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Get ready for a musical journey like no other as Apollo Junction, the dynamic and innovative indie rock sensation, prepares to launch their eagerly awaited new album, ’What In The World’ on August 22nd. The members of Apollo Junction hail from Leeds, UK. Known for their electrifying live performances and genre-blurring sound, the band has captured the hearts of music enthusiasts worldwide.

With a strong and dedicated fan base, Apollo Junction continues to push the boundaries of their craft, creating music that resonates on a profound level. Apollo Junction’s new album ‘What in the World’ has been years in the making - born from highs, lows, countless gigs, and all the chaos in between. It’s the most honest version of the band yet, a record shaped by every late-night argument, every breakthrough, every crazy story they have ever told each other.

Recorded at Chairworks Studio with David Watts (The Reytons, OMD, Paul Heaton, and Kaiser Chiefs) the album also features tracks co-written with Eliot Kennedy (known for his work with Bryan Adams and the Spice Girls) and includes a track with a powerful guest vocal from Brianna Corrigan of The Beautiful South. Lead singer Jamie Williamson explains the importance of the album: “This album feels exactly right for where we are now. Every track is a snapshot—of getting lost, finding our way back, and remembering why we started. It’s about making something that feels like home. We went looking for meaning and realised it was right in front of us: the band, the songs, this record. ‘What in the World’ isn’t just a title—it’s the answer we’ve been chasing all along.” Leeds-based quintet Apollo Junction is made up of Jamie Williamson (singer) Matthew Wilson (guitarist), Ben Hope (bassist), Jonny Thornton (drummer) and Sam Potter (keyboards). Their shared love of live music and dedication to performing, coupled with an incredible hard-work ethic has taken them on this magical journey which has included support slots for Shed Seven, Kaiser Chiefs, Richard Ashcroft and performing at festivals including the prestigious Isle of Wight Festival. Coming up this summer, the lads will be playing with Blossoms, Manic Street Preachers and Doves

Jeremy Zucker releases his fourth solo studio album, Garden State, on August 22nd.The thirteen- track project explores the New Jersey-native’s growth since leaving his hometown as a teenager, with themes of nostalgia & what it means to return home carrying new experiences & perspectives. With sentimental melodies & introspective lyricism, the music leaves listeners to reflect on childhood, maturing, & the impermanence of life.

Originally conceived as a compilation of outtakes and live recordings from The Shadow Ring's 1995 stateside tour, Wax-Work Echoes takes its name from the first line of "Put the Music in Its Coffin," the title track of the group's breakthrough release. Lambkin abandons the bitsand- bobs approach, advancing the Shadow Ring concept with entirely original material that builds on the unit's self-mythologizing lyrics, celebrates the clicking of horse hooves, ponders on the sociability of rats and mice, and warns of the dangers of poultry. The first Shadow Ring album to officially include Tim Goss in the main lineup, Wax- Work Echoes reveals the group in its final and lasting form, awash in the outer bounds of atmospheric exploration, with Lambkin's familiar wry and morbid lyricism and the stripped-down angularity of amateurishly detuned guitars fully intact. While Klaus Canterbury and Tony Clark seem all but forgotten, and the shrugged off S. Fritz is listed on the liner notes as performing only "when required," Lambkin did solicit contributions from outside the inner circle. A bit of "Mambo Twist," lifted from a tape of unreleased Vitamin B12 material sent to Lambkin by Alasdair Willis, found its way into "V.E.R.M.I.N.," while an extended epistle contribution from Richard Youngs (and, technically, Brian Lavelle) would be employed in the second half of "Catching Sight/Of Passing Things." Released on CD in 1996 for Bruce Russell's newly minted Corpus Hermeticum, Wax-Work Echoes was recorded concurrently with intense rehearsal periods, in anticipation of the forthcoming "Rose Watson Tour," and was supported by a celebratory fanzine media blitz. The album seemingly absorbs the frenetic excess of the band's transatlantic travels; Wax-Work Echoes channels the trio's wilder instincts into an unresolved catharsis, not yet free of frustration or restlessness. Out of print for almost three decades and available here for the first time ever on long-playing disc, Wax-Work Echoes is a classic from the outer eddies of The Shadow Ring's sound, a must-have for any aficionado's collection: "A window slides, glass slips from frame / And canvas carcass breathes again." Throughout their legendary, decade-long run, the Shadow Ring were an enigmatic force on the international musical sub-underground. Before their disbandment in 2002, this shambolic rock outfit, formed by a group of rowdy teenagers in southeast England, left behind a mighty run of eight LPs, a handful of 7"s, and a spate of raucous live shows and cryptic zine appearances on both sides of the Atlantic, all which have bolstered their enduring word-of-mouth mystique. Beginning in 2023 with the first-ever vinyl pressing of the self-released pre-Shadow Ring tape The Cat & Bells Club (1992), Blank Forms Editions has been conducting a systematic retrospective of the storied group. Wax-Work Echoes and Hold Onto I.D. are the latest releases in a multiyear reissue effort that includes several LPs, a comprehensive CD box set, and a nearly five-hundred-page book.

