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Wendell Harrison was born in Detroit in 1942 where he began formal jazz studies for piano, clarinet and tenor saxophone. At 14, while still in high school, Harrison started performing & recording professionally with artists such as Marvin Gaye, Grant Green, Sun Ra, Hank Crawford … and many others.
In 1971, Harrison began teaching music at Metro Arts (a multi-arts complex for youth) where he also connected with Marcus Belgrave, Harold McKinney and Phil Ranelin…soon after they formed the (now legendary) Afro-centric TRIBE record label and artist collective. TRIBE used the Metro Arts complex as a vehicle to convey a growing black political consciousness. Wendell Harrison also published the very popular TRIBE magazine, a publication dedicated to local and national social and political issues, as well as featuring artistic contributions such as poetry and visual pieces.
In 1978 Harrison and McKinney co-founded REBIRTH, a non-profit jazz performance and education organization, in which many notable jazz artists have participated. Around the same time Wendell Harrison also created the WENHA record label and publishing company, which released many of his (now classic) recordings as well as those of other artists, such as Phil Ranelin, Doug Hammond and Reggie Fields (The Real ShooBeeDoo).
In the early 1990s, Wendell Harrison was awarded the title of “Jazz Master” by Arts Midwest. This distinction led Harrison to collaborate with fellow honorees and gave him the chance to tour throughout the United States, Middle East and Africa. Even to this day Wendell Harrison's recordings for the TRIBE, WENHA and REBIRTH labels have a large worldwide fanbase.
It is on WENHA that Harrison released the opus: DREAMS OF A LOVE SUPREME (1980), which we are presenting you today.
DREAMS OF A LOVE SUPREME is a monster album that features an all-star line-up that includes Phil Ranelin (Freddie Hubbard, Solomon Burke, Mulatu Astakte) on trombone, Harold McKinney (Tribe) on Keyboards and Roy Brooks (Yusef Lateef, Chet Baker, Mingus) on percussion. Although you can hear the 80ies creeping in with a smoother sound, more synths, and disco/R&B vocals… this remains a very spiritual (and soulful) jazz record. The record’s an irresistible blend of soul jazz combined with funky electric instrumentation…a groovy sound which is very much of its time, yet overtly timeless and as relevant today as it was back when it was initially released.
Tidal Waves Music now proudly presents the first ever vinyl reissue of ‘Dreams of A Love Supreme’ since its release in 1980. This official reissue is now available as a deluxe 180g vinyl edition (limited to 500 copies) and comes with an unreleased bonus track.

The latest thrilling incarnation of master rock'n'roll storyteller Tex Perkins (The Cruel Sea, Beasts of Bourbon, Thug, Tex Deadly and the Dum Dums, Tex, Don et Charlie.) and the Fat Rubber Band began with a rare vinyl copy of Link Wray's Beans and Fatback album, recorded in 1971. Perkins and his respected musician, songwriter, producer and bandmate Matt Walker share a mutual admiration of the American electric guitar innovator, whose iconic power chords in his signature 50s rock'n'roll instrumentals, had a profound influence on the evolution of rock guitar. The Fat Rubber Band is borned with this rare vinyl, the pair have enjoyed countless musical conversations over the decade while hanging out backstage and on the road. Walker offered the debut album's opening track, the wide-screen drama of "Pay The Devil's Due". Perkins responded with the plaintive blues of "My Philosophy". Walker replied with the album's fuzz driven debut single "Danger Has Been Kind" and Perkins countered with the glacially-paced, intimate "Poor Simple Minded Fool". The pair road-tested their works in progress as a duo before enlisting bassist Steve Hadley, drummer Roger Bergodaz and Evan Richards on percussion to complete the Fat Rubber Band line-up to record the album's ten tracks at Walker's Stovepipe Studios in Victoria's Dandenong Ranges. "At Matt's studio - you open the door to the studio and nature floods in," Perkins says. "We wanted it to sound rural, to feel the dirt and the grass and the leaves." Even after all these decades, when you think you know that gravelly baritone inside out, Perkins finds new emotional tones in the service of the Fat Rubber Band's songs vivid narratives, with their characters wrestling, but sometimes dancing, with the tougher, darker qualities of the human condition. This is truly existential blues. Bubbling underneath those upfront vocals and raw harmonies are intricately entwined guitar conversations and unexpected percussive flourishes. "Another aspect that we wanted was for the sound to be sometimes a collision and sometimes a marriage of acoustic and electric instruments. We wanted that tension between mandolins and bouzoukis meeting fuzz guitars." "We also considered percussion to be a vital element of the sound we were going for; we noticed in the recordings we loved from the 50s and 60s that often the tambourine hit, or the maracas, or whatever percussion, was right up there in the mix, right next to the vocal," Perkins says.

