In the 1971 counterculture comedy You Gotta Walk It Like You Talk It, Zalman King tries to find the meaning of life, with Richard Pryor and Robert Downey Jr among the cameos; who better to cut the soundtrack than Steely Dan? Except that the Dan had not officially formed yet! With typical tongue-in-cheek touches, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker rise to the challenge, with fellow Dan guitarist Denny Diaz and drummer John Discepolo of previous vehicle, Jay & the Americans; if you’re a Steely Dan fan, you really need to check out this one-off soundtrack, cut just before they upset the rock applecart with Can’t Buy A Thrill.
Mythical Sussex psychedelic protoprog band Five Day Rain cut an album that never was in 1970, since a dispute nixed its official release. This must-have collection of rarities includes outtakes such as the fuzz box-filled 'Dartboard' and the raunchy 'Floating', as well as a tasteful cover of Bobby Hebb's 'Sunny,' plus full version of 'Rough Cut Marmalade.' 'Spare The Children,' released as a 45 by side project Studd Pump is included here too. Required listening for all who wish to understand the Five Day Rain story in full.
* Brand new outing from dub producer I David who takes us on a dubby journey on the Orient Express into Istanbul and further into Anatolia.
* The track titles are mostly belly-dancing related which gives to clue to the content.
* Featuring an instrumental and three dub excursions of the same tune.
* For fans of The Rootsman, Muslimgauze etc.
* 300 copies only
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Sometimes music is supposed to feel weird and indescribable. It’s the moments of clarity within the dense, sonic mess that often feels the most satisfying. That’s the space that Earth Tongue occupy. At times, their songs are shrill and disorientating, other times their reverb-washed textures and instantly- familiar hooks can wrap you in a warm, loving embrace. The one consistent thread through their music, however, is the thick and all encompassing fuzz. Guitarist Gussie Larkin has become a master of the fuzz-smothered riff, and along with Ezra Simons’ off-kilter drumming, they’ve been sending punters into transcendental states since they began gigging in their home town of Wellington, New Zealand in 2016. Floating Being will be released this June 21st. The album was pieced together throughout their travels of Australia and Europe, with the finishing touches being added in their hometown. The album contains songs they’ve been playing live for the past year, and it captures the raw, primitive energy that exists within their live performance. Earth Tongue embrace the imperfections in their playing and recording - drawing influence from early 70s psych and prog rock. The last thing they wanted was to create a shiny, over-produced record - with that in mind, they recorded the drums to an old 8-track Tascam reel-to-reel in a friend’s garage in Melbourne. The result is a punchy, raw and fuzzy journey into psych-rock with songs that weave between melodic and jarring. Unexpected twists and turns leave the listener in a disorientated yet satisfying haze.
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Dudu Tassa, einer der führenden Rockstars Israels, ist der Enkel des kuwaitischen Musikers Daoud Al Kuwaiti, dessen musikalische Zusammenarbeit mit seinem Bruder Saleh, den Al Kuwaiti Brothers, in der arabischen Welt zwischen den 1930er und 1950er Jahren berühmt wurde. Dudu Tassa & The Kuwaitis eröffneten vor einigen Jahren das Coachella-Festival und wurden auch von Radiohead als Vorgruppe auf einer ihrer US-Tourneen ausgewählt. Die Brüder Al Kuwaiti gehörten in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts zu den größten Komponisten und Musikern in Bagdad. Dudu Tassa hat einige der Aufnahmen der Al Kuwaitis aufgenommen und sie zu seinem eigenen Sound weiterentwickelt und modernisiert. Diese neue Version des Albums enthält zwei Bonustracks, darunter eine Live-Version von 'Eshrab Kasak Withana' (feat. Jonny Greenwood/Radiohead/The Smile).
South of Here, das vierte Studioalbum von Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, verarbeitet ein ganzes Leben voller Schmerz und Trauma und verwandelt es in eine mitreißende und seelenverwandte Betrachtung von Liebe, Verlust, Hoffnung und Entschlossenheit. Nach And It’s Still Alright, Rateliffs geliebter Solo-LP aus dem Jahr 2020, und The Future, der gefeierten Veröffentlichung von The Night Sweats aus dem Jahr 2021, vereint das neue Album beide Seiten seines immensen Talents: emotional starkes, lebendiges Storytelling und den rauen R&B-Revivalismus, der die Band in den letzten zehn Jahren zu weltweitem Erfolg geführt hat.
