quête:steve o

NOW Music is proud to present the newest addition to the ‘Yearbook’ series: NOW – Yearbook 1981. NOW – Yearbook 1981; a celebration of the eclectic and creative brilliance of the year in pop. 4 CDs of 85 tracks that defined the charts in 1981. Available on a 4CD special edition which is housed in ‘hard-back book’ packaging, including a 28-page booklet with a summary of the year, a track-by-track guide, a quiz, and original singles artwork, and as a standard 4-CD package. A limited edition 3LP set pressed in translucent red vinyl, limited to 3,000 units and a 4CD set

Fronted by former South London lovers rock vocal harmony group, Alpha (sisters Jackie & Jean Heron and Marlene Richardson), Take Three was the brain-child of writer/producer trio "S.H.E." - Steve Sinclair, Peter Hinds & Kevin Ellis.

Meeting each other at The Factory community centre in Paddington (now known as the Yaa Asantewa centre and in the last few years, The Yaa Centre) Steve & Kevin began a partnership writing and directing their own theatre productions as part of The Black Theatre Co-Op, which called the centre home at the time. When a song they had written together for one of their productions received praise and plaudits, the path toward writing and producing records began, bringing in more seasoned hand Peter Hinds - formerly a member of key brit funk groups Light of the World and Beggar & Co, and player with Incognito, Imagination & Loose Ends - to complete the circle.

Take Three represented the first project for a creative partnership that would spawn multiple projects/aliases spanning the UK soul, funk & dance scenes, and still continues to this day. With this compilation we showcase for the first time the group's combined output as Take Three, complete with previously unreleased material.

Foreigner ist die fünfte LP von Cat Stevens’ bei Island Records und repräsentiert die abenteuerliche,
risikofreudige Ader seines Charakters. In Abkehr von seinem weitgehend akustischen Sound entdeckte
Cat auf dem Album seine Liebe zu R&B- und Soul-Musik, wie auf der Hauptsingle des Albums, ”The
Hurt”, zu hören ist. Foreigner wurde größtenteils in Jamaika mit einer All-Star-Band aufgenommen und
ist das erste Album, das ausschließlich von Cat selbst produziert wurde. Es ist tiefgründig, funky und reich
an Bedeutungsebenen

"Raise a glass to the latest entry in Bloodshot’s Barrel Select Series!

Barrel Select exists to highlight the best of Bloodshot’s cask-strength catalog. Robbie Fulks has made some of the finest records we can claim as our own, but if there’s only room for one on that sacred shelf at the top, it’s Gone Away Backward.

“At a time when modern country feels like bloated spandex-and-Aquanetted pop-metal, Fulks defiantly embraces an unflinching traditionalism.” Paste’s words, not ours, but we’re not gonna argue the point they made when Gone Away Backward hit their doorstep 11 years back. They also called this “a tour du force of bluegrass-derived spare country,” which we’ll also let stand. Magnet said it was “the best album Fulks has ever made, period,” and out of respect for the wonderful work Robbie has done in the past decade, we’ll simply point out that this too is an 11-year-old review.

With Steve Albini at the board, Robbie was able to break his songs down to their core and fire his characters, his chops, his band, and his amazing voice directly at listener’s souls. “We recorded it pretty fast, in a couple of days. People are always bragging that they did it without overdubs, but that’s the way we did it.” The results are everything we ever wanted from Robbie and a high-water mark of folk or bluegrass or alt-country or whatever genre bucket you want to pour his gifts into.