Tape

Tony Rolando's debut release Old Cool Echoes is the kind of tape you flip over and play again and again. His second release, an LP for Important titled Breakin' Is A Memory, will be available in early 2022. A CD titled Shared System will follow.

Imagine if you wished away your surroundings and found yourself in a synthetic landscape where the simplest three color pattern animated an entire horizon. If you could suppress your memory enough to experience the new beauty of it, but not so much that you lost the pieces of yourself that make life worth living, this could be your soundtrack.

For more than a decade, Tony Rolando has composed electricity into musical instruments at Make Noise. When he collaborated with Alessandro Cortini in 2019 to create the Strega instrument, the experience rekindled Tony's love of composing and recording music. On "Old Cool Echoes," Tony follows mutating patterns and slow timbral gradients, allowing them to suggest composition as much as he does, occasionally exploring digital media catacombs and dabbling in the microtonal, all with minimal percussion interruption.

The peeps behind the People Of Earth label claim that Rick Wade is on top form on their latest release. While that's undoubtedly true, the Detroiter has incredibly high standards and rarely puts out anything mediocre. The four tracks here are all deliciously deep and fluid, with the Fender Rhodes solos, meandering organ lines, warm bass and chunky beats of "Never Give Up" delivering just the right blend of instrumental goodness and dancefloor-ready weightiness. "Seen At Night" is an even deeper and hazier treat, while "Forever Alone" sees Wade wrap bongo-laden beats and eyes-closed electric piano chords around a ludicrously warm and heavy bassline. Solo-laden closing cut "Rooftop" is also superb - a proper sundown selection of the highest calibre

Hedvig Mollestad must surely be one of the hardest working musicians on the Norwegian music scene at the moment, with “Tempest Revisited” being her third album in a mere 18 months, all at a consistently high artistic level. Her first solo album, “Ekhidna” (2020), received a Spellemannpris (Norwegian Grammy), appeared on several jazz and rock best of the year lists and got her into Downbeat´s “25 for the future” selection. “Tempest Revisited” draws lines back to 1998 and the very beginning of Rune Grammofon. This was the year we released “Electric”, the collected electronic works of Arne Nordheim, one of Norway´s greatest composers. It was also the year when parts of “The Tempest”, possibly his most cherished and well-known work, was chosen to be performed at the opening of Parken, the new cultural house in Ålesund, birthplace of Hedvig Mollestad. To celebrate 20 years, the culture house was ready for a new storm, and the first name that came to them was Hedvig, a local artist that was already making waves on the international scene with her power-trio. Hedvig took inspiration from the front of the house, adorned with Nordheim´s score for “The Tempest”, at the same time making a direct connection to the sometime heavy weather conditions of this coastal area in the northwest part of Norway. One could say it´s a big paradox that over all this might be Hedvig´s most lyrical and less aggressive collection of music. On the other hand it´s quite a dynamic record, lots of light and shade and enough sonic parts at work to evoke the elements, the mighty Gran Cassa drum only one of them. The music included here was adapted from the initial performance in 2018 and produced by Hedvig in the studio the following year for this album release. The musicians included are old friends Marte Eberson from the Ekhidna band, Ivar Loe Bjørnstad from her trio and Trond Frønes (Red Kite) on bass as well as three sax players. Yet another triumph in a more than impressive discography.

Third Man Records is proud to announce the 20th anniversary expanded edition of Kelley Stoltz’s defining album Antique Glow, due November 19, 2021. The announcement is heralded by the release of bonus track "Too Beck". Limited-edition "rainy nights" UK exclusive vinyl will be available on release day.

Originally self-released in minuscule vinyl-only quantities in 2001, Antique Glow has served not only as a template for the length of Kelley Stoltz’s twenty-plus year career, but has also served as a compass for other Anglophile, TASCAM 388 home recording acolytes. Original copies featured Stoltz’s clever, wry and fanciful hand-painted adornments overtop reclaimed thrift store LP jackets, Third Man’s release here utilizes some of those original unused images for a die-cut sleeve that ultimately gives the listener six different possible album covers.

