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Wormwood is the fifth studio album by American metalcore band The Acacia Strain. This is the band's second album to feature bassist Jack Strong and third featuring drummer Kevin Boutot; it was also their last release on Prosthetic Records. The album was released on July 20, 2010. Wormwood reached #67 on the US Billboard Top 200 chart.

"To The End" is a tremendous demonstration of power that impressively unites all elements of its predecessors and paints a frightening picture of war, death and destruction at the end of which nothing remains but ashes and the realization of a masterpiece. It is the beginning of a new era. Since early October 2020, smoke is laying over Northampton near London. The machinery is well-oiled, the plan excellent - MEMORIAM have recorded their fourth studio album! The speed the British machinery has been working at since their early days is just enormous and equally amazing. Only back in 2016 the band inaugurated the public about their existence. Since those days the machines never stood still. The British Death Lead Commando caused a big rumble shortly after the first rumors about where the journey would go. "The Hellfire Demos" hit the worldwide scene with their old school Death Metal and left speechlessly torn open mouths which are still raving about the enthusiasm of this achievement today. When "For The Fallen", the debut album, is unleashed on mankind via Nuclear Blast Records in 2017, the impression is even more powerful – Truly an historic act for metal history. But as mentioned, there is no stand still in MEMORIAM. Meanwhile emancipated from other bands, they write their very own piece of history. While the first album was still heavy, oppressive and marked by grief, the second album "The Silent Vigil" (2018) showed a more merciless and aggressive side. The same applies to the third strike "Requiem For Mankind", which stands unmistakably in the short but impressive tradition of all previous MEMORIAM works. After this concentrated Death Metal trilogy, all signs were pointing to upheaval. As if the band wanted to completely break away from their old roots, they looked for a new home and signed a worldwide record deal with the upcoming label Reaper Entertainment Europe. While drummer Andy Whale had to take a forced break due to health reasons, Spike T Smith - a close friend of the band - took over the job in the rhythm section. Nevertheless "To The End" follows the tradition of its predecessors without leaving any doubt that one of the strongest albums of 2021 lurks here. Once again the groove is monstrous, the riffs deadly merciless and the atmosphere oppressive, paralyzing, even overwhelming. Willett's aggressive vocals give the sound the proverbial icing on the cake.

Acid Jazz present ‘Circles: The Ultimate Fleur De Lys’, the
definitive compilation centred around one of the greatest 60s
bands.
Atlantic Records, Andrew Loog Oldham, Shel Talmy, Cream,
Isaac Hayes and Tony Blackburn - all these and so many more
turn up in the story of Southampton band the Fleur De Lys. You
may not have heard of them and if you have it may be just
because of their glorious cover of the Who’s ‘Circles’, an
ultimate freakbeat anthem that this compilation is named after,
but the singles they released in the second half of the 1960s
are one of the greatest collections of singles by any band,
ranging from R&B through freakbeat and psych and back into
club soul.
Emerging from the English South Coast’s competitive club
scene they signed to Rolling Stones’ manager Andrew Loog
Oldham’s pioneering indie label Immediate where they
recorded two singles before being taken under the wing of
Frank Fenter, who worked out of the UK Polydor office running
the UK arm of Atlantic. The group went through numerous line
up changes as they recorded a series of singles which are now
some of the most collectible of the era.
Acid Jazz and Countdown Records have been the custodians of
the Fleur De Lys catalogue for the last decade and this
compilation is the culmination of that work, containing all the
singles that they released for Immediate, Polydor and Atlantic
(where they pipped Led Zeppelin to become the first UK signed
band to that legendary label).
Issued on CD and gatefold coloured double vinyl, the album
has been produced with the full co-operation of the group’s
Keith Guster, allowing us access to previously unseen photos
and illustrations. Compiled by Eddie Piller and Dean Rudland
and the band’s official biographer Paul ‘Smiler’ Anderson, who
has contributed an extended note that tells the band’s story in
compelling detail.

