Bladder Flask’s debut (in fact only) LP, originally issued by Orgel Fesper Music in 1981, is one of the most eclectic albums of the post-Industrial era. It is both challenging and perplexing… So, put down your puny instruments of normality and breathe in the frenzied fungal spores of Bladder Flask.
The fact that Steven Stapleton of Nurse With Wound is a big fan of this album is testament to its greatness: »I love Bladder Flask’s »One Day I Was So Sad That The Corners Of My Mouth Met & Everybody Thought I Was Whistling« and what a great title, perhaps my favourite ever. I must have listened to the album so much in the ’80s. I listened to it again recently and it was like welcoming an old friend.«
Personnel: Richard Rupenus, Philip Rupenus + Sean Breadin, John Mylotte, Nigel Jacklin Recorded at Wrongrong Studio and Spectro Arts Workshop 1980-1981 Audio Restoration & Mastering: Colin Potter @ IC Studio
quête:stapleton
Die von Kritikern gefeierte Singer-Songwriterin und globale Pop-Ikone P!NK veröffentlicht am 17. Februar 2023 ihr mit Spannung erwartetes neunten Studioalbums "TRUSTFALL" via RCA Records. "TRUSTFALL" ist ihr erstes Studioalbum seit dem 2019 erschienenen Longplayer "Hurts 2B Human" und markiert eine aufregende Rückkehr der gefeierten Künstlerin zur Musik. Auf dem Album befindet sich natürlich auch die erste Singleauskopplung "Never Gonna Not Dance Again", ein catchy Pop-Track, der von den GRAMMY-Preisträgern Max Martin und Shellback produziert wurde, die den Song auch gemeinsam mit P!NK geschrieben haben. "TRUSTFALL" ist das perfekte musikalische Warm-Up für P!NKs große "Summer Carnival"-Tour im Sommer 2023 durch sieben deutsche Stadien.
Die von Kritikern gefeierte Singer-Songwriterin und globale Pop-Ikone P!NK veröffentlicht am 17. Februar 2023 ihr mit Spannung erwartetes neunten Studioalbums "TRUSTFALL" via RCA Records. "TRUSTFALL" ist ihr erstes Studioalbum seit dem 2019 erschienenen Longplayer "Hurts 2B Human" und markiert eine aufregende Rückkehr der gefeierten Künstlerin zur Musik. Auf dem Album befindet sich natürlich auch die erste Singleauskopplung "Never Gonna Not Dance Again", ein catchy Pop-Track, der von den GRAMMY-Preisträgern Max Martin und Shellback produziert wurde, die den Song auch gemeinsam mit P!NK geschrieben haben. "TRUSTFALL" ist das perfekte musikalische Warm-Up für P!NKs große "Summer Carnival"-Tour im Sommer 2023 durch sieben deutsche Stadien.
Acclaimed Brooklyn artist Bird Streets has returned with Lagoon, an album about separation, rumination, regret, and recurrence. For his second album under the Bird Streets name, John Brodeur has widely expanded on the project’s collaborative foundation, enlisting production b Patrick Sansone (Wilco), Michael Lockwood (Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple), and Zach Jones (Sting) and Oscar Albis Rodriguez (A Great Big World), plus guest appearances from the likes of Aimee Mann, Ed Harcourt, John Davis (Superdrag), Jody Stephens (Big Star), and an array of top-shelf session players. With mixing split between Sansone and Grammy winner Michael Brauer (Coldplay, John Mayer), and mastering by Grammy nominee Pete Lyman (Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton), Lagoon is an enormous step forward from an artist who has been hailed or his evocative storytelling and keen attention to craft. Producer and multi-instrumentalist Patrick Sansone helmed sessions in Nashville (“Burnout”, “Leave No Trace”, the bossa-flavored “The Document”) and later in Memphis, where he and Brodeur were joined by John Davis on guitar and Jody Stephens on drums, forming a power-pop fantasy band of sorts. (“Machine”, “Go Free”, and wistful “SF 1993” come from the Memphis dates.) Back in Brooklyn, Brodeur cut several tracks with the production team of Zach Jones and Oscar Albis Rodriguez, including “Ambulance,” the catchy AM Gold of “Let You Down,” and the Last Waltz-styled soul-rock of “Disappearing Act.” When the pandemic threw a wrench in the works, Brodeur turned to Los Angeles-based producer Michael Lockwood to remotely helm Lagoon’s final stretch. Track listing: Sleeper Agent; Machine; Burnout; The Document; Let You Down; Leave No Trace; SF 1993; Ambulance; Disappearing Act; On Fire; Unkind; Go Free