Recorded by Steve Albini

10th Anniversary Barrel Select edition on Bloodshot Red vinyl

“Stunning” —Saving Country Music

“a work of great, accomplished craft . . . vivid and moving” —Ken Tucker, NPR

“The level of artistry is so complete that it suggests a world in which Fulks isn’t a household name is somehow upside down.” —Wall Street Journal"

Matt Filippini is an Italian guitar player, rock songwriter and producer. After working with some local bands, he started to take it seriously when in 2001 he started to play some gigs in Italy during a masterclass tour of the legendary drummer Ian Paice (Deep Purple founder and current member since 1968 but also with Paul McCartney, Gary Moore and Whitesnake). One year later, in 2003, after writing a bunch of rocking songs and recording a demo in his home studio, Matt gave a cd with the tracks to listen to Mr. Paice who liked the stuff and agreed to record the drum tracks for the songs. So after Ian Paice recorded three of the tracks, Matt asked Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, ...) to record vocals for two of the songs. Those became Rose In Hell and Where Do You Hide The Blues You've Got, two of the most appreciated songs from the first Matt's studio album, MOONSTONE PROJECT Time To Take A stand, released April 2006 on Majestic Rock Records. The album features other rock and roll gods like Carmine Appice, Steve Walsh of Kansas, Eric Bloom of Blue Oyster Cult, Graham Bonnet of Rainbow and many more! The album, produced and written by Filippini himself, has been acclaimed by the music press with some great reviews and adored by thousands of classic rock fans from all over the World. In 2010 Matt toured Spain and Italy with Carmine Appice., in September 2010 Matt he played a festival in Sardinia along with Roger Glover (Deep Purple), Bobby Kimball and Steve Lukather of Toto and Vinny Appice (Black Sabbath and Ronnie Dio).In 2011, Through the next few years he played with Deep Purple, Doogie White (Rainbow and Malmsteen) and Neil Murray (Whitesnake and brian May Band), as well as several gigs with Hughes and Paice. He has certainly been active these last few years! the Moonstone Project title “New Life” the full album has been completely remixed and remastered by Fredrik Folkare, featuring on the album the Rock legends Glenn Hughes, Graham Bonnet, Eric Bloom, James Christian, Andrew Freeman, Ian Paice, Ken Hensley, Carmine Appice etc.

“A huge thing for this record was to make it feel as close to our live show as possible,” says Tom Sharkett of W.H. Lung’s latest album. “We didn’t want it to sound live but we wanted to capture the excitement of the live performances.”

This is something that has become paramount to the group in recent years as they have undeniably blossomed into one of the most joyous and arresting live bands in the country. “The reason I’m in a band is to play live music,” says singer Joe Evans. “For me, music is live music. That’s what it’s for, to be played with people.”

The five-piece band, also featuring Chris Mulligan, Hannah Peace, and Alex Mercer-Main, decided to try something new on their third album after two incredibly successful collaborations with previous producer Matt Peel. In order to capture the energy, spirit and dynamism of their live shows, they relocated to Sheffield to work with Ross Orton (MIA, Arctic Monkeys, Working Men’s Club) who was able to harness this side of the band to remarkable effect. “Ross is the Sheffield Steve Albini,” says Evans. “He’s the king of not overthinking it and trusting the process of the art of recording songs. He was always there to stop us fucking around with cerebral stuff and get it down.” Sharkett echoes this too: “He was the exact producer we needed without us even realising. His productions and mixes are bombastic, lively and in your face and that’s exactly what we wanted.”

However, while this album is rooted in a sense of capturing a moment and a sparky liveness, that’s not to say it’s a raw or ragged record. It is still a meticulously composed, delicately layered and pristinely produced piece of work that, in true W.H. Lung style, runs the gauntlet from dance to pop to indie while still capturing that distinctly unique quality that is unquestionably their own. “It was a really big thing for me to realise what made us sound like us on this record,” says Sharkett. “I think the album sounds a lot more confident and self assured because of it. Some songs sound just so much like Lung and I’m really proud of that. I’m not sure we’ve done that as consistently across the other records.”