For two decades Sara Watkins has been one of the
most visible artists in roots music, with her
catalogue ranging from solo albums and Watkins
Family Hour, a duo with her brother Sean Watkins,
to her Grammy-winning bands Nickel Creek and
I’m With Her.
With the nostalgic and gentle new album ‘Under
the Pepper Tree’, Sara Watkins offers a comforting
record for those moments as daily rhythms fade
into nightly rituals and when a child’s imagination
comes to life.
Made with families in mind, the personal project
encompasses songs she embraced as a child
herself, as well as the musical friendships she’s
made along the way. Recorded in Los Angeles with
producer Tyler Chester, ‘Under the Pepper Tree’
brings storytelling, solace and encouragement to
the listener, no matter the age.
LP in gatefold sleeve.

A cheeky riff on the Beatles’ White Album, Cleaners From Venus frontman Martin Newell’s second solo album from 1995 is a sophisticated follow-up to the critically-acclaimed The Greatest Living Englishman. Produced by él Records fixture Louis Philippe and featuring XTC’s Dave Gregory on guitar, it’s a vivid snapshot of Newell’s life with a French chanson-inspired ease.

A longtime fan of French music, Newell sought a Gallic quality on this record - with the vocal riding at the top of the mix, rather than blurred under indie rock guitars, as was common at the time. Philippe was happy to oblige. The effect is a clarity of both form and content - on “Arcadian Boys,” Newell’s impassioned voice careens over a heartbreaking string quartet (arranged by Philippe himself) as he wonders what’s become of those “too late for the sun.” It’s a much more emotional take on the song than the guitar-laden, uptempo version that appears on the Cleaners From Venus’ My Back Wages. But The Off White Album doesn’t dwell too long in solemnity - it’s still a Martin Newell record, after all. His classic wit is on full display, whether he’s putting an irreverent spin on the Smiths (“Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others”) or fondly warning a neighbor to “watch your chemicals, girl” (“The Girls In The Flat Upstairs”).

A rich cast of characters make up The Off White Album, via both the process of its recording and the subjects of its songs. It’s a record born on the road, inspired by Newell’s experiences travelling through Europe and Asia the year of its inception. Perhaps the clearest portrait that emerges as the album draws to a close, however, is one of Newell himself: as poet, coffee shop customer, bandleader, lover and neighbor. By his own admission, The Off White Album is “a more intimate portrait of my life at that time than I’d intended.”

The debut album of Joe Lovano’s Trio Tapestry was one of 2019’s most
talked-about releases.
The trio’s musical concept - the Boston Globe spoke of “utterances of hushed
assurance, lyricism and suspense” - is taken to the next level on its second album, Garden of Expression, a recording distinguished by its intense focus.
Lovano, a saxophonist whose reach extends across the history of modern jazz
and beyond, plays with exceptional sensitivity in Trio Tapestry. And the music
he writes for this group - tenderly melodic or declamatory, harmonically open,
rhythmically free, and spiritually involving - encourages subtle and differentiated responses from his creative partners. Joe describes their interaction as
“magical”.
Carmen Castaldi’s space-conscious approach to drumming further refines
an improvisational understanding that he and Lovano have shared since the
1970s. The trio is also a wonderful context for Marilyn Crispell’s solos, counter
melodies, and improvisational embellishments, and her feeling for sound-colour helps the chamber music character of the group to flower.
The details of the music are beautifully realized in this recording made in the
highly responsive acoustics of the Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI in Lugano.
Joe Lovano: tenor and soprano saxophones, tarogato, gongs
Marilyn Crispell: piano
Carmen Castaldi: drums

Obaidlí Records are pleased to announce their second release "Buruka", a detonating 4 tracks EP, delivered by the head of "Disrupt" Hector Moran aka HE MI from Houston TX.

The EP includes 3 original tracks and a top remix by Romanian artist Sublee.

Vinyl only. Limited copies, no re-press.

