This album of rarities was curated by Andrew Brooksbank and Stephen Webbon with Peter Murphy's guidance. It contains 10 rare tracks that are demo versions, remixes and edits. A1: Final Solution (Club Mix 2) A2: The Light Pours Out Of Me (Original Version) A3: Tale Of The Tongue (Single Edit) A4: I've Got A Miniature Secret Camera A5: Strange Kind Of Love (Remix Edit Version) B1: Cool Cool Breeze B2: The Sweetest Drop (Rave Edit) B3: Groovy Place B4: Wish B5: Jemal (Version 2)
What better way to celebrate 100 releases than with a handmade box containing soul expanding music!? Höga Nord Rekords have reached an important goal and releases a rare box set containing all 12” from the HNRUK-series plus a new record from Birds, unique for this box. Except Birds, this compilation includes Dark Strands, High Boys, Vox Low, Timothy J. Fairplay, Fontän, Bird Of Paradise, Mythologen, Jamie Paton and Frak.
The music is of course the main focus of all releases on Höga Nord Rekords but what birthday gift comes without a proper wrapping? This exclusive handmade box made in Norrmalms kartongfabrik in Stockholm, is a celebration to the Scandinavian Bronze age. You’ll find rock carvings like those on the artwork scattered over the land but mostly near Gothenburg, home of Höga Nord Rekords on the Swedish west coast.
Archaeological evidence proves similarities in ornaments and pictures between the Nordic and European Bronze age, just like you find common features in the music released on our label. Though the acts in this compilation box come from all over Europe and beyond, they stem from an obscured and mysterious common source of escapism, purity and creativity.
Faye Webster liebt das Gefühl des sogenannten First Takes und die Direktheit, wenn sie einen Song schreibt, um dann gleich am nächsten Tag ins Tonstudio zu fahren und das Stück gemeinsam mit ihrer Band live einzuspielen. Beim genauen Hören der selbstsicheren und geradeaus kreierten Alben der 23-jährigen Songwriterin aus Atlanta wird klar, warum: Hier werden Emotionen gebündelt und verarbeitet, die so schmerzlich sind, dass sie jeden Moment nahezu lebendig werden. Webster fängt den Funken ein, bevor dieser die Möglichkeit hat zu schwinden; Textzeilen werden zu Papier gebracht, bevor diese eine Chance haben zu entfliehen. Ihr ganz eigener charakteristischer Sound bringt dabei einen flüsternd ruhigen und zuhause aufgenommen Gesang mit dem Klang der Band in einem Raum zusammen. "I Know I'm Funny haha" ist Websters vollkommenster Ausdruck dieser besonderen emotionalen und musikalischen Alchemie. Auf ihren Durchbruch mit der Veröffentlichung des Albums "Atlanta Millionaires Club" im Jahr 2019 bei Secretly Canadian folgend, blüht Websters Werdegang weiter. Ihr Klang bedient sich dabei sowohl dem von der Steel-Guitar beeinflussten Singer Songwriter-Pop und Country der 1970er-Jahre, als auch den Einflüssen und Persönlichkeiten Atlantas Rap - und R&B-Community aus der Zeit, als Webster ihr erstes Zuhause bei Awful Records fand. In den vergangenen zwei Jahren nach "Atlanta Millionaires Club" hat sich Websters Profil stetig weiterentwickelt, nachdem sie auf Festivals wie Austin City Limits und Bonnaroo spielte, einer ihrer Songs in Barack Obamas 2020-Lieblingssongs-Playlist einen Platz fand und die Musikerin sich auch verliebte. "This record is coming from a less lonely place," erklärt Webster über das Album "I Know I'm Funny haha", das sie vollkommener, aufgeweckter und selbstbewusster erscheinen lässt. Websters Musik ist vor allem geprägt von ihrer starken Persönlichkeit - dies wird auch in ihren Arbeiten als anerkannte Fotografin von Porträts und Stillleben deutlich. Viele ihrer Stücke enthalten Girl Group-artige Gesangs- bzw. Sprech-Passagen, die ihre untypischen Song-Geschichten weiter farbenfroh ausmalen.