While the band have drilled deeper into finding their own singular identity, it’s not a record resting on its laurels. It’s a significant leap forward, expanding on their solid foundations while also breaking new ground. “The big difference with this record is its directness in every sense,” says Sharkett. “The songwriting is more upfront. Previously we’d focused a lot on vibe and production as opposed to just writing songs. The overall mission here was to revert to a classic songwriting structure and for the production to come afterwards.” And so what you have on this record are deeply considered and well-crafted songs, then recorded with blistering intensity in the moment, and then given a touch of experimentation afterwards. Then throw in Orton’s contributions to the band and it’s proven to be a real winning formula. “He brought a real dose of magic to the songs we’d written,” says Sharkett. “And brought an extra bit of wonk and quirkiness each time.”

The band’s ability to write more traditional and conventional songs is clearly a skill they’ve taken to with ease, at times there’s an almost Springsteen-like quality – but if he'd ever had an ecstasy period – to tracks such as ‘Thinner Wine’ and ‘Bloom and Fade’. While ‘How to Walk’ was constructed with one thing only in mind: that it would absolutely slay on stage. “I can’t wait to play this live,” says Evans. “We wanted a song to represent our live set, a new big one, and this is it.” Once again it leans towards the anthemic, with its driving, propulsive charge complete with incandescent synths and vocal melodies so irresistible you can already hear them being sung in unison by a crowd.

It’s an incredibly difficult feat to pull off a record that is more rooted in traditional songcraft while also capturing the power of a live performance, as well as pushing sonics into experimental new directions while working with a brand new collaborator. But here the band has managed to do just that. And the album’s closing song ‘I Will Set Fire To The House’ is a perfect example of such a thing. It’s a song that feels immaculately constructed but also very much alive and of the moment as its radiating synths engulf from the off, and Evans’ vocal is silky but powerful and in perfect symbiosis with Peace’s. It’s a song that captures the endless joys of music playing long into the night. “It may be a bit of a bloody bombastic way to end an album saying ‘and we’ll dance into the sunrise’,” says Evans. “But fuck it.”

MORE PRESS ON ‘VANITIES’ (MELO131)

"Vanities artily refines an exhilarating brand of up-front electro-dance" MOJO ⅘

'Idiosyncratic yet euphoric electronic pop on triumphant second LP' 9/10 Uncut

''One of the most effective alternative pop albums of the year'' 4/5 Record Collector
'Dance music for the modern age' - The Times (4*)

Oliver Coates' Throb, shiver, arrow of time is a portal into somatic chiaroscuro, aglow with the embers of imperfect memories and smudged with the plumes of internal echoes, which augment in vast, mercurial dimensions. For his third album on RVNG Intl., the British cellist, composer and producer offers a capsule of personal resonance and remembrance, assembled over the past six years. Throb, shiver, arrow of time traces the familiar metallic anatomy and viscous string modulations of his 2020 release skins n slime, while recentering his inner compulsions following a procession of lauded score writing projects, including the films Aftersun (Charlotte Wells, 2022), The Stranger (Thomas M Wright, 2022) and Occupied City (Steve McQueen, 2023). While working on Aftersun, Wells asked Coates how music could signal that someone is going on a trawl through their memory_a question that has stayed with him ever since and fosters a heartbeat running through the record. Throb, shiver, arrow of time is "all about inaccurate transmissions from our memories, overlaid with emotions from other sources," says Coates. The release is imbued with the ache and glow of recollections mulched together, where the guttural dissonance of misremembering is shrouded by strange orbs of sentiment. At the record's inner core is "Shopping centre curfew," a swift yet cavernous track that emerged five years ago when two real world events, both occurring in South London during the pandemic lockdowns, became fused in a dream: the demolition of Elephant and Castle shopping center, and the discussion of a curfew as a real possibility for all men following a violent crime. A strange simultaneity occurred with this piece of music and Coates built the album out from there, a sense of temporal entropy refracting shimmers of lurking convulsions into lucid sonic topologies. The ten compositions of Throb, shiver, arrow of time find weightless melodies soaring across after-image gradients, magnified and compressed. Misted tones within "Please be normal" and "90" soften drone-soaked shudders of inner acoustics messing up. Vocal invocations appear from long-term collaborators Malibu and chrysanthemum bear, as well as drifting synth radiance from Faten Kanaan. Throb, shiver, arrow of time furthers Coates' reach in collapsing the digital into the analogue and vice versa, allowing serendipity to reorganize the material and push out against the confines of flatness. This sculptural approach to sound is deeply influenced by the intricate installations of artist Sarah Sze, whose permutations of visual matter with its own after-image form kaleidoscopic epitaphs for ephemera and emotion. Coates' thinking about Sze's work and processes flowed together with his own playing and editing techniques, superimposing the textural relief of a live take back into a composition, and allowing the sound to succumb to a dream of itself. As Coates expands, "The cello is a kind of melancholic instrument with a light ethereal spirit. When the sound is flattened into digital processes, with shifted frequencies and time stretching I'm trying to give it even more of those qualities. Sometimes I'm distancing myself from it, so it becomes a piece of discarded debris that has soul in it, a down-sampling. Or other times, it's trying to maximize the present tense in the act of playing, and collapse that vivid color into a burnished, photocopied kind of sound. So the music acts like weather, weathering the listener, or as flames licking at the sides of objects." As the record unfurls, the compositions swell in duration, until the granular glimmers of its finale "Make it happen" persist in almost violent delight. "There's a feeling of not wanting to let this album go, trying to defy the extinguishing sound at the end of the music, trying to push the colors beyond the confines of the structure, to defeat the silence." In the scramble to resist denouement, Coates suspends the arrow of time in its eternal flight, just for a moment, to reveal the solace of the dust settling in the afterglow. Oliver Coates' Throb, shiver, arrow of time will be released on vinyl, Japanese import CD, and digital editions on October 18, 2024. On behalf of Oliver and RVNG Intl., a portion of the proceeds from this release will benefit The Traditional Music and Song Association of Scotland, an organization fostering opportunities for people of all ages to participate in the traditional music and culture of Scotland.