LP comes with 24 page 8.5x11 full color booklet. In the blurred and memorial hallways of bygone time, to remember is to wander between the rooms of our own experiences, to appear and disappear, like a play of overlapping shadows. In music set drifting through the architecture of his own memories, Moses Brown weaves a story that oscillates between the past and the present, like a mason turning over stones to reconstruct his childhood home in this beautiful and disquieting soundtrack to growing up. On Stone Upon Stone, Moses' first solo LP attributed to his given name after several releases under the brilliant and despondent "Peace de Resistance" moniker, he moves sidelong into the realm of soundtracks with this score to the construction of his childhood home in a story spanning 1993-2023. Laid out in lush and provocative minimalist instrumentals, the album unfolds a story about the planning, partial construction, and dissolution of a home in constant state of becoming through the lens of its only child, coming of age under flux. Influenced by the approach of friends and collaborators Straw Man Army's OST to Charles Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle, Stone Upon Stone was originally intended as a soundtrack to a novel of the same name by Wieslaw Mysliwski, an epic set in Poland about a family's construction of a mausoleum. Struck by the story's parallels with his own family's project, he got the idea to complete the work as a personal narrative. Created from layers of different mellotron voices then separated, re-amplified, and recorded as if they were a sitting chamber orchestra, the music eerily blurs the line between human and synthetic, giving way to something akin to a memory with it's blurriness of fact and fiction. In the same spirit of association, this record is certainly influenced by other minimalists working within the confines of "soundtrack", like Philip Glass' North Star and the film work of Michael Nyman. But Brown's soundtrack works within its own peculiar depth of field, living in the listener's imagination, thriving in its own sense of loneliness, aspiration, and confusion that only childhood can evoke. Listeners will feel the entropy of aging in Stone Upon Stone, like a memoir in cascading tones, that sets it apart from so much else in DIY music, and rewards with repeated listens. For Fans of Philip Glass, Kali Malone, Julius Eastman, Mica Levi, Roedelius.

High Roller Records, reissue 2023, black vinyl, ltd 250, 2 inserts, poster, mastered for Vinyl by Patrick W. Engel at Temple of Disharmony

The Fuse album was remastered at Abbey Road in 2023.  The album includes an extra unheard track from the period called New Liberty. Artwork is by Chris Bigg of V23.
The second in a series of archive releases by Cranes, Fuse was recorded in Portsmouth, their home town by siblings Alison and Jim Shaw. It originally appeared as a cassette album in 1986 on the Bite Back! label. With an initial run of only 200 copies, over the years this album, with its distinctive purple cover has been highly sought after amongst fans, often exchanging hands for more than £100. 

FUSE showcases a sparser, darker and more industrial, post punk sound. From the hypnotic allure and rhythmic intensity of the title track to the ferocious and challenging beats of Wrench, the songs are just as mesmerising as Cranes' later, critically acclaimed releases.  