- 1: Merry Christmas Baby
- 2: It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
- 3: Christmas Isn’t Canceled (Just You)
- 4: Merry Christmas (To The One I Used To Know)
- 5: Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree
- 6: Glow (Feat. Chris Stapleton)
- 7: Santa Baby
- 8: Santa, Can’t You Hear Me (Feat. Ariana Grande)
- 9: Last Christmas
- 10: Jingle Bell Rock
- 11: Blessed
- 12: Christmas Come Early
- 13: Under The Mistletoe (Feat. Brett Eldredge)
- 14: All I Want For Christmas Is You
- 15: Christmas Eve
GRAMMY-winning global superstar Kelly Clarkson has released When Christmas Comes Around…, her ninth studio album via Atlantic Records. The 15-track collection sees Clarkson reunite with long time collaborators Jason Halbert, Jesse Shatkin and more for a mix of new original songs and Christmas classics.
The album features a mix of new original songs and Christmas classics, alongside show-stopping collaborations with Ariana Grande (“Santa, Can’t You Hear Me”), Chris Stapleton (“Glow”) & Brett Eldredge (2020’s hit single “Under The Mistletoe”). When Christmas Comes Around… marks the latest album from Clarkson since 2017’s Meaning of Life and her second holiday offering following 2013’s Wrapped In Red.
Kelly Clarkson is among the most popular artists of this era with total worldwide sales of more than 25 million albums and 40 million singles. The Texas-born singer-songwriter first came to fame in 2002 as the winner of the inaugural season of American Idol. Clarkson’s debut single, “A Moment Like This,” followed and quickly went to #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, ultimately ranking as the year’s best-selling single in the U.S. Further, Clarkson is one of pop’s top singles artists, with 19 singles boasting multi-platinum, platinum and gold certifications around the world, including such global favourites as “Miss Independent” and “Because of You.” Clarkson has released eight studio albums (Thankful, Breakaway, My December, All I Ever Wanted, Stronger, Wrapped In Red, Piece By Piece, Meaning of Life), one greatest hits album, and two children’s books (New York Times Top 10 best seller River Rose and the Magical Lullaby and the follow up River Rose and the Magical Christmas). She is the recipient of an array of awards including three GRAMMY Awards, four American Music Awards, three MTV Video Music Awards, two Academy of Country Music Awards, two American Country Awards, one Country Music Association Award, and two Daytime Emmy Awards. She is also the first artist to top each of Billboard’s pop, adult contemporary, country and dance charts.
An original and particular approach to rhythmic electronics, with an incredible sound, like in all of Potter's works. Six hypnotic tracks from Colin's archive of rarities, for the first time on vinyl, perfect to play really loud.
These six pieces were recorded between the late 80s & mid-90s at IC Studio, which was then located in Tollerton, North Yorkshire.
“I wanted to make some tracks which were much more rhythmic. By then the studio was a 16-track and I had acquired more equipment for making sounds and changing sounds. There was an Akai S950 sampler, an Emulator II, Roland TR727 and Yamaha RX11 digital drum machines, a Roland Juno 60, and some new effects processors. I even, briefly, used an Atari for MIDI sequencing, but using a computer in the studio felt a bit weird in those days. Ironic really, given the situation now. There were a lot of new methods to learn and the tracks on this album were the result of some of these experiments, during which I also found ways of integrating the old analog synths with the newer machines. Mixing was still done hands-on, in real-time, with alternative and often radically different takes being made of the same multitrack. Very different to the way things are done now. Better or worse? Who knows? But different.” - Colin Potter, IC Studio, London 2022.
