Demos and unreleased songs from Wand"s salad days, the time of the immortal Ganglion Reef. Available for download since 2017, this album"s at last firmly sunk into vinyl grooves that realize its fullest potential in a listener"s ears. These light, fizzy versions have distinctive gleaming magic energies all of their own and they fly thrillingly through the air. Catch a wave through beautifully-abandoned space on your turntable eternal!
On Still + Bright, her highly-anticipated follow up to, Wary + Strange, Amythyst Kiah shares a dozen songs that mark an evolution in her sound. Kiah says, “With this album, I’ve always been incredibly interested in stories and philosophy. Lots of the songs are inspired by the cosmos, space, meditation, and mindfulness. It’s a way to piece out what it means to be a human being in the modern world. It’s the general idea that we should all have the freedom to decide what path we want to choose.” Still + Bright is produced by Butch Walker (Fall Out Boy, Green Day, Weezer) and features special guests including SG Goodman, Avi Kaplan, and Billy Strings. All of the songs were brought to life by Kiah and co-writers, including Sean McConnell, Avi Kaplan, Sadler Vaden, and Tim Armstrong, among others. Still + Bright is set for release on October 25, 2024. “Years in the making, Still + Bright explores what it means to be a human being in the modern world. Songwriting is my way to marry big, overarching philosophical ideas and questions into a musical, more organized arrangement. Inspired by the cosmos, space, meditation, and mindfulness – this record directly challenges religious and political dogma, stating that we should all have the freedom to decide what path we want to choose.” Recently Kiah featured in Salon talking about her love of country and bluegrass music and was included in a New York Times T Magazine spotlight and documentary: The Next Generation of Black Folk Singers. Her episode of PBS’ The Express Way with Dulé Hill aired nationally on April 30, Kiah is featured in Episode 2: “Appalachia”. She recently appeared on a panel at the Television Critics Association Press Conference which was attended by over 200 television critics around the globe. This June she will be on the road opening for Iron & Wine.
'We're excited to be able to bring you the latest wonderful album from Chester's boycalledcrow, after a series of superb releases for labels such as Mortality Tables, Waxing Crescent Records and Subexotic Records, including the wonderful Kullu from earlier this year.
Knott's music doesn't sit easily in any pre-existing genres, being at once strange and experimental, yet melodic and somehow comforting. His music is intimate and evocative, deeply personal, and manages to be both bucolic and yet totally 21st century, like Kraftwerk's robots dreaming of sheep.
The songs and sounds on “eyetrees” are inspired by a rich family life and the wonderful times spent with his wife and kids, both at home and out in nature.'
Knott said of the album and its inspirations:
“We enjoy spending time in the woods with our young children, creating stories about the "eye tree”. This tree, with thousands of eyes, watches over us and cares for us like family. We make fox medicine and cherish these blissful moments. The music reflects these times, seen through the colors of an old, fuzzy reel—orange, red, and yellow with blurred edges, like an old photo scorched by the sun.
I feel a deep spiritual connection to the countryside; the hands of Arcadia cradle me when I feel sad. Some of the album was created during times of sadness when I felt death was close and the lines between worlds were blurred. This feeling—that anything can happen and that life is delicate and can be taken away in a flash—permeates the music.
The song titles are stories and memories of my family, filled with hazy pinks, yellows, reds, and oranges.
Wonky acoustic guitar, broken electronics, and a warm, otherworldly space."
Hailing from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afropop, funk, rock and jazz outfit Jupiter & Okwess returns with the explosive ' Na Kozonga' album, a blast of energy that bewitches the body and feeds the spirit . Their latest invites guests from around the world
From the samba of carioca Rogê to the rap of Brasilian pioneer Marcelo D2 , via the horns of New Orleans' Preservation Hall Jazz Band or the voice of the militant Chilean singer Ana Tijoux , the guitar riffs of French guitarist Yarol Poupaud or soulful voice of American vocalist Maiya Sykes , Jupiter & Okwess have no fear of strange encounters, nor the craziest journeys.
Produced in Los Angeles at the studios of Mario Caldato Jr (Beastie Boys, Seu Jorge, Beck, Bjork, Blur, John Lee Hooker, Manu Chao).
They have toured the US including Central Park Stage, NewOrleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and Outside Lands. They performed on NPR's Tiny Desk and they were booked on Bonarroo 2020 before its cancellation.
Jupiter & Okwess previous album is also available on CD/LP. 'Kin Sonic" was voted Best Album by the NY Times in 2018 and a pick on Obama's playlist that year.
l 12: Bolingo (Ça Va Saravá) feat. Rogê
Swedish duo LOW-RES are no strangers to grim, almost decadent darkness. Their explosive mix of krautrock, indie rock, and psychedelia has captivated audiences all around the world. Their third album ”Happiness” explores topics of abuse, destructive relationships, but to a slightly clearer and more pop soundscape. The two poles shapes a background for an captivating listening experience with out worldly melodies and choruses. Produced together with musician and producer Daniel ”Fagge” Fagerström (Viagra Boys, Kite). LOW-RES has previously been picked up by BBC Radio 6 and praised by the likes of Swedish magazine GAFFA who described their debut album as “oceans of creativity pumping out of the speakers”.
Robyn Hitchcock is a rock’n’roll surrealist. Born in London on March 3rd, 1953 he describes his songs as “pictures you can listen to”. As much a child of Dali, De Chirico, and JG Ballard as of his 1960s musical heroes, he is a master of the absurd, reveling in the beauty of the unexpected. His first publicly visible band The Soft Boys (1976 - 81) has remained an influential art-rock touchstone for generations of musicians. “I just want to be an obscure cult fringe,” he told the NME in 1978; the NME didn’t believe him, but he’s been true to his ambition. Without ever breaking the surface of pop culture Hitchcock has floated at a tangent to the mainstream for nearly 5 decades. His songs have been performed by REM, The Replacements, Neko Case, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Lou Barlow, Grant Lee Phillips, Sparklehorse, and Suzanne Vega with the Grateful Dead among others. A confirmed outsider, he nonetheless has devoted listeners around the world who attend his concerts, and also tune into the online streaming shows Robyn seasonally does with his wife, the singer Emma Swift. In 1996 he was the subject of Jonathan Demme’s in-concert film, ‘Storefront Hitchcock’. Robyn Hitchcock came of age in the 1960s when he attended Winchester College, an eccentric hothouse boarding school in the south of England. This is the subject of “1967”, which is both a memoir and an album, due for release in June this year. The memoir is a book “1967: How I Got There And Why I Never Left”, describing how the music of Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and others drastically transformed the direction of his life when he left home for this strange new world. The companion record album “1967: Vacations In The Past” is a selection of the (mostly) hit songs of that year, re-recorded acoustically by Robyn with the help of some friends in Cambridge, San Francisco, and Sydney. He is currently preparing new material to release in 2025. “I like to keep busy”, he says: “We have all eternity to not exist”.
Clear Vinyl[30,67 €]
Spectres have been stirring in the shadows for years now. Dark eyes watching from pallid faces. Siren songs calling to lost souls. In the blackest corners of the UK underground, a name whispered relentlessly amongst the faithful, first with curiosity, then soul-shuddering awe: Zetra.
Zetra is also the title of their striking debut LP. Ten tracks whose indefinable blend of shimmering shoegaze and pulsating goth-metal work deep beneath the skin, it is a masterclass in intimate dark romanticism and sweeping elemental beauty. It could be seen as a reaction to the geography of a strange new world, but also to the jagged topography of the human psyche itself. Is it a manifesto? A roadmap? A riddle waiting to be solved? Profound pleasure lies in peeling back its many layers.
