"Pop inflected avant- garde that bubbles over with unruly post- punk energy and adventurous, cantankerous layers of noise" - FECKING BAHAMAS "Somewhere between post punk, folk, and indie, but with a lot of strange ideas gluing everything masterfully together" - EVERYTHING IS NOISE "Sparse and often ominous... yet charmingly raw and homespun - and there are a few moments where the vocalists sound like an avantgarde version of The B-52s" - The ELITE EXTREMOPHILE
For anyone familiar with the Swedish progg movement of the '60s/'70s, this album will feel both familiar and completely new. The songs have a distinctive feeling where jam session- like soundscapes are balanced with exquisitely wellwritten melodies. Like A mixture of Slowgold and Dina ogon in the soundscape and whith a vocal tone that in some parts of the songs reminds of (Markus) Krunegard. The music brings back the summer evenings and lazy days vibe.
With a dreamy undertone in the sound but a story that is more serious. All songs are recorded on tape, adding even more character to the sound. Jattedam is an unfiltered expression of whatever absurd fantasies, fantastic pretensions, soulheavy burdens, clear insights, insatiable curiosities may come their way. Join the band and explore "Onda Blommor".
You will definitely be blown away by RAVE IN FIRE and their album "Sons Of A Lie". Featuring a stellar production and a classic '80s vibe, "Sons Of A Lie" sets RAVE IN FIRE as one of the most promising acts in the Spanish Metal scene. Let's be honest: if they sound like this now, imagine how they will sound in 4 or 5 years!
Put some fire in your speakers and get lost in the atmosphere of this incredible album. A unique musical journey comprising a total of eight songs, "Sons Of A Lie" will be available in an ultra limited edition on vinyl LP, with all the extras our followers are used to.
Formed in 1984, Fields of the Nephilim is the creation of vocalist and front man Carl McCoy. Highly influential, especially in the world of goth, but also within the metal and electronic genres, their legacy endures to this day. You can hear their influence on bands like Swans, Godspeed! You Black Emperor, Explosions In The Sky, Wolves in The Throne Room, Behemoth and more. The Nephilim was recorded in a former courthouse in the Somerset countryside where defendants who were sentenced to death were hung. "Moonchild" is the band"s best known song due to it reaching #28 in the UK single charts, and LouderSound called it a classic and said that it "perfectly encapsulates this era of the band: it has some nifty guitar work, great bass lines from Tony Pettitt, Nod"s stellar drumming and McCoy"s distinctive vocals." The song is named after a novel by Aleister Crowley, and there are several other nods to Crowley throughout The Nephilim. In a 2013 remembrance of the album, PopMatters said "The band"s sophomore effort, regarded not only as its best work but also as one of the UK goth scene"s masterpieces, is a seamless, hour-long trek into a surreal land populated by chiming guitars, hypnotic bass, found samples, and McCoy"s storytelling."
It all started somewhere and every classic has got its demos. These are the ones that lead the way to the Supersuckers incredible twist of plot, from cow-punk to Americana.
Originally released in 2009 on CD. Now remastered for the first and on vinyl.
The sixth UFOs outing is another intergalactic adventure in sonic form and this time at the buttons it's New Balaance, a Mexican artist at the heart of a new wave.
Space Jungle though is an apt title for this EP, which kicks off with some stylish breaks and nimble basslines overlaid with lush cosmic arps. 'Space Jungle' (feat Parallax Modulators brings a more pensive mood thanks to the sustained chords and deeper grooves, but subtle acid and chattery perc bring it to life.
'Grantourismo' is a lively and dynamic cut with more swirling synth work while 'Redemption' closes down this quartet of excellent explorations with a mix of 90s prog, techno and breakbeats all imbued with plenty of colour.
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The first offering from Personality Edits got plenty of plaudits so we're glad Harri Pierson now goes to work adding his own tweaks to a primitive house jam. 'Work That Boogie' has whistles and jacked-up drums, razor-sharp hi-hats and corrugated bass, all of which serve to get the floor in a sweat.
Flip it over and you'll find 'Coco' as edited by Tomato Wallet. It's a mix of old-school scratching and cut-up b-boy breaks with some cosmic melodic signifiers and rich percussive play. This super limited 7" arrives as a one-time-only pressing with no digital alternative.
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Exarde’s just keep it spinnin’. This time our protagonist was originally born in Transylvania, so he knows something about the dancing vampires you often see at parties. This is confirmed by the fact that his release also contributed a lot to the gothic side of the dancefloor.
MAR.C is obsessed with dark sounds but specifically loves a guitar, acid and weirdly uplifting electro sounds. So, by his words this EP is exactly concentrated on frequencies between these two spectrums. On the remix duty’s we got P.O with his interpretation which gives an even more unique vibe as a groover for the closing scene.
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Now on vinyl - limited to 200 copies. Brazilian composer, guitarist and singer Pedro Rosa release his debut album ´Midnight Alvorada". Pedro, who was born in São Paulo in Brazil but has lived in Spain for over 15 years, has a long musical road behind him and soon share his debut album that reveals his most intimate and respectful relationship with music and composition since he was 10 years old. Midnight Alvorada is an invitation to see with someone else's eyes. Above all, to feel with the heart of the other.
The album features a combination of rhythms, such as samba, baião, ijexá, bossa nova and waltz and features the participation of prominent names in Brazilian music, such as Jurandir Santana, Mônica Salmaso, Vanessa Moreno, Zé Luis Nascimento and Ivan acerdote.. "This album was conceived with my songwriting partner Rafael Mourão, who wrote 8 of the 10 songs on the album in partnership with me.
Rafael is an extension of me and vice versa. A bizarre similarity in the way of seeing and feeling the universe " says Pedro. In Midnight Alvorada, Pedro had great support from Jurandir Santana, an instrumentalist, composer and music director residing in Barcelona. "Jurandir, who has been one of those favorite musicians for a long time, and I started to have an increasingly strong friendship. He is an artist who is motivated by the sound. If he likes
Lovers Rock at its finest with a beautiful cover version of Merlyn Brooks' "You'll Never Need Somebody". Originally released in 1981 this release is the work of Reggae heavyweight Geoffrey Chung (who also worked on Dhaima with Phillip Michael Thomas, previously released on MISSYOU). This release features the original 7" version along with a small collection of other new mixes.
