Cerca:stage 7

Shura announces a deluxe version of her acclaimed 2019 album
‘forevher’, released via Secretly Canadian.
‘forevher: Deluxe Edition’ is released on cassette and features the
eleven original album tracks with nine extras. These include acoustic
versions of five album tracks recorded and produced with Sam Evian
and featuring Hannah Cohen on backing vocals, previous Bandcamp
single ‘magazine launch (demo)’, last year’s collaborative single
‘elevator girl’ featuring Ivy Sole and two unreleased tracks including
‘obsession’.
On ‘obsession’, Shura explains: “‘obsession’ was one of the songs I
wrote whilst I was writing ‘forevher’. I always wanted it to be a duet
between two women but it never came to fruition during the recording
process. Then, when I toured ‘forevher’ in Europe, Rosie Lowe came
with us and we’d always spoken about wanting to collaborate on
something together and I suddenly remembered this song, which I loved
but had somehow never finished. I sent the track across to Ro and when
she sent back her rough take I was like ‘YES. this is it.’”
With ‘forevher’, Shura’s immediately identifiable way with love, touch and
how we talk about it reached even greater creative heights. Having
moved from West London to New York following her adored 2016 debut,
,Nothing’s Real,, it’s all mirrored in a lyrical journey from rejection and
loss to desire, long-distance love and the prospect of how we make
something real actually work.
In 2020, Shura emerged as one of contemporary pop’s accidental
trailblazers. A frank, funny voice in the LGBTQ+ community whose
contribution to the paradigm-shift in the cultural landscape cannot be
underestimated.
Written primarily about Shura’s relationship with her girlfriend and their
long-distance conception, ‘forevher’ traces everything from the initial pull
of desire to that first real life meeting (‘the stage’), before recognising
when the connection develops into something scarily meaningful. It’s a
classic NYC-to-London love story but one told through the totally modern
filter of dating apps, unanswered texts, Skype chats and MUNA gigs.
And whilst how to live - and love - as a queer woman has always been
integral to Shura, it’s remarkable to hear these stories twisted through
such a gorgeous amalgam of influences: Joni Mitchell and Minnie
Riperton, Bon Iver and Frank Ocean, Prince and Ariel Pink. Through
these inspirations, Shura’s own modern, outlier perspective found a
newer, more daring approach to sound and song.

Newly awarded Dub Artist of the Year 2020 by the specialized website Reggae.fr, Manudigital presents the second volume of his famous "Digital Kingston Session" on vinyl, three years after the release of volume 1 in 2018! These videos filmed in the streets of Kingston, in which the producer invites Jamaican singers from the golden age of digital Reggae to perform their classics in one take on riddims that he plays with the legendary Casio MT40 or "Sleng Teng Keyboard ”, have become a real institution! With more than 100,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, Manudigital continues to bring together an ever larger and more international audience.

In this volume 2 of the “Digital Kingston Session”, Manudigital gather a five-star cast with the legendary Capleton, the essential Junior Cat and more underground but no less talented artists such as Devon Morgan, Peter Metro, Jigsy King or Bunny General. As on the first volume, two bonus sessions recorded outside Jamaica complete the tracklisting: one in Brooklyn with Red Fox, the most New Yorker of Jamaican deejays, and the other in Paris with the spectacular English MC Deemas J, who has been accompanying Manudigital on stage since 2018.

A second volume of the "Digital Kingston Session" on vinyl which should delight the public, while waiting to get back to live music and sound systems!