Recorded in a garage on a 4 track porta-studio, the band spent many months experimenting and became obsessed with the recording process. Jim Shaw used a very early sampling pedal to create the drum sounds, which were all individually triggered. The only and first ‘industry’ person to hear anything by Cranes at this time was Martin Hannett (legendary producer of Joy Division and New Order).  He was looking for unsigned bands to appear on a new music TV show in Manchester and so Ian Binnington from Biteback! sent him a compilation tape of many Portsmouth bands. Hannett picked out ‘Fuse - original version” by Cranes and told Ian that the track was ‘fucking great’.   

Following their sold out gigs in October 2023 in London and Portsmouth, Cranes will be playing the following shows in May, supported by deary*: Tue 30th April BRUSSELS, Botanique, L’orangerie (Sold-Out) Thu 9th May LEEDS, Brudenell Social Club* Sat 11th May LONDON, Islington Assembly Hall* Mon 27th May BARCELONA, Primavera @Apolo.

A“This album is about what it means to be human, and its creation is my offering. I attempt to tell a tale of the human experience in the reflection of my own.”

‘In the Andean mythology, condors are believed to be immortal. It is said that once they feel old, without energy, and useless, they climb to the highest peak and let themselves fall to death.’

The Allegorist is a visionary, enigmatic, transmedia, and boundary-pushing artist known for crafting deep, immersive dark sonic tales. Embracing a wide array of influences, weaving together the mysteries, art and spirituality, the art project defies categorisation, resonating with those who seek the unconventional.

From Birth Until Death is an introspective and immersive concept album that reflects on the essence of the human experience. Crafted over six years by The Allegorist (aka Anna Jordan), the album traces the arc of life—from its fragile beginnings to its inevitable end—using sound art to explore existential and philosophical terrain. Inspired by the Andean mythology of the condor – a symbol of immortality – the album blends electronic soundscapes with raw field recordings, evoking a deep sense of connection between the natural world and human existence.

The album’s progression mirrors the stages of life, starting with the birth of new beginnings and culminating in death, with each track offering a unique reflection on the moments in between. From the dynamic energy of Momentum, to the ethereal, illusionary world of Fata Morgana, the tracks guide the listener through emotions, perceptions, and experiences that shape the human condition.

A distinctive feature of From Birth Until Death is its intricate production. The album incorporates field recordings from Grunewald Forest, a distant roar of a jet, barking dogs, blending the sounds of nature – footsteps in the snow, birdsong, ocean waves – with layered synthesisers and electronic beats. The bass and ambient textures are crafted using an array of analog hardware, while all vocals, both lead and backing, are performed and recorded by Jordan. Some of the vocal takes were intentionally left raw, capturing the spontaneous energy of early recordings, while others were re-recorded to balance the album’s organic yet polished feel. Each element is meticulously crafted, revealing its deeper meaning as the album unfolds like a multidimensional, living sculpture.

At its core, From Birth Until Death is a meditation on the full spectrum of life. The album’s title track, From Birth Until Death, encapsulates this journey, reflecting on the passage of time and the unique experience of being human. The final track, Death, offers a melancholic yet beautiful exploration of endings, not as finalities, but as moments in the grand cycle of life. With its combination of evocative sound design and deeply personal themes, From Birth Until Death invites listeners to contemplate their own lives, offering a moving experience of reflection, growth, and transformation.

About From Birth Until Death
Words By Robin Rimbaud (Scanner)

From Birth Until Death is a deeply personal and reflective album and beautifully crafted. A detailed listen reveals that Jordan was in search of a profoundly human and authentic expression. In an era when so much around us seems defined by speed, Anna Jordan, aka The Allegorist, stands apart – aware that skimming the surface of life is neither sufficient nor rewarding. She reminds us of the value of deep, authentic listening.

The track Andean Condor seductively draws us into a smoky, blurred rhythmic soundscape, capturing the essence of the darkest Berlin nightclub, while Birth pulses with an almost shamanic transformation of sound, moving from the organic to the musical. It features a recording of Jordan’s footsteps in the snow in Grunewald Forest, Germany.

