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Man kann nicht über Wicca Phase Springs Eternal sprechen, ohne über Verwandlung zu sprechen. Seit über einem Jahrzehnt nutzt der Sänger, Songwriter und Produzent Adam Andrzejewski diesen Künstlernamen als kreativen Sammelbegriff, unter dem er ein umfangreiches Werk geschaffen hat, das ebenso beständig fesselnd wie ständig im Wandel begriffen ist. Diese geschickte Fähigkeit, Sounds und Stile zu vermischen, ist zu seinem Markenzeichen geworden, aber unabhängig von den Genre-Kennzeichen - von Rap-Beats über New-Wave-Synthesizer bis hin zu Goth-Atmosphären - ist das schlagende Herz von WPSE Andrzejewskis einzigartige Stimme und seine esoterische und doch emotionale Lyrik. Diese Schlüsselelemente haben das Projekt durch musikalische Erkundungen geprägt, und auf seinem neuesten Album Mossy Oak Shadow" stellt Andrzejewski sie nun auf die Probe. Er verzichtet auf wummernde 808s und aufwendige Produktionen zugunsten einer schnörkellosen Band und spärlichen Live-Aufnahmen. Das Album ist eine mitreißende Sammlung von verträumten Folk-Rock-Songs, die beweisen, dass Wicca Phase Springs Eternal wirklich alles sein kann. Ich habe immer irgendwie gedacht, dass ich, solange ich den Namen Wicca Phase Springs Eternal habe, alles machen kann, was ich will", erklärt Andrzejewski. Der Name bietet einen Rahmen für die Texte und die Ästhetik des Projekts - mein Songwriting mit einer mystischen Überlagerung - und solange ich etwas darinnen zum Funktionieren bringen kann, ist das Genre nicht wirklich wichtig." Diese gewagte kreative Mentalität war es, die Andrzejewski antrieb, als er das WPSE Projekt ins Leben rief, neben seiner Arbeit als Mitbegründer des einflussreichen Kollektivs GothBoiClique oder als Mitglied von Thraxxhouse und Misery Club und seinem Punk-Nebenprojekt Pay For Pain. Dennoch hätten wohl nur wenige ahnen können, dass das neue richtige Album von Wicca Phase Springs Eternal eine Sammlung von countrylastigen Folksongs sein würde, die ohne auch nur einen Hauch von Ironie dargeboten werden. Wie bei allem, was Wicca Phase Springs Eternal macht, zeigt sich Andrzejewski auch auf Mossy Oak Shadow" voll und ganz engagiert. Mossy Oak Shadow" mag für Fans von Wicca Phase Springs Eternal, die durch seine beatlastigen modernen Klassiker wie Secret Boy" (2016) oder Suffer On" (2018) auf ihn aufmerksam geworden sind, wie eine drastische Kehrtwende erscheinen - aber das sollte keine völlige Überraschung sein. WPSE-Veröffentlichungen haben sich schon immer mit reduzierten Akustiksongs beschäftigt, und noch weiter zurück gibt es Andrzejewskis frühere Arbeit als Mitglied der Emo/Indie-Größen Tigers Jaw. Als er diese Band 2013 verließ, um sich auf Wicca Phase Springs Eternal zu konzentrieren, stieß er auf Skepsis bei den Zuhörern, die zögerten, seine neue Persönlichkeit und seinen experimentellen Trap-Sound anzunehmen. Ironischerweise hat Andrzejewski jetzt Wicca Phase Springs Eternal so gründlich etabliert, dass er seine Fans erneut mit einem krassen Klangwandel herausfordert - diesmal jedoch durch die Rückkehr zu dem gitarrenorientierten Songwriting, das er beiseite gelegt hatte. Dylan, Will Oldman, Richard Thompson - was ich an diesen Songwritern am meisten mag, ist, dass ich ihnen vertrauen kann", erklärt Andrzejewski . Wenn sie etwas völlig Seltsames machen, vertraue ich darauf, dass sie wissen, was sie tun, weil es von derselben Person kommt, die all diese anderen Songs geschrieben hat, die ich liebe. Auch wenn es vielleicht etwas Zeit braucht, bis ich dort bin, wo sie sind, möchte ich es versuchen."