A unique new album of poetry and music featuring Marianne Faithfull set to the music of Warren Ellis, and featuring Nick Cave, Brian Eno and Vincent Ségal
With She Walks in Beauty, Marianne Faithfull with composer and multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis releases one of the most distinctive and singular albums of her long, extraordinary life and career. It was recorded just before and during the first Covid-19 lockdown – during which the singer herself became infected and almost died of the disease – with musical friends and family including not only composer Warren Ellis but Nick Cave, Brian Eno, cellist Vincent Ségal and producer-engineer Head. She Walks in Beauty fulfils Faithfull’s long-held ambition to record an album of poetry with music.
It’s a record that draws on her passion for the English Romantic poets, a passion she fostered in her A Level studies with one Mrs Simpson at St Joseph's Convent School in Reading. From there she entered the world of As Tears Go By, of Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones, Top of the Pops and the left-hand path of pop and stage stardom. Sixties iconography and outrage followed, as did her subsequent battles with addiction before her 1979 return to powerful female and artistic autonomy with Broken English, an album which featured her setting to music Heathcote Williams’ poem of eviscerating rage, Why D’Ya Do It?
Drawing deep on the poetry of Shelley, Keats, Byron, Wordsworth, Tennyson and Thomas Hood, Faithfull’s vocal performances set to Ellis’s subtle collages of sound draw out the heart, the quick, the vibrant living matter in all these great poems, making them fresh, renewing them with the complex, lived-in timbres of her voice, and set to a subtle palette of ambient musical settings. It’s both a radical departure and a return to her original inspirations as an artist and performer.
The greatest poetry is best heard, and Faithfull’s accounts of some of the greatest lyric poetry in our language – Keats’ Ode To A Nightingale and Ode To Autumn – are spine-tingling in their deep understanding of the poetry’s powerful currents of meaning and identification. On Nightingale, her voice opens up like an epic landscape, while in Shelley’s miniature masterpiece, To The Moon, she sounds otherworldly, as if calling down from another medium, and the atonal, otherworldly sound textures provided by Eno on Bridge of Sighs and La Belle Dame Sans Merci become a compelling foil for Faithfull’s haunting interpretations of these rich, dark poems.
“They’ve have been with her her whole life,” says Ellis. “She believes in these texts. That world, she inhabits it, embodies it, and that really comes through. There’s just something about the way she can deliver that is incredibly affecting.”
“Eventually I always end up where I was meant to be,” says Faithfull. “I’ve noticed that. It may take a long time, but I get there. I never forget these things. After all these years, I’ve drawn the strands back and they still mean something and they resonate more, actually, because I now have life experience. Life and near-death experience. Many times! Not just once.” She Walks in Beauty is scheduled for release April 30th, with artwork created for the album by British artist and lifelong friend, Colin Self, and with the full texts of the poems, and commentary, included in the liner notes. While Faithfull continues to recover from the after-effects of Covid-19, and the world around us continues to struggle with the impact of the worldwide pandemic, these are poems and performances to steady and lift the spirit.

A vital moment in the resurgence of the London Jazz scene. This epoch-defining set captures all the power, energy and deftness of touch that became the thrilling, visceral experience of Binker and Moses' breakthrough performance at the now-legendary (and much missed) East London venue Total Refreshment Centre. Recorded on a sweltering night in the Summer of 2017. The palpable excitement of the crowd and its energetic, liberated response to the action on stage adds extra levels to the atmospherics, and elevates the pioneering duo's performance to a new high.

Kolonel Djafaar’s ‘Cold Heat’ packs a mighty punch, combining the irresistible charm of Ethio jazz and psych rock with the power of a big band brass section, that has made them a formidable live force across Belgium. As they come into their own cinematic sound, now is the time for them to be enjoyed more widely, thanks to masters of exotic groove, Batov Records.

Kolonel Djafaar’s debut release for Batov is an all-killer-no-filler EP. On "Bactrian Camel’’ the four-man brass section picks up a thundering groove, only for the organ-led rhythm section to answer with their own snaking retort. Joris Wendelen’s electric guitar riffing adds a further Middle Eastern flavour to the stew. Written by trombonist Willem De Mol, who delivered the song after two months alone in Russia, "Lamentation" continues the Ethio vibe with a little
Latin panache. The brass-led tone here is mysterious, the melody lingers. An almost surf-esque guitar solo transports the listener before the main groove on organ and brass recalibrates us to the solid rhythm.

Comparable to, but distinct from, The Budos Band and The Comet is Coming, the low-slung sounds of "Recording 68" in particular reveal Kolonel Djafaar coming into their own. The tempo drops, emphasizing the depth of the groove. The EP is appropriately closed in cinematic style on "The Heist". The pace picks up. Drums of death, in the mode of DJ Shadow or Unkle, hold up the distorted synths and that sharpest of horn sections. A song ready for the dirtiest of chase scenes. "Cold Heat" is suitably titled. Fast or slow, killer grooves that will take no prisoners. A taste of Kolonel Djafaar’s power on stage and the clearest picture yet of their direction in sound.

Moonlit Train’ is the debut album from up-and-coming singer-songwriter/ MC Tiawa(pronounced tea-ah-wa) aka Brightonian Tia-Awa Blackhorse.
Meandering between neo-soul, hip-hop and jazz ‘Moonlit Train’ is a conceptual record that journeys through relationships, heartache, and healing. Produced by collaborator and multi-instrumentalist Jack-Chi aka Jack Kingslake -a Bristolveteran who cut his teeth as a producer in the city - the album sets the stage for a new chapter in Tiawa’s career on hometown label Tru Thoughts.
Fusing soulful vocals with the jagged edge of a rap-styled flow, Tiawa lays the foundation for her timeless yet graceful sound and lyrical maturity that confutes her youth. Themes of healing are at the core of Tiawa’s creative output, while simultaneously exploring her Portuguese heritage.
In the artists’ words: “Each song on the album is an emotion. I hope it helps to heal people in serious situations and make them feel better when they listen.
“Saudade” is the introduction to ‘Moonlit Train’ and opens with a Portuguese poem that translates to ‘don’t be sad now, I’m going to play a song for you.”
Described by the artsdesk as “pure trip-hop”, Tiawa has been championed by the likes of legendary DJ David Rodigan (BBC Radio 1Xtra), broadcaster royalty Cerys Matthews (BBC 6Music), and underground purveyors Off Licence Magazine.’ - Previous support Youth (Killing Joke), David Rodigan (BBC 1Xtra), Cerys Matthews (BBC 6Music), Off License Magazine. - Featured on WheelUP’s single “Take Me Higher” and the album “Good Love”.