Colin Potter is a sound engineer and musician currently based in London. He has worked within the fields of electronic and experimental music for over 40 years, collaborating with the likes of Current 93, The Hafler Trio, Organum, Andrew Chalk, and most notably as a key part of Nurse With Wound alongside Steven Stapleton. He started the esteemed ICR (Integrated Circuit Records – still active today) label in 1981 releasing a several wonderful home studio recordings of his own, as small run cassette releases.
Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, Henry Rollins... nur einige der Punk-Ikonen, die sich tief beeindruckt gezeigt haben von The Bobby Lees aus Woodstock, N.Y. Sam Quartin Gesang, Gitarre, Macky Bowman Schlagzeug, Nick Casa [Gitarre] und Kendall Wind [Bass] machen Musik, die von Geist und Seele her Punk ist; ungezügelt und entschlossen ehrlich.
Ein selbst veröffentlichtes DIY-Album (Beauty Pageant) erschien 2018 und erregte die Aufmerksamkeit des Garage-Rock-Impresarios Jon Spencer, der daraufhin das 2020er Album Skin Suit produzierte.
Im Jahr 2022 machte sich die junge Band, nun road-erprobt und entschlossener denn je, nach Nashville auf in die Sputnik Sound Studios, um Bellevue aufzunehmen, ihr Debütalbum für Label Ipecac Recordings, live im Studio mit Produzent Vance Powell (Jack White, Chris Stapleton, The Raconteurs).
Mit ihrem intelligenten und durchdachten Songwriting folgen The Bobby Lees ihrem Instinkt als Musiker und Freunde und arbeiten gemeinsam an der Entstehung der Songs. Der Sound ist düster, minimalistisch und viszeral, jeder Song eine Ode ans Außenseitertum.
Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, Henry Rollins... nur einige der Punk-Ikonen, die sich tief beeindruckt gezeigt haben von The Bobby Lees aus Woodstock, N.Y. Sam Quartin Gesang, Gitarre, Macky Bowman Schlagzeug, Nick Casa Gitarre und Kendall Wind [Bass] machen Musik, die von Geist und Seele her Punk ist; ungezügelt und entschlossen ehrlich.
Ein selbst veröffentlichtes DIY-Album (Beauty Pageant) erschien 2018 und erregte die Aufmerksamkeit des Garage-Rock-Impresarios Jon Spencer, der daraufhin das 2020er Album Skin Suit produzierte.
Im Jahr 2022 machte sich die junge Band, nun road-erprobt und entschlossener denn je, nach Nashville auf in die Sputnik Sound Studios, um Bellevue aufzunehmen, ihr Debütalbum für Label Ipecac Recordings, live im Studio mit Produzent Vance Powell (Jack White, Chris Stapleton, The Raconteurs).
Mit ihrem intelligenten und durchdachten Songwriting folgen The Bobby Lees ihrem Instinkt als Musiker und Freunde und arbeiten gemeinsam an der Entstehung der Songs. Der Sound ist düster, minimalistisch und viszeral, jeder Song eine Ode ans Außenseitertum.
THE BOBBY LEES, fresh off an extensive European tour that
included the Woodstock, NY-based band’s first stint in the UK,
wowing audiences and critics alike (“screaming feedback,
howling vocals, and a thumping beat suggest that rock’n’roll is
still very much alive” - The Arts Desk), the Sam Quartin-led
quartet announce the release of their Ipecac Recordings’ debut
album, ‘Bellevue’.
The 13-song album, which was recorded live in-studio, was
produced by Vance Powell (Jack White, Chris Stapleton, The
Raconteurs).
Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, Henry Rollins… these are just a few of
the punk icons who have shown support for the band. Sam
Quartin (vocals, guitar), Macky Bowman (drums), Nick Casa
(guitar) and Kendall Wind (bass) make music that is punk in
spirit and soul; unfettered and resolutely honest. To say their
sound is wild and untethered is an understatement. It’s the kind
of aural exorcism any listener can tap into, something that
struck a chord with Henry Rollins who brought them to Ipecac
Recordings where Mike Patton and Greg Werckman signed
them.
