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Robert Groslot's Concerto for Bass Guitar and Orchestra represents the
next step in the evolution of the bass guitar
Groslot's composition pushes the instrument to its technical limits, while creating
a unique symbiosis between the soloist and the orchestra. Although he may not
be the first composer to write for the bass guitar in a symphonic setting, Groslot
brings a level of artistry and sophistication to the composition that will continue
and accelerate the legitimation of the bass guitar within contemporary classical
music. "The idea of a concerto for bass guitar is something that I have been
dreaming of for decades. Since its invention, the bass guitar has firmly
established itself as an essential and integral part of practically every genre of
music. The bass guitar, as we now know it, was invented and produced by Leo
Fender starting in 1951. The more portable bass guitar, in comparison to the large
and unwieldy double bass, was capable of playing at higher volumes via
amplification and satisfied the new sonic demands created by the widespread
use of electrification in popular music. By increasing the overall scale of the
electric guitar and only using the lowest four strings (E, A, D, G), Fender gave birth
to a new instrument. Traditional double bassists could quickly adapt, with the
added benefit of more accurate intonation due to the frets. Hence the original
name: The Precision Bass. At the same time, guitarists could also become bass
players when called upon. As a result, many of the early bass guitarists began
their musical life as guitar players, with the most well-known example being Paul
McCartney of The Beatles.
The fact that the bass guitar had no direct lineage like the evolution of the piano
or violin over time, led to a variety of disparate playing styles without any
fundamental methodology. Unlike the more traditional instruments, the bass
guitar does not sit upon a foundation of centuries of proven methods and
established schools of playing. The evolution of the bass guitar has been a
patchwork of trial and error by active musicians. This has led to a plethora of
personal approaches and hybrid-styles, effectively leading to the rapid evolution
of bass guitar technique. Given its relatively young history, it is remarkable how
the bass guitar has grown from being an instrument taken up out of necessity, or
as an afterthought, to being as respected and vital to modern music as any of the
older, more established instruments." - Thomas Fiorini

Back with new music for an updated version of their holiday release from
the four-time Grammy Award-winning Australian duo
Added for the new version is bonus track "Do You Hear What I Hear". The album
stems from a concept that originated near the start of the band, as rehearsals for
a Christmas tour sparked the musical imagination of Joel and Luke Smallbone.
Executive produced by Grammy-winning musician and producer Aqualung (Matt
Hales) and orchestrally arranged by Davide Rossi of Coldplay fame, A Drummer
Boy Christmas includes 13 tracks and features two original Christmas songs
entitled "Heavenly Hosts" and an emotionally moving ballad from Joseph's
perspective "A Carol of Joseph. " A Drummer Boy Christmas was produced by
Tedd T. and For King & Country and co-produced by Benjamin Backus.

Traveling Alone is the 5th studio album from North Carolina based
singer-songwriter, Tift Merritt
This collection of original songs showcases Merritt's songwriting skills and
storytelling through her graceful melodies and lyricism, warm twang, and
atmospheric elements heard throughout the record. Recorded in Brooklyn and
produced by Tucker Martine, the studio album features Marc Ribot on guitar, John
Convertino on percussion, Eric Heywood on pedal steel, and Jay Brown on bass.
This 10th anniversary limited edition 2xLP is pressed on cloudy sage color vinyl in
a gatefold sleeve.

Iris DeMent released Infamous Angel in 1992 - Nearly 30 years later, the
album remains among the most singular and fully realized singersongwriter debuts since the invention of that category in the early '70s
The abiding strengths of the album are especially impressive ' even a bit startling '
because 1992 is not a moment usually associated with her intimate brand of
acoustic country music. In country history, the year 1992 is most immediately
affiliated with Garth Brooks, whose album, The Chase, topped both the country
and pop album charts that year, and with Billy Ray Cyrus' 'Achy Breaky Heart,'
which fueled a line dance craze. Squeezed into a playlist alongside such hits,
DeMent's doleful, hushed 'Our Town' would've sounded as if it were being
broadcast from another planet. 'People call me country,' she told journalist Ben
Thompson while on tour in Britain a couple years later. 'But country doesn't call
me country.' Let's call her country. The genre is always more expansive than what
radio stations program. It happened Infamous Angel is close kin to a different
sort of country music that was just then having a moment: specifically, country
singer- songwriters, focusing on personal, but universal, loss and hope and
favoring small acoustic combos. It may have been out of step with the
mainstream, but Infamous Angel arrived right on time

In 2016 lutenist Sofie Vanden Eynde put her instrument aside for nine
months in order to recover from a severe burnout
Five years later, she felt the need to look back. Would it be possible, she
wondered, to use the intense, shared concentration between musician and
listener to convey sensations of over- stimulation, contrast, excess, stagnation,
emptiness, beauty and movement? Would it be possible to articulate the inner
reality of a burnout musically: to make a burnout audible, tangible,
understandable and, who knows, avoidable? The result is Vanishing Point /
Verdwijntijd, an autobiographical recital, a musical narrative, a journey:
somewhere between fragile comfort and cautious happiness. Writer Annemarie
Peeters drew on her interviews with Sofie to write a text that reflects the three
phases of a burnout. The run- up, the phase of total stagnation during, and the
cautious way out. Three colours, three seasons, three ways of being. Lurking
beneath Sofie's personal story are experiences that many will recognize: the
craving for efficiency, the sudden faltering, the unfamiliar and at the same time
disconcerting sense of emptiness, and the tentative search for a new balance.
But also the questions Sofie asked herself – about the connection between her
own little story and the big world that surrounds her – evoke wide recognition. Is
burnout a personal failure or a social symptom?
Sofie went in search of pieces from the solo lute repertoire that she intuitively
associated with the various phases of the text. This resulted in a recital with a
surprising palette of colours, styles and atmospheres. At times she chose the
rich, powerful sound of the theorbo. At others she chose the fragile, hushed
sound of the Renaissance lute. The Prelude by the French baroque composer
Robert de Visee combines phrases full of grandeur with breathing pauses filled
with intimate doubt. The music of John Dowland draws on the typically English
penchant for melancholy. In the fantasias and ricercars of Francesco da Milano, it
is not only the bright colours of the Italian Renaissance that resound, but also the
constant search for a new beginning. Luis de Narvaez's Cancion del emperador is
an arrangement for lute of the famous chanson Mille Regretz by Josquin Desprez,
a song that emanates serene regret for everything that is not. And in Robert de
Visee's Chaconne the same chord sequence revolves around its own axis. Hope,
tenderness, revolt and acceptance each step to the fore in turn.
At Sofie's request, Vladimir Gorlinsky created a new composition, one which
reflects the state of mind in the middle of a burnout. Vanishing Point balances on
the edge of total emptiness, a stagnation that at times is hard to bear. Vanishing
Point starts out from this stagnation to explore the different facets of burnout:
resistance and acceptance, fear and hope, stagnation and movement, absolute
solitude and the desire to interact again with the surrounding world. Vanishing
Point / Verdwijntijd can be listened to in different ways: not only as a lute recital,
but also as a radio play with voice, lute and soundscapes. Annemarie Peeters'
text was recorded by actress Katelijne Damen (NL) and voice artist Caroline
Daish (EN). Vladimir Gorlinsky created soundscapes based on the sounds of the
lute, which were magnified as if under a microscope. The soundscapes weave
themselves between the text and the lute music. Jo Thielemans created the
sound design and provided the live electronics.