Aparde's new album, Alliance sees the German musician retreat from his recent experimentations with avant-gard pop music back into the world of deep, and oftentimes dark, electronica. For his previous album, Hands Rest, Aparde ventured outside Berlin's club scene through the use of his voice, which gave his music a softer and more intimate edge. Alliance is no less intimate, except this time the musician's vulnerability seeps through the cracks rather than taking center stage. With Alliance, Aparde brings listeners deep into his soul, a soul that is at times conflicted and agitated and at times low-key and solemn. And as he does so, the listener's own mood is muted and lifted in a journey of quest, dance and healing.

May 28 will see prolific Japanese vibraphonist, multi-percussionist and composer Masayoshi Fujita mark a new sonic direction with his forthcoming album Bird Ambience on Erased Tapes.

Bird Ambience brings several fresh changes for the artist. Until now, Fujita would separate his acoustic solo recordings from the electronic dub under his El Fog alias and experimental improvisations with contemporaries such as Jan Jelinek, Bird Ambience sees him unite all of these different sides to his work for the first time, into one singular vision. He also makes a lateral leap from his signature instrument the vibraphone, on which he created his acclaimed triptych Stories (2012), Apologues (2015) and Book of Life (2018), to the marimba, which takes centre stage on his new album alongside drums, percussion, synths, effectors and tape recorder.

“The way of playing the marimba is similar to the vibraphone, so it was kind of a natural development for me and easier to start with, yet it sounds very different”, explains Masayoshi. “The marimba bars are made with wood and it has a wider range than the vibraphone, which gives me a bigger sound palette with more possibilities. I play the instrument with bows and mallets, and sometimes manipulate it with effects.”

Bird Ambience also marks his liberation from fastidious preparation for past solo releases to new endeavours in improvisation. “I prioritised trying to capture the wonder which happens during those occasional magic improv moments. Sometimes the mic-ing and placement of instruments was pretty rough; things weren’t perfect and everything was done quickly, but it turned out as the final recording. Overall when I
couldn’t decide between two takes, I told myself to go with the first”, Masayoshi recalls.

Arranged with a perfect Kanso-like balance, the unhurried pace of Bird Ambience allows each sound and phrase enough time to be mindfully absorbed and savoured. This subtle but affective work carries ethereal remnants of Midori Takada’s minimalism, the static atmospheres of Mika Vainio, To Rococo Rot’s organics and the bucolic electronics of Minotaur Shock. Fujita vaporises contemporary and classical, ambient and dismantled dub, controlled noise and fragments of jazz into an atmospheric, static mist, which he skilfully coerces into new forms.

After 13 years in Berlin, Masayoshi recently relocated to a new home and studio in the rural Japanese mountain village of Kami-cho, Hyogo, following his life-long dream of creating music in nature. Even though the album was entirely recorded in Germany before he left, it has this palpable sense of reverie found in the natural world. From there we can only imagine the kind of impact his new life in rural West Japan will have on future works.