The songs are by-and-large masterpieces of bedroom pop magic. From the whispering “Here Comes the Sun”-adjacent acoustic underpinnings of album opener “Perpetual Night” through the fuzz-threaded leads of “Are You Electric?” Stoltz’s inspirations are impeccable and clear. Sixties Davies British Invasion through 80’s British Bunnymen post-punk, with appropriate off-shoots into West Coast American pop-psych, Velvets-indebted hooliganism and Drake/CSNY acoustic attenuations, the end result is pure joy.

On the expanded version, standout tracks previously relegated to an Australian tour-only CD (like the breathlessly cinematic “Old Pictures”) see their first-ever vinyl and digital release while there’s an additional 10 songs from the Antique Glow-era seeing their first ever release in any format. The cutting room floor quality here is second-to-none, Stoltz clearly gifted with the curse of writing too many indelible songs, so the newly released “Too Beck” (originally cast off by Kelley because he thought “it sounded too much like Beck”) and “Umbrella” stand firm as some of the best, most timeless music Stoltz has ever released... a full two decades after he recorded them!

Kayroy is back! The charismatic gentleman from Melbourne gives us three brand new songs. First, we have “Cutoff Freak” with R.P. Downie on vocal duties. Yes, we shed crocodile tears for a thousand years. The David Byrne-esque vocals perfectly add to Kayroy’s mid-tempo aussie p-funk. Last year’s “Identification Unknown” feat. Miela also sees a vinyl feature finally.
Now imagine a late summer night. You ride your local sunset boulevard in your red convertible and turn on the stereo. They play „Some Kind Of Electric“ on the radio. Kayroy & Miela on the microphone make you feel good, they make you laugh, they make you cry. All at the same time. Irresistible grooves, heartwarming melodies and that voice. Now let this summer night last forever.
Label boss Johannes couldn’t resist and bangs the tracks into a more club-styled direction on the B-side. There is an “Acid Dub” and “Kind Of Dub”. Your choice.

Farewell covers a lot of ground across the span of its 26 songs and two-hour run time. Yet every moment is a reminder of why Minus the Bear were such an experiential live band. They were always pushing forward, evolving their sound, and finding new ways to balance brainy musicianship, pop worship, meditative sentimentality, and adrenalized fervor into their own signature concoction. Further bolstered by the mix of Matt Bayles and master job by Ed Brooks at Resonant Mastering, the album sounds like a fully immersive live experience. + RECORDED DURING MINUS THE BEAR'S 2018 FAREWELL TOUR + 2021 MARKS THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FORMATION OF MINUS THE BEAR + MIXED BY MATT BAYLES (SOUNDGARDEN, PEARL JAM, MASTODON, THE SWORD) + MASTERED BY ED BROOKS AT RESONANT MASTERING (R.E.M., DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE, FLEET FOXES) + FIRST AND ONLY OFFICIAL LIVE RELEASE FROM MINUS THE BEAR + RETAIL EXCLUSIVE VARIANT ON CUSTOM OPAQUE GREY VINYL LIMITED TO 1,900 COPIES + 3xLP PACKAGE COMES IN TRIPLE GATEFOLD SLEEVE WITH SPOT INKS + 3xLP PACkAGE INCLUDES PRINTED INNER SLEEVES WITH METALLIC SPOT INKS + 3xLP INCLUDES A DOWNLOAD COUPON

Javi Frias has earned a solid reputation as a producer on the international disco scene since he began releasing his edits and reworks back in 2015. However, this year, during confinement, he decided to put editing aside to unleash his creativity and start recording his own productions, playing with synthesizers, electric pianos, syncopated basses and tribal percussion, and the result is this 'Sunset Disco EP'. A collection of songs that take us to a summer sunset on a beach in paradise that represent a huge leap in the career of this artist. The A side begins with 'Give Love', a hedonistic and melancholic disco song, followed by 'Noche Tropical', with Balearic overtones and reminiscences of a Caribbean party. Side B opens with 'Are You Really Fellas?', a funky little number featuring jazzy guitars and smashing bass. 'Dance With Me' brings us back to the field of the emotional and evocative disco. And finally 'Musical Connection', with touches of reggae downtempo perfect to say goodbye to this eternal and warm sunset.

Faitiche presents, for the first time on vinyl, a selection from the 84-track (!!) remix project originally released in 2013 as a three-tape set by Trip Shrubb aka kptmichigan aka Michael Beckett. Known to many from bands like Tuesday Weld or The Schneider TM Experience, Beckett remixed his way through Harry Smith’s famous Anthology of American Folk Music – a compilation of American folk, blues and country recordings released in 1952, soon to become key point of reference for the emerging folk revival movement. Having translated the title into the local dialect of the part of Germany where he lives, Beckett began reinterpreting all of its 84 tracks using sampler, effect pedals and loops – sometimes making several tracks in a single day. A colossal undertaking whose results are beyond accomplished and that is summed up in the selection of thirteen tracks on 'Trewwer, Leud un Danz'.