On the A side, the Dub Organiser skillfully extends the original 3 minute track into a 7 and a half minute long trip along with a new "Dub" version, respectfully re-mixed from the original multitracks 40 years later.
On the B-side, the mixing console is handed over to a dedicated student of Dub, the Swiss Androo who's clearly no stranger to studio work when it comes to dubby landscapes. Elegantly walking the tightrope between traditional approaches and raw experimentation with 3 new mixes, each with very unique feelings.
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“Praying to god whether or not I believe there is one” - PH
Petra Hermanova and Unguarded announce In Death’s Eyes (UGD-009), the debut solo LP under the artist’s own name. This LP features nine tracks utilizing folk and sacred musical technique and instrumentation which drift between song and heavy distorted drones. In a disciplined display of beauty, pain, and astute musicianship, Hermanova brings forth a notable accomplishment of an album. In Death’s Eyes confronts death from start to finish with a rare fervor that leaves one feeling it was utterly necessary for Hermanova to produce - to survive. The transcendent impulse, or the influence of religious music, bears heavily on Hermanova’s compositions in her choir arrangements, but is most apparent in her use of pipe organ, opening the record on Black Glass. Having written organ parts for a significant portion of the record, she sought out the renowned organist Denny Wilke to record with her in the Merseburg Cathedral. Captivated by Wilke's profound skill as a player and knowledge of the Ladegast organ, Hermanova invited him to collaborate on Two Deaths where he delivers an impressive improvisation. While religious music offers spiritual solace from grief, folk speaks to the human and earthly as told by the individual, be they songs of suffering or joy, sin or salvation. To Hermanova, the clean promise of liturgical music is not enough to alleviate the blunt pain of grief. Contrasting the spiritual is the voice of the individual sufferer - the folk musician. For Hermanova, the autoharp embodies this contrast. The autoharp, a familiar sound in Appalachian folk music since its mass production in the late 1800’s, is an affordable instrument designed for the unskilled player. It is the antithesis of the organ which is costly, gargantuan, reserved for skilled players, and quite literally a part of the church. Through In Death’s Eyes the sounds of transcendence blend with the worldly, the tension between them poignantly expressing Hermanova’s struggle for spiritual resolution against the reality of death and loss. Like Hermanova’s lyrics, the artwork, conceptualized by Enes Güç and Evelyn Bencicova, is riddled with symbolism and allusion. We find Hermanova on the cover, digitally rendered. Reclining like an anatomical Venus, her vital organs are exposed, suggesting she is denied a transcendent death and is instead immaculately human. Bearing a sickle, her legs are metallic like armor, both symbols of protection. We see here in this image, as we hear in the nine tracks of IDE, the metaphoric state of someone ravaged by loss, choosing to tear herself open in an attempt to heal. - Reece Cox Petra Hermanova is a musician and visual artist based in Berlin. In 2018, Hermanova began working with the autoharp, which has since become the central pillar of her musical practice. Drawing inspiration from folk, medieval drone, and contemporary textural expressions, as well as Appalachian autoharp music, she creates emotionally driven arrangements accompanied by vocals. In her lyrics, she speaks to the fragility and tenderness of the human condition, religious conceptions of death, and introspective landscapes through narrative and symbolism. Hermanova debuted live at the Berliner Festspiele event The Sun Machine is Coming Down, performed at Trauma Bar und Kino accompanied with her choir, and recently took part in Sorour Darabi’s durational performance From the Throat to the Dawn. Her debut solo album, In Death’s Eyes, is set for release in 2023 on the art platform and label Unguarded. The album, where she wrote for the autoharp, pipe organ, solo voice and choir, features the acclaimed organist Denny Wilke playing the 19th century Ladegast organ of the Merseburg Cathedral. She has toured internationally with previous projects, including extensive sound and visual collaborations with Jon Eirik Boska (Hydropsyche) as well as with her award-winning band Fiordmoss. She was recently announced as a SHAPE+ platform artist.
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Early 90s' UK club oriented project comprised by "two young lads that made a record", as innocently described by Mark Lloyd, one half of Deep Pearl together with Mark Robertson. Originally released on mysterious private press label called "Big Apple" based in Croydon (South London).
A dancefloor oriented production that seems to transition from earlier acid sounds into more hypnotic early progressive directions, propelled by an established Mediterranean appreciation of its epoch combined with a somewhat naive rawness and energy in the studio, keeping it simple and effective at upper 130's BPM. Clearly the work of someone with veteran status in rave mileage. A-side features dreamy female vocals (courtesy of two other young lads from Germany, at the time, also known as "Air Liquide"), easy to imagine being played over a dusky horizon in Ibiza or an airfield in Suffolk. B-side mix is another peak dancefloor torpedo armed with heavy breakbeat shrapnel, hard to miss - if you know you know - newly re-issued with new artwork channeling Sean Connery memorabilia in acid mode "Hunt for Tie-dye October".
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Polish jazz rebels sneaky jesus are back with their second studio album For Chaching Taphed.The highly imaginative quartet out of Wroclaw comprising Maciej Forreiter (Guitar), Matylda Gerber (Saxophones), Ben Łasiewick i(Bass) and Filip Baczyński (Drums) have won fans around the world for their restless, quirky brand of jazz which takes in breakbeats, twisting chord progressions and improvisation as well as a wealth of musical influences.
The band have been touring their asses off ever since they surprised the world with their debut album For Joseph Riddle in 2021. From out of nowhere their debut LP of 500 copies sold out in a month and they quickly went on to sell close to 1,000 CDs of the album. Fast-forward to 2023 and the band are sharing stages with artists such as Ill Considered and Theon Cross.
For Chaching Taphed was created in complete isolation. The group locked itself in a barn at the Museum of Agricultural Technology in Piotrowice Świdnickie. It worked on its sophomore output surrounded by machinery, trucks and carriages. These new compositions mirror the abstract conversations which the group frequently has just for fun. Contrary to For Joseph Riddle, this album is simple and does not rely on ongoing grooves. This enabled the group to be much more experimental. The band was joined by friends Flautist Mariya Mavko on Piękno Niemożliwe (Impossible Beauty) and her playing is sampled in Hipotetyczny Taras (Hypothetical Terrace). Pięciu Pszczelarzy (Five Beekeepers) closes the album featuring EABS' Jakub Kurek on trumpet. His fiery solo is one of the most intense moments of the album.