Known for her time as vocalist in Fairport Convention and respected
globally , Sandy Denny left a beguiling, ever-evolving body of work - Kate
Bush was to namecheck her in song, and Denny's influence can be heard
in generations of singer-songwriters
From the power chords that open it, 1977's Rendezvous aimed squarely at giving
Denny her commercial breakthrough. It demonstrates an artist evolving. Gold
Dust really underlines how Denny could be viewed as the British Joni Mitchell,
and its late- night jazz funk backing (with Steve Winwood on clavinet) offers a
beguiling glimpse of where Denny may have travelled next. Rendezvous closes
with No More Sad Refrains, which updated her late 60s ballad style. As Denny
died tragically young less than a year after the album's release, it became a
poignant full stop to such a promising career. Long out of print on LP, this re-issue
faithfully replicates the original 1977 Island Records UK release with lyric inner
sleeve and is pressed onto high quality 180g vinyl.

Laurel Premo's latest solo work presents original and traditional music
voiced on finger-style electric guitar and lap steel
Perhaps by its most honest classification "roots guitar," the sonic vocabulary of
'Golden Loam' is informed by guitar's antecedents in American traditions - fiddle
and banjo, the rhythms, melody and intonation therein, as well as that music's
relationship to movement. Glowing, droning, tugging, scraping, revolving, Premo
bears renewed electric dirt, the golden loam layered by centuries of folk.
Following 'The Iron Trios' (2019), Premo's sophomore release builds on the dark
roots world she arranged, with seeking, untethered delivery and a masterful use
of space, on a dynamic wave of warm, gritty sustain. Laurel's vocals on two
pieces "Hop High" and "I Am A Pilgrim" are traditional calls beaconing the guitar's
response, and fold in timberly like additional instrumental lines sustaining the
drone. 'Golden Loam' was self produced and recorded during the pandemic
lockdown of summer/fall 2020. The majority of the record is solo performance,
but two featured collaborators are woven in to this embodied rhythmic collection.
Percussive dancer Nic Gareiss (Michigan) appears on tracks 5 & 9, and bones
player Eric Breton (Quebec) on track 3. Laurel Premo is a Michigan-based artist
who has been writing, arranging music and touring since 2009 with vocal and
instrumental roots acts. She is internationally known from her duo Red Tail Ring.

This summit meeting of the two giants of post-war American jazz
attracted enormous attention and accolade from the world jazz fans
when released in 1974
Jackie McLean (1931 - 2006) and Dexter Gordon (1923 - 1990) who were at their
pinnacle of creative aptitude joined forces to thrill the packed fans at
Copenhagen's Jazzhus Montmartre in the summer of 1973.After 49 years this
180g audiophile version may bring back the heat wave of jazz in Europe of the
'70s.
Jackie McLean: alto saxophone
Dexter Gordon: tenor saxophone
Kenny Drew: piano
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen: bass
Alex Riel: drums

Widely considered as one of Canada's most prolific guitarists, Steve Hill
has won a JUNO Award, the International Blues Challenge, and too many
Maple Blues Awards to count
A guitar stylist with a wide musical vocabulary, he has performed over 2,500
concerts in many configurations. For the past 10 years, he has toured extensively
throughout Canada and Europe supporting his critically acclaimed Solo
Recordings albums trilogy and his one- man band show. Heralded wherever he
goes, the guitarist, singer, drummer, harmonica player, songwriter and
accomplished producer is a musical force to be reckoned with. The acclaimed
singer- songwriter celebrates his 25th year as a recording artist with this
release.On Dear Illusion, the multi-instrumentalist shares the spotlight with a horn
section, The Devil Horns, as well as 7-time UK Blues Awards Drummer of the Year
Mr. Wayne Proctor. Mr Proctor also mixed and mastered the upcoming
record.Three years in the making, the album is without a doubt, a step up for the
artist, both in terms of maturity and execution, and is his best production to date.

Als ein Drittel des New Yorker HipHop-Trios Flatbush Zombies arbeitete Meechy Darko bereits mit u.a.
James Blake, A$AP Rocky und Danny Brown zusammen. Mit ”Kill Us All” stellte er jetzt die erste
packende Videosingle aus seinem Debütalbum ”Gothic Luxury” vor, das am 26. August über Loma Vista
Recordings / Concord erschien.
Es ist die Komik der Tragik, die Meechy Darko zu seinem ersten Soloalbum geführt hat. Ausgehend von
dem entsetzlichen Tod seines Vaters, der im Januar 2020 von einem Polizisten in Miami niedergeschossen
wurde, ist sein Debütalbum kein Schritt aus der Komfortzone, sondern ein Stoß in die Realität: ”Ich hatte
keine andere Wahl, als es zum Persönlichsten zu machen, was ich je getan habe, denn glücklicherweise oder
unglücklicherweise befinde ich mich gerade in einer sehr aufrüttelnden Phase meines Lebens”, sagt der 32-
jährige Rapper über die Entstehung von ”Gothic Luxury” und die Bedeutung dessen als Momentaufnahme.
”Der, der ich gestern war, ist vielleicht schon nicht mehr der, der ich morgen bin. Ich bin nicht der,
der ich letzte Woche war. Man kann nicht sagen, wer ich nächstes oder übernächstes Jahr sein werde.”
Zusammen mit Dot Da Genius, dem langjährigen Partner von Kid Cudi und Produzenten für u.a. Jhené
Aiko, Lil Nas X und Denzel Curry sowie Grammy-Preisträger Neal Pogue (u.a. TLC, Outkast, Tyler The
Creator) hat Meechy ein vielschichtiges Debütalbum erarbeitet, auf dem sich der Flatbush Zombie so öffnet
wie nie zuvor.