Travelling alone, armed only with synths, guitar and drum-machine to compose, The Wanderers’ music could sound skeletal. Instead its early metallic bones have been fleshed-out with the electronic new-wave of Gary Numan and Pet Shop Boys and dreamy, droning guitars that hark to heroes like Slowdive and Sonic Youth as well as dark contemporaries Deafheaven and Alcest. As harsh as the truths with which they deal may be, these songs deliver beguiling brilliance.
Acolytes to spread the word of Zetra aren’t hard to find. British ‘contemporaries’ like Burner and Wallowing, Celestial Sanctuary and Employed To Serve have been dementedly singing their praises as far back as they can remember. Tours with the heavyweight likes of Creeper and Godflesh, VV and SKYND have taken their once-subterranean sounds into the spotlight. Unto Others’ Gabriel Franco (‘Moonfall’), Svalbard’s Serena Cherry (‘Starfall’) and Sólveig Matthildur Kristjánsdóttir from Iceland’s Kælan Mikla (‘Shatter The Mountain’) even crop up amongst these recordings, dissolving into the cult of Zetra themselves. But none are as important as the legions of fans Zetra are yet to reach with a dark gospel still unpicking all manner of psychological knots and existential truths.
Solomun & CASSIM remix two of the track rake from Radio Slave’s Venti album released earlier this year
Diynamic boss and Ibiza titan Solomun remixes Radio Slave ‘The Lunatics’ on Rekids, following the original’s inclusion in Matt Edwards’ acclaimed ‘Venti’ album in May. The original, a rework itself, reimagined the 1981 Fun Boy Three track ‘The Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum’, with Edwards’ ode to the band’s late lead vocalist and The Specials frontman Terry Hall winning support from Saoirse, Erol Alkan, Jennifer Cardini, Laurent Garnier, Paul Woolford, and Honey Dijon.
Solomun’s remix of ‘The Lunatics’ is sparkling aural nostalgia executed with total joy. Crisp 80s drums, Stranger Things-esque Jupiter 8 synth swells, the vocoded titular vocal, and a gloriously rich sliding bassline combine to drag the listener back to 1983 in the best possible way. As the track builds, rousing guitars join the ensemble, completing what is a hypnotic, melodic trip to the 80s via what’s set to be a 2024 anthem.
CASSIMM’s remix of Radio Slave vs Audion’s ‘Mouth To Mouth’ continues the story of Matthew Dear’s classic, which Radio Slave revived and reinvented as part of his 2024 LP, ‘Venti’.
Radio Slave’s hi-NRG disco cover of Audion’s minimal/maximal 2006 and era-defining anthem has dominated dancefloors since it emerged as a single in late 2023, with the likes of Erol Alkan, Job Jobse, Sean Johnston, Jennifer Cardini and Eats Everything continuing to play it today and the latter awarding it an Essential New Tune whilst sitting in for Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1.
Now, recent Rekids alum CASSIMM continues his huge run of form with a chunky, main-room house interpretation that shows just why his recent release, ‘House of Moves,’ won DJ support from the likes of Tong, Arielle Free, Paul Woolford, Honey Dijon, and Jennifer Loveless.
CASSIMS’s remix of Radio Slave vs Audion quickly follows Lindstrom and Solomun’s remixes of the ‘Venti’ LP’s tracks, which have seen support from the likes of Ivan Smagghe, Chloé Caillet, Nightmares On Wax, and more.
On August 16, Toronto-based musician and producer David Psutka aka ACT! (fka Egyptrixx / Anamai / Ceramic TL) will release his latest project ‘Face to Face, Day by Day’ for his own Halocline Trance imprint.
This is is Psutka’s third album proper as ACT! following the release of the “sonic mixtape” ‘Universalist’ in 2018 and the augmented reality soundtrack ‘Grey Matter AR’ in 2021; a series of Snapchat filters created by artist Karen Vanderborght and soundtracked by ACT! which explored the poetic and existential potential of AR and social media.
“Aesthetic accidents in the periphery of the ‘work’ can be the message. In 2018, at an Egyptrixx concert at Bagni Misteriosi de Teatro Franco Parenti - a gorgeous, sprawling outdoor pool theatre in Milan - I had a clarifying moment. Gigs around then had mostly been in pummelling, dark music venues, so I wasn't prepared for this expansive space (and the thoughtful work of the organisers who had layered sheets of plastic film on the pool to parallel eco-materialist themes from a previous album). It was the midday soundcheck that struck me most - brittle digital sounds from the set echoed off the colonial Milanese facades and ricocheted down the Via Carlo Botta, pinging off buildings in the distance and clashing with the noise of traffic, tourists and whatever else. It was a strange, collisionist moment, and a reminder that my essential approach to music is, above all, a preoccupation with the materiality of sound.
Everything on Face to Face, Day by Day began as an improvisation. Openness to accidents and the emotional complexity that comes from centering them in composition has become important to my work, and helps the music go beyond the possibility of what is playable, imaginable. I also wanted to channel adventurous solo pop records of the 1970’s and 80’s, like Yasuaki Shimizu, Jon + Vangelis and Stevie Wonder. These came from an interesting era in commercial music as studio production techniques became increasingly formalised as compositional devices, like AMS RMX16 percussion sounds and early digital stereo effects.
Like many musicians, I’ve been travelling and performing less since the pandemic and as a result, have wanted studio sessions to feel more collaborative and improvisational. There were great writing and recording sessions for this album. Vox, synth, sax and guitar jams - much of what ended up on the record isn’t edited much, if at all. I jammed a sm57 into Colin Fisher’s sax bell and created feedback loops using various preamps and distortion units. The clunky sounds were sampled and used as percussion elements. I also had a great synth jam session with Jeremy Greenspan at Barton Building Studio in Hamilton, which was recorded by filmmaker Liz Adler.
I’ve had a few months to sit with this album and see clear throughlines connecting it to previous projects. There are aspects of the experiential and structuralist sound design ideas from the EGYPTRIXX records; and also some arrangement tricks borrowed from ANAMAI - specifically, the use of interruptionist sound events. Perhaps most of all, it feels connected to the Ceramic TL + Ipek Gorgun record ‘Perfect Lung’ and its splattered take on musical complexity. “ (David Psutka)
In addition to ACT!, Psutka has released music with numerous projects including Anamai, Egyptrixx and Ceramic TL, he has collaborated widely with artists such as Junior Boys, Ipek Gorgun, and Kuedo as well as Jessy Lanza (2016) and an official remix for Massive Attack’s ‘Hymn of the Big Wheel (2012). The contributions on this album, from Robin Dann and Ben Gunning, reflect the deeply collaborative nature of the Halocline Trance label and the Toronto creative scene more broadly.
Many of Psutka’s releases have received critical acclaim from media outlets such as Pitchfork, Exclaim, The Quietus and Resident Advisor. As a live performer, he has toured extensively including performing at Sonar Festival, Roskilde, Mutek, MOMA PS1 Warm-UP and CTM Festival. He’s also presented sound installations at various institutions such as Galeria Civica Commune di Modena, and Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).
In 2015, Psutka launched Halocline Trance as a home for his various sound projects, events and collaborations. Now a creative collective and label, it has grown to include a diverse array of artists including Casey MQ, Xuan Ye, Myst Milano, Colin Fisher and others. The label is described as “genre-agnostic” and conceptually open, supporting work across a wide spectrum of creative fields including soundtrack recording, AR design and traditional artist albums. Their impeccable roster also includes, theorist/improviser Eldritch Priest, and AR/VR artist Karen Vanderborght. In recent years, Halocline Trance has established itself as a platform that facilitates many of Canada’s most exciting creative music projects. Many of the releases have received critical acclaim from outlets including Pitchfork, Exclaim, Bandcamp and Resident Advisor.