Spacer Po Nadodrzu (A walk around Nadodrze) opens the album and is inspired by one of the districts of Wrocław. It is a sonic story depicting a walk through Nadodrze late at night. A steady bass rhythm imitates a careful pace and the responding sax line is a spooky theme that might pop to oneʼs head in a moment of uncertainty.
The album's first single Krztusiec (Whooping Cough) finds the group diving head first into their most recent influences. The trackstarts with drum improvisation, rolling into a solid hip-hop backbeat provided by Ben Łasiewicki on Bass and Drummer Filip Baczyński. Sax and Guitar weave steady but dissonant lines, written by Maciej Forreiter after many hours spent listening to the Ethiopian jazz greats. The track takes off right after that. Matylda Gerber delivers a fiery Sax solo, while the group picks up the tempo and quickens the groove. The essence is the middle section, a dubby collective improvisation. Forreiter, Gerber and Baczyński take turns playing both classic dub phrases and fierce avant grade lines. Łasiewicki keeps everybody in check with a steady bassline. The energy slows down until Baczyński's drum solo, which explores phrasing detached from the rest of the tune.
Second single Chiński Sprzedawca Smażonych Kasztanów (Chinese roasted chestnut seller) is a fusion of breakbeats, energized songo rhythms and motifs inspired by South African melodies. Presenting the group with spacious and rhythmic horn lines, guitarist Maciej Forreiter wrote a chord progression while Beniamin Łasiewicki and Filip Baczyński took care of the rhythm section. This first part of the track suddenly drops out and explodes into the dramatic main motif which includes double sax and fierce guitar playing in harmony, plus the rhythm section playing more and more jungle-esque. Powerful guitar and sax solos feature before we return to the main theme with a completely different rhythmic backdrop.
W Klatce z Bykiem (In a cage with a Bull), starts like a race. The music plays with an incredible nerve and when the theme is right on edge it suddenly stops. It is followed by an animalistic growl on the saxophone and a doom metal-esque bash of downtuned, distorted guitars and heavy drums. In this heavy fashion it slowly approaches the finishing line hitting one final metallic clang.
Piękno Niemożliwe (Impossible Beauty) features wonderful flute playing of Mariya Mavko (Kadabra Dyskety Kusaje). Her work in the opening motif evokes sounds of Polish and Ukrainian folklore. This brief mellow moment serves as a contrast to the usual frantic sounds of sneaky jesus. It is an appreciation of thepolish jazz music of the past, intrinsically-linked to folklore. The band took this idea and reworked it into their own unique style.
Hipotetyczny Taras (Hypothetical Terrace) is built on top of a lengthy vamp in an unusual 7/8 time-signature. The bass anchors the quartet in a simple line, while the rest of the quartet share an emotional conversation. This track is the most open of the whole project and it ends accordingly. The final burst is a call back to the basics ofspiritual jazzand the whole band shows every emotion simultaneously and gracefully fades out.
Pięciu Pszczelarzy (Five Beekeepers) is For Chaching Taphed's conclusion and is a non stop assault of heavy horn lines, punk rhythms and noise. The band is joined by the extraordinary trumpeter Jakub Kurek from EABS, who blends in perfectly with sax and guitar. His exchange of solos with Maciej Forreiter is a combination of classic jazz phrasing and discordant clatter. In the same fierce manner the whole group works within the motif, switching up accents and breaks.
In the short space of two years, sneaky jesus has gone from ambitious upstart looking to break out from its home city playing spit and sawdust venues, to touring Europe as well as prestigious Jazz clubs such as Jassmine in Warsaw. In the process, it has delivered two full-length albums that don't stay in lane or pander to established jazz sub-genres as so many groups do. Some artists make the same record twice or even more than that, but not sneaky jesus. For Chaching Taphed shows the band as restless, experimental, fun, irreverent but purposeful as never before.
“A lot of over-hyped improv / jazz projects out there at the moment and Sneaky Jesus are genuinely excellent and out on their own. Drawing on the expansive atmospherics of a barn as the recording's setting, the album immediately pulls you in with the unsettling 'Spacer Po Nadodrzu' and lifts off on 'Krztusiec', effortlessly moving from angular, abrasive jazz to trippy dub and cinematic intrigue. Tempos shift and intensities shift naturally. The whole set warrants a deep listen from start to finish and watch out for two great guest features from flautist Mariya Mavko and Jakub Kurek bringing some mad fuzz licks to the boisterous closer. Brilliant album.”
Quinton Scott — Strut Records
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A stunning follow-up to his late 2018 release. Mostly recorded live at the Apollo Hotel Amsterdam in 1991. This is a compilation of the ''Apollo Hotel CD box'', that Ronald made himself, for family and friends.. BIG tip!
Some words from the label:
From 1986 until 1992, Ronald had a residency in the lounge of Amsterdam’s Apollo Hotel. He would play there 5 days a week, for 5 hours a day. In 1991, throughout several sessions, he recorded himself on a cassette recorder. The recordings were ranging from re-interpreted cover versions to multiple own compositions.
The Apollo was particularly known for its sophisticated and elegant crowd. Guests would come to meet in the lounge to talk business, or end the day with a drink at the bar - dancing was never an option.
Listening to the album, one must wonder how some of this music would go hand in hand with a place like that. It seems Ronald gets lost in music and returns in unequally balanced patterns. Lounge sounds meet drum computer rhythms, punchy baselines, distorted space noises, reoccurring clarinet interludes and improvised piano solos.
Back then, just as now, Ronald never liked to be the center of attention. He simply tried to interact with the surrounding as a provider of the mood - as he explains himself.
Instruments
Live: Grand Piano, Yamaha QX1 Sequencer, 2x Yamaha TX7 Tone Generator, Drumtraks Sequential Circuits, Clarinet, Voice
Added at home: Yamaha DX7 Sounds, Roland R-8
Space Train: Kurzweil Piano, Yamaha DX7, Roland R-8, Soprano Sax, Voice
Recorded live at the Apollo Hotel Amsterdam in 1991, except 'Space train', which was recorded in Ronald’s living room.