Faye Webster liebt das Gefühl des sogenannten First Takes und die Direktheit, wenn sie einen Song schreibt, um dann gleich am nächsten Tag ins Tonstudio zu fahren und das Stück gemeinsam mit ihrer Band live einzuspielen. Beim genauen Hören der selbstsicheren und geradeaus kreierten Alben der 23-jährigen Songwriterin aus Atlanta wird klar, warum: Hier werden Emotionen gebündelt und verarbeitet, die so schmerzlich sind, dass sie jeden Moment nahezu lebendig werden. Webster fängt den Funken ein, bevor dieser die Möglichkeit hat zu schwinden; Textzeilen werden zu Papier gebracht, bevor diese eine Chance haben zu entfliehen. Ihr ganz eigener charakteristischer Sound bringt dabei einen flüsternd ruhigen und zuhause aufgenommen Gesang mit dem Klang der Band in einem Raum zusammen. "I Know I'm Funny haha" ist Websters vollkommenster Ausdruck dieser besonderen emotionalen und musikalischen Alchemie. Auf ihren Durchbruch mit der Veröffentlichung des Albums "Atlanta Millionaires Club" im Jahr 2019 bei Secretly Canadian folgend, blüht Websters Werdegang weiter. Ihr Klang bedient sich dabei sowohl dem von der Steel-Guitar beeinflussten Singer Songwriter-Pop und Country der 1970er-Jahre, als auch den Einflüssen und Persönlichkeiten Atlantas Rap - und R&B-Community aus der Zeit, als Webster ihr erstes Zuhause bei Awful Records fand. In den vergangenen zwei Jahren nach "Atlanta Millionaires Club" hat sich Websters Profil stetig weiterentwickelt, nachdem sie auf Festivals wie Austin City Limits und Bonnaroo spielte, einer ihrer Songs in Barack Obamas 2020-Lieblingssongs-Playlist einen Platz fand und die Musikerin sich auch verliebte. "This record is coming from a less lonely place," erklärt Webster über das Album "I Know I'm Funny haha", das sie vollkommener, aufgeweckter und selbstbewusster erscheinen lässt. Websters Musik ist vor allem geprägt von ihrer starken Persönlichkeit - dies wird auch in ihren Arbeiten als anerkannte Fotografin von Porträts und Stillleben deutlich. Viele ihrer Stücke enthalten Girl Group-artige Gesangs- bzw. Sprech-Passagen, die ihre untypischen Song-Geschichten weiter farbenfroh ausmalen.
Jack Savoretti will mark the launch of his new album campaign next Thursday, May 6th, 8.30am, when first single ‘Who’s Hurting Who’ featuring Nile Rodgers is released. The single is the first taste of the highly anticipated upcoming new album ‘Europiana’, which is released on June 25th. The new album was recorded at the iconic Abbey Road Studios in London with producers including Cam Blackwood (George Ezra, Florence & The Machine) and Mark Ralph (Jess Glynne, Years & Years) Jack has sold over 550,000 albums in the UK alone and amassed over 65 million streams. He has enjoyed 3 consecutive Top 10 Gold albums in the UK, including No.1 ‘Singing To Strangers’. The album launch will coincide with the announcement of a full UK and Europe tour in Spring 2022. The summer of Europiana is on its way… Jack has been teasing the release of new music on his socials, with clips from studio sessions at Abbey Road Studios.
HIRAES – die neue Melodic-Death-Metal Gewalt der Ex-Mitglieder von Dawn Of Disease
Nach der Auflösung von Dawn Of Disease steigt jetzt die furiose Melodic-Death-Metal-Gewalt HIRAES
mit ihrem Debüt wie ein Phoenix aus der Asche! Die deutsche Formation – bestehend aus Lukas Kerk,
Oliver Kirchner, Christian Wösten, Mathias Blässe und der stimmgewaltigen Britta Görtz (Critical Mess,
ex-Cripper) – veröffentlicht am 25. Juni 2021 ihr atemberaubendes, heiß ersehntes Erstwerk Solitary über
Napalm Records. Der erste Longplayer von HIRAES liefert eine aufregende und mitreißende MelodicDeath-Metal-Wucht und zeigt, dass der Fünfer schon jetzt eine ganz eigene, Identität hat. Das Konzept
der neu formierten Band basiert auf einer alles zerschmetternden Vocal-Attacke, intensiven Melodien und
elektrisierendem Gitarrenspiel, angeführt von Gitarrist Lukas Kerk als Haupt-Songwriter. Solitary feuert
ohne Zweifel den Startschuss für eine vielversprechende Zukunft ab! Denn dieser massive Melodic-DeathMetal-Angriff lässt keinen Raum für Schwächen und serviert eine aufregende Interpretation des Genres mit
hymnischen Melodien, mitreißendem Schlagzeug- und Gitarrenriffing sowie atemberaubenden Hooklines.
Gekrönt von der unverwechselbaren und vielseitigen Performance von Britta Görtz ist diese kraftvolle, neue
Formation mit ihrem Debüt ein Muss für Fans von Bands wie Insomnium, At The Gates, Arch Enemy und
Amon Amarth. Solitary wird auch als streng limitierte 1 LP Gatefold Silver erhältlich sein.
