Suche:shutter

This recorded autobiography of Catherine Howe, age 20, briefly appeared in 1971. Too young for memoirs, most artists have barely established any sort of musical competence by the age of legal adulthood, let alone compositions matching the maturity and complexity of Howe's. What A Beautiful Place, however, is a prodigious effort wrought from the melancholy ruminations of post-adolescence. The album's twelve songs unfold like a classic bildungsroman, beginning in the smoke-stained industrial county of Yorkshire, transformed by the electrified creative landscape of mid-century London, and retiring to the warm pastoral bliss of the county of Dorset on England's southern coast. Produced by noted jazz pianist Bobby Scott, the LP_oft-mistaken for a concept album_was available for only a month in the summer of 1971, disappearing after Reflection Records' shuttering in 1971.

This recorded autobiography of Catherine Howe, age 20, briefly appeared in 1971. Too young for memoirs, most artists have barely established any sort of musical competence by the age of legal adulthood, let alone compositions matching the maturity and complexity of Howe's. What A Beautiful Place, however, is a prodigious effort wrought from the melancholy ruminations of post-adolescence. The album's twelve songs unfold like a classic bildungsroman, beginning in the smoke-stained industrial county of Yorkshire, transformed by the electrified creative landscape of mid-century London, and retiring to the warm pastoral bliss of the county of Dorset on England's southern coast. Produced by noted jazz pianist Bobby Scott, the LP_oft-mistaken for a concept album_was available for only a month in the summer of 1971, disappearing after Reflection Records' shuttering in 1971.

In celebration of its 10th anniversary, Rhymesayers created this limited edition 3xLP vinyl package that includes a gatefold jacket with revised art layouts, printed sleeves, a 4-panel insert with full album lyrics, two cream & black marble-colored vinyl, and a UV printed ultra-clear bonus disc vinyl with four exclusive bonus tracks! Whether you're a vinyl enthusiast or simply appreciate great lyricism, this album is a must for any collection. Initially released in 2012, Aesop Rock's sixth studio album Skelethon marked a significant moment in the rapper's career. It had been 5 years since his previous effort None Shall Pass was released, and his former label had since been shuttered. As a result, Skelethon became his first solo release on Rhymesayers Entertainment. Coincidentally, it was also his first album that was entirely self produced. The album's title, a portmanteau of "skeleton" and "telethon," was a metaphor for what felt like a long period of many adversities for Aesop. Throughout the album's 15 tracks, he meticulously exhumes and examines these many skeletons in detail, exploring everything from death to distrust, insecurity and isolation, with moments of humor and hope scattered throughout as well. Some of the many standout tracks from the release include "Zero Dark Thirty," a rapid-fire exploration of displeasure over dizzying drums, "ZZZ Top," an impressive ode to youthful expression, and "Cycles to Gehenna," with its haunting production and imaginative musings. Upon release, Skelethon was praised for its intricate storytelling that expertly balanced abstract imagery with concrete details, and its immersive production incorporating sample-based beats with dusty pianos, distorted guitars, and psychedelic synths. To this day, the album remains a fan favorite and a critical darling, praised for its poignant introspection and razor-sharp wordplay.

Don Glori, a.k.a multi-instrumentalist Gordon Li, returns with a remix EP that tears open five tunes from his groundbreaking debut, Welcome.

Taking an opportunity to sink into some of the ideas explored on the original album, the five remixes featured here sees some of Europe and Australia’s finest throw open the shutters and shine a light on Li’s inventive compositions and remarkable instrumentation.

Rosie from the Block, a.k.a Belgian multi-instrumentalist, producer and DJ Roselien, leans right into the percussion and drum kit playing that made Welcome so infectious, layering this with cheeky bubblegum-beat bass lines that lend the whole affair an incredibly smooth, street-soul styling.

Other key players include Swedish duo Mount Liberation Unlimited, lending their take on things an introspectively dark, brooding atmosphere that evolves into one of their trademark acid-house extended journeys; Australian radio DJ and producer Ennio Styles working alongside Liam de Bruin, hip-hop/soul duo Man Made Mountain, led by MC Cazeaux O.S.L.O, and an insanely infectious organic house take on hit single Dlareme by one of Melbourne’s finest, Teymori.

