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Deerhoof haben sich schon vor langer Zeit als eine der großartigsten Rockgruppen des Planeten etabliert - wer das für übertrieben hält, hat noch nicht genug Zeit damit verbracht, Deerhoof zu hören - das wahnsinnig erfinderische Quartett behandelt jedes seiner neuen Alben als eine Gelegenheit zur kreativen Wiedergeburt. Und doch sind sie irgendwie auch zutiefst zuverlässig, eine seltsame, aber wahre Beschreibung für eine Band, die so kreativ rastlos ist. Man weiß nie, wie ein neues Deerhoof-Album klingen wird, außer dass es immer nach Deerhoof klingen wird. Die Band wird durch solche Paradoxien definiert, wie "Noble and Godlike in Ruin" erneut bestätigt. Ihr neuestes Album ist entweder ein Porträt einer Welt, die in monströsen Hass, Entmenschlichung und Dollarzeichen abgleitet, oder ein eindringliches Selbstporträt der Band als Monster: ein intelligentes, sensibles, hybrides Wesen, das unermüdlich von Liebe singt, sich aber zunehmend von dieser Welt entfremdet. Die Musik ist fröhlich und ahnungsvoll, kybernetisch und zutiefst menschlich, alles zugleich. Streicher, die an avantgardistische Kammermusik und klassische Horrorfilm-Soundtracks erinnern, prallen auf Gitarren- und Basslinien. Das Schlagzeug ist manchmal gefiltert und klingt fast elektronisch, aber kein Computer könnte einen so funkigen und dynamischen Rhythmus erzeugen, bei dem jede winzige Variation von einem Snare-Schlag zum nächsten Welten der Möglichkeiten vermittelt. An der Spitze steht die unnachahmliche Altstimme von Satomi Matsuzaki. Eine Stimme der Einsamkeit, deren schlichte Ruhe seltsam außerhalb des Mahlstroms der Band zu stehen scheint, zu dem sie mit ihren zackig-präzisen Bassläufen selbst beiträgt. Als Einwanderin der ersten Generation in den USA hat sie nie versucht, ihren japanischen Akzent oder ihre Karaoke-esken Vortrag zu verbergen. Auf "Noble und Godlike in Ruin" wirkt dies abwechselnd als Ausdruck von Einsamkeit und als kühle Provokation gegenüber Systemen der Unterdrückung und Kontrolle. ,Kindness is all I needed from you", singt sie auf dem epischen Albumabschluss ,Immigrant Songs`. ,But you think we're in your house." Nicht lange danach explodiert der Song, sein eng gewickelter Art-Pop macht Platz für mehrere Minuten heulenden Lärm. Auch wenn das Thema düster sein mag - wie könnte es anders sein - tragen die Songs trotzigen Optimismus in ihrer Weigerung, sich den Konventionen oder überlieferten Weisheiten zu beugen. Da ist diese berühmte Zeile von Dylan Thomas über das Wüten gegen das Sterben des Lichts: "Noble and Godlike in Ruin" fühlt sich ein wenig so an. Die Welt mag untergehen, aber Deerhoof gehen schwungvoll unter.

Emerging from the suburbs of North London in the early 1990s, Hulusi was an experimental electronic music collective formed by four friends of multi-ethnic origin: Cypriot, Caribbean, Indian and English heritage. Cultivating their musical practice within very specific parameters of time and space, Hulusi instills the essence and spirit of the acid house movement (and its aftermath) that had taken much of England by storm from 1988 onwards. The ‘Dream’ EP was the collective's first release of their self-funded and limited output, offering up a categorically elusive record that could soundtrack the most esoteric and life affirming club moments, whilst simultaneously satisfying the ears and obscure desires of those found dwelling in the heavily occupied ‘chill out’ rooms and nocturnal after parties. As the emerging UK rave scene aligned with newfound accessibility of music production, the late 80s and early 90s became a fertile ground for experimental electronic music, spawning a generation of bedroom and basement producers interacting with and creating music for often the very first time. Like many, Hulusi was a musical project that connected the dots between DIY spirit, technological advancements and the burgeoning cultural phenomenon of acid house. The project operated outside of the then perceived, traditional band conventions, instead developing their sound and exchanging ideas through the format of demo tapes and floppy disks, nurturing their work through individual bedroom studios and feedback sessions. Considered a crucial and possibly defining element of the record, is Hulusi’s unconscious exploration of the groups hybrid cultural identity. Rooted in a shared desire for self-invention, the Dream EPreflects Hulusi's response to a world of rapid musical and technological change. Each track on the record draws inspiration from both Western and Eastern musical frameworks, symbolized through the record’s structure. The ‘Western Side’, featuring "Dream," echoes the ambient techno and acid house influences of early rave culture and bands like 808 State and Orbital. In contrast, the ‘Eastern Side’ of the record is highly decorated with samples, yet stripped back, through its purposeful use of organic sounds, reflecting the group's fascination with blending Western modernism with imagined Eastern themes. Despite operating in near obscurity, Hulusi - The Dream EP acts as an audible catalyst to transport the listener to a different time and place, offering a lucid snapshot into the musical and cultural explorations of the past whilst simultaneously remaining a timeless piece of music.