Excelsior! It’s the hail of yore that one should go ever onward and upward. And so, fittingly Onwards and Downwards is the occultist Swedish band Alastor’s clever call to arms... and also a reflection of our collective dark state of mind these days.
“If our last album Slave to the Grave were about death, this record is more about madness,” says guitarist Hampus Sandell. “You can look at the whole record as one person’s gradual slip into insanity. An ongoing nightmare without end. It also sums up the state of the world around us as this year has clearly shown.”
Alastor is heavy doom rock for the wicked and depraved. Drenched in heavy, distorted darkness and steeped in occult horror that will make your skin crawl and ears cry sweet tears of blood, the band is revitalized in 2021 with meticulously crafted songs and new drummer Jim Nordström bringing a hard-hitting and precise energy.
“It’s a more focused record but at the same time it’s more personal and naked. More raw emotion and pain,” Hampus says. The band recorded the album with the help of Joona Hassinen of Studio Underjord, who has helped with mixing since their ”Blood on Satan’s Claw” EP in 2017. Christoffer Karlsson of The Dahmers also assisted with overdubs and encouraged the band to demo the material early on, aiding in the album’s more deliberate and tighter feel.
From the first note of opener “The Killer In My Skull” the guitars are far thicker and out front than ever, and Nordström pummels the snare and kick like a young Dave Grohl. Bassist/vocalist Robin Arnryd’s chorus-drenched voice soars above it all like a one-man choir, at times harmonizing beautifully with shimmering Hammond organ notes. Nary a moment is wasted on the droning navel-gazing of lesser bands. Particularly, the driving anthem “Death Cult” which sounds like it would fit comfortably on QOTSA’s Songs For The Deaf, though there’s considerably more heft here. The title track pays its due to the Devil’s tritone in a marvelously woven framework of intertwining melodies befitting the album’s theme of descent into madness.
The quartet released its epic 3-song debut album Black Magic in early 2017 via Twin Earth Records, followed by the 2-track “Blood On Satan’s Claw” EP on Halloween the same year. Joining forces with RidingEasy Records in 2018, Alastor summoned the 7-track hateful gospel Slave To The Grave, which was packed with dynamic twists and turns, and funereal girth. It was met with considerable praise, setting the stage for the band’s greatest step onward (and upward... or downward, depending on your preferences.)

Excelsior! It’s the hail of yore that one should go ever onward and upward. And so, fittingly Onwards and Downwards is the occultist Swedish band Alastor’s clever call to arms... and also a reflection of our collective dark state of mind these days.
“If our last album Slave to the Grave were about death, this record is more about madness,” says guitarist Hampus Sandell. “You can look at the whole record as one person’s gradual slip into insanity. An ongoing nightmare without end. It also sums up the state of the world around us as this year has clearly shown.”
Alastor is heavy doom rock for the wicked and depraved. Drenched in heavy, distorted darkness and steeped in occult horror that will make your skin crawl and ears cry sweet tears of blood, the band is revitalized in 2021 with meticulously crafted songs and new drummer Jim Nordström bringing a hard-hitting and precise energy.
“It’s a more focused record but at the same time it’s more personal and naked. More raw emotion and pain,” Hampus says. The band recorded the album with the help of Joona Hassinen of Studio Underjord, who has helped with mixing since their ”Blood on Satan’s Claw” EP in 2017. Christoffer Karlsson of The Dahmers also assisted with overdubs and encouraged the band to demo the material early on, aiding in the album’s more deliberate and tighter feel.
From the first note of opener “The Killer In My Skull” the guitars are far thicker and out front than ever, and Nordström pummels the snare and kick like a young Dave Grohl. Bassist/vocalist Robin Arnryd’s chorus-drenched voice soars above it all like a one-man choir, at times harmonizing beautifully with shimmering Hammond organ notes. Nary a moment is wasted on the droning navel-gazing of lesser bands. Particularly, the driving anthem “Death Cult” which sounds like it would fit comfortably on QOTSA’s Songs For The Deaf, though there’s considerably more heft here. The title track pays its due to the Devil’s tritone in a marvelously woven framework of intertwining melodies befitting the album’s theme of descent into madness.
The quartet released its epic 3-song debut album Black Magic in early 2017 via Twin Earth Records, followed by the 2-track “Blood On Satan’s Claw” EP on Halloween the same year. Joining forces with RidingEasy Records in 2018, Alastor summoned the 7-track hateful gospel Slave To The Grave, which was packed with dynamic twists and turns, and funereal girth. It was met with considerable praise, setting the stage for the band’s greatest step onward (and upward... or downward, depending on your preferences.)

Aparde’s new album, Alliance sees the German
musician retreat from his recent experimentations
with avant-gard pop music back into the world of
deep, and oftentimes dark, electronica. For his
previous album, Hands Rest, Aparde ventured
outside Berlin’s club scene through the use of his
voice, which gave his music a softer and more
intimate edge. Alliance is no less intimate, except
this time the musician’s vulnerability seeps through
the cracks rather than taking center stage.
As impressive sonically as it is technically, Aparde
used a mixture of electronic sounds, analogue
equipment and his own voice either as a sound
element or lyrical component to explore this duality
of sound. “This album was about focusing on
something that calmed me down and brought me
away from reality,” says Aparde. When the musician
says ‘away from reality’, he doesn’t mean into
dreamy, ethereal soundscapes, but rather a deep
dive into dystopian atmospheres of drone sounds
and chewed-up drum machines. Alliance’s second
track, Allies has a dire beginning and one might
even be tempted in skipping it if it weren’t for
Aparde’s hushed voice shining through the
shadows, melancholic yes, but also warm. Despite
the album’s focus on electronic gear the music isn’t
exactly dance-able, tracks have a ruminative pace,brooding even, “I wanted to make the tracks with
more breathing space between the atmosphere
and silence. There are fewer elements but more
impact, I think,” says Aparde.
Things change gears toward the middle of
Alliance, with both Lined and The Shift representing
the colder, club-ier tracks of the album. For
both of these tunes, any emotionality gets
converted into a dense and thumping energy that
is released in a cathartic fashion. It is, as Aparde
describes, music “for you to move to when you
have a good moment or a mental crisis”. But
Aparde doesn’t leave it at that frequency; he closes
off the album courageously by letting listeners in,
once again, to his own world and emotions. While
still a driving electronic track, Hole is framed
around melancholic piano keys that bring the
mood down, and prepare listeners for Know you,
the album’s most intimate, and vulnerable piece. “I
never felt alright,” Aparde admits open-heartedly
on the track.
With Alliance, Aparde brings listeners deep into
his soul, a soul that is at times conflicted and
agitated and at times low-key and solemn. And as
he does so, the listener’s own mood is muted and
lifted in a journey of quest, dance and healing.