A perfect companion to an album that broke open the Melbourne scene and laid out new parameters for the quality of jazz, samba and funk-inspired music emerging from that city, Welcome Remixes breathes fresh life into this incredible album and reminds us just how goddamn fun making, playing and performing music can be.

Sasu Ripatti presents the third volume in his "Dancefloor Classics" series with five 10" releases coming throughout 2023. Music for imaginary dancefloors, released on Ripatti's own label "Rajaton".

--
”Look up, into the light” she said, while the camera shutter clicked. ”Like this? Does it look holy?” His neck felt stiff. Her reply: ”Yes, just like that. What do you mean holy? Like religious? ”No, more like trying to look very far, somewhere beyond what we can see.” ”Okay, stand still, I’m going to come close to you now. The light hits your face great.” click, click, click.

He noticed her fingernails. They were not polished. Natural. Even somewhat rugged, as if something wore out the fingers slightly. What had these hands held besides the camera? What made the edges of her fingernails drift off?

He thought it’s weird to look straight into the camera. The photographer had closed her left eye, the one not looking into the lens. Then it opened, she looked up, perusing the surroundings, then she closed her eye again, then looked up, closed, looking up, very quickly. It all seemed very professional. Maybe she calculated the light, making sure it’s close to perfect. ”What will these photos look like?” – the thought popped into his head briefly. It was liberating to think it wouldn’t matter.

”What’s that song playing?” he asked. ”Wait a sec, Ol’ Dirty Bastard?” she replied. ”Oh yeah, right. But the sample?” ”Hey, could you look up again, like that. No, lower.”

New directions: ”Look out from the window, turn left.” ”My left or yours?” ”Yours, I always try to think from the direction of my model.” How professional! This is a good shoot, so natural. Should I worry about how the photos look like? No, I don’t want to. His thoughts bounced around. What would the story be like? It’s a big newspaper, everyone will read it. Maybe someone drinks coffee and eats a stroopwafel while they do it. Will they place the waffle on top of the mug for a brief while, so that it gets hot and the syrup melts a little? Then it feels wet, and you can bend the cookie.

She broke his train of thought off midway through: ”Now turn right, but look left, and slightly up, but don’t turn your face right.” ”Umm, like this? Sounds like a set of pilates instructions.” she laughed ”You do pilates?” ”Yeah, it’s hard sometimes. Have you tried?” ”No”, she said. ”I’m not good for sports that are done in groups.” ”Yeah, but in pilates you can just be inside your mind, drowning in your private thoughts.”

”What are you thinking in pilates?” she asked, taking more photos. ”Well, mostly just which way is right. And which left.” click, click.

--

In 1980, Genesis P-Orridge and Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson (then of Throbbing Gristle renown) travelled to New York City to meet up at the fortified apartment, known as The Bunker, of famed beat writer and cultural pioneer William S. Burroughs and his executor James Grauerholz to starting the daunting task to compile the experimental sounds works of Burroughs, which, up until that point, had never been heard. During those visits, Burroughs would play back his tape recorder experiments featuring his spoken word 'cut-ups', collaged field recordings from his travels and his flirtations with EVP recording techniques, pioneered by Latvian intellectual Konstantins Raudive. Throughout the next year, P-Orridge, Christopherson and Grauerholz would spent countless hours compiling various edits, each collection showcasing Burroughs sensitive ear and keen experimental prowess for audio anomaly within technical limitations. By the time 1981 came through, Burroughs had relocated to Lawrence, KS in which to escape the violence and mania of New York City life. It is in Lawrence that P-Orridge and Christopherson put the finishing touches on the record that would be known as 'Nothing Here Now but the Recordings'. The album would come out in the Spring of 1981 as the final release for the shuttering Industrial Records, brought about by the dissolution of Throbbing Gristle. The album remained out of print until 1998 when John Giorno and the Giorno Poetry Systems included the album on a multi-disc retrospective CD box set compiling the majority of Burroughs seminal recordings.

