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This ten-track album showcases Alex Pester's unique and unconventional sound, a blend of folk, baroque pop, psychedelia, and experimentalism, and is set to become a defining moment in his young career.

A PRESSING OF 300 COPIES WORLDWIDE. NON-RETURNABLE.

At just twenty-two years old, Pester has already established himself as a prolific singer-songwriter hailing from Bath, England. He has released three albums to date, each displaying his immense talent as a musician and songwriter.

Influenced by the Incredible String Band, The Beatles, Robert Wyatt, Animal Collective, Harry Nilsson, and The Microphones, among others.

Reissue! In 2010, Madlib launched an ambitious series of releases known as the Madlib Medicine Show, which allowed the prolific producer to release new material on a monthly basis. The series touched on all the genres Madlib digs, and that’s just about any genre you can consider - from Jazz to Rock, Soul to Disco, myriad African musics, Brazilian and Reggae. On the 11th installment in series Madlib returned to his hip hop roots with Low Budget High-Fi Music. Featuring a run-down of regular Madlib collaborators who provide the Beat Konducta’s foil, it also included a hint of what was meant to come on the never-realized second Jaylib album, with a previously unreleased J Dilla collaboration.

THULCANDRA’s rise to power ignited when the Germany-based outfit unleashed their debut album, Fallen Angel’s Dominion, upon metaldom in 2010. The group, fronted by founding member and visionary Steffen Kummerer (also of Obscura fame), have tightened their hibernal grip on blackened death metal since. The desolate melodic emanations in follow-up studio records Under a Frozen Sun (2011), Ascension Lost (2015), and the chart-topping, 2021-album A Dying Wish, dedicated to the late drummer Chris Kratzer, solidified THULCANDRA as a superior force, expertly thrusting the magic and mystery of mid-’90s melodic black-death metal into the modern era. Their fifth attack, entitled Hail the Abyss, sees THULCANDRA prove yet again why they’re atop death metal’s malefic vedette! Fierce tracks such as "As I Walk Through The Gateway", or the uber-brutal "Blood Of Slaves", showcase the band‘s affinity for dark, aggressive, and mellifluous metal while the album title track and the epic, mid-tempo rager "On The Wings Of Cosmic Fire" rip and terrorize with the intensity of hell. As always, THULCANDRA's about a vibe - there's a distinct "feel" to the band's latest album that's distinctly old-school but without the tired trappings of it. The hotly-anticipated Hail the Abyss is slated for release on May 19, 2023 via Napalm Records. Cooperation with renowned producer Dan Swanö (Dissection, Opeth, Katatonia), who handled the crushing album mix, was compulsory, as was the re-invitation to cover-master Lochner. Don’t fear the reaper—fear the majestic might of THULCANDRA, as Hail the Abyss will see them ultimately rise to full power!

Short Bio: It only takes a few seconds exposure to the rolling riffs of opening track “Tom Cruise Control” to be reminded that this is Gozu’s world, we’re just living in it. Given that it has been five years since the Boston quartet dropped the monstrous Equilibrium, returning with Remedy is one hell of a way to make sure that everyone - whether previously familiar with them or otherwise - realizes that they are perhaps the most badass of American rock bands, for they have taken everything to the next level. “There is a certain maturity mixed with a childlike enthusiasm to play music, and we all are better players now than on Equilibrium,” says vocalist/guitarist Marc Gaffney. “We have all really tried to look at what we enjoy but more what we do not enjoy. Playing music is a gift and when it becomes A Nightmare On Elm St Part 37.3, you are done.” The result is nine tracks of their signature combination of fuzzy 70s inspired riffs, rich, catchy, grunge-esque vocal melodies and a touch of old school trippy psychedelia written and played with the utmost passion and enthusiasm, eclipsing everything else in their catalog. “The band wanted a very heavy groove-oriented album with singalong choruses. We also wanted sonically to hit you in the chest, like a three-combination, left-right-left, like Micky Ward. Harmonies and melodies were something we really looked at and wanted to shine, and thick guitar tones, driving bass and drums were under the microscope.”