Here we are with the Earth perched on a thin tenuous wire. The neo-liberal order and its fascist mirror world burning through fossil fuels and the souls of vulnerable peoples the globe over. Conflict, warfare, climate degradation, misinformation. The time is nigh to break the spell with music.

Right on time comes IC007 – Four cuts of progressive elektro roots to shine a light on only four of the multitudinous hot spots of suffering while also inspiring a musical movement forward through the storm. Dedicated to the peoples of the Sudan, Palestine, Ukraine, and Taiwan this tune is another ITAL COUNSELOR sound system scorcher.

The message at its very core is to keep keeping on. Never give up. Forward through the storm like an ITAL WARRIOR! This RHYTHM SHOWER is a guideline toward a better tomorrow.

Delivering this message are some of ITAL COUNSELOR MUSIC’s stalwart players. Inyaki Basque Dub Foundation returns to the fold with yet another top-notch original rhythm – A drum and bass workout that harkens back to the best of Sly & Robbie’s Compass Point era science fiction dubwise and just a little bit of Aswad’s “To The Top” era progressive roots. Both raw and rhythmically complex, Inyaki makes the drum and bass hit hard with the mixing help of top studio man James Zugati. The dubwise cuts on side two are of course custom made to make bass bins rumble and weakheart drop.

Alas, we cannot forget Soothsayer horns – here as always proving that they are the best horn section out there. They feel it. They know it. They execute it in the hardest and sharpest of manors. Heavy heavy hornsman manners…

Progressive. Heavy. Horns. Elektro. Roots. Forward.

One Love and Guidance along the Way,
Andy G, IC

If you're a serious music fan but not a native Kiwi, your first awareness of New Zealand's fab music scene may have come from the debut of The Chills' mesmerising Kaleidoscope World collection of early singles. Within a few years, a great number of NZ acts saw music released by various UK and US labels . . . generally to great praise and enthusiasm. That this occurred without any of these acts having to move abroad to further their chances was nearly as delightful a feat as the music itself. The exception to this was Dead Famous People, radical in a snap decision after a five-song 12" for Flying Nun, Lost Persons Area, to change hemispheres and make a go for it in London. It started well. Three London recordings were added to three from their Flying Nun EP and put out by Billy Bragg's Utility label - about as perfect a mini-album as there's ever been. Response was positive, more songs recorded, the group did a John Peel session and played out often, but the vaguely impoverished group began to fall apart. Singer and primary writer Dons Savage - determined to make it - had a near-miss at becoming Saint Etienne's singer on an early take of their 'Kiss And Make Up' cover, and there was a fine performance from her on The Chills' 'Heavenly Pop Hit' . . . but dismay had set in. Upon learning of her mum's passing back home, Dons returned to NZ and was quiet for decades. Most of their London recordings were later released later in minuscule quantities by very small labels, but these saw scant press or attention and enjoyed next-to-no sales. Their moment had passed, and the band has suffered the strange fate of being the least-known of the truly brilliant acts associated with Flying Nun. Listening to these `lost' songs, it seems unfathomable that they could have fallen by the wayside. No NZ songwriter comes as close to equalling Martin Phillipps' pop brilliance as Dons. Her superbly sweet vocals, delicious harmonies and sophisticated arrangements aside, the songs dealt perceptively with universal follies of youth and yearning in tandem with a then-unusual twist of lyrics dealing matter-of-factly with her sexuality at a time when `women's music' was seen as exclusionary (segregated into its own bin in shops, if it existed there at all), and the riot grrrl movement was years away, later breaking through due to its radical stance. Dons is a pioneer in myriad ways, the irony of her transcendent brilliance failing to propel a greater career may rest in the fact that she leapt to the head of the class too quickly for people to grasp it; a fate that's befallen so many musical geniuses acknowledged today but less in their time - something rather tragically acknowledged in old pal Martin Phillipps' song with The Chills, 'A Song For Randy Newman, Etc.' None of these thirteen songs fails to deliver something both immediate and unique. And we're proud to debut 'Vampirella"', a magical fantasy song of longing and intrigue - surely one of the most perfect tunes to ever sit around unreleased for decades! Dons is again busy conjuring new songs; in the meantime we're delighted to unveil these obscure gems from the past.