All instruments played and arranged by Ronald Langestraat.
All tracks written an composed by Ronald Langestraat, except 'Lowdown' which was written by David Paich & Boz Scaggs, 'Give and take' which was written by Michael Shrieve, Tom Coster & Carlos Santana and 'Orpheus' which was written by David Sylvian.
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The highs is Mike Stud’s first album to be officially released under his new name and style of music. He now goes by the name “mike.” This is the first album of the upcoming trilogy he has in the works. “the highs, the lows and the inbetweens.” These are all part of the KEEPGOING trilogy under his new name and style.
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Scott Monteith is the Berlin-based but Canadian-born artist best known as Deadbeat. But here, for the first time in some two decades, he steps out with new alias Ark Welders Guild. It is an audio-visual performance and recording project with Italian singer and curator Letizia Trussi, whom he met in winter 2021 and has since formed a strong creative bond. They work in Trussi's Rooms of Kairos studio and have already cooked up two album length pieces that come on Monteith's BLKRTZ imprint. Mons Clepsydra is the first and is an epic drone in four parts with string recordings permeating the moody, grainy, heavy atmospheres.
Rico Friebe is back with the album "Faces Meet" after his recent debut "Word Value" and delivers his personal "deer in the headlight"-moment. What once appeared sparely uncertain and questioning, equalling the fragile try to overcome a state of darkness and forsakenness, now forms into a frenzy of confrontational flashes on "Faces Meet".
Like reflecting on the uncertainties presented on "Word Value", "Faces Meet" reveals some genuinely harrowing findings, creating a wholesome musical moment in time that might never happen like this again.
Besides the uncompromising statements as to find in the opener "Look At Me", refined perceptions in "Nowhere To Run" or "Fifty-One", open-hearted calls in "Do More" and "Let Go", Rico's pivotal confrontation with the irrevocable truth and emotional dissection peaks in his heartbreaking story on "The Best Talk" which marks the crucial lynchpin of the whole album.
Like faces (and therefore people) are constantly meeting everywhere, being faced with the decision how honest and open to meet at all, "Faces Meet" happens to be an even more involved metaphor about surrendering to your true inner self in a mirror-like situation.
Deeply rooted in the seeds of his debut album "Word Value", Rico follows a highly natural and severely plain musical language while implementing new and further ideas and elements throughout his sonic landscape.
"Faces Meet" is an album of insight and self-awareness and the inevitably necessary foundation for his third double LP and magnum opus "Anthems For A Lost Generation" (set to be released in Spring 2024), accelerating a lately unstoppable story into unforeseeable pathways.
Rico Friebe is back with the album "Faces Meet" after his recent debut "Word Value" and delivers his personal "deer in the headlight"-moment. What once appeared sparely uncertain and questioning, equalling the fragile try to overcome a state of darkness and forsakenness, now forms into a frenzy of confrontational flashes on "Faces Meet".
Like reflecting on the uncertainties presented on "Word Value", "Faces Meet" reveals some genuinely harrowing findings, creating a wholesome musical moment in time that might never happen like this again.
Besides the uncompromising statements as to find in the opener "Look At Me", refined perceptions in "Nowhere To Run" or "Fifty-One", open-hearted calls in "Do More" and "Let Go", Rico's pivotal confrontation with the irrevocable truth and emotional dissection peaks in his heartbreaking story on "The Best Talk" which marks the crucial lynchpin of the whole album.
Like faces (and therefore people) are constantly meeting everywhere, being faced with the decision how honest and open to meet at all, "Faces Meet" happens to be an even more involved metaphor about surrendering to your true inner self in a mirror-like situation.
Deeply rooted in the seeds of his debut album "Word Value", Rico follows a highly natural and severely plain musical language while implementing new and further ideas and elements throughout his sonic landscape.
"Faces Meet" is an album of insight and self-awareness and the inevitably necessary foundation for his third double LP and magnum opus "Anthems For A Lost Generation" (set to be released in Spring 2024), accelerating a lately unstoppable story into unforeseeable pathways.
Rico Friebe is back with the album "Faces Meet" after his recent debut "Word Value" and delivers his personal "deer in the headlight"-moment. What once appeared sparely uncertain and questioning, equalling the fragile try to overcome a state of darkness and forsakenness, now forms into a frenzy of confrontational flashes on "Faces Meet".
Like reflecting on the uncertainties presented on "Word Value", "Faces Meet" reveals some genuinely harrowing findings, creating a wholesome musical moment in time that might never happen like this again.
Besides the uncompromising statements as to find in the opener "Look At Me", refined perceptions in "Nowhere To Run" or "Fifty-One", open-hearted calls in "Do More" and "Let Go", Rico's pivotal confrontation with the irrevocable truth and emotional dissection peaks in his heartbreaking story on "The Best Talk" which marks the crucial lynchpin of the whole album.
Like faces (and therefore people) are constantly meeting everywhere, being faced with the decision how honest and open to meet at all, "Faces Meet" happens to be an even more involved metaphor about surrendering to your true inner self in a mirror-like situation.
Deeply rooted in the seeds of his debut album "Word Value", Rico follows a highly natural and severely plain musical language while implementing new and further ideas and elements throughout his sonic landscape.
"Faces Meet" is an album of insight and self-awareness and the inevitably necessary foundation for his third double LP and magnum opus "Anthems For A Lost Generation" (set to be released in Spring 2024), accelerating a lately unstoppable story into unforeseeable pathways.
Splash Blue is honoured to present Incognito's latest album, Into You, a 16-track masterpiece of jazz-funk and soul. The album features original compositions, all with the signature sound of Incognito. Led by the production of band leader and multi-instrumentalist Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick, Into You showcases the band's incredible musicianship and lush soundscapes. Along with Bluey, the album features the band's new vocalists Natalie Duncan & Cherri V alongside renowned vocalist Tony Momrelle. Into You is the perfect blend of old and new, and will captivate fans of Incognito and soul music. The album is available on Double Vinyl only currently.
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2023 VINYL REPRESS.
The third full-length release for Portland, Oregon-based LIZ HARRIS.