In 2017, Grammy-nominated artist Joan Osborne released the critically acclaimed album,Songs of Bob Dylan. Her artistic and soulful reinterpretations of the selection of Dylan songs was an eye-opening moment in an already celebrated career. Eight years after milestone recording, Osborne will release the stunningDylanology Live . The captivating recording finds the gifted vocalist performing in front of a live audience, with special guests Amy Helm, Robert Randolph and Jackie Greene featured throughout. Songs include "Spanish Harlem Incident", "Buckets Of Rain" "Masters Of War", "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You" and "High Water (For Charley Patton)".

"No sign of Rotten Leaves" is Selma French's second album and draws inspiration from life's paradoxes.

Selma French is a songwriter and musician renowned and revered within the Norwegian folk scene. She grew up with traditional music and has played and created music all her life. Her musical inspirations include Linda Perhacs, Nick Drake, Judee Sill, Frøkedal, Sundfør and Sandy Denny.

Her debut album Changes Like the Weather in the Mountain was released in 2022 to critical acclaim and was ranked among the top Norwegian albums of 2022 by notable Norwegian newspapers such as Dagsavisen and Aftenposten. In the fall of 2024, she did a lot of touring in the UK together with Euros Childs (Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci / Teenage Fanclub).

Selma has also toured extensively throughout Scandinavia and is a member of the bands such as Masåva, Frøkedal & Familien - (with whom she toured in the UK as special guests of Teenage Fanclub), Sondre Lerche and Norwegian Grammy award winners Morgonrode. Her music is widely recognized in her native country and has recently featured as the theme song in the hit Viaplay T.V series Furia.

Her music reflects an admiration for Norwegian and English folk music and is infused with an airy, enigmatic energy. Her rich landscape of guitars, wurlitzer, fiddles and high pitched choir voices manages to convey a roar of frustration, obscure portraits of the present and a gathering force of hope.

LA-based composer/producer/guitarist Dustin Wong returns to Hausu Mountain with Gloria, his third album on the label since 2018. Wong has established a multifaceted career over the last two decades that encompasses his solo work centered around guitar performance and live looping, roles as a guitarist in Baltimore-based bands Ponytail and Ecstatic Sunshine, and a wide catalog of collaborations with artists including Takako Minekawa, Good Willsmith, and Patrick Shiroishi. In composing his solo music, Wong has always transmuted his own life experiences into the thematic source material for emotionally resonant works rippling with fine-grain details and intricate looping architectures. With Gloria, the composer channels specific memories and pieces of his family history into a deeply personal narrative arc focused on his grandmother Gloria Violet Lee Wong, who passed away in January 2024, just shy of her 96th birthday. Using a road trip they took together down the west coast of America in 2023 as the direct inspiration for the individual scenes and flashes of imagery that form the album’s continuously unfolding structure, Wong presents Gloria as a memorial to her storied life and a celebration of the warmth and kindness that characterized their close relationship. A moment-to-moment travelogue that zooms out in its full scope to evoke a multi-generational memoir that spans decades and continents, Gloria gives Wong space to open his heart and uncover his roots — all while experimenting with new techniques in live performance and sound design that lead his music into territories that he has never before explored.