In 1980, Genesis P-Orridge and Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson (then of Throbbing Gristle renown) travelled to New York City to meet up at the fortified apartment, known as The Bunker, of famed beat writer and cultural pioneer William S. Burroughs and his executor James Grauerholz to starting the daunting task to compile the experimental sounds works of Burroughs, which, up until that point, had never been heard. During those visits, Burroughs would play back his tape recorder experiments featuring his spoken word 'cut-ups', collaged field recordings from his travels and his flirtations with EVP recording techniques, pioneered by Latvian intellectual Konstantins Raudive. Throughout the next year, P-Orridge, Christopherson and Grauerholz would spent countless hours compiling various edits, each collection showcasing Burroughs sensitive ear and keen experimental prowess for audio anomaly within technical limitations. By the time 1981 came through, Burroughs had relocated to Lawrence, KS in which to escape the violence and mania of New York City life. It is in Lawrence that P-Orridge and Christopherson put the finishing touches on the record that would be known as 'Nothing Here Now but the Recordings'. The album would come out in the Spring of 1981 as the final release for the shuttering Industrial Records, brought about by the dissolution of Throbbing Gristle. The album remained out of print until 1998 when John Giorno and the Giorno Poetry Systems included the album on a multi-disc retrospective CD box set compiling the majority of Burroughs seminal recordings.

London based imprint High Praise are proud to announce the last addition to their roster. Having released a slew of heralded 12”s on Capitol K’s Faith And Industry Records, Darker Than Wax & XVI Records, London based producer & sound designer Dampé prepares to release his expansive and head-spinning new 12” ‘Glow’. With previous support coming from the likes of Tom Ravenscroft, Dummy, Bandcamp, Boiler Room, Mixmag, DJ Mag and Keep Hush, Dampé showcases why he’s making a name for himself as one to watch in the UK’s vibrant Electronic music scene.

Opening with the hypnotic arpeggio of title track ‘Glow’, the EP launches headfirst into a spinning world of driving rhythms and grainy synth textures. ‘Ravey Emo Tool (Like Me)’ provides a welcome moment of cloud parting serenity. ‘Twenty Two Savanna’ utilizes twisting, contorted breakbeats colliding against trance-like euphoria inducing synth patterns and shuttered vocals. On the flip, second single ‘Clay’ brings a dose of 2-step bounce to the proceedings, with an off-kilter but rock-steady groove. Atmosphere builds steadily as the gated notes and industrial effects of ‘Through The C10’ spill out of the speakers, before ‘King Tide’ brings the 12” to a powerful close with its rippling keys and avalanching waves of low end pressure. A truly impressive offering with incredible attention to detail.

Portland is a project born of instant connection, yet it’s also one
that has survived some of the darkest life can throw at them.
Dreamy songwriting bathed in beauty, the Belgian two-piece
thrive on pure expression, infusing their beatific, ethereal work
with incredible honesty. New album, ‘Departures’, pushes them
to the brink, forcing them to open up as never before, and in the
process discover themselves all over again.
 The story starts almost a decade ago. Sarah Pepels was new in
town, a music student attempting to make some roots. Hearing
music coming from down the corridor in her student home, she
knocked, and met Jente Pironet for the first time. One
conversation led to the next, and within hours they were writing
together, playing each other their ideas and sharing some
profound secrets. “We shared the same passions,” she reflects.
“We became best friends, soul mates… and the band emerged
from that.”
 The two won the prestigious De Nieuwe Lichting prize - one of
Belgium’s top honours for young songwriters - before releasing
their precocious debut album ‘Your Colours Will Stain’ in 2019.
Word quickly spread on their hazy dream pop - reminiscent of
Beach House or School Of Seven Bells - but the pandemic
pulled the shutters down on their burgeoning careers. As Jente
puts it: “We went through some difficult times, I guess. The
pandemic was very isolating for us both, and as a result the
music took on board those emotions.”
 ‘Departures’ was born of this. Put simply, it’s magnificent - all
the promise of their earlier work realized, it drifts between the
grace of Slowdive and a sense of classic songwriting that
recalls everyone from Fleetwood Mac, say, to Angus and Julia
Stone. Sonically beautifully and emotionally gripping, it’s a
profound song cycle, the work of musicians digging deeper than
ever before.
 For fans of Beach House, Angus & Julia Stone, Mazzy Star,
Ben Howard.