Hejira is the eighth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, released in 1976 on Asylum Records. Its material was written during a period of frequent travel in late 1975 and early 1976, and reflects Mitchell's experiences on the road during that time. It is characterized by lyrically dense, sprawling songs and musical backing by several jazz-oriented instrumentalists, most prominently fretless bass player Jaco Pastorius, guitarist Larry Carlton, and drummer John Guerin.
During autumn 2018, after moving to Germany, Aron Ottignon met Senegalese musician and percussionist Bakane Seck, founder and leader of the Jeri JeriBand, in his Berlin studio. This first meeting gave rise to a special connection between their instruments and the start of a musical adventurethat transcends borders, an instrumental conversation of profound simplicity nourished by the richness of jazz, electronic music and Wolof tradition. The brainchild of composer and producer Aron Ottignon and percussionist Sabar Bakane Seck, Aron & The Jeri Jeri Band (A&TJJB) was born at the crossroads between Berlin and Dakar and oscillates between the frenetic rhythm of mbalax, the strength of afrobeat, the warmth of afro funk and the eï¬Çervescence of jazz. Born in New Zealand, the pianist released a series of critically acclaimed jazz albums in the 2000s. As a composer, Aron Ottignonhas collaborated with Stromae, toured the world with Woodkid and worked with a host of artists including Electric Wire Hustle, Louane,Broken Back, Empire Of the Sun and Myele Manzanza. Senegalese musician and griot Bakane Seck"s mastery of the Sabar - "percussion instrument" in Wolof - has taken him all over the world alongsideAfrican music icons such asYoussou N"Dour and Baaba Maal.
In 1995, schoolmates Elin Almered and Johan Duncanson started a band which they named after a gas-station-turned-radio-repair-shop called "Radioavdelningen" (Swedish for The Radio Department). In 2001, the Radio Dept. sent recordings to music magazine Sonic, receiving a positive review and being featured on the free CD sampler that came with the magazine. Labrador Records heard them on the disc and signed them to their label. The band"s debut album Lesser Matters (2003) was well received by the music press, scoring 10 out of 10 in the NME. NME would rank Lesser Matters ninth on their list of the 50 best albums of 2004. The album received an 84/100 (Universal acclaim) on Metacritic from a total of five reviews.
Deluxe Edition[32,14 €]
The only album by Descendants Of Mike and Phoebe, a family band made up of Bill Lee and his brothers, who are also known as the father of Spike Lee, the director of films such as 'Crooklyn' and 'Do The Right Thing'. A Sprit Speaks. The great song 'Coltrane' by Bill Lee, also famous for his performance of Clifford Jordan, is a miraculous balance of dignified and beautiful piano tones and a heavy waltz beat. M3 'Chick Chick', which seems to have been dedicated to Chick Corea, is an up-tempo, fast-moving song. From there to the last track, 'Too Little, Too Late', a beautiful, tear-jerking piece that conveys the depth and greatness of 70s spiritual jazz!
'Make It Up' ist der Nachfolger zu FEETs Debütalbum 'What's Inside Is More Than Just Ham', das sie 2019 ins Rampenlicht des Indierock katapultierte und zu einem der aufregendsten Gitarrenacts der Szene machte. Aufbauend auf diese Sound-DNA hebt der fein abgestimmte, kohärente und fesselnde neue Output die Band auf die nächste Ebene, wie die erste Single 'The Real Thing' mit spitzen Gitarrenlines, liebenswertem Groove und messerscharfen Lyrics eindrucksvoll beweist. 'Make It Up' wurde von Andy Savors (Black Country New Road, The Magic Gang, The Horrors) produziert, von Caesar Edmunds (Beach House, Wet Leg, Foals) gemischt und von Christian Wright in den Abbey Road Studios gemastert.
'Make It Up' ist der Nachfolger zu FEETs Debütalbum 'What's Inside Is More Than Just Ham', das sie 2019 ins Rampenlicht des Indierock katapultierte und zu einem der aufregendsten Gitarrenacts der Szene machte. Aufbauend auf diese Sound-DNA hebt der fein abgestimmte, kohärente und fesselnde neue Output die Band auf die nächste Ebene, wie die erste Single 'The Real Thing' mit spitzen Gitarrenlines, liebenswertem Groove und messerscharfen Lyrics eindrucksvoll beweist. 'Make It Up' wurde von Andy Savors (Black Country New Road, The Magic Gang, The Horrors) produziert, von Caesar Edmunds (Beach House, Wet Leg, Foals) gemischt und von Christian Wright in den Abbey Road Studios gemastert.
With two critically acclaimed albums and a swathe of award-winning production turns under their belt, Ana Frango Elétrico present their most confident and accomplished work to date: Me Chama De Gato Que Eu Sou Sua / Call Me They That I’m Yours. Gesturing to a tradition of Brazilian boogie music, but bouncing with modern pop ebullience, the album sees the Rio artist evolve from a captivating upstart into a surefooted scene leader in full stride.
At just 25, the prolific artist and producer has already garnered worldwide admirers. Ana’s sophomore Little Electric Chicken Heart was nominated at the 2020 Latin Grammys. Since then, standalone singles have received the WME ‘Best Music Producer’ Award, recognising Ana’s deep passion for music production – a passion which has led to collaborations with nascent Brazilian stars Dora Morelenbaum, Illy and Sophia Chablau. Most recently, Ana was hailed for their co-production of Bala Desejo’s 2022 Latin Grammy-winning album Sim Sim Sim.
The new album finds Ana at their most assured and full voiced. Album opener “Electric Fish”, with funky bass and shimmering backing vocals, sets a buoyant tone. “Boy of Stranger Things” is its bombastic counterpart. It’s the grooviest Ana has ever sounded. And the most brazen. Lyrically, where Ana was once oblique on personal matters, they are now forthright – lucidly exploring their gender identity, citing accessible cultural references, and often singing in English.
“I started this album in 2021 with the intention of showing, in means of sound, understandings and feelings about queer love, subjectively exposing myself,” the non-binary artist states – before qualifying that though “feeling was its driving force, the album is really about musical production.”
“There’s so many references to different decades,” Ana explains. “Seventies drums with eighties processing … Going back, getting beyond … Testing the limits of organic sounds”. Characteristically playful, on Me Chama, Ana takes vivid and rewarding detours through funk-inflected R&B (“Dela”) and art pop (“Dr. Sabe Tudo”). “Nuvem Vermelha” is a cinematic chanson with lush strings that recalls Arthur Verocai. Then, “Coisa Maluca” loafs with the indie insouciance of Canadian slacker Mac Demarco. Later, “Let's Go Before Again”, is a full-on drum machine workout evocative of Stereolab.
"The Eighties spawned many iconic films such as Footloose, Dirty Dancing, Ghostbusters, Rocky and The Breakfast Club. Despite all the different genres, they all had something in common: great film music. 80’s Movies Hits Collected is a collection of music that is inextricably linked to Eighties movie classics, including Queen, Billy Ocean, Lionel Richie, The Bangles, Duran Duran, Pat Benatar, Tina Turner and Survivor amongst many others. 80’s Movie Hits Collected is available as a limited edition of 1500 copies on translucent blue (LP1) and gold (LP2) coloured vinyl. This 2LP-set includes an insert with liner notes, photos, and credits. "
80'S Movie Hits Collected by Various Artists, released 24 May 2024, includes the following tracks: "Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder - Together In Electric Dreams (From Electric Dreams)", "Limahl - Never Ending Story (From The Never Ending Story)", "Los Lobos - La Bamba (From La Bamba)", "Ray Parker Jr. - Ghostbusters (From Ghostbusters)" and more.