Purple Vinyl
Even if you're well-acquainted with composer and multi-instrumentalist Colin Fisher's richly varied output, his gentle fifth solo album, Refections of the Invisible World may come as a surprise. Psychedelic lyricism has always been a fundamental aspect of his sonic signature, but his second collaboration with producer Jeremy Greenspan (Junior Boys, Jessy Lanza, Morgan Geist) finds the Toronto native luxuriating in expansive atmospherics for its full duration.
That's not to downplay the eclecticism he finds within this ethereal landscape. Each track tills its own discrete sonic acreage, and while every one emanates from a clear focal point, the spontaneous impulse that drives Fisher's more audibly improvisational music always remains close at hand. Some pieces unfold rippling aquatic vistas or delight in prismatic guitar arpeggiation, elsewhere his plaintive, blues- infected tenor saxophone wafts like some strange jazz apparition, or becomes a chorus of cosmic murmurs. The presence of electronics is undeniable, but equally irrefutable is the organic instrumental sources of these disparate hues. In fact he's discovered a rare balance: no matter how effects-saturated, every gesture on the record feels palpably sculpted by Fisher's hands and breath. As such, Refections of the Invisible World carries a sense of intimacy at the heart of its diffuse, dream-like sonics.
Fisher has a been a major presence in Canada's music community for more than twenty years—particularly in more experimental and improvisational circles. Nothing short of a guitar virtuoso, he also wields saxophone, drums, and various other instruments with similarly refined musicality, vivid textural imagination, and sometimes feral abandon. His one-man-band tape Garden of Unknowning for Manchester's Tombed Visions, showcase all of this as he spars with different iterations of himself. The Quietus' cassette critic Tristan Bath extolled it as "miraculous," adding that "it’s a visceral experience soaking up this record, and it’s all down to Fisher’s utterly innate sense of musicality." He subsequently cited it in his 2018 contributor's year-end chart for the Wire.
In 2014 his partnership with Nick Millevoi's trio Many Arms on Suspended Defnition (Tzadik) prompted Spin's Brad Cohan to remark "Many Arms have dug even deeper into math-metal wizardry, bolstering their already imposing lineup with gale-force blowing guest saxophonist Colin Fisher, thus blasting their outré sonic blitz into a fire-breathing free jazz otherworld." Fisher later engaged the band's bassist, Johnny DeBlase, to team up with him and Kid Millions (Oneida, Man Forever) as Monas. As an ongoing collaborator to introspective dance music auteur Caribou, Fisher frst appeared in offshoot project Caribou Vibration Ensemble, and subsequently on acclaimed albums Swim and Suddenly. He's also made two duo albums with celebrated Nova Scotian jaw harp innovator chik white for Dylan and Lisa Nyoukis' Chocolate Monk label. In addition to performing alongside the likes of Jaime Branch, Joe McPhee, William Parker, Laraaji, Gerry Hemmingway, and Fred Frith, he has contributed to recordings by the Constantines (Sub Pop), Bernice (Arts & Crafts), Rhys Chatham (Table of the Elements), Born Ruffans (Warp), Anthony Braxton and AIMToronto Orchestra (Spool), and many more.
Transmeridian is the first album from Departure Lounge (ex-Bella Union) in 19 years. It features all four original members plus a guest appearance from legendary REM guitarist, Peter Buck, one of many long-standing admirers of a band that embodied a lost age of reflective, experimental pop music coming to the fore at the turn of the Millennium alongside The Beta Band, Tunng, Boards Of Canada and Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci.
The surprise new album, named after the defunct ‘golden age of aviation’ cargo airline for which singer/guitarist Tim Keegan’s dad was chief pilot, is released on Violette Records (formed by Michael Head (Shack, The Pale Fountains) and Matt Lockett ) on digital and vinyl formats on Fri 26 March 2021.
Originally scooped up by Simon Raymonde’s Bella Union label (labelmates with John Grant’s Czars) following the self-funded release of their debut album Out Of Here (1999), Departure Lounge’s sophomore outing, Too Late To Die Young (2002) was equally acclaimed and was honoured as the first ever Album Of The Week on the emergent BBC 6 Music. The band toured extensively in the UK, Europe and the US, including outings with The Go-Betweens, Morcheeba, Paul Heaton and Robyn Hitchcock, peers whose stylistic contrasts reflect the eclectic nature of Departure Lounge themselves.
Calling a halt in late 2002, citing family and geographical reasons (drummer Lindsay lives in Nashville, where their second album Jetlag Dreams (2001) was recorded), the four members remained firm friends and occasional collaborators, before reuniting in late 2019 for shows at The Green Door Store, Brighton and The Lexington, London, ostensibly to support the digital reissues of their first three cult-classic albums. With no plans other than to make some new music, the next day they set off for Middle Farm Studios, Devon.