Harris might have achieved a significant fan base thanks to the whispering, near-ambient vocal crusades of her debut album Way Their Crept and its follow-up Wide, but those with a careful ear would have heard slightly more trapped beneath her fuzzy chain of effects.
Dragging A Dead Deer Up A Hill marks a departure of sorts for Liz, which sees her turn down the fuzz boxes which caged (and to some degree defined) her sound and allows her voice to ring out above everything else. It is an album steeped in the world of dream-pop and far from shying away from the reference, Liz has instead grabbed on with both hands, creating an album's worth of perfect, left-field pop songs. Using delicate song structures which are at once both familiar and somehow alien, her vocals cry out hauntingly over stripped-down guitar lines and looped environmental recordings.
These are the future soundtracks to love, despair and ultimately, hope.
“This remarkable album is actually what I personally always wanted 4AD records to sound like, only they never quite delivered the hazy pleasures their beautiful sleeve art promised.”—Pitchfork (8.2)
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Ruins was made in Aljezur, Portugal in 2011 on a residency set up by Galeria Zé dos Bois. I recorded everything there except the last song, which I did at mother's house in 2004. Iʼm still surprised by what I wound up with.
It was the first time Iʼd sat still for a few years; processed a lot of political anger and
emotional garbage. Recorded pretty simply, with a portable 4-track ,Sony stereo mic and an upright piano. When I wasnʼt recording songs I was hiking several miles to the beach. The path wound through the ruins of several old estates and a small village.
The album is a document. A nod to that daily walk. Failed structures. Living in the remains of love. I left the songs the way they came (microwave beep from when power went out after a storm); I hope that the album bears some resemblance to the place that I was in.
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Following on from his 2021 book, Synthesizer Evolution: From Analogue to Digital (and Back), Oli Freke returns with a Synthesizer Evolution A6 zine series.
Drum machines and samplers have something of a shared history and this zine celebrates their invention and by picking out 46 of the most influential, important or most interesting synths from 1949 – 1996. Explore the most legendary drum machines and samplers ever created, including the Roland TR-808, Roland TR-909, Akai S1000, Fairlight CMI, Akai MPC60 and more, with detailed descriptions and the stories behind their development.
The long awaited official reissue of ‘She Wants’, one of the first UK Street Soul singles originally released in 1985 by The NM Band.
The NM Band was an alias for UK Lovers Rock band Natural Mystic, responsible for a number of hits in the late 70’s and early 80’s most notably ‘Runaway Love’ and ‘Groove Rocking’. They released a string of acclaimed reggae LPs and toured extensively throughout the UK, but by 1985 wanted to try something away from their trademark roots reggae sound. Influenced by the availability of affordable hardware the band set about fusing Reggae and Soul using an Akai Drum machine, Yamaha DX7 and Roland sound module. ‘She Wants’ is one of the forebearers of UK Street Soul, raw machine drums paired with an incredibly soulful vocal from Ashley Sommers. The band created their own imprint ‘Mixdown’ to release the single, but it slipped under the radar, despite strong radio play from Choice FM and the then pirate station Kiss. The 12” is backed with Dub Version ‘She Wants’ (More).
A 140gram pressing in 3mm spine black disco sleeve with metallic sticker designed by Bradley Pinkerton.
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Konerytmi is back for his final EP on the Telomere series!
Here we have again a SIX track mini LP! With a blend of breaks, electro, IDM and tech house, there’s something for all hours of the night!
Very limited black copies as always with a few colored copies available via the Wex bandcamp, be quick!
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For Fans of Horror, Halloween, and Haunted Attractions! Shadow’s Symphony creator Grant Smoker has loved everything to do with Halloween since he was a kid and always wanted to be able to contribute or be a part of Halloween in some way. Hearing music at Haunted Attractions inspired him to start writing and recording. He writes this instrumental music with haunted attractions, films, and gaming in mind. Since 2014 Shadow's Symphony has been played in haunts around the world. Each album that he writes has a different theme, which means different instrumentation as well as style that pertain to the theme of the album. There's a bit of everything from melancholy piano to full blown dark orchestral strings and creepy ambient synth over the course of an album. For this release, The House in the Mist was written using unpolished instruments and synthesizers to match the "look and feel" of old silent films. It was his first album written in 2011 and is still a popular choice for haunted attractions. This is a fist in a multi part series from Shadow’s Symphony
‘Hey don’t touch that dial, good news Punk Rock Is Back!’ Mal-One
Mal-One’s new album starts with running through the radio dial, looking for some suitable music to listen to. These snippets are actually samples of songs from his previous album ‘It’s All Punk Rock’. Leading the listener nicely into a new set of songs to get their Punk Rock teeth into.
Songs that cover… the great New York punk scene of the 1970’s that grew out of a little bar in the Bowery District of New York City called CBGB’s ‘New York City Punk’. The Clash’s first album discussed in ‘When The Two 77’s Clashed’. The excitement of London’s Roxy Club revisited with its one line chant ‘Down The Roxy’. Those great ‘Punk Rock Fanzines‘, that kept us all so well informed. An early Sex Pistols gig at the Chelsea School of Art, ‘Machine Bubble Disco’. So named after what was to be the main event of that nights entertainment!!!.’45 Random Punk Memories’ sprang from Mal-One’s own reminisces. Talking of memories ‘Looking At The Decals On Steve Jones Guitar’, the recollection of Steve Jones, future guitarist of the Sex Pistols, stealing Mal-One’s bike when he was the tender age of seven years old. An incident that might have triggered this whole road of discovery in the first place.
A reflection on London’s harsh setting in those heady Punk times in ‘Corrugated London’ alongside a call and response to remember that ‘London’s Turning’ all the time for better or worse and that we can’t always pick and choose the bits we want to keep. The self-explanatory, ‘We Will All Lose Some Good Friends Along The Way’. ‘Shakespeare Meets Chuck Berry On Shepherds Bush Green’, a great story when Joe Strummer was asked by a reporter what he was up to and what he might call The Clash’s next album, which would turn out to be the timeless ‘London Calling’. Joe’s rather
tongue in cheek answer was “Shakespeare Meets Chuck Berry On Shepherds Bush Green’’.