This version of 80'S Movie Hits Collected comes as a 2xLP. This release comes with (a) Insert(s).
The vinyl is pressed as a translucent, blue disc. Another vinyl is pressed as a translucent, gold disc.
Travis Stewarts Reise zur Entstehung von „3FOR82“ begann passenderweise am 4. März. An seinem 41. Geburtstag, am 4. März letzten Jahres, wagte er sich in den Joshua Tree National Park in Kalifornien, um Klarheit und Inspiration für sein nunmehr elftes Studioalbum als Machinedrum zu finden. Zwölf hochintensive, nachdenkliche Tracks, die die Nadel zwischen seinem vergangenen, gegenwärtigen und zukünftigen Ich spannen.
Angesichts der Tatsache, dass Ninja Tune eines der Lieblingslabels des jungen Travis Stewart war, spricht dies für ein Mantra, das die Platte leitet: Nostalgie durch eine zeitgenössische Linse zu betrachten. In den stillen Weiten des Joshua Tree durchforstete Machinedrum alte Festplatten mit seinen Beats aus den späten 90er Jahren: Viele von ihnen wurden mit ‚Impulse Tracker‘ erstellt, einem groben Freeware-Programm, das fast ein Vierteljahrhundert lang unangetastet blieb. Nachdem er einen DOS-Emulator gefunden hatte, auf dem ‚Impulse Tracker‘ lief, nahm er sich selbst auf, wie er diese Beats spielte, um „3FOR82“ zu bauen: Sample für Sample erstellte er originale Sound-Datenbanken, die in eine eigene Bibliothek eingespeist werden konnten und „3FOR82“ einen unverwechselbaren Klang verliehen. Ausgewählte Zitate werden als Monologe oder Samples in die Musik eingeflochten - der Opener von „3FOR82“, „Oracle“, beginnt mit Reflexionen von Aja Monet über das Tanzen allein. Auf der Leadsingle, „ZOOM“ erzählt Tinashé von jugendlicher Lust auf der Tanzfläche; an einer Stelle in „KILL_U“ erinnert Tanerélle mit ihren beruhigenden Tönen daran, dass man manchmal „verloren ist und dann wieder gefunden wird, und dass man so viel erreichen kann.“; in „U_WANT“ sagt sich KUCKA selbst, dass „es bessere Tage geben wird“, während ROZET in „RISE“ riffet, dass sie „vom Boden in den Himmel wachsen wird.“. Die Wirkung, die das Thema auf „3FOR82“ hat, ist zart und eindringlich und verbindet diese Stränge von R&B, Pop, Jazz und Drum & Bass miteinander.
Limited edition silver vinyl anniversary reissue of the Magnetic Fields' classic 1999 rumination on, of course, love. Funny, smart, dark, memorable, and a lifetime's worth of listening. Stephin Merritt solidifies his songwriting genius on his "most ambitious and fully realized work". (AMG) This vinyl reissue is remastered for vinyl and beautifully packaged in a 10" slipcase box with three double gatefold sleeves and a 24 page booklet!
From the studio of Attack on Titan, comes a new show - CHAINSAW MAN. This vinyl includes score highlights by Kensuke Ushio from the hit series The soundtrack album by Kensuke Ushio taps into different styles whilst at the core reflecting the action-gore story with lots of electronic & industrial beats and fast-paced melodies. As a contrast, the focus track "that's a dream come true" is a slow-vibing piano track with electronic beats that shows the rare but intense emotional scenes in the show. Kensuke Ushio started his solo career in 2007 under “agraph”. and creates electronic music. He has worked on music for animation TV series, music in advertising and movies such as: A Silent Voice, Devilman Crybaby, Space Dandy, Liz and the Blue Bird, Japan Sinks 2020, Heike Story and now Chainsaw Man.
"The winding flight path of Torn Hawk lands at 'Trustfall', a hilarious and poignant spoken work of rewarding density. It’s almost 34 minutes of Luke talking— talking over, against, and to himself, with sporadic, slyly deployed SFX and quotes of his own music, using a childhood memory as a generative node for a funny and emotional tale of transformation.
Luke Wyatt/Torn Hawk has been pushing more into speech-focused work in the last few years, using his NTS residency as an R&D space. His 2022 album “Toxic Sincerity” featured speech pieces of newly raw intimacy, and a cassette for Cav Empt saw a longer-form exploration of these efforts. Honed from a 2023 performance at NYC’s Issue Project Room, “Trustfall” is where all this talk has been heading.
It’s branching allusions— to the ’86 Mets, WIlliam Rehnquist, Boy Scout regalia and behavioral weirdness, etc etc— take us on a wild but strangely cohesive, funny-sad path, which finally points at the deeply neccessary and spiritual utility of self-expression."
Radio Slave's 'Venti' is released on Rekids on May 17th and is a twelve-track celebration of Matt Edward's most prominent alias' history. Starting life as a series of singles that began in 2023, 'Venti' sees Edwards explore lower tempos, House, Disco, and the Pop reinterpretations that birthed the moniker back in 2001.
From Venti’s opening track onwards, a glistening piece of piano-led house that's become an anthem at Sean Johnston and the late Andrew Weatherall's lauded ALFOS parties, it is clear that Edwards is keen to celebrate the past but through the lens of now. A Radio Slave favourite, 'Wait A Minute', is updated to include a powerful vocal from Nez. Kylie's 'Can't Get You Out of My Head' - a track that kicked Radio Slave into the modern dance music consciousness is reinvented as an Italo-inspired cover featuring Michael Love Michael delivering glorious vocals. 'Wild Life' and 'Wake Up', another two tracks that, as singles, dominated house and disco sets of the great and good in 2023, feel simultaneously fresh while paying homage to the origins of House - message-heavy vocals and all. A cover of Audion's 'Mouth to Mouth' and Edwards' tribute to Terry Hall, the Fun Boy Three reimagining 'The Lunatics' are keen displays of Radio Slave's knack for taking on beloved tracks and making them his own. The lasers-set-to-stun cut-and-paste nu-disco of Radio Slave’s 'Jaws' is a muscular and timely reminder that the punch of a track lies in its feel rather than tempo, while Edward's command of dub aesthetics and unmatched ability to stretch grooves into a tension-filled journey shines through on 'New Balance' and the epic closer, 'Thirty-Six'. Never one to entirely give into the throes of the 4:4, the cinematic electro of 'Stranger In The Night' and Balearic Cagedbaby collab 'Amnesia' round out 'Venti' as the whole Radio Slave experience - as intense as it is subtle.
One of the most prolific and critically lauded electronic music artists of the past two and half decades, Matt Edwards was born in Catford, London, in the early 1970s. When acid house hit the city, Edwards was deep in the scene, and he's remained there since. Residencies at the groundbreaking Ministry of Sound and an 'unofficial' residency that has seen him become one of Panorama Bar's most booked DJs during his 15-year stint living in Berlin have provided the grounding for an enviable tour diary that continues today.
His Rekids imprint, a label that has platformed some of dance music's biggest names, has been regarded as a high benchmark for two decades with Matt as sole A&R. Collaborations with legendary artists such as DJ Hell and Robert Hood, releases for Running Back, R&S, Innervisions, Figure and more, and a remixography that simply couldn't be repeated in modern music show just how important Radio Slave is.
Repress!