Tim Keegan (vocals/guitar), Chris Anderson (lead guitars/keyboards/bass), Lindsay Jamieson(drums/keyboards) and Jake Kyle (bass/guitar/drums) channelled their evident joy at being back together into a complete 13-track album, largely conceived and recorded in just one 24-hour session in the company of studio owner and co-producer, Peter Miles. Ranging from soulful Americana to piano and mellotron-fuelled melancholia via pastoral musings on the nature of post-youth and eerie Spaghetti Western-tinged instrumentals, the next leg on the Departure Lounge journey is a multi-mood expression of pure artistic freedom.
The ‘leak’ of instrumental track Al Aire Libre (remixed by Parisian groovemeister Kid Loco) in October 2020 gave little away as to what fans could expect from a new Departure Lounge record, the track going gracefully everywhere and nowhere on a whistled Latino breeze. First single proper, Mercury In Retrograde, covered in the twinkling lights of a music box Casio CZ101 melody, turned the clock back - this was an old live favourite that never got past the studio door. Unfinished business brought to a happy conclusion, the single returned Keegan’s honest and distinctive lyrical voice back to British music at just the time listeners needed it.
It was an emotional thread, rather than one musical style, which gave the first three Departure Lounge albums their coherence. The songs told the story of the band. Transmeridian has the same sense of deeply connected musical energy. The purring, campfire acoustica of Timber and So Long bear no obvious resemblance to the ethereal, end-of-the-evening, piano-led interlude Paging Marco Polo, whilst the quasi-glam stomp of Mr Friendly would normally have no business sharing space with the strange, spacey Gurnard Pines (named after an abandoned holiday camp on the Isle Of Wight). Yet the journey’s ebb and flow, accelerations and pauses make for compelling, grown-up listening. Australia, showcasing the chiming Rickenbacker 12-string of Athens, GA’s finest guitar slinger, leaves no doubt that Departure Lounge’s pop sensibilities also remain solidly intact.
These four friends from different musical backgrounds came together originally with the stated aim of ‘creating music to soothe the troubled soul’. Citing their love of (and placing on record their debt to) influences including Robert Wyatt, Nick Drake, Talk Talk, Lou Reed, Arvo Pärt and Cocteau Twins, the band’s diversity of taste is reflected in the music they create.
Transmeridian is only the second full-length LP released by Violette Records, formed by Michael Head (Shack, The Pale Fountains) and Matt Lockett as a platform for Head’s work and developing into a respected independent label as well as multi-disciplinary event organiser, drawing in outsiders working in music, literature, art and design. The label continues to host live events whenever possible and recently initiated an ELP (halfway between and EP and an LP) vinyl series, putting out acclaimed releases by The Pistachio Kid and Studio Electrophonique.
One of the most significant collections in Trojan’s immense catalogue, the ‘The Trojan Story’ album dramatically changed the perception of Jamaican music among the general British public outside of the country’s Afro-Caribbean population.
Prior to its release in 1971 there had never been an attempt to present a comprehensive anthology of the island’s musical development, with vintage ska, rock steady and reggae widely regarded as obsolete and of precious little merit.
The treble disc set, which became an instant best-seller, had been the brainchild of Trojan’s label manager and Black Music fan, Rob Bell, who, assisted by Trojan stalwarts, Dandy, Webster Shrowder and Joe Sinclair, produced arguably the most significant Jamaican music retrospectives of all time.
Now, 50 years following its original release, this hugely influential album has been revisited by Bell, along with reggae musician, Rusty Zinn, who have succeeded in improving what was already an almost perfect collection.
Presented in the original eye-catching artwork, the set is further enhanced by a highly illustrated 50-page booklet in which Bell relates the stories behind the release and the 50 tracks featured on the compilation.
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.
The first installment, Island Of Lost Souls, arrived to great acclaim
in January. The second and latest album, His Best Forgotten Work,
features Montgomery’s rare, brooding vocals across nine gorgeous
tracks recorded from his home in Christchurch, New Zealand.
His Best Forgotten Work follows the intense, all-instrumental Island
Of Lost Souls. It departs in spirit with darkly buoyant variations on
popular songs, including two highly anticipated covers of legendary
songs by The Carpenters (“Superstar”) and Tim Buckley (“Song To
The Siren”). Montgomery shows the listener that these influences
aren’t such strange bedfellows after all; one need only listen closely.
Where some might be inclined to relax and lean into their legacy
at this stage in a sprawling career, Montgomery’s new music
continues to seek and challenge. His compositions are beautiful as
well as disconcerting, and often speak to precarity and dread. His Best
Forgotten Work is a title with tongue planted firmly in cheek, alluding
to the artist’s position of enjoying a peculiar bit of fame in relative
obscurity. But listening to his dry wit and rich voice, one will find it
isn’t easily forgotten.