South of Here, das vierte Studioalbum von Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, verarbeitet ein ganzes Leben voller Schmerz und Trauma und verwandelt es in eine mitreißende und seelenverwandte Betrachtung von Liebe, Verlust, Hoffnung und Entschlossenheit. Nach And It’s Still Alright, Rateliffs geliebter Solo-LP aus dem Jahr 2020, und The Future, der gefeierten Veröffentlichung von The Night Sweats aus dem Jahr 2021, vereint das neue Album beide Seiten seines immensen Talents: emotional starkes, lebendiges Storytelling und den rauen R&B-Revivalismus, der die Band in den letzten zehn Jahren zu weltweitem Erfolg geführt hat.
Foundation ska from the cradle of Jamaican music...
Federal Recording Studios nurtured the talents of innumerable Jamaican artists in the early sixties... this set showcases seriously sought after rarities and previously un-released tracks from Don Drummond, The Maytals , Lynn Taitt and many more
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Was klingt, wie die begehrteste Mailadresse der Klasse 11b, ist das zweite Album der Berliner Indie-Pop-Band Von Wegen Lisbeth und hört auf den einzigartigen Namen sweetlilly93 @ hotmail . com . Und wer Angst hatte, der einstige Geheimtipp sei drei Jahre nach dem Debütalbum GRANDE nun im Mainstream angekommen, kann sich beruhigt zurücklehnen: Von Wegen Lisbeth bringen zwar mittlerweile problemlos die Konzerthallen von Kiel bis Freiburg zum Tanzen, klingen aber trotz Refrains, die einem wochenlang im Ohr bleiben, auch 2019 noch angenehm sperrig und dabei stets unverwechselbar.
Auf dem nun erscheinenden Album kümmert sich die Band, die in ihrem Proberaum wohl genug skurrile Instrumente hortet, um jegliche Flohmärkte Neuköllns zu füllen, um die kleinen alltäglichen Momente ihrer Umgebung und sagt dabei dank pointierter Ironie trotzdem mehr über unsere Gesellschaft aus, als man manchmal wahrhaben möchte. Von Wegen Lisbeth erzählen von der unübersehbaren Gentrifizierung im Viertel, dem Döner an der Ecke und dem Schweigen, das manchmal lauter scheint als der Presslufthammer vor dem Fenster.
Nach ersten Supporttouren für die Kölner von AnnenMayKantereit oder Sven Regeners Element of Crime haben sich Von Wegen Lisbeth längst in der deutschen Musikszene etabliert, ihr Album GRANDE erntete zurecht positive Kritik, nun legen die Berliner mit sweetlilly93@ hotmail . c om musikalisch und textlich nochmal einen drauf. Bereits mit der Single Lieferandomann erscheint ein erster Vorgeschmack auf das neue Album.
»Ist das 2Pac oder Brecht? Swipe' ich nach links oder nach rechts?«
Bugger Off! picked up where its predecessor left off, and rampaged on from there. Covers of Zappa’s “Willy the Pimp” and the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me” might have seemed a little obvious, but both are battered down with such a glorious lack of finesse that it’s impossible to object — anybody familiar with, respectively, Juicy Lucy and the
Hammersmith Gorillas’ versions of the same songs will come in with at least a vague idea of what to expect, but that’s about it.
“Hoochie Coochie Man” is even more disheveled, and when John Peel’s liner notes reminisce on the group’s insistence on recording live, you can tell he’s not necessarily looking back with any fondness.
On one occasion, he suggested they do a little overdubbing.
The band’s response to his words would become the album’s title. Including “Mama Keep Your Big Mouth Shut” as bonus track taken from the 1972 John Peel Session.
"Androids may not yet dream of electric sheep, but maybe computers do sing sad songs."