Two European tours in the past year plus their first ever UK tour
in Summer 2022.
“THE BOBBY LEES’ music, with its Sonic Youth-ian freakouts
and barebones grit, is kind of like the best bad trip ever.” -
Consequence
“... deliciously sleazy garage rock ‘n’ roll. It’s an old-school
adrenaline rush, overrun with jagged guitar work and vocals that
recall the spit and vigor of CBGB’s in the ’70s.” - Guitar World
This expanded collection is the definitive version of The Ladies Home Tickler. An essential historical document for the new and lifelong NWW follower. Classic tape cut ups, radio sludge, surrealism and abstract chaos. The birth of NWW, a project that is now in its 5th decade. Recorded back 1980, the NWW line-up for these recordings was: Steven Stapleton: Record player, cassette machine, noise. Jim Thirlwell: Bass, ergonomic jack plug, Wasp. William Bennett: Guitar, Wasp.
Die texanische New-Southern-Gothic-Band OCEANS OF SLUMBER verwandelt sich auf ihrem unglaublichen neuen Album 'Starlight and Ash'. Die Puppenstube, die von 'Winter' (2016) bis zum wild beklatschten 'Oceans Of Slumber' (2020) dauerte, ist nun vorbei. Ausgestattet mit einem tiefgründigen musikalischen Hintergrund, einer unerschütterlichen Verehrung für den amerikanischen Süden und einer künstlerischen Neugierde mit leuchtenden Augen haben OCEANS OF SLUMBER einen klanglichen Ausdruck wie kein anderer geschaffen. Sie sind einzigartig geworden, der erste (und wahrscheinlich nicht der letzte) Zugang zu einem Stil, den man nur New Southern Gothic nennen kann. Angeführt von der unnachahmlichen Kraft, Bandbreite und Anmut der Sängerin Cammie Beverly, stellt 'Starlight and Ash' OCEANS OF SLUMBER in eine eigene Liga. Es ist ebenso eine eloquente Erweiterung der berühmten Singer-Songwriter Nick Cave und Chris Stapleton wie der herzzerreißende Puls von Type O Negative und Katatonia. 'Starlight and Ash' ist kein Metal, aber seine Kanten sind es
- A1: I'll Love You Till The Day I Die 4:11
- A2: My Heart Was A Dancer 3:10
- A3: Energy Follows Thought 3:17
- A4: Dreamin' Again 3:55
- A5: I Don't Go To Funerals 2:27
- A6: A Beautiful Time 4:55
- A7: We're Not Happy (Till You're Not Happy) 3:16
- B1: Dusty Bottles 3:30
- B2: Me And My Partner 2:11
- B3: Tower Of Song 4:59
- B4: Live Every Day 3:12
- B5: Don't Touch Me There 2:38
- B6: With A Little Help From My Friends 3:42
- B7: Leave You With A Smile
Willie ist zurück mit seinem 72. Solo-Studioalbum. Ein spannendes Album mit neuem Studiomaterial, das mit seinem langjährigen Mitarbeiter Buddy Cannon produziert wurde. Es erscheint zu Willies 89. Geburtstag und zeigt, wie produktiv er nach wie vor ist, denn das Album enthält einige seiner besten Songs und Performances seit Jahren! Die 14 Tracks beinhalten 5 erstaunliche neue Willie Nelson/Buddy Cannon Kompositionen, neue Songs von Chris Stapleton & Rodney Crowell (die erste Single "I'll Love You Till The End Of Time") und einer Reihe von Top-Songwritern aus Nashville, sowie einige Coverversionen von Leonard Cohen ("Tower Of Song") und den Beatles ("With A Little Help From My Friends"), die von Willie gekonnt interpretiert werden.Le jour de son 89ème anniversaire c'est Willie Nelson qui nous fait un cadeau avec son nouvel album studio. Parmi ses nombreux charmes musicaux, A Beautiful Time présente une variété de futurs classiques popcountry, dont cinq nouvelles compositions de Willie Nelson/Buddy Cannon et des contributions de certains des meilleurs auteurs-compositeurs contemporains de Nashville. L'album présente également des reprises convaincantes de «Tower of Song» de Leonard Cohen et de «With a Little Help from My Friends» des Beatles.
