platte steht, sollte unbedingt zugreifen, es hat eine Entwicklung im Songwriting stattgefunden, die ich so nicht vorhergesehen habe. An den Songs ist kein Gramm Fett zuviel, die sehnigen Songs hauchen einem wie ein Knochenmann in den Nacken, wenn der getragene Titelsong losgeht, verbreitet sich Nebel aus einem anderen Jahrhundert in meinem Zimmer und wenn ich Glück habe, nimmt er mich nicht mit oder löst mir das Fleisch vom Skelett. Das meine ich ernst! Der Chor! Top! ,Isle of Bones" wird dann so melancholisch, fast eisig, dass es ein perfekter, hypnotischer Rausschmeißer ist, der einen die Platte einfach nochmal umdrehen lässt!" Tobi Neumann

Nach der limitierten 10" EP von 2013, die dicht gefolgt von einer mindestens genauso zauberhaften 7" ("Traumhaft") erschien, enthüllt das Schweizer Duo KLAUS JOHANN GROBE endlich das komplette Album "Im Sinne der Zeit". In der kurzen Zeit ihrer Existenz haben die beiden Mitglieder Sevi Landolt (Orgel, Synthies, Gesang) und Daniel Bachmann (Schlagzeug, Gesang) einen einzigartigen Sound gebraut, der sich zu gleichen Teilen auf Krautrock, Post-Punk, brasilianische Grooves und einem Dancefloor-Selbstbewusstsein stützt, dass den Hörer quasi anfleht, sich zu bewegen. Die beiden haben das fast schon unheimliche Talent, in ein und dem gleichen Songs die Geister von NEU!, BOB JAMES, MARCOS VALLE, SHUGGIE OTIS und STEREOLAB heraufzubeschwören. Es ist ein Album, das danach verlangt, immer und immer wieder umgedreht und gespielt zu werden. "Im Sinne der Zeit" ist ein herrliches Werk, die Art von Album, die so klingt und sich so anfühlt, als würde es auf den Grooves schweben und dabei zwischen jazzigen, funkigen Rhythmen und absichtlich mechanischen Grooves pendeln, die mit dem Puls eines elektronischen Herzens zucken. Besonders seltsam ist es, dass die Melodien niemals anders als warm und umarmend klingen, obwohl das Duo nur auf Deutsch singt. Die Tanzfläche ruft! Vom pulsierenden Opener "Between The Buttons" bis zum roboterartigen Two Step von "Koffer" nimmt das Duo niemals den Fuß vom Gas. Während sich das Ganze ein wenig abkühlt, fühlen sich die Grooves noch warm an und finden ihren Höhepunkt in den beiden letzten Tracks des Albums: dem ungeheuerlich eingängigen Rausschmeißer "Regen raus" und dem allerletzten Track "Vergangenes", der den Hörer an der Hand ins Taxi nach Hause führt.

In March 2024, Last Night From Glasgow brings you the debut album
from Glasgow's Kilgour - Having already enjoyed sizeable support from
ational radio, legendary BBC Scotland DJ Billy Sloan named them one of
his favourite bands of the year - Support from Amy Lame on 6 music,
Steve Lamacq and Mickey Undertone cemented the acclaim

James Hudson is a captivating and charming performer who has a natural affinity with an audience. His outstanding voice can communicate the nuances of a melody and lyric with great interpretive prowess which undoubtedly sets him apart as a jazz singer at the top of his game.

James Hudson's upcoming second album 'Moonray' is a bold and ambitious project that features a unique ensemble including horns, vibraphone and strings to create a rare and accomplished sound. This follows his debut album 'Tomorrow', which attracted international media coverage and exceptional reviews from many top jazz publications (BBC Music Magazine, London Jazz News, Jazzwise, JazzViews), plus air-time across national radio stations where it was named 'Album of the Week' by Jazz FM.

Having recently sold out his first show at the world- renowned Ronnie Scott's, James is in demand at many of the UK's most respected jazz clubs. Regularly performing to sell- out crowds at Pizza Express Jazz Club Soho, Crazy Coqs, Piano Smithfield, Peggy's Skylight, and Hull Truck Theatre, he has appeared at the EFG London Jazz Festival, Leeds Jazz Festival, and Wigan International Jazz Festival. James is sought after by some of the top big bands and orchestras in the industry whom he has guested with all over the world.