At times, the music feels almost sculptural in shape and tone – lifting, pushing, lilting, opening, and closing – where each piece is given room to fully develop. Many of the works blend synthetic sound with the natural, incorporating the human voice alongside environmental recordings: the wild waves of the ocean, a jet flying overhead, and barking dogs.

With From Birth Until Death, Jordan, like an alchemical architect revealing in the process of getting lost and relinquishing control, leaves us with a taut, immersive soundtrack in which to lose ourselves.

About the album ‘From Birth Until Death’
words by The Allegorist

“The album From Birth Until Death did not come easily to me. I started working on it in 2019, and it underwent many alterations over the years. I produced multiple versions of the tracks each year, but the album name, the track titles, and the album cover art stayed the same for 6 years. Not everything I did fit into the album’s final form, but I hope the heavy selection just made it better. I played this piece live in my techno live set between 2019 and 2020, and in the years after, I performed different art, ambient, and vocal versions of it, most notably the one at the church St. Marienkirche in Berlin in 2022. It just wanted to live and didn’t want to be finished. As I aged, this album aged with me. And now I’m ready to let it go.”

Braucht Musik einen Ort, an dem sie entstehen und sich ausbreiten kann, oder entwirft sie selbst die Topografie, innerhalb derer sie sich verortet? Der junge deutsche Saxofonist Max Treutner tendiert eindeutig zur zweiten Annahme, denn auf seinem Debütalbum führt er uns in Zen Garden, der nur durch seine musikalische Vision existiert. Mit einem hingebungsvollen Sinn für Bewegung und Detail entführt er seine Hörerschaft aus ihrem jeweiligen Alltag an diesen besonderen Schauplatz, um den immerwährenden Trott mit all seinen Sorgen und Konflikte abzuwerfen, durch eine Luke zu schlüpfen und sich einfach im Sog der Musik fallenzulassen. Vom ersten bis zum letzten Ton lebt Treutners Album von einer beispiellosen inneren und äußeren Gelassenheit. "Zen Garden" ist eine Einladung, den vier Musikern auf dem Album so viel Vertrauen entgegenzubringen, um aus einem passiven Hörvergnügen ein aktives Moment der Sensibilisierung und Fokussierung zu machen.

Limited Edition ( 300 )

Heavy 180g Vinyl & Download Token Inside & Hype Sticker.

Full Colour Inners & Contextual Images
Curated & Sleevenotes By John Kertland Of CTR (English & French)

France-the 1980s. A local radio and studio system almost unsurpassed in Europe - add brilliantly inventive labels and producers with a sense of fun & adventure & the result ?

A golden age of Synth-Pop – Post-Disco..inventing the future ..celebrating the chanson of the past. Updating that for a new generation & a new dancefloor.

Virtually neglected until now - only the heads knowing...

Presented in the classic 45 (Quarante Cinq) 7" format - the way that these great records were produced for the radio and were meant to be heard at that moment..

Now, the "savoir" is yours also.

Hard to find 7"s by elusive artistes...

Glorious vocals ,soaring synths and irresistible basslines it’s all here ..

Bon écoute !

Oath’s latest release features renowned producer Kreggo, founder of Art-Aud and Secret Rave, known for his genre-defying sound and deeply atmospheric productions. Active since 2014, Kreggo’s music spans IDM, Acid, Breaks, Bass, and Techno, continually evolving with each release. His label Art-Aud is celebrated for its forward-thinking output. His new EP ‘Altro Mood’ includes three original tracks and a remix by Gilb’R, blending energetic rhythms with rich, emotive layers. Tracks like ‘Sensor’, ‘Labi Inside’, and ‘Obabi’ explore intricate sonic textures, while ‘Taylor Bottle’ and Gilb’R’s remix add further depth. The EP showcases Kreggo’s signature warmth, innovation, and ever-expanding sonic world.