A place close to Mal-One’s heart and a great title, that was crying out to be reused. Which Mal-One does via what he calls his Punk Art Poetry. Sometimes these lines are turned into lyrics and reworked into songs.
The album ends with such a call, ‘An Open Letter To…’ all those people who helped influence us all along the way. As the lyric states often without thought of financial gain, but done so, quiet simply because it had to be done.Maybe some young guns might in some small way, be inspired and find in Mal-One’s current efforts that ‘anything is possible’ and the true meaning of Punk was in fact, ‘Do It Yourself’.
The vinyl version of this release includes a poster that is part of Mal-Ones continuing Street Art project that involves putting up posters around London. This time declaring the news ‘Punk Rock Is Back!’. Included in the album packaging also is a signed and blind stamped limited print of one of Mal-One’s works ‘What Is It About Punk That’s So Different So Appealing’. A punk collage that just carries one word in among its multiple punk images and that word is PUNK. We hope you enjoy the indulgence.
Limited to 300 copies, this 2x12" double vinyl VA is the third physical release of the industrial techno label, Askorn Records. Including 8 tracks ranging from dark and tortured slow beats to hard and industrial techno bangers, this release brings together 9 producers from Belgium, UK, Poland, Australia and France: Twan, Dahryl, Mickey Nox, Tripped, 14anger, Draugr, Hel.IV, Ogmah and Hatelove.
A1: Twan & Dahryl - Ammunition
Pure industrial techno banger. 142bpm bomb full of fast rolling drums and screaming synths, this collaboration between
Belgium based artist TWAN and Dahryl from United Kingdom, is a furious dancefloor destroyer.
A2: Mickey Nox - Switching Horsepower
Classic industrial hammer by Mickey Nox from Australia. A crazy 4-4 techno track with his famous stomping kick, strange FX sounds, chopped with some glitchy voices. Sounds like an unstoppable engine.
B1: Tripped - Fat Load
Tripped demonstrates the perfect mix between hardcore and techno into this track, using his famous and indescribable style. Industrial hardcore and destroyed 909 gabber kickdrums, scary synths, amen breaks and terror atmosphere.
B2: 14anger - Bachman
Heavily distorted bass-line, overdrived kickdrum, an acid break and some electrical noises: Bachman is the latest 14anger
banging track. This raw industrial techno track definitely brings some oldschool rave vibes to this project.
C1: Draugr - Discipline
A dark and groovy track by Draugr. He brings his famous threatening atmospheres, spooky bass and catchy drums on
this one. Crunchy kickdrum, radar noises and a perfectly chosen speech about order and discipline.
C2: Hel.IV - Brave & Thick
Hard, dark and punchy as usual, let's introduce Hel.IV from Paris. Deep and hard kickdrum with catchy drums patterns
surrounded by a screaming distorted vocal sample, and an epic and menacing synth.
D1: Ogmah - No Feelings, Pure Wrath
New harsh and scary bomb by Askorn's founder, Ogmah. A slashing and industrial beast with some shrill highs drums,
creaky and industrial FX sounds, and a long break with scary vocals about sins.
D2: Hatelove - Snakebyte
A slow and dark track with a deep as hell atmosphere, produced by the one and only Hatelove from Poland. Full of filters
automations, psycho and spooky noises, banging drums and crazy sound design. Angering af.
The artwork is an engraving by the artist Daniel Girault from Brittany in France. This is the result of a dark and disturbing
abstract design engraved on a hard metal surface, made by cutting grooves into it with differents sharp tools. After being
drowned into an acid bath, this metal plate is finally pressed with black ink on a thick paper sheet.
out of Stock
Last delivered 2 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
'I heard about Seif Abu Bakr and The Scorpions maybe 3-4 years ago. Their album 'Jazz, Jazz Jazz' ended up on my radar because of an eBay auction with the bids eventually rising daily up to a staggering 1000$. The music is a unique combination of incredible horn arrangements powerfully performed, a vigorous drummer contributing a funky backbone and Seif's vocals uniting those elements. The results range from instrumental tracks awaking memories of 1970s crime thriller soundtracks to more Sudanese-rooted tracks, a lot of them modernized versions traditional rhythms of the diverse regions of Sudan and even an excursion into Colgolese Soukouss.
I went for my second trip to Sudan in December 2018 and after doing some research on the first trip my local colleagues Larissa and Yassir had managed to reach Amir, The Scorpions band leader and he was happy to meet. We got together with him in a Cafe right at the Nile in Omdurman. It was a happy occasion for everyone. He told us stories about him meeting Jimmy Cliff and Lewis Armstrong when they visited Sudan and how he and his band mates from The Scorpions played extensively in Kuwait, both in club residencies as well as for television. Amir brought tons of incredible photos illustrating not only the bands history but the vivid cultural live in the many music clubs in Khartoum of the 1970s. During this decade up until 1983 the capital was home to a huge number of clubs, bards and concert halls. This scene started to perish after president Nimeiry's turn away from his socialist policies, that he was widely associated with in the first decade of his rule, towards the implementation of Sharia law in 1983. During the first decade of his rule he had actively supported various artists of the Jazz scene, taking some of them on trips throughout Africa. The 1989 coup of Bashir and his generals then caused the final blow to a once thriving scene. Both of these political events within 6 years lead to significant drawbacks for the Sudanese jazz scene resulting into hardly no gig opportunities left and parties and concerts being critically observed. A number of musicians faced prosecution, most of the time for their political views; some left Sudan for good. Music never completely vanished from public life and even the regime kept selected artists close, but for a majority of those bands affiliated to the jazz scene life and making ends became a lot harder. The Scorpions dissolved as a group around the same time.
The re-release was produced with a clean copy of the vinyl version as a source. The original reel tape of the album stayed with Saif Abu Bakr along with another reel with other recordings that were never released. Unfortunately it was lost when Saif Abu Bakr had to flee to Kuwait temporarily during the second gulf war when Iraq raided Kuwait. Vinyl version comes with extensive booklets with photos, interviews, liner notes. The vinyl version also has a DLL code.
Demon Records is proud to present ‘Produced by Tony Visconti’, a new definitive retrospective compilation assembled with the assistance of legendary record producer Tony Visconti.