Total Annihilation Beach is the latest collection from Caveman LSD, one of the handful of monikers of Special Guest DJ / uon / sometimes just shy. Their releases under this name have always had the character of sonic transmissions – crushed sine-waves hurtling out of a wormhole, remote pirate radio bandwidths, whale-song picked up on radar, and so on. Here, the signal seems to come from a place whose remoteness is not defined by distance, but adjacency: these are alternate reality bops.

What does it sound like? Kind of solarpunk, but dirty; not at all an artifact from a hopeless culture. Percussion at the forefront; warm timbres and tones – never have I heard this producer play with tabla and tambourine loops as they do in “Lost Hours,” the opening track of the EP. The buildup holds tension and dynamics tight, with a vocoder-smoothed moan – sampled from the caveman’s own voice, on the low – alternating between two notes; when the beat decompresses for the first time two and a half minutes in, one hears the amorphous and cavernous pads we know so well from shy. “Bottle Service Angels” picks up with another acoustic drum loop, and a clap entering 18 seconds in swings the rest of the track into your hips – there’s even an alternate percussion interlude

sandwiched in the middle. The drums are turned over by a distorted and delayed wave, almost like a cop siren, which finds an answer in the track’s final seconds: we hear them blaring, but distantly (the demo version of this track, from spring 2020, was called “ACAB Beat”).

The B side begins with a textured, heaving slab of ambience: “The Sun Will Sink Into the Ocean.” It is perhaps the sun one sees setting over “Total Annihilation Beach” – a phrase that came to shy while tripping on LSD in San Francisco, which felt to them like a post-apocalyptic haven for the rich. Seems on point. There is a machinic repetition to the track, but also sweeping curtains of sound that move like mist. But what comes at nightfall? Not cops, not raiders nor bottle service angels – nothing, actually. Just a void into which one lobs praise. “H6 Remix” adapts a Mesopotamian hymn to the divine wife of a moon deity, dated to 1400 BCE; the strings of the sampled oud playing it out are rich and trail beautifully with reverb. Caveman LSD’s gesture of remixing such a song reads sincere – the reality we inhabit is likely just as brutal as the one to which these transmissions belong; however, in both, honor exists. Love follows.

180 Gram Vinyl Following the success of the 2021 reissue of Ambient Warrior’s cult classic Dub Journey's (1995), Isle of Jura is pleased to present their unreleased second album, II. Born from the same oceanside fusion of instrumental dub, reggae, bossa nova and tango music that made Dub Journey's so distinctive and memorable, II is an equally sublime collection of eleven unheard tracks from the brilliant minds of Ronnie Lion and Andrea Terrano.

Evoking the delights of white sands, palm trees and sunsets, all set against clear waters and endless blue skies, Dub Journey’s and II document the golden moment when Ambient Warrior came together during the mid-90s to create some of the most Balearic Dub ever made. “Music is the greatest traveler, isn’t it?” says Ronnie. “It gets to places the actual artists can’t even get to really.”

The son of an orphaned Jamaican jazz trumpet player and professional boxer who enlisted in the military after stowing away on a boat to London, Ronnie grew up between Germany, Singapore and the UK before becoming a working musician in his mid-teens. A bass player by trade, he honed his skills playing in a series of soul, jazz-funk, blues, rock and reggae bands that performed throughout the UK.

By the time Ambient Warrior released Dub Journey’s, Ronnie and his business partner Ras Joseph were running the Lion Inc. recording studio and record label in Brixton, London. Having set up distribution arrangements with Roots Records (UK) and Semaphore (DEU/NL), they recorded and released a series of singles, compilations and solo albums from a who’s who of roots reggae artists, including Twinkle Brothers, Delroy Washington, Michael Prophet, Alton Ellis, Little Roy, and Ronnie’s own band The Amharic. “Lion was a regular port of call for visiting Jamaican artists,” reflects Ronnie. “When you were in London, it was on the route.”

An accomplished guitarist, producer and recording engineer from Trieste, Italy, Andrea grew up listening to Russian folk, Klezmer and the Italian harmony tradition in a Sicilian-Ukrainian family. After completing compulsory Italian military service, he moved to London to continue studying music. One night, he turned up at Lion Inc. and approached them about running audio engineering classes from the studio.

