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Early Moods’ sophomore album A Sinner’s Past is the ultimate dosage of classic early 70s proto-metal, 90s grunge riffing and timeless songwriting delivered with an explosive youthful energy. The Los Angeles area quartet burst onto the scene fully formed with a sound that somehow simultaneously merged gritty underground Street Doom with slick “big box” Heavy Metal melodies on their self-titled RidingEasy debut album in 2022. And it’s the band’s highly skilled musicianship paired with exquisite aesthetic taste — in addition to their killer live show — that has made them an immediate popular favorite. A Sinner’s Past takes those elements several steps higher with a nod to Soundgarden’s huge sonic depth, the low-mid fuzz drenched tones of Sabotage and classic 70s melodies and structures of Ulli Roth-era Scorpions. The latter in particular inspiring the album’s intricate tonal shifts and shimmering twin leads. “I’m very proud of these songs,” says guitarist Eddie Andrade. “We did a lot of different things, took a lot of chances and show a lot of growth, and I think people will pick up on it. I was trying to use more open chords, not the typical styles. We came off touring with Candlemass and Pentagram, sharing those shows with our heroes really pumped us up. We went into the studio just hungry to record.” The album was recorded near the band’s home base in Pico Rivera, CA by Allen Falcon of Birdcage Studios, who also mixed their debut album. “He’s a good friend of the band and we wanted to be more comfortable, in a relaxed environment for this,” Andrade says. “He had a lot of input and his ideas made a lot of impact on this recording.” The band started recording in May 2023, then worked on the album on and off for 3 months between tours, which also lends to its very refined sound. Early Moods was founded in 2015 by Andrade and vocalist/keyboardist Alberto Alcaraz after a few years of playing in thrash and death metal projects before the two realized that the classic doom that they’d grown up with was what they really wanted to explore. Going through a few lineup changes while delving deeper into the diverging influences that were calling, Early Moods arrived at the sound and lineup that grew their fanbase locally. The band released their debut EP Spellbound in 2020 on German label Dying Victim Productions, followed by their self-titled debut full length on RidingEasy Records in 2023. Early Moods is Oscar Hernandez on lead guitar, Chris Flores on drums, Elix Felciano on bass, Alcaraz on vocals/synth and Andrade on guitar.

Repress!

The debut album from soulful electronic pioneers Little Dragon originally released in 2007 was initially a record
slept on as no one in their right mind would have expected the future of soul music to come from Gothenburg,
Sweden. But there it is in the dreamy, rhythmical, shifting, moody rainbow creature that is Little Dragon. With
hindsight it is easy to see why some of the world’s top musical luminaries went onto fall over themselves to work
with them.
Includes the must own classics “Twice”; a master class in low key pop, with a sparse piano line offset by classy
strings and woozy synth wobbles; it is restrained, but never detached (over 100 million streams across multiple
DSPs) and “Constant Surprises” where Yukimi’s delicious vocal skips and glides atop hi-hats and bubbling bass
laying down the bands distinct soulful credentials (30 million streams).

Monika Enterprise welcomes a new act to her roster with Berlin based experimental pop duo Post Neo releasing their new EP. Individually known as Nicole Luján and Pauline Weh, both musicians pursued their own solo projects before forming the duo Post Neo. On “Alles Immer Wieder” they combine as more than the sum of their parts to produce 5 songs of dark and powerful experimental avant- pop which is released as an exclusive 10” vinyl.

Pauline and Nicole met making music in Berlin during the summer of 2019 and kept collaborating online, until Nicole moved to Berlin in 2022. The musicians' different musical backgrounds result in diverse intuitions which complement each other perfectly when producing tracks together - Nicole was more into synthesis and electronic music production in Mexico City while Pauline received a classical piano education in Munich before she started doing electronic music.

In 2022 they released their first EP, «do you?», which consists of five tracks that were composed and produced as an inter-continental project between Berlin and Mexico City. In autumn of that year Post Neo received a residency at Sternhagen Gut from Musicboard Berlin where they caught the ear of monika head Gudrun Gut who was so taken with their compelling mix of techno beats and dreamy melancholic atmospheres she immediately signed them to her label.

