Search:str

Long before John Brannon of Negative Approach cemented himself as a USHC icon, you
would hear rumblings about his pre-NA glam group, STATIC. Only a handful of people were
lucky/brave enough to see them live. Scenesters spoke of a tape but never seemed to have
one. Their most well-remembered song, Toothpaste and Pills, allegedly featured smashing
beer bottles against John’s mom’s basement wall as a percussion instrument. Could this be
real?

Fast forward to 2020 and a few months into the covid-19 lockdown, Brannon came across a
bunch of tapes he dug out of a box in his Mom’s closet - STATIC “DEMOS ‘78”, STATIC
“LIVE AT GROSSE POINTE SOUTH H.S.”, STATIC “LIVE AT PLEWA HALL”. Holy shit! The
legend is true! And best of all, STATIC rule!

John Brannon grew up in Grosse Pointe Park just a few blocks from the Detroit border. John
was always into music, but as soon as he heard T-Rex, The Stooges and Alice Cooper, he
was obsessed (and still is) and had to start a band to channel his obsessions. With the help
of neighborhood kid and collaborator Billy Daniels and a local drummer simply known as
“Red”, STATIC was born.

Before Negative Approach changed the face of punk and hardcore, before Laughing Hyenas
scared the world silly and blew everyone else off the stage and before Easy Action started
melting minds all over the world, there was STATIC. STATIC was real. STATIC was real as
shit.

Third Man Records is beyond ecstatic to be providing this long-missing piece of the
American Underground Music puzzle. We worked closely with John Brannon and Warren
Defever, one of Third Man Mastering’s resident wizards, to put together this essential
collection of demos and live recordings.

“I want total freedom, total possibility, total acceptance. I want to fall in love with the rock.” That’s how Lillie West describes the theme of “DIVER,” the song she calls the thesis of Lala Lala’s third record, I Want The Door To Open. The rock in question is a reference to Sisyphus, the mythical figure doomed by the gods to forever push a boulder up from the depths of hell. To West, it is the perfect metaphor for, in her words, “the labor of living, of figuring out who you are, what's wrong with you, what's right with you.”

Coming off of 2018’s acclaimed The Lamb, an introspective indie rock album recorded live with a three-piece band, West knew she was ready to make something sonically bigger and thematically more outward-looking than anything she’d done before; a record that would be less a straightforward documentation of her own personal struggles and more like a poem or a puzzle box, with sonic and lyrical clues that would allow the listener to, as the title says, open the door to the greater meaning of those struggles.

The result is I Want The Door To Open, a bold exploration of persona and presence from an artist questioning how to be herself fully in a world where the self is in constant negotiation. From the moment West declares “I want to look right into the camera” over a cascade of dreamy vocal loops on opening track “Lava,” I Want The Door To Open distinguishes itself from anything she’s done before in scope and intensity. The ultra-magnified iteration of Lala Lala is fully encapsulated in the monumental “DIVER.” Inspired by a character from a Jennifer Egan novel, it’s a pop song of Kate Bush-esque proportions replete with layered synths and booming, wide open drumming by fellow Chicago musician Nnamdi Ogbonnaya, and West pushing her vocals to the ragged edge. I Want The Door To Open is a musical quest undertaken with the knowledge that the titular door may never open; but it is through falling in love with the quest itself that one may find the closest thing to total freedom, total possibility, and total acceptance available to us on this plane of existence.

On “First Flight REDUX,” Dave Harrington takes a scalpel to the multi-tracks of "First Flight" (LP/DL, Algorithm Free) remixing the raw material into something else entirely.

Originally recorded live at Nublu, September 20, 2019, "First Flight" documents the first and (thus far) only meeting of Chris Forsyth, Dave Harrington, Ryan Jewell, and Spencer Zahn as part of Forsyth's residency at the club that month.

Harrington's dub, created in his Los Angeles studio uses the original tracks improvised live by the group and incorporates loops and samples plus a variety of additional keys and synths, bass guitar, percussion, congas, pedal steel, bamboo flute, the Turkish stringed instrument cümbüş, and the North African double reed instrument ghaita, all played by Harrington himself.

While the light of the original performance recognizably shines through the canopy of new sounds in certain places, “First Flight REDUX” is radically reconstructed into something totally NEW. It’s very much its own album, related to and derived from “First Flight,” yes, but venturing into areas unforeseen in the original document, suggesting some kind of a party with “Live/Evil” blasting on one set of speakers,“Midnite Vultures” on another, and a Turkish psych band jamming in between.

FEATURING REWORKINGS BY YANN TIERSEN, BILL RYDER-JONES, MALIBU, ELUVIUM and
PETER GREGSON.
140g black vinyl with lacquers cut by Alchemy, printed inner sleeve, limited to 500 copies.
Michael Price has announced a new album, The Hope of Better Weather - part reissue, part reworks - due out onThe Control Room on 15 October 2021.
The new album takes his 2012 EP, The Hope of Better Weather, originally recorded by Price alone in a room with a
piano improvising, and brings it fully to life with the addition of a series of reworkings by Yann Tiersen, Bill
Ryder-Jones, Malibu, Peter Gregson and Eluvium.
He explains, “I wasn't trying to control what anybody else was doing. Everybody that joined in with the project gives
their own little piece of freedom. I was really interested in what freedom we all give ourselves, as well as being
fascinated to see what a little germ of an idea can mean to somebody else.”
Listen to Yann Tiersen’s rework of ‘The Anatomy of Clouds’: LINK
Listen to the original version of ‘The Anatomy of Clouds’: LINK
The five pieces, alongside these new reworkings capture a stark beauty, tenderness and delicacy in their tone. But
they are also wind-like in their shifting, expansive and elemental essence - capturing an exploration of the natural
world. “Nearly 10 years ago when I recorded these improvisations, I felt like I was missing the natural world - things
like the weather, the beach at Scarborough and all those kinds of visceral things.”
When Price revisited the work in recent months - at a time when many of us found ourselves more aware of the
natural world - he reconnected with it in a way that looks to connect with his next artistic steps. “You start off with
listening to 10 year old piano recordings and then you go through the reinterpretations of people looking at that
material now through their own lens. The fixation with weather, coastlines and with people connected with nature, is
really strong all the way through this project. Coming out the other side of it, it's kind of like a Northern weather feeling
- coming out with your collar turned up with a hat on, a bit drizzly and shit outside, but with a kind of determination
that is the route forward.”
Most musicians, if they are lucky, will master one craft or field within their career. For Michael Price, he’s managed
three, with his music spanning across piano, orchestral and soundtrack work. The soundtrack work - for TV shows
such as Sherlock, Dracula, and Unforgotten, and films such as Eternal Beauty, Cheerful Weather and Just Jim - has
seen Price win an Emmy, as well as receive countless nominations (including a BAFTA nomination). His work as a
solo artist takes the form of beautiful improvised piano works, such as Diary (2017), or via lush, grand, hyper-detailed
orchestral work, as heard on critically acclaimed releases via Erased Tapes such as Entanglement (2015) and Tender
Symmetry (2018). His latest release, The Hope of Better Weather, is rooted in the piano world but also exists as a
bridge crossing into new terrain..
The process of putting together the release has been an emboldening and liberating one for Price, and he finds
himself feeling buoyant about the possibilities of what lies ahead – which includes a new solo orchestral album. “It is
super freeing and liberating,” he says. “There's these little green shoots of a freedom emerging.”