As they landed from their extended hovering adventure – a journey en(capsule)ated by twists, turns and various chops – the Fast At Work crew found themselves drawn to the idea of a new, singular sonic flow. Always on a noble mission for a future-forward vision of higher-deeper tempos, the crew realized that often the most meaningful iterations of their gospel can be found in the most inconspicuous places – “not even noticed,” some might say. Within these subtle crevices, a rising duo emerged to carry this torch (disc) forward into new, uncharted realms. Taking inspiration from “Eteus,” the god of light and knowledge, this duo expertly crafted four original offerings, all with a distinctive, minimalistic fusion of breaky, hopeful expansion. While the title contribution echoes a sermon of oozing bassline flows and siren signals, “Drip Advise” equally mesmerizes with its spiraling melodies and strong percussive foundation. On the disc’s flip, the anointed duo broadened and refined their journey via the acid-tinged bedrock of “Creamavity,” while the final offering “Anxious” ironically synthesized the full pilgrimage into a polished musical (and vocal) definition – “release yourself, into the unknown.” With the hope of sharing this glistening gospel far and wide, the mystical duo prescribed a set of two reshapes from enlightened phonic gurus in their own right. While Wisdom Teeth’s K-Lone opted for the always reliable essence of strong foundational grooves and deep airy textures, Maara (founder of the newly formed Ancient Records) crafted an oceanic odyssey – over 10 minutes of timeworn atmospherics and sensorial sensibilities.

sferic land a debut album of thizzing and blown-out ambient trap x dub techno vapours from XTCLVR.

Produced under trying circumstances, Ukraine’s XTCLVR wrests an escapist sense of hazed beauty on a compelling maiden voyage for bleary-eyed specialists sferic, written and recorded during long nights under curfew and occasional shelling. Vocals are there, but mostly unintelligible, disrupted by a persistent offbeat churn and fragmentary instability, a paradoxically lush but anxious sound that reflects broader butterfly effects of war and its ripples of socio-economic fuckery on one level, and simply a trippy soundtrack to the afters on another.

Ten smudged shots unfurl across a 3D stereo space in gyring and shearing motion, cryptically shielding and scrambling a message meant to be deciphered by your sixth senses. A vocoder is diffused in aerosolised designs on the rugged lean of ‘Perspective’, setting up a chain reaction that buckles to more fraught feels on ‘Allergen’ and the ruptured raptures of a ‘Storm Shadow’ recalling Nazar’s recent sound design spheres for Hyperdub.

BSW948 lends nervous bars laced into the warped matrix of ’Night Shift Cut’, and OB3TH perfuses the iridescent dub techno of ‘The Wise Mystical Tree’, whilst Indy lends to the ambient drill of ‘Acid Flavour’, and closer ‘Dead Smoke’ perhaps best betrays, even if metaphorically, a feeling of psychic distress in its dank, submerged mire.

Soul Flip is back with the 18th chapter of this apparently never-ending story! And this time, Mr Soul Flip himself Del Gazeebo welcomes the return of super-producer Wonderlove for backup.

First up, Del gives his full attention to the Pointers Sisters' "Send Him Back" - a firm favourite with the Northern Soul crowd back in the day, and respectfully freshened up for 2025.

As you probably know by now, we love a "version", so on the flip, Wonderlove breathes new life into Johnny Mathis' cover of Willy Bobo's "Evil Ways" in devastating fashion.

Early support from Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show on BBC6 Music.

Brenda (Hudson Whitlock of Surprise Chef / Karate Boogaloo / The Pro-Teens) presents new album 'Bath Time', a suite of heartbreaking, cinematic indie-soul ballads from the hotbed of Melbourne, Australia.



Brenda encompasses the left-field soul sensibilities for which Whitlock has come to be recognised in cult instrumental groups Surprise Chef, Karate Boogaloo and The Pro-Teens, alongside heartfelt, introspective lyricism delivered in a sincere, delicate falsetto. Stylistically, lines can be drawn to the 1960s sweet soul ballads of The Delfonics, Jean-Claude Vannier's vivid arrangements for Serge Gainsbourg, and, of course, the unmistakable flavour of Melbourne's cinematic soul movement à la other Whitlock exploits Surprise Chef and Karate Boogaloo.