Nach seinem Comeback mit „The Healer“ (1989) begab sich John Lee Hooker zu Russian Hill Recording in San Francisco und The Record Plant in Sausalito, um einige seiner bekanntesten Songs neu zu
interpretieren, darunter „Boom Boom“, das diesem Album seinen Titel gibt. Eine Starbesetzung zeitgenössischer Bluesgrößen nahm an den Sessions teil, darunter Charlie Musselwhite, Jimmie Vaughan, Robert
Cray und Albert Collins.

‘Tedere Baldadigheden’, Guido Belcanto's new, long-awaited album in a production by Firmin Michiels and Guido Op De Beeck, was released on 4 October, 2024 at the beginning of a very extensive, sold out tour. It is a special retrospective from an award-winning singer who looks back with melancholy and humour on the many mischievous adventures that marked his life. Love prevails, but tragedy and tristesse also leave their mark on Belcanto himself and the scarred souls of the many colourful characters who come to life in his songs.

This 15th studio album undoubtedly represents a new high point in Belcanto's oeuvre, which now numbers over 300 songs, with 11 of his own songs and 2 surprising adaptations of songs by Eels and Guido's idol Renaud. Besides members of his loyal backing band Het Broederschap, guest musicians such as Stoy Stoffelen, David Poltrock, Evert Verhees, Jan De Smet, Alban Sarens, Adriano Cominotto and Chris Peeters also play along. Also notable are certainly the passages of Lara Chedraoui (Intergalactic Lovers) and The Bonnie Blues.

For more than 40 years, Guido Belcanto has been creating a universe all his own with his songs. A warm, recognisable home for everyone, young or old, rich or poor, winner or loser. A home too, masterfully brought to a stage where the audience is allowed to be themselves without embarrassment, praising happiness, measuring the damage suffered, letting the tears flow and the laughs ring out.

Lavvi Ebbel was without a doubt one of the most talked-about bands of the Belgian new wave scene. In the early eighties, the band achieved considerable success with singles such as “Give Me a Gun” and “Victoria.” This ten-piece band had a solid live reputation thanks to the original sound of the two guitarists (Marc de Wit and Chris Van Ransbeeck), pianist (Bea Van Ransbeeck), and the steady Eric de Wit on drums. Singer Luckas Vander Taelen and backing vocalist Kristien D’Haeger provided a strong stage presence, supported by the swinging horn section with Jan Weuts and Eric Sleichim, who was the driving force behind Maximalist and Bl!ndman some time later.

Lavvi Ebbel played about 200 times in Belgium and the Netherlands, both in small clubs and at prestigious festivals such as Seaside. On the compilation LP “Get Sprouts,” which is a true sample chart of the music of this period, we find Lavvi Ebbel's “No Place To Go,” a high point in their versatile collaboration with producer Jean-Marie Aerts. “Albü Meth” is arguably the best-known mini-LP, featuring the cult song “Le Cafard.” After the release of the album “Kiss Me Kate,” produced by the American producer David Avidor, the band called it a day in 1983. Following a couple of very successful performances in 2013, Lavvi Ebbel, 12 years later, is making a comeback with the original band members.

Tom Odell ist für sein emotionales Songwriting und seine einnehmenden Live-Shows bekannt. Er ging unter anderem mit Billie Eilish auf Tournee und hat sich zu einem der fesselndsten Künstler der Welt entwickelt. Mit Welthits wie 'Another Love', dem viral erfolgreichen 'Black Friday' und seiner neuen Single 'Don't Cry, Put Your Head On My Shoulder' begeistert er weiterhin Millionen Menschen auf der ganzen Welt. Mit seinem siebten Studioalbum 'A Wonderful Life' hat Tom Odell ein Werk geschaffen, das einen universellen Geist der einfühlsamen, totalen Ehrlichkeit verkörpert. Es blickt auf die zerbrochene Landschaft der modernen, zersplitterten Gesellschaft und findet darin Dystopie und Untergang, aber auch - was viel wesentlicher ist - einen Schimmer von Schönheit und Hoffnung.