Roy Montgomery, a pioneer of the NZ underground,
believes there is always new sonic terrain to investigate.
His latest series of albums for Grapefruit marks forty
years of rigorous exploration in which he’s managed
to navigate disparate genres, scenes, and atmospheres,
always at the forefront of experimental independent music.
To commemorate, Grapefruit will be releasing four new
Montgomery albums in 2021, which can be purchased
individually or via subscription.
The third release of the series, Rhymes Of Chance, is the
darkest entry of the four. Songs sound particularly spacious
and minimal, with two tracks centering forlorn melodies
around trusty collaborator Emma Johnston’s singing and
two others sung by Montgomery himself. While Side A
presents the six-part “Rhymes Of Chance” suite, Side B’s
“Aspiratory” holds a clue to Montgomery’s approach on this
record; a floating dirge stretches time, much in the manner
Mark Hollis (to whom the song is dedicated) approached
music.

Wasted Cathedral is the solo project of Saskatoon-based musician Christopher Laramee (Shooting Guns, The Switching Yard, and The Radiation Flowers). This new album is the latest in an impressive line of releases that have explored a variety of sounds, from ambient drone and electronic disco to experimental chaos and downtempo electronica. I'm Gonna Love You 'Til The End Of Time is made up of seven songs and is undoubtedly influenced by the starkness of the Canadian Prairie and long Saskatchewanian nights. It serves well as a soundtrack to the setting of any number of listening experiences, particularly when experienced with headphones. No matter the direction Laramee has chosen to guide Wasted Cathedral, the result has always been intriguing and captivating. I'm Gonna Love You 'Til The End Of Time is certainly no exception.

Laramee describes Wasted Cathedral as incidental music, improvised soundscapes created in passing moments, like musical snapshots. This makes perfect sense, considering the likes of Sarah Davachi, Peter Kember, Terry Riley, and Augustus Pablo inform Laramee's approach to composition, as well as tone-setting and mood. According to Laramee, this collection of songs is a continuation of his previous work, albeit in a more stripped down fashion.

Wasted Cathedral is recommended for listeners of Flying Saucer Attack, DJ Shadow, Spectrum/Sonic Boom, Spiritualized, and Portishead.

The Fabulous Counts were originally a teenage instrumental group of five musicians, Mose Davis (Organ and Piano), Demetrius ‘Demo’ Gates (Alto Saxophone and vocals), Jim White (Tenor Sax), Andrew T. Gibson (Drums) and Raoul Keith Mangrum (Percussion and Flute) who were later joined by the older, more experience Leroy Emanuel (Guitar and vocals). Emmanuel was invited into the group as it’s band leader by the groups manager Fred McClure, a former Detroit boxing champion who also happened to be the manager of another popular Detroit group the singing Metro’s of the hit recording “Sweetest One” fame and their subsequent respected RCA album of the same name. The Fabulous Counts would often perform at shows as the Metro’s backing band.

The Fabulous Counts first big break came after knocking several Detroit Record labels doors. They were eventually invited in by Ollie McLaughlin’s Moira studio to record, under the tutelage of Popcorn Wylie the one take hit “Jan, Jan (Moira-103). A further two Moira 45’s followed of which “Get Down People/Lunar Funk “(Moira-108) also scored high on the R&B charts. Through a deal arranged by McLaughlin The Counts released their respected “Jan, Jan” album on the Atlantic distributed Cotillion label in 1969. Moving on to Armen Boladian’s Westbound label, during 1970 the group simply changed their name to The Counts and charted with their 1971 “What’s Up Front” Westbound album, also releasing a solitary 45 “Thinking Single/Why Not Start All Over Again”. In 1972 while still part of the Westbound set up The Counts recorded two major label 45’s under the pseudonyms of Bad Smoke “Crawl Ya’ll Part 1&2” (Chess-2124) and Lunar Funk “Mr Penguin Part 1&2” (Bell 45-172), the latter being thier biggest hit. A subsequent move to Atlanta, GA saw The Counts sign with Michael Thevis’s Aware records where they recorded a further two successful albums “Love Sign” (1973) and “Funk Pump” (1975), plus a string of 45’s. In 1976 although officially never breaking up The Counts members went their separate ways to explore different life opportunity’s.



During 1978 and while still in Atlanta Leroy Emanuel borrowed money from his family and reuniting with his fellow Counts, Mose, Demo, and Jimmy Jackson Jr, they, accompanied by a local strings section recorded a session of material that spawned two songs “What’s It All About” and “Motorcity”. Which Leroy later made a deal with Terry Mendelson to release on a 45 on his TM label. The Counts had previously known Mendelson through his brother Bernie at Westbound. The TM 45 made very little noise with many of the copies having mispressed labels. Although later reissued and mistakenly credited as two previously unissued Westbound recordings on several latter Cd compilations it came to light that quite a few avid European soul collectors actually owned copies of this high quality, very elusive and desirable 45! With demand still seemingly high it seems a good time for Soul Junction to reissue it. The A-side, “What’s It All About” features its composer Leroy Emanuel on lead vocals with the other Counts adding to the backing chorus. The flipside of this 45 from the same session is the previously unreleased Mose Davis penned “Watch The Clock” which is more in keeping with the Counts traditional funk groove, enjoy.

Rhapsodia (2018), 17'

(2 movements and 1 interlude)

Dedicated to Marceline Lartigue

Created in the composer's own studio. T

echnical collaboration: Jonathan Prager


Battements solaires (2008), 17'35

Music for Patrick Bokanowski's film.

Produced in the Kira BM Films studios

Production: Kira BM Films with ARTE France and CNC contributions

Best Film Award, 2009 EXiS Festival Seoul (South Korea)

Michèle Bokanowski's art is one of densities, much like the density of a given colour, a given depth. Her sound textures are, indeed, profound, both in the space occupied by their frequencies and the sharp temporal trail they leave behind. Here lies the composer's immense talent that finds the right development for each sound, letting it blossom before altering it, adapting the musical structure to let the sounds "be", even if it sometimes means returning to the most basic form, such as a loop. This is a sign of great honesty and artistic sensitivity; able to stand back and let the music become music. It is the most radical, the most accurate gesture of composition. The two pieces on this record, dissociated in time, both in their approach and destination, nevertheless reflect, each in its own way, Michèle Bokanowski's highly singular and insightful musical intuition.