Nour Mobarak’s Dafne Phono is an adaptation of the first opera, Dafne, composed and written by Jacopo Peri and Ottavio Rinuccini in 1598. Drawing on the myth of Daphne and Apollo from Ovid’s Metamorphoses—a story of unrequited love, patriarchal possession, conquest, and transformation—Mobarak’s multimedia and multispecies reimagining splinters the opera’s Italian libretto. Alongside English and Greek versions, it is translated into some of the world’s most phonetically complex languages—Abkhaz, San Juan Quiahije Eastern Chatino, Silbo Gomero, and !Xoon. In this process, the narrative—and an artifact of Western culture—is dismantled, metabolized, and rendered into unruly utterances that shape the sensorium as much as they do the capacity for sense-making. These voices are given material form by a cast of mycelium sonic sculptures whose rhizomatic compositions and broadcasted recordings resemble the formation and mutation of language over time, reconstituting speech into a new, polyphonic body politic, composed of voices whose striking, poetic utterances transfix and transcend meaning.

The A-Side of the record presents a stereo version of Mobarak’s 15-channel sound installation, Dafne Phono. The B-Side uses a recording of a portion of the translation process the libretto underwent in Namibia, live-processed by the artist.

The LP is published on the occasion of Nour Mobarak’s exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, New York (October 26, 2024–January 12, 2025), with support from Sylvia Kouvali.

Artist Bio:
Nour Pamela Mobarak (Lebanese-American, b. 1985, Cairo, Egypt) lives and works between Los Angeles; Bainbridge Island; and Athens, Greece. Her works have been shown at Sylvia Kouvali (formerly Rodeo), London/Paris; Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin; MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA; Amant, Brooklyn; JOAN, Los Angeles; Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, Riga; Miguel Abreu Gallery, New York; Hakuna Matata, Los Angeles; and Cubitt Gallery, London. Exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Castello di Tivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Turin, are forthcoming. She has performed at Western Front, Vancouver; 2220, the Hammer Museum, and LAXART, Los Angeles; Cafe OTO, London; Renaissance Society, Chicago; the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; and elsewhere. Her music has been released by Recital (Los Angeles), Cafe OTO’s TakuRoku (London), and Ultra Eczema (Antwerp), and she has had sessions on BBC Radio 3, NTS Radio, and Dublab Radio. Mobarak’s writing has been published in Triple Canopy, F.R. David, The Claudius App, and the Salzburg Review, and her first catalog, Sphere Studies and Subterranean Bounce was published by Recital (2021). She received a BA in English and Media Studies from Sussex University and did further studies at Université Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV. She has held residencies at Denniston Hill, New York and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and was the recipient of the 2023 FOCA fellowship award. Mobarak was a 2024 faculty at Bard College MFA program.