In Andrea, Ronnie found a collaborator who shared his desire to create borderless music that reflected the diversity of their backgrounds. “I wanted to do something that had no boundaries,” Ronnie explains. “If you’re working on a roots album, it has to sound a certain way, but with Ambient, especially in the nineties, it was just a license to let off. You could do whatever you wanted to do.” “It was a melting pot of influences like London itself,” adds Andrea.

Although they wrote most of II at the same time as they were recording Dub Journey’s, it took them several years to finish off the album. “Things never got done quickly,” Ronnie remembers. By the time it was complete, Roots Records had gone out of business, leaving Lion Inc. without UK distribution. Not long after, their Brixton studio flooded, bringing the label to a close.

These days, Andrea continues to work as a session guitarist, recording engineer and producer in London. Over the last two decades, he has collaborated regularly with Basement Jaxx and released several solo albums. Ronnie, on the other hand, lives on a boat equipped with an onboard studio, where he has recorded a series of oceanic dub albums off the British coast. Twenty-eight years after the release of Dub Journey’s, he recently started working on demos for a third Ambient Warrior album he hopes to record with Andrea in the not-so-distant future.

Artwork By Bradley Pinkerton.

Damian Lazarus celebrates 20 Years of his world-renowned Crosstown Rebels imprint with a special album project of unreleased cuts and fresh remixes, featuring material from Black Coffee, Maceo Plex, Art Department, Dennis Cruz and many more.

Undeniably one of the most influential record labels within underground dance music, releasing material from Laurent Garnier, Krust and Mathew Jonson to Rósìn Murphy, Deniz Kurtel, Francesca Lombardo and Jennifer Cardini while playing a pivotal part in the careers of artists like Maceo Plex, Jamie Jones, Art Department and Seth Troxler, Crosstown Rebels stands today as a hub and platform for flourishing projects across the electronic spectrum, including via sub-label Rebellion and across a long list of showcases across the globe. More than just your everyday label, the Crosstown Rebels legacy has grown alongside its founder in equal measure, with head honcho Damian Lazarus continually showcasing, championing and spotlighting artists from across the globe who share his radiant, experimental vision for house music and beyond. Ringing in a major milestone in style, 2023 will see the biggest twelve months to date as Lazarus and Crosstown mark the 20th Anniversary of the label with a series of projects set to be unveiled in the lead-up to summer, with ‘CR20 The Album’ set for release on 12th May 2023.

“20 years ago, I dreamed a dream of creating a family of like-minded, crazy individuals from all corners of the planet - releasing music to the world and making people dance. That dream was Crosstown Rebels, and this year we are 20. Over these years, I have forged beautiful friendships, discovered very talented artists and tried my best to help, advise and support some of the most colourful characters in dance music. Crosstown Rebels is more than a record label, it is family.
So 2023 will mark the label’s 20th Anniversary. This is an opportunity for the Crosstown Rebels family, a global community of artists, DJs and creatives, and the label’s myriad of followers to celebrate this momentous milestone. There will be parties and events around the world. A killer compilation of exclusives and special remixes, a beautiful coffee table book, a short film, and a special launch event are planned to bring together the sights and sounds of the label’s unique and influential history. There’s lots to share, announce and reminisce. 20 years young.” - Damian Lazarus.

Comprised of six stellar, high-profile remixes of releases from the label’s catalogue, alongside two previously unreleased original gems, the eight-track package is a rich and exemplary showcase of the far-reaching corners of the Crosstown Rebels sound and also its globally connected family of artists and close friends.

Opening the package, Lazarus’ own 2020 collaboration ‘Into The Sun’ with regular Crosstown vocalist Jem Cooke is given a cosmic rework by Johannesburg’s Major League DJz, while Jamie Jones’ slick ‘Paradise 2011’ is stripped back and given a new lease of life by the hypnotic and heady sounds of Art Department. Opening the B-Side, Dennis Cruz brings his percussive Latin-infused signature sound palette to Chilean musician and producer Pier Bucci’s ‘Hay Consuelo’, before Audiojack’s ‘Feel Good’, another standout collaboration alongside Cooke, is taken into synth-led territories as Michael Mayer reaches for an evolving bed of captivating tones.