Murray Royston-Ward writes about 'Trewwer, Leud un Danz':

"Total sacrilege ... A collection of remixes of tracks from Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music which was originally released in its entirety. The album is titled Trewwer, Leud un Danz (sorrow, song and dance) which is drawn from an endangered ‘Low German’ dialect (lippisch Platt) and is poetically approximating Smith’s volumes Ballads, Social Music and Songs. 

The hardware employed encompasses analogue, virtual analogue and digital. A primordial soup of electrical fields, striated granulation, micro-circuitry, molecular oscillations and mathematical manipulation; communicating directly with the guitars, zithers, mountain dulcimers, fiddles, jaw harps, banjos, harmonicas and human voices of 1930’s America: itself a reterritorialization of African and European folk traditions that reach back farther and farther into our collective pasts. (…)"

1976 Space jazz-folk masterpiece infused with prog scents from one of the true legends of Argentinian music, latin rock pioneer Litto Nebbia. Floating electric piano, acoustic guitar, female choirs and moog sounds combine with Litto's own voice and create a unique blend of delicate beauty. The use of analogue synthesizers in this conceptual album was a turn in Nebbia's work at the time. A long 7-minute suite opens the album, mixing acoustic textures with synth sounds, setting the grounds for the entire LP. Songs of introspective darkness alternate with other tracks influenced by sunny bossanova, musical passages fueled with epic energy where the voice of Mirtha Defilpo accompanies Nebbia along with the intricate and enveloping instrumental work driven by Daniel Homer's guitars and Litto Nebbia's keyboards. The album draws a complex soundscape made up of an almost infinite number of musical pieces, rich in layers and textures, that - decades after its original release - still stands out for their modernity. "Bazar de los milagros" is undoubtedly one of the most advanced recordings of those

that appeared in Latin America at the end of the 70s. Includes the song 'La Caída', as recently sampled on Jay Electronica/Jay Z's hip-hop hit 'The Neverending Story'. "Bazar de los milagros" has also been listed on Japanese DJ and music expert Chee Shimizu's Obscure Sound guidebook, a must for record collectors.

First vinyl reissue, including a facsimile version of the 32-page booklet that accompanied the original 1976 release, and remastered sound.

Cindy is a band built around the singing and guitar playing of Karina Gill. She became a musician only recently, having sat on the sidelines while ex-partners and friends made their stabs at it. Gill describes a chance encounter with an abandoned Squire Strat left in the basement by a previous tenant, “mummified in electrical tape with the remnants of a burrito on the head stock”, that led her to begin carefully strumming her way through simple chords and making her own songs. After one interesting self-released LP, still finding their footing, the band made the masterful and buzzed-about Free Advice, which went from a limited cassette on local SF label Paisley Shirt to vinyl pressings on Tough Love (UK) and Mt St Mtn (USA).

Cindy’s third LP arrives in quick succession, the quietly devastating 1:2. Jesse Jackson on bass, Simon Phillips on drums and Aaron Diko on keyboards weave the perfectly thin web behind Gill’s slow Velvety strums and murmured melodies. The rhythm section brings the crude flow, while the keys add subtle and surreal counterpoint to the withering world Gill depicts in her lyrics. “Songs tie together seemingly disparate things by the logic of mood,” Gill tries to explain. This isn’t dream-pop sunshine bliss; half-closed black drapes hang on the window where the narrator stares into the middle distance. “Sometimes you say you’re feeling small/You plan all day for your own funeral”, she intones in Party Store. Gill has a way of halting her phrasing that makes it feel like her thoughts are gently tumbling into the abyss. It’s this unsettling quality mixed with the hazy atmosphere that makes Cindy’s new LP 100% addicting and the perfect antidote to comfort listening. Glenn Donaldson, 2021

VERY LIMITED COPIES OF THIS PREVIOUSLY RSD U.S. ONLY RELEASE

Engine Kid, the post hardcore collective featuring Greg Anderson (Southern Lord label owner, also in Sunn O))), Goatsnake & Thorr's Hammer) announce a special Record Store Day 6 x LP box set release Everything Left Inside, featuring the Novocaine/Astronaut 12 inch, Bear Catching Fish 2xLP, Angel Wings 2xLP and Split w/ Iceburn / Everything Left Inside 12 inch.