- A1: Santana & Salvador Santana & Asdru Sierra - Ghost Of Future Pull/New Light
- A2: Santana & Chris Stapleton - Santana Celebration
- A3: Santana & Rob Thomas & American Authors - Rumbalero
- A4: Diane Warren & G-Eazy & Santana - Joy
- A5: Santana & Stella Santana & Avi Snow & Mvca - Move
- B1: Whiter Shade Of Pale (Feat Steve Winwood)
- B2: Break (Feat Ally Brooke)
- B3: Yo Estare (Feat Ally Brooke)
- B4: She's Fire
- C1: Peace Power (Feat Corey Glover)
- C2: America For Sale (Feat Kirk Hammett & Marc Osegueda)
- C3: Breathing Underwater
- C4: Mother Yes
- D1: Song For Cindy
- D2: Angel Choir/All Together (Feat Chick Corea & Gayle Moran Corea)
- D3: Ghost Of Future Pull Ii
- A1: Santana & Salvador Santana & Asdru Sierra - Ghost Of Future Pull/New Light
- A2: Santana & Chris Stapleton - Santana Celebration
- A3: Santana & Rob Thomas & American Authors - Rumbalero
- A4: Diane Warren & G-Eazy & Santana - Joy
- A5: Santana & Stella Santana & Avi Snow & Mvca - Move
- B1: Whiter Shade Of Pale (Feat Steve Winwood)
- B2: Break (Feat Ally Brooke)
- B3: Yo Estare (Feat Ally Brooke)
- B4: She's Fire
- C1: Peace Power (Feat Corey Glover)
- C2: America For Sale (Feat Kirk Hammett & Marc Osegueda)
- C3: Breathing Underwater
- C4: Mother Yes
- D1: Song For Cindy
- D2: Angel Choir/All Together (Feat Chick Corea & Gayle Moran Corea)
- D3: Ghost Of Future Pull Ii
- A1: Maureen Mason - I'm Believing (In Love Again)
- A2: Ashaye - What's This World Coming To
- A3: Julie Stapleton - Just Dreaming
- A4: Ashaye - Dreaming (Original Mix)
- A5: Julie Stapleton (Feat. Ashaye) - All The Way (Guitar Mix)
- B1: Maureen Mason - If This Is A Dream
- B2: The Wades - Get Off That (Poison)
- B3: Ashaye - Come Go With Me
- B4: Julie Stapleton - Where's Your Love Gone (Remix)
- B5: Rohan Delano - The Way I Love You
- C1: Ashaye - Dreaming (Jungle Mix)
- C2: Endangered Species - Just A Memory (Vocal Mix)
- C3: Endangered Species - Endangered Species
- C4: Insight (Feat. Ashaye) - Fantasy (Insight Mix)
- D1: Ashaye - Nowhere To Run (Instrumental South Side Mix)
- D2: Insight - Paradise (Para Dub)
- D3: V4 Visions Or Jungle Biznizz - Joy In The Jungle
- D4: Rohan Delano - Inflight
Clear Smoke Vinyl[41,13 €]
In the midst of the UK house rave-olution of the early-’90s, London’s V4 Visions imprint documented the confluence of street soul, deep house, swingbeat, and jungle sounds emanating from the clubs and pirate radio signals. Over the course of half a decade, V4’s unparalleled 12” output referenced every significant Black British music scene; from lovers rock to jazz-funk, sound system reggae to hip hop, new jack swing to garage, from artists Ashaye, Julie Stapleton, Maureen Mason, Rohan Delano, The Wades, and Endangered Species. This 18-track double LP is the first critical overview of the label, with extensive notes by Simon Reynolds, era-defining photographs, and fresh remasters, all housed in a glorious foil-stamped gatefold tip-on sleeve. Is this a dream?