The trio of fiddle player Erlend Apneseth with guitarist Stephan Meidell and drummer Oyvind Hegg-Lunde follows up their Nordic Prize-nominated album of 2019, ‘Salika, Molika’, with a remarkable suite of tunes inspired by the rhythms and physicality of the human body in motion.
Originally commissioned by FRIKAR Dance Company to accompany the performance of a new work, ‘Skaut’, dealing with the covering of the body in different cultures, the music of ‘Lokk’ takes the trio further than ever before into completely fresh areas of electro-acoustic improvisation.
The sounds of their original instruments are integrated with electronic beats and treated textures to form a kind of enhanced digital-folk style whose influences stretch from traditional south Asian ragas to contemporary dance culture from around the globe.
The result is intense, and intensely rhythmic, music where the normally separate realms of the cerebral and the corporeal can appear to fuse into one irresistible groove.
As the trio rocks on - in a dream of perfect interplay between instruments and players, soloists and ensemble - deep, trembling sub-bass intersects with ethereal ambient soundscapes. Elsewhere, the twittering of birdsong - from both real bird-calls and the uncanny imitation of them by Apneseth’s Hardanger fiddle - meets archival recordings of Norwegian herdswomen.
“Our musical idea for this project was to unite different extremes, connections that felt “forbidden” in one form or another”, says Stephan Meidell. “For example, by using the sampled recording of traditional herd-calling, blended together with aesthetics from more contemporary music styles. This exploration has led us further into a rhythmic and danceable landscape than in previous releases. We also wanted to use this opportunity to deliberately make more dance-related music. As regards the original commission, were pretty free to do what we wanted, but there was one specific dance in mind, ‘Valdresspringar’, for which Erlend wrote the melody. It’s a traditional, asymmetrical dance and has a very particular form. The melody is on the track called ‘Springar’, which we then messed around with.”
This “messing around with” element is key to the sound of ‘Lokk’, whose playful experimentation over the nine separate tracks creates a beguiling, constantly surprising sense of adventure and intrigue that both draws the listener in, and then keeps them on their toes as to where the next stage of the journey will take them. It also becomes inescapably obvious that this is a group of three equals.
The contributions of Stephan Meidell and Oyvind Hegg-Lunde, as musicians, co-composers and producers, appear every bit as important as that of Erlend Apneseth, who performs superbly throughout. “Even though the trio carries Erlend’s name, it’s a band in every sense of the word”, says Stephan Meidell. “We make the music together, where everyone brings their ideas and we build on each other’s input and output. This is not our “coming out” as a band, but the group is sometimes interpreted as having a hierarchical structure, as a soloist and accompaniment.”
As is evident from the trio’s live performances, where each member seamlessly integrates the acoustic and the electronic elements in their respective sounds through constant monitoring and tweaking, Apneseth, Meidell and Hegg-Lunde are also pioneers,
creating real-time effects that in the past were only available through post-production or the intervention of a sympathetic engineer and a truck-load of kit. ‘Lokk’ translates this fleet-footed improvisational approach, and the players’ lightning-speed reaction times, back into the environment of the recording studio, where the music composed for the original FRIKAR dance piece was further embellished and adapted. Played live, it will continue to change again, as improvised music always does.