Almost 30 years since the inception of Engine Kid and the trio find themselves comprehending the enormity of their creation, honouring and celebrating the mountains they formed and the canyons they created.
Engine Kid was born in Seattle, WA 1991. The band's original lineup consisted of guitarist/vocalist Greg Anderson (Southern Lord, Sunn O))), Thorr's Hammer, Goatsnake), drummer Chris Vandebrooke & bassist Art Behrman. The three had all been in hardcore/punk bands around town and all had a burning desire to create a sound that was unlike anything they had done in the past. After just a few months of existence they quickly recorded and self-released the Novocaine 7”. Circa 92’ a close friend and bassist Brian Kraft (Krafty) replaced Behrman, and at that moment the entire aesthetic and execution of sound became heavier, darker and extremely dynamic. The power trio was picked up by local label C/Z records and set out upon recording the new music they were quickly creating. In 1993 the band had two releases on C/Z; their first offering was the Astronaut five song EP recorded by John Goodmanson. The songs were primitive and exemplified the bands worship of Slint and their loud/quiet song dynamic In the summer of 93’ the band drove all the way to Chicago to record with their hero Steve Albini in the basement of his house. They emerged with the eight song album they called: Bear Catching Fish. Albini intuitively captured the band exactly as they were at that moment: raw, vulnerable and mammoth.

Shortly after the albums’ release Jade Devitt replaced Vandebrooke on drums. This transition was extremely crucial in the “second phase” of the group. Devitt was an absolute beast and his power helped launch the band miles beyond where they had ever been before. The sound of “The Kid” started to transform into a sound much more of their own. The three dudes were hellbent on pushing the bounds of sonic exploration to its absolute fullest. Suddenly there was an abundance of depth within the sounds they were creating. Eclectic influences of punk/hardcore (Black Flag, Die Kreuzen), Metal (Entombed, Carcass) and even jazz (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Miles Davis electric era) were in a full collision course with the already dynamically heavy foundation of the band. The levee had broken and the resulting flood of sound completely saturated everything in its path.

Engine Kid toured relentlessly. They were constantly on the road playing every nook and cranny they possibly could. Any moment not spent on the road was instead spent focused on making their new material as potent as possible. Early in 94' the band decided to pay homage to their mutual love of jazz/fusion and recorded three instrumental pieces that would become a split album with like minded powerhouse Iceburn. The Engine Kid/Iceburn album showcased each group's love of jazz loosely framed by the intense enthusiasm of underground music. The album was released by Revelation records in 1994.
During the summer of 94’ the band reconvened with producer John Goodmanson at Bad Animals & AVAST! studios to record the new material that was literally bleeding out of the reinvigorated trio. These recorded songs were much more progressive, heavier, harder and more focused than past works. They even tackled John Coltranes’ “OLE” adding saxophone and trumpet from their brothers in Silkworm. In March of 1995, Revelation Records released these recordings as the Angel Wings album. Unfortunately "the Kid" flew too close to the sun and broke up very shortly after the album's release.

Everything Left Inside 6xLP box set (RSD release) includes:
LORD 288.1 Engine Kid-“Novocaine/Astronaut” 12”
LORD 289 Engine Kid-Bear Catching Fish 2xLP
LORD 290 Engine Kid-Angel Wings 2xLP
LORD 288.2 Engine Kid-Split w/ Iceburn /Everything Left Inside 12”
16-page color photo/liner note booklet.

SEX was composed during the formation of Imhof’s art show of the same name, previously exhibited at Tate Modern, London, The Art Institute of Chicago and forthcoming at Castello di Rivoli, Italy, this September. Imhof, Douglas and Bultheel, reworked the songs from how they appeared in the exhibition ‘SEX’. The result is a compelling record that acts as an imaginative accompaniment to the ‘SEX’ performances, as well as standing alone as a progressive collection of contemporary compositions.

SEX references punk, industrial and grunge, and boldly juxtaposes these forms with music of the classical and baroque period. The album combines classical formals and orchestration with vocals that are rooted in subcultural traditions, thus beautifully overdrawing and overwriting these forms with the composer’s own. Harpsichord and oboe are combined with distorted electric guitar, or exuberant string ensembles with heavy industrial drums.

The amalgamation of genres contained in the album was also integral to the choreography of SEX, where walzes and tangos were contrasted with stage diving, slam dancing and moshpits. What resulted was a surreal ballroom, loaded with desire and aggression. In the same vein, the record fearlessly shapeshifts, blends genres and styles evoking an impressive array of moods. Oscillating between fragility and flamboyance, Imhof and Douglas’ versatile voices reinvent themselves from one song to the next, while singing songs of love and hate.