Portland is a project born of instant connection, yet it’s also one
that has survived some of the darkest life can throw at them.
Dreamy songwriting bathed in beauty, the Belgian two-piece
thrive on pure expression, infusing their beatific, ethereal work
with incredible honesty. New album, ‘Departures’, pushes them
to the brink, forcing them to open up as never before, and in the
process discover themselves all over again.
 The story starts almost a decade ago. Sarah Pepels was new in
town, a music student attempting to make some roots. Hearing
music coming from down the corridor in her student home, she
knocked, and met Jente Pironet for the first time. One
conversation led to the next, and within hours they were writing
together, playing each other their ideas and sharing some
profound secrets. “We shared the same passions,” she reflects.
“We became best friends, soul mates… and the band emerged
from that.”
The two won the prestigious De Nieuwe Lichting prize - one of
Belgium’s top honours for young songwriters - before releasing
their precocious debut album ‘Your Colours Will Stain’ in 2019.
Word quickly spread on their hazy dream pop - reminiscent of
Beach House or School Of Seven Bells - but the pandemic
pulled the shutters down on their burgeoning careers. As Jente
puts it: “We went through some difficult times, I guess. The
pandemic was very isolating for us both, and as a result the
music took on board those emotions.”
 ‘Departures’ was born of this. Put simply, it’s magnificent - all
the promise of their earlier work realized, it drifts between the
grace of Slowdive and a sense of classic songwriting that
recalls everyone from Fleetwood Mac, say, to Angus and Julia
Stone. Sonically beautifully and emotionally gripping, it’s a
profound song cycle, the work of musicians digging deeper than
ever before.
 For fans of Beach House, Angus & Julia Stone, Mazzy Star,
Ben Howard.

Close to five years on from their last transmission, Ulrika Spacek resurface from self-imposed exile with their third album, Compact Trauma, a collection of songs that function as a chance treatise of sorts for our current collective condition. With a title like that arriving at this point in time, it's tempting to interpret the record solely in the context of the global events of the past few years, but the roots of these ten songs arc back much further in time, charged with their own personalised internal damage. Trauma, in its myriad forms, is often hard to qualify, even harder to rationalise. When something begins to go wrong, how do you gain perspective? What is a temporary roadblock, and what is unmitigated disaster? In its first phase of life, Compact Trauma was a document of a band striving to perfect an idea while the universe around them seemed to want to shut down. And then, at an impasse of sorts and with a record halfway complete, it suddenly did. If Ulrika Spacek were a band in need of the breaks applying, it was the force of a global pandemic that made it happen. As the world stood still, Compact Trauma was filed away, unfinished and unheard by the wider world, possibly to remain that way forever. And yet, there was to be a second act. If mutability is our tragedy, it's also our hope, clearer days slowly began to emerge as the bad slipped away. The wound, as the saying goes, is the place where the light enters you. The prolonged break enforced by myriad lockdowns may have separated the group but it also afforded the five time to reflect on what had already been committed to tape.. As the lights came back on and the shutters up, they found themselves drawn back towards Compact Trauma. What they rediscovered was a record that seemed to preempt the shared grief of a global pandemic. Even if the specifics were different, the themes were uncannily similar. Addressing existential freak out, displacement, substance reliance and encroaching self-doubt, these highly personalised songs suddenly took on a wider significance, speaking in part to a bigger narrative. They could have left it alone, but in coming back to what they knew, Ulrika Spacek found their best work yet. RIYL: Mercury Rev, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, Radiohead, Deerhunter, Atlas Sound, Stereolab.

”Look up, into the light” she said, while the camera shutter clicked. ”Like this? Does it look holy?” His neck felt stiff. Her reply: ”Yes, just like that. What do you mean holy? Like religious? ”No, more like trying to look very far, somewhere beyond what we can see.” ”Okay, stand still, I’m going to come close to you now. The light hits your face great.” *click, click, click.

He noticed her fingernails. They were not polished. Natural. Even somewhat rugged, as if something wore out the fingers slightly. What had these hands held besides the camera? What made the edges of her fingernails drift off?

He thought it’s weird to look straight into the camera. The photographer had closed her left eye, the one not looking into the lens. Then it opened, she looked up, perusing the surroundings, then she closed her eye again, then looked up, closed, looking up, very quickly. It all seemed very professional. Maybe she calculated the light, making sure it’s close to perfect. ”What will these photos look like?” – the thought popped into his head briefly. It was liberating to think it wouldn’t matter.

”What’s that song playing?” he asked. ”Wait a sec, Ol’ Dirty Bastard?” she replied. ”Oh yeah, right. But the sample?” ”Hey, could you look up again, like that. No, lower.”