UK - the last of the great British progressive-rock bands of the 70s featuring legendary musicians Eddie Jobson, John Wetton and Terry Bozzio. “Danger Money” hit the Billboard Top 50 album chart in 1979 and is now regarded as one of the classic progressive albums of all time. Fully remastered and repackaged for this special limited-edition release. Marbleized Colored Vinyl. All remastered by Eddie Jobson

Marion Walter Jacobs (May 1, 1930 – February 15, 1968), known as Little Walter, was an American blues musician, singer, and songwriter, whose revolutionary approach to the harmonica and impact on succeeding generations earned comparisons for him to such seminal artists as Django Reinhardt, Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix. His virtuosity and musical innovations fundamentally altered many listeners’ expectations of what was possible on blues harmonica. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 in the category Sideman, the only artist to be inducted specifically as a harmonica player.

This album consists of a combination of hits from Little Walter such as “Mellow Down Easy”, “Nobody But You” and “My Babe”.

Following nearly 20 years of working together as a trio, and numerous cross-collaborations in different configuration between them, Ideologic Organ presents Placelessness, the debut full-length by Chris Abrahams, Oren Ambarchi, and Robbie Avenaim, comprising two long-form works at juncture of ambient music, minimalism, rigorous experimentalism and improvisation, and machine music. Having carved distinct pathways across a diverse number of musical idioms for decades, Chris Abrahams, Oren Ambarchi, and Robbie Avenaim are each, respectively, among the most noteworthy and groundbreaking figures to have emerged from Australia's thriving experimental music scene. Ambarchi and Avenaim first encountered Abrahams when seeing the Necks - the project that has served as the primary vehicle for his singular approach to the piano since its founding in 1987 - together during the late 1980s, not long after having met in Sydney's underground music community. The pair's collaborations date back more than 35 years, criss-crossing Ambarchi's pioneering solo and ensemble work for guitar and Avenaim's visionary efforts for SARPS (Semi Automated Robotic Percussion System), robotic and kinetic extensions to his drum kit. In 2004, fate brought the three together in a trio performance at the What Is Music? Festival, the annual touring showcase of experimental music founded and run by Ambarchi and Avenaim between 1994-2012. For the nearly two decades since, Abrahams, Ambarchi, and Avenaim have intermittently reformed in exclusively live contexts, in Australia and abroad, cultivating and refining the fertile ground first tilled in that early meeting. Placelessness is the first album to present this remarkable trio's efforts in recorded form. Placelessness is the joining of three highly individualised streams, working in perfect harmony; the point at which friendship, mutual respect, and decades of creative exploration produce a singular spectrum of sound. Featuring Abrahams on piano, Ambarchi on guitar, and Avenaim on drums, the album's two sides draw on each artist's enduring dedication to long-form composition. Its two pieces, Placelessness I and Placelessness II, initially began as a single, 40 minute work, before being divided and reworked into distinct, complimentary gestures for the corresponding sides of the LP. Beginning with restrained clusters of reverberant piano tones, Placelessness I progresses at an almost glacial pace, with Abrahams' interventions increasing met by sparse responses, darting within vast ambiences, on guitar and percussion by Ambarchi and Avenaim. Remarkably conversational within its convergences of tonal, rhythmic, and textural abstraction, over the work's duration a progressive sense of tension unfurls and contracts, refusing release, as each of the ensemble's members contribute to an increasingly tangled sense of density at its resolve.While an entirely autonomous work, Placelessness II rapidly realises a distillation of the energy hinted at across the length of its predecessor. Following a luring passage of harmonious calm, Abrahams' launches into shimmering lines of repeating arpeggios, complimented at each escalation of tempo by Avenaim's machine gun fire percussion work and Ambarchi's masterful delivery of tonality and texture, as the trio collectively generate dense sheets of pointillistic ambience within which individual identity is almost lost, before slowly unspooling into unexpected abstractions and dissonances that deftly intervene with the work's inner logic and calm. What could easily be termed a maximalist take on Minimalism, Placelessness is a masterstroke of contemporary, real time composition, that blurs the boundaries between ambient music, experimentalism, free improvisation, and machine music. Drawing on Chris Abrahams, Oren Ambarchi, and Robbie Avenaim's decades of respective solo and collaborative practice, and the culmination of nearly twenty years of working together as a trio, it's two durational pieces - Placelessness I and Placelessness II - take form with a startling sense of effortlessness and grace, neither shying away from explicit beauty or rigorously tension within their forms