In 2013, Tzoukmanis released ‘Hope Is The Sister Of Despair’, issued here for the first time on vinyl with 4 previously unreleased tracks.
The album was made following the end of a relationship and the happy/sad feeling is everywhere in this music. Sequences twinkle and nag, soft pads pour balm on tired ears and when drums do appear they provide an intimate framework rather than a call to the dance floor. The album taps into a rich vein of sequencer romanticism, from Tangerine Dream-obsessed-‘Berlin School’ daydreamers to the whole nebula of music inspired by Warp’s Artificial Intelligence series. It also looks forward, prefiguring the return today, in troubled times, to the comforting inner space of ‘90s-worshipping ambient techno.
The German word ‘weltschmerz’, roughly translating as ‘world sadness’, fits this music well. The melancholy it inspires feels collective, almost heartening. Sorrow might be said to infuse the technology’s basic building blocks – Leibniz’s binary ‘one’ bereft of its ‘zero’, its presence twinned with absence. But there is hope, too, in the network of actions and decisions that have been fashioned here into melody and rhythm.
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Getting their start in the mid-1960s as a covers band, the Surrey-based group that began as The Late and who would be forced to take the name Unicorn mid-way through the recording of this excellent debut LP soon understood that originals made better sense, pointed in that direction by the success of Crosby, Stills and Nash. Given greater depth by Gerry Rafferty’s producer, Hugh Murphy, Uphill All The Way makes for superb listening, the musical craftsmanship yielding intricate textures beneath Ken Baker’s dreamy lyrics, the intelligent folk rock complete with country and western underpinnings. A must for UK folk rock fans!
Psychedelic pop act Jawbone had ample talent and keen industry connections yet remained unjustly obscure. Core members had been active in The Mirage, who signed with CBS and later recorded for Phillips; drummer David Hynes and bassist/future Elton John Band mainstay Dee Murray briefly joined the Spencer Davis Group, but regrouped as Portobello Explosion, which became Jawbone. Their rare self-titled debut, released by Carnaby in 1970, had an undercurrent of Americana, and there’s a one-off cover of The Beatles’ ‘Across The Universe’; this edition features bonus track ‘Way, Way Down,’ a non-LP Carnaby 45.
Treffen sich ein Ossi, ein Wessi und ein Ösi. Was wie der Beginn eines etwas abgeschmackter Witzes klingen mag, das lässt sich rückblickend wohl ganz ohne Umschweife sagen, stellt sich vielmehr sowohl als der Gründungsmythos wie auch der Auftakt einer der erfolgreichsten und spannendsten Rockbands unserer Zeit dar. Die Rede ist von Kadavar, jener Gruppe, die, 2010 in Berlin gegründet, in den letzten 15 Jahren auf den Plakaten der gigantischsten Rockfestivals der Welt immer höher kletterte und heute in einer Liga spielt mit den größten Größen aus Psychedelic und Stoner Rock. Kadavar stehen nach rauschhaftem Ritt auf Augenhöhe mit jenen Legenden, von denen sie selbst geprägt sind, sind zur Institution geworden. Eine Erfolgsgeschichte, trotz des Niedergangs der Musikindustrie - und daher um so strahlender. These are self-made men.
Die Box, limitiert auf 500 Stück im Handel, enthält das Debüt Album in seiner Original Version mit 6 Songs auf transparent roter 180gr Vinyl.
Die Bonus LP "Demos & Rarities" erscheint als Picture Vinyl, die im Artwork Bilder des Original Master Tapes des Albums nutzt.
Neben den Demo Aufnahmen der Songs "Forgotten Past" und "Black Sun" befindet sich auf der LP auch der Song "Tommorrow's Dead", der zuvor nur auf der Vinyl Compilation "10 Years 8MM Musik" erschienen ist. Der Track "Living In Your Head" war damals B-Seite der Single "Creature of the Demon" und "The Man I Shot" & "Broken Wings" waren Teil des Split Album mit Aqua Nebula Oscillator "White Ring".
Nun werden all diese Songs aus der prägenden Zeit des Debüt Albums erstmals gemeinsam auf Vinyl veröffentlicht.