François Bonnet, Paris, 2020

Following his summer anthem ‘Nah’ which has achieved 6M global streams in the first 5-weeks, Sonny Fodera announces his new album Wide Awake.

Releasing on 22nd October, Sonny gets ready for his most ambitious studio album to date. Including a variety of a-list collaborators and vocalists including Sinead Harnett, Diplo, Ella Eyre, Sam Tompkins, Dan Caplen, MK, Vintage Culture, Bru-C, and many others. Sonny is set to showcase his versatile and in-demand production palette with dancefloor weapons, crossover anthems, a touch of garage and more.

The new album will also land in the midst of Sonny’s sold-out UK and US tour, where his new album will come to life. This summer has already seen him sell 12,000 tickets at his Back To Love co-headline festival with Gorgon City in London, with more sold out shows at the likes of Liverpool’s Bramley Moore Dock, Manchester’s Victoria Warehouse, and London’s Printworks to come, as well as a double header in Los Angeles at Exchange + Academy.

With over 300M streams to his name in the past year alone, Sonny Fodera’s Wide Awake album is set to cement the elite producer and DJ’s legendary status in the dance world and beyond.

After being championed by John Digweed on his iconic Transitions radio show, London duo The Pressure team up with Digweed and his long-time studio partner Nick Muir on Counting Down The Days, a soaring, hypnotic, emotive progressive house cut that points to brighter times ahead.

The Pressure are a London-based electronic band. Diverse production and energetic performance form the pair’s foundations, with influences from rave culture and performance-centric dance acts such as Depeche Mode and Underworld prominent across their releases and live shows.

2020 saw them self-release Ride and Planes: two tough club tracks with songwriting at the heart of them. A statement of intent from the duo, both cuts showcased a varied production approach reminiscent of the Bristol-era of UK electronica. Earlier in 2021 they made their debut on Undisputed Music with Saturday Night, a distinctive dance cut that sat somewhere between deep house and crossover electronica, and has to date clocked up more than a million streams across all platforms.

John Digweed is one of the most celebrated electronic artists of all time, and alongside Nick Muir is responsible for an incredible catalogue of music, so even before you listen to it you know this is going to be something special. Counting Down The Days is a stunning collaboration, combining the pure, driving progressive house of Digweed and Muir with the poignant emotion and raw talent of The Pressure to incredible effect.

Passionate about breaking records and being immersed in the music that fuels our most cherished dancefloor moments, Undisputed Music is doing just that with a coalition of existing and new artists spanning many electronic genres, lining up releases to illuminate audiences across the globe.

Founded by industry aficionados Tony Garvey and Marc Thomas, they share over two decades of experience between them. From currently running the UK Electronic roster for world renowned management company, Red Light, to many years within the walls of, Island Records, Def Jam, Priority Records, MCA / Motown, AM:PM, Defected Records, Strictly Rhythm and Universal Music Publishing, their wealth of knowledge is well earned.


DJ Support:

Pete Tong, John Digweed, Nick Muir, Taiki Nulight

Tiptoes joins the SlothBoogie roster this October with the ‘Good Times Incoming’ EP, comprised of four originals from the Scottish artist.

Hailing from Glasgow, Scotland, Tiptoes is a time-served DJ/Producer who has been in the game for over 15 years and has performed at a variety of venues worldwide. As a DJ, Tiptoes sound traverses from Jazz to Jungle through Detroit, Disco, Techno, Garage, Broken Beat, Deep House and everything in between, always finding that balance between energy and soul which crosses over into his productions also.

Up first on the package is ‘Born Slippery’, a filter house workout fuelled by an amalgamation of funk infused bass, guitar and brass licks alongside swinging drums and dynamic filter work. ‘Green Room’ follows next and lays down soulful strings, stuttering vocal cuts and plucked bass atop an organic drum groove.

Opening the flip-side is ‘Right Here’, stripping things back to robust drums, jazzy keys and processed vocal chants before ‘Alright’ rounds out the release via airy keys, moog like synth licks and crunchy lo-fi percussion.

East Coast minimal wave institution Xeno & Oaklander’s seventh full-length further distills their iconic noir synth pop into a streamlined suite of gleaming, graceful retrofuturism. Inspired by ideas of synesthesia, scent, star worship, and obsolescent technologies, the duo of Liz Wendelbo and Sean McBride began conceiving the blueprint of Vi/deo while sequestered at their Southern Connecticut home studio during the pandemic. The context of isolation, streaming, and remote dreaming seeped into their chemistry, manifesting as both homage to and meditation on a certain cinematic strain of technicolor fantasy: the screen as stage, distance disguised as intimacy, where tragedy and glamor crossfade into one.



Opening with the precision synthetic melancholy of “Infinite Sadness,” the album marks a peak fluidity between the pair’s fusion of analog electronics and poetic melody, both refined and oblique, classic but contemporary. Wendelbo modeled her singing on “a young boy in a choir,” alternately holding notes and whispering them, with the lyrics clear, the voice elevated. McBride’s synthesizers serve as the perfect counterpart, tiered and polished, threading fluorescent architectures of a lost audio-visual age. Theirs is a... more

Independent leaders in the UK drum and bass scene, Hybrid Minds have paved their own way to success through operating from left of centre and keeping true to themselves at every step of the way. Their early tracks, ‘Meant To Be’ and ‘Touch’ firmly established them within the circuit, before they went onto amass 25 million streams for the latter, release a popular debut album and set up their own label, Hybrid Music. The huge support from tastemakers in the scene doesn’t stop there, with editorial playlist adds across Spotify and Apple Music, spins on George FM, BBC Radio 1,1Xtra, Kiss FM UK, Kiss Dance, Kiss Fresh, Studio Brussels, FM4, triple j and Capital Dance, UKF backing and a memorable DJ Mag HQ live stream, Bad To Me offered a glimpse of what’s to come from the Drum & Bass duo when they drop the full EP this October. What’s more, a recent release alongside Pendulum for Louder Than Words saw the Australian heavyweights go liquid for the fourth and final track listing on their own EP. Always staying true to their sound and style, Hybrid Minds previous success came from their early tracks, Meant To Be and Touch, before they went on to boast over 1 million monthly listeners on Spotify, remix tracks for Above & Beyond and Tom Walker, and collaborate with the DJ heavyweight, Netsky for the global smash release, Let Me Hold You. More recently, they secured a primetime show on Kiss FM, embarked on a sell-out New Zealand tour and sold out their October ‘Outline’ o2 Academy, Brixton show, six months out!