Lean back on the beat. Inhale, exhale. A new voice from an old soul. Kick drum rolls deep with Fender Rhodes. Charlotte Day Wilson sparking up a blunt, skateboarding at midnight with Brittany from Alabama Shakes. Jazzy intonation on a funky tip. Utterly confident in its own sense of time. Just in time. 

You may not have heard of GC O'Connor before, but ask any working musician in Sydney and they know her name. A stalwart of the scene, multi-instrumentalist and composer O'Connor has been putting in the work for years, quietly dropping gems as she readies her debut EP, a self-described 'bedroom soundtrack'. Soul Lament is the kind of assured, accomplished record we delight in putting out into the world. It's representative of a fertile scene in Australian music that deserves celebrating. 

Includes an individually-numbered, specially-designed obi strip.

Award-winning singer Candice Night returns with a new solo album (and first for earMUSIC), “Sea Glass.”

Continuing a career as a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer and lyricist, perhaps most famously as musical alchemist and voice of Blackmore’s Night, “Sea Glass” finds Candice at a new plateau in her life and music.

THE ALBUM
Inspired by a lifetime of challenging musical adventures as well as the magic and demands of everyday life and family, Candice has crafted an album that observes life through a prism of experiences, much like looking through a kaleidoscope of sea glass colors with their own special glow.

The album draws from rock influences on tracks such as first single‘ Angel and Jezebel’ and ‘Unsung Hero (She’ll Never Tell)’ and thematically touches on themes of loss and love (‘The Last Goodbye’) as well as the bond between parents and children and their wishes and dreams for the future (‘Promise Me’).

Inspired by Candice’s lifelong passion for collecting sea glass – finding treasure that has been transformed by time and tides – the images reflect the randomness of those discoveries and how they all assemble into a whole life’s experience.

MARKETING AND PROMOTION
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New album from multi-instrumentalist and voice behind chart-topping Blackmore’s Night with a fanbase built over a quarter century
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Album announcement and first single “Angel and Jezebel” January 2025
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Album release preceded by 3 singles and videos
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Continuous online marketing and social media campaign from album announcement through release

We are excited to announce the release of the highly anticipated 7-inch single from the rising singer-songwriter Mei Watanabe, created in collaboration with Shinichi Osawa (MONDO GROSSO). This special release marks the debut of the track on vinyl, and it includes the previously unreleased Shinichi Osawa DJ edit on the B-side, making it a must-have for collectors and music lovers alike.

This new single, which reflects Mei Watanabe's exploration of questions about the uncertain world we live in today, was created through over six months of sessions between Watanabe and Osawa. Inspired by Osawa's artistry and music, the track features lyrics penned by Watanabe herself, showcasing her unique vision and voice.

Since its digital release last October, the song has been featured as a Power Play on FM NORTH WAVE and CROSS FM, among many others, and has been receiving significant airplay, generating excitement and buzz across the airwaves.

Japanese free jazz legend Akira Sakata and Greek avant-garde guitarist Giotis Damianidis present Adyton, their first-ever duo recording. Having collaborated since 2018, the two musicians have developed an intuitive and electrifying musical dialogue, culminating in this live performance at Haekem, Brussels—the final concert of a two-week tour with Entasis in September 2023.

Sakata, who turned 80 on February 21st, 2024, delivers his signature fiery alto saxophone, evocative clarinet, expressive voice, and resonant bells, while Damianidis expands the sonic spectrum with textural guitar and effects, weaving a dynamic interplay between structure and chaos.

Titled after the "Adyton"—the innermost, most sacred part of an ancient temple—this album invites listeners into a raw, unfiltered space of musical exploration, where spontaneous energy and deep-rooted tradition converge. A testament to Sakata’s lifelong commitment to improvisation and Damianidis’ boundary-pushing approach to guitar, Adyton is a powerful, transcendental journey into the unknown.