Tom Odell ist für sein emotionales Songwriting und seine einnehmenden Live-Shows bekannt. Er ging unter anderem mit Billie Eilish auf Tournee und hat sich zu einem der fesselndsten Künstler der Welt entwickelt. Mit Welthits wie 'Another Love', dem viral erfolgreichen 'Black Friday' und seiner neuen Single 'Don't Cry, Put Your Head On My Shoulder' begeistert er weiterhin Millionen Menschen auf der ganzen Welt. Mit seinem siebten Studioalbum 'A Wonderful Life' hat Tom Odell ein Werk geschaffen, das einen universellen Geist der einfühlsamen, totalen Ehrlichkeit verkörpert. Es blickt auf die zerbrochene Landschaft der modernen, zersplitterten Gesellschaft und findet darin Dystopie und Untergang, aber auch - was viel wesentlicher ist - einen Schimmer von Schönheit und Hoffnung.

Nach dem ausgiebig gefeierten Meisterwerk ,Slave Ambient" (2011) erscheint nun zwei Jahre später - im März 2014 - das dritte Album der aus Philadelphia stammenden Band THE WAR ON DRUGS. "Lost in the Dreams" heißt das neue Glanzstück der Band um Adam Granduciel, deren Gründungsmitglied Kurt Vile mittlerweile solo unterwegs ist. Mit der Veröffentlichung des letzten Albums ,Slave Ambient" gelang der Band der langersehnte und verdiente Durchbruch. Daraufhin tourte die Band zwei Jahre lang von North Carolina bis New York City durch alle Rockclubs, spielte auf unzähligen Festivals und in Late Night-TV-Shows, die Amerika so zu bieten hat. Mit dieser Erfahrung im Gepäck tüftelte Granduciel gemeinsam mit dem Produzenten Jeff Zeigler (Lymbyc Systym, Kurt Vile u.a.) am neuen, dritten Album. Die Band komplett machen außerdem Dave Hartley (Bass) und Robbie Bennet (Piano u.a.), die auch im privatem Leben zu Granduciels engstem Umfeld gehören. Er sagt selbst zu seinem neuen Werk: ,Ich wollte, dass es ein Projekt unter Freunden wird. Jeder einzelne in der Band nimmt unser Projekt ernst. Davon handelt auch unser Album - Freundschaft, Erwachsen werden, das Leben leben und einander zu helfen." Diese persönliche und berufliche Weiterentwicklung ist auch im Sound der Band zu hören. Nicht zuletzt ist Granduciel nicht nur Kopf einer Indie-Rockband, sondern hat auch eine unverkennbare Stimme, um sich der Welt mitzuteilen.

I Against I by Bad Brains, released 9 August 2024.

Lucas Chantre, aka WORLD BRAIN, last graced us with a solo release half a decade ago, with 2019’s Peer 2 Peer. As its name suggests, that album explored the promise and perils of universal connectivity via quirked-up songwriting and instrumental psychedelia. His new release, Open Source, deepens this internal and external journey. Bursting beyond the four walls of ‘bedroom pop’ and reflecting a move from Berlin to Paris—where much of the album was recorded—and on to Brussels, the album has a jazzy, cinematic scope (as on the Brubeck-inspired march “Fromage collatéral,”) enveloping the listener in a cosmic-pastoral audiosphere.

There are still many tones that evoke the software sounds of decades past (the exemplar here is “cAPTCHA,” whose virtual marimba and vocalese suggest a breathless, Exotica-inspired introduction .mov for the information superhighway) but the palette has become richer and more organic, lead by the woodwinds which play a major role throughout, with flute provided by labelmate Martha Rose. (On the aforementioned “cAPTCHA” one also hears the world-class whistling talents of the incomparable Molly Lewis.)

Yet the single most noticeable new element may be the use of Chantre’s native French, sung by his sister on “Ville fleurie” and the gorgeous, fluttering “Minute papillion” (the title an idiomatic injunction to slow down!) Chantre initially wrote these lyrics in English, but felt something wasn’t quite right, only realizing what was off when he heard them sung in another language. That spirit of discovery – of finding a new spark in returning home – suffuses Open Source. It invites us to play, beckons us to relax, reminds us to find serenity amidst the churn of the present: minute papillon, dans le tourbillon.