Rare Italo disco pop project Galvanica gets a beautiful re-issue! This is what the label writes about the release; "Galvanica, a voice with unusual qualities, refined, balanced, also high-pitched, sensual, embellished by an orgasmic inspiration with fluid and spaced solo's in hypnotic rhythms that often change scenery. 'Nightlights in Japan': an extraordinary piece of pure and profound creativity where each version seems to have been built apart and where the West meets the East. A splendid interpreter for a truly stunning piece, as fresh and far-sighted as the day it was recorded in Calenzano at Studio Emme by Marzio Benelli with the Yamaha DX7 synth and Linn 9000 drum sequencer that are at the base of the piece, made and re-interpreted in the four original versions, all sung in the Eastern Asian pentatonic scale. 'Nightlights in Japan' was also written by Massimiliano Orfei, at the time collaborator in the advertising projects from label Smash One Music of Pino Toma, the producer who drew new inspiration to venture into the record market which in 1987 became every day more difficult and this song was considered out of fashion, even if each version of this song was expertly arranged by the talented Giorgio Costantini. We've clarified as to whom Galvanica's velopendulus belongs, in order to be able to rightly consider this artist as a contributive voice of disco music, despite being part of the "second wave" of the Italo-Disco scene, has strongly contributed to it as Otero, Belen Thomas, Angelby and previously with the disco-project Plustwo creating 'Melody' (which after 40 years gets a new extraordinary success with over 134 million plays on TikTok and around 18 million streaming). However, it's clear as day that the gorgeous artist behind Galvanica was Antonella Bianchi and that Giorgio Costantini was not only her producer and composer - as in 1985 for 'I Know', a sweet synth-pop ballad sung with her stage name 'Angel', but above all her ... 'guardian angel'. For many artists using a stage name is a custom. The absolute record of pseudonyms as a true equalizer of identity is held by Stendhal having used 350 throughout his career. This multifaceted artist who, until now has never used so many 'a.k.a.', in a wonderful game of musical mirrors, has represented an opportunity to challenge the market, a trait of non-acceptance of the role that the discography attributes to certain artists. So also Galvanica was an invitation to reflect, with a pinch of provocation, a behavior that Antonella Bianchi has in the DNA of her family. Ultimately, Best Record is not at all worried about the modernization that surrounds it, sure that 'Nightlights in Japan' will be one of the most coveted vinyl reissues in the second half of 2022.

Desumanos' fresh mixture of guitar driven melodies is as evocative as it is playful. This instrumental project is made up of a dream-team of Brazilian producers and musicians. Kassin, on bass, was member of The +2's band and co-produced Gilles Peterson's Brazilian project Sonzeira, featuring legendary artists such as Elza Soares, Naná Vasconcelos, Wilson Das Neves_ While Liminha, on guitar, is a former member of Os Mutantes. His signature sound is heavily influenced by classic instrumental surf music, but tropical rhythms are also dropped in the mix. The band is completed with Felipe and Manoel Cordeiro (on guitar), one of the lambada originators, and Stephane San Juan (drums), currently playing with David Byrne. Across the tracklist of this Desumanos debut album we can find a unique combination of musical styles that are all filtered through the sieve of instrumental surf music without losing their roots anchored in tropical sounds such as cumbia, African rhythms and, of course, popular genres from Brazil such as forró or lambada. Ten original songs in which the guitar is the undisputed protagonist and the tropical atmosphere emanates through each note.

Ever since he remixed Abimaro & The Free’s ‘Mark’ back in 2014, NuNorthern Soul boss Phil Cooper has kept in touch with Daniel Stenger, the producer and self-taught multi-instrumentalist behind the Flashbaxx project. Cooper was always convinced that Sanger would be capable of crafting a very special release for the label but was willing to give him time to come up with something special.

With Take Care My Friend, a mini-album inspired by the German producer’s deeply rooted love of jazz-funk, Stenger has repaid the faith shown in him. He’s deliv-ered a collection of quality cuts marked out by audible warmth, effortless musicality and memorable, sun-soaked songs.

As he makes clear in the liner notes included with the vinyl version of the mini album, the project began with the recording of luscious, Rhodes-laden opener ‘Al-right’. After staying up all night recording the track, Stenger not only decided to continue recording with the same relatively limited set of instruments (think bass and electric guitars, drums, piano, electric piano, organ, hand percussion and a handful of synthesizers), but also stick to a hybrid sound that added a subtle Lat-in shuffle to his Balearic-minded take on jazz, funk and soul fusion.

We’re biased of course, but there’s no denying that Stenger’s creative choices have resulted in a superb set of tracks. While the restricted kit list provided focus during the music-making process, there’s still plenty of musical variety across the six tracks that make up the set.

For proof, compare and contrast the jazzy, loose-limbed headiness of ‘It Just Happens’, where simmer-ing synth-strings, twinkling melodic motifs and glis-tening guitar licks rise above smooth jazz-funk bass and a gentle broken beat rhythm, and the slow-motion soul brilliance of ‘Strangers’, where Kathryn Kempf’s evocative and poignant lead vocals rise above a sump-tuous downtempo groove and heart-aching piano lines.

This subtly varied but musically coherent vibe contin-ues across the mini album. Stenger indulges in a bit of New York daydreaming on ‘Brooklyn Love Boat’, a wonderfully musically detailed chunk of 1970s style jazz-funk heat that offers knowing nods to Roy Ayers, Herbie Hancock and the jazz-fusion stylings of Azymuth, before opting for a deeper, slower and even more seductive sound on the Hammond-sporting bliss of ‘Take Care My Friend’.

Closing cut ‘City Lights’, a gorgeous, soft-focus affair smothered in echoing Rhodes riffs and immersive chords, has the feel of an underground classic in wait-ing: a stirring, string-drenched future sing-along whose emotion-packed lyrics are delivered brilliantly by Glasgow-born singer/songwriter Chris Pookah.

Despite the song’s subject matter – the painful final breakdown of a relationship – there’s something strangely uplifting about the combination of Pookah’s pitch-perfect vocal delivery and the absorbing warmth of Stenger’s comforting and sonically detailed music. It provides a fittingly impressive finish to a mightily immersive mini album.

LNTG brings another batch of those supremely executed edits to the table, timeless tracks from the vaults given a fresh feel, extended, reworked and reloved. One side shines a light on a record that has had the resurgence of the century and on the B, two steamy disco belters.

LPC1 is on limited Ultra-Clear vinyl. A well is a stone-encircled place of depth, keeping an abundance of water for survival. “Well” is also a phrase for pause, for transition in language. Our tears can well up and bubble over. To define ourselves as “well” is the most basic term of goodness. What’s on the other side of the well? Inside the tunnel of change, or this life, we can either feel intimidated by the darkness of uncertainty, or excited by the possibility of nourishment. Songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist Jess Shoman wonders, “what the hell,” why don’t we go for the excess of love we deserve? Tenci’s album A Swollen River, A Well Overflowing becomes a gathering and collection of well-like vessels – cups, puddles, fists – to hold tight to this love and newfound joy. A Swollen River, A Well Overflowing is Tenci’s second album, coming after their 2020 debut My Heart Is An Open Field, which introduced Jess Shoman’s music explorations to the world. Shoman admits that their first album dealt with letting go of painful life experiences, resulting in emptiness. In this recent collection of wiser years and distance from that former grief, Tenci carries an opposite feeling, a celebration of self-rejuvenation. A Swollen River, A Well Overflowing shows Shoman steering their inventive music further and wilder, spilling over with 12 fable-like songs. In a combination of milk, coins, glass, water, and light, each song forms a spell to “fill my heart back up,” Shoman says, “by reframing complex feelings by turning my head sideways and seeing them in a different way.”