“This boxset covers five and a half decades of my efforts in the art of making iconic recordings. Some of it is familiar and some will have a eureka moment, ‘I didn’t know Visconti produced that one!’
I am honoured that Demon Records took on this enormous task.”
– Tony Visconti
Often described as one of the most important
producers in rock, Tony Visconti has helped create
countless classic musical moments. His work can be
heard on celebrated albums by artists such as T. Rex,
Procol Harum, The Moody Blues and Thin Lizzy to
name but a few.
• This new collection features 30 tracks personally
curated by Visconti, gathering together some of his
favourite production work from across his career.
• Includes tracks by T. Rex, Sparks, Thin Lizzy, U2,
Dexys Midnight Runners, Gentle Giant, The
Boomtown Rats, Manic Street Preachers, The Good,
The Bad & The Queen, and many more.
• Pressed on 2 x 140g LPs, mastered by Phil Kinrade at
AIR Mastering, approved by Tony Visconti. Artwork
designed by Grammy-winning creative studio
Barnbrook.
• Includes a 12-page booklet with previously unseen
photographs, and extensive track-by-track liner
notes by Mojo writer Mark Paytress based on new
interviews with Tony Visconti.
Some Sudden Weather” finds Products Band sharpening their focus on presence of mind in a culture of noise. For each pummeling wave of distorted guitars, a tender, melodic vocal floats over its crest.
With every winking, deadpan lyric comes a genuine admission of desire, shame, or hope. These songs faithfully represent the diversity of Products Band’s musical influences.
From high-energy, airtight punk’n’roll to intricate, groove-driven pop, “Some Sudden Weather” refreshes rock vocabularies by sculpting them within the band’s unique perspective. Whether you crave
dancefloor-ready bass hooks, spiderwebbed guitar skronk, or interwoven vocal duets, this is an essential listen for all fans of contemporary post-punk, guitar pop, and thoughtful Midwestern charm. FFO: Ought, Television, The Replacements, R.E.M.
Limited repress of the post-hardcore quartets debut album """"Feel Something""""
Music and emotion share a timeless physiological, psychological, and spiritual bond. A chord, a melody, or a lyric can lift spirits and inspire. Movements achieve that sort of reaction on their full-length debut, Feel Something Fearless Records. In the sessions, their signature style crystallized and coalesced. Bolstered by intricate instrumentation and explosive vocal delivery, these 11 tracks signify the musicians' evolution and bring emotion to life in each note.
Celebrating the 30th anniversary of U2’s Zooropa, September 2023 sees the release of a limited edition coloured vinyl pressing of the Grammy-award winning album to coincide with the band’s performances at the Sphere in Las Vegas.
Initially intended to be just an EP, Zooropa became a fully-fledged album with 10 tracks recorded in six weeks in 1993, making it the fastest U2 album ever produced. Produced by Flood, Brian Eno and The Edge, the album went to Number 1 in the UK, USA, Ireland, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Sweden, Austria, France, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland and featured the singles ‘Numb’, ‘Lemon’ and ‘Stay (Faraway, So Close!)’.
One of the most popular instrumentalists in the world, trumpeter Chris Botti gets back to the jazz essence of his artistry on his Blue Note debut Vol. 1. The album is a beautiful ballads collection featuring stunning new renditions of beloved standards including “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered,” “Old Folks,” “My Funny Valentine,” “Someday My Prince Will Come,” and “Blue In Green,” as well as a cover of Coldplay’s “Fix You” and the vocal feature “Paris” with John Splithoff. The album was produced by David Foster and features performances by violinist Joshua Bell, pianist Taylor Eigsti, guitarist Gilad Hekselman, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, and others.
After collaborating together for more than a decade, Jenny Hval and Håvard Volden released their first album under the Lost Girls moniker in 2021: Menneskekollektivet. The record received rave reviews, including a Best New Music mark at Pitchfork. On October 20th, 2023, the duo will release their second album Selvutsletter.
Like its predecessor, the album title is a made up Norwegian word, a word that almost exists. The band’s own translation of Selvutsletter is «self-effacer»: Someone who tries to erase themselves. Someone who is cleaning out themselves. Performing exorcism. Or perhaps just getting older, less interested in their own present self.
In 2022, Lost Girls were booked to perform a concert at Les Subsistances in Lyon, together with a few Norwegian performing arts groups performing their pieces. The band decided to use the opportunity to create all new material, and think of it as a coherent piece. Working in tandem, with Volden creating beats and wild sets of guitar chords and Hval restructuring the parts, creating melodies, words and adding more sounds, they started spiraling into unchartered territory of shorter, more concise and melodic songs than their debut LP Menneskekollektivet.
As the material developed, words already embedded in the chords, guitar sounds and rhythms began to dance around. Lyrics about cities after dark, music rituals and band practices of the 90s, and the early days of the internet began to take shape. These were Hval's own memories of her hometown and her obsession with creating music as a way of leaving it behind or even setting it on fire. Selvutsletter is, in that sense, about retracing Hval and Volden's steps back to how it felt to discover music, the intensely physical and communal experience of creating something. Certain tracks even go back further, to discover possible happenings in Norwegian towns and cities before any of us were born, using elements of faux folk singing.
Where Menneskekollektivet was about exploring club beats, and expanding and trying out structures, Selvutsletter is about disappearing in experiences. It combines the intuitive, late night feel of Lost Girls’ previous work with experimental rock music as its object. The result is more adventurous than nostalgic: A fiery, bilingual whirl of colors, words, vegetation and electricity.
Teichmann + Söhne’s »Flows« is not so much the result of a collaborative process as it is a process in itself. Over the course of nine pieces, the Gebrüder Teichmann—Andi and Hannes—and their father Uli repeatedly find common ground between the very different musical styles, sound aesthetics, and subcultural codes they have internalised throughout their lives. The source material out of which the album evolved was culled from several recordings of rehearsal sessions in preparation for the trio’s concerts that took place between the years 2012 and 2022. The three added only a few overdubs to those recordings but edited them rigorously to both preserve and transform the spirit of their unlikely collaboration. The combination of Uli’s background as a versatile jazz artist and multi-instrumentalist with his sons’ penchant for dub techniques, modular synthesis, and live sampling as well as their interest in electronic dance music take on ever-different shapes. »Flows,« released on the occasion of Uli’s 80th birthday, is as joyful, lively and free-spirited as its makers.