“Gun The Man Down ” by Dice The boss aka Pama Dice was first released in 1969 on the Trojan sublabel Joe with the track “Thief” by Joe Mansano on the B side. “Thief” is also reissued by us on a separate single dedicated to Joe Mansano.
“Your Boss DJ” was also released in 1969 on the Joe Label with the track “Read The News” by Joe All Stars on the flip.
Both titles are skinhead reggae classics that have never been reissued until now.
About Joe Mansano:
“Gun The Man Down ” and "Your Boss DJ" were both credited to Joe Mansano, real name Joel Mansano, who also produced the songs. Joel was a Trinidadian who moved to London in 1963. He was a record shop seller, song writer and producer and became heavily involved in the early reggae era producing and writing tracks for several Jamaican artists, enough for Trojan to dedicate a label to him: the “Joe” label aimed at the emerging Skinheads market. He also owned a shop the Joe's Record Centre in Brixton and recorded two handfuls of singles under the name Joe The boss…
About Dice The Boss/ Pama Dice:
Not much is known about Dice The Boss. His real name was Hopeton Reid and he was alternatively known as “Pama Dice”. But we know more about Pama Dice thanks to Gaz Mayall!
"Pama Dice was one of Prince Busters ‘no-shoes’ ‘Sunday school gang in west Kingston Jamaica. According to the Prince there wasn’t a car that Pama couldn’t nick. He used to nick the cars uptown with no shoes on & take them to the ghetto to teach the youth to drive. They were called the Sunday school or no-shoes gang as they were so poor that they only had one pair of shoes each & only wore them to church on Sundays. Pama Dice rose in the ranks to become one of Prince Busters main sound system DJs before emigrating to London in the late sixties where he MC’d for Duke Vin & recorded many great records for the UK/Jamaican booming new Reggae market in its infancy on the shoulders of the Bluebeat & Ska & Rock Steady music scene."
The various artists alternative sound concept (UDE001) is the first reference, presenting a variety of styles and sounds which represents a sound personality from a listening point.
These artists residing in Malaga, Madrid and Barcelona have participated with the first project to give the presentation.
-Caradusanto, multidisciplinary artist includes “Semillas” made with analog modular and ramdomized sequences.
-Dark Vektor, a pioneer in the electro scene, surprises us with “En Mitg De L’Espai”, sounds that are unusual for him and keeping the same relationship with his clarity when hearing it, sung with his native linguistics and message inside.
-Intervalo, shows us a B side where the broken rhythm predominates, its harmonic essence and melody continues to be its identification, we talk about “Solitude”.
-Guillermo Garate, innovates with electro sounds achieving the same thing, another B side of this artist “Larga”.
-Tio solo by habit in its production slides on synthesizers and analog drum machines, thus achieving “Dark Fluid” an accelerated drum & Bass rhythm differentiated from it with atmospheric and acid pads.
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Operation Sole like the summer, hopefully, imminent; “Operazione Sole” like the 1967 song by Peppino Di Capri, considered, perhaps wrongly, the first ska in Italy, but certainly the first to talk about Jamaica and upbeat rhythms.
The record you have in your hand is intended to be a testimony to how much the sounds born in Kingston between the '60s and '70s had a significant influence on local pop.
With the first explosion of reggae in England between 1968 and 1970, as well as with the rise of Bob Marley to a worldwide cult phenomenon, parallel to the all-English phenomenon of Two Tone and the ska revival, Italy, always attracted by the new trends not only English, he certainly couldn't stay on the sidelines.
Therefore these innovative and unknown upbeat sounds, derived from the blues of the 1950s and mixed with a Caribbean sauce, have also taken hold in the Bel Paese.
It began as early as 1959 with the song “Nessuno” by Mina, considered to all intents and purposes a Jamaican shuffle, to arrive in a few years at blue-beat (I4 di Lucca, Claudio Casavecchi) and ska (Margherita, Peppino Di Capri , Silvano Silvi, Renzo and Virginia) and be exposed to the first reggae (for example Jo Fedeli and his Italian version of “Israelites” by Desmond Dekker). Thus, we quickly reach the end of the decade of the economic boom and the culture, styles, references change: everything becomes more busy (on a cultural, artistic and political level).