Dafne Phono Vocalists:
Apollo: Renato Grieco (Italian)
Cupid: Arnou Argun (Abkhaz)
Dafne: Agnes | xaye (!Xoon)
Ovid: Olivia O’Dwyer (Latin)
Venus: Don Eugenio Darias (Silbo Gomero)
Abkhaz Chorus: Liana Ebzhnou, Murman Guaramia, Fatima Kharzalia, and Gunda Osia
Chatino Chorus: Felix Daniel Peña Mendes, José Vasquez Canseco, Catalina Candelario Matias, and Claudia Garcia Baltazar
!Xoon Chorus: Franco Tsame, John Djujui Klosi Barase, and Charity Tsame
Clarinet: Steve Kado

In partnership with Hollywood Records and Regency Enterprises, Waxwork Records is thrilled to present BARBARIAN Original Motion Picture Music by Anna Drubich. Barbarian is a 2022 American Horror film written and directed by Zach Cregger in his solo screen writing and directorial debut. The film stars Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård, and Justin Long. The plot follows a woman finding out that the rental home she has reserved has been accidentally double-booked by a man, not knowing of a dark secret within the dwelling. Anna Drubich is an award-winning film composer from Moscow. Her diverse body of work includes live action features, animated features, television series, documentaries, and plays and concert halls across the world. Anna has score over 35 major film and TV projects including a co-score with Oscar-nominated composer Marco Beltrami on the Guillermo Del Toro adaptation of Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark, Netflix's hit feature Fear Street: 1994, the horror-comedy Werewolves Within, and more. Waxwork Records is proud to present BARBARIAN Original Motion Picture Music as a deluxe vinyl album featuring 180 gram "Mother's Milk & Blood" splatter colored vinyl, heavyweight gatefold jackets with matte satin coating and UV spot-gloss varnish, new artwork by Steven Reeves, and an 11"x11" art print insert!

The album is Frost* at its most ambitious, offering nearly 90 minutes of music over 14 exquisite tracks. The album is the brainchild of Godfrey who was inspired to create the conceptual world for the album based on the group’s previous release Day and Age (2021).

Fans of the band’s masterful debut album Milliontown (2006) will enjoy the band revisiting the style that made that debut album one of the most successful prog rock albums of the last 20 years, a fact that was not lost on Godfrey as he was writing this new record. “With Day and Age, we made it a very specific point: we're not doing any solos, we'll do clever arrangements. And we enjoyed that discipline, but this time I thought it might be good to row back on that position a bit. Plus I wanted to have a little bit of a nod to Milliontown with this album, because it's been nearly 20 years since Milliontown came out and I’m still proud of it. The 15-minute title track has a few of those Milliontown moments in it which were great fun to do again.”
Mitwirkende
wird veröffentlicht am 18. Oktober 2024

Line-Up:
Jem Godfrey – Keyboards, guitar, vocals
Nathan King – Bass, vocals
John Mitchell – Guitars, vocals
Craig Blundell - drums