LTD. CLEAR BLUE VINYL

Fresh off of their 2020 offering Adult Themes, El Michels Affair is back with a new full-length release. Titled Yeti Season, this newest album has everything we've come to expect from EMA's patented cinematic style of instrumental soul music. Where Adult Themes inspired a soundtrack to an imaginary film, Yeti Season brings us to a different place in time_with new inspirations. Taken with Turkish-styled funk and an almost Mumbai-esque take on soul, El Michels Affair offers us a different kind of drama and imagination with Yeti Season. If you've been following along, this shouldn't be viewed as too far a departure for El Michels Affair. The first single off of Yeti Season showed their hand back in 2018. A double-sided banger, that release brought the musical textures to the fore that dominate this record. The first song, titled "Unathi," is fully realized with the beautifully haunting-yet-hopeful vocals of Piya Malik, formally of 79.5_another Big Crown artist. Singing in Hindi, Piya's ethereal voice is telling us to work and strive together toward progress. Even if you don't understand her language, you can still hear the urgency of purpose, creating a lasting vibe that sits on top of it all. Leon Michels explains that Piya had a vital influence on this record: "When Piya started singing in Hindi, she had a different voice, a different tone. I knew we had to do something together." And so Piya appears on three other songs on Yeti Season: "Zaharila," "Murkit Gem," and "Dhuaan." Each providing particular signatures to the album. "Zaharila" is a building and changing love song punctuated by blaring trumpets, driving drums, and Piya's pleading lyrics. While the more upbeat "Murkit Gem" opens with a fuzzed out, Wu-Tang-esque baseline that buoys Piya's stylings. The psychedelic guitar and Piya's changing tones and textures singing about an all-consuming love are what pushed "Dhuaan" on to the second single from Yeti Season. There is also a vocal appearance from Shannon Wise of The Shacks, yet another Big Crown artist. Her song called "Sha Na Na," lies more in the familiar EMA vein: melodic, hypnotic, soulfully visual. But between Shannon's airy singing, the jumpy baseline, moody vibes, the active drum lines, it sounds like a pensive walk home after a strangely dramatic night. So what is Yeti Season? It could be more of a feeling than an actual place or time of year. It's a heavy album_as evidenced by the signature musicianship and dramatic vocal expressions. But it's also a hopeful record, with phrasings, textures, and chord changes that hint at something better_or fuller_coming our way. You hear it in songs like "Ala Vida," with its stabby, pulsing chords laying a bedrock for EMA's bright, atmospheric horn lines. Or even in "Fazed Out," which leaves you with a feeling of determination, a striving for resolution even though the driving, march-like song structure should accompany some conquering army. This persistence has to come from the fact that Leon Michels and company finished this record during the lockdown. It was a tough and troublesome time. But look at what has come of it: Yeti Season_a record of high and heavy drama, but also one of hope and promise. It may take a year like 2020 behind us to find hope in a winter big footed creature like a Yeti, but that's where we are.

∙ Live they were a revelation. The only group from
the UK scene who could do tight and slick, without
slipping into ‘lift music’ blandness. The core
membership of Andrew Levy, Simon Bartholomew
and Jan Kincaid had been playing together since
college and knew where the other was going. Their
ability to write classic soul songs lifted them above
their contemporaries.
∙ Shibuya 357 is the quintessential (and only live)
document of an era that quickly passed. The hits –
‘Never Stop’ , ‘Dream Come True’, ‘Stay This Way’
and ‘Don’t Let It Go To Your Head’ are all here – as
are some compelling funk jams. This recording
captures the ecstatic rush of joy; when you go from
youthful dream to accomplishment in such a short
period.
∙ The album was only ever released in Japan in the
late 90s and then only for a very short time. Acid
Jazz is pleased to release this new version
remastered from the source tape, and the album
appears on vinyl and on streaming services for the
very first time.
∙ 1991 was a momentous year for The Brand New Heavies.
They started it without a singer second on the bill to
The James Taylor Quartet and by the end they were
had a Top 3 US hit and were about to embark on a
run of 16 Top 40 hits in the UK. N’Dea Davenport
was by this point fronting the group as their guest
singer, and the brilliant string of singles from their
debut album were becoming locked in the minds of
an ever growing fan base.

The latest from Mr. K and Most Excellent Unlimited pairs lowdown and stomping disco from an unlikely source with a funked-out floorfiller from some very familiar voices.