In Paris, it’s hard to miss Mayflo and his positive and soothing aura. The lad is all around, both through his fierce Radio presence with his residencies at Rinse, Le Mellotron and Station Station, and behind the decks across the Parisian nightlife spectrum, under his name, with his ravy duo Les Déménageurs Bresson, or with his collective ItinéraireBis. He never seems to struggle, to tire out or to force himself, and it is this energy, this fluidity and ease to navigate vast Sonic universes that make this project so special. On paper, combining the fury of Bristol banging breaks with those of Baltimore Club into a singular positive unity, with solar and dreamy overtones inspired by the warmth of House is no easy task. Yet, Mayflo lays it all there through his 5 tracks with an unsettling ease, drawing the outlines of this Solar Club Continuum in question: driven by a club energy, but never outrageous, 100% intimate and sensible. This makes it a one of a kind disc in the contemporary Dance landscape.

Steve Lacy (July 23, 1934 – June 4, 2004) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer recognized as one of the important players of soprano saxophone. Lacy worked extensively in experimental jazz and to a lesser extent in free improvisation, but his music was typically melodic and tightly-structured. Lacy also became a highly distinctive composer, with compositions often built out of little more than a single questioning phrase, repeated several times. In 1977 he released a one-off record titled "Straws" for the Italian Cramps Records label, as the 6th volume of the DIVerso series (which included, among others, Demetrio Stratos' solo albums) dedicated to contemporary avant-garde composers. "Straws" is now made available again on Dialogo in a faithful reproduction of the original gatefold cover artwork and inner sleeve.

'Dieser neueste Soundtrack aus seiner Feder fühlt sich an wie ein längst überfälliges Wiedersehen mit einem verloren geglaubten Freund: Sofort erkennt man die bekannten Züge wieder, es umgarnt einen und zieht einen hinein in eine Welt, die unverwechselbar seine ist – die Welt von N.O.W. Immerhin kann man dieses Mal drei Dinge identifizieren, die zusammenkamen und dieses Album ganz klar prägen sollten: ein persönlicher Schicksalsschlag, ganz viel Zeit (ein Nebeneffekt der Pandemie) und Black Lives Matter. Inzwischen eher eine Art Bandleader, streckte er seine Fühler aus und knüpfte Kontakte mit jungen Talenten, deren Ansatz irgendwie zu N.O.W. zu passen schien. Bald war er mit Leuten wie Shabaka Hutchings, Haile Supreme, Mara TK und Sabrina Mahfouz in Kontakt. Auch Greentea Peng, OSHUN und Pip Millett fragte er an, erklärte ihnen die Stoßrichtung: Sie alle sagten zu und nutzten die im Titel angedeuteten Freiheiten und Freiräume auf ihre Art, lieferten ihre ganz eigene, vertonte Definition von Freiheit ab.' - Don Letts aka The Rebel Dread

Happenstance can be a fortuitous element. A union funded single discovered in a dusty store, a long disbanded band found, leads to unreleased post punk dubs in a box of unreleased demos.

Formed during the mid-80s in the downbeat town of Walsall, their music a blend of disparate influences from 50s crooners, blues and reggae to Killing Joke and The Bunnymen; Ron's Neighbours were out of step with the perfect pop of the C86 indie generation.

Their only single - "To The Fight" - a split 7" was supported by the Trade Union Resource Centre, while many gigs were benefits for striking miners, leading to a loyal local following.

Engineered by Ozzy Osbourne's brother Tony, tracks were recorded at an 8 track bedroom / home studio, while a terraced house served as rehearsal space. Here Ron Next Door was born. When a tape recorder was left running it captured the long-suffering neighbour for posterity. His outburst gave the band and song, its name.

Experimenting with drum machines, the resultant jam track, here in its "Alternative Mix", languished unheard until now. Ron's 'Black Country' tones lead to driving bass / percussion against crashing Stratocasters and repeating, refrained vox - a post punk dub turned symphony.

The B side, Sitting On Top of the World, is an indie anthem, becoming their theme, a blend of grandiose and banal that characterised their songs.

"The art of the remix has been around for several decades, from the fervid imaginations of JA pioneers like Coxsone Dodd, Duke Reid or King Tubby to the disco enthusiasts of New York, such as Tom Moulton, who bequeathed us the modern iteration of the remix and provided a template from which most remixers still work. Moulton's first commercial remix, a reworking of BT Express' appropriately-named `Do It 'Till You're Satisfied', which stretched it from three minutes to a luxurious five, assisted the band in securing its first Billboard R&B Number One, as well as providing a pathway for remixers like Walter Gibbons, Larry Levan, Richie Rivera and Tee Sott, to completely reinvent the concept of a remix (and in some instances, deconstructing the idea of what comprised a song). It has subsequently been used as a marketing tool, a dancefloor-devastator, a gimmick (both cheap and expensive) or even as a way of reaching a different audience (think Tori Amos' `Professional Widow'). Khruangbin are no slouches when it comes to the remix themselves. They've been reworked before, in 2016, with the highly collectible EP on Boogiefuturo. But this time, they're taking it a step further with an album dedicated to the art. Entering the tight-knit world of a Khruangbin song can be a little daunting. They have created this entire universe in which the trio seem to function telepathically in the way the music is composed, arranged and played. To mess with their delicate eco-system can invoke feelings similar to that of an unwanted guest crashing a good-time party. "We write our music to be interpreted; this is another wonderful interpretation of the music," reassure Khruangbin. "There is something very vulnerable about letting others work on your music. But through the correspondence with the different artists, we gained a bigger connection to the songs themselves." The choice of remixers for this album is neither arbitrary nor accidental. They're not names picked randomly out of a hat or chosen via a throw of the dice. All have some connection to the band, sometimes personal friendships, musical connections, or simply mutual musical appreciation. Harvey Sutherland and Ginger Roots have both toured with the band, Kadhja Bonet and Ron Trent had their own mutual fan club going on, Knxwledge sampled `White Gloves' on a recent mixtape, Natasha Diggs and Soul Clap's Eli's are recent buddy-ups, Quantic is a mutual friend of Bonobo (crucial in the KB origin story), while I've known Laura for number of years; plus she is also godmother to one of Felix Dickinson's kids. Doesn't get much more intimate than that, right? Some of these remixes were specifically made so you can dance your ass off while getting down to the Khruangbin sound, while some might better be appreciated horizontally with headphones on, wearing fashionably loose clothes. The choice is yours. But all were made with love and respect for Khruangbin. "A good remix deconstructs, recontextualizes, or simply extends a good time," say the band. Amen and out." - Bill Brewster

Kalipo prepares to launch his new album Happy Little Accidents, which counts with twelve electro-focused tracks as well as the participation of feature artists Rampue, Ira Atari, Oberst & Buchner and subkutan. Iconic 80s painter and TV host, Bob Ross is celebrated for his thirty-minute landscapes, recognizably soothing voice as well as the 'happy little quotes' he imprinted on pop culture. One of Ross' most memorable turns of phrase, "We don't make mistakes; we just have happy accidents," went on to encourage thousands worldwide. And not just painters. "For me, this album was about letting the songs develop very quickly and not evaluating them too much, or trying to avoid mistakes," says German electronic music producer, Kalipo (Jakob Häglsperger) who named his latest release Happy Little Accidents after Ross' signature phrase. "Bob Ross really impressed me as a child, he was always so accessible to everyone and demonstrated how easy it was for anyone to work creatively," says Kalipo, who translated Ross' fast and instinctive wet-on-wet painting technique to music-making on Happy Little Accidents. The 12 tracks that make up PART I and PART II of the album are a celebration of the method - sometimes it's a floaty journey with tinkering sounds, at other times dark fast beats create the core of the music, but there's always a sense of intuition and heart driving Kalipo's productions.