LPC1 is on limited Ultra-Clear vinyl. A well is a stone-encircled place of depth, keeping an abundance of water for survival. “Well” is also a phrase for pause, for transition in language. Our tears can well up and bubble over. To define ourselves as “well” is the most basic term of goodness. What’s on the other side of the well? Inside the tunnel of change, or this life, we can either feel intimidated by the darkness of uncertainty, or excited by the possibility of nourishment. Songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist Jess Shoman wonders, “what the hell,” why don’t we go for the excess of love we deserve? Tenci’s album A Swollen River, A Well Overflowing becomes a gathering and collection of well-like vessels – cups, puddles, fists – to hold tight to this love and newfound joy. A Swollen River, A Well Overflowing is Tenci’s second album, coming after their 2020 debut My Heart Is An Open Field, which introduced Jess Shoman’s music explorations to the world. Shoman admits that their first album dealt with letting go of painful life experiences, resulting in emptiness. In this recent collection of wiser years and distance from that former grief, Tenci carries an opposite feeling, a celebration of self-rejuvenation. A Swollen River, A Well Overflowing shows Shoman steering their inventive music further and wilder, spilling over with 12 fable-like songs. In a combination of milk, coins, glass, water, and light, each song forms a spell to “fill my heart back up,” Shoman says, “by reframing complex feelings by turning my head sideways and seeing them in a different way.”

Beatservice Records are thrilled to present the hotly-anticipated third album from Oslo-based production maestro, Third Attempt. 'The Novel Sound' follows on from the widely acclaimed 'Beats From The Quarantine' album released in April 2021, and further compliments the young artist's deserved reputation as one of the dance underground's most exciting talents to emerge in recent years.

Third Attempt (aka Torje Fagertun Spilde) has been dazzling us with his far-reaching music since arriving in the Beatservice fold with 'Shoreline' back in 2018, and since then his ever-evolving repertoire has continued to serve up immaculate sonic surprises. The fast-rising 23-year old artist has wasted no time making his indelible mark, displaying a frenetic work rate alongside an impeccable ear for constructing compelling leftfield grooves.

'The Novel Sound' opens with the rolling deviance of 'Freak Out', where a dusty string sample makes way for vocal samples, scratches, and searing sirens permeating a bass-heavy groove, setting the tone magnificently for the music that's primed to unfold. Next, we arrive in the mid-tempo chug of 'Age Of Steam'. Evolving over a crisp, club-ready rhythm, heavy funk guitars, dancing keys and distant vocal stabs cascade over driving bass before soaring strings herald the arrival of a slick breakdown section. The icing on the cake arrives as bubbling acid joins sensational horn motifs, breaking down once again for a starry-eyed beatless passage that leaves us yearning for a reprise.

'My Girl' features amorous vocal samples hovering over an irresistible disco beat, with alluring rhythm guitars and dreamy e-piano chords setting the scene for rousing horns to blast off into blissful summer skies. Before we've found time to catch our breath, 'Nu Funk' arrives with snappy hip hop samples scratched over tight beats and a delectable bass guitar hook. The groove pauses for dubbed-out space delays to echo into the night before a singing lead guitar joins the rhythm elements to burst back into life, with flute motifs, elegant strings, and otherworldly sweeps elegantly meandering across the panorama.

Set over a groove that arrives like a cool summer breeze, 'Sunbeam Symphony' drifts over soul-soothing chords, weighted bass and slick, rolling beats. Hypnotic keys guide us into position as the drums build energy and the bass notes power us forward. Third Attempt's dextrous keyboard solo dazzles momentarily before subsiding for a dub-infused break, with spaced-out vocal chops and rising sweeps building tension before the groove resumes and the virtuoso solo once again majestically soars. Maintaining the sun-kissed meditations, 'Definite' effortlessly floats through waves of thick bass, funk guitar chops and elegantly fused samples, with seductive chords, hypnotic horns and laser-tight drums combining to create a near overpowering dream state.

The heavy trip-hop rhythms of 'Nightfall' enrapture the listener as rich chords discreetly beckon, with cascading congas, mysterious melodies and exotic refrains building before the glorious lead vocal appears like a hyper-luminous flash of light. The chords disappear into the nothingness, before the carefully selected sample of 'Working Man' drifts in to fill the empty space. Smokey drums soon arrive, joined by weighted bass, foggy chords and an enigmatic whistle lead, fusing to conjure a half-lit world lifted from the pages of an evocative film noir novel.

The enlivening tablas, glitchy effects and saucer-eyed sweeps of 'Greed' hide subliminal messages casting a knowing eye over the consumer-driven society and self-help culture that pervade our society, before we arrive at the album's charmed finale. 'Last Winter Of My Childhood' yet again manages to transport the listener into a gently hallucinatory realm, with drowsy bass notes, tripped out pads and emotive strings building to a profound and rush-inducing crescendo.

'The Novel Sound' once again sees Third Attempt dextrously merging expansive musical aesthetics that fuse trip-hop, funk, soul and disco to deliver a sound that – although endowed with vintage sensibilities – feels proudly up to date. Continuing his breathtaking development in dazzling style, the album feels destined to echo over blissed-out sunsets, back-room excursions and twilight skies for many years to come.

Akae Beka's inimitable style of rich, deep, multi-layered songwriting, uncompromising devotion to RasTafari and soulful healing melodies developed over decades performing with St. Croix based band Midnite and countless recordings. At the point of his untimely passing in 2019, he had released over 70LP's. He is without a doubt one of the most prolific reggae artists ever known.

The stellar production trinity that is Zion I Kings have been involved collectively and individually in creating some of the most highly regarded contributions to the vast Akae Beka catalogue. The timeless songs of 'Mek A Menshun' amply reward the listener who can penetrate into the mystical musical realms of Rastafari. Longtime fans of Midnite and Akae Beka will note that Vaughn Benjamin's singing on 'Mek a Menshun' reached new heights of melodic delivery and emotional intensity. Coupled with his always poetic and insightful lyrics, these 10 original songs rank among his best recordings to date. The title track 'Mek A Menshun' includes vocals by Protoje Grammy (R)-nominated artist.