Repress
Punctual like a Swiss watch, Driftmachine presents a new album that once again astounds and delights. We know their trademark: solid mechanical percussions, forceful bass and melodies systematically built around circular patterns. "Spume & Recollection" is the sixth Umor Rex album by the Berlin duo, and what better way to celebrate the label's 15th anniversary than with a new record from the masters of labyrinthine cables and patches. Regarding "Nocturnes" (UR 2014), their debut album, we described their sound as precise and symmetrical, identical concrete blocks mounted and articulated in a random order. Their already obsessive style continued to evolve with their third record, "Colliding Contours" (UR 2016), now pushing further into abstract dub, ultra-tense grooves, and even more kinetic loops, moving further away from conventional musical structures. Between these two albums they released the remarkable "Eis Heauton" (UR 2015), a kind of hypnotic experiment informed by shadowy atmospheres, chance, and an intuitive dialogue with their musical machines, a unique situation in which they acted as bemused observers in hunt for epiphanies, resulting in an exquisite amalgamation of lucid dream-logic and mechanical precision. A one-of-a-kind soundtrack for minute and wordless scenes unfolding in pitch-black back alleys and hidden, alchemical basements. A similar map was explored with "Shunter" (UR 2018), a superb secret meeting between avant-garde phantasmagoria and concrete experimentation. "Radiations" (UR 2017) offered B-sides and bonus tracks, in addition to collaborations with Shackleton and The Sight Below, a kind of preamble that united Driftmachine’s different expressions and leanings.
When Andreas Gerth and Florian Zimmer come up with new material, one listens with high expectation. Looking back on their discography, one could safely anticipate a high quality album densely layered with their familiar leitmotifs. And yet, "Spume & Recollection" takes us by surprise and finds a new way to transfix. Fresh methods and ideas are introduced to their dynamics and formula. Yes, of course, you can still expect a healthy dose of kosmische, which is one of the dominant features in Driftmachine’s DNA; but this is now entwined with novel materials, semi-material patterns of alien code stretching over exhilaratingly tense and detailed grooves, clouds of gas shifting on top of deep dub architecture and blocking out the sun for prismatic effect. Even more of a surprise is the immediate, streamlined nature of these tracks, making "Spume & Recollection" their most accessible record and, perhaps, the most addictive (and this without sacrificing the essential mystery and strangeness at the core of Driftmachine’s sound).
We have previously described their work as post-industrial-dub; right now, we might just call it hypno-music for man and machine to dance and dream together. "Spume & Recollection" takes this concept as far as it can go without breaking, and finds some strange new feelings, and weirdly danceable grooves, to shed some light on this dark and dazzling ride.
All songs written & produced by Andreas Gerth & Florian Zimmer in Berlin Mastered by John Tejada Artwork & Photos by Daniel Castrejón
“The term ‘Front Porch Singin’’ may actually be a metaphor for
many creative and conceptual musical ideas. But, for us, this title
has become more of an attitude than anything else. What if the
four of us were sitting on a porch together and someone begins to
sing a favorite old Gospel song, like ‘Swing Down Chariot’, or a
country and Western standard like ‘Red River Valley’, and
everyone else just joined in?
“That is what happened at RCA Studio A. But, as usual under
producer Dave Cobb’s leadership, this album turned into so much
more. The Front Porch Singin’ attitude remained prevalent
throughout, as songwriters, musicians, Dave and all four of us
kept coming to the table with terrific creative ideas to enhance our
Front Porch experience.
“This project is quite honestly one of the most heartfelt albums we
have ever recorded. Perhaps it is because we recorded these
songs in the middle of a raging pandemic that changed the face of
America and obviously took a huge toll on those of us in the music
business. It was a bit strange to social-distance from each other in
the studio, but we believe it drew us all closer and, in doing so, we
may have inadvertently recorded the perfect project for this time
period. These songs, whether new or old, reflect a certain
optimism and a deep-seated faith that God will work all of this out
as we move forward. ‘Life is beautiful’, as one song says. We must
embrace it and celebrate it with all of our being.
“Join us on The Front Porch and, if it is God’s will… Let’s keep on
SINGIN’.” - The Oak Ridge Boys
Produced by six-time Grammy award-winning producer Dave
Cobb (John Prine, Brandi Carlile, Chris Stapleton, Sturgill
Simpson, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit), who also co-wrote several
of the songs on the album.
The Oak Ridge Boys are members of the Country Music Hall of
Fame and The Grand Ole Opry. They are Grammy, ACM, CMA
and Billboard Award winners. They have had 12 gold, three
platinum and one double platinum album, more than a dozen
national Number One singles and over 30 Top Ten hits.