Improving on their very fine, self-titled debut album, their latest, Sing Sing Death House, is battle-scarred and resolute, but Brody"s tough voice is more expressive than your average punker"s and especially affecting when she flaunts the full range of her throaty snarl. On "Seneca Falls," an appreciation of the women"s suffrage movement set to chugging guitars and a thumpity-thump bass, there"s an exceptional, goosebump-inducing though unintelligible chorus, which soars above the music because of the emotional quality of Brody"s howl. Otherwise, the music is quite stirring, coming from a gang of gutter-punks with lip piercings.

Produced by Joe Barresi (Queens of the Stone Age, Tool), The Dissent of Man finds Bad Religion pushing the boundaries of their music as much today as they did in their formative years as a genre defining punk band. Over the course of making the album, primary songwriters Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz"s songwriting was informed by life changing events, with Graffin writing his forthcoming book "Anarchy Evolution" and Gurewitz embarking on parenthood again. The result is one of the band"s most forward thinking and musically varied albums ever. The Dissent of Man is not only a snapshot of the band"s personal experiences of the past years but also of their continued maturity in songwriting, capturing an array of styles ranging from blazing punk rock songs like the opener "The Day That the Earth Stalled" and "Meeting of the Minds" and classic rock-tinged cuts like "Cyanide" and "Turn Your Back on Me" to radio rock ready hits like the first single "The Devil in Stitches." The Dissent of Man is a testament to why Bad Religion has remained relevant for the better part of three decades. Already having cemented their place in history as a groundbreaking band who helped create a movement in Los Angeles with classic releases like How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, Suffer, Recipe for Hate, Stranger Than Fiction and Process of Belief, Bad Religion continue to inspire and create with a unique style that continues to cross boundaries and transcends genres."

Habibi Funk is more than happy to announce our 31st release which happens to be our 3rd various artists compilation. The album is dedicated to the cassette tape scene in Libya from the late 80s to early 2000s, from disco to reggae to pop. All songs previously unreleased outside of Libya and not available on any DSP platforms.

This compilation isn’t a sweeping history of Libyan music — it’s a personal journey into the sounds we fell in love with while digging through tapes, conversations, and stories across Libya and beyond. Rather than spotlighting the country’s most famous musical exports, the compilation brings forward a mix of overlooked gems and local classics of the cassette era: artists whose work thrived despite political limitations, and scarce international exposure. The music featured here blends reggae rhythms, synthy disco grooves, gritty pop, house, and funk, a vibrant collision of genres that reflects Libya’s unique sonic landscape from the 1980s to the early 2000s. Many of these recordings were recovered from the TK7 cassette factory in Sousse, Tunisia, a now-demolished site that once played a quiet but vital role in distributing and manufacturing Libyan music. Other tracks were digitised in a Cairo hotel room in 2021, where we transferred nearly 100 tapes over the course of three days, on-site using a high-grade cassette deck brought into Egypt with us. From that trove emerged artists like Ahmed Ben Ali, Cheb Bakr, and Najib Alhoush & The Free Music, who have already featured on our earlier releases. Their sounds sit alongside contributions from this release from the likes of Khaled Al Melody, Fathi Aldiyqz & Sons of Africa Band, City Lights Band, Libya Music Band, and Group Hewaya. During this era, Independent artists relied on makeshift home studios or travelled abroad to record in Tunisia and Egypt, gradually building their own infrastructures for creativity. By the 90s and early 2000s, as access to digital equipment increased, a few of the artists began setting up their own studios — a shift that gave rise to a more self-sufficient recording culture across the country. The resulting sounds are anything but homogeneous. They reflect Libya’s geographic and cultural crossroads: North African rhythms meet Arab melodies and deep African roots. Reggae, in particular, took on a local Libyan flavour — not just musically, through the slowed-down cadence of traditional shaabi beats, but socially, as a vehicle for expressing identity and pride. What ties all the artists on this comp together is a boundary- pushing approach to genre and style: recorded in small studios, exchanged by hand, and shaped by a cross-pollination of influences, from Benghazi to Tripoli and beyond. All tracks are licensed from their creators and in the case of the artists being deceased from their estates. All profits are being split 50:50 between us in the licensors and ownership remains with the creators, we only licensed the music.

A“This album is about what it means to be human, and its creation is my offering. I attempt to tell a tale of the human experience in the reflection of my own.”

‘In the Andean mythology, condors are believed to be immortal. It is said that once they feel old, without energy, and useless, they climb to the highest peak and let themselves fall to death.’

The Allegorist is a visionary, enigmatic, transmedia, and boundary-pushing artist known for crafting deep, immersive dark sonic tales. Embracing a wide array of influences, weaving together the mysteries, art and spirituality, the art project defies categorisation, resonating with those who seek the unconventional.

From Birth Until Death is an introspective and immersive concept album that reflects on the essence of the human experience. Crafted over six years by The Allegorist (aka Anna Jordan), the album traces the arc of life—from its fragile beginnings to its inevitable end—using sound art to explore existential and philosophical terrain. Inspired by the Andean mythology of the condor – a symbol of immortality – the album blends electronic soundscapes with raw field recordings, evoking a deep sense of connection between the natural world and human existence.

The album’s progression mirrors the stages of life, starting with the birth of new beginnings and culminating in death, with each track offering a unique reflection on the moments in between. From the dynamic energy of Momentum, to the ethereal, illusionary world of Fata Morgana, the tracks guide the listener through emotions, perceptions, and experiences that shape the human condition.

A distinctive feature of From Birth Until Death is its intricate production. The album incorporates field recordings from Grunewald Forest, a distant roar of a jet, barking dogs, blending the sounds of nature – footsteps in the snow, birdsong, ocean waves – with layered synthesisers and electronic beats. The bass and ambient textures are crafted using an array of analog hardware, while all vocals, both lead and backing, are performed and recorded by Jordan. Some of the vocal takes were intentionally left raw, capturing the spontaneous energy of early recordings, while others were re-recorded to balance the album’s organic yet polished feel. Each element is meticulously crafted, revealing its deeper meaning as the album unfolds like a multidimensional, living sculpture.

At its core, From Birth Until Death is a meditation on the full spectrum of life. The album’s title track, From Birth Until Death, encapsulates this journey, reflecting on the passage of time and the unique experience of being human. The final track, Death, offers a melancholic yet beautiful exploration of endings, not as finalities, but as moments in the grand cycle of life. With its combination of evocative sound design and deeply personal themes, From Birth Until Death invites listeners to contemplate their own lives, offering a moving experience of reflection, growth, and transformation.

About From Birth Until Death
Words By Robin Rimbaud (Scanner)

From Birth Until Death is a deeply personal and reflective album and beautifully crafted. A detailed listen reveals that Jordan was in search of a profoundly human and authentic expression. In an era when so much around us seems defined by speed, Anna Jordan, aka The Allegorist, stands apart – aware that skimming the surface of life is neither sufficient nor rewarding. She reminds us of the value of deep, authentic listening.

The track Andean Condor seductively draws us into a smoky, blurred rhythmic soundscape, capturing the essence of the darkest Berlin nightclub, while Birth pulses with an almost shamanic transformation of sound, moving from the organic to the musical. It features a recording of Jordan’s footsteps in the snow in Grunewald Forest, Germany.

At times, the music feels almost sculptural in shape and tone – lifting, pushing, lilting, opening, and closing – where each piece is given room to fully develop. Many of the works blend synthetic sound with the natural, incorporating the human voice alongside environmental recordings: the wild waves of the ocean, a jet flying overhead, and barking dogs.

With From Birth Until Death, Jordan, like an alchemical architect revealing in the process of getting lost and relinquishing control, leaves us with a taut, immersive soundtrack in which to lose ourselves.

About the album ‘From Birth Until Death’
words by The Allegorist

“The album From Birth Until Death did not come easily to me. I started working on it in 2019, and it underwent many alterations over the years. I produced multiple versions of the tracks each year, but the album name, the track titles, and the album cover art stayed the same for 6 years. Not everything I did fit into the album’s final form, but I hope the heavy selection just made it better. I played this piece live in my techno live set between 2019 and 2020, and in the years after, I performed different art, ambient, and vocal versions of it, most notably the one at the church St. Marienkirche in Berlin in 2022. It just wanted to live and didn’t want to be finished. As I aged, this album aged with me. And now I’m ready to let it go.”

2xLP+Book. Black & White Splatter vinyl. Between 1975-77, Chicago's southside nightclubs were experiencing dark times. The after-hours routine may have been on the up, but the sound of urban blues was on its way down, getting funkier, heavier, picking up a Zeppelin echo from the British rock scene that had raided its larder. Thankfully, lightening came by way of a lanky white guy skulking from club to club with a camera and strobe light. Chicago photographer Michael Abramson hit Perv's House, Pepper's Hideout, The High Chaparral, The Patio Lounge, and The Showcase Lounge nightly, not to capture the artists on stage but instead popping off a half-dozen rolls every night exclusively on the seldom photographed crowd. Light: On The South Side gathers more than 100 beautiful black and white Abramson images, as Numero shines its own light on yet another dark corner of the musical past. The 132-page hardback book features not just these photos, but an extended and wildly colorful ephemera section, plus an essay by British novelist and Numero fan Nick Hornby. Housed in a gorgeous slipcase with the 12X12 monograph is the 2LP set Pepper's Jukebox, a 17-track compilation of Chicago blues in transition, as heard from both the stage and the Wurlitzer.

Scowl is a band that sounds exactly like their name implies. Venomous, fierce, antagonistic. A sneer not to be crossed. Over the last five years, the Santa Cruz, California, band has firmly planted their flag in the hardcore scene with their vicious sound and ripping live show, sharing stages around the world with Circle Jerks, Touché Amoré, and Limp Bizkit, and filling slots at prominent festivals like Coachella, Sick New World, and Reading and Leeds. But with their new album, Are We All Angels (Dead Oceans), Scowl is aiming to funnel all that aggression through a more expansive version of themselves.Much of Are We All Angels grapples with Scowl's newfound place in the hardcore scene, a community which has both embraced the band and made them something of a lightning rod over the past few years. Standout single "Not Hell, Not Heaven" outright rejects the narratives cast onto them by outsiders. "It's about feeling victimized and being a victim, but not wanting to identify with being a victim," explains vocalist Kat Moss. "It's trying to find grace in the fact that I have my power. I live in my reality. You have to deal with whatever you're dealing with, and it ain't working for me." The band breaks from a sense of disassociation to seek deeper connections on "Fantasy." "It's incredibly challenging to try to balance my love for the scene while also feeling, in some spaces, extremely alienated and hated," Moss says. "`Fantasy' is about feeling like I don't know how to connect with these people anymore, because I have shelled myself away so hard." The album ends in a philosophical place on the closing, titular track, "Are We All Angels," asking questions like, "Is this all there is?" and ultimately putting it on the listener to decide. "It's about the personal struggle between good and evil. It doesn't matter how `good' or `bad' you are, there are systems that will try to rewrite your narrative no matter what you actually do," explains Moss, noting that punctuation on "Are We All Angels" has been deliberately omitted in an attempt to leave the statement open-ended. Are We All Angels is the highly anticipated follow-up to Scowl's debut, 2021's How Flowers Grow, a 16-minute primal scream over punishing riffs. But amidst the pounding chaos, it was the record's sonic outlier, a cleaner interlude called "Seeds to Sow," that, true to its name, planted the seed for what was to come for the band. "It kind of laid out this destiny for us, and I feel like now we're fulfilling that," says drummer Cole Gilbert. The band continued to expand their sound on 2023's widely acclaimed Psychic Dance Routine EP, incorporating more pop hooks and favoring gentler singing over heavy screaming, paving the way for what would come next.Scowl's growth got a huge boost from producer Will Yip (Turnstile, Title Fight, Code Orange, Balance and Composure), who broadened the band's scope. "Will would say, `Everything you have here is correct, but it's in the wrong place,'" says Gilbert. Moss adds: "Will really helped restructure a lot of the material. Some songs he tore apart to make more space for the really good hooks and choruses." But even through this more eclectic approach, Scowl loses none of their edge, and still manages to convey the anger and frustration that lies underneath. They are deeply committed to carrying the ethos of punk and its sense of community. "Hardcore and punk have sculpted how we operate, what we want to do as a band, and how we participate," says guitarist Malachi Greene. "At our core, we are a punk and a hardcore band, regardless of how the song shifts and changes."