"Jede Prog-Band, die etwas auf sich hält, sollte eigentlich ein Doppelalbum machen, oder?", fragt Frost*-Frontmann Jem Godfrey. Das war eine der ersten Ideen, als der Songwriter/Keyboarder/Sänger der Band die Arbeit an Frost*s 5. Studioalbum "Life in the Wires" in Angriff nahm. Das Album ist Frost*s ehrgeizigstes Werk und bietet fast 90 Minuten Musik auf 14 exquisiten Tracks. Das Album ist das Geistesprodukt von Godfrey, der von der vorherigen Veröffentlichung "Day and Age" (2021) der Gruppe inspiriert wurde, die konzeptionelle Welt für das Album zu erschaffen. Fans des meisterhaften Debütalbums "Milliontown" (2006) werden sich freuen, dass die Band den Stil wieder aufgreift, der das Debütalbum zu einem der erfolgreichsten Prog-Rock-Alben der letzten 20 Jahre gemacht hat - eine Tatsache, die Godfrey nicht entgangen ist, als er das neue Album schrieb. "Bei Day and Age haben wir es sehr genau genommen: Wir machen keine Soli, wir machen clevere Arrangements. Und wir haben diese Disziplin genossen, aber dieses Mal dachte ich, es wäre gut, in dieser Position ein wenig zurückzurudern. Außerdem wollte ich mit diesem Album eine kleine Anspielung auf Milliontown machen, denn es ist schon fast 20 Jahre her, dass Milliontown herauskam, und ich bin immer noch stolz darauf. Der 15-minütige Titeltrack enthält ein paar dieser Milliontown-Momente, die zu wiederholen mir großen Spaß gemacht hat." "Life in the Wires" wird als limitierte 2CD Edition, als Gatefold 2LP und als Digitales Album erhältlich sein, mit atemberaubendem Artwork von Carl Glover (Steven Wilson).

Die britische Sängerin, Songwriterin, Multi-Instrumentalistin und Produzentin Fabiana Palladino veröffentlicht am 5. April 2024 ihr selbstbetiteltes Debütalbum bei Paul Institute / XL Recordings. Das Album entstand nach dem Ende einer langen Beziehung und setzt sich mit komplexen Fragen zu Liebe und Einsamkeit in Beziehungen auseinander. Das Ergebnis sind 10 Songs, die sich von den großen R&B-, Soul-, Pop- und Disco-Studioproduktionen der 80er und 90er Jahre inspirieren lassen, gefiltert durch einen modernen Blinkwinkel. Es ist eine intime Platte, die die Toughness und Weiblichkeit von Janet Jackson auf ihrem 1986er Album "Control" und Annie Lennox" bei "DIVA" ausstrahlt, das klassische Songwriting von Kate Bush und Joni Mitchell aufgreift und die romantischen Motown-Duette von Marvin Gaye und Tammi Terrell unterläuft, um die Normativität in Beziehungen zu hinterfragen. Das von Palladino selbst geschriebene und eigenproduzierte Album enthält Beiträge von renommierten Musikern und engen Freunden, darunter vom Mitbegründer des Paul Institute, Jai Paul, dem legendären Session-Bassist Pino Palladino (Fabianas Vater), ihrem Bruder und Yussef Dayes-Bassisten Rocco Palladino, dem bekannten Schlagzeuger Steve Ferrone sowie Streichern von Rob Moose. Fabiana Palladino hat in den letzten Jahren als gefragte Session-Musikerin für Acts wie Jessie Ware, Sampha, SBTRKT oder Laura Groves gearbeitet, während sie in ihrer eigenen Musik intensiv nach Pop-Perfektion strebt. Im vergangenen Jahr war sie Teil von Jai Pauls Band für sein lang erwartetes Live-Debüt, sowie Support-Act der gefeierten Shows.

A steady and sure buzz has been building around Steve Young’s ‘Scarper’ project over the past few years, particularly since his acclaimed 2017 debut album ‘Warmer Squares’ and subsequent dancefloor favourite ‘E-Funk', which won over fans from Skream to Carl Craig with its genre-crossing appeal.

Marking a noticeable shift in direction and a new sense of focus, Scarper returns with four tracks of varying styles and influences. Drawing from dub, techno, breakbeat and rave, he mainly shoots for the floor (with a clear emphasis on bass weight), although as always, there is ample headphone fodder.