After a stalemate phase that lasted more than five years, Bob Marley's reggae (considered a sort of new Messiah) conquers the planet, including Italy: the producers and artists, even at a high level, for a few years do not remain at all indifferent to this novelty and decide to introduce the "upbeat", primarily reggae, into the various pop repertoires: well-known names such as
Loredana Bertè, Mario Lavezzi, Rino Gaetano, Ivano Fossati, Ilona Staller, Adriano Celentano, Edoardo Bennato throw themselves headlong into new sonic adventures, in a pioneering way, but often with excellent results.
The "Operazione Sole" collection wants to take the credit, instead, of proposing and discovering lesser-known artists (with the exception of Gino Santercole, former associate and relative of Il Molleggiato), often real meteors in the Italian musical panorama, who have tried to achieve (or achieve again) success by adapting the pop that was so popular in those years to the new black sounds prevailing in the West.
We are in the early 80s and we range from the most classic reggae, to Italo-disco contaminated by dub up to the true Neapolitan style which, on more than one occasion, in its being endemically "black" and full of groove, has wrung out the watch out for agreements made in Kingston and London.
“Operation Sun”: a pleasant philological work, but surrounded by an equally pleasant aura of disengagement.
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Exact Repro OF THE Original With 4 Bonus Tracks. Japanese country rock act Gypsy Blood must be heard to be believed. Released on Vertigo in 1971, their sole LP showed the group simply bursting with talent, Kiyoshi Hayami’s mandolin exceptional and the masterful soft-rock production courtesy of Miki Curtis; drummer Eiichi Tsukasa had earlier been in the Helpful Soul, organist Katsuo Ohno had been in the Spiders, and guitarist/vocalist Hiroaki Nakamura later played in Buzz with future YMO member Yukihiro Takahashi, while none other than Alan Merrill of ‘I Love R‘n’R’ fame completes the picture on piano. A beautiful album, and a very rare beast!
Before joining Dick Cuthell in jazz fusion act Trifle, keyboardist Alan Fealdman and drummer Chico Greenwood formed Jasper with bassist Jon Taylor, guitarist Steve Radford and singer/harmonica player, Nick Payne. On sole LP Liberation, released by Spark in 1969, Jasper skirts psychedelia, proto-prog and blues rock, the unusual hybrid a fluid sound that’s difficult to place. Along with unusual arrangements of ‘Baby Please Don’t Go,’ ‘St Louis Blues’ and Donovan’s ‘Cuttin’ Out,’ there are baroque motifs of the title track, repeated at varying intervals. For fans of multidimensional prog and cutting edge blues-rock.
Known as ‘the Architect of Rock ‘n’ Roll,’ the flamboyant rhythm and blues extrovert, Little Richard, made an incredible impact with unorthodox piano playing and rasping, shouted vocals, yielding a series of pivotal hits in the mid-1950s, but he abandoned secular music for gospel following a tour of Australia in 1957. Lured back into rock by promoter Don Arden, his UK tour featuring The Beatles as support, Little Richard Is Back was his comeback set for Vee Jay, his voice now deeper and seasoned; the range of covers are tackled with plenty of pep, and original ‘Groovy Little Suzy’ was co-written by Harry Nillson. All hail the King!
The American psych pop quintet Paper Garden had established a solid reputation performing to university students in their native New York and in surrounding states in 1967-68 before being commissioned to cut a debut LP with British producer Geoff Turner for Musicor, the resultant sessions yielding a self-contained concept album of totally new work. With sitars and tabla on some songs trading places with baroque elements and orchestrated interludes, the breezy psych pop gets pulled in all manner of directions and often sounds closer to the British psychedelic sound than anything Stateside. A rare and rich listening experience!