The second half of the project brings more excellently remixed material, both new and old, with GRAMMY-winning DJ/producer Black Coffee turning his hand to the label’s first release of 2023 in Made By Pete and Zoe Kypri’s emotive ‘Horizon Red’, unveiling reworked melodies and sparkling keys as he delivers an interpretation of a track which has featured as a staple in his sets. Next, the project welcomes Adam Ten & Yamagucci’s playful yet off-kilter and wonky ‘The K Dance’ which unveils itself as a production perfect for those late night hours and early afters, before Ellum boss Maceo Plex’s ‘Together (2011 Mix)’ brings another lost production to the mix with a driving and zipping ride through sugary synths and soaring leads. To close, Tibi Dabo turns his attention to Guti & Dubshape’s absorbing ‘Every Cow Has A Bird’, delivering a nimble minimal-led trip through lush pads and crisp percussion to round things out in style.

Alongside the album, the 20 Year celebrations will also welcome a 192-page hardback book, ’20 Years Of Magic, Madness and Music’, with words from renowned journalist and key underground music player Joe Muggs, and a feature-length documentary directed by acclaimed director David Terranova.

Crosstown has become known globally for throwing some of the world’s best parties, from the wondrous cultural journey of Day Zero Tulum to longstanding Music Week marathon Get Lost Miami. This ethos of creating magical dancefloor moments spills into the label’s 20 year celebration with its worldwide Get Lost tour, launched with Get Lost Miami, and followed by Bali, Tokyo, Ibiza, Dubai, Istanbul, Rome, Paris, London, Berlin and more, plus a special to-be-announced London showcase.

Sustained exercises in tension. Personal healing. Dischord Records. The Unit Ama make music that explodes outward: dense but soothing metronomic pulses morph into a wild fracturing of the traditional rock trio. The Unit Ama take their time. They act on their own terms. This applies to their music and their work-rate. Two albums and a handful of singles in twenty years. Sporadic gigs. No endless Bandcamp messages or weekly mailing list updates. Rare missions outside their native north-east. And then… Toward is their second studio album and their second Gringo release. It’s not their ‘pandemic’ album but does see the band considering the important things: post-traumatic growth, insight through experience. Utilising the past to navigate towards a meaningful future. Toward was self-produced and will probably get tagged as post-hardcore which is fair enough. But it’s also informed by post-punk, jazz and folk, and by working closely together for two decades. The Unit Ama play in other incarnations that inform their music and the way they dismantle expectations of the rock trio. There’s as much Richard Thompson as Minutemen. Toward takes the exploratory, explosive sound of their debut and adds twenty years of living and listening. Toward is eight tracks that are thoughtful and intricate without losing any impact. This is gut music as much as it is head music. The Unit Ama never let their abilities get in the way of their instincts and Toward is full of surging urgency and roaring anxiety. But there are moments of brooding calm too, and a song – Mary – that could be stripped down and sold as a folk ballad. The trio also play variously as The Long Lonesome Go, Archipelago, The Horse Loom and more. They have supported everyone from Fugazi to Lungfish, Lightning Bolt to Sunburned Hand of the Man

Dutch Eurodance group 2 Brothers On The 4th Floor was founded in 1990, when the two brothers Bobby and Martin Boer started experimenting with music in a small bedroom in their parental apartment on the 4th floor.

In 1995 and 1996, 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor further widened their success with the singles “Fly (Through the Starry Night)”, “Come Take My Hand” and “Fairytales”, changing their style to happy hardcore. These singles topped the charts in various European countries. At the end of 1996, the band released the single “There’s a Key” and their second studio album 2.

2 is available on vinyl for the first time as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on crystal clear vinyl. It includes remixes by Ferry Corsten and Charly Lownoise & Mental Theo.

Remix EP 1 (incl. Remixes by Acid Pauli, Coldcut, DMX Krew, Shahrokh Dini, Frivolous)

After the release of Felix Laband’s highly acclaimed 5th album “The Soft White Hand” in November 2022, it’s about time to give it some extra class remix treatment. So here comes a massive package with remixes by living legends Coldcut, Acid Pauli, DMX Krew, Frivolous and Shahrokh Dini.