Minnie Riperton’s 1977 single “Stick Together” was an outlier in her catalog of smooth modern soul, an intentional nod in the direction of the prevailing disco sound. Co-written with Stevie Wonder, “Stick Together” in its original single release was divided into two parts, the first a fairly conventional uptempo cut with all the catchy qualities you’d expect from Stevie and the husband and wife team of Richard Rudolph and Minnie. It was the second half of the song that caught the ears of DJs who played for funkier dancefloors, however. Freddie Perren, a former member of Motown’s legendary Corporation collective of songwriters and producers, and a man then red-hot off his success with Tavares’ “Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel” and the Sylvers’ “Boogie Fever,” was on production duties, and the song clearly benefits from his disco-friendly touch. In Mr. K’s epic edit we are treated to a lengthy exploration of the second part of “Stick Together,” featuring keyboardist Sonny Burke (veteran of Marvin Gaye’s band and fresh from playing on Candi Staton’s disco smash “Young Hearts Run Free”) working out an irresistible Jingo-esque piano part, Riperton’s sensual ad-libs, and, as if that wasn’t enough, a cameo appearance by Pam Grier on finger snaps! Krivit’s 8-minute-plus edit passes way too quickly to get enough of the hypnotic groove — rewinds are called for!

Our flip side, “Body Language,” originated as an album cut on the Jackson Five’s last album of original material for Motown, Moving Violation, recorded before Jermaine left to go solo and the remaining brothers joined Epic Records in a new incarnation as the Jacksons. For such an obvious heater it’s puzzling why the label never released it as a single; but regardless of that apparent misstep, “Body Language” has long been a sure shot in many DJs’ bags. With his new edit, Mr. K presents the track in its ultimate form, loud, remastered, stretched out and rippling with energy over a full six minutes. With an iconic bass line that just doesn’t quit, and Michael and the boys in fine form, it’s impossible to imagine a situation where this wouldn’t set the room on fire.

For Chris Tooker, the first decade of his artistic journey was immersed in bands while the second was engaged in wandering the realms of electronica in the form of creator, composer and engineer for DJ duo KMLN. Today, after many incarnations, Tooker returns to the source of himself while carrying both the treasures of his past and a vision for the future. Tooker has long been called to pursuing obsessive trails through the greater cosmos. On these journeys, he seeks particles with a hypnotic essence. Once found, he interprets this magic in his own special way, through the most universal language - music. His music tells stories of fascinating adventures through the dust, the palms, and the gritty streets of yonder. It is colorful, deep, and disco laced. It flaunts rare collected percussion (delivered live in his sets), various instruments and sometimes whispers a touch of voice. Now his solo-debut EP Nang’o drops on Acid Pauli and Nico Stojan’s label Ouie. For the lead track Nang’o, Tooker recruits the phenomenal talents of Kenya’s multi-instrumentalist Labdi. Labdi’s oruto (a western Kenyan fiddle instrument) and bewitching vocals provide the hooks for this subtle, shuffling track, presented here as both a full version and as an instrumental. Baladi features Shawna Hofmann both on co-production and vocal duties - this time a more driving, rolling groove develops with Shawna adding sultry, evocative vocals to the mix. Undone rounds off the physical release - another signature exercise in subtlety and restraint, as an infectious groove folds in bubbling synths, crisp percussion and dubby effects.

Once upon a time, two operators stared at their screens. They sat silently for hours, their whole being dedicated to the task they had been assigned to. Days and nights passed in the same monotonous manner. Suddenly signals showed up on their monitors. Alarms started to ring. Both reacted at the same speed and did what they were supposed to do. Controls and commands were entered, as was protocol. After observing these waves for 61:01 minutes, everything became quiet again. What they had just witnessed made them wonder. For the first time they addressed each other. "The data is transferring through our system," announced the first. “Let us both check how this can be interpreted.” The second validated the response. Together, they looked at what had been recorded. Ideas raced through their complicated minds until they realized simultaneously: sounds! They listened. “Is this an unknown language?” one asked. “This is the first time this has been heard throughout our history,” the other answered. They listened again and again. “This electricity has been arranged to form a cohesive entity,” the first said. “Why would machines be used to create that?” the second mused. Something had awakened inside of them, an obsessive curiosity they had never experienced before. They did not understand and were blown away by the beauty of it. “Do you think it could have been left by humans before us?” one whispered. “If it was, these would be Major Signals,” the other concluded. As they processed these thoughts, the two artificial intelligences sat still.