In the afterglow of her acclaimed 2020 album Silver Ladders, Los Angeles-based harpist Mary Lattimore returns with a culminating counterpart release, Collected Pieces: 2015- 2020. The limited-edition LP features new and previously unreleased material, Bandcamp-only singles, and other obscurities alongside standouts from her 2017 tape Collected Pieces. Beyond the vinyl compendium, an expanded tracklist on the cassette/digital version brings more of Lattimore's archives together for the first time. Lattimore has described the process of arranging these releases as akin to "opening a box filled with memories," and here that box continues to populate, accessible for both the artist and fans. Evocative material separated by years, framed as a portrait of an instrumental storyteller who rarely pauses, recording and often sharing music as soon as it strikes her. Seemingly in constant forward motion for the last five years since her Ghostly debut, Lattimore glances back for a breath, inviting new chances to live in these fleeting moments and emotions; all the beauty, sorrow, sunshine, and darkness housed within. Opening the cassette version is "Mary, You Were Wrong," which mirrors an author's bout with a broken heart. "It's about how you have to keep on going even if you make some mistakes," she says. The bittersweet refrain cycles throughout, a little brighter every time, slowly, like the way time tends to heal. Unreleased track "Sleeping Deer" came together during Lattimore's artist residency on a cattle ranch in Wyoming. She remembers, "a small deer whose mother I think had been run over by a car would hang out in the yard. I called him Lollipop and would leave vegetable scraps out." Lollipop returned daily to eat, rest, and wait for more. The music this vision inspired is patient and droning, with light plucks giving way to deeper, vibrating tones, permeating with a sense of anticipation. Next is a newer single, "We Wave From Our Boats," which she improvised after walking her neighborhood during the early days of lockdown in 2020, and shared on her Bandcamp. "I would just wave at neighbors I didn't know in a gesture of solidarity and it reminded me of how you're compelled to wave at people on the other boat when you're on a boat yourself, or on a bridge or something. The pull to wave feels very innate and natural." The heart of the track is a somber loop, over top which Lattimore's synth notes ruminate, each a gentle shimmer of optimism in the most anxious and absurd of days. Also recorded in 2020, "What The Living Do" is inspired by Marie Howe's poem of the same name, which reflects on loss through an appreciation for the mundane messiness of being human. The echoed, slow-marching track has a distant feel to it, as if the listener is outside of it, watching life play out as a film. "Princess Nicotine (1909)" scores actual footage, a dream sequence Lattimore imagined for J. Stuart Blackton's surreal silent film Princess Nicotine; or, the Smoke Fairy. She adopted the same approach for "Polly of the Circus," explaining it was the name of one of the old silent films discovered in permafrost in the Yukon featured in the documentary Dawson City: Frozen Time, "the only copy that survived and it kind of warped in the aging process." A trove of pieces are collected here, most recorded in the moment, just Lattimore and her Lyon and Healy Concert Grand Harp, contact mics, and pedals. Like her most affecting work, these songs showcase Lattimore's gifts as an observer, able to shape her craft around emotional frequencies and scenes. Her power as a musician is rooted in how she sees the world: in vivid detail, profoundly empathic, with deep gratitude for nature and nuance.

Piero Umiliani's Africa was released in January 1972, a years-ahead record that includes the prog-tinged black rhythm of "Africa To-Day", the 'fourth world' inspiration coming from Jon Hassell's "Green Dawn", the 'exotic' references in Martin Denny's style ("Lonely Village", "Echos"), the electronic new wave (hearing is believing!) of "Sortilège", the folk music ("Rite", "Folk-Tune"). An incredible album summarizes sounds and styles that will make the fortune of much more celebrated and popular musicians and artists.

With her second full-length album, Zanias condenses her post-punk, techno and italo influences into a collection of simultaneously brooding and uplifting pop songs. ‘Unearthed’ explores the multiplicities of human connections, written at a time when connectedness was a resource more scarce than ever before. Field recordings from nature, vocal samples and an array of acoustic instruments are manipulated within a structure of catchy melodic synth maneuvers and driving rhythms, accompanied by her familiar and powerful voice conveying personal musings on hopeless desires and stoic acceptance. ‘Unearthed’ seeks the light and finds it within the exquisite pain of reckoning loneliness.

Green Gold Vnyl

With her second full-length album, Zanias condenses her post-punk, techno and italo influences into a collection of simultaneously brooding and uplifting pop songs. ‘Unearthed’ explores the multiplicities of human connections, written at a time when connectedness was a resource more scarce than ever before. Field recordings from nature, vocal samples and an array of acoustic instruments are manipulated within a structure of catchy melodic synth maneuvers and driving rhythms, accompanied by her familiar and powerful voice conveying personal musings on hopeless desires and stoic acceptance. ‘Unearthed’ seeks the light and finds it within the exquisite pain of reckoning loneliness.

Clear Gold Vnyl

With her second full-length album, Zanias condenses her post-punk, techno and italo influences into a collection of simultaneously brooding and uplifting pop songs. ‘Unearthed’ explores the multiplicities of human connections, written at a time when connectedness was a resource more scarce than ever before. Field recordings from nature, vocal samples and an array of acoustic instruments are manipulated within a structure of catchy melodic synth maneuvers and driving rhythms, accompanied by her familiar and powerful voice conveying personal musings on hopeless desires and stoic acceptance. ‘Unearthed’ seeks the light and finds it within the exquisite pain of reckoning loneliness.