Growing Bin switches back into reissue mode with an off-kilter obscurity from Austrian eccentrics Molto Brutto. Equal parts amateur funk, indie jangle, art rock and idiot pop, "2" is a real weird bastard with a whole lot of charm. As the Bin continues to grow in all directions, there's plenty of space for new sounds to take root. Alongside patches of Ambient, Balearic, Kosmische and Jazz, Hamburg's audio allotment now stretches to accommodate the strange waves of Molto Brutto.
Basso dug their first LP a decade back in Stuttgart's Second Hand Records, embracing their abrasive style of sandpaper sonics and experimental urges. Interest piqued, he made the journey through their DIY catalogue, capturing excellent collaborations under the Ganslinger alias before bumping into the second of their two LPs. Originally released on their Golfdish imprint in 1988, "2" walks into the pub with an air of accessibility, but quickly unravels into glorious chaos - pissing in the corner and passing out on the bar. Pop structures are suggested then subverted.
Pints of Paisley slosh out of a broken Glass, tape loops spool onto shabby Material, and indie janglers are just a couple of stamps short of a Postcard.
Turning you tipsy, this loveable rogue starts to tell you his life story, but you're going to have to fill in some blanks. They miss 'Blackie', but who is he - a dog? What happened on the 'Deadly Vacation'? Is that song really about a 'Goldfish', or did they find out the name of America's horse? Words repeat until they lose all meaning, awkward poetry masks a lost laureate and a drunken Wurlitzer sends the room into a spin.
The pubs are shut, so get happy drunk with Molto Brutto.
Patrick Ryder
delving is a new project by Nick DiSalvo, best known as the frontman
of the heavy rock band Elder. Hirschbrunnen, his debut album, draws
from a wide swath of influences and sounds ranging from psychedelic
and krautrock to early electronic and ambient music, all while showcasing
the evocative melodies and songwriting he’s become known for.“I’m an almost obsessive songwriter,
working on music every day and
amassing a huge collection of song
fragments and ideas that often don’t
get the attention I’d like because of
the time I spend with my main band.
‘Thanks’ to this pandemic, I’ve had
plenty of time to pick up some of the
songs I’ve written over the past years
and finally make an album that I’ve
been telling myself forever I’d do.
From my earliest moments as a
musician, I have been obsessed with
home recordings, begging my parents
for a Tascam 4-track cassette
recorder for Christmas when I was
12 and making my own albums. delving
is a continuation of this creative
spirit: experimenting all on my own,
forgetting bands, fans and expectations
and making whatever music I
want to.
Hirschbrunnen - ‘stag fountain’ - is
the colloquial name of a large fountain
that presides over a large green
area near where I live. For me, it’s
been strange to see my world, which
normally consists of a fair amount
of travel and external stimuli, reduced
to one city, one district, one
block for so long. Frustrating as that
is, you might start to find inspiration
and surprising beauty in your
everyday surroundings that you
otherwise would have ignored. Just
as all the music I make is influenced
by my experiences, Hirschbrunnen is
a product of this unique and strange
time in which we all have been forced
to delve more deeply into our own
thoughts.”
With Bending the Golden Hour, the third album from Memphis, Tennessee’s Aquarian Blood, husband and wife team J.B. Horrell (Ex-Cult) and Laurel Horrell (formerly of the Nots) continue the gorgeously stripped-down and atmospheric direction set on their critically acclaimed previous effort A Love That Leads to War.
While Aquarian Blood has roots as a chaotic punk rock six-piece, the band shifted gears after two raucous cassette-only releases on ZAP Cassettes, a pair of seven-inches, and 2017’s Last Nite in Paradise, released on Goner Records. After drummer Bill Curry broke his arm, the Horrells redefined
Aquarian Blood, reemerging in early 2018 as the more intimate, mostly acoustic balladeers behind the staccato, fever dream sound of A Love That Leads to War. Like its immediate predecessor, Bending the Golden Hour was recorded at the Horrell's Midtown Memphis home. The band turned over 43 tracks to Goner co-owner Zac Ives, who handpicked 17 songs for the album.
The final result is shimmering and hopeful; as beautiful and sparse as a Rockwell Kent snowscape. Bending the Golden Hour begins ominously with “Channeling,” which sounds like an outtake from Paul Giovanni’s soundtrack to 1973’s pagan nightmare The Wicker Man. Then the band upshifts for “Time in the Rain,” a sweet duet set to a rigid snare beat. From there, Aquarian Blood zigs to country and zags to psychedelic folk, brooding on one song and soothing listeners with the next. And while the music, feel, and experience is different, Aquarian Blood naturally brings to mind some legendary musical partnerships: Richard and Linda Thompson, Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra, Johnny and June Carter Cash, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris; not to mention similarly-bent-but-beautiful luminaries like Roy Harper, Pentangle circa 1967 -1973, and Jackson C. Frank.