Papa Roach are set to release their second greatest hits album, which covers the second decade of their career. On top of numerous fan favourites, the album includes exclusive remixes, previously unreleased acoustic versions and a new version of 'Broken As Me' feat. Danny Worsnop (Asking Alexandria). Papa Roach vocalist Jacoby Shaddix will also appear in the upcoming horror thriller 'The Retaliators'.

It’s nearly a decade since William Doyle handed a CD-R demo to the Quietus co-founder John Doran at a gig, who loved it so much he set up a label to release Doyle’s debut EP (as East India Youth). Doyle’s debut album, Total Strife Forever, followed in 2014, as did a nomination for the Mercury Music Prize. A year later, he was signed to XL, touring the world and about to release his second album – all by the age of 25.

After self-releasing four ambient and instrumental albums, Doyle’s third full-length record – and the first under his own name – Your Wilderness Revisited arrived to ecstatic reviews in 2019: Line of Best Fit described it as “a dazzlingly beautiful triumph of intention” and Metro declared it an album not only of the year, but “of the century”. Just over a year later, as he turns 30, Doyle is back with Great Spans of Muddy Time.

Born from accident but driven forward by instinct, Great Spans was built from the remnants of a catastrophic hard-drive failure. With his work saved only to cassette tape, Doyle was forced to accept the recordings as they were – a sharp departure from his process on Your Wilderness Revisited, which took four long years to craft toward perfection. “Instead of feeling a loss that I could no longer craft these pieces into flawless ‘Works of Art’, I felt intensely liberated that they had been set free from my ceaseless tinkering,” Doyle says.

“The album this turned out to be – and that I’ve wanted to make for ages – is a kind of Englishman-gone-mad, scrambling around the verdancy of the country’s pastures looking for some sense,” says Doyle. “It has its seeds in Robert Wyatt, early Eno, Robyn Hitchcock, and Syd Barrett.” Doyle credits Bowie’s ever-influential Berlin trilogy, but also highlights a much less expected muse: Monty Don, presenter of the BBC programme Gardener’s World, Doyle’s lockdown addiction.

“I became obsessed with Monty Don. I like his manner and there's something about him I relate to. He once described periods of depression in his life as consisting of ‘nothing but great spans of muddy time’. When I read that quote I knew it would be the title of this record,” Doyle says. “Something about the sludgy mulch of the album’s darker moments, and its feel of perpetual autumnal evening, seemed to fit so well with those words. I would also be lying if I said it didn’t chime with my mental health experiences as well.”

Lead single “And Everything Changed (But I Feel Alright)” is representative of the album as a whole: eclectic and unpredictable, but also playful and properly danceable. On top of the gently pulsing electronics, soothing harmonies and glowing melodies, there’s a ripping guitar solo that ricochets around the song like a pinball. “I wanted to get back into the craft of writing individual songs rather than being concerned with overarching concepts,” Doyle says. Elsewhere there’s the synth pop strut of “Nothing At All”, pulsating static on “Semi-Bionic”, incandescent synths and enveloping soundscapes in “Who Cares”, and the ambient glitch groove of “New Uncertainties”.

Great Spans of Muddy Time is a beautiful ode to the power of accident, instinct and intuition. The result, however, is far from an anomaly: this celebration of the imperfect album is one that required years of honed craft and dedicated focus to achieve, “For the first time in my career, the distance between what I hear and what the listener hears is paper-thin,” Doyle says. “Perhaps therein reveals a deeper truth that the perfectionist brain can often dissolve.”













m 13. [a sea of thoughts behind it]