Opening with ambient intro 'Wavecrush,' Scarper moves through dub- infused downtempo with the Weatherall-esque chugger 'Metadub,' swiftly picks up the energy with the chunky beats and deep bass of

‘Metadome,’ and concludes with high-octane face melter 'Slab,' which throws tech-breaks, dark garage and jungle/hardcore vibes into the pot.

More quality from Scarper.

A 2024 edition of Terry Riley's »Descending Moonshine Dervishes,« originally recorded live in Berlin in 1975 and released by Kuckuck in 1982. This will be the first time the remastered album has been available since 2016.

Using just intonation and a modified organ, Riley conjures forth a rich and layered sound that challenges the Western ear, reflecting his associations with Indian classical singer Pandit Pran Nath and La Monte Young, whose Well Tuned Piano was well underway. »Descending Moonshine Dervishes« is a virtuosic and kaleidoscopic performance, standing as one of the finest works of a revolutionary composer and musician at the height of his powers.

»Descending Moonshine Dervishes« dates from 1975 and it belongs to a larger Dervish series of compositions whose origins predate Riley’s two signature works of minimalism, »In C« (1968) and »A Rainbow In Curved Air« (1969)… the piece is structured around just intonation, which stretches the listening experience into new areas. Played on a Yamaha organ with a bit of tape delay that allows Riley to duet with himself, the music of »Descending Moonshine Dervishes« is an ear expansion that goes through skittering arpeggios and long, droning notes that indicate something of the many levels that it operates on. – Louise Gray, The Wire Magazine (March 2017)

California composer Terry Riley launched what is now known as the Minimalist movement with his revolutionary classic 'In C' in 1964. This seminal work provided a new concept in musical form based on interlocking repetitive patterns. It's impact was to change the course of 20th century music and it's influence has been heard in the works of prominent composers such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass and John Adams and in the music of rock groups such as The Who, The Soft Machine, Tangerine Dream, and many others. His hypnotic, multi-layered, polymetric, brightly orchestrated eastern flavored improvisations and compositions set the stage for the prevailing interest in a new tonality. Riley has worked with Kronos Quartet, La Monte Young, members of Fluxus, Chet Baker, Pandit Pran Nath, his son Gyan Riley, choreographer Anna Halperin, and many others over the years.

* After the stunning success of their critically-acclaimed third album Sharpener, which reached number 3 in the jazz charts and number 14 in the independent music charts, London’s brass juggernauts Hackney Colliery Band blaze back onto the scene with their first collaborative album, ushering in a whole new era for the band.

* Featuring collaborations with a host of key names in jazz and world music including amongst others the father of Ethio-jazz Mulatu Astatke, British jazz funk legend James Taylor, trombonist Dennis Rollins, UK saxophonist Pete Wareham and Beninese singer-songwriter and Grammy Award-winner Angélique Kidjo, Hackney Colliery Band have effortlessly transformed their explosive live energy into 11 original recordings that push the groove and form in an accomplished manner.

*On ‘Collaborations: Volume One’, writers Steve Pretty, Olly Blackman and Luke Christie have between them penned the outfit's most dynamic material to date. ‘Mm Mm’ (feat. Angélique Kidjo and Roundhouse Choir) merges Beninese grooves with wah pedal trumpet textures, and the rousing call-and-response between Kidjo’s soaring vocal and the exhilarating choir adds a richness and depth to the composition.

*On ‘Snowfire’, innovative Norwegian pianist Bugge Wesseltoft brings a euro/nu-jazz feel to the album, while Dennis 'Funkybone' Rollins adds his trademark virtuoso trombone to the carnival-flavoured ‘Ricochet’.