After decades on the road and the never-ending hustle of life as an artist, Lou Barlow has tapped into a new confidence in the chaos. In 2021, the concept of balance feels particularly intimidating. Now more than ever, it's clear life isn't just leveling out a pair of responsibilities. Instead, we're chasing after a flock of different ideals with a butterfly net. On Barlow's new solo album, Reason to Live, he has come to an understanding of that swirl rather than trying to contain it. As a long-time indie legend, Barlow has found a life akin to a middle-class musician. In recent years, he's moved from Los Angeles back to Massachusetts, where he lives with his wife and three kids. And yet rather than settle into a comfortable malaise or yearn for the open road, Barlow's strengthened urgency finds a way to merge the two instincts. Reason to Live is shambolic and grand yet intimate and doting, warmly acoustic and crackling with grit. "I had been struggling for a way to connect both my home life and my recorded life, but this record is the first time I've integrated that," Barlow says. By folding the many facets of his life into one package, Reason to Live radiates with a renewed balance and calm. That comfort in complexity shines through even in the recording process, with select songs having origins in decades past and others written in the early stages of 2020. The multitude of whirring messages of Reason to Live are united by Barlow's roiling multilayered arrangements and the understanding that change is inevitable - and that it can bring you a new reason to live in the darkest times. "This album is me really opening up, and the album follows that through its many different themes," he says. "Some of my other work could be almost claustrophobic in its insistence on being all tied together but there's space for people to live inside these songs." After albums with Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr., Folk Implosion, and under his own name, listeners may have felt they knew the construction of a Barlow song, even that they knew Barlow himself. "People have this vision of me as this heartbroken, depressed guy, but this record feels so true to who I am, to this rich life I now have full of people I love," he says. "The songs culminated over the last five years to show that music has returned to its central comforting role in my life. Now I'm home."

Drab Majesty's first ever release was the 2012 self-released cassette tape "Unarian Dances". Originally limited to 100 copies, tracks from this tape would eventually make their way onto the Completely Careless CD collection as bonus cuts. Now, along with the "Unknown to the I" 12" also released on March 26, these songs are finally made available on vinyl in 45 RPM 12" format, bringing all early Drab Majesty material from the Careless era (2012-2015) to vinyl. Mastered by Josh Bonati with beautiful new packaging by Nathaniel Young.



Drab Majesty is the project of Deb DeMure, the androgynous alter-ego of L.A.- based musician Andrew Clinco and partner Mona D. With its combination of reverb-drenched guitars, synth bass lines, commanding vocals, and rhythmic drum machine beats, this project is a stark departure from Clinco’s previous stints as drummer in Marriages and Black Mare. Dubbed “Tragic Wave” and “Mid-Fi” by DeMure, Drab Majesty eloquently blends classic 80s New Wave and hints of early 4AD with a futuristic originality.



Atalented multi-instrumentalist, DeMure composes all of the elements of DrabMajesty. However, rather than taking personal credit for the music, DeMure insists that the inspiration for the songs is received from an other-worldly source and that Deb is merely a vessel through which outside ideas flow inward. But Drab Majesty is more than just a musical project — it’s a methodical experiment in the identity of creativity. The character Deb DeMure is an enigma that eludes all expectations of gender and ego. When DeMure’s imposing 6’ 4” figure assumes the stage, Deb’s playful, harlequin-esque appearance, tempered by an ominous body language, and clashing with the dreamy, ethereal melodies comes across as a web of contrasts. The result is a perfect balance between seemingly conflicting messages, between the high and the low, the drab and the divine.

Over three decades as the unassuming but pivotal figure behind some of Scotland’s most iconic pop, Jim McCulloch steps out of the shadows and onto centre stage with his debut solo album. The former Soup Dragon perfects his mastery of songcraft on When I Mean What I Say, released on Violette Records on 21 May 2021.
Lush and textured, delicate and intriguing, When I Mean What I Say is immersed in the melodic tapestries of Laurel Canyon but rooted in Jim’s life in his hometown of Glasgow. Written in Donegal’s wild Atlantic coast and recorded pre-Lockdown in Glasgow’s downtown Gorbals district, the warmth of the album’s classic pop and its lyrical openness transports the listener to an emotional and harmonic timelessness far from 2020’s claustrophobia.
Jim: “Violette Records are kindred spirits in the music world. Their ethos, aesthetic and generosity of spirit chime with me. Once I had finished the album, they were the only record company I sent it off to-the only record company I thought could do it justice.”

Drab Majesty's first release for Dais Records was the "Unknown to the I" cassette in 2015, which featured the title track that would later appear on his debut album "Careless" that summer. The additional early cuts "Saturn Inc." and "Ultra Violet" have previously only been available on digital or as CD bonus tracks. Now, along with the "Unarian Dances" 12" also released on March 26, these songs are finally made available on vinyl in 45 RPM 12" format, bringing all early Drab Majesty material from the Careless era (2012-2015) to vinyl. Mastered by Josh Bonati with beautiful new packaging by Nathaniel Young.