Limited Edition 2 x LP vinyl with 13 remixes and more than 78 minutes of music, comes in gatefold double colour sleeve with exclusive photographs from the film, extensive liner notes and japanese style OBI strip. The score for a film by Oscar winning director Dusan Vukotic 'Visitors From The Galaxy' from 1981 (FOX001LP) was remixed by 11 artists from 9 countries. All original tracks from Visitors From The Galaxy (alternative titles: Gosti Iz Galaksije; Monstrum Z Galaxie Arkana; Gaeste Aus Der Galaxis; I Visitatori Della Galassia Arcana; Goscie Z Galaktyki Arkana; Los Visitantes De La Galaxia) are arranged, composed, conducted and produced by Tomislav Simovic. This compilation includes additional screen sounds from the unpublished tapes of composer Tomislav Simovic also featured in Dusan Vukotic film. With courtesy of Tomislav Simovic estate artists were given complete creative freedom to remix, reinvent and re-imagine the futuristic soundscape of first science-fiction film in Yugoslavia that was scored in analog, abstract, electronic and synthesised music. Alen & Nenad Sinkauz, Ali Renault, Anatolian Weapons, Credit 00, Drvg Cvltvre, Goran Vejvoda, Heinrich Dressel, Repeated Viewing, Security DJ, Tapan and Timothy Fife got the sounds from Tomislav Simovic score and embarked on a musical journey that had no rule or predetermined direction or genre; it was only their creativity inspired by Visitors From The Galaxy sound that led them to a new pieces, more or less experimental, abstract or dance floor friendly. The diversity of music goes wide and deep, it is modern and made by the stars of today paying homage to a composer who always retreated in being a star. As the remix projects of this kind are still very rare and include famous names like Ennio Morricone, Steve Reich or Peter Thomas Orchestra, Tomislav Simovic is now finally, one might say, at home.

Proc Fiskal's second album sees a reorientation of the source elements of his music. Where ‘Insula’ fed off samples of the ramblings of his friends and sounds of his hometown, ‘Siren Spine Sysex’ is laden with an inner voice of sampled Gaelic, Irish and English folk music, contorted and imbued into the futurist body of modern pop; the ghostly anima image of the female folk voice and the lamenting wheeze of the accordion rub against the rush of icey 808s and angles of Grime. Joe Powers’ family history is in folk music, with several of his forebears active in the Scottish Folk revival of the 1960s. It's this cultural baggage - the Caledonian Antisyzygy of the earnest folk tradition he was raised in – alongside the modernist dance music he makes, that brings a personal element to the album. The music of ‘Siren Spine Sysex’ examines dance music as folk music, re-routing them both comparatively, with the wordless emoting of chopped and screwed Gaelic vocals leading to joyous pop songs like ‘8 Mgapixel See Thru Phone’ and 'Leith Tornn Carnal’. Though fast and detailed, ‘Siren Spine Sysex’ feels relaxed and pastoral at times, its edits and drums sensual, swelling, and reactive to the music, its textures influenced by the tinny 16 bit flutes, strings, and wacky scores of gaming soundtracks.

In March 2020 Elton was forced to pause his record breaking Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour due to the unfolding COVID pandemic. As the world began to shut down, different projects presented themselves with artists Elton had enjoyed getting to know through his Apple Music show Rocket Hour. This was the beginning of one of Elton's boldest and most interesting records to date that he has billed ‘The Lockdown Sessions’. This album saw Elton coming full circle and returning to his roots as a session musician. While it was no easy feat recording during a pandemic, a completely new way of working for Elton, he leaned into the challenge with some magnificent results.

Kicking off with current single ‘Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)’with Dua Lipa, the album takes the listener on a heady journey through many different genres, all held together with expert finesse and understanding by one of the greatest champions of music of our time. Much more than a mere collaboration album, ‘The Lockdown Sessions’ is a dazzlingly diverse collection of 16 tracks with 10 brand new unreleased tracks that celebrates togetherness and sees Elton collaborating with an unparalleled range of artists only he could draw together. The enduring influence of his musical milestone with one of the most ambitious projects ever conceived. An unprecedented 20+ artists feature spanning an unbelievably vast range of genres, generations, cultures, continents and more, each contributing a unique style to the album that is sure to hold its place amongst one of pop and rock’s greatest songbooks. ‘The Lockdown Sessions’ sees Elton collaborate with GRAMMY Award winning producer Andrew Watt on five of the tracks.

In Elton’s words: “The last thing I expected to do during lockdown was make an album. But, as the pandemic went on, one‐off projects kept cropping up. Some of the recording sessions had to be done remotely, via Zoom, which I’d obviously never done before. Some of the sessions were recorded under very stringent safety regulations: working with another artist, but separated by glass screens. But all the tracks I worked on were really interesting and diverse, stuff that was completely different to anything I’m known for, stuff that took me out of my comfort zone into completely new territory. And I realised there was something weirdly familiar about working like this. At the start of my career, in the late 60s, I worked as a session musician. Working with different artists during lockdown reminded me of that. I’d come full circle: I was a session musician again. And it was still a blast.”

An unparalleled career that has forever changed the cultural landscape, Elton John’s collaborations with Bernie Taupin and others continue to shape the cultural landscape, break records, top charts and win new fans across the generations. We’ve had the book, the film, the farewell tour, the fashion collections and the greatest hits. And now with ‘The Lockdown Sessions’ available on digital formats, fans can enter Elton’s new world which is no doubt another fitting addition to his oeuvre.

Cinema' is a brilliant snapshot of both artists working together in unison, with Fabrice providing his trademark 'high tech funk & soul' sound alongside Wolfgang's keen, tried and tested ability to fuse clever pop inspirations and catchy vocals through the use of robotic mechanics. Perfect music which balances the headphones and dancefloors on the horizon.
Five versions are on hand with the EP, including the original version of 'Cinema,' a French version of the original, as well as a remixes from Detroit's Ectomorph, UK Electro kingpin Carl Finlow, and Dutch synthesis maestro Versalife aka Conforce.
The original version of 'Cinema' is a gorgeous slice of sonic wizardry designed for exploring the borders between underground electronic club music and pop sensibilities. Catchy vocals play alongside a multitude of synth textures, coexisting perfectly in a melodic mélange equally as pleasing to the ears as the dancing feet. Catchy and clever vibes in equal doses.
Detroit legend Ectomorph's 'Sinema Mix' strips away the main elements and twists the original into an analogue heavy, heads-down drum workout saturated with carefully calculated effect manipulations to the vocals. Equal parts trippy and relentless, the remix is a broken beat workout designed to melt minds, fully ready for a dark concrete warehouse when permissible.
Electro legend Carl Finlow (Random Factor / Silicon Scally) delivers an interpretation of the original which stays loyal to the playful pleasantries of the original version. The signature bouncy, staccato-tinted grooves from Mr. Finlow are at center stage, with the UK producer fully embracing the original vocals and musical elements. A crisp, clean and precise remix, just as expected.
Versalife (aka Conforce) brings his beloved Dutch electronic style to higher levels with his take on the original, fully utilizing (what feels like) each and every one of his favorite machines from within his studio. Aggressive, quickly moving mischief is the name of the game with his remix, complete with sharp, attention- grabbing synths stabs and punchy, powerful drum programming.
!

A fantastic third opus on praised Meltin Bass... Puglia powa !

For this one, Jack and Meg decamped to Memphis to record at the legendary Easley-McCain Studio and walked away with a bonafide classic. Unique for a White Stripes album, as it contains no covers, no guest musicians, no blues and no guitar solos, this album would be most of the world's introduction to the band.

While the video for "Fell In Love With A Girl" could've single-handedly raised the price of LEGO stock the other jams on here are momentous, from the fuzz distorted clarion call of album opener "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" to the finger-pointing accusations of "I Think I Smell A Rat" this album has everything you could ever want from the Detroit duo.

Cut directly from the original 1/4" master tapes, pressed on HEAVY 180-gram vinyl and lovingly ensconced in a beauteous Stoughton tip-on jacket...this album has never looked better, and perhaps, has looked markedly worse.

HONNE have announced the release of their much-anticipated new album, ‘Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do?’ – a record that toasts the start of a new era of music from one of the UK’s most inventive and original outfits.

Releasing on October 22, ‘Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do?’ forms HONNE’s third studio album following critically acclaimed LPs, ‘Warm On A Cold Night’ (2016) and ‘Love Me / Love Me Not’ (2018), as well as ‘no song without you’ – a surprise 14-track mixtape released last summer.

Written throughout the course of 2020, ‘Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do?’ captures HONNE in limitless full bloom – as songwriters, producers and collaborators. “In the past, we’ve limited ourselves”, HONNE explain. “We might get to a section of a song and things are getting really exciting, but we then pull ourselves back and say, ‘Can we really do that?’. Now, we’ve sidestepped the rules and done whatever we wanted to do.”

This sense of freedom permeates the tracklist, which is defined as much by its eye-catching collaborations – Khalid (‘Three Strikes’), Griff (‘Back On Top’), 88 Rising’s NIKI (‘Coming Home’) – as it is by its musicianship, shimmering pop feel and intelligent song-writing; Sam Smith (‘Back On Top’) and MNEK (‘Easy On Me’) also co-wrote songs on the album.

Bold and ambitious , ‘Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do?’ brings together everything HONNE have worked towards in their career so far, while simultaneously pushing them into broad and exciting new spaces.

HONNE have announced the release of their much-anticipated new album, ‘Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do?’ – a record that toasts the start of a new era of music from one of the UK’s most inventive and original outfits.

Releasing on October 22, ‘Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do?’ forms HONNE’s third studio album following critically acclaimed LPs, ‘Warm On A Cold Night’ (2016) and ‘Love Me / Love Me Not’ (2018), as well as ‘no song without you’ – a surprise 14-track mixtape released last summer.

Written throughout the course of 2020, ‘Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do?’ captures HONNE in limitless full bloom – as songwriters, producers and collaborators. “In the past, we’ve limited ourselves”, HONNE explain. “We might get to a section of a song and things are getting really exciting, but we then pull ourselves back and say, ‘Can we really do that?’. Now, we’ve sidestepped the rules and done whatever we wanted to do.”

This sense of freedom permeates the tracklist, which is defined as much by its eye-catching collaborations – Khalid (‘Three Strikes’), Griff (‘Back On Top’), 88 Rising’s NIKI (‘Coming Home’) – as it is by its musicianship, shimmering pop feel and intelligent song-writing; Sam Smith (‘Back On Top’) and MNEK (‘Easy On Me’) also co-wrote songs on the album.

Bold and ambitious , ‘Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do?’ brings together everything HONNE have worked towards in their career so far, while simultaneously pushing them into broad and exciting new spaces.

HONNE have announced the release of their much-anticipated new album, ‘Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do?’ – a record that toasts the start of a new era of music from one of the UK’s most inventive and original outfits.

Releasing on October 22, ‘Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do?’ forms HONNE’s third studio album following critically acclaimed LPs, ‘Warm On A Cold Night’ (2016) and ‘Love Me / Love Me Not’ (2018), as well as ‘no song without you’ – a surprise 14-track mixtape released last summer.

Written throughout the course of 2020, ‘Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do?’ captures HONNE in limitless full bloom – as songwriters, producers and collaborators. “In the past, we’ve limited ourselves”, HONNE explain. “We might get to a section of a song and things are getting really exciting, but we then pull ourselves back and say, ‘Can we really do that?’. Now, we’ve sidestepped the rules and done whatever we wanted to do.”

This sense of freedom permeates the tracklist, which is defined as much by its eye-catching collaborations – Khalid (‘Three Strikes’), Griff (‘Back On Top’), 88 Rising’s NIKI (‘Coming Home’) – as it is by its musicianship, shimmering pop feel and intelligent song-writing; Sam Smith (‘Back On Top’) and MNEK (‘Easy On Me’) also co-wrote songs on the album.

Bold and ambitious , ‘Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do?’ brings together everything HONNE have worked towards in their career so far, while simultaneously pushing them into broad and exciting new spaces.

HONNE have announced the release of their much-anticipated new album, ‘Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do?’ – a record that toasts the start of a new era of music from one of the UK’s most inventive and original outfits.

Releasing on October 22, ‘Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do?’ forms HONNE’s third studio album following critically acclaimed LPs, ‘Warm On A Cold Night’ (2016) and ‘Love Me / Love Me Not’ (2018), as well as ‘no song without you’ – a surprise 14-track mixtape released last summer.

Written throughout the course of 2020, ‘Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do?’ captures HONNE in limitless full bloom – as songwriters, producers and collaborators. “In the past, we’ve limited ourselves”, HONNE explain. “We might get to a section of a song and things are getting really exciting, but we then pull ourselves back and say, ‘Can we really do that?’. Now, we’ve sidestepped the rules and done whatever we wanted to do.”

This sense of freedom permeates the tracklist, which is defined as much by its eye-catching collaborations – Khalid (‘Three Strikes’), Griff (‘Back On Top’), 88 Rising’s NIKI (‘Coming Home’) – as it is by its musicianship, shimmering pop feel and intelligent song-writing; Sam Smith (‘Back On Top’) and MNEK (‘Easy On Me’) also co-wrote songs on the album.

Bold and ambitious , ‘Let’s Just Say The World Ended A Week From Now, What Would You Do?’ brings together everything HONNE have worked towards in their career so far, while simultaneously pushing them into broad and exciting new spaces.

Boasting the awesome "Chemical Warfare," a regular staple of Slayer's live shows, the Haunting the Chapel EP was a more crucial stepping stone in the legendary L.A. band's career development than many give it credit for. Issued in between the band's very promising debut and the following year's more sonically ripened Hell Awaits, Haunting the Chapel offers important clues about this transition period, which saw Slayer's rock-based song structures give way to the non-linear, genre-defining style thereafter regarded as thrash metal's signature sound. Among the uniformly solid cuts here, the enduring fan favorite "Captor of Sin" is another highlight, making this a well-recommended release for committed Slayer fans. - AllMusic

Manchester based trumpeter, composer, arranger and producer Matthew Halsall has carved out a unique niche for himself as both a band-leader and producer delving deeply into the worlds of spiritual jazz and string-laden soul.

His latest project finds him playing with and producing the legendary LA jazz singer Dwight Trible, who first came to international renown with his 2005 Ninja Tune release Love Is the Answer. Trible, whose deeply soulful voice has seen him compared to Leon Thomas and Andy Bey, has worked with the likes of Pharoah Sanders, Horace Tapscott and Kamasi Washington (he sings lead vocals on the Epic) and brings a deep-rooted soulfulness to everything that he sings.

Inspirations features some of Dwight Trible and Matthew Halsall's favourite songs including brilliant versions of the timeless Bacharach classic What The World Needs Now Is Love featuring harpist Rachael Gladwin and the Nina Simone smash Feeling Good. A soulful reading of Donny Hathaway and Leroy Hutson's classic Tryin' Times and a heartfelt version of Coltrane's beautiful ballad, Dear Lord, with lyrics by Trible. Other highlights include a vibrant, soulful version of and a beautiful take on They also laid down two spiritual jazz masterpieces, a powerful re-working of Dorothy Ashby's Heaven and Hell (from the legendary The Rubiyat of Dorothy Ashby album) and a spine-tingling reading of the old folk song Black Is The Colour Of My True Love's Hair. Finally the album is rounded out with and the traditional spiritual Deep River and the beautiful standard I Love Paris.


Inspirations is launched with a five date European tour featuring special guest Roger 'Chip' Wickham on saxophones and flute. April 28 & 29 - Duc des Lombards PARIS, April 30 - Flagey BRUSSELS, May 1 & 2 - Ronnie Scott's LONDON, May 4 - Band On The Wall MANCHESTER & May 7 - Funkhaus BERLIN (XJAZZ FESTIVAL).
Reviews and features from Jazzwise, Record Collector, Echoes, Mojo, Now Then Magazine, Blues & Soul, Sunday Times, Lira, Jazzthing (Germany), Nos Magazine, M Magazine and many more.Airplay from Gilles Peterson 6 Music, Jamie Cullum BBC Radio 2, Patrick Forge, Ross Allen, Jazz FM playlist, NDR in Germany, TSF in France and much more
On Line support from Jazz Standard, AllAboutJazz, World Wide FM, Written In Music and much more...

Written, programmed, recorded and produced throughout 2019/20 by Ed Wynne in ‘Blue Bubble Studios’ by the sea, this exploratory and diverse musical adventure comprises seven new tracks spanning 45 minutes.

Inspired by the Scottish hills, valleys and beaches surrounding his studio, Wynne feels that lockdown in a strange kind of way has provided ‘Space For The Earth’ to breathe for a while and for people to rediscover its resonant healing frequency. ‘This is space music for people from the Earth to enjoy’.

Ozrics’ synth player Silas Neptune and drummer Bal zs Szende join forces again with Wynne on the album which also features special guest appearances from former members synth player Joie Hinton, drummer Nick Van Gelder, flautist Champignon and percussionist Paul Hankin. Psychedelic voyager Gracerooms also contributes additional synth layers.

The album ebbs and flows through blissed-out soundscapes featuring incendiary guitar solos, space grooves and ambient atmospheres. Wynne plays his recently revived Ibanez Jem, a new 8-string guitar, all kinds of synths and bass. Van Gelder uses the original snare he played on the first six cassette albums and early live Ozric performances. One tune features Champignon playing kaval, a traditional wooden Balkan flute.

The album artwork was inspired directly by these seven tracks and realised by arboreal artist Kitty (Twisty-Trees) with help from Ed and cosmic artist Ivy.

One of the most influential bands to emerge from the UK’s festival scene, Ozric Tentacles formed during the solstice at Stonehenge Free Festival 1983 going on to become psychedelic staples at Glastonbury and other festivals. The creative vision of multi-instrumentalist Ed Wynne, the Ozrics’ uniquely trippy soundscapes connect fans of progressive rock, psychedelia and dance music culture.
‘Space For The Earth’ represents the next harmonic step in the unfolding Ozric
journey.

The legendary session from members of The Outsiders, The Sound and Honolulu Mountain Daffodils. released for the very first time.
Overseen by Adrian Janes and remastered by Nick Robbins with sleeve design and artwork by Bi Marshall.
PRESSED ON ‘SPECIAL’ COLOUR VINYL.
In December 1978 Pete Williams, later to achieve cult infamy as Lord Sulaco of the Honolulu Mountain Daffodils, decided to realise a notion which he’d long kicked around with some of his musician friends. This was to record some original songs for which he - who had never been in a studio in his life – would provide the lyrics and sing. These friends were the Outsiders, at that time consisting of Adrian Borland (guitar, vocals), Graham Bailey (bass) and Adrian Janes (drums), plus an increasingly regular guest player in Bi Marshall (clarinet). (A year later, Janes having left, the Outsiders became the Sound.)
With no prior preparation other than Williams writing a set of lyrics (reputedly all based on newspaper stories), he then hired Elephant Studio in London for a day’s session. This was engineered by Nick Robbins, later to produce The Sound among others, but at that point at the very start of his career. This was no bad thing, since he was as open to the bizarre working methods of the Crazies (named after the George Romero sci-fi horror film) as they were innocent of their strangeness:improvise a song during one run-through, record it, and then move on to the next one, each to be created in the same way.
This extremely efficient method left enough studio time after recording six songs for the rest to head off for something to eat, while Williams scribbled lyrics for a final composition, ‘When We’re Dead’, which was recorded upon their return.
The surviving members (Bailey, Marshall and Janes) all recall this as one of the most enjoyable and relaxed sessions they were ever part of. The same experimental freedom and warped humour can also be heard in the albums Williams and Borland made as the Honolulu Mountain Daffodils a decade later.
Cassette copies of the resulting album were produced for all concerned, and it seems that there was an idea of making it more widely available in this format, but this was never to occur. It is only now that, with the original tape rediscovered, that the Crazies’ ‘A Simple Vision’, mastered by Nick Robbins, can at last be perceived by the wider world.

Limited edition of 500. Vinyl edition includes tracks not available on digital and streaming formats

Grup Ses, Istanbul based veteran beatmaker returns to Souk after 2 years with first fully instrumental album since 2011's sought after 'Beats and Pieces from Turkish Psychedelia'.

Grup Ses project dates back to 2007 which at the time focused on v/vm style edits and breakcore infused mash ups. Starting from 2008 Grup Ses started to build a version of Stones Throw & Brainfeeder influenced beatmaking mixed with a touch of humour. A blend including all kinds of local recorded material like records, tapes, radio broadcasts etc., which became the building blocks of signature Grup Ses sound.

'Beats from the vaults' is a showcase of beatmaking aesthetics Grup Ses visited between 2008 and 2021. Including various cuts available only on soundcloud plus unheard material compiled just for this album.

Rerpress

3AM Eternal returns with none other than Coco Bryce! He delivers 2 gorgeous tracks: "Cloud Busting" is a super energetic Reese & amen workout with beautiful strings and sparkling synths. The B side "Octopus" is subtle but brings such a huge vibe. Switching between absolutely lush atmospheres and FM clonks. Goosebumps guaranteed!