There’s a big middle ground, like folk-psych, or weirder country music,” he says, reeling off names like Skip Spence and Syd Barrett as stepping stones between the genres of punk and folk.
Inspirations for Bending the Golden Hour come from myriad sources that document the milestones and minutiae in a family’s full life. Some lyrics name a time or a place; others reflect the fleeting moments that elapse unnoticed. “Come Home,” which is sung by J.B. and his daughter Ava, was written the day Ava got her driver’s license. “Ava took the car out by herself afterwards, and I wrote the song immediately—she sang her part when she got home that evening,” J.B. recalls. Whether or not the listener knows the backstory, the song rings sentimental, with subtle, supportive instrumentation that underscores guitar and vocals. The bewitching “Rope and Hair,” on the other hand, is less sketched out, with lyrics that are simply a recitation of the talismen found on a silver sabertooth charm that J.B. purchased for Laurel at a Latin strip mall in southeast Memphis. That’s all to be said. “Sometimes when you know too much about what the song is about, it takes away the magic,” says J.B. “Alabama Daughter,” says Laurel, is about a place where a childhood friend lived called Castleberry Holler. “It was really rural, just a lot of shacks without electricity—the kind of place you didn’t go to unless you were invited,” she says. “Probable Gods” is a hazy reflection on the struggle of such a strange year. “It’s been very cathartic to put all of this into words and not have it live
Ulna’s OEA is a “bar-rock getting sober record.“ The first full length solo record of Ulna, aka Adam Schubert of Cafe Racer, OEA is an ode to reinvention. Along with the release comes a rebranding--formerly Ruins, Schubert’s new pseudonym ULNA is a reference to a pivotal moment in his childhood. At the age of 14, Schubert shattered the bone on the inside of his forearm in a skating accident, and took up the guitar. “That’s what made me serious about playing music,” says Schubert.
This name change also accompanied Schubert’s shift towards sobriety--OEA was created right as Schubert reconfigured his life without drugs or alcohol. With the exception of the final track, “Dead Friends,” the whole album was written while in a recovery program. “You have to reinvent your whole personality, you have to be a different person,” says Schubert.”Who am I if I’m not the crazy drunk dude who’s doing drugs in the bathroom?”
OEA is an intensely personal record, in subject matter but also quite literally--Schubert plays every instrument, though the record feels far from a home-demo, recorded and mastered by Robby Hanes at Strange Magic Recording in Chicago’s Logan Square. Schubert’s songs are ambling and full of picked guitar and retro harmonies, a stylistic sensibility he attributes to a love for the Beatles and “acoustic rock with a weird punk edge,” a-la Big Thief and Kurt Vile. Though instrumentally sunny, his vocals hint at something else - there’s an underlying ache. OEA is an easy listen, but with a depth of emotion that demands listeners’ attention.
OEA explores the range of emotions experienced in the transition to sobriety, from fear to backslide to self doubt. At first listen, “Turn The Record On” feels almost like a love song, with a chorus of “turn the record on/ you’re my favorite song,” but in actuality the song is the story of an empty encounter rather than romance. “It’s kind of about this sad hookup with someone else who is equal in your addiction, you’re just using each other because you don’t want to be alone in your using,” says Schubert. “We both have this problem and we can have fun in it together because we both understand. They know the score.”
While “Turn The Record On” speaks to a moment of shared addiction, other tracks examine what comes after sobriety. “And I took the pill like I should / and I stayed clean just like I said I would,” begins “Last Song,” which Schubert cites as one of the hardest tracks to write. “I got sober and I take medication and - I’m doing all this stuff now but nothing’s changed,” says Schubert. “ I think that’s pretty common in people who get sober. I did all this stuff and now what?”
The penultimate track on the album, “Last Song” fades into a noisy interlude that gives listeners the feeling of motion, like entering a tunnel and emerging into a quieter, lo-fi recording, the closing track “Dead Friends.” The only non-studio track, “Dead Friends” was recorded in Schubert’s home, and carries with it a warm intimacy. “I wanted it to sound like you’re outside somewhere, you're walking, and you step inside somewhere that feels safe,” says Schubert.
This closing track embodies the mood of OEA- warm but with a melancholy edge, like coming in from the cold but still feeling a lingering chill. It’s an album that feels comfortable and cohesive--though individual tracks stand alone, OEA works best when listened through start to finish. It’s a record to put on while cooking dinner and let sink in.