The soundtrack for Le Hasard et la Violence, a strange French-Italian
movie which came out in 1974 and was directed by Philippe Labro and
written by Jacques Lanzmann
It was a time of thesis films on ultra- violence such as Stanley Kubrick's A
Clockwork Orange (1971) and John Boorman's Deliverance (1972). Labro's
feature film differs from those of his American counterparts by an almost
dreamlike approach and a soft psychedelia. A sort of lysergic atmosphere that
has more to do with the idea of an LSD trip at Castel's than with Californian
counterculture.
Michel Colombier, is a musician of classical formation, who went to the
Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique in Paris. His music for Le Hasard et la
Violence reflects his career: from Gainsbourg to the Beach Boys, via Paul
Williams. A soundtrack that goes from neoclassical to contemporary, via groovy
pop and slow music along with the main theme, a killer ballad with timeless
lyrics. a kind of romanticism specific to Colombier. Let's forget our post- post
modern irony that is no substitute for intelligence and let us be caught by the
emotional power of this soundtrack.
After discovering Ayo, Grace, Imany and Faada Freddy, the Think Zik! label has set its sights on talented New Zealand band Ha The Unclear.
With their debut album 'A Kingdom In A Cul-De-Sac', the foursome wreak havoc with an astonishingly punk insouciance and sensitive intelligence.
From Auckland, New Zealand, come four restless and immediately seductive boys. immediately seductive, with a tankful of turbulent, deep songs and an already flattering tank and an already flattering reputation as a live phenomenon that will soon spread its spread its sparks to this side of the world. Their sound, still in its infancy, is deeply rooted in a certain New Zealand pop-folk tradition.
REISSUE OF THEE HEADCOATS' FINAL ALBUM IN THEIR ORIGINAL INCARNATION! Originally released by Friends Of The Buff Medway Fanciers Association Records in 2000! The final studio release by Thee Headcoats (until last year's Irregularis: The Great Hiatus) gets a long-awaited vinyl reissue! Includes eleven Billy Childish originals plus a cover of Bo Diddley's 'Great Grandfather'! Recorded at May Road & Red Studios. Engineered by Graham Semark. "Thee Headcoats, who put out their first album in 1989, have recorded raw, primordial romps that seem inspired by American Delta blues musicians like Sonny Boy Williamson or the Southern swamp rock of Hasil Adkins, while maintaining a decidedly English sound. They've recorded under a slew of monikers, and issued an amazing discography of full-lengths, EPs, 7"s, and what-have-you for virtually every cool indie label since they formed (including US-based labels like Sub Pop, Get Hip, Sympathy for the Record Industry, and K, among others). Whether he's covering songs with a Bo Diddley beat, garage rock chug, or playing one of his angry young man/dysfunctional family rantings ('The Day I Beat My Father Up', for example), Billy Childish has built up a solid and somewhat rabid fanbase by releasing songs that you wouldn't normally think would attract a huge audience to begin with. However, I Am the Object of Your Desire has the distinction of being the last album by this band, as their prolific leader Billy Childish moved on to a new band; they're called the Buff Medways, which is apparently an ancient and now extinct breed of chicken which had feathered legs. It's also the name of the UK imprint this record was released on. This collection kicks right off with the album-titled track reveling in pure Headcoats fashion: that warm, fuzzy vibrato guitar with Childish's fuzzy, electronically distorted voice (an effect repeated throughout the album); Johnny Johnson's soft, flowing bassline; and Bruce Brand's primeval drums. The group keeps this sort of mid-tempo riffage going for the next couple of tracks. Johnson plays a mean harp on 'Hurt Me (Slight Return)', but things don't really take off until 'In a Dead Man's Suit' and the swaggering, Texas blues 'Chatham Town Welcomes Desperate Men'. The band's punk roots show up in songs like 'An Image of You' and 'Your Crying Means Nothing to Me' while 'Come into My Mind' has a definite Kinks influence. All in all, an excellent album from this soon to be sadly missed band." - Review from 2000 by Bryan Thomas (All Music Guide)
Nach drei EPs und ausverkauften UK-Tourneen kündigt Lynks das Debütalbum 'ABOMINATION' an, das über Heavenly erscheint. Auf dem Album nimmt uns Lynks mit auf eine lebendige Tour durch die moderne Queer-Kultur, die von Gelegenheitssex, wilden Fantasien, chaotischen Irrungen und Wirrungen und einer einseitigen Liebesaffäre mit einem heterosexuellen Tennistrainer geprägt ist.
Selbst geschrieben, selbst produziert und selbstverherrlichend vereint das Debütalbum die künstlerische und persönliche Entwicklung der letzten fünf Jahre. Während die früheren Werke einen Stil aus Effekten und gepitchten Vocals verbanden, gibt 'ABOMINATION' Lynks den Raum, auf eine andere Art zu experimentieren – mit einer größeren Bandbreite an Ideen, Gesangsstilen und neuen Genreelementen. Das Ergebnis ist ein Debüt, das mit den Extremen spielt und dabei zwischen abgrundtiefer Scham und hedonistischer Freude schwankt.
- LP: (inklusive DL-Code + 2 Art Prints)
Escape Music are pleased to announce the release date for long awaited Turkish Delight studio album titled “Volume 1" with 500 limited edition double Vinyl “Side A+B Snowy White colour and side C+D Skull Gold colour” all will be numbered 1-500! ‘Turkish Delights Volume One’ celebrates the absolute joy that Escape Music co-owner Khalil Turk has for the kind of music he loves so much and has spent the last thirty and then some years championing. Indeed, his enthusiasm for a new band or a new song today is no different from when I first met him in the mid ‘80’s. I lost count of the number of phone calls he made to me when I was working for ‘Kerrang!’ magazine, where he would excitedly tell me ‘Dave, you just have to listen to this! It’s brilliant! You’ll love it!’ before playing me something over the phone – new and often obscure - he had picked up on his international record buying trips. Nine and a half times out of ten he’d be right!! Khalil’s quality control has been such that the record label he co-founded with fellow melodic rock enthusiast Barrie Kirtley in 1995 remains reliably and solidly in place all these years later. Escape continues to deliver monthly doses of quality hard rock, melodic rock and AOR to a very devoted following. Khalil had first entered the music business in the early ‘90’s, effectively as a talent scout for the German owned Long Island label. However, after the company folded, Turk felt that, rather than look at opportunities with other labels, he had the enthusiasm and now had rather more knowledge of the inner workings of the music business to put something together himself alongside the equally enthusiastic and astute Kirtley. We’ve seen hundreds of solid album releases from a huge variety of acts (including AXE, Steve Walsh (Kansas), John Elefante (Kansas), Lonerider, Shadowman, Alliance, Pinnacle Point, Mass, Heartland, Grand Illusion, Overland, Last Autumn’s Dream, Punky Meadows, ColdSpell, Chris Ousey, Ozone and Touch, to name just a few) as well as reissues (from Aviator, Sugarcreek, Jon Butcher Axis, Franke And The Knockouts, FM, Tantrum and Surrender, Zon, Hanover Fist etc) ever since. So here we are, over twenty-five years since that first Escape Music album appeared hot off the presses (Heartland’s ‘III’ album in November 1995, if you’re asking) and this collection of songs, personally chosen by Khalil, reiterates that pure joy he still possesses for the music he is utterly immersed by. With material from the pens of Steve Overland (FM), Chris Ousey (Heartland), Steve Morris (Export/Ian Gillan/Heartland), Mick Devine (Seven), Steve Newman (Newman/Compass) and Tommy Denander (Radioactive) there’s also a list of musicians culled from Khalil’s contact book that, quite frankly, is VERY impressive. Just a few names appearing on ‘Turkish Delights’ to throw at you include Ronnie Platt (Kansas), Billy Greer (Streets/Kansas), Billy Sheehan (Talas/David Lee Roth/Mr Big), Gary Pihl (Sammy Hagar/Boston/Alliance), Gene Black (Device), Jeff Pilson (Dokken), Jeff Scott Soto, Chris Childs (Thunder), Mike Slamer (City Boy/ Streets/Seventh Keys/ Steelhouse Lane) Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake/Joel Hoekstra’s 13), Mark Mangold (American Tears/Touch/ Drive, She Said), Mark Stanway (Magnum), Mat Sinner (Sinner), Marco Mendoza (Thin Lizzy/Whitesnake/Journey), Ricky Phillips (The Babys/Bad English/Styx), Robin Beck, Robin Mc Auley (Grand Prix/MSG), James Christian (House Of Lords) Steve Overland (FM), Jerome Mazza (Pinnacle Point/solo), Terry Brock (Strangeways) and Vince DiCola (‘Transformers’/Thread/Storming Heaven). This is a cast of thousands. Well, it at least appears that way! It’s a very interesting package and, as Khalil would surely say, you’ll love it! - Dave Reynolds / August 2022. Produced by Khalil Turk for Turkish Delight Productions / Mixed and Mastered by Stephen DeAcutis at Sound Spa Studio, New Jersey, USA / *Mixed by Andy Zukerman / *Mastered by Fredrik Folkare / **Mixed and Mastered by Brian J Anthony (Vinyl Only) - Artwork Design by Hugh Syme (Rush/Bad English/Elton John) - Turkish Delights: The Musicians are: Ronnie Platt: Lead vocals (Kansas) / Billy Greer: Lead vocals (Kansas/Seventh Keys/Streets) / Jeff Scott Soto: Lead and backing vocals (Talisman/Yngwie Malmsteen/Trans-Siberian Orchestra) / Robin McAuley: Lead and backing vocals (Michael Schenker Group/Grand Prix/solo artist) / Chris Ousey: Lead vocals and Backing vocals (Heartland/Ousey-Mann/Virginia Wolf/Ozone)/ Jerome Mazza: vocals (Pinnacle Point/Steve Walsh) / James Christian: Lead and backing vocals (House Of Lords)Terry Brock: Lead vocals (Strangeways/Kansas) / Lee Small: Lead and backing vocals (Phenomena/Lionheart/Shy) / Mick Devine: Lead and Backing vocals (Devine Intervention/7/solo artist) / Ronnie Romero: Lead and backing vocals (Rainbow/Michael Schenker Group) / Tony Harnell: Lead vocals and backing vocals (TNT/Westworld/Starbreaker/Morning Wood) / Steve Overland: Lead and backing vocals (Lonerider/FM/Shadowman/solo artist) / Robin Beck: Backing vocals (solo artist) / Matt Sinner: Bass (Primal Fear/Sinner) / Joel Hoekstra: Guitars (Whitesnake/Trans-Siberian Orchestra/13) / Mike Slamer: Guitars (City Boy/Streets/Seventh Key/Steelhouse Lane) / Jeff Pilson: Bass (Foreigner/Dokken) / Gary Pihl: Guitars (Sammy Hagar/Boston) / Steve Morris: Guitars and Keyboards (Heartland/Lonerider/Ian Gillan Band/Shadowman) / Gene Black: Lead Guitars (Tina Turner/Rod Stewart/Device) / Billy Sheehan: Bass (Mr Big/The Flood/Talas) / Tracy Ferrie: Bass (Stryper/Boston) / Ricky Phillips: Bass (Baby’s/Styx/Bad English) / Rocky Newton: Bass (Michael Schenker Group/Lionheart) / Josh Devine: Drums (One Direction/Levara/Devine Intervention) / Takeaki Itoh: Bass (Pinnacle Point) / Jim Kirkpatrick: Slide guitar (FM/The Flood/Bernie Marsden Band) / Chris Childs: Bass (Thunder/Lonerider) / Steve Mann: Keyboards (Michael Schenker Group/Lionheart/Ousey/Mann) / Vince DiCola: Keyboards (Rocky4/Staying Alive/Transformers/Storming Heaven/Thread) / Mark Mangold: Keyboards (Touch/American Tears/Drive She Said) / Alessandro Del Vecchio: Keyboards (Revolution Saints/Edge Of Forever/Hardline) / Stevie D: Lead guitar / Marco Mendoza: Bass (Whitesnake/Thin Lizzy/Journey) / Jimmy Nicholas: B3 (Faith Hill/Kenny Loggins/Van Zant/Jim Peterik/Juice Newton) / Tommy Denander: Guitars and keyboards (Radioactive/Steve Walsh/Robert Hart)) / Brain J Anthony: Bass (Steve Walsh/Lonerider/Robert Heart/Robbie LeBlanc) / Brian Tichy: Drums (Whitesnake/Dead Daisies/ Foreigner) / Mark Stanway: Keyboards (Magnum/Grand Slam) / Robin Beck: Backing vocals (solo artist) / Nikolo Kotzev: Lead guitars (Brazen Abbot/Robin Gibb) / Fredrik Folkare: Guitars (Unleashed/Heartwind) / Mikael Rosengren: Keyboards (Heartwind) / Steve Newman: Guitars/keys/backing vocals (Newman/Compass) / Eric Ragno: Keyboards (Baby’s/Joe LynnTurner) / Fredrik Bergh: Keyboards (Talk Of Town/BloodBound) - CD Track listing: Intro; Live Again; Crazy Days; Bad Enough; Never Will Forget; Harder They Fall; Get Out Of Here; Believe; Hangman Blues; State Of Mind; Belly Of The Beast*; Holy Water; Sweet Serenity; Take It Away; Bad To Good. Vinyl Track listing: Intro; Live Again; Crazy Days; Bad Enough; Never Will Forget; Harder They Fall; Get Out Of Here; Believe; Hangman Blues; State Of Mind; Belly Of The Beast*; Holy Water; Sweet Serenity; Take It Away; Bad To Good; The Year 2000; Frozen Rose
With two critically acclaimed albums and a swathe of award-winning production turns under their belt, Ana Frango Elétrico present their most confident and accomplished work to date: Me Chama De Gato Que Eu Sou Sua / Call Me They That I’m Yours. Gesturing to a tradition of Brazilian boogie music, but bouncing with modern pop ebullience, the album sees the Rio artist evolve from a captivating upstart into a surefooted scene leader in full stride.
At just 25, the prolific artist and producer has already garnered worldwide admirers. Ana’s sophomore Little Electric Chicken Heart was nominated at the 2020 Latin Grammys. Since then, standalone singles have received the WME ‘Best Music Producer’ Award, recognising Ana’s deep passion for music production – a passion which has led to collaborations with nascent Brazilian stars Dora Morelenbaum, Illy and Sophia Chablau. Most recently, Ana was hailed for their co-production of Bala Desejo’s 2022 Latin Grammy-winning album Sim Sim Sim.
The new album finds Ana at their most assured and full voiced. Album opener “Electric Fish”, with funky bass and shimmering backing vocals, sets a buoyant tone. “Boy of Stranger Things” is its bombastic counterpart. It’s the grooviest Ana has ever sounded. And the most brazen. Lyrically, where Ana was once oblique on personal matters, they are now forthright – lucidly exploring their gender identity, citing accessible cultural references, and often singing in English.