Trumpeter, santur player, vocalist, and composer Amir ElSaffar joins electronics performer and composer Lorenzo Bianchi-Hoesch in a new project exploring electro-acoustic spaces, maqam, microtonal harmonies, and improvised and composed structures in a modular musical composition that accommodates a variety of musical styles across genres. Together, they create an immersive sound that transcends notions of form, musical language, electronic, and acoustic categories in music. This new work will be a modular composition combining pre-determined structural elements with freely improvised sections, played live by ElSaffar and Bianchi-Hoesch. The work will explore electro-acoustic spaces in a microtonal environment that embraces the sonic spectra of multiple musical languages. Bianchi-Hoesch and ElSaffar are interested in creating a transcultural collaboration combining jazz, contemporary classical music, maqam, raga, and other musical backgrounds, inclusive of all the richness, complexity, and idiomatic expression, without compromising or oversimplifying in order to be compatible with others. They are in search of boundary-less spaces in music.

When we last heard from Southern California's rock n' roll sorcerers Death Valley Girls, band orchestrator and mastermind Bonnie Bloomgarden was summoning the element of water and celebrating its tempestuous power on the triumphant 2023 single "I Am a Wave." Surrounded by a new cast of supporting musicians, Bloomgarden returns from a brief hiatus to pay homage to the magic of celestial bodies and to honor yet another classical element on a new two-song single. On side A, Death Valley Girls cover the Fleetwood Mac track "Sisters of the Moon," harnessing the original version's witchy mystery while bolstering its thunderous chorus by beefing up its ominous riffage. Bloomgarden's channeling of Stevie Nicks is downright eerie, pulling off such s striking timbral similarity you might almost mistake this rendition as a more electrified and tripped-out alternate take from the original Tusk sessions. On the flipside, Death Valley Girls pay reverence to the element of fire by taking on the Link Wray classic "Fire and Brimstone," summoning the original's swagger while transforming its tent-revival stomp into a mash-up of Phil Spector's girl-group majesty, Motown's hip-shaking soul, and punk's bombast. Surrounded by an ensemble of like-minded celestial witches, Bloomgarden takes Death Valley Girls' sound to new heights while elevating two beloved `70s tunes into modern day religious experiences.

1990's Recurring, the fourth and final studio album by Spacemen 3, is often considered the introduction of two brilliant solo projects (Spectrum and Spiritualized) rather than the work of a functioning band. While Spacemen 3's departing statement surely reveals a deep divide within the S3 camp – each side of the LP was written by Sonic Boom and Jason Pierce separately and, unlike previous releases, the two do not play on each other's songs – Recurring maintains a cohesive, dreamy feel with its chief sonic officers backed by fellow travelers Will Carruthers, Mark Refoy and Jon Mattock.

Opening saga "Big City (Everybody I Know Can Be Found Here)" marries ambient haze with narcotized indie rock, while "I Love You" manages to arrange a beautiful flute alongside a defiantly throbbing bass track. "Hypnotized," a reimagined fuzz-pop hymn, would become the group's first entry in the UK Singles Charts. Recurring lays bare the essence of Spacemen 3's persistent sound, rooted in both aural expansion and phenomenal songwriting.

Includes download card and new insert with liner notes by Marc Masters.

Kali Malone's The Sacrificial Code is the 2019 breakthrough album of the acclaimed composer's pipe organ pieces. Her temporally informed studies of harmonics and intonation breathed life into a suite of compositions which leaves the heart moved and mind still. This 2025 edition was mastered by Rashad Becker and features a new track Sacrificial Code III. Pitchfork praised the album for its "time-stretching properties" and "clean minimalism." Resident Advisor described the album as an "exercise in concentration, restraint, and focus." Tiny Mix Tapes emphasized the "intensity and intimacy" of the album, pointing out how Malone's close miking technique brings out every textural detail of the organ, creating a highly focused and immersive listening experience.