James has taken great inspiration from the likes of Mel Torme, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Sarah Vaughan which when combined with his passion for jazz standards has inspired him to establish his own voice and unique style, which is captured in his music and live performances.

HAVEN are proud to present the second record in their black label series focused on the crossover between sounds on the UK bass music spectrum and hard techno dynamics. This time UK break-beat maestro Mani Festo joins the label for the first time with an EP of hardcore-
inspired dance-floor weaponry alongside a remix from Swedish experimentalist PederMannerfelt.

The A side kicks off with 'Hunterr' with booming vocal cuts, pounding 4-4 kicks and break-beat rhythms sprinkled throughout for a prime UK hardcore and techno genre crossover slab of club material. This is followed by the Peder Mannerfelt remix where the Swedish legend brings his left-of-field sensibilities to the fore, submerging the vocals in to a ghostly high-frequency spectrum whisper alongside a looping bass-line and sludgy drum rhythms to close out the first side.

The B side starts with 'Swarmm' - a broken beat roller filled with screeching synth zaps and a mammoth break-beat in the second half. Up next comes 'Poison' with its eerie atmospheres and drones sat behind a 4-4 rhythm and charging break-beats in another dance-floor killer. Finally 'Machine' closes the EP with its syncopated electro rhythms and funky UK swing alongside chugging bass plucks and arpeggiated melodies in one more crossover hammer.

The folks at Castle Face dig a good trance. Hypnosis, mesmerization, and brain trickery are some of their favorite results of deep listening and it is a suggestive, ritualistic and dreamlike vibe that Bronze ooze like pheromones all over their excellent new record. Absolute Compliance is a truly hypnogogic group of tunes from Bronze on their best and weirdest behavior and it hits all Castle Face’s favorite things about them immediately and repeatedly: insistently strange synth voicings emanating from Miles Friction’s mad scientist’s lab worth of equipment, controlled by a homemade-looking oversized knob; Brian Hock’s throbbing, woolly, hall-of-mirror grooves; and above it all Rob Spector’s thousand yard croon, the vaguely familiar touchstone amongst these Lynchian, mutated surroundings—these are songs of dreams and nightmares, hidden rituals observed, futuristic coliseum entertainments displaced in time, sci-fi jams of an uncertain future. Bronze are one-of-a kind great and if unfamiliar, go find their other records (including their great live record for Castle Face) and get caught up. They are real-deal weirdo kings of San Francisco and their spell is not easily dissipated once cast.

Experiences Limited, now 3XL, with a new LP from Exael on a highly atmospheric ambient jungle tip, deploying 30 mins of percussive spasms seeping into smoked-out zoners - highly tipped if yr into anything from Lee Gamble to Malibu.

Clearing their cache of stray bullets, Exael returns with a gyring plunge into percussive wormholes and low-lit mood enhancers .The tracks are broadly cleft along schisms of dark/light and demonic/angelic, switching from restive propellers to more sublime sensations in a fine testament to their practice - making for prob our favourite Exael release thus far.

On the “darker” side, they commit the convulsive, fractious footwork pulses and warped tones of ‘Circle (Squishy Mix)’ in a sort of parallel to 33EMYBW’s insectoid rhythms and combustion systems, while ‘Ice That melts The Tips’ trades in rapid, ice-skating thizz and ‘Ghoul Search (Demonic Attachment Mix)’ fires up the junglist particle accelerator for a proper gauntlet of hyper techstep dynamics.

The contrast is epitomised by ’Composure’, arranging flinty breaks on a luscious waterbed of floating pads, before ‘Eidolon’ renders a sort of airborne dembow pressure in the vicinity of Ben Bondy & special guest dj’s xphresh works. ‘L-theanine’ closes the session on a fine tread inside emo ambient styles and flurries on the same spectrum between DJ Lostboi and Teresa Winter, complete with a reverberating, half-buried vocal.

Desert Dictionary navigates sonic territories oscillating between language and landscape, between notation and noise. Voices responding and contributing to a complementary narrative, connecting personal memories, political considerations and psychological effects of a landscape seemingly empty and quiet. Adjacent, beneath and intertwined a modular synthesizer score based on field notes – a synthesized soundscape appearing as imaginary field recordings, at the same time resembling and unalike the place in question.