Mek A Menshun features the stellar musicianship of the ZIK distinguished in typical fashion by the rock-solid drumming of Lloyd "Junior" Richards. On this album, his playing is complemented by Aston Barrett Jr. ("By Day", "Only Now") and Kirk Bennett ( "Kagm Mystory", "Mek A Menshun"). The signature stylings of the other core ZIK musicians are augmented by horns (Andrew "Drew Keys" Stoch -trombone, Donald "Jahbless" Toney -saxophone), flute- Sheldon "Attiba" Bernard, kette- Andrew "Bassie" Campbell, and the guitar of Chet Samuel. ZIK guitarist Andrew "Moon" Bain contributes a string arrangement on "Only Now". Throughout the album, Laurent "Tippy I" Alfred's spot-on organ shuffle bubbles the rhythm forward. Many of the 'Mek A Menshun' tracks were among the last recordings done by the veteran engineer Gary Woung.

Originally released digitally and on CD, this LP is now being released for the first time on as a 12" vinyl LP courtesy of Before Zero Records.

Italian sound artist GIULIO ALDINUCCI returns with his 4th album on KARL: "Real" is again a truly masterfully composed and sound-designed ambient masterpiece and a more than worthy follow-up to the critically acclaimed "Borders And Ruins" (2017), "Disappearing In A Mirror" (2018) and "Shards Of Distant Times" which all made it onto several year's best lists.

With now his 4thalbum for Karl, the sound artist from Siena / IT has proved a steady and prolific artist on the label roster. And each time, GIULIO ALDINUCCI delivers a new ambient masterpiece that clearly carries his signature as composer / producer and yet reveals a slightly different approach to his modus operandi. ALDINUCCI's massive layers of sound, built from field recordings and an array of electronic gear, blend droney ambient with heavenly voices / sacred music that create an atmosphere of a consolatory melancholy – alien, but with a graspable presence of human souls. And each album deals with a topic that ALDINUCCI came across in his observations of and reflections about today's society.

In the words of GIULIO himself:

"The digital media we live with shape and define reality by filtering it, letting us run the risk of living without our personal and unique one. My new album expresses a need of something unmediated and authentic. "Real" is a reflection on the endless possibility of sonic transformation, the ability we have to create new realities transmuting the soundscape around us and the inner soundscape inside us, even only by imagining it. A (deep)real experience permeated by dreamy lyricism."

Ezra Collective’s new era, a venture in discovered maturity and raised stakes, will be defined by the anticipated second album.

'Where I’m Meant To Be' is a thumping celebration of life, an affirming elevation in the Ezra Collective’s winding hybrid sound and refined collective character. The songs marry cool confidence with bright energy. Full of call-and-response conversations between their ensemble parts, a natural product of years improvising together on-stage, the album - which also features Sampa The Great, Kojey Radical, Emile Sandé, Steve McQueen, and Nao - will light up sweaty dance floors and soundtrack dinner parties in equal measure.

Where I'm Meant To Be is out on 4th November via Partisan Records.

Ezra Collective’s new era, a venture in discovered maturity and raised stakes, will be defined by the anticipated second album.

'Where I’m Meant To Be' is a thumping celebration of life, an affirming elevation in the Ezra Collective’s winding hybrid sound and refined collective character. The songs marry cool confidence with bright energy. Full of call-and-response conversations between their ensemble parts, a natural product of years improvising together on-stage, the album - which also features Sampa The Great, Kojey Radical, Emile Sandé, Steve McQueen, and Nao - will light up sweaty dance floors and soundtrack dinner parties in equal measure.

Where I'm Meant To Be is out on 4th November via Partisan Records.

Standing firm on a steady driving rhythmic section, Over The Leap symbolizes the awakening of the life on Earth, the arrival of the morning sun. A deep chord brings in the necessary warmth to prepare the ground for the life on earth to emerge, a bright uplifting pad signs in the beginning of a new day as the light surely gains intensity. Steve O Sullivan adds his signature steady sound to the original track. Emphasizing the comfort and warmth of the early hours of a summer day; extending time as if to focus the attention on the beauty of a world not yet awakened but ready to be. Original hovering over, remix going deep into the leap that the world is about to take every single day when the birds sing. Original Behold, Begin will be available as free download, which offer the necessary well deserved space to Heavenchord to fully express his deeper interpretation of it, giving a massive push to the Jazz influences of the track to then introduce to the audience the depth of a reshape that could only come from one of the most profound artists that Dub Techno has in store today. A release aiming to bring together the two principles of life according to ancient Philosophy : ground the feet on the soil, extend to the sky, and come back to being with a deeper focus on the feeling of being alive.

• DELUXE HEAVYWEIGHT SLEEVE WITH SPOT-VARNISH AND ALTERNATIVE ARTWORK
• INCLUDING INSERT WITH LINER NOTES
• PVC PROTECTIVE SLEEVE
• 1994 BANK HEIST MOVIE PRODUCED BY ROGER AVARY & QUENTIN TARANTINO
• SCORE BY TOMANDANDY (THE HILLS HAVE EYES, THE STRANGERS)
• AVAILABLE ON VINYL FOR THE FIRST TIME
• LIMITED EDITION OF 2000 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED COPIES ON FLAMING COLOURED VINYL

Killing Zoe is a 1994 crime / bank heist film written, directed and produced by Roger Avary and co-produced by Quentin Tarantino. Killing Zoe follows the story of a safe cracker named Zed who returns to France to aid an old friend in performing a doomed bank heist. The film was labeled by acclaimed film critic Roger Ebert as “Generation X’s first bank caper movie”. After the production of Killing Zoe, Avary and Tarantino continued their collaboration and produced both the iconic award winning movie Pulp Fiction and several radio dialogues in Reservoir Dogs.

The score to Killing Zoe was produced by Tomandandy, aka Thomas Hajdu and Andy Milburn. This duo is best known for their horror scores like The Hills Have Eyes and The Strangers amongst others and many collaborations with great artists such as Lou Reed, David Byrne, U2 and Laurie Anderson.

Killing Zoe is available on vinyl for the first time as a limited edition of 2000 individually numbered copies on flaming coloured vinyl and includes an insert with liner notes.

For most of us, life is a series of human interactions; some good, some bad, some happy, some sad. But what would life be without those peripheral characters who plant themselves into our worlds through the sheer force of their presence? Whether we speak to them or not, those vibrant contrasts to the everyday tide of ordinary people are a magical part of the human experience. Oddballs and misfits, flamboyant instigators or low-key game changers, we all clock them on our own hectic journeys, and they make the day a little brighter. Everyone has their favourite people.

Following the runaway success of their first one-shot single in 2020, Favourite People reconvene for a full-length of blues-tinged cuts stemming from sessions at Selva Studios in Brooklyn. The project’s roots predate the studio, from scattered jams and sweaty nights in New York nightspots to impromptu recordings on cruise ships, but the flashpoint of inspiration that truly set the album in motion was the arrival of a blonde 1960s Fender Telecaster. From there, the motley crew of sharp-shooting string slingers and sticks men set about crafting paeans to those striking souls who make the world a more colourful place.