Felix Laband’s The Soft White Hand is the masterwork of an artist who expresses himself through musical and artistic collage acting together to reinterpret his sources and to express significant elements of his own personal story.

Released by Munich-based Compost Records, the 14-track album is Laband’s first full-length offering since the critically acclaimed Deaf Safari in 2015. It is heralded by the single “Derek and Me”, and is being pressed on vinyl for distribution globally.

In The Soft White Hand Laband works with source materials that will be familiar to those who know his previous four records – Thin Shoes in June (2001), 4/4 Down the Stairs (2002), Dark Days Exit (2005) and especially Deaf Safari which reached deep into the South Africa scene and its political culture to inspire its vocal and music sampling. However, the disengagement he felt from his homeland during his latest album’s creation – an abiding sense of untethered-ness to place and space, exquisitely rendered in tracks like “Death of a Migrant” – is perceptible in Laband’s desire to illuminate instead aspects of his own life.

Mighty Eye is proud to present the second 45rpm single release by P.T.B. (The Powers That Be). A powerhouse of musical talent, P.T.B.’s current line up includes Miles Francis (Cornelia Street Studio / Antibalas) on drums and bass, Luke O’Malley (Phenomenal Hand Clap Band / Antibalas) and Vincent John (Eraserhood Sound) on guitar, Jake Pinto on keys and featuring horn arrangements by Eric Biondo.

Continuing on their stellar journey through the stars, P.T.B. are back with a funky ode to the Gods of the Gods... and creation itself! Close your eyes, sit back and imagine witnessing the birth of all that is as the cosmos explode around you.

Akhira Sano was born in 1992 in Niigata, Japan. Focusing on the imperfections and irregularities of form and sound, he creates, observes, records, and extends them secondarily through drawing, graphics, installation, videography, and music composition.
His major works include "Penetrating, For Filtration" (Important Records, 2019), "Particle Dialogue - Observation and Recording" (The Trilogy Tapes, Inc. 2022), and major solo exhibitions include "Perspectives of Possibility" (FAITH, 2021) and "mē on - Seeing the Absent" (TOH, 2022).

Steven Wilson, four-time Grammy nominee, multi-instrumentalist,
producer & founder member of Porcupine Tree, released his critically
acclaimed third solo album 'The Raven Refused To Sing' in 2013, reaching
#28 in the UK charts & #3 in Germany
In 2017, he shot back into the charts with his fifth solo album 'To The Bone' at #3
in the UK & #2 in Germany, which built on the success of fourth solo album 'Hand.
Cannot. Erase.', which reached #13 in the UK & #3 in Germany.
Originally released in 2011, 'Grace For Drowning' is the second solo album from
Wilson. A more experimental & more eclectic record it built on the artistic inroads
he forged with 2009's exceptionally well- received Insurgentes. It is a modern
homage to the late 60's & early 70's spirit of using the album as an artist's primary
means of expression; combining jazz, classical & psychedelic music to create
"journeys in sound".
'For me the golden period for music was the late sixties & early seventies, when
the album became the primary means of artistic expression, when musicians
liberated themselves from the 3- minute pop song format & started to draw on
jazz & classical music especially, combining it with the spirit of psychedelia to
create "journeys in sound". So, without being retro, 'my album is a kind of homage
to that spirit. There's everything from Ennio Morricone- esque film themes to
choral music to piano ballads to a 23- minute progressive jazz- inspired piece' -
Steven Wilson

lack Marble Vinyl! High Vis were formed in 2016 from the ashes of some of the UK's best hardcore bands. Gild-toothed frontman Graham Sayle's anguished lyrics about life in working class Britain were familiar to fans of Tremors' full-throttle thrash, but alongside his former bandmate Edward `Ski' Harper and veterans of Dirty Money, DiE and The Smear, High Vis sought to transform that energy and intensity into something entirely new.Like scene-mates Chubby and the Gang did by pulling in unlikely source material from classic doo-wop or Micromoon have by combining everything from psychedelia and metal into their high potency mix, High Vis' 2019 debut album, No Sense No Feeling showed the band were never going to be constrained by any sense of genre rules or regulations. Its claustrophobic rattle bore traces of Joy Division, Bauhaus, Crisis, The Cure and Gang Of Four lurking in the shadows. 2020's synth-driven EP, Society Exists, was further evidence of the band's restless creative MO.High Vis' second album Blending sees them open their viewfinder wider than ever before.