“I made this record for young women to feel invincible.” - Izzy B. Phillips, Black Honey Having last week been pre-empted by the landing of their colossal new single ‘Run For Cover’, today Black Honey have announced their brand-new album – ‘Written & Directed’. ‘Written & Directed’ will be released on the 29 th of January 2021 on Foxfive Records. ‘Written & Directed’ is Black Honey’s second album. It follows their outstanding self-titled debut released back in 2018 when the world that surrounded the Brighton four piece looked and felt like a very different place. Black Honey however are still the bad-ass, truly original band they have always been, they’ve just graduated from the intriguingly anomalous newcomers to becoming one of UK indie’s most singular outfits. They've travelled the world and released a Top 40 album; graced the cover of the NME and become the faces and soundtrack of Roberto Cavalli's Milan Fashion Week show; smashed Glastonbury and supported Queens of the Stone Age, all without compromising a shred of the wild, wicked vision they first set out with. It's now time for the next instalment of their story – ‘Written & Directed” – which see’s Black Honey deliver one, very singular, message – a 10 track mission statement that aims to unashamedly plant a flag in the ground for strong, world-conquering women. For fierce frontwoman and album protagonist Izzy B. Phillips – it’s the most important message she could send to inspire her cult-like fanbase and fill the female-shaped gap that she felt so acutely when she was growing up and discovering rock music for the first time. Written throughout 2019 and recorded in fits and spurts between touring, ‘Written & Directed’ is drenched with a hedonistic, anything-goes attitude. It’s also the most full-throttle collection of music that Black Honey have ever-written – egged-on by their run of shows supporting long-term friends and collaborators Royal Blood. Exploring everything from womanhood, to identity and power, it’s an album that revels in the rich history of pop culture, throws a wink to its rock- and-roll heroes, but ultimately (and in true Black Honey fashion) it stands on its own two feet. With a typically hyper-visual world referencing grindhouse cinema, kitschy pulp films and a flip-reverse of female cinematic representation all primed to unfurl and explode around them, 'Written & Directed' is the sound of Black Honey strapping in and saddling up, of harnessing their quirks, and, as the Phillips has always hoped, riding them joyously into the sunset.

Dvne are a band of great contrasts, weaving titanic heaviness and intricate gentleness together, complex lyrical ideas with engaging storylines, and this has only been expanded upon and concentrated on second album Etemen Ænka. “It is a very dense and layered album which will reward multiple listens, and while this is becoming a recurring aspect of our music, we feel that we went further with it this time. It’s also a very polarising album, emotionally speaking. The heavy sections are, well, very heavy, while the clean sections are much more intricate and delicate and in a way wouldn’t be out of place in a Studio Ghibli anime soundtrack.” , explains the band. Their name is a reference to the timeless sci-fi epic Dune by Frank Herbert, this is very much a genre that they happily inhabit, and is once again reflected in the lyrical content of the record. While wanting to create a universe of their own, they also cover more serious topics related to the society we live in, and while Asheran was very much focused on their relation to their surroundings and the environment, Etemen Ænka focuses much more on social issues and more specifically on inequalities and the human relationship with power.

Swedish heavy metal commando ENFORCER proudly presents its second live album, “Live by Fire II”, which will be released through Nuclear Blast Records on March 19th, 2021. “Live By Fire II” offers an intense and passionate performance captured in front of a truly dedicated and wild audience in Mexico City, 2019. “Live by Fire II” lets you experience ENFORCER at the top of their game and marks an outstanding live record documenting the group’s steady path to global recognition in recent years. It also serves as a stunning reminder of how many heavy metal anthems ENFORCER have crafted on their total of five studio albums so far! From the speedy metal attack of ‘Destroyer’, ‘Searching For You’, ‘Midnight Vice’ to perfect sing-alongs like ‘From Beyond’, ‘One Thousand Years In Darkness’ and ‘Take Me Out Of This Nightmare’, the enthusiastic crowd and powerful sound of “Live By Fire II” result in a captivating and extremely entertaining listen.

Physical formats of the release will be including extensive booklets containing a tour program, liner notes and tons of photos compiled and designed by vocalist/guitarist Olof Wikstrand recapturing ENFORCER’s touring cycle for the albums “From Beyond” and “Zenith” during the years 2015-2020.
“Live By Fire II” will be released as Gatefold 2LP with 16-LP sized booklet, CD with 28-page booklet, and digital album.

Calgary songwriter Chad VanGaalen’s new album, ‘World’s Most Stressed Out
Gardener’, is a psychedelic bumper crop. A collection of tunes that does away with
obsessiveness, the anxiety of perfectionism, in favour of freshness and immediacy -
capturing the world as it was met while recording alone at home over a period of
years. “Don’t overthink it,” VanGaalen told himself again and again, despite the
push/pull love/hate of his relationship with songwriting. “I’m always trying to get
outside of the song - but then I realize I love the song.”
This is a record that gleams with VanGaalen’s musical signatures: found sound,
reverb, polychromatic folk music that is by turns cartoonish and hyperphysical - like
ultra-magnified footage of a virus or a leaf. Apparently, the album began life as a
“pretty minimal” flute record. (There’s only a vestige now, on ‘Flute Peace’, one of
three instrumentals.) Later it became an electronic record “for a while” and finally,
“right at the last second,” it “turned into a pile of garbage.” The good kind of
garbage: glinting, useful, free. Music as compost - leaves and branches ready to be
re-ingested by the earth, turned into a flower.
Throughout these 40 minutes, VanGaalen floats from mania to solace to oblivion,
searching for zen in all the wrong places. “Turn up the radio / I think we’re dead,”
he sings on ‘Nothing Is Strange’; or, on the inside-out rocker ‘Nightmare Scenario’:
“You’re stressed out when you should be feeling very well.” The singer’s mental
landscape is rotting and redemptive, beautiful in spite of itself - and his soundscapes
reflect this fertile decay.
He has been influenced by his instrumental work on TV scores (Dream Corp’s third
season began this fall) but still “nothing can really replace the human voice,” he
admits. Like Arthur Russell or Syd Barrett, it’s VanGaalen’s vocals that shine a path
through the swampland - from the cello-lashed ‘Water Brother’ to ‘Starlight’’s
krautrock pipe-dream.
These days, VanGaalen cherishes the privacy of the studio, the capacity to wander
around, get distracted, and “move at the speed of life.” Whereas once he would
obsess over mic techniques, now he puts the microphone in the same place every
time - trying to capture a song quickly, the idea at its heart. He’ll act on his
infatuations - for the flute, a squeaky clarinet, his basement’s copper plumbing
(remade into xylophones for ‘Samurai Sword’) - and then he’ll try to get out, “veering
away from responsibility,” before he overdoes his stay.
In the end, it’s like gardening. You have to live with your horrible decision-making;
the weather’s going to mess with you if it wants to; and if you plant a hundred
heads of broccoli, “now you gotta eat a hundred heads of broccoli - or watch them
go to seed.” But mostly VanGaalen just tries to be a deer: “I remember seeing some
deer come out in the Okanagan Valley once,” he says, “watching them wait for a
sunbeam to hit a perfect bunch of grapes - and then eating them right out of the
sunbeam. I’d recommend that.”
Initial LP copies pressed on clear with gold, red and blue high melt coloured vinyl.

Like it’s predecessor, the acclaimed ‘Joia!’, this album is a collection of songs sung in Welsh combined with distinct pop and South American flavours drawn from Bossa Nova, Cumbia, Samba and Tropicalismo styles, recorded in Rio de Janeiro, Caernarfon and London.

Mas feels strangely right for our times: an album whose title means several things, as befits its global outlook. Mas means “out” in Welsh, “more” in Spanish, and “but” in Portuguese: these meanings filling that single syllable with promise, potential, but also the subtle edge of a warning. It’s a mood that fits the more political tenor of Rio 18’s second turn around the world, as Carwyn and his friends explore some substantial subjects: the drowning of villages, climate change, migration and the rise of megacities. They do so not in sober, serious settings, but beautiful, uplifting songs. Other tracks also celebrate the vivid pleasures of love, nature and our essential humanity.

Mas is a record of beautiful songs that says, wait, listen, delight, come together, then act. We owe it to ourselves, to each other, to our beautiful world.