The EP’s opening and title track “Alles Immer Wieder” (trans. Everything again and again) is a reflection on repetition and monotony as transcendence in the form of sleep, dreams, work and other daily cycles. The rhythmic juxtapositions and tempo shifts make for a captivating opening track. “Ganz Schön Was Los” (trans. A lot happening) has a proper synthwave electro pop vibe while the vocals lend a little light hearted humanity to the otherwise calculated computer music aesthetic. With its fusion of synthesizers and drum machines track B1 “Die Verwirrung” (trans. The confusion) brings a sense of melancholic doom. The flow of B2 “Wenn Wir Wüssten” (trans. If we knew what would happen) is a future-focused reflection on the unidirectional movement of time's arrow. Sampled harmonies and instrumental breakdowns make it possibly the most emotive track on the EP. And the record comes to a close with “Dreh dich” (trans. Turn around) which lures us in with delicate vocals before menacing synthesizer sounds blast us into oblivion. It is an invitation to turn the record over and start listening from the beginning again.

Post Neo’s music is steeped in minimalism: at once managing to be hugely expressive and evocative while still retaining a sense of privacy and mystery for the listener to decrypt. Like all great pop music their songs are musically captivating while also conveying a strong message. As their band name suggests, Post Neo are essentially futuristic and with live shows at some of Berlin’s hottest underground venues under their belt as well as in their hometowns of Munich and Mexico City, plus the release of „Alles Immer Wieder“ in 2024, great things are in store for the electronic pop duo.

"The Night is The Night is the ambitious follow-up to singer, pianist and composer Rotem Geffen’s seminal debut You Guard the Key. For this new recording she’s been collaborating with producer Alex Zethson (keyboardist with Sven Wunder, Mariam the Believer, Goran Kajfes Tropiques, Angles 9, Fire! Orchestra) and co-producer/mixing engineer Anton Toorell (Dammit I’m Mad, Invader Ace), and together with some of Stockholm’s finest musicians they’ve created an irresistible masterpiece. The instrument setting varies, but the piano and voice form a common thread. However, on 'Ich vermisse dich,' the piano sound is abstracted by a felt-covered tone, while on 'River,' the spoken voice is intertwined with Hernandez's violin. 'I Always Know' stands out as the only song with a clear percussive rhythmic element, skillfully crafted by percussionist and sound artist Henrik Olsson.

Unlike her debut album, this release prominently showcases the harmonium as a recurring instrument in its sound palette. Additionally, the album introduces the flute as a new element. Isak Hedtjärn, a longstanding collaborator with Rotem Geffen, expands beyond playing clarinet and bass clarinet. Notably, on 'I Beg,' Hedtjärn's flute and Leo Svensson Sander's cello elegantly spiral upwards, as if entwined in each other. The lyrics, written in German, English and Hebrew, explore themes of memoring, love, grief, loss, and the night as a vibrating room. The ”I” and the ”You” are drawn as relational organisms, with boundaries that shift, blur and are redrawn in the encounter with each other. With a varied and dynamic instrumentation, the songs are imbued with a naïve shimmer that is balanced by darkness, depth and a low-key intensity – in both lyrics and music. This work is certain to resonate with fans of artists such as Julee Cruise, Björk, Nico, PJ Harvey and Fairuz, to name a few.

A Jazz Dance Favourite that Jazz Room Records Head Honcho Paul Murphy was hepped to by Brownswood and 6Music Jazz Supremo Gilles Peterson at the 20th Birthday Bash of London's most Underground of Clubs: Shiftless Shuffle.

Murphy: "I'd quite forgotten all about it, but when I saw the reaction on the dancefloor it was "Mental Note Time, get on the case for a full investigation and let's see some Vinyl re-issue action!"

The head of the original Danish Label, Pick Up Records, later reminded Paul that he was selling the originals in his original Jazz Record Shop "Fusion Records" when the original was released and that he, Peter Littauer, had actually delivered them personally on a trip to London. Synergy in action!

The music is a mixture of 100mph Latin Jazz (Girl With Three Faces/747 To Rio/From Dusk Towards Dawn) and Funky Rhodes driven workouts (Travelling/Circles In The Air), plus the vocal pyrotechnics of Hawaiian singer Lei Aloha Moe who guested on two of the tracks.

Second in a series of reissues from Pierre Jaubert’s Parisound studio archive on Strut Record IS Lafayette Afro Rock Band's elusive funk/Afro original album, 'Soul Makossa' originally released in 1973. Transparent blue colored LP

In 1971, an undocumented seven-member Afro-American ensemble known as the Bobby Boyd Congress made a transformative journey from the United States to France. Bandleader Frank Abel recollects, "We sensed that the soul and funk market was saturated back home, and our original plan was a brief 6-month stint in Paris. Surprisingly, we ended up staying for a decade." Upon lead singer Bobby Boyd's return to the U.S., the group rebranded as Ice and crossed paths with independent producer Pierre Jaubert, a seasoned studio professional with credits on groundbreaking recordings alongside Charles Mingus, John Lee Hooker, and Archie Shepp, among others.

Drawing inspiration from Motown's work ethic, Jaubert initiated regular rehearsals with Ice. He recalled, "I didn't want to mimic Berry, but with seven talented musicians collaborating daily, something unique emerged." The band, residing in Paris and immersed in the African-dominated Barbesse district, began infusing African elements into their music frequently performing with Paris-dwelling Camaroonian and legendary composer Manu Dibango.

Rechristening themselves Lafayette Afro Rock Band, the group's musical direction shifted towards predominantly instrumental compositions, characterized by a weightier, more intricate Afro-funk sound. Their debut recording under this new moniker, 'Soul Makossa,' made a powerful impact with a dynamic rendition of Dibango's classic, coupled with the intense break of 'Hihache' and the contagious 'Nicky.' Initially released by Musidisc in France and later in the U.S. via Editions Makossa, the album omitted the title track due to publishing clearance issues.

Despite modest sales upon its initial release, the album's enduring influence became evident as hip-hop culture surged in the '80s, establishing it as a primary source for samples and riffs. The iconic 'Hihache' break found fame in Biz Markie's 'Nobody Beats The Biz,' and tracks from the album were lifted by LL Cool J, The Beatnuts, Kruder & Dorfmeister, and numerous others.

Miles Davis' boundlessly influential On the Corner was so far ahead of its time upon release in 1972, the jazz cognoscenti rejected its groundbreaking concoction as middling in nature. Yet time has a way of righting wrongs and shifting views by adding needed context and perspective to visionary ideas, music, and approaches — the likes of which fill Davis' boldest and most controversial — undertaking. Designed to bring the focus back on the groove and bottom-end frequencies, the funk-loaded On the Corner revolutionized jazz. It also set new standards for record production, presaging remixing and electronica by more than a decade. And the work has never sounded more thrilling thanks to this very special pressing.

Sourced from the original master tapes and pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl, Mobile Fidelity's numbered-edition 180g 33RPM SuperVinyl LP of On the Corner exposes the internal mechanisms, free-associated playing, and then-unmatched studio techniques in vivid fashion. The low end, crucial to every composition here, is both heard and felt, with locked-in bass lines and low-range percussion conveyed as taut, solid, and visceral passages. You can discern the multiple layers of rhythm Davis employed on complex tracks such as "Black Satin," as On the Corner stands as his first effort to use overdubbing and multiple tape machines. As a pioneer, Davis likely would’ve loved MoFi’s groundbreaking SuperVinyl profile that features the lowest-possible analogue noise floor as well as pristine transparency, dead-quiet surfaces, and superb groove definition.

New degrees of spaciousness and airiness — equally important to the musique concrete arrangements — give the impression Davis and Co.'s creations float in space. Instruments are portrayed in three-dimensional manners, rhythmic loops retain tonal purity, and horn solos skitter across an extra-wide soundstage that takes listeners into Columbia's Studio E. Mobile Fidelity's SuperVinyl LP captures Teo Macero's innovative production — and the trumpeter's cutting-edge aural collages — in definitive fashion.

Heavily inspired by Sly and the Family Stone, On the Corner portrays street vibes and remains Davis' Blackest-sounding record. The conscious attempt to connect with youthful audiences tapped into rock and funk is evident not only on the colorful cartoon cover art depicting hot-pants and zoot-suit revelers, but in the music's emphasis of recurring drum and bass grooves. Distinct from Davis' earlier fusion experiments, the record's long-misunderstood set dials back improvisation in favor of beats, loops, and atmospherics that generate trance-like effects. While Davis utilizes his band for core duties — Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock prominently figure — he also relies on an all-star cast of side-men for concentrated soloing and additional support.

With rhythm providing the basic foundation, other notes fall into place, with their positioning steered by Macero and Davis' editing-room techniques. Looking to the manipulation-based work of Karlheinze Stockhausen and teaming with Stockhausen disciple Paul Buckmaster, Davis re-imagines what grooves constituted and could accomplish throughout On the Corner. The shapes of the songs become completely transformed as they progress. Faint melodies, spacey chords, chunky riffs, wah-wah fills, and repeated motifs bounce in and out of a sonic funhouse that wouldn't be out of place at a Harlem block party.

Exotic, intrepid, and filled with Davis' "jungle sound," On the Corner remains daringly hip more than four decades later.

Black Truffle is thrilled to announce a major archival release from legendary American composer and live electronics innovator Richard Teitelbaum, centred around his soundtrack for Suzan Pitt’s cult 1978 animation Asparagus. Best known to some listeners for introducing Europe to the Moog synthesizer as a founding member of Musica Elettronica Viva in Rome, Teitelbaum’s extensive and radically experimental body of work includes collaborative recordings with master improvisers like Anthony Braxton, Andrew Cyrille and George Lewis, intercultural experiments combining electronics with non-Western instruments such as the shakuhachi, works for computer controlled piano, and large-scale multi-media operas. Recorded at York University, Toronto in 1975–1976, ‘Asparagus (European Version)’ sprawls across both sides of the first LP. Discovered by composer Matt Sargent in Teitelbaum’s tape archive, this is a previously unheard major work for Moog modular and Polymoog synthesizers, unique in Teitelbaum’s oeuvre for its lushness and gently melodic quality. The music unfolds slowly, submerging lyrical melodies and burbling arpeggios into uneasy, glacially shifting harmonic swells, the luscious texture thickened with subtle changes of modulation and phase, calling up the shifting layers of Costin Miereanu’s classic Derives or the kosmische Musik tradition more than any academic synthesizer exercise. Teitelbaum incorporated much of this material into his soundtrack for Suzan Pitt’s Asparagus, which receives its first official release here. Asparagus, famously paired with David Lynch’s Eraserhead for a two-year run of midnight screenings at New York’s Waverly Theatre, uses hand-drawn and stop animation to unfurl an oneiric succession of images, beginning with a sequence in which the female protagonist defecates two stalks of asparagus, which multiply and float out of the toilet bowl to form the letters of the title. Teitelbaum’s soundtrack interweaves delicate drifting tones from the ‘European Version’ with contributions from Steve Lacy and Steve Potts on saxophones, George Lewis on trombone and Takehisa Kosugi on violin. Edited closely to the film, even without images the soundtrack proposes a surreal journey through floating synth tones, squealing horns, propulsive arpeggios, distant chatter, and an old-timey waltz. The final side of the set presents a new realisation of Teitelbaum’s text score ‘Threshold Music’, performed at a memorial concert at Roulette, New York in 2022 by Leila Bourreuil (cello), Alvin Curran (sampler and objects), Daniel Fishkin (daxophone), Miguel Frasconi (glass objects) and Matt Sargent (lap steel). The piece asks musicians to match their instrumental volume to that of the sounds of the environment in which they play, sometimes with the addition of recorded environmental sounds, reinforcing frequencies they encounter in listening deeply to their surroundings. Here the players use a field recording taken at Teitelbaum’s home in Bearsville, New York, their long tones and shimmering, glassy textures delicately emerging from the white noise of the location recording. Released with the full approval of both Richard Teitelbaum and Suzan Pitt’s estates, Asparagus is illustrated with striking images from Pitt’s film and accompanied by detailed liner notes by Francis Plagne. These previously unheard pieces shed new light on the work of a key composer in the American experimental tradition, offering up some of Teitelbaum’s most beautiful and engaging music.

Mode_1 Reclaim EP by DIG Records

Cover // Augmented reality by Omer Avarkan


********************************AUGMENTED REALITY COVER ***********************************

After a stellar debut release in 2023, vinyl-only label Dust in Grooves, sees its anticipated second EP Reclaim, showcasing one of Dublin's gleaming underground talents Mode_1. Establishing DIG as a progressive sonic platform, founder Olivia Mendez is also curating a series of dynamic augmented reality covers for each EP. Adding more layers into the sound experience of the Reclaim vinyl is motion designer and visual artist Omer Avarkan.


Mode_1's dedication to uncovering layers of tough but rhythmic grooves, both as a DJ and a producer, has led him to make a mark on legendary techno imprints such as Knotweed, FiedelTwo, Truncate and Naked Lunch. Staying true to his advancing, dynamic sound laid with dexterous technique, Robert Kavanagh delivers a collection of four ominous tracks, pulsating with incandescent pads and pacey drums.


The EP opens with the relentless and driving Sigma, setting the tone for a swiftly moving ride across the record. With playful shifting of gears and jacking rhythms, the A2 flows into the next track Dusty Room, utilising the bleepy pitches in contrast to the expansive spheric tones, offering an energetic boost of a melodic techno work-out, with hints of sharp dub edges.


Reclaim on B1 highlights the versatility of Mode_1, comprising multi-layered scales, evolving spiral sounds and a build-up of reverberating tones that escalate with poise. As a closing track of the record, Platform 8 is one of those B2 sides that you keep reaching out to. This ultimate big-floor tool is loaded with advancing movement, keys with mystical undertones, and depth of texture that play with the infinite nature of the number eight.


Unlocking the animated cover of the EP and seeing it come to life virtually, adds a new dimension to the classic format of the vinyls. To unlock its motion, follow the riddle on the back.


All tracks mastered by Nihad Tule.


Words by Lora Mateeva, Orb Mag

Ratboys have been recording and releasing music for over a decade, but their newest album, The Window, marks the first time they’d ever traveled outside their home base of Chicago to make a record, journeying to the Hall of Justice Recording Studio in Seattle to work with producer Chris Walla.

The sessions with Walla (Death Cab for Cutie, Tegan and Sara, Foxing) struck the perfect balance between preparation and experimentation, injecting new life into the band’s style of soft-hearted Midwestern indie rock with an ever so subtle Americana twist. The solidified Ratboys lineup stretched and expanded their vision in the studio, adding unexpected elements and instruments like rototoms, talkboxes, and fiddles. The result is Ratboys’ most sonically diverse record, shifting wildly from track to track. It flexes everything from fuzzy power pop choruses on “Crossed That Line” and “It’s Alive!” to
a warm country twang on “Morning Zoo” to mournful folk on the titular track. After more than ten years and four studio albums, The Window finally captures Ratboys as they were always meant to be
heard—expansive while still intimate, audacious while still tender—the sound of four friends operating as a single, cohesive unit. This release comes with a Download Code.

Ach, komm, ein Mensch kann nicht immer gut sein... This sentiment rings amusingly true for us. How did we find ourselves in this post-truth era, and why does such a term actually exist? In a world where distinctions between right and wrong blur, does the clarity of a black-and-white delineation persist? Are we progressing, or are we regressing to a state reminiscent of the past?

Weaving together the complex tapestry of gore, politics, emotions, and, of course, the human experience in this work is done intricately and reflectively by the hands of Christoph de Babalon.

Kaleida are the transatlantic duo whose darkly mystic soundworld finds glimmers of hope in the disquiet. Span- ning an ocean, the pair have nurtured a long-distance partnership that withstands the shifting patterns of life. They first formed in 2013 when a friend introduced them over email. Christina Wood was working in the Indone- sian forest while recording demos in her bedroom each night, and Cicely Goulder had been composing for film productions in London. Despite the miles between them, they found an instant musical chemistry.
Kaleida first came to international renown in 2014, when their single “Think” went viral overnight and was featured in the soundtrack for the cult Keanu Reeves film, John Wick. Their debut album Tear The Roots arrived in 2017 and crystallised the pair’s moody pop aesthetic, which merges Wood’s sylph-like, operatic vocals with Goulder’s neo-Noir electronica. The record earned the duo their sec- ond spot in a film soundtrack, this time for Atomic Blonde with a tender take on Nena’s 1980s anti-war classic “99 Luftballons”. It was followed in 2020 by the pair’s second album Odyssey dubbed “a consummate work of electronic artistry.” Their new album In Arms is a record that leans into a near transcendent spiritualism, where their minimalist production conceals a raw, celestial power. With a departure from their previously insular way of working, they invited other musicians into the production process, most notably producer Johan Hugo (Self Esteem, M.I.A, Skepta).

Code: Selfish is a 1992 LP by British rock band The Fall. Their 14th full-length studio album, it entered the UK chart at number 21, although it spent only one week on the chart.

The album is characterised by its harsher sound in relation to the previous year's Shift-Work, and is influenced by techno music (techno fan Dave Bush had been added on keyboards and computers).7 Despite this, the album also has some notably mellow moments, with "Time Enough At Last" (named after an episode of The Twilight Zone) and "Gentlemen's Agreement" being at odds with the overall sound of the album.

Largely recorded in a converted church in Glasgow, Code: Selfish features the group's only self-penned Top 40 single, "Free Range". The album would prove to be their last for the Phonogram label, as the group were dropped following the release of the Ed's Babe EP later in 1992. Simon Ford reports in his Fall biography Hip Priest that Phonogram had to compensate the band for the early termination of their five-album deal and that these funds were used to record what became The Infotainment Scan.

The album was re-released by Voiceprint in 2002 under licence from Phonogram, and also appeared in a double-CD set coupled with an edition of Shift-Work on the same label in 2003. This edition added "Ed's Babe" and "Free Ranger" to the track listing. It was reissued again in expanded and remastered form by Universal in May 2007.

SAICOBAB channels the vital energy of living music traditions through ecstatic performance. NRTYA, Sanskrit for "dance", explores the shared roots of Japanese and Indian spiritual practices in a tangible, intoxicating form. YoshimiO"s experiments in this field are well documented and legendary from her work in OOIOO to her work in the Boredoms. Multi-instrumentalist Yoshida Daikiti reveals the human hand that shapes living traditions, as much through his fluid playing as his own collection of handmade instruments, while percussionist and multi-instrumentalist Motoyuki "Hama" Hamamoto embodies the metaphysical power of rhythm. YoshimiO"s wild vocal acrobatics and inimitable range shift from hypnotic chants to ethereal atmospherics and darting melodies, ducking and weaving around Daikiti"s serpentine sitar figures and basslines. Hama"s solid rhythmic architectures and deft polyrhythms are here enhanced by additional drums from Taketawa Yo2ro, slipping from subtle pulses to thundering grooves that drive the music. SAICOBAB"s music exudes a true reverence for living musical traditions while remaining unbound by orthodoxy. The electrifying energy of the quartet"s performance is palpable in every track, eliminating established hierarchies with performer and listener alike entwined in the same cosmic dance.

More about the world has changed than not in the decade since dance production dyad Frank & Tony released their last full-length record, 2014’s You Go Girl. Despite, or perhaps in spite of, this shifting landscape, house music has managed to stay fundamentally reliable (either a bug or its greatest feature, depending on who you ask). Where previously, Frank & Tony have been celebrated for their contemplative, studious approach to the genre, with 2024’s Ethos, the Brooklyn/Biarritz-based duo return amidst metastatic cultural upheaval to prove out those scholarly credentials — with an album that serves to remind listeners why dancefloors and liberatory politics consistently share the language of movements and revolutions.
Undoubtedly, Ethos is tremendously influenced by the multitude of projects originating from, and supported by, the duo and their label in the decade since You Go Girl– releasing records from a vast diversity of artists (including Nadia Khan, Gry, Villete, Darand Land, Alex Albrecht, DJ Sprinkles and CCL), and Harris becoming curatorial voice of Brooklyn’s premiere venue for audiophiles, Public Records, where he continues to amplify work across a global diaspora (and where the duo maintain a residency of wide praise).