Drab Majesty is the project of Deb DeMure, the androgynous alter-ego of L.A.-based musician Andrew Clinco and partner Mona D. With its combination of reverb-drenched guitars, synth bass lines, commanding vocals, and rhythmic drum machine beats, this project is a stark departure from Clinco’s previous stints as drummer in Marriages and Black Mare. Dubbed “Tragic Wave” and “Mid-Fi” by DeMure, Drab Majesty eloquently blends classic 80s New Wave and hints of early 4AD with a futuristic originality.



Atalented multi-instrumentalist, DeMure composes all of the elements of DrabMajesty. However, rather than taking personal credit for the music, DeMure insists that the inspiration for the songs is received from an other-worldly source and that Deb is merely a vessel through which outside ideas flow inward. But Drab Majesty is more than just a musical project — it’s a methodical experiment in the identity of creativity. The character Deb DeMure is an enigma that eludes all expectations of gender and ego. When DeMure’s imposing 6’ 4” figure assumes the stage, Deb’s playful, harlequin-esque appearance, tempered by an ominous body language, and clashing with the dreamy, ethereal melodies comes across as a web of contrasts. The result is a perfect balance between seemingly conflicting messages, between the high and the low, the drab and the divine.

Joviale is a multidisciplinary artist from North London making otherworldly, immersive music that plays with “minimal textures, killer interjections and vocals that are equal parts restraint and rage.” (The Times) Looping these high vocals with heady, emotional chords, they weave a screen around the listener, pulling them into chaptered, strangely sweet variations of the artist, divided out across albums, and designed to generate a performative atmosphere, both on stage and through the recording.

For their forthcoming EP Hurricane Belle NEVER SEVEN, spring 2021, Joviale combines warm sensual exposure with a flash of teeth, as the fictional Hurricane Belle whirls onto the scene, an embodiment of the “sense of electric and spiralised chaos” erupting from the artist’s centre. Hurricane Belle is a Champion that was inspired by Peter Shenai’s “Hurricane Bell” experiment, in which he cast brass bells modelled on the five stages of Hurricane Katrina. Industrial, insatiable and metallic, Hurricane Belle is embedded in the album not only through sound, but also through sight; the first single of the project, Blow, will be accompanied by a self-directed video, reflecting Joviale’s increased interest in the visual arts, and in building multisensory experiences. As written in the accompanying prose for the album, “Let yourselves into my breath, my rhythm and my core. Take pleasure in the whiplash of this collection.”

2019 saw the release of the artist’s debut EP Crisis, in which Joviale wielded narrative and storytelling to build a dreamy, silk-wrapped universe across songs such as Dreamboat, and Taste of the Heavens. As with Hurricane Belle, Crisis was created in collaboration with the producer Bullion, and it has been widely supported by press, including interviews in The Face and Coeval, and features in Dazed, Line of Best Fit, Guardian, The Times, Fader, Crack and Clash, among others. The EP also merited radio support from Huw Stephens on BBC Radio 1, Jamz Supernova on BBC 1xtra, Selector FM, Matt Wilkinson on Beats 1, Tom Ravenscroft, Tom Robinson on BBC 6 Music, Dan Alani on Reprezent, and Worldwide FM, among others.
Joviale belongs to a generation of artists with a strong sense of collaborative, interdisciplinary practice. The artist leans into this skill-sharing, research-led community, valuing project-based work that allows for the development of concepts related to visual and sound culture. This is reflected in them having recently directed a video for Laura Groves, as well as running a bi-monthly radio show on NTS over a period of twelve months. They carry a deep interest in the connection between the arts, ecological sciences, and semi-fictive encounters, as well as the wider London scene. In 2019, The Face described Joviale’s sound and aesthetic as “building the London artist a loyal fan base”, an effect that encompasses their involvement in the city’s music circuit; Joviale built a reputation for their live shows before releasing any official music. They have played support shows for artists that include Celeste, Zsela, Kate Tempest, Nilufer Yanya, Babeheaven, Kindness, and Westerman, and, in 2019, Joviale sold out their first headline show at Folklore, Hackney.