To celebrate the 15th anniversary of DJ Hell's groundbreaking album Teufelswerk, this limited anniversary edition brings back the legendary release in a deluxe 3xLP set, pressed on transparent Neon Yellow, Orange, and Red vinyl. Included is an exclusive poster featuring the original vinyl front cover, along with a special hype sticker for collectors. Originally released in 2009, Teufelswerk remains a milestone in electronic music, seamlessly blending techno, ambient, and experimental elements. The album features collaborations with the likes of Bryan Ferry, exploring the duality of Day and Night-contrasting euphoric club tracks with deep, cinematic soundscapes.

4XLP. Hardcover slipcase box. Liner notes from Soichi Terada, Colour: translucent red, clear, blue, and yellow vinyl

It has been 25 years since the release of Saru Get You (サルゲッチュ), known stateside and in the UK as Ape Escape. Ape Escape marked a significant milestone for the PlayStation, as it was the first game to require use of the PlayStation's DualShock (analog) controller. In Ape Escape, the use of the analogue sticks goes beyond camera rotation and acts as an extension of Kakeru's (Spike's) own character, controlling his many gadgets like the stun club, time net, and sky flyer. It's a unique form of control that, really, didn't become popularized until the release of the Nintendo Wii. It feels like a distinctly Japanese design, the sort of off-the-wall design that is either embraced or rejected on a global scale. In Ape Escape's case, the mechanic caught on.

Ape Escape is fast, frantic, and—at times—downright frustrating. Pipo monkeys dash, taunt, and swim away from your advances. They ride water monsters, fly UFOs, and even shoot uzis! Whether it's Kakeru, his friends, or the monkeys themselves, the characters are always running across the levels. This mad dash is enhanced by the game's soundtrack, composed by legendary composer Soichi Terada. As he recalls, the director of the production said, "Spike and his friends always have the image of running." In response, Terada happily produced fast songs with an average speed of over 170bpm. The resulting gameplay and audio is a match made in heaven.

Ape Escape is the first game soundtrack Mr. Terada ever created. The producers of the game heard one of his singles, "Sumo Jungle," and thought his frenetic drum-and-bass (Jungle) would be perfect for the game. The marriage of Ape Escape's charming overworld and Soichi's upbeat compositions is nothing short
of sublime. Especially now, it is difficult to separate the mischievous Pipos and fast-paced action from Soichi Terada's silky smooth synthesizer and heart-pounding bass. Earlier this year (2024), Soichi Terada's Ape Escape work was celebrated by the six-track EP Apes in the Net, which includes music from Ape Escape 1 and 3 (Terada did not compose the series' second installment). The label, Rush Hour Music, has prestigiously championed almost all of Soichi Terada's music, especially his (specifically non-VGM) house, jungle, and drum and bass releases (Sounds from the Far East, Asakusa Light, and more).
Before Apes in the Net, Terada's Ape Escape music was only available on CD, released in Japan around 2010. This release featured reconstructed tracks created by Mr. Terada himself, identical to the music arrangements featured in the game. The biggest difference, of course, was that they were of higher fidelity than was originally available on the PS1 disk format. Completing all of the aforementioned releases is this box set, released by Far East Recording in partnership with Cartridge Thunder and officially licensed by Sony Computer Entertainment. This box set release includes four LPs, housed individually by a hardcover slipcase. This box set includes every song from Ape Escape 1, except those available on Apes in the Net. This box set release also includes one bonus song, previously unreleased anywhere else (including the game itself!).

The music on this box set was meticulously mastered by Justin Perkins of Mystery Room Mastering. Using Mr. Terada's premastered source files, the music was completely and specifically mastered for vinyl. Rounding out the audio is absolutely stunning artwork created by Gobo3D. CT worked with Gobo to recreate some of Ape Escape's most iconic characters, referencing the original Japanese guidebook and other promotional materials. The result is visually delicious 300dpi artwork that takes you straight back to 1999. As uber-fans of the original PlayStation game, Cartridge Thunder and Far East Recording are proud to celebrate Soichi Terada's music and pay our respects to such a legendary PlayStation franchise—on the original hardware's 30th anniversary no less! It's with a happy heart, then, that Far East Recording and CT present to you Soichi Terada's Ape Escape Originape Soundtracks in a Box.