The last song on Sex is ended by a quote of the band LOW, `All you Pretty People, you`re all gonna die`. This ambiguous moment, a prophecy sung in Douglas’ vibrating baritone voice, rattles the listener despite the mundane truth of the statement. This complexity is reflected in the album itself, allowing for an unusual multiplicity of emotions and interpretations with impressive depth and dynamism.

The album is mixed & engineered by Ville Haimala and mastered by Rashad Becker, featuring design by ZAK Group and photography by Nadine Fraczcowski. All tracks by Anne Imhof, Eliza Douglas & Billy Bultheel, track 6* by Eliza Douglas & Ville Haimala.

The edition that marks the start of the brand-new Comets Coming could not be more suitable: it is that Rodrigo Brandão, like his grandfather Herman Poole Blount, dust of stars that the world knows as Sun Ra, may have his feet on the Earth, but he has definitely a sidereal head.

Brandão arrived recently to Portugal, but already left a strong mark in the most adventurous Lisbon scene, having performed several concerts in which his language has been wrapped in the exploratory sounds of musicians such as Rodrigo Amado, João Valinho, and Hernâni Faustino. The agitator, poet and spoken word artist, brought a vast experience that over the years saw him collaborate with artists as distinct as the members of Metá Metá or Prince Paul (that one!) on BROOKZILL!.

This work, however, came in his luggage, across the ocean, on the rediscovery trip that brought him from Brazil to Lisbon. OUTROS ESPAÇO was recorded in São Paulo in late 2019 with a luxury crew: Tulipa Ruiz and Juçara Marçal added to the microphone, Thiago França played flute and alto & tenor saxophones, Guilherme Granado dealt with the synthesizers and effects, Marcos Gerez measured the overall pulse with his electric bass, Thomas Rohrer played soprano and 'rabeca' (fiddle), and Paulo Santos dealt with the percussion. In addition to the base band, OUTROS ESPAÇO also features some members of Sun Ra Arkestra's current incarnation. Respectively: Danny Thompson (RIP) on baritone and bongo, Elson Nascimento on 'surdo' (tom drum), Knoel Scott on tenor and soprano, with the giant Marshall Allen in a prominent role leading the collective towards the unknown, while playing the alto sax and synthesizer.

In OUTROS ESPAÇO, Brandão reaches for words from different origins, from contrasting times and cultures, all with magnetic resonance imaging: what is not from his furrow comes to him from Candomblé (“Quando Os Orixás Desfilam Sobre A Cracolândia”), from his readings of Sun Ra (“Eu Sou 1 Instrumento” is an adaptation of the poem I Am An Instrument), or from the school's playgrounds (“Jamais Nos Esqueceremos”). And in these words there are teeth and nails ingrained in injustice (“Quantos Coltrane...?, “Todo o Dia Tem +”) and kaleidoscopic delusions that result from the speed of light (“Sol da Meia Noite”).

The crew that travels through these OUTROS ESPAÇO (PT for "Other Spaces") has freedom as the main fuel, jazz as a measure of their reach, and all swings in the world as maps, so they can lose themselves at the end of the cosmos. There is urgency and reflection, craziness and precision, surprise and well-known ancestral raw material, that makes us vibrate inwardly with the same trembling as the comets that are coming.

The visionary and veteran Scotty Hard was responsible for making everything sound like the music of the spheres, dealing with the mixing from his INGUASONIC SOUND studio in Brooklyn, NY.

And lastly, in January, Rob Mazurek, another frequent ally of Brandão, another notorious space traveler, offered a poem that frames this project. Among other things, he writes:

Make this place sing

Make this place thunder

Make this place shake

It couldn't be in any other way.

Pioneering electric bluesman Albert King not only influenced
American guitarists like Robert Cray and Stevie Ray Vaughan, with
whom he played in later years, but made an indelible mark in
Britain. Cream-era Eric Clapton, in particular, was an early devotee
before Albert ever set foot on UK soil, while Gary Moore, who
unashamedly took his cues from Clapton, later shared a stage with
King in his ‘Still Got The Blues’ period. Enjoy his earliest
recordings as all his famous fans would have discovered them –
on vinyl!

Over the last few years, NuNorthern Soul has established a number of traditions, most notably annual releases that provide a snapshot of the label’s output while also considering their suitability for certain seasons. Perhaps the most popular is founder Phil Cooper’s Summer Selections series, which each year showcases warm and sunny gems mined from a range of forthcoming releases.