Fresh from their US tour supporting Black Sabbath, Brooklyn-based heavy metal trio Sir Lord Baltimore expanded to a quartet for the recording of their self-titled sophomore album, released by Mercury in late 1971. The new addition was uitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Joey Dambra, brother of guitarist co-founder, Louis Dambra, adding a dual-guitar element to their hefty sound. The album begins with the epic “Man From Manhattan,” a symbolic allegory of a resurrected Christian icon in a new setting; in contrast, “Where Are We Going” captured the rawness of the group in live glory and “Chicago Lives” a twin-guitar attack. Somehow, the band did not survive long after its release, though Joey later recorded with John Lennon; this reissue spins at 45 RPM for maximum fidelity.
Proto-prog act Titus Groan came together in London from disparate influences: drummer Jim Toomey, who later played in the Tourists, had a trad jazz background, and then played in a soul act with saxophonist/flutist/oboist Tony Priestland; bassist John Lee had played with jazz saxophonist Dick Morrissey, and guitarist/keyboardist Stuart Cowell was a blues fan, hence the diverse directions of their sole LP. Rare 12-inch ‘Open The Door Homer’ features their cover of the unreleased Bob Dylan song that was also tackled by Fairport Convention, originals ‘Woman Of The World’ and ‘Liverpool’ between blues rock, jazz rock and prog.
Take a trip through alien worlds and bizarre scenarios in a psychedelic Hero’s Journey of thrilling and surreal art from the mind of celebrated artist and composer Jem Panufnik. The Legend of Kaptain Karnival is a highly original lavishly illustrated book that also includes a CD soundtrack recorded under his Jem Stone moniker.
This highly original 94-page, lavishly illustrated book includes a specially created musical soundtrack with an array of incredible musicians including Ben Castle (Quincy Jones, Elton John, Hans Zimmer, Radiohead) and Dominic Glover (Incognito, Primal Scream, Brand New Heavies, Orbital), recorded under his Jem Stone moniker: the kind of deep, hypnotic and delicious grooves Mr Panufnik is renowned for.
The book is 24.5cm square and the 96 pages are printed and bound on heavyweight 150gsm paper with a hardback cover.
The genesis of "Nosthaigia" is as fascinating as the music itself. Onra spent several years living in Thailand, immersing himself in the vibrant culture and scouring local record shops for rare gems. The result is a collection of Thai songs from various genres, all sourced on 7 inches. These short instrumentals serve as time capsules, transporting listeners to a bygone era filled with nostalgia and longing.
Produced entirely on the MPC1000 in 2017 and revisited in 2020, "Nosthaigia" is a testament to the power of serendipity and artistic evolution. What began as a casual exploration of unfamiliar musical territory blossomed into a deeply personal and meaningful project for Onra. Amidst a series of unfortunate life events, he found solace and inspiration in the beats he had crafted years prior.
Each track on "Nosthaigia" is a reflection of his journey, a sonic expression of longing and introspection. Onra describes the process of creating the album as a cathartic release, a way of letting go of old memories and embracing the present.
Despite the somber undertones, there is a quiet beauty to "Nosthaigia" that is impossible to ignore. Onra's vintage production skills breathe life into each track, infusing them with warmth and depth. From the haunting melodies of "Until The End" to the hypnotic rhythms of "Close Your Eyes And Remember" every moment feels poignant.
Onra's decision to "remove all the bangers" from the album speaks volumes about his artistic integrity and dedication to authenticity. "Nosthaigia" is not about flashy beats or catchy hooks; it's about raw emotion and genuine expression. It's a reminder that music has the power to heal, to uplift, and to connect us to something greater than ourselves.
In the end, "Nosthaigia" is more than just an album; it's a testament to the human experience. It's a reminder that even in our darkest moments, there is beauty to be found, if only we're willing to listen.