Debut gospel album from Georgia singer-songwriter Brent Cobb. 8 traditional gospel songs and one new original song (When It's My Time), incorporating multiple genres - country, Southern rock, blues, folk, soul. Produced, engineered, and mixed by six-time GRAMMY-winning producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, John Prine, Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton) at RCA Studio A in Nashville, TN.
- A1: Disco Hospital
- A2: Teenage Lightning
- A3: Things Happen
- A4: The Snow
- A5: Dark River
- B1: Where Even The Darkness Is Something To See
- B2: Teenage Lightning 2
- B3: Windowpane
- B4: Chaostrophy
- C1: Further Back & Faster
- C2: Titan Arch
- C3: Lorca Not Orca
- C4: Love's Secret Domain
- D1: Disco Hospital (Unedited)
- D2: Teenage Lightning (Gtr)
- D3: Snow (Demonic Apollo A Version)
- D4: Dark River (Alternative Ruff From Point Studio Mix)
- E1: Teenage Lightning (Various)
- E2: Further Back & Faster (Didgeridoo)
- F1: Snow (Demonic Apollo B Version)
- F2: Carvers & Gilders (Chaostrophy) (Chaostrophy)
- F3: The Dark Age Of Love (Balance) (Balance)
- F4: Love's Secret Domain (Early Instrumental)
In 1991 Coil released the third of their early classic full-length albums “Love’s Secret Domain”, seemingly casting aside the gloom
and funereal beauty of its predecessors in favour of a painstakingly multi-layered hallucinogenic electronic beast, which unlike
some of their fellow ex-industrial contemporaries’ releases of the time wasn’t an attempt at easy accessibility or (the-godsforbid) danceability, but a vibrating psychedelic masterpiece unrivalled in their discography and still a landmark album.
To mark its 30 year anniversary Infinite Fog are beyond proud to present an expanded, fully remastered re-release of this fan
favourite available for the first time ever in its entirety on vinyl with 10 rare and mostly unreleased tracks and alternative
versions from the period added as a bonus to a luxurious 3LP/2CD set.
Love’s Secret Domain contains among its many highlights the Lynchian William Blake tribute of its title track and the
intoxicating single “Windowpane”, original versions of the later Coil live staple “Teenage Lightning” and the majestically warped
classicisms of “Chaostrophy”. Marc Almond guests on the typhonian “Titan Arch” and This Heat’s Charles Hayward provides
some amazing drum stylings.
This album is Coil pushing their sound ideas and probably their sanity to their very limits. Beyond the iconic Steven Stapleton
cover art here reproduced in unseen definition the doors of perception still open wide for both long-term Coil aficionados and
new-comers to this supremely innovative release to explore unknown depths. The long-overdue re-release illustrates how far
ahead of the curve Coil were with the sounds on this album, which still sounds as fresh and mind-blowing as it did back in the
early 90s.
- A1: Wolfgang Dauner - Output
- A2: My Solid Ground - The Executioner
- A3: Association Pc - Scorpion
- B1: Fritz Muller - Fritz Muller Traum
- B2: Exmagma - It's So Nice
- B3: Anima-Sound - It Loves Want To Have Done It
- C1: Tomorrow's Gift - Jazzi Jazzi
- C2: Out Of Focus - See How A White Negro Flies
- C3: Brainstorm - Snakeskin Tango
- C4: Thirsty Moon - Big City
- D1: Gomorrha - Trauma
- D2: Brainticket - Black Sand
With his ongoing commitment to like-minded archivist label Finders Keepers Records, industrial music pioneer Steven Stapleton further entrusts us to lift the veil and expose “the right tracks” from his uber-legendary and oft misinterpreted psych/prog/punk peculiarity shopping list known as The Nurse With Wound List.