Alongside longstanding favourites such as Fugazi and Echo and The Bunnymen; Ride and even Flock Of Seagulls were shared reference points as the band worked on the album together.From the anthemic sweep of opener "Talk For Hours", through the title track's psychedelic swirl and "Fever Dream"'s baggy groove, it sees High Vis' sound blossoming into something with an unlimited richness. The hazy drift of "Shame" or the melodic jangle of "Trauma Bonds" may take them until uncharted waters, but they still have all the power and bite that made No Sense No Feeling so remarkable.Lyrically, the album represents another leap forward too. Talking frankly about poverty, class politics, and the challenges of everyday life, Sayle's lyrics have always addressed the downtrodden and discarded communities across Britain slipping below the waterline. This time around, Sayle's lost not of that social consciousness, but he's looked at himself and his own emotional landscape, and in the process created something that feels more universal, that reaches a hand-out to people and ultimately gives a message of hope."To me, the lyrics are less selfish," reflects Sayle. "In the past, I couldn't see past whatever was going on with me.

It's about accepting things and being open to conversations and learning to talk to people rather than just thinking that we're all doomed."The song "Talk for Hours" is a prime example of that. Born out of an afternoon meeting up with an old group of mates "repeating the same thing and not actually learning anything about each other" it offers to actually break the cycle and to listen and speak frankly about shared feelings and experiences. "Trauma Bonds", meanwhile, traces the broken lines of those living in lost communities, but ultimately realises that despite our shared scars, there's still hope to move on to a better future."The message of the album is you're not who you're told you are," Sayle summarises. "You're not your class background. Whatever it is, you're not that. Don't resign yourself to thinking you can't be this and you can't be that."It's a vitally important message right now, and one that could be the motto for not only Blending, but for High Vis themselves.

Aim 2 Pleez was a label made primarily for N-Zo & DJ Invincible to have an outlet for jungle in the early days of the genre but they definitely leaned more towards the more musical side of the sound. The label didn’t last that long but the end result is that the few releases on the label are now very sought after, fetching absurd prices on second hand websites, and this EP is in particular demand.

They are two tracks of immense proportions, that not only appeal to the junglists but to breakbeat hardcore lovers alike. A proper crossover EP that has stood the test of time, sounding just as fresh today as it did back in 1994!

Second Editions is pleased to present two new complementing works by René Margraff and Malte Cornelius Jantzen, as a double a-side split album.

Margraff utilizes various beautiful ramblings from the one and only AL and weaves them together two floating pieces that are both a reflection and caricature on what punk (what about ambient?) actually is in the age of ever-bloodsucking tabloid consumerism and commercial image branding, and how to keep your head up as a protagonist/heroine.

Jantzen's side pays homage to a time when a kickflip down a flight of stairs mostly ended in bruised hands and knees. In what can barely be considered field recording, the sound of skateboard decks and wheels on cement and railing, the occasional shouts and murmurs form a "real-time listening piece" (aka a moment), most aptly titled after AL's acclaimed debut album.

Second Editions is coming full circle and is calling it a day. Limited to 100 copies. Half on "not punk pink" and other half on "complicated green" cassette shells. For good luck and good vibes!

After co-writing a top five song for Kitty Wells, Mommy For A Day, Buck ended
1959 with a hit of his own, Under Your Spell Again. The next six years brought
many more; Foolin' Around, Under The Influence Of Love and Heartaches By
The Number. However, Owens’ popularity had peaked by the late 1960s. So,
in 1969 he embraced the small screen and became co-host of Country Music
TV programme, Hee-Haw. The arrival on the scene of Country-Rock pioneers
the Flying Burrito Brothers in the late 1960s gave Buck Owens another share
of reflected glory. They loved the raw Hillbilly feel of his music, developed to
compete with the string-laden ‘Countrypolitan’ sound so popular in the early
1960s in the hands of Eddy Arnold, Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline.