It took the three musicians decades to get together to jam. Uli and Lu, the mother of Andi and Hannes, ran the legendary Jazzclub Kneiting between 1978 and 1983 while he also made a name for himself as a musician who, besides jazz, is knowledgeable in a plethora of music styles from all over the world and has an instrument collection to match. Naturally, Andi and Hannes rebelled against this versatility by opting for simplicity. Already as pre-teens, they formed a punk band and once they got a whiff of the burgeoning techno scene, strayed even further from their father’s path. They eventually moved from their native Regensburg to Berlin where they made a name for themselves with a slew of releases on seminal labels like Disko B or Kompakt before starting to more regularly collaborate with musicians from the realms of Contemporary Music, Improv, and Sound Art. Even after Uli had finally contributed some saxophone licks to the brother’s 2011 »They Made Us Do It« LP, it indeed needed someone else to make them do it, i.e. finally get together to reconcile their musical differences in a creative way.
Finding out that the three had never performed together, Yoichi Osaki from Berlin’s iconic Miss Hecker venue, a focal point of the city’s so-called Echtzeitmusik (real-time music) and Improv scene, scheduled them to play their first concert on April 1, 2012. Even though the date was chosen deliberately, things got serious very quickly and this first joint concert proved to be the first of many. It also laid the foundation for »Flows« since the three would start recording their rehearsals. Revisiting the roughly 90 recordings, some of which clock in at a full hour, after ten years of playing with each other then started what Hannes describes as a »form-finding process.« It was a holistic one and involved all three of them, extending also to their choice of cover artwork, a piece created by Lu, who died in 2016 and to whom the album is dedicated. For the collage, she had used photos of the place where it all began, Regensburg, and the river that flows through it, the Danube. This made the piece, coincidentally created around the time Teichmann + Söhne started playing their first concerts together, correlate perfectly with the working process of the three musicians on a visual level.
Similarly, Teichmann + Söhne can be thought of as a human-musical collage. It is a meeting of three different musicians who all have in common that they have occupied alternative spaces and perfected a variety of musical styles and subcultural codes throughout their lives. When those flow into each other, this necessarily creates something that is as unique as the nine tracks collected on this album. While it is mostly Uli who takes the lead on pieces like the appropriately titled »Im Zwischen« (»In the Inbetween«), the brothers respond by live sampling his playing, thus serving as a creative interface between acoustic sounds and electronic responses. This in turn provides a framework in which Uli can improvise on a variety of acoustic instruments like the saxophone and the clarinet as well as a mandolin and glockenspiel or even percussion. This indeed makes their music flow—across different generations, between different musical ideas and genres, into previously uncharted territory.
American blues musician Buddy Guy is an exponent of Chicago blues and influenced many prominent guitarists, including Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin), Eric Clapton, and John Mayer. His 1998 album Heavy Love is one of his fine blues-rock records. Besides two songs of his own material, he covered classics including Willie Dixon “I Just Want to Make Love to You", Tony Joe White "Did Somebody Make a Fool Out of You", ZZ Top "I Need You Tonight". It is heavier compared to many of his other recordings, but he still finds his way back to the blues.
Heavy Love is available as a 25th anniversary edition of 1500 individually numbered copies on pink & purple marbled vinyl, housed in a gatefold sleeve.
“Stax Christmas” brings together 12 holiday classics from the legendary Stax Records, with favourites by Isaac Hayes (The Mistletoe and Me), The Staple Singers (Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas), Rufus Thomas (I’ll Be Your Santa Baby), Albert King (Santa Claus Wants Some Lovin’) and more. Also included is an alternative mix of “Merry Christmas Baby” by Otis Redding and a newly unearthed version of the classic “Blue Christmas” sung by Stax recording artist Carla Thomas.
Going, Going, Going, Gone: The Rare Recordings of
Connie Cunningham and the Creeps Vol. 1
When Nick Kinsey moved into his farmhouse in New York's Hudson
Valley, he dreamed that he would stumble upon a trove of unreleased
music from some eccentric artist who'd previously lived there - If anyone
would be inclined to expect that kind of treasure, it would be the prolific
Kinsey, who in addition to his own music has produced and played on
Waxhatchee's St Cloud, toured with Kevin Morby, and drummed for AC
Newman, Hand Habits, and Cold War Kids, among many others
And with all those various styles and ideas swirling around his head, that
imaginary stash of songs appealed more and more. "I needed to create a fictional
character to get into the headspace necessary to finish this group of songs,"
Kinsey says. "I was able to escape my usual writing blocks and get away from any
need to sound 'cool' by pretending I was this fictional weirdo and failed session
musician." And after rounding out his compositions with some key collaborators,
the first volume of Connie Cunningham and the Creeps fulfilled Kinsey's dream in
the form of six brilliant, retro oddball pop planets circling one oddball songwriting
star.
The Undisputed Kings of Garage Rock! **Timely repress of their classic singles compilation on 2 CDs or 3 LPs with new gatefold sleeve! – please note unavoidable price hike! A retrospective compilation of singles released on a multitude of different labels throughout the 90′s. Featured tracks are ‘(We Hate The Fuckin’) NME’ ‘My Dear Watson’ & ‘Every Bit Of Me’. A fitting tribute to one of the greatest bands ever. Thee Headcoats were mainly Billy Childish (Git/Vox) Bruce Brand (Drums) and Johnny Johnson (bass), they formed in 1989 after Billy’s previous band Thee Mighty Caesers gave up the ghost. By 1992 they had already released something like 6 albums and 15 singles one of which was catalogue number Damgood1, a split single with Thee Headcoatees. During the ’90′s I must have seen them 60 times, I even went over to Japan with them in 1993. There was something really natural about them, no bullshit. We did the ‘We hate The Fuckin’ NME’ single after journalist Johnny Cigarettes walked out of their gig in Archway after insisting that he should get in for free as he was from the NME and then reviewing Thee Headcoatees by saying there were no girls in the band (he'd left before they came onstage!!). Lots more releases followed including the great ‘In Tweed We Trust’ album. Thee Headcoats carried on touring and releasing records in every corner of the world until mid 2000 when they called it a day