England, 1884 - a world on the brink of change. On the morning of her 16th birthday, Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown) wakes to find that her mother (Helena Bonham Carter) has disappeared, leaving behind an odd assortment of gifts but no apparent clue as to where she’s gone or why. After a free-spirited childhood, Enola suddenly finds herself under the care of her brothers Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin), both set on sending her away to a finishing school for “proper” young ladies. Refusing to follow their wishes, Enola escapes to search for her mother in London. But when her journey finds her entangled in a mystery surrounding a young runaway Lord (Louis Partridge), Enola becomes a super-sleuth in her own right, outwitting her famous brother as she unravels a conspiracy that threatens to set back the course of history.
Enola Holmes was released on September 23, 2020. The film received positive reviews from critics, who praised Brown’s performance. Daniel Pemberton composed the film’s score. Pemberton described it as “unashamedly melodic and emotional orchestral music” with some “messy quirky oddness thrown in as well”.
RELEASE: 4-6-2021
• 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
• PVC PROTECTIVE SLEEVE
• CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED 2020 MOVIE ABOUT THE TEENAGE SISTER OF THE ALREADY-FAMOUS SHERLOCK HOLMES
• STARRING MILLIE BOBBY BROWN (STRANGER THINGS “ELEVEN”), HENRY CAVILL, SAM CLAFLIN & HELENA BONHAM CARTER
• MUSIC BY DANIEL PEMBERTON
• INCLUDES INSERT WITH PICTURES AND LINER NOTES BY DIRECTOR HARRY BRADBEER (KILLING EVE)
• LIMITED EDITION OF 500 INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED COPIES ON SOLID TURQUOISE VINYL
This is a limited edition contains of 500 individually numbered copies on solid turquoise vinyl. The package includes an insert with pictures and liner notes by director Harry Bradbeer (Killing Eve).
- The complete film music available for the first time on vinyl - 180 Gram "Satanic Rite" Colored Vinyl - Exclusive liner notes by Rob Zombie - 16 Page Booklet featuring unreleased photography - Bonus Black Metal live album by Count Corgan pressed to 180 gram black vinyl with B-Side etching // Waxwork Records is proud to present Rob Zombie's THE LORDS OF SALEM Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. Available for the very first time on vinyl and pressed to 180 gram "Satanic Rite" colored vinyl, the music of THE LORDS OF SALEM features The Velvet Underground, Rick James, Rush, Leviathan the Fleeing Serpent, John 5, and more. THE LORDS OF SALEM is a 2012 American supernatural horror film written, produced, and directed by Rob Zombie. The film stars Sheri Moon Zombie (The Firefly Trilogy), Meg Foster (They Live), Bruce Davison (X-Men), Dee Wallace (E.T., The Hills Have Eyes), and Patricia Quinn (The Rocky Horror Picture Show). The plot focuses on a troubled female disc jockey, Heidi (Sheri Moon Zombie), who is a recovering drug addict living in Salem, Massachusetts. Her life becomes entangled with a coven of ancient Satan-worshipping women after receiving a strange wooden box and listening to the album inside it by a band named "The Lords". The soundtrack features classic songs by The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed, Manfred Mann's Earth Band, and several more. The score features original cues by John 5 and Griffin Boice. In line with other Zombie soundtracks, the album features intermittent dialogue tracks from the movie. Waxwork is thrilled to present the debut vinyl release of THE LORDS OF SALEM as a deluxe album package featuring 180 gram "Satan Rite" colored vinyl (Blood Red and Blue Butterfly effect with White Splatter), exclusive liner notes by Rob Zombie, new and original art by Robert Sammelin, a 12"x12" 16-page booklet including unreleased set photography from Zombie's personal archive, a heavyweight art print, printed inner sleeves, and old-style tip-on gatefold jackets with satin coating. Also included is a bonus black metal album by Count Gorgann entitled Corpse Eater: Satanic Misery Live for the Dead. This bonus album features a 2015 live recording at Black Forest Discothek and is pressed to 180-gram black vinyl with an etched B-Side.
The same crew as the boundary pulsing improvisation record Bent
Arcana has made a trajectory shift and picked up Ben Boye along
the path. The aptly-named Moon-Drenched is the second installment
from these sessions and keeps a heavy-lidded late night perspective
on things as it eases from the somewhat familiar liminal twilight
of skittering hues of black-blue and snaking street groove, to
fizzing off into the ether in pursuit of lunar prism beams heretofore
unseen. The more rhythmically dialed bits here have a lysergic halo of
strangeness to them, and the wispy bits between are spun of iridescent
gossamer. It sounds like a frizzled message from a future just filthy
with guitar hoots echoing off of neon-splattered high rises, oil-slicked
waterways and skittering digital beasts. For Castle Face’s money this
is the strangest slice of this last bunch of John Dwyer and his crew’s
improvisations.