Please note: due to licensing exclusivity, this release does not include tracks previously released on Apes in the Net

For their second album 'The Foel Tower', Quade holed up in an old stone barn in the cradle of a Welsh mountain valley.
The valley was a stark and windswept backdrop with little daylight, as the band would huddle around crackling fires each evening. “There was very much a feeling of being on the complete fringes of society,” the band says. “The last vestiges of settlement before the unrelenting barren moors that loomed over us.”
It was an environment that would shape the band – a Bristol four piece made up of Barney Matthews, Leo Fini, Matt Griffiths and Tom Connolly – and the record they have made. It’s an album that is as dreamy as it is melancholic, and as quiet and tender as it is forceful and potent – gliding across genres like winds blowing over those wide-spanning Welsh hills – to arrive at something the band half-jokingly, yet somewhat accurately, describe as “doomer sad boy, ambient-dub, folk, experimental post-rock.”

Quade is a band but it’s also a very close-knit group that have been friends since childhood who use this musical vehicle for interpersonal explorations and connections. “We’ve individually experienced a lot of difficulty over the last several years and Quade has represented a space to shelter from these,” the band says. “This means we often communicate extensively with each other about the issues affecting us individually and collectively. These conversations and concerns are central to The Foel Tower.”

In many ways, the making of this record – or any Quade record – goes way deeper than the simple writing, construction and recording of music. It is a profoundly deep and meaningful experience. “A key theme of the album relates to why we connect with specific places in the way that we do,” the group says. “We often remove ourselves to isolated valleys, sheltered from some of the painful personal struggles that we have experienced as a band. These become spaces in which we collectively purge ourselves of some of these difficulties hoping to make Quade a physical and emotional place of solace. This album celebrates these places that we’ve been able to retreat to and recuperate.”

It is a deep, dense record that is stuffed with musical, cinematic and literary influences – from Ursula La Guin and Cormac MacCarthy through to RS Thomas and Yeats – but despite the heavy, introspective and anxious nature of some of the material, it is also a record that is remarkably deft, agile and considered.

Made with producer Jack Ogborne and mixer Larry ‘Bruce’ McCarthy, there is a pleasing duality to the final sound of the record. One that feels fragile and intimate but also powerful and forceful, as introspective as it is expansive, and a record that is as detailed and textured as it is wide open and spacious.

The album title also pays homage to the place that shaped it so greatly. Within this remote Welsh valley stands the Foel Tower, a stone structure filled with valves and cylinders that can raise and lower the level of the reservoir to draw off water. Which it can then send as far as 70 miles to Birmingham. However, in the late 1800s this land was occupied by local farmers and families in the hundreds until the British Government acquired the land, cleared the valleys, and promptly displaced them in order to begin serving the vastly expanding industrial English city. The band dug into the history and politics of this and wove it into the themes they were already thinking about, using what the Foel Tower stands for as something of a contemporary metaphor. “This tension was something that we wanted to explore without the haughty judgement of our more metropolitan lifestyles,” they say. “And to explore how this specifically relates to ourselves: how can we envisage a genuinely ecological future for ourselves – one that is accessible, affordable and in harmony with endangered rural practices.”

What makes The Foel Tower such an incredible record is that it feels born of a time, place and situation that only existed in that very moment. It’s a snapshot of those 10 days spent in rural Wales and all the feelings and anxieties the band were experiencing at that specific time, magically caught on tape. “The album very much feels tied to this valley for us and the conversations and experiences we shared there,” they say. “It brings up a great deal of poignancy for us, an emblem of some fleeting respite from the strains we all have to experience. But there’s also deep sadness knowing how transient these moments are – in fact, there’s just a great deal of sadness in this album. But it’s also a record that while personal, resigned, and emotionally burdened, is ultimately hopeful.”

For the first time we are welcoming Molen to the label. The man is a true gem from the exquisite country Uruguay and has produced four unique cuts specially for the hub of Exarde. Each track shows vast and profound level of skill of the artist and are guaranteed to make the sound systems shake from inside to the outside. The emotions are plastic and have been captured bit by bit on this 12” vinyl disc for our sonic pleasure. Molen has been a close friend of the label for quite long time so it is a true honour to welcome him with a full EP which oozes the dark flavour that is so close and warming to the labels sound&vision. Having said all that, I think it is time to indulge into “Plastic Emotions” and give these four audio trips a spin they truly deserve.