'Bath Time' contains ten entrancingly melancholic ballads that earnestly express Whitlock's dramatic indie-soul sensibilities; encompassing the classically introspective nature of the poetic lyricist and the idiosyncratic use of soulful instrumental arrangements. The songs encompass themes of old romantic habits dying hard, familial rifts and unrequited love.



True to his modest vagabond nature, Whitlock has 'released' six Brenda albums to date, each uploaded exclusively to bandcamp, gladly resigning the music to the underground. Whilst he created theses albums in solitude, playing each instrument himself, 'Bath Time' sees Whitlock relinquishes the isolationism of previous works in favour of including his trusted inner circle of friends and collaborators: Surprise Chef's Lachlan Stuckey and Jethro Curtin on guitar and keyboard respectively, Karate Boogaloo's Darvid Thor on bass, and production from Henry Jenkins (Surprise Chef, Karate Boogaloo, Frollen Music Library).

AVAILABLE IN BLACK ICE WITH ORANGE AND BLUE SPLATTER (COK015WW)

No one can help you build something beautiful quite like those who know you best. Alan Sparhawk knows this well. In his years in Low, he built decades of stirring music with his wife and lifelong creative partner Mimi Parker. In recent years, he has performed around Minnesota with his son Cyrus in DERECHO Rhythm Section, a funk band that also frequently features his daughter Hollis on vocals. There's an irreplaceable naturalism that comes with this kind of dynamic. Those who know you understand you. They love you. They want to help you bring your greatest passions to fruition. So it made sense that Sparhawk would turn to fellow Duluth musicians Trampled by Turtles to realize his latest record. As friends and mentees of Low's, taken under Sparhawk and Parker's wing from their earliest days as a bar band, Trampled by Turtles have performed with Sparhawk countless times over the years. The Duluth ties run deep: "There's a certain vibe that has to do with underdog syndrome, coming from a small town," Sparhawk muses. "Some of it is the weird grind and slackness that being at the mercy of Mother Nature puts in you. It humbles you." The two artists hold the kind of ironclad bond. Following Parker's passing in 2022, Trampled by Turtles invited Sparhawk to join them on tour to give him a space to be surrounded by friends. Occasionally, he would join them onstage. The outpouring of love was palpable every time they played together, a surge of warmth. When playing together is that powerful, why stop there? In winter, 2024, Sparhawk and Trampled by Turtles created With Trampled by Turtles, a record exactly as its name implies: Collective. Communal. Fraternal. Empathetic. A vessel for comfort, a reminder of the harmony that can exist when surrounded by those closest to you. Where White Roses, My God, Sparhawk's last album, plunged headfirst into electronica and radical vocal modulation, With Trampled by Turtles leans into the folk and bluegrass stylings of its backing band, Sparhawk's voice now completely unvarnished. With Trampled by Turtles is far more than just Alan Sparhawk and Trampled by Turtles. It's an affirmation of all the people who have been vital in Sparhawk's life and music, and an opportunity to hold each of their gifts into the light. It's producer Nat Harvie, who has been collaborating and performing with him for years. It's Sparhawk's daughter Hollis, who duets with her father on "Not Broken." And it's Mimi Parker, too: "Too High," "Princess Road Surgery," and "Not Broken" were all tracks she and Sparhawk had been working on in the last few years. These songs finally found a setting that stirringly commemorates them, bolstered by a full ensemble to make every note sing. Their presence is a kind of eternal connection to Parker, a way her musical grace will keep flourishing.

Known for her timeless voice and emotive delivery, Chantay brings soulful elegance to
a modern groove - blending classic R&B sensibilities with contemporary production.
This release marks a powerful moment of refection, resilience, and growth, perfectly
suited for lovers of real soul music and fans of artists like Jill Scott, Angie Stone, and
H.E.R.
Return of legendary 90's R&B talent Chantay Savage.
Still is a certifed modern soul classic gaining huge support from the scene since
it's digital release.
Produced by Chicago house music legend Terry Hunter & James Poyser (The
Roots)

Coastal County II marks the fifth release from Oslo-based Lomas Productions, the long-running collaboration between musicians and producers Lars Mellgren and Thomas Hauge. Following the underground success of their 2019 Coastal County, the duo returns with a new installment that expands their instrumental universe. Coastal County II continues the sonic explorations of its predecessor, expanding the palette with a rich blend of cinematic moods and classic soundtrack grooves. Across eight tracks, the album moves from noir-infused symphonics and beat-driven progressions to Anatolian-inspired rock, jazz-tinged vignettes, and mountainous melodies. While steeped in the traditions of composers like David Axelrod and Alessandro Alessandroni, Coastal County II adds a Nordic sensibility – rich in details with shadows around the edges. This is not just a follow-up. It's a continuation.