"The wash of flangers & shimmery reverb have been the foundation in Cali psych ever since the Byrds went electric. And while that sound might've dropped off occasionally, it never dropped out. The Velvets minimalist stylings were infused into the mix by The Dream Syndicate in the early 80's & thus a game changer was born. Clay Allison, Opal, Green On Red all took their charge from that current. Then the Shoegaze scene of the 90's looked at those bands as vectors, things got a little more drenched, so yet more seeds were sown into the fertile terroir. Cut to current climes & the bay area is teeming with the latest iterations: Children Maybe Later, Now, & Cindy easily come to mind. But curiously the band most steeped in the mohair constitution is April Magazine, who (thus far) have been content in the shadows. Up till now they've seemed like characters plucked out of a Kazuo Ishiguo novel-mysterious & ethereal-but perhaps this pressing of last year's cassette only release will flush them out. 'Wesley's Convertible Tape For The South' shows the band defly balancing all those that have come before them while also incorporating flourishes of Les Rallizes DeNudes, Hallelujahs & Nagisa Ni Te into the pageantry . So in a way, April Magazine is transforming the landscape yet again; denser, fuzzier, lush & wistfully challenging. 'Wesley's Convertible Tape For The South' is the band's 1st vinyl release stateside (an LP of older tracks was released last year via a UK only label) so no import tariffs! What were once whispers are now proclamations. Just because you don't know them doesn't mean you can't love them. So grab a copy & hug it out amongst yourselves." -- Tom Lax (Siltbreeze Records)
Repressed for the first time in 2 years, Note price change. Sermonizing Black Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and the benefits of a healthy and just lifestyle during the height of the Bad Boy/Roc-AFella era of nihilistic excess in the late 90's, Dead Prez also signed to a major label (Loud/Columbia) despite leaning much more towards the burgeoning indie aesthetics of the day. But this was a good thing – using major label muscle to wake up righteous hip-hop fans who might have fallen asleep at the wheel. The group itself – consisting of MCs stic.man and M-1, who produced or co-produced most of the duo’s music – was formed in Tallahassee, Florida in the early 1990's.
By later that decade, the duo had started making significant waves, having their music heard on the soundtracks to “Soul In The Hole” and “Slam,” as well as appearing on albums by Big Pun and The Beatnuts. By 1998, they released their first official single, the serious, stark “Police State,” on Loud, appropriately brought to the label by Lord Jamar of Brand Nubian. After building a solid rep over the next two years with fiery live performances, in 2000 they unleashed their debut album, Let’s Get Free.
The album was a welcome return to provocative and often radically political rhetoric that hearkened back to hip-hop forebears including The Coup, Public Enemy and KRS-One (as well as poetic descendants like the Last Poets and Watts Prophets). Let’s Get Free was critically acclaimed and benefited from multiple singles, including the infectious, thick analog drive of “Hip-Hop” “It’s Bigger Than Hip-Hop,” with a remix co-produced by a young Kanye West; “Mind Sex” (with Abiodun Oyewole of the Last Poets); and the poignant “I’m An African.”
But the singles weren’t the only worthy songs, as just about every cut here has deeper meaning than most full albums by their early 2000's peers. Highlights: the thought-provoking, anti-drug album opener “Wolves”; “We Want Freedom” “They Schools” and “Propaganda” . All in all, this is one of the more underrated and possibly Top 5 fully-realized political hip-hop albums of all time.
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The legendary multi-session recording made by Gert Palmcrantz on December 6–7, 1976, at Jazzpuben Stampen (Pawnshop) in Stockholm, Sweden. Regarded by many audiophiles as one of the best sounding jazz recordings of the 20th Century.