New directions: ”Look out from the window, turn left.” ”My left or yours?” ”Yours, I always try to think from the direction of my model.” How professional! This is a good shoot, so natural. Should I worry about how the photos look like? No, I don’t want to. His thoughts bounced around. What would the story be like? It’s a big newspaper, everyone will read it. Maybe someone drinks coffee and eats a stroopwafel while they do it. Will they place the waffle on top of the mug for a brief while, so that it gets hot and the syrup melts a little? Then it feels wet, and you can bend the cookie.

She broke his train of thought off midway through: ”Now turn right, but look left, and slightly up, but don’t turn your face right.” ”Umm, like this? Sounds like a set of pilates instructions.” she laughed ”You do pilates?” ”Yeah, it’s hard sometimes. Have you tried?” ”No”, she said. ”I’m not good for sports that are done in groups.” ”Yeah, but in pilates you can just be inside your mind, drowning in your private thoughts.”

”What are you thinking in pilates?” she asked, taking more photos. ”Well, mostly just which way is right. And which left.” *click, click.

Formed in 2005 in Sundsvall, Sweden, Technical Metal Masters SOREPTION are known for their razor-sharp technical riffs, schizophrenic time signatures topped with catchy chugging grooves and intense vocals. From this they have created their signature sound, not yet replicated by any other modern band, with a strong following to back. The band’s debut full-length Deterioration Of Minds brought major attention to the band as a formidable force in the genre. Deterioration Of Minds was released by Ninetone Records in 2010 and was rereleased by Unique Leader Records in 2014, and their follow-up punishing album “Engineering the Void” was released February 2014 also on Unique Leader Records to critical acclaim. 2015 saw SOREPTION take their technical prowess to the masses, with tours supporting extreme metal machine Cryptopsy, tech-death masters Origin, and the legendary death metal giant Cannibal Corpse. Following the on-road success, the industry and fans sat up and took notice, resulting in the band signing with Sumerian Records in 2018 releasing their next full-length “Monument of the End in the late summer of that same year. The album highlighted the growth of the outfit and continued razor-sharp precision that SOREPTION has become known for. Prior to the release of “Monument of the End” the band earned a spot on the 2018 edition of The Summer Slaughter Tour and followed it up with a support slot for Revocation on “The Outer Ones Global Invasion Part II” European Tour, solidifying them again as a live force to be reckoned with. When the world was shuttered from a worldwide pandemic, SOREPTION saw this as an opportunity to shift gears, refocus their tech machine and set out to create an album that is the natural continuation of ‘Monument of the End’, both musically and concept-wise. 2022 sees the return of SOREPTION to Unique Leader Records with the highly anticipated new album “Jord”, mixed and mastered by Buster Odeholm and featuring artwork by Caelan Stokkerman who handled artistic duties on their previous releases.

We are excited to reissue Kuedo's classic 2011 album 'Severant' on double vinyl for the first time, and with a bonus track 'Work, Live & Sleep In Collapsing Space'. The cover artwork has been redesigned by Raf Rennie (Who also designed Kuedo's recent album on Brainfeeder, Infinite Window). In terms of feeling, ‘Severant’ explores the space between the detached world of the imagination and the real-time world; that feeling of coming out of a daydream, on the edge of the drift from the day-to-day grind. Jamie says of this moment ”As reality shapes imagination and escapism affects your choices in the real world, there is a strange relational loop between the two and the space in between the two. There’s a bitter sweetness in that gap, it has a certain emotive quality, kind of in between being and non-being”. Again, musically ‘Severant’ is inspired by related themes. It sounds as if it’s in a sweet spot between the emotive, innately futurist synth soundtracks of Tangerine Dream and Vangelis, borne from a time when the very idea of futurism was more prevalent, in combination with musical ideas and inspiration from the emotionally ambivalent, materialist fantasies of ‘coke rap‘ such as The Clipse. Rhythmically the record is influenced by what Jamie calls ”the two ultra modernmusics of modern times”, footwork from Chicago, which Planet Mu has explored in depth on its recent releases, and again the drum machine grids of coke rap. Jamie says ”I wanted to capture a really futurist sentiment, kind of melancholy and grand luminescent, so I used the instrument that most evokes that for me - that sweeping Vangelis brass sound.” And on coke rap he talks about the emotional ‘half being’ of the music, the energetically charged, detached ambivalence of the MCs, and the admission that the MCs could be ”fantasising without admitting to doing so.”

Ali Farka Touré trekked the world, bringing his beloved Malian music to the masses. Dubbed "the African John Lee Hooker," one could hear strong connections between the two; both employed a bluesy style of play with gritty textures that elicit calm and fury in equal measure. While the influence of Black blues music prevailed, Touré created a West African blend of 'desert blues' that garnered Grammy awards and widespread reverence. Though he transcended in 2006, Ali's musical legacy lives on through his son, Vieux aka "the Hendrix of the Sahara," an accomplished guitarist and champion of Malian music in his own right. On Ali, his collaborative album with Khruangbin, Vieux pays homage to his father by recreating some of his most resonant work, putting new twists on it while maintaining the original's integrity. The result is a rightful ode to a legend. Ali isn't just a greatest hits compilation. It's a lullaby, a remembrance of Ali's life through known highlights and B-sides from his catalog. It is a testament to what happens when creativity is approached through open arms and open hearts. "To me, music is magic, it is spontaneous, it is the energy between people," Vieux says. "I think Khruangbin understands this very well." The genesis of the album dates back to 2019, when Khruangbin, coming off their breakthrough album Con Todo el Mundo, was beginning to playto bigger crowds. The record was finished in 2021, as a global pandemic shuttered businesses and forced us to take stock of what Earth was becoming. Indirectly, Ali captures this as a moment of peace within a raging storm, a conversation between past and present without allegiance to suffering. Now, given Khruangbin's reach as a unit with legions of fans (including the likes of Jay-Z and Paul McCartney), they're poised to bring Malian music to broader groups of listeners. Ali is a masterful work in which the love surrounding it is just as vital as the music itself, driving it to unforeseen places; Vieux and Khruangbin are spreading the good word to a completely new generation. "I hope it takes them somewhere new, or puts them in a place they haven't felt or heard," Lee says. "It is about the love of new friendship and making something beautiful together," Vieux continues. "It is about pouring your love into something old to make it new again. In the end and in a word it is love, that's all."

Ali Farka Touré trekked the world, bringing his beloved Malian music to the masses. Dubbed "the African John Lee Hooker," one could hear strong connections between the two; both employed a bluesy style of play with gritty textures that elicit calm and fury in equal measure. While the influence of Black blues music prevailed, Touré created a West African blend of 'desert blues' that garnered Grammy awards and widespread reverence. Though he transcended in 2006, Ali's musical legacy lives on through his son, Vieux aka "the Hendrix of the Sahara," an accomplished guitarist and champion of Malian music in his own right. On Ali, his collaborative album with Khruangbin, Vieux pays homage to his father by recreating some of his most resonant work, putting new twists on it while maintaining the original's integrity. The result is a rightful ode to a legend. Ali isn't just a greatest hits compilation. It's a lullaby, a remembrance of Ali's life through known highlights and B-sides from his catalog. It is a testament to what happens when creativity is approached through open arms and open hearts. "To me, music is magic, it is spontaneous, it is the energy between people," Vieux says. "I think Khruangbin understands this very well." The genesis of the album dates back to 2019, when Khruangbin, coming off their breakthrough album Con Todo el Mundo, was beginning to playto bigger crowds. The record was finished in 2021, as a global pandemic shuttered businesses and forced us to take stock of what Earth was becoming. Indirectly, Ali captures this as a moment of peace within a raging storm, a conversation between past and present without allegiance to suffering. Now, given Khruangbin's reach as a unit with legions of fans (including the likes of Jay-Z and Paul McCartney), they're poised to bring Malian music to broader groups of listeners. Ali is a masterful work in which the love surrounding it is just as vital as the music itself, driving it to unforeseen places; Vieux and Khruangbin are spreading the good word to a completely new generation. "I hope it takes them somewhere new, or puts them in a place they haven't felt or heard," Lee says. "It is about the love of new friendship and making something beautiful together," Vieux continues. "It is about pouring your love into something old to make it new again. In the end and in a word it is love, that's all."