The 2021 edition of the sampler, the third in total, may well be the best yet. Six tracks deep and as subtly varied as you’d expect, the entertaining set features tracks from a mixture of exciting newcomers, experienced producers and long-time members of the NuNorthern Soul family.

To kick things off, Cooper introduces us to Marshall Watson, an American producer who later in the year will release two five-track EPs on the label. ‘A Door To The Sky’, which will feature on the Sunsets On Larkin Part 1 EP, is sumptuously sun-kissed, with delay-laden electric guitar textures and sparkling electronics reclining over a tactile electronic groove.

LOVA’s ‘Echoes of Memories’, the track that follows, recalls the atmospheric, synthesizer-sporting new age Balearica popularised by Quiet Force in the late 1980s. The Italian producer was signed after bringing a USB stick of productions to one of Phil Cooper’s gigs in Ibiza; his Gypsophilia EP will be one to check when it drops later in the year.

Gusk’s ‘Sketch #4 - Anafi Nights’ is seductive and exotic. It’s a crackling and atmospheric musical painting that daubs starry stabs and yearning melodies atop a bubbly, lo-fi drum machine beat. It provides a perfect snapshot of the Greek musician’s Mediterranean Sketches EP, which gathers together home recordings made between 1997 and 2003.

Arguably even more immersive and enveloping is ‘Aqua Blancas Sunrise’ by Tambores En Benirras, the musical project of Cumbrian selector DJ Gripper. A slow-burning delight full of intricate musical flourishes –think drifting female vocalizations, Indian-influenced percussion, twinkling pianos and haunting clarinet motifs the track is one of the many highlights on the Barrow in Furness based producer’s forthcoming debut album for NuNorthern Soul.

To round things off, Cooper has chosen to offer-up cuts from two very experienced artists. George Solar (real name Georg Boskamp) is an Ibiza-based German producer who has been collaborating and releasing music since the late 1980s. ‘Infrared’, his contribution to Summer Selections 3, is a languid and glassy-eyed slab of slow-motion Balearic dub. His Los Ra-yos Del Sol EP will be one to look out for later in the year and is his debut solo release.

The sampler’s final missive fittingly comes from long-time friend of the family B.J Smith, a regular contributor to NuNorthern Soul releases who has reunited with Huw Costin – a vocalist he previously worked with on Smith & Mudd releases for Claremont 56 for a double A side single due later in 2021. ‘Sun When You Come’ is as warming and hazy as you’d expect and features Costin’s emotive, reverb-laden vocals and mazy electric piano solos rising above a suitably horizontal groove. It provides a stunning, sunset-ready conclusion to another superb set of Summer Selections.

Fresh one on Music With Soul - a channel for hot 7"s that always fly out here. TIP!

"Two and a half frenetic minutes that sound like Aphex Twin and The Incredible Bongo Band dancing Capoeira in the early hours of an illegal rave, somewhere in the deep amazon forest. After the success of his first solo 45, Alex Figueira comes back to the aesthetics of the early Fumaça Preta, with an utterly bonkers 45 that can only be described as an “in-your-face acid macumba techno breakbeat funk freakout”.

The flip side contains a haunting Psychedelic ballad, with the sweet vocals of Maddie Ruthless, from NY’s leading Lovers Reggae sensation, The Far East. Equally trippy and beautiful, the soothing sounds of the Wurlitzer piano and the electric sitar will be bouncing in your head for hours after first listen. The kind of song that finds collectors dropping eye-popping sums, decades after the original release. Guarantee your retirement now by getting a few copies! The song “Maracas” is the main theme of the movie “Maracas, tambourines and other hellish things” directed by fellow record nerds Matteo Fava and Dave Potsma. They managed to convince Figueira to play the main character, and later on, to do the complete music score. The movie tells the story of a struggling underground musician / part time record store clerk, whose music career is basically going nowhere until an improbable encounter gives his life a dramatic turn. They asked Figueira to give them something with “a fresh tropicalized take on Blacksploitation”. One might argue, after listening to the insanity carved on the grooves of this piece of vinyl, that he certainly did deliver.

The characteristic mix of synthesizers and heavy percussion used by Figueira in almost all his projects, gains here a somewhat freer dimension, embracing the chaos openly, without ever neglecting the groove, nor the ancestry axis. Values that are at the core of the label. Even while laying down all the instruments himself, Figueira has managed to capture the same out of control tropical psychedelic spirit of his former band, Fumaça Preta. Fans of the group’s outfit will certainly be rejoiced by this new release.