“I started this album in 2021 with the intention of showing, in means of sound, understandings and feelings about queer love, subjectively exposing myself,” the non-binary artist states – before qualifying that though “feeling was its driving force, the album is really about musical production.”
“There’s so many references to different decades,” Ana explains. “Seventies drums with eighties processing … Going back, getting beyond … Testing the limits of organic sounds”. Characteristically playful, on Me Chama, Ana takes vivid and rewarding detours through funk-inflected R&B (“Dela”) and art pop (“Dr. Sabe Tudo”). “Nuvem Vermelha” is a cinematic chanson with lush strings that recalls Arthur Verocai. Then, “Coisa Maluca” loafs with the indie insouciance of Canadian slacker Mac Demarco. Later, “Let's Go Before Again”, is a full-on drum machine workout evocative of Stereolab.
“Even if people don't find my own references here, they'll find theirs,” observes Ana. “Maybe that’s this record’s biggest goal.”
Formed in 1977 by brothers Kim Chang-wan, Kim Chang-hoon and Kim Chang-ik, Sanullim are one of the fathers of Korean psychedelic rock.
“Evening Breeze” is the first ever comp focused on their little known 1979-83 albums, selecting their most fuzzed-out, hard-psych-pop-funk (Korean style) tracks.
Selected by (probably) Sanullim number one non-Korean fan Antoni Gorgues.
From out of nowhere - if nowhere is the febrile, warped and twilit imagination of Julia McFarlane - comes Whoopee, the second album by J.McFarlane’s Reality Guest. Whoopee is an esoteric, kaleidoscopic movie in music form directed by Julia McFarlane and co-conspirator Thomas Kernot. Full of life, breakbeats and smokey vignettes on the fragile nature of interpersonal relationships, Whoopee is a stylistic evolution from everything McFarlane has done before. Surreal, beautiful in parts and replete with the aching wisdom McFarlane’s songwriting has always promised, this Reality Guest pulls back the curtain on a whole scene of naked truth. Recorded in Melbourne in bursts since the release of 2019’s Ta Da, Whoopee features a new sound palette and band member in Kernot. The duo dive deep into electronic pop tropes, mining digital synths, samples, breakbeats and deep bass grooves, largely dispensing with live instrumentation. If Ta Da took twists and turns with your expectations, offering a Dada-ist, monochromatic take on pop music, Whoopee is McFarlane’s subterranean love-sick pinks, reds, greens, purples and blues. Becoming something of a tradition, the album starts with an instrumental intro pilfered from a 90s’ spy film or cinema intro music, puffing up the listener for the heart-squeezing bathos of Full Stops. Over a bleary backdrop of walking bass lines, jazz- inflected keys and smoked-out atmosphere, McFarlane’s poetry narrates the fragile state of a relationship: “You put a full stop where I thought there’d be a comma, I want the story to continue even with all the drama.” Over a palpable pain, the narrator is revelling in the drama of a relationship, addicted to tumult and heightened emotion. On Sensory, a space age bachelor lounge pad ballad, the converse state of the previous song is explored, here the narrator is battling the numbness of being out of the drama, stuck in a sensory-deprivation tank, anaesthesized and battling to emerge from the fog. Wrong Planet explores an otherworldly pop music, hewing a bright hook out of a sense of confusion. A bona-fide, sing-along chorus bursts out of the narrator musing on the absurdity of existing in this reality. It speaks of one of Julia McFarlane’s main talents, her knack of inspecting human relationships and states with a clear perspective, like an alien visiting Earth and realising everything we are is really, really strange. Whoopee is both more accessible than previous Reality Guest work and somehow more obfuscated. Where the production on Ta Da was dry, sharp and strange, this Reality Guest is blurred, almost smeared with the effluvium of 90s+00s culture and existence. Through it all, it’s hard to deny the undeniable pull of the songs. Precious Boy carries on the lounge theme with a whole sampler of cut up sounds fading in and out of the haze as McFarlane’s voice is right up to the speaker cooing and free- associating, maybe in love or maybe in confusion... maybe they’re the same thing? Sometimes the listener is invited to just bathe in the tone of the vocal, as on Apocalypse, where the texture and timbre of the vocal is luxurious, bathing in piano tinkles and double bass throb. On lead single Slinky, a cut up beat reminiscent of Washingtonian Go-Go drum patterns leads, the song slipping through your fingers, elusive and presenting sound as pure pleasure. Closer Caviar jumps back into the broken breakbeats of a surreal funk, fuelled by the sensory pleasure of the music, a hedonistic whirl in rapture, the narrator now living life to the fullest in all its giddy heights and deep troughs. This is the album’s main character fully-actualised and in the terrible, beautiful moment.
1961, Port Richmond, Staten Island, NYC: Five kids stumble into a community center, sent by their parents to keep them off the streets and out of trouble. A lifelong friendship is formed over their shared love of doo-wop. The kids start learning harmony and the next thing they know they're cutting records. The group begins to gain steam as they take their act to the packed clubs around New York City. But history has other plans for the boys. First, The Beatles invade America, making doo-wop yesterday's news. Then, the United States invades Vietnam and two of the five boys are sent off to the jungle. Reintroducing: The Splendids. 61 years after their initial formation, the group has reconvened to cut two truly breathtaking records. With three of the five surviving original members weaving together heartfelt harmonies, the group has regenerated themselves and enlisted the help of multi-platinum soul singer Eamon to sing lead. Eamon is no stranger to doo-wop, as he got his start in the music business touring the Northeast as a young boy with a group his father Walter formed in the 90's. With this father and son reunion on these two tracks, the listener is taken back to a time when walking down the street you might come across a gang of youth singing their hearts out on a street corner, serenading the city with their souls. The Splendids hired Los Angeles based producer and multi-instrumentalist Dan Ubick to produce the records and conjure up the retro rhythm and blues sounds of the 1960's. Frequent Eamon collaborator the Oklahoman Benj Heard was then brought on to mix and produce the vocals. Both Ubick and Heard's sonic fingerprints add texture and groove to the groups legacy on 'Cry Baby Cry' and 'Blame My Heart'. Generations have come together from coast-to-coast to take back what history took from them. Enjoy the sweet, sweet sounds of true soul. Enjoy The Splendids.
Open Mics might not always have a great reputation but for Merlin Hydes it brought some good things. On one hand he met his producer Jon Kenzie who is hosting "Bring Your Own Song" in Hamburg and on the other hand playing that Open Mic put him in touch with DevilDuck Records because they are good friends with Jon Kenzie and he told them to check this boy out. A couple of months later the debut album "In Plain Sight" was recorded at Kenzie"s home studio in just three days and is now ready to conquer the world... or at least a little part of it. The idea was to just record the songs in a cosy and easy set up just as in the good old days without thinking too much about it and avoid any perfectionism. "In Plain Sight" describes the balancing act between the peaceful country life, the desire to have a yard and a garden and the supposedly exciting and urban city in which you always might feel a bit strange and as you have chicken poop under your shoes", as Hydes explains....
After 8 years Georgian pioneer George Dzodzuashvili is back as Post Industrial Boys with a new album. It's his most personal record to date and opens up its own world: a world full of memories of a bygone time and observations so precise you almost feel like you are living and capturing them yourself with a Super8 camera.
Daniel Land's new album, "Out of Season", is his most ambitious record to date, a series of reflections on history, memory, and post-Brexit Britain, which was inspired by his return to the landscapes of his youth – the rugged, underpopulated west coast of Somerset. The album was written and partly recorded in Daniel’s studio in a static caravan, overlooking the coast, during the period when the UK was tearing itself apart over its relationship to Europe. "I didn't set out to write about Brexit", Daniel says, "I have a kind of horror of political music. But I couldn’t escape the atmosphere of the time – this strange, distorted version of ‘Englishness’ in the national psyche. I’ve always been interested in memory and nostalgia; Brexit illustrates the dangers of taking seductive, possibly false memories at face value”. Songs like “White Chalk”, “Island of Ghosts”, and the album’s title track, represent a series of attempts to reclaim an older, more peculiar idea of England which, Daniel says has been “Lost in the nationalist mythmaking of the past decades” – the island of misfits and outsiders exemplified by the works of Derek Jarman, for example, whom Daniel was rediscovering while working on the album. “I must have read 'Modern Nature' ten times over the years”, Daniel says. “What I love about Jarman is that he had a deep, abiding love for England, but it was a very complicated, critical and a very queer kind of love. That was very much my mood, going into the making of this album”. Like Jarman’s work, "Out of Season" probes national identity whilst also displaying resolutely queer themes throughout. Daniel’s voice – once described by The Guardian as "The spawn of Elizabeth Fraser and Anthony Hegarty” – is less heavily reverbed than before, bringing to the fore his often-confessional lyrics, inspired by the frankness of modern queer poets like Andrew McMillan, Seán Hewitt, and Ocean Vuong. A lyrical highlight is the gorgeous “Southern Soul”, a deceptively straightforward recounting of a decades-old hookup with a closeted guy from his hometown which, Daniel says, “Serves as a metaphor for everything I’m talking about in the album”. And in keeping with the album’s nods to the heroes of gay literature, Daniel’s self-styling of the album as a “Dream Pop Album on National Themes” deliberately references the full title of Tony Kushner’s era-defining play "Angels in America", whose central character is namechecked in the hook-laden “Lemon Boy” – a song which must surely stand as Daniel’s most deliciously pop moment yet. Lauded by Mark Radcliffe, Guy Garvey, Tom Robinson, and many others, Daniel Land makes music that, in the words of BBC Radio 1, "You can't help but think the late John Peel would have loved".
This is a welcome return to the label for Amazingblaze who released his Can't Stop EP in January this year and his Venture EP in 2022. Since then he has continued to innovate with his heavy-hitting trance, techno and hardstyle influenced sounds. His ever evolving studio skills see him mix up old school influences with new school sound design that is perfect for engaging dance floors. His signature imprint is all over these four new cuts with their mix of big synths, bigger drums and all consuming grooves.
“Believe EP says it itself. All I wanted to say is that you have to believe in yourself”, Amazingblaze says. “This brand new EP contains 4 full-power tracks that definitely goes through your heart. Massive trance synths combined with vocals make it sound really mysterious and groovy. Hope you enjoy it, and believe in yourself.”
Charlotte de Witte adds: “It’s no secret that to me, Amazingblaze is one of the purest talents out there. This guy really understands what music is about and manages to create dancefloor bombs time after time. I’m super proud to have him on board for another EP on KNTXT and to watch him grow and become one of the top level artists out there.”
'Believe' kicks off with intense drum patterns and smart vocal samples that are lit up with bright and electric synths full of euphoric energy. 'Strange Candy' is a bulky and physical mix of clipped techno funk and throwback rave sounds with strobe-like lasers shooting across the face of the track. There is more peak time brilliance in the hard drums and hands-in-the air synth magic of 'It Happened Again' while 'Boyz Makin Noiz' shuts down with twitchy stabs and twisted acid lines and dark vocals appear from the shadows.
Amazingblaze delivers yet another exceptional EP, seamlessly blending forward-thinking techno and trance elements.
70's Movie Hits Collected is a compilation of Coloured Vinyl, High Quality, Insert 33 pop tracks released as 2-LP on 15 Dec 2023. 70's Movie Hits Collected includes a.o. the following tracks: “Giorgio Moroder - Chase (from "midnight Express")”, “Mick Jagger - Memo From Turner (from "performance")”, “Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells (from "the Exorcist")”, “Isaac Hayes - Theme From "shaft" (from "shaft")” and more.
Australian indie alternative stalwarts Boy & Bear hit their stride on the sophomore epic, Harlequin
Dream. Upon release, it clinched #1 on the Australian Album Sales Chart and notably received a
nomination in the category of “Australian Album of the Year” at the 2013 J Awards. Staples such as
the title track “Harlequin Dream” and “A Moment’s Grace” have cemented the record’s legacy among
fans, while “Southern Sun” stands out as the band’s most streamed song to date. The Guardian rated
it “4-out-of-five stars” and assured, “They’ve nailed the tequila-sunrise mellowness, which acts as a
gateway to an albumful of emollient soft rock.” Harlequin Dream crystallized the group’s emotional,
ethereal, and enthralling style in its eleven tracks, and it continues to entrance.
Following their debut award-winning album Moonfire, Boy & Bear will release Harlequin Dream, their
bold and brave new album recorded in their hometown of Sydney at legendary Alberts Studio and
mixed by Phil Ek (Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, Modest Mouse). The lead single, “Southern Sun,” has
a powerful urgency not unlike the best of Bruce Springsteen or Fleetwood Mac, while a sprinkling of
strings and brass brings life and color to such standouts as “Back down the Black,” “Old Town Blues”
and “Stranger.” Boy & Bear’s debut record Moonfire won five ARIA awards, including Album of the
Year
Much has been written about Young Marble Giants' small, perfect catalogue, which contained roughly two-dozen songs, nearly each one a perfect gem. Less is known about his long wilderness years after the break-up of his first professional band. His next project, The Gist, chopped YMG's minimalism into a new sound. This Is Love, Public Girls and Fool For A Valentine showed his songs to be razor-sharp, but the album's fragmented pieces were a step too far for some, though even the strangest, Carnival Headache, when cast in sunlight by Alison Statton's combo Weekend, was as fine a song as any he'd written - and Love At First Sight became a million-seller when covered by Etienne Daho. Then Stuart disappeared. A rmid-90s resurgence led to fine albums done on low budgets, before more silence followed. The Gist's 2018's release Holding Pattern - unexpected and then quickly followed by YMG singer Alison Statton's first new album with her accompanist Spike in two decades, adding fuel to public interest. The Devil Laughs, recorded a few years back, is a compelling addition to the canon of the 21st century songwriting. Stuart's generally unadorned musical presentation does not hinder his appreciation for the skills of Louis Philippe, whose iconic arrangements across an array of Él label albums inspire the fierce devotion of aficionados around the world. Nor does the unvarnished solidity of Stuart's arrangements deter Louis from hearing possibilities for their presentation in styles which take inspiration from the perfection of 1960's studio technology that led to the rise of Brian Wilson, Burt Bacharach, along with less-recognised names such as Bones Howe and Roy Halee. Tidy Away is Young Marble Giants redux, though the backing vocals hint at maturity which band didn't live to see. Fighting To Lose, written with producer Ken Brake, would pass as a worthy b-side to Bridge Over Troubled Water, and although the songs are otherwise Stuart's, Louis fans will delight at several, like Love Hangover and Sky Over Water, which display his style and production genius as succinctly as anything on his own albums. The Devil Laughs is as out of its time as Colossal Youth was - its subtle but immediate beauty, devoid of "rock", is a recording best understood in the light of those obscure groundbreakers who inspired it - the faux barbershop vocals of Smile-era Beach Boys, the studio lustre of Tom Wilson's work with Simon & Garfunkel, a dash of The Swingle Sisters and French chanson - along with enough hints of Young Marble Giant's modernist folk abstraction to satisfy longtime fans. The Devil Laughs is a small masterpiece of pure expression.