It is this bright energy and focus on the necessity of community and relationships that animates the aptly-titled Ethos. If past Frank & Tony releases have been lauded as ‘a coloring book in which someone has exclusively drawn inside the lines… with extreme precision,’ Ethos deviates by inviting friends in for a game of exquisite corpse. From singer and pianist Eliana Glass, whose androgynous, double-reeded voice freestyles across album opener Olympia, to distinct track features from fellow house masterminds DaRand Land, DJ Aakmael and Lawrence over half of the album’s nine tracks highlight artists in the larger Scissor & Thread circle.

Carpet is a band from Germany with huge influences by prog rock, psychedelic music, stoner rock and jazz. It's like putting Motorpsycho, Jaga Jazzist, the Notwist and the Beatles in a studio to create new material together. After their debut "Elysian Pleasures" in 2013, which was highly appreciated by listeners and the press (e.g. album of the month, eclipsed magazine), they widened their musical spectrum on the following two albums "Secret Box" (2017) and "About Rooms and Elephants" (2018) - all released on the Colour Haze Label Elektrohasch. The path to the new album began with a songwriting weekend in a tiny, remote cottage in the Italian Alps and continued in the band's own studio and in the studio of their mixing engineer Maximilian Wörle in their hometown Augsburg. With "Collision", Carpet recorded a strong and powerful album: "Some songs and parts were created in one go, almost from the gut, and are bursting with energy. Others were worked out down to the last detail and developed into sophisticated song structures." It is certainly this perfectly dosed, precise mixture of a heavy rock attitude with sophisticated songwriting and finely balanced arrangements that in a way marks the band's DNA.

After 7 studio albums with both Secretly Canadian and Western Vinyl Records over the last 20+ years, Early Day Miners have returned with their latest offering, and their first with Solid Brass Records, titled Outside Lies Magic. Early Day Miners' surroundings have always been reflected in their sound. Their early compositions, while in Bloomington, IN, mirrored the seemingly inescapable expanse of the Midwest. Now based in New Orleans their sound has yielded a subtle but correlative shift in the band. Outside Lies Magic offers an audible lightness. Most notably Dan Burton’s voice, once hushed and at times hesitant, is now full-bodied and sure; his heart, once tenuously carried on his sleeve, is now firmly in his throat. And though this might be the leanest the lineup has been, they are focused and warm, exuding the maximalism of their new home with nuance and a laissez-faire approach. Early Day Miners sound as unhurried as ever, but never aimless; Early Day Miners have finally arrived.

After 7 studio albums with both Secretly Canadian and Western Vinyl Records over the last 20+ years, Early Day Miners have returned with their latest offering, and their first with Solid Brass Records, titled Outside Lies Magic. Early Day Miners' surroundings have always been reflected in their sound. Their early compositions, while in Bloomington, IN, mirrored the seemingly inescapable expanse of the Midwest. Now based in New Orleans their sound has yielded a subtle but correlative shift in the band. Outside Lies Magic offers an audible lightness. Most notably Dan Burton’s voice, once hushed and at times hesitant, is now full-bodied and sure; his heart, once tenuously carried on his sleeve, is now firmly in his throat. And though this might be the leanest the lineup has been, they are focused and warm, exuding the maximalism of their new home with nuance and a laissez-faire approach. Early Day Miners sound as unhurried as ever, but never aimless; Early Day Miners have finally arrived.