Recorded live in 10 days, with minimal overdubs, Shuttered Dreams is a blast of uncompromising truth reminding us to stay awake when the vultures are circling. The album was mixed by Sean Genockey (Shame, Richard Ashcroft, The Who, Black Crowes).

Margate in March 2021 was a time to test your resolve. If the wind howling round the closed down shops and cafes didn’t send you spinning out of control the out of season coastal melancholy could drag you down as surely as any dead eye mermaid. Add in a murderous virus and a frozen gig scene and it was a time to stay frosty and fight off the demons. Dan had some experience to draw on.

“Instead of baking banana bread or knitting, I decided to upgrade my home studio but after a couple of months of writing it was obvious that the songs needed to breathe as much as I did. They’re all about real people and raw feelings and I felt they wouldn’t get justice by being turned into zeroes and ones so early in life “.

It was decided to record the masters live with his new band featuring Dom Hall (drums), Henry Gabbott (bass) and Freya Warsi (vocals) and engineer friend, Harry Armstrong. Armed only with a Vox Marauder, a skeleton recording studio, and a pad of lyrics, Dan moved in with The Tenants to The Tom Thumb Theatre which like everywhere was closed for business but had just received Arts Council recovery funding and was offering residencies for artists.

“Musically I wanted to try to work within a strict palette of sound, using the same acoustic and electric guitars for every song, and Henry’s Wurlitzer and Mellotron to flesh things out a bit.” Dan explains, “We played all of the songs live, sometimes up to sixty or seventy times until we were happy with a take, we might then add a bit of extra electric, percussion or backing vocals, but what you hear on the record is pretty much what was happening in the room. That makes me feel proud, as all the records I love listening to were made in that way.”

Up next on A Tribe Called Kotori, please welcome Berlin's very own Madmotormiquel - all set and ready to storm the house after several transmissions on an array of quality outlets, including our good friends at Katermukke. His maiden incursion on the label, "Bombo", will not only be released in digital shape as per usual for the rest of our catalogue, but also in 12" vinyl format - with the special and endearingly peculiar trait that each cover is hand-designed by Chrisse Kunst and Madmotormiquel himself, making these collectible one-off pieces of art to adorn your shelves with.

Opening cut and lead-single "Bombo" sets the wheels in motion at a slow and steady rate, progressively fleshing out its initially stripped-back funkiness with a polychromatic webwork of tribal rhythms, spectral synth murk and frizzling machine talk. The quirky "Kohiko" serves up a mischievous buffet of further syncopated moves and chirpy chimes pouring in cascades as a sturdy bass unfalteringly dictates the momentum.

Shifting the scope to no-nonsense floor-busting objectives in its first stages, "Timezone Chaser" slowly evolves from sheer DJ functionality to jazzed-up abstraction through perfectly inlaid superimpositions of processed clarinets, dubbed-out drums and an overall hazy sound design to satisfyingly lose yourself in. EP closer "Rodrigues" opts for a more jagged approach, as it fuses skittish snares and hats at the fore with deep and vaporous pad tapestries in the background, resulting in the kind of heavily FX-layered, acid-leaning sleepwalker that'll keep the dancers' legs in motion even though their eyes seem shuttered.