‘When There’s Love Around’ is GRAMMY Awardwinning artist Kiefer’s second album for Stones Throw.

For the first time, Kiefer is joined by a full band, including Sam Wilkes, Carlos Niño, DJ Harrison (Butcher Brown) and many more. Release to be supported with extensive global PR / radio campaigns and national and international touring.

For fans of Kamaal Williams, Kamasi Washington, Blue Lab Beats, Sam Wilkes, Moses Boyd, Yussef Dayes.
Kiefer is one of LA jazz’s most exciting new artists, with a broad international fanbase. Previous press and radio highlights include 6
Music, Radio 1 / 1Xtra, Radio 2, Pitchfork, Mojo, FACT, Mixmag, Drowned in Sound. Double vinyl cut at 45rpm for top audiophile
quality. Bonus track ‘thinking of you’ exclusive to vinyl release. (Not available on digital format.) Available to independent retailers on blue and yellow coloured vinyl. Headline European tour in February 2022.

Red Vinyl

ASSASSINS did what many bands do: they grabbed a moment out of the air and slammed it onto tape machines and hard drives with relentlessness, cunning, and an attitude.
It was in Chicago, mid 2000’s, and though there was energy in the music scene, it wasn’t coalescing into anything you could use as a heading in the musical encyclopedia. Drag City, Thrill Jockey, Bloodshot, Tortoise, Andrew Bird, 90 Day Men – amazing labels and bands, but discrete and siloed and separated by boundaries that weren’t very real.
In the midst of that complicated morass, ASSASSINS generated a collection of songs that became the album YOU WILL CHANGED US. And it did.
There was confidence built into the fabric of the project: 5 members, 2 singers, massive synced video walls and samples streaming from laptops swirling in three dimensions around the stage. They could go from subtle atmospheric moments to a gargantuan wall of sound instantly. It was hard to do- months in cold practice rooms troubleshooting sections of songs or reworking synthesizer patches put the band through a self-imposed boot camp. And it brought them together as a sort of hive-mind focused on one thing: that these songs could connect. They could cut through the noise and share a state of mind with other human beings.
And it worked. Those early shows were mind bending. It was fun, loud, drunken, and rewarding- that time together, before the record deal, before the tragic let down of being traded and gobbled up by the major label system. The years after that got more difficult, more complicated, more human.
Leading us here: the musical journey of the Assassins has ended. With the up-coming release of their second and final album THE YEAR THAT NEVER CAME, we finally get to hear, and feel, the final statements of their inspiring chemistry.
In July of 2021, founding member, songwriter and singer Joe Cassidy unexpectedly passed away. THE YEAR THAT NEVER CAME is the culmination and end point of a collaboration that started in the early 2000’s with a chance meeting and excited conversation with Aaron Miller at a gig in Chicago. Quickly joined by David Golitko on keyboards, Merritt Lear on vocals and guitar, and Alex Kemp on bass.
It was Miller who saw Joe Cassidy’s song writing in a new context. Cassidy had been known for his beautiful, post- pop inflected BUTTERFLY CHILD, a thoughtful, regal project where Joe’s emotions could soar. Miller saw a different context for that voice- not dreamy, but immediate, not just hopeful, but demanding. He took Joe’s open hand and suggested that it could be a fist, raised in the air, with a crowd of other people doing the same.
At the time of his death legendary composer and songwriter Jimmy Webb (who wrote such hits as ‘Wichita Lineman and MacArthur Park) said Joe ‘was a creative and generous producer but, more importantly, he was a creative and generous friend.’
With the release of THE YEAR THAT NEVER CAME, this band, this relentless creative force, has to finally relent. No one in the band could see a future ASSASSINS that doesn’t include Cassidy. So in one last act of will, for the love of their friend, they did the rigorous work of finishing the songs that they had started together for the second album.
Assassin’s obsession with the notion of time, from YOU WILL CHANGED US to THE YEAR THAT NEVER CAME, flows from the most natural question we all have to ask ourselves: what do I do now? Because: how we react today to life’s unpredictability - that is the tomorrow we build for ourselves.