In 2014, Wye Oak released Shriek, their fourth album. It was a necessary departure for Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack, who found themselves on uncertain ground after two years of constant touring for 2011's Civilian, living on opposite ends of the country and trying to revitalize their creative partnership. Wasner set aside her guitar for a bass. Stack took on the band's upper register, playing syncopated, meditative keyboard parts that interacted with Wasner's voice, which was newly freed from its call-and-response relationship to the guitar_what had been, until then, a signature of Wye Oak's sound. "This idea and the ensuing creative reworking of our band did what it was meant to do," Wasner writes in 2024. "It ended a long, painful period of creative stagnancy and reconnected me with the joy of making music." During that period, Wasner and Stack were introduced to William Brittelle, the Brooklyn-based composer whose 2019 LP Spiritual America featured Wye Oak, the Metropolis Ensemble, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. His orchestral reimaginings of five songs from Shriek (Shriek: Variations, if you will) are the centerpiece of this package, which serves not only to mark the tenth anniversary of a great album, but to demonstrate the richness of Wye Oak's compositions. Stack says of Shriek: Variations: "It's like looking at the songs in a funhouse mirror. The songs on Shriek can be stripped down or embellished_this is maximal embellishment. William took the album and blew it to smithereens, looking at it in a weird, prismatic way." Through Brittelle, Wasner and Stack found themselves at the intersection of classical, experimental, and pop music. Further collaborations, like the Brooklyn Youth Chorus- featuring No Horizon and Paul and Michi Wiancko's string arrangements on "My Signal" from The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs, followed, as this connection fundamentally changed the way Wye Oak approached making records, incorporating an entirely new palette of sound into their work. That shift began here. Shriek: Variations may feel like a startling take on the material, something like light bursting into a room through drawn curtains, but Brittelle's arrangements are largely original to his first collaborations with Wye Oak a decade ago, suggesting that his maximalist arrangements have lived comfortably within the framework of Shriek the whole time, waiting for the right moment to emerge. It's a fitting reintroduction to the album, which upon its initial release was pigeonholed into the easy one-note talking point of being the "no-guitar" record. But even so, as that happened, Shriek quietly started to become a staple among Wye Oak's core fans. Here, with help from Brittelle's expansive compositions, the release draws attention back to the songwriting_how, regardless of the instrumentation, Wasner and Stack's uncanny musicwriting partnership at the core is what makes both Shriek and Wye Oak excellent. Joined by the Metropolis Ensemble, Paul Wiancko, and Lizzie Burns, Wye Oak turn songs like "Logic of Color" inside out, reaching towards a kind of pastoral bombast, Brittelle's aesthetic with Wasner and Stack as an anchor. In fact, "Logic of Color" in this iteration takes that "no-guitar" script and flips it, with Wasner playing the synthesizer ostinato on acoustic guitar at its center. If Shriek is a record that charts the depths of solemnity and inner space, its Variations, roiling in a sea of winds, brass, and strings, recolors that space and complicates it, a gorgeous, unexpected response to the original's siren call.

My Back Was A Bridge For You To Cross, ANOHNI"s sixth studio album, expresses a world view by shape-shifting through a broad range of subject matter. Through a personal lens, ANOHNI addresses loss of loved ones, inequality, alienation, acceptance, cruelty, ecocide, devastation wrought by Abrahamic theologies, Future Feminism, and the possibility that we might yet transform our ways of thinking, our spiritual ideas, our societal structures, and our relationships with the rest of nature. On her first full album since 2016"s HOPELESSNESS, she explains the creative process was painstaking, yet also inspired, joyful, and intimate, a renewal and a renaming of her response to the world as she sees it. "Some of these songs respond to global and environmental concerns first voiced in popular music over 50 years ago." ANOHNI"s approach since her last record has shifted from someone tasked with challenging global denial, to an artist seeking to support others on the front lines. "I learned with HOPELESSNESS that I can provide a soundtrack that might fortify people in their work, in their activism, in their dreaming and decision-making. I can sing of an awareness that makes others feel less alone, people for whom the frank articulation of these frightening times is not a source of discomfort but a cause for identification and relief. On "It Must Change," ANOHNI soulfully describes systems in collapse with a note of compassion for humanity: "The truth is I always thought you were beautiful in your own way // That"s why this is so sad." ANOHNI"s voice is sensual and smoothed, selectively reaching to the edges of what it can contain. "We"re not getting out of here // No one"s getting out of here // This is our world," she murmurs. A portrait of legendary human rights activist Marsha P. Johnson taken by Alvin Baltrop features on the cover, reflecting a 25-year relationship with the memory of Johnson that ANOHNI has held space for in the presentation of her own work. Elsewhere, the album artwork states "IT"S TIME TO FEEL WHAT"S REALLY HAPPENING". In some ways it feels as if she is reaching across her life"s expression, and has found a moment of unique composure, wearing her long exploration of disarming intensity, with the maturity of a painter carefully choosing her colors. "I want the work to be useful, to help others move through these conversations we are now facing, to move with dignity and resilience through this bitter dawning."