*There’s an energy, respect for tradition and the exuberance of London in Hackney Colliery Band’s work, best exemplified in the evocative and downright thrilling James Taylor collaboration ‘Hypothetical’, with Taylor’s Hammond organ recalling the Acid Jazz era in which he made his name.
*New single ‘Netsanet’ (feat. Mulatu Astatke) is a deep exploration of Mulatu's trademark Ethio-jazz, while ‘Crushing Lactic’, composed by Tom Rogerson (fresh from a recent collaboration with Brian Eno) has a frenzied flow, with big horns and driving rhythm section.

*Elsewhere, Pete Wareham (stalwart of the London jazz revival) lends his free-flowing sax to ‘What’s Gone Before’, leading us into a powerful communion of jazz and brass as Mulatu Astatke’s ‘Derashe’ takes the listener down a vibrating rhythmic path while accompanied by blasts of horns and Mulatu’s trademark vibraphone.

*Two spoken word compositions (‘Why Yellow’ and ‘Climbing Up My Own Life Until I Die’) featuring York born writer and comedian Rob Auton lend an introspective voice to ‘Collaborations: Volume One’.

*A band never content to rest on its laurels, Hackney Colliery Band already have a number of collaborations in the works for ‘Volume Two’, and with further live shows planned for 2019, including the album launch at the famous Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, 2019 looks set to be HCB’s biggest year yet, both live and on record.

* Steve Pretty, the band’s frontman said: “It’s hard to believe that 2019 is our tenth anniversary, but now we’re ten years older it felt like the right time to get back to our jazz roots. It’s been such a privilege to work with so many of our musical inspirations both old and new on this record, and we’re super excited to be ushering in the next ten years with this new collaborative spirit: this is called ‘Volume One’ for a reason…”

One of the most charismatic frontmen in modern bluegrass, Woody Platt has played an important part in shaping the trajectory of bluegrass music over the past 20 years. As a founding member and lead singer for The Steep Canyon Rangers, Platt spent years touring tirelessly, many of them in collaboration with actor/comedian and banjoist Steve Martin, earning a GRAMMY award, multiple GRAMMY nominations, and international recognition in the process. But when the pandemic struck, the time at home caused Platt to rethink his personal priorities. He decided to put his touring life on hold and left the Rangers to spend more time with his young family. Fortunately for bluegrass fans, the end of Platts tenure with The Rangers has marked a new chapter in his musical life, one that he is celebrating with the release of his first solo album, Far Away With You. The album cements Platts place at the cutting edge where traditional and contemporary bluegrass meet, and his smooth baritone vocals, coupled with his ear for lyrics with contemporary themes create a sonic palette that honors his bluegrass roots even as he cultivates new growth.

One of the most charismatic frontmen in modern bluegrass, Woody Platt has
played an important part in shaping the trajectory of bluegrass music over the
past 20 years. As a founding member and lead singer for The Steep Canyon
Rangers, Platt spent years touring tirelessly, many of them in collaboration with
actor/ comedian and banjoist Steve Martin, earning a GRAMMY award, multiple
GRAMMY nominations, and international recognition in the process. But when the
pandemic struck, the time at home caused Platt to rethink his personal priorities.
He decided to put his touring life on hold and left the Rangers to spend more time
with his young family. Fortunately for bluegrass fans, the end of Platts tenure with
The Rangers has marked a new chapter in his musical life, one that he is
celebrating with the release of his first solo album, Far Away With You. The album
cements Platts place at the cutting edge where traditional and contemporary
bluegrass meet, and his smooth baritone vocals, coupled with his ear for lyrics
with contemporary themes create a sonic palette that honors his bluegrass roots
even as he cultivates new growth

2 x 200 gram vinyl edition features the new album mixes by Steven Wilson & the new Elemental mixes by David Singleton, cut by Jason Mitchell at Loud Mastering.

House music specialist Michael Gray has given a modern update to Nicole’s classic track “Rock The House,” originally produced by Steve Silk Hurley and his Trix Mix in 1988/89. Michael’s version is an energetic disco house masterpiece, showcasing his expertise in creating dance floor hits. With uplifting strings, a funky bassline, and an infectious house groove, this track exudes quality and is sure to get the party started.