The emphasis here is on the kind of forward-facing, electrically charged mix you felt (whether you realised it or not) hearing early Sabbath or Priest for the first time. With their undeniable bias towards vintage soul, Favourite People are far from heavy metal, but the same lineage of blues and by extension jazz informs the music, while the tonal crunch of that 70s era guides the sound. Feasting on tasteful overdrive and leaning on the unmistakable flavour of tape for much of the recording, the deal was sealed on this purposeful exercise in vibe thanks to the near-mythical texture of Guy Davie’s EMI Nigeria console at Electric Mastering.

Across the album there are mellow shades and bursts of good-time get-down exuberance, but the lead singles capture the essence of the band in no uncertain terms.

‘Promise Of Nibbles’ brings the Favourite People MO into sharp relief with a low-slung, hard swinging blues confection full of overheating organ and duelling guitars in pursuit of Southern-stewed boogie (im)perfection.

‘We’ll Be Late To The Party’ turns up the tempo and dials in the fuzz, striking an anthemic note which lands somewhere between urgent highway escapism and euphoric communal revelation.

‘Mass and Mustiness’ leans in on the funk dimension of the group’s sound with the sweetest licks and chops on that fabled telecaster backed up by an acutely angled beat and the slinkiest of b-lines.

These are but three of the vibrant vignettes laid down by this quietly unassuming collective of heads down jammers, loose groovers and vintage sound freaks –heavy grooving instrumentals pulled from their own moments of pure musical magic and captured on disc for your listening, dancing, living, loving pleasure.

“Let me fly you home. We can talk on the way”

Thorn Valley is a 20 song assemblage of various transmissions from the ever diffuse and widening DIY underground, released to mark the four year anniversary of World of Echo. The river ever bends, the valley ever deepens.

Available as a gatefold double LP pressed in an edition of 500. Artwork by Matthew Walkerdine

Beth Orton returns after six years with her new album, ‘Weather Alive’.

“Through the writing of these songs and the making of this music, I found my way back to the world around me - a way to reach nature and the people I love and care about. This record is a sensory exploration that allowed for a connection to a consciousness that I was searching for. Through the resonance of sound and a beaten up old piano I bought in Camden Market while living in a city I had no intention of staying in, I found acceptance and a way of healing.” - Beth Orton

Album collaborators include Tom Skinner, Alabaster dePlume, Shahzad Ismaily and Tom Herbert.

Big headline UK tour in October 2022, including a headline show at Koko in Camden, London.
CD housed in digipak packaging. Clear vinyl in a single-sleeve jacket and printed inner. Black vinyl, housed in a single-sleeve jacket and printed inner.

“As the music rises against the ragged pulse of her vocals, the English artist, nearly 30 years into her career, constructs an entirely new landscape for her songwriting - a wide-open space that grows stranger and more beautiful the further inside she leads us.” - Pitchfork

“The musical richness only mirrors Orton’s astounding writing” -MOJO (★★★★)

“Viscerally corporeal music, full of gristle and breath and richly ambient” - Uncut (8/10)

“‘Weather Alive’ is an enormously exciting record” - The Guardian

“Soaring” – NME

“Best New Track” - Pitchfork

“Singular and captivating” - Stereogum

Beth Orton returns after six years with her new album, ‘Weather Alive’.

“Through the writing of these songs and the making of this music, I found my way back to the world around me - a way to reach nature and the people I love and care about. This record is a sensory exploration that allowed for a connection to a consciousness that I was searching for. Through the resonance of sound and a beaten up old piano I bought in Camden Market while living in a city I had no intention of staying in, I found acceptance and a way of healing.” - Beth Orton

Album collaborators include Tom Skinner, Alabaster dePlume, Shahzad Ismaily and Tom Herbert.

Big headline UK tour in October 2022, including a headline show at Koko in Camden, London.
CD housed in digipak packaging. Clear vinyl in a single-sleeve jacket and printed inner. Black vinyl, housed in a single-sleeve jacket and printed inner.

“As the music rises against the ragged pulse of her vocals, the English artist, nearly 30 years into her career, constructs an entirely new landscape for her songwriting - a wide-open space that grows stranger and more beautiful the further inside she leads us.” - Pitchfork

“The musical richness only mirrors Orton’s astounding writing” -MOJO (★★★★)

“Viscerally corporeal music, full of gristle and breath and richly ambient” - Uncut (8/10)

“‘Weather Alive’ is an enormously exciting record” - The Guardian

“Soaring” – NME

“Best New Track” - Pitchfork

“Singular and captivating” - Stereogum

Einstürzende Neubauten producer Boris Wilsdorf, Karl O’Connor aka Regis and MY DISCO's Liam Andrews assemble as EROS, bottling no-wave/industrial lightning with a tight set of pulverized, widescreen torched-songs that rasp, grate and throb somewhere between This Heat, The Cure, Cabaret Voltaire, Alva Noto x Pan Sonic.

An industrial fantasy of flesh and steel, ‘A Southern Code’ is the stunning continuation of the trio’s work at Wilsdorf’s pivotal Anderesbaustelle studio on Regis’ watershed album, ‘Hidden In This Is The Light That You Miss’. Rejoined by another key muse, Anni Hogan, and Einstürzende Neubauten’s Jochen Arbeit, they effectively galvanised a new band, EROS, during long days and nights in the studio across 2020 and into 2021. The sound they make is fiercely lean, shaped by Wilsdorf’s manacled mixing and anchored in the frankly sexy as f#ck swerve of Regis vocals and his snake-hipped rhythm section.

The first songs issued from those sessions form a lustrous new high point of contemporary industrial and dance music, one porous to Kurdish dabke as much as archetypal goth, pulsing with a metallic bloodlust and spatialized by Wilsdorf’s genre-forming tekkerz in a way that seriously rewards with proper amplification. Judged on its immediate merits, it’s the sort of record that could have feasibly come out at any point between the ‘80s and now, but closer inspection reveals a discreet framework of sculpted subbass and sleekly rolling traction that betrays the modernity of minimalist D&B physics and up-to-the-second sound design that places ‘A Southern Code’ in a timeless echelon.

Registering the venomous drums and over-the-shoulder whispers of its title track, plus the incendiary middle eastern horns of ‘The Crawling Man’ - a real parallel dimension take on The Cure’s ‘The Top’ - to the post-apocalyptic lounge lizard styles of ‘In This Place’, and the unheimlich creep to ‘Nature Unborn (From Sun to Sun)’, the band’s first album plants a vital stake in the ground for industrial musick at the crest of a new decade.