CATCHY, MESMERIZINGLY BEAUTIFUL, DREAMY CHAMBER POP WITH A FOLKY TWIST

Music can have a multitude of emotional impacts and can create inner worlds out of voices, sounds, and moods.
If you open heart and ear to the mesmerizing, hauntingly beautiful soundscapes of AURI, you might find a beacon of light inside a sonic realm untouched by today’s often scary, grim realities; a dreamscape that can be profoundly uplifting.
On their third studio album, III - Candles & Beginnings’ the stars have aligned yet again. Propelled by the unique and celestial voice of Johanna Kurkela, the magical textures of Nightwish mastermind Tuomas Holopainen and the almost unlimited musical palette of Nigtwish multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley, Auri have presented a world to be unlocked with the senses, blending folk, progressive and symphonic elements, world music, pop and avantgarde.
Right after completing Nightwish’s 2024 monument Yesterwynde, the songwriting for the third chapter in Auri’s musical adventures started in 2023, with Troy writing in Yorkshire and Tuomas and Johanna working their creative magic in Kitee, Finland. By Autumn 2024, a 10-song demo was complete, setting the stage for what would become another breathtaking Auri journey. The band and their trusted engineer Tero “Teecee” Kinnunen took the mixing process to sunny Spain, letting the Andalucian vibes infuse the music whereas in March 2025 mastering was wrapped up by Tim Oliver at the legendary Real World Studios - a ground-breaking recording complex started by Peter Gabriel in 1989.
The album is a tapestry of emotions - each song a world of its own, touching on childhood memories, vivid life experiences, and even a nod to one of the group’s most beloved places on Earth - The Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge, a historic spot nestled in the North York Moors and one of the most remote pubs you will ever find.
Visually, the cover artwork by Pete Voutilainen, layout and watercolors by Mikko Pankasalo plus calligraphy by Johanna Kurkela provide wonderful illustrations perfectly capturing Auri’s unique musical visions.
With guest musicians like Frank Van Essen (strings), Jonas Pap (cello), Juho Kanervo (basses), and the incredible drumming and percussion courtesy of Nightwish’s Kai Hahto, Auri III - Candles & Beginnings is as lush as it is atmospheric and provides astonishing dynamics.
Having been a studio endeavor in the past, Auri is finally going on tour with their first-ever live European trek kicking off in August 2025, followed by summer festivals in 2026, allowing you to hear, see and feel songs from their previous two albums, as well as brand new pieces from III - Candles & Beginnings.