If there’s ever been a way to describe David Allan Coe, it’s got to be his ability to defy categorization. With over six decades of following his musical muse wherever it’s led, this craggy voiced outlaw has crossed the panorama of American roots music. As well as being a singer, guitarist, songwriter, David is also a magician and a ventriloquist, deep sea treasure hunter, and movie star. His movies included Stagecoach, The Last Days Of Frank and Jesse James, Lady Grey, Buckstone County Prison, Take This Job and Shove It, to mention a few. David signed with Sun Records in 1968 and recorded his first album Penitentiary Blues, all songs that David had written in prison. In 1973, Columbia Records bought David’s contract from Sun Records and he recorded his first Columbia album, titled “The Mysterious Rhinestone Cowboy”, several years before Glen Campbell had a hit with the song, “Rhinestone Cowboy.” Much has been written about David’s past and his lifestyle, but not much about his achievements over the years. From performing on Farm Aid to touring with Neil Young, Kid Rock and Willie Nelson. David’s song, “Take This Job and Shove It” has received multi-million airplays certificate from BMI. His “Greatest Hits” album is multi-platinum and his “First Ten Years” album is gold. David has had sixty three songs on the Billboard Singles Charts, including, “Mona Lisa Lost Her Smile”, “The Ride”, “Please Come To Boston”, “Willie, Waylon and Me”, “Jack Daniels If You Please” and “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” to name a few. David has written songs for Johnny Paycheck, Tanya Tucker, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Leon Russell, Charlie Louvin, Del Reeves, Tamy Wynette, Melba Montgomery, Stoney Edwards, The Oak Ridge Boys and Kid Rock. Both “Would You Lay With Me” and “Take This Job and Shove It” are multi- million seller songs penned by David. Johnny Cash has also recorded David’s songs including “Would You Lay With Me” on his chart topping album entitled, Cash. David has been through a lot in his life but has managed to put his past behind him and move forward with his life. This album was recorded in 2001 live from the Iron Horse Saloon in Daytona, Beach Florida and includes the only recorded version of, I’m An Ohio Boy.

Nashville underground trio YAUTJA make their Relapse Records debut with their highly anticipated new album, "The Lurch". YAUTJA's new album amalgamates metal, punk and noise rock into a ferocious hybrid that has propelled them from the obscurity of the American South onto the international stage. Recorded by Scott Evans at the legendary Steve Albini's Electrical Audio studio in Chicago, "The Lurch" marks another step forward for the innovative band. From the opening roar of “A Killing Joke” and the ominous noise waves of “Undesirables” to the churning cannonade of “Before the Foal,” "The Lurch" conveys the personal frustrations and sociopolitical observations of its creators. “We’ve got our bubble of friends and artists and businesses, but you drive 30 minutes out of town and you see rebel flags or people wearing t-shirts that say, ‘Redneck Lives Matter,’” bassist/vocalist Kayhan Vaziri explains. “So there’s a lot of frustration there, and the lyrics pertain to that.” Elsewhere on the album, tracks such as "Tethered" and "Wired Depths," discuss the various technologies and systems in place befalling the great populace. Rampant displacement of local communities fuels Vaziri's opening screams in the track aptly titled “Catastrophic” - “Forced under society!” Featuring members of several other musical projects including Thou, Coliseum, Mutilation Rites and more, YAUTJA's collective experiences across the underground and experimental subgenres drive their unique sound. The band's palpable malaise, malcontent, and sharpened edges are matched by the album's production - the attack of noisy, whirring guitars constantly veering on dissonance are met with a destructive, mangled low end, as they march on to some of the most creative drumming in the genre. "The Lurch" showcases a band that is daring, experimental, and unrelenting.

It took German metalcore vets, CALIBAN recording a cover of Rammstein’s “Sonne” to realize that their native tongue was a seamless fit with their time tempered collision of punishing riffs and Andreas Dörner’s urgent vocals. With fans hungry for the Essen-borne quintet to record an album exclusively in German, the band simply said: “Why not?” and “Zeitgeister” was born. 11 genre-defining LPs deep into their career, the band’s vision for the album came naturally – a career retrospective and deep-dive into CALIBAN favorites that haven’t had a live airing in some time. “It wasn’t an easy decision, but once we allowed us to make them as different from the originals as we felt it was needed it came fairly naturally”, explains guitarist and main songwriter Marc Görtz. Of course, some updating was necessary when it came to translating the songs to German. “It turned out to be surprisingly tricky,” says Dörner. “While I feel more at home with my native German it made it a lot more complicated, as I had more options to phrase something.” Formed in 1997, CALIBAN’s legacy has been a tireless one, touring the globe and sharing stages with the likes of Slayer, Kreator, Killswitch Engage and many more, “Zeitgeister” was a welcome homecoming. With the help of long-running producer Benjamin Richter (Moonspell, Emil Bulls and more) CALIBAN hand-picked seven tracks to bring new life to: “Trauma“ (feat. Matthi from Nasty, “Arena Of Concealment”), “Herz” (“I Will Never Let You Down”), “Ausbruch nach Innen“ (“Tyranny Of Small Misery”), “Feuer, zieh mit mir“ (“Between The Worlds”), “Nichts ist für immer“ (“All I Gave”), “Intoleranz“ (“Intolerance”). “Mein Inferno” (“My Little Secret”). “Zeitgeister” also boasts a new track, “nICHts”. “It’s a song about feeling disoriented and hopeless, about depression and feeling powerless. Feelings that many of us can probably relate to during these days”, says Dörner.