Featuring Squirrel Flower and Liam O’Neill (SUUNS). Recommended If You Like: Mount Eerie, Low, Richard Swift, the Weather Station, Lomelda, Fleet Foxes, Squirrel Flower, L’Rain. Cedric Noel is a songwriter, bassist, collaborator and producer currently based in Montréal, Québec. The newest longplayer from Tio'tiá:ke/Montreal staple Cedric Noel lands with a stunning sense of surety and self. Hang Time stands as a high water mark for a songwriter who's spent the past decade quietly expanding the borders of his music. Longtime fans will recognize the fluid elements of the album’s open-ended rock formations: reflective strumming, soaring choruses, searing guitar lines, subtle bass grooves; all occasionally dissolving into pools of pure ambience. New listeners will find surprises throughout: threads of folk pop, ambient and sound collage fasten the foundations of this expressive whole. However, what’s most striking on Hang Time is Noel’s newfound sense of voice, both literal and metaphorical. Written primarily in 2017-18 during an intense period of self-reflection, this collection of songs finds Noel wrestling profoundly with his sense of identity, self and place. The album’s material was captured faithfully at The Pines, a beloved downtown Montreal studio whose doors shuttered shortly after amidst the strain of the pandemic. Noel worked closely and patiently with friend and engineer Steve Newton, ensuring the songs had the time and space needed to come fully to fruition. Hang Time features subtle rhythm work from drummer Liam O’Neill (SUUNS) and guest spots from Brigitte Naggar (Common Holly) and Tim Crabtree (Paper Beat Scissors) among others. The album opens in mid-air with ‘Comuu’, a song that implores a becoming-more while hovering triumphantly. Then follows a suite of songs (‘Headspace’, ‘Keep’, ‘Stilling’) that recall the heart-rending power of y2k-era Low, albeit with a more vigorous beat. On ‘Bass Song’, an intimate duet with musician Ella Williams (Squirrel Flower) that explores the depths of interpersonal constriction. At the crux of the album sits ‘Born’, a deceptively pleasant-sounding song that explores the confounding emotionality of adoption before fading into a distended soundfield. Throughout the back half of the album, Noel double’s down on this commitment to his genuine, proud, Black self. The most confrontational track, ‘Allies’ finds him refraining “Are you on my side?” as a trailing guitar solo interweaves a Malcolm X soundbite, eventually engulfing the composition. Glorious lead single ‘Nighttime (Skin)’ traces the artist’s sense of ancestral dissociation through to a triumphant moment of pride in self-acceptance. Throughout Hang Time, Noel finds a way to ask hard questions (both of the listener and himself) in ways that are compassionate, open and honest. The ebb and flow of tension and tenderness that moves within these tracks helps to grow the heart and redefine what Black music can be in 2021.

To a degree, all musicians are a product of their environment, the places they record and the venues they play. For proof, check out the alumni of the n-wave era CBGBs venue in New York, Cabaret Voltaire’s Western Works studio in Sheffield or more recently London’s Total Refreshment Centre.

We can now add to that list the Constellations Workshop in Colwick, Nottingham, a project that provides employment through making studio furniture, for out-of-work musicians. It was here, after-hours, that the music on Brown Fang’s impressive and ear-catching debut album took shape.

Both members of Brown Fang, bassist John Thompson and guitarist Henry Scott AKA Henry Claude, have a long association with the Constellations Workshop. Though their musical projects are manifold – Thompson having toured with the likes of The Nectarine No9 and The Selecter, with Scott being both a mainstay of Nottingham jazz circuit and recording ambient music as Fang Jr – the work provided by the community-minded project has kept their heads above water and allowed them a space to record in when the shutters go down and the bandsaws get switched off.

Yet the music showcased on Sherwood Pines is more morning-fresh and sun-kissed than industrial and sawdust-sprinkled. Combining the pair’s brilliant musicianship – think languid bass guitars and Pat Martino-esque jazz guitar licks – with saucer-eyed electronics, occasional downtempo drum machine rhythms and plenty of glistening special effects, the set’s eight tracks are as blissful and becalmed as an early morning saunter through Sherwood Forest on a misty autumn morning.

For proof, check epic opener ‘Tracing Paper’, a slow-build ambient soundscape in which bubbly electronic lead lines and colourful chords sashay around Scott’s sparkling, laidback guitars, and the beguiling ‘That’s All You Can Think’, a subtle tribute to Steve Reich masterpiece ‘Electric Counterpoint’ in which slow-burn, stretched out synthesizer sounds wave in and out of a gradually evolving cycle of delay-laden electric guitar motifs.

The band’s love of classic American minimalism – as well as a shared love of the Duratti Column and Robert Fripp – comes to the fore on ‘HDMI I Love You’, which boasts a deliciously dubby bassline, Tangerine Dream style synths and the deepest of ambient chords, while ‘I Nearly Married a Human’ and ‘Fridgewords’ balance bespoke electronics – languid, dewy eyed and comforting – with Scott’s gorgeously laidback, slow-release guitars.

Every great album needs a triumphant conclusion, and Sherwood Pines is no different. You can hear everything that makes Brown Fang great on ‘Goodbye Donkey Jacket’, from the pin sharp, effects laden jazziness of Scott’s guitars and the fluid dexterity of Thompson’s bass, to the pleasingly spacey pulse of the synths and the gentle rhythms of the soft-focus machine drums. It’s a confident, ear-catching conclusion to a debut album that’s been years in the making.