Old-time and traditional music stay exciting for their contrasts. Exacting instrumentation honed through mentorships and late-night jams at fiddler's conventions tangles with a community-sourced inventiveness that influences variants and new sounds. Joseph Decosimo is a master of this genre for this very reason, blending deep technique with an openness and curiosity that keep his music crackling with life. A "marvelous fiddler" (No Depression) and banjo player who braids "exultation and veneration" (INDY Week) into his music, on his third solo album Fiery Gizzard Decosimo gathers a close-knit ensemble of friends from his musical career to infuse his interpretations of fiddle and banjo pieces with a contagious communal joy. As an artist working with traditional music from the South and Appalachia, Decosimo chooses songs based not only on historical significance and lineage but also his own sensory approach. For Fiery Gizzard, his ear was tuned to otherworldly tones and mystery, sourcing from field recordings such as Virginia fiddler Luther Davis' hypnotic version of "Shady Grove" while amping up the music's psychedelic potential. On the middle Tennessee banjo composition "Flowery Girls," a VHS of bluesman Abner Jay inspired Decosimo to rig up a pickup inside a fretless banjo and play it thr ough a tube amp to capture some of Jay's edge and funkiness. But to round out the sound and keep it kinetic meant galvanizing a genre-eschewing crew to jam out - and not in a "spaced-out drooly" kind of way, he laughs, but as a sort of "responsive conversation." Decosimo has always been a community-minded artist. He began playing as a seventh graderin Tennessee, fostering relationships with older players at jams and in homes, a learning mode natural to his inquisitive nature and desire for musical connection. A folklorist by intuition, he later became one by profession, studying with old-time legend Clyde Davenport, teaching in East Tennessee State University's renowned bluegrass program, and receiving his PhD at the University of North Carolina with a dissertation titled "Catching the `Wild Note': Listening, Learning, and Connoisseurship in Old-Time Music." In North Carolina, Decosimo kicked about in the verdant environment of Durham and Chapel Hill's folk and indie scenes, collaborating with artists including Alice Gerrard, Hiss Golden Messenger, and Jake Xerxes Fussell. This community has influenced his own music, including his "sublime and strangely heartening" (Bandcamp Daily) 2022 release While You Were Slumbering and Beehive Cathedral, Decosimo's 2024 "Appalachian mountain music treasury" (New Commute) trio album with Luke Richardson and Cleek Schrey for Dear Life Records. Continuing on this path, Fiery Gizzard is home base for a loose outfit of mostly Tarheel-based musicians from within and beyond traditional music. Inspired by a tour with fiddler Stephanie Coleman (Nora Brown), guitarist Jay Hammond, and synth builder and multi-instrumentalist Matthew O'Connell, Decosimo assembled studiomates based on close friendships and comfort. Coleman, O'Connell, and Hammond contribute to Fiery Gizzard, along with bassist and producer Andy Stack (Helado Negro, Wye Oak), horn player Kelly Pratt (Beirut, David Byrne), Mipso and Fust's Libby Rodenbough, Joseph O'Connell (Elephant Micah), andtrad/experimental artist Cleek Schrey. Decosimo's fiddle and banjo work is virtuosic, intricate and simple simultaneously, a testament to his many years of study. On some tracks, his playing or lovely, plain-hearted singing is the centerpiece, such as on his interpretations of Texan street preacher Washington Phillips' 1929 recording "I Had a Good Father and Mother" or the Eastern Kentucky fiddle barn-burner "Glory in the Meetinghouse," famously played by Luther Strong for Alan Lomax. But there's also a trusting open-door policy, like where Southern Appalachian tune "Ida Red" relaxes into Coleman's sweet, confident fiddling and Hammond's loping guitar. As a bandleader, Decosimo's confidence and enthusiasm for the music reveal the heart of traditional music and how it can come to life through community. Fiery Gizzard is Joseph Decosimo as a powerful champion of traditional music - a sponge who soaks up as much as he squeezes out, a responsive artist who makes his genre accessible, and a magnet who can bring musicians of all sorts into his orbit with his same passion.

One of the absolute classics from the Swedish prog-rock scene, for the first time ever on vinyl! The Hemulic Voluntary Band (2007) is the fourth studio album by Swedish progressive rock band Ritual. Its title references a fictional brass band from Tove Jansson's Moomin universe, but the music leans more toward folk, symphonic rock, and '70s-style prog, resulting in a richly imaginative sound. Although not a concept album, it's thematically tied by literary influences and a sense of childlike wonder. Drawing on Jansson's work, the lyrics explore imagination, nature, and the fantastical. Ritual's songwriting focuses on storytelling and emotional depth, creating an immersive experience. Critics praised the album's inventive arrangements and emotional range. It's mix of complexity and accessibility appeals to both prog fans and casual listeners, with a strong balance of technique and feeling. In short, The Hemulic Voluntary Band showcases Ritual's skill at crafting intricate yet heartfelt music. Its fusion of folk, rock, and prog, paired with thoughtful lyrics, makes it a standout in the genre.