Auf ihrem Sony Classical Doppel-Album Two Steps From Hell: Live - An Epic Music Experience definieren Two Steps From Hell - aka Thomas Bergersen und Nick Phoenix - die Schöpfer des "epischen Sounds", ihre fantastische Musik mit dem Odessa Opera Orchester, Chor und Rockband neu. Das Album enthält über zwei Stunden Musik und 28 der bekanntesten Titel der Gruppe, die im Rahmen ihrer erfolgreichen Europa-Konzerte im Sommer 2022 neu-arrangiert und aufgenommen wurden. Genre-Hits wie "Heart of Courage", "Victory", "Star Sky", "Protectors of the Earth" oder "Strength Of A Thousand Men" verbinden die in Kalifornien ansässigen Komponisten und Produzenten Thomas Bergersen und Nick Phoenix - die Masterminds hinter Two Steps From Hell - zu episch-akustischen Klangwelten zwischen Klassik, Filmmusik und Rock. Bei ihren Aufnahmen wurden die Multiinstrumentalisten von einer Reihe herausragender Solist*Innen begleitet wie Esther Abrami (Violine), Skye Emanuel (Gitarre), Elaine Correa (Keyboards), Saulius Petreikis (Windwoods) oder Greg Ellis (Drums) und den Sängerinnen Merethe Solvedt, Úyanga Bold und Kamila Nývltová. Two Steps From Hell sind eine der weltweit erfolgreichsten Produzenten für epische Musik und gehören zu den Vorreitern des "epischen Sounds". Seit ihrer Gründung im Jahr 2006 haben Thomas Bergersen und Nick Phoenix diverse Filmtrailer für Blockbuster (Avengers, X-Men, Star Trek, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones), Fernsehserien (Doctor Who, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead) und Videospiele (Mass Effect, Resident Evil, League of Legends, Kill Zone) vertont. Ihr Song "Heart of Courage" leitete die Spiele der Fußball-EM 2012 und das Finale der Olympischen Spiele 2012 in London ein. Die Musik, die Thomas Bergersen und Nick Phoenix für Film, Fernsehen und Videospiele produzierten, löste euphorische Reaktionen bei den Zuhörern aus und sie begannen ganze Alben aufzunehmen und ihre Musik bei Musikportalen selbst zu veröffentlichen. Two Steps From Hell, ein Internet-Phänomen, war geboren und eine treue internationale Fan-Base sorgte für über fünf Milliarden Streams auf YouTube und anderen Plattformen, vier Platin-Alben, zwei Nummer 1 Alben in den Billboard Classical Charts ("Battlecry" und "Unleashed") und insgesamt 10 Platzierungen in den Top 10 der Billboard Classical Albums Charts.

Strut continue their work from the archives of Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids with a first ever vinyl release of Ackamoor's debut avant-garde / Afro-jazz recordings from 1971 with The Collective, based out of Yellow Springs, Ohio.

The group was formed after Ackamoor had returned to Antioch from a spell in L.A. under the wing of influential saxophonist Charles Tyler. Pianist Lester Knibbs had been appointed to the Antioch college music department as an assistant professor and had followed a similar path to avant-garde pioneer, Cecil Taylor. "They both came from the classical tradition," explains Ackamoor, "but also understood jazz and avant-garde improvisation." Ackamoor and Knibbs started as a duet before Ackamoor met three musicians from Wright-Patterson Air Force base near Dayton. Ackamoor continues, "They would come to Yellow Springs because they could find marijuana there. They were called 'the three Steves': Steve Maniscoso, an Italian, Steve Rumboat, a white American and Oakland Steve, a black musician playing flute. Oakland Steve left the air force and then Margaux Simmons arrived - that is the quintet featured on these recordings. You also hear a vocalist called Peggy Pettitt, another Antioch student who became quite famous in movies; she starred in the film Black Girl soon afterwards in 1972.

This concert is the only professional recording of The Collective from a performance at Kelly Hall in August 1971. "After this, I think the Steves went back to Wright-Patterson," continues Ackamoor, "and The Collective just naturally evolved and transitioned

A+ record ... My first reaction was "since when is Tamil making dance music, what can't he bloody do", I'm so here for it. ‘Robert Street’ and ‘Burning So Hot’ are simply future classics IMO.’ - CC:DISCO!

Born in the heartland of Melbourne suburb Fitzroy, Steady Weather (comprised of scene stalwarts Ben Grayson and Tamil Rogeon) bring to light organic dance music from Melbourne’s rich neo-soul and jazz community. With a lineage that leads directly to the founding of groups like Australian funk royalty The Bamboos and orchestral beat music pioneers The Raah Project, Rogeon and Grayson not only bring that heritage to their music, they bring a philosophy of raw emotion and soulfulness to their productions. Tamil also plays strings for Harvey Sutherland’s Bermuda, with the group’s musical DNA echoing in Steady Weather’s productions.

Endlich ist am 4. November das Album „Can’t Buy A Thrill” von Steely Dan wieder auf Vinyl erhältlich.
Das Album enthält die bahnbrechenden Hits „Do It Again”, „Reelin’ in the Years” und das kürzlich viral
gegangene „Dirty Work”. Dieses Album ist der Start der Vinyl-Reissue-Reihe von Steely Dan, welchem
jährliche Veröffentlichungen folgen werden.
Das Album erscheint als 1LP, auf 180g gepresst.

Mit „Where I'm Meant To Be“ bricht für die britische Jazzfusionband Ezra Collective eine neue Ära an, definiert von musikalischer Reife und einem noch höherem Einsatz.

Das zweite Album des Londoner Quintetts ist vertonte Lebensfreude, eine Weiterentwicklung ihres hybriden Sounds und kollektiven Charakters. Die Songs vereinen kühle Zuversicht mit heller Energie. Das Album, auf dem auch Sampa The Great, Kojey Radical, Emile Sandé, Steve McQueen und Nao zu hören sind, ist das Produkt jahrelanger gemeinsamer Improvisationen auf der Bühne und lebt von Ruf und Antwort, dem Call and Response der Ensemblemitglieder.

Musik, die sich gleichermaßen für die Tanzfläche als auch zur musikalischen Untermalung einer Dinnerparty eignet.

Format:
Deluxe 2LP Col. Ltd. - Deluxe-Vinyl - zwei 140g schwere, limitierte, orange und gelb marmorierte LPs in einer Deluxe-Gatefold-Hülle mit zwei bedruckten Innenhüllen und 14-seitigem Fotobuch.

Mit „Where I'm Meant To Be“ bricht für die britische Jazzfusionband Ezra Collective eine neue Ära an, definiert von musikalischer Reife und einem noch höherem Einsatz.

Das zweite Album des Londoner Quintetts ist vertonte Lebensfreude, eine Weiterentwicklung ihres hybriden Sounds und kollektiven Charakters. Die Songs vereinen kühle Zuversicht mit heller Energie. Das Album, auf dem auch Sampa The Great, Kojey Radical, Emile Sandé, Steve McQueen und Nao zu hören sind, ist das Produkt jahrelanger gemeinsamer Improvisationen auf der Bühne und lebt von Ruf und Antwort, dem Call and Response der Ensemblemitglieder.