The flip carries “Grasping & Wishing”, an evocative Psych ballad that retains the same tripped-out flair of the A side, while slowing down the tempo considerably with a decidedly african 6/8 beat. Sung by New Orleans’ own “Rocksteady Queen”, Maddie Ruthless, stepping out of her classic Reggae background, to grace the track with her beautiful voice, permeating the issues of belonging, doubt and introspective reflection portrayed in the lyrics, with a thin layer of exquisite fragility that will comfort your ears.

The production includes a significant number of sound effects, ranging from different types of percussion performed with liquids to bamboo flutes of different sizes and several layers of multiprocessed electric Sitar tracks. Listen carefully and you will discover new sonic nounces every time you put the record on."

A modern and powerful interpretation of traditional Italian Pizzica.
The Pugliese group Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino is known for its powerful
rhythms, vocal harmonies and constant groove. Canzoniere has a knack for
bringing together all their references, ancient and contemporary, into a coherent narrative, both hybrid and fluid.
Their new album Meridiana (Italian for “sundial”) contains twelve tracks like
the twelve hours of the sundial and tells the story of each of the seven band
members’ relationship with time. It is co-produced by guitarist Justin Adams,
long-time collaborator of Robert Plant, and producer of some of Tinariwen and
Rachid Taha’s cult albums.
The production and instrumentation, combining synth, electric bass and loops
with traditional folk instruments, give a modern and powerful reading to this
age-old music.

Schneider TM is the multidimensional music project of Dirk Dresselhaus which has been operating since the mid 90's. His latest opus is also his first for release for Editions Mego.

With an extensive catalogue under his belt, one may wonder where this one takes us? The 8 of Space orbits the realm of "pop" more overtly than the project has done for 14 years, residing in the line of works that temporarily ended with "Skoda Mluvit" from 2006. In the age of scattered streaming listening habits The 8 Of Space champions the classic album format with connected tracks that act like chapters adding up to what could be framed as an 'audio-movie'. The 'plot' revolves around a post-dystopian landscape which posits the make up of reality in the future.

The vessel is electronic pop music but one which takes inspiration from the spirit of a multitude of musical forms absorbed into a trans human sound world where biological & technological elements complement each other (We are NOT The Robots!). The music unifies the analog world of acoustic and electric instruments with electronic & digital possibilities that range from heavily processed acoustic & electric guitars and bass, tube organ, analog modular synth units, acoustic drums and percussion, analog & digital drum machines & effect units, hardware and software processing. Experimental & extended musical techniques build a world of musical elements that is sometimes upside down and mirrored. Electric guitar becomes rhythm machine & modular system, voice becomes sound object & synthesizer, effects are used as instruments, acoustic guitars are being modulated by voices etc. Reality and illusion are getting mixed up. One can hear short moments of longer recordings in the tracks which are snapshots of bigger musical pictures that lurk behind what's actually audible. Generative music, audio spirals like clockworks create ever changing musical combinations; thrown-in sounds, polyrhythms & cascades based on the concept of chance attributed to the service of the SONG.

The lyrics are a key component. Holistic, associative poetry acts as interactive trigger points for the mechanisms of existence in times of a paradigm shift that are open to the listeners discretion. Autobiographical elements combine with science fiction and dreams, protagonists shift where the 'I' or 'me' is not necessarily the voice of the artist, nor even the same person. Alongside a more naturalised voice another protagonist appears represented by a processed voice. This character, named iBot, evolved around the start of the millennium and has appeared on some previous Schneider TM recordings. It can be seen as a post-human, or even a trans-human character, a combination of human & technology, uncertain of the future, which lends iBot it's melancholic tone.

In the opening song "Light & Grace" iBot appears in an advanced form of AI, which managed to hack & hijack a commercial space travel program (eg, Virgin Galactic) to invite those rich, who profited most from the destruction of planet earth, for a holiday trip into space to unknowingly fly them directly into the middle of the sun. In this episode it seems to have developed higher ethics than humanity itself with ambition to save the planet with as much of its cooperative life as possible."Light & Grace" serves as an intro / opener for this album to be followed by 7 other tracks featuring different windows of consciousness represented by diverse characters & protagonists.

All the elements on The 8 of Space, the music, sounds, vocals and artwork fit together as a whole, creating a dazzling electro pop future questioning it's own certainty. This is experimental electroacoustic pop music featuring glorious melodies dancing along human/machine voices, each track is a small universe that triggers the physical mind and tickles the subconsciousness.