Following the critically lauded first instalment and it’s exclusively French tracklisting both parties now combine their vinyl-vulturous penchants to bring you the next ‘Strain Crack & Break’ edition which consists of twelve lesser-known German records that played a hugely important part in the initial foundations of the list which began to unfold when Stapleton was just thirteen years old.
From the perspective of a schoolboy Amon Düül (ONE) victim, at the start of a journey that commenced before phrases like kosmische and the xeno-ignant Krautrock tag had become mag hack currency, this compendium is devoid of the tropes that united what many would accurately argue to be the greatest progressive pop bands in Europe
(namely CAN, Neu! and Kraftwerk) and rather shatters the ingredients across a ground zero landscape for both inquisitive fans and socially rehabbing musos to begin to assemble a unique self-styled identity. If Krautrock was the music that journalist told us lurked behind schlager (German pop) in the 1970s, then this record includes the music that skulked behind Krautrock and perhaps refused to polish its backhanded name belt.
Including lesser-known artists like the late Wolfgang Dauner, whose career proceeded and outlived the kosmische movement while consistently informing and outsmarting them whenever they got stuck in their metronomic ruts, or how about Fritz Müller, the man who
was to Kraftwerk what Stuart Sutcliffe was to The Beatles but had more in common with Yoko and quite rightly couldn’t give a stuff about the Fab Four’s Hamburg roots.
Elsewhere we have a plethora of German bands made for German audiences as they try and shed secondhand flower power Americanisms and feel the benefits of much harder drugs and the realisations of difficult second album budgets while Kommune 1
newsflashes wipe smiles from everybody’s faces and replace them with opioid chic or acid-sarcastic grins. Bonzo Cockettes show us their Big Muffs and drummers ask for extra mics while Conny Plank goes for parliamentary office and gives babies good firm handshakes for the camera.
‘Strain Crack & Break: Volume Two’ is the sound of Steve Stapleton’s sponge-like mind and the dividends of anyone who was brave enough to even peek inside those brick-thick gatefold covers never mind drop the needle.
Over forty years since Nurse With Wound’s first album was released, Finders Keepers Records and Steve Stapleton take connoisseurs of our kind of music back to the disused elevator shaft towards ground zero. Arriving at the same checkout from different departments, Finders Keepers and Nurse With Wound continue to sing from the same hymnal with this ongoing collaborative attempt to officially, authentically and legally compile the best tracks from Steve’s list, where many overzealous erds have faltered (or simply, got the wrong end of the stick).
After ‘Strain Crack & Break: Volume One’ merely scratched the surface of this DIY dossier of elongated punk-prog peculiarities, this second lavish metallic gatefold double vinyl compendium drives a much deeper groove which, in accordance with Steve’s wishes, focusses exclusively on individual tracks of German origin - the country whose music forged the prototype of the NWW inventory in the form of his secondary school vinyl wantlist in the early 1970s, comprised of disassembled free jazz, unshowered stoner psych, hypnotic prog, deranged monk funk and fuzzed out Deutschmark bin bonzo beats.
Amidst the crescendo of their celebrated career-which includes six full-length albums, headlining tours, major festival appearances, extensive international road and recording work with Neil Young, and the acclaim that flowed from their contribution to Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper's, A Star Is Born-instinctively the band wanted to reach for something higher. Enter renowned producer Dave Cobb (Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Brandi Carlile), whose collaborative, spontaneous approach has helped some of Nashville's most talented, flourishing artists make the best of their particular magic. A Few Stars Apart, the new LP from Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, was recorded over three immersive weeks and the upshot is unmistakable: a sound that's considered, spacious, and beautifully lush, with Cobb's masterful production every note is in service of the song. While the band's constant work schedule has usually necessitated recording albums in intermittent sessions that stretched over many months, they now found themselves with a rare opportunity to go into the studio and record their songs at a somewhat relaxed pace. It was the ideal setting to allow Lukas' expansive, soulful songwriting, the album's dazzling vocal performances, and the band's exquisite playing, to fully shine. Reviews confirmed in MOJO, The Line Of Best Fit and Classic Rock. BBCR2 play on Bob Harris already.




