Musik, die sich gleichermaßen für die Tanzfläche als auch zur musikalischen Untermalung einer Dinnerparty eignet.

Format:
Deluxe 2LP Col. Ltd. - Deluxe-Vinyl - zwei 140g schwere, limitierte, orange und gelb marmorierte LPs in einer Deluxe-Gatefold-Hülle mit zwei bedruckten Innenhüllen und 14-seitigem Fotobuch.

"Switch Records was started by myself alongside Bill Campbell in the early eighties", says Aaron Harry - a library music producer who began using Lansdowne Studios in Holland Park for his productions on the renowned Bruton Music label. The studios had been operating there since the late 1950s, becoming the breeding ground for some key & early UK jazz and pop records (owner Adrian Kerridge teamed up with Joe Meek to lay down the first recordings there in 1958). It was here that Harry and engineer Chris Dibble started to work together as a regular team. After spending some time at the studio observing them in acton, Kerridge and (Burton MD) Robin Phillps "recognised what a good team Chris and I had become. So, it was inevitable that I would also make pop music alongside Production Library Music."

The output of the relatively obscure Switch label is the result of this work, and Freestyle has licensed 3 of the most hard to come by 12"s as part of their series of rare & foundation UK funk & soul records. This one, Steppin' Out on the Groove was written by the late Tony Jackson, "a renowned session singer/musician that I had worked with on numerous occasions" says Harry, and also a key brit-funk figure who formed part of a string of UK groups throughout the 70s and early 80s (Sweet Dreams, Midnight, Ritz & Indigo) and later went on to be successful as lead singer in Rage. He died in 2001. Backed up with a killer instrumental that really lets the solid production shine, this one is an essential in any DJ or collector's bag.

The Layers collections showcase compilations by 7K! Records, supporting a range of contemporary classical music. Duet Layers pays tribute to the first editions of Piano Layers, String Layers, Ambient Layers and Wind Layers, honoring the layers thematic template, and challenging the artists to work together to find a common ground. The results of this are something new and unexpected.

The first edition to be pressed on vinyl, Duet Layers contains six duets. The result is a collaborative record written and performed by twelve of the most interesting artists from around the world, a sharing of sonic landscapes.

The release opens with a collaboration between the saxophonist Colin Stetson and pianist Hania Rani. Divided equally between an astonishing piano line, synths, a trace of vocals and the stunning melody of the saxophone. The music finds its feet in silence and developing into a new world full of sounds. The second track slowly moves into an artistic-axis held between Stefano Guzzetti’s piano and Neil Leitner’s (Echo Collective) viola – paying tribute to the slow passage of time. Following, the Polish cellist Dobrawa Czocher and British-Berlin violinist & producer Simon Goff, meet with a dark and poignant track.

Steve Thomas Lacy-Moya ist ein amerikanischer Sänger, Musiker, Songwriter und Producer. Er wurde als Gitarrist der alternativen R&B-Band The Internet bekannt. Sein zweites Album GEMINI RIGHTS ist endlich auf Vinyl erhältlich.

Der sich über mehr als drei Jahrzehnte erstreckende musikalische Erfolg von Tiken Jah Fakoly ist auf vier Eckpfeilern begründet, deren Fundament für seinen klaren und kompromisslosen Reggae steht und sich ebenso klar und unmissverständlich in den Texten des beliebten afrikanischen Musikers widerspiegelt. Sei es als Verteidiger der Unterdrückten oder als steter Daumen in der Wunde der von ihm benannten Tyrannen. Schon zu Beginn der 90er Jahre, mit seiner ersten Band 'Djélys" in Odienné, einer Stadt im Nordwesten der Elfenbeinküste, fiel Tiken Jah mit seiner tiefen, eindringlichen Stimme auf. Ein großer Erfolg und der erste der starken Eckpfeiler war jedoch sein in Abidjan entstandenes Debut Album unter seinem Namen, 'Mangercratie" (1999). Es erschütterte sowohl die lokale Reggae-Szene, vor allem aber auch die Machthaber, die dekadente Oberschicht, die "alten Fressäcke", wie er sie betitelte, die die Zeichen der Zeit ignorierten und sich an die Macht klammerten. Den zweiten Grundstein legte er in Paris, dem zentralen Nerv Frankreichs, mit seinem dritten Album 'Françafrique" (2002), einem Begriff, der informell für das - wie Tiken Jah in seinen Texten anprangerte - antiquierte politische System Frankreichs und dessen mafiöse Strukturen steht. Im selben Jahr wurde sein Land, die Elfenbeinküste, von einem Bürgerkrieg zerrissen. Seine Landsleute hatten "den Verstand verloren", wie er es schon zuvor in einem seiner Liedtexte prophezeit hatte. Fakoly suchte Unterschlupf in Bamako, ohne sich jedoch wie ein Flüchtling zu fühlen, denn "Africa is united", Afrika ist vereint, wie er schon immer verkündet hatte. In Bamako legte er mit dem treffend benannten 'L"Africain" (seinem fünften Album, 2007) den dritten Eckpfeiler, gefolgt von dem vierten Eckpfeiler, dem großartigen 'African Revolution" (2010), seinem siebten Album, welches das endgültige Fundament bildete: Ein revolutionärer Schrei, ein direkter politischer Aufruf, der sich in den bloßen, schlichten Reggae-Rhythmen entlädt, unangekündigt und dafür umso schöner und machtvoller. Sein elftes und neuestes Album 'Braquage de pouvoir" (Raub der Macht) setzt diesen Weg fort. Das Album trifft den Nerv auf den Punkt, denn es begnügt sich nicht damit, Tiken Jahs musikalische und politische Errungenschaften zusammenzufassen, sondern offenbart in Gänze das Wesen des fakolianischen Stils - ein Adjektiv, das wir zu erfinden wagen, so wie Tiken Jah Fakoly es wagte, diese starken Pfeiler zu erschaffen.

The first new album in over a decade from world-renowned singer-songwriter, Nina Nastasia. Produced by Steve Albini. Riderless Horse is my first solo record, and it’s the first record my former partner, Kennan Gudjonsson, didn’t produce. I haven’t made an album since 2010. I decided to stop pursuing music several years after my sixth record, Outlaster, because of unhappiness, overwhelming chaos, mental illness, and my tragically dysfunctional relationship with Kennan. Creating music had always been a positive outlet during difficult times, but eventually it became a source of absolute misery. Riderless Horse documents the grief, but it also marks moments of empowerment and a real happiness in discovering my own capability. Steve Albini produced this record with me, and Greg Norman assisted. It was exactly the right environment to work on this record. We all had meals together, cried, laughed, and told stories. It was perfect. It made me realize how much I love writing, playing and recording music. Terrible things happen. These were some terrible things. So, what to do – learn something valuable, connect with people, move the fuck out of that apartment, remember the humor, find the humour, tell the truth, and make a record. I made a record.