The twelve contributions presented on the LP were recorded in South Africa over a period of three months in 2020 and 2021. These recordings occurred in various locations in Kimberley, Bloemfontein, Richmond / Northern Cape, Cape Town, Grassy Park, Krugersdorp and Johannesburg.

The Desert Dictionary appears in four iterations – a situation as part of Modern Art Projects South Africa’s collection, a radio play (commissioned by Deutschlandfunk Kultur), a book edition (published by MAPSA), and the present LP.

The LP version is based on the radio play and features the voices of Richard John Forbes, Maja Marx, Phala Ookeditse Phala, Victoria Wigzell, Tubatsi Mpochmoloi, Liza Grobler, Nkosinathi Gumede, Karlien van Rooyen, Mongezi Ncombo, Ivan Messelaar, Gerhard Marx and Lindiwe Matshikiza.

The synthesized field recordings – translations of fieldnotes taken in the desert – were recorded in Johannesburg and Berlin.

Written and produced by Boris Baltschun, 2021-2022. Mastered and cut by Kassian Troyer at D&M, Berlin. Photo & map by Boris Baltschun. Graphic design by Joe Gilmore.

During the late 1970s, after No Wave pioneer Lydia Lunch met saxophonist James Chance, she began setting her angry and disjointed poetry to anti-music, founding her ground-breaking band Teenage Jesus and The Jerks with Lunch’s shouted lyrics matched by her non-conventional use of electric guitar. The group’s self-titled debut EP is a fast and furious affair, produced by Robert Quine of the Voidoids/Lou Reed, with future Nick Cave drummer Jim Sclavunos on bass and Bradley Field on minimalist percussion; steeped in aggression and audacity, it’s an awesome disc that rebuffs punk’s easy cliches and refuses to be categorized. This reissue also includes the ‘Pre’ EP and the tracks from the legendary No New York compilation.

Starting his career with appearances on BBC Radio 1 and signing with Elton Johns label as a teenager, Maldwyn Pope's presence in music has been rich and productive from an early age eventually leading to working with people like Cliff Richards, Art Garfunkel and Bonnie Taylor. However, his presence in Italo-Disco has been quite scarce, but completely on point. "Altered State" is a masterpiece amongst enthusiasts and collectors of dancefloor sleaze and downtempo wellness. Heavy rock influence meets Rimini with this one off experiment from the seasoned multi instrumentalist. Original instrumental remix done by none other than Alessandro Novaga, the entity responsible behind one of Ron Hardy's favorite DJ tools (Faces Drums). B-side features an 11 minute excursion into a completely new altered state of dubby delayed trance, for special cosmic holes only. Re-issued with new full artwork.

»Other Rooms« is an uncompromisingly adventurous and engaging listen. It manages the rare feat of remaining concise while brimming with detail and inventiveness.

Ten years into a multifaceted career in experimental sound, Belgium’s Adriaan de Roover presents »Other Rooms«, his second solo album and a product of the thoroughly unexpected things we all experience, from societal freeze to the dissolution of individual relationships. Originally recorded for a performance with Fennesz at Église Notre-Dame de Laeken in 2020, »Other Rooms« was reworked into its final form in 2023. De Roover notes an inspiration from »looking at different versions of a life, sitting in a space between them; a constant focus on those alternate things... What if, what if.« It is introspective music informed by a desire for connection to oneself, to others, and to the boundless scale of everything else.

»Other Rooms« is Adriaan’s second outing through the acclaimed Dauw imprint, which is also the home to Midori Hirano, Dylan Henner, H.Takahashi, Lieven Martens and Taylor Deupree. Stepping back from rhythm-oriented motifs, this latest work is a concise but varied collection of weightless melodies and expertly sculpted, computerized soundscapes.

Repress!

London based DJ and producer Dan Shake is set to announce details of his new EP ‘Mosquito’, due for release on 13th March 2020 via his Shake Records imprint.

Dan’s latest outing offers three driving, thoughtful Detroit house influenced club tracks: from the synth-heavy adrenaline rush of title track Mosquito, to the jacking, motoric resolve of The Deep
End, and Hide Seek’s kinetic, sample-driven house groove.

Since debuting on Moodymann’s Mahogani Music in 2014 with 3AM Jazz Club / Thinkin About U, Dan made it into a springboard for his ambitions to work crowds the world over. His love of groove – ranging from sparky acid to Brazilian samba, itchy funk to heavyweight house – fuels his drive to make those around him dance as keenly as he does. At a party, Dan Shake isn’t just loaded with peak time weapons: he is one.

This will be the seventh release on Dan’s Shake imprint, following a string of dance floor-igniting releases, the most recent of which continues to scorch the airwaves from Radio 1 to NTS, garnering DJ support from the likes of Annie Mac, Gilles Peterson, Honey Dijon and The Black Madonna, and a searing set of disco-house releases last year on his own Shake imprint and Denis Sulta’s Sulta Selects.

Dan’s infectious charm and expert ear has resulted in a truly international list of shows in locations as far flung from home as Beirut to Buenos Aires, plus armfuls of Balearic visits, including closing the main stage at Dimensions Festival and playing b2b shows with Jeremy Underground, Marcellus Pittman & DJ Boring to name a few. With a never-ending tour schedule ahead, including his debut U.S. and Australia tour, stops at Nuits Sonores, Love International, Printworks, Kingdom Festival, Fly, Boardmasters, Dimensions, Pikes Ibiza and more new music planned for 2020, Dan Shake is set to have an exceptional year.

The fresh-faced folk pop band Stornoway seem promising: They play with guileless vigor, have a light-stepping chemistry as a unit, harmonize well. Their lead singer Brian Briggs has a lovely, pure high tenor, the kind of voice that effortlessly conveys simple longing. And yet, on their second album, Tales from Terra Firma, they continue to be almost crushingly dull, making well-appointed and cheerfully empty music that successfully communicates next to nothing.

Their Achilles Heel is a simple and unfortunate one, the same on Tales as it was on 2010's Beachcombers Windowsill. Stornoway are clearly in love with Celtic and British folk, and yet they can't write a memorable melody to save their lives. Try to sing along to the verse melody of "Zorbing", their most well-known tune, and pay attention to what your face muscles are doing; most likely furrowing with the effort of recall. Each of Tales' painstakingly arranged nine songs sinks underneath the weight of this insurmountable problem, which is a shame.

If you're making folk-pop, an inability to write a catchy melody is a difficult deficiency to overcome. Stornoway try valiantly with their complex arrangements, which quickly grow exhausting. “You Take Me as I Am” is cluttered with horn charts and pointlessly banging piano. “(A Belated) Invite to Eternity” builds to a full Explosions in the Sky crescendo, with glimmering tremolo guitar and a “Tonight, Tonight”-style sweeping string section, but having built zero momentum and generated zero heat until that point, their planned fireworks display fizzles.

“Farewell Appalachia” follows the same pattern, with celesta, finger-picked acoustic and electric guitar all tracing an emptily pretty circle with nothing in the center. The melody of "The Great Procrastinator" is almost cleanly written enough to be memorable-- and then the ersatz Dixieland jazz interlude crashes in. Stornoway are deft players, and the transitions are tightly managed, but this is praise on the same order as praising the brushwork in a hotel-room painting.

Briggs’ lyrics are filled with uncomplicated images of the good old British countryside, but his lyrics trample over all these dew-covered fields with wordy, awkward phrasing: "And in the gathering dew, I was lucid as a floodlight,” goes a line from “(A Belated) Invitation to Eternity”. “There's a hunger in the air/ A lemon swollen in the trees" he bleats on “Knock Me on the Head”. On “The Great Procrastinator”, he sings that he is “a scientist with far too many metaphors and far too little data to conclude in time.” They don’t read particularly well, and they don’t sound much more natural when sung.

Tales From Terra Firma is a peculiar record-- carefree music that feels leaden; tuneful-sounding songs that offer no tunes to hold onto. They seem an odd fit for 4AD, a label mostly home to singular voices. They may be a mercenary signing, an attempt to ride the coattails of Mumford and Sons' success. But Mumford and Sons, as head-smack simple and pandering as they are, have a pretty crucial ingredient in their arsenal: they write anthems. In that regard, they have Stornoway pretty thoroughly beat.

WARNING!: This record explores the second verification of the origins of rotation in tornadoes experiment, VORTEX2. This sonic experiment is designed to explore the mechanisms of tornadogenesis, maintenance, and demise, the wind field near the ground in tornadoes, the relationship between tornadoes and their parent thunderstorms and the relationship among tornadoes, tornadic storms and the larger scale environment. This is the Supercellular Tornadogenesis. Hazards may occur! Beware!!..