"Learn To Die is a bold new step for a group of musicians, artists, and writers that has at least nominally been considered a punk band. A stylistic overhaul. For those who have been following along, it’ll carry some surprises. Slender began over a decade ago as a semi-improvisational cassette recording project, a casual collaboration between a few friends that was initially documented by two self-titled cassette-only releases released in 2014 and 2015 respectively, now both unavailable and out of print. Most fans, however, will know Slender for their two most recent releases, Walled Garden (2017) and Time On Earth (2019), both released on the tastemaking London art-punk label La Vida Es Un Mus. "Their prior work has earned them comparisons to anarcho-punks Crass and The Snipers, lo-fi flagbearers Swell Maps and Pink Reason, and artrockers Cromagnon and Amon Düül. Here, however, such comparisons feel largely unfounded and the band feels somewhat peerless. Moments of artpunk brutalism, lo-fi experimentalism, and kosmiche detours grace the fabric of Learn To Die, but the album reaches for more than pastiche. Teasing the rarified worlds of chamber music and musique concrete, Slender manages something intangible and strange. A vocoded voice intones multi-lingual poems alongside tinny guitars and sampled strings and flutes. Three chord janglepunk anthems arise suddenly out of a cosmic mist crafted by analogue synths reciting the poetry of machines. The album moves in ways reminiscent of works by artists as varied and singular as Nobukazu Takemura, Chuquimamani-Condori, Coil, and Robert Wyatt, but it doesn’t necessarily occupy the same realm as any of them.” – Leah B. Levinson
“Memo PST was formed in 2022 by longtime associates Orville Neeley and Chris Shaw. “The band released a self recorded cassette demo and played a handful of shows in California before setting up shop at Discount Mirrors (the neighborhood studio owned by John Dwyer and Eric Bauer) to lay down an LP. “Recorded the first five days in May of 2023, the debut album from Memo PST features twelve blasts of raw and primitive Los Angeles punk rock, with Orville Neeley (Bad Sports, OBN IIIs) handling songwriting duties and Chris Shaw (Ex-Cult, Vile Nation) handling vocals and lyrics. “The debut long player from Memo PST is everything fans have come to expect from the two longtime fixtures in underground rock, but also features some of their most memorable songs yet, including ‘I Used To Be A Pretty Boy’ the debut single from the band that sold out in hours via record label In The Red. “The black and white album cover photo (taken behind the iconic rocker shop Worship) and the stark presentation that Memo PST has thus far deployed is a clear statement that this is punk made for punks, and the band has little to no regard for current trends created and championed by those less informed. “Written, recorded, and released in Los Angeles, this is the latest chapter in the LA transplants discography, and only the beginning of what we can expect to hear from the songwriting duo. “Rounding out the live lineup is life long Los Angeles punk Danny Clodfelter on bass and San Clemente surf punk Jackson Todd on drums. Crumple up your scribblings, this is Memo PST.”
Eight years since the breathtaking Somewhere Anywhere EP, The Mad Walls return to re-ignite psych rock with this gorgeous, floatily heavy, effortlessly groovy and sublimely sinuous debut LP. Driven by bone shaking acoustic guitar, visceral drums, wonderfully trippy basslines and the throwaway perfection of Christopher Mercado’s spooked vocals. Pure rock n’ roll yet devoid of cliché. Informed by, but no way in hock to, early MC5, Skip Spence, Sonic Youth, Syd Barrett and Jefferson Airplane when they still all lived together.
Recorded on tape in Mercado’s garage, there’s a DIY heart with epic results across sixteen songs. Only one track over three minutes and some under thirty seconds. “It’s just chatter about life and human feelings. Stylized human expression”. - Is Christopher's self effacing explanation of his mind bending, playful, storytelling. It opens with the walloping drum canter/bass attack of WHO WANTS TO DIE FOR RELIGION. Passes through the furious distorted acoustic guitar solo on I TELL YOU HOW I FEEL. The woozy, elastic time-stretching of COOL TRIPPER. The brief, funky lurch of IN YOUR DREAM YOU ARE NO ONE. The almost lush, cinematic SEVEN DAYS which conjures Serge Gainsbourg by way of Moby Grape. HIP COMMA’s floaty strut and the groovy raga of MAKA THE NATIVE, which has not one but two ‘breath solos’. CLOUDS OF DUST is a skeletal Krautrock fragment and THERE ONLY IS a luminous psych-pop single. Final track APPLES ends the album with a sinewy twelve bar blues and a killer psych guitar break. Bliss.
Somehow the MAD WALLS manage woozily florid and sharp as a blade. Studiedly detailed but effortless. Whip smart and dumb. And as we said at the start - just gorgeous…
Eight years since the breathtaking Somewhere Anywhere EP, The Mad Walls return to re-ignite psych rock with this gorgeous, floatily heavy, effortlessly groovy and sublimely sinuous debut LP. Driven by bone shaking acoustic guitar, visceral drums, wonderfully trippy basslines and the throwaway perfection of Christopher Mercado’s spooked vocals. Pure rock n’ roll yet devoid of cliché. Informed by, but no way in hock to, early MC5, Skip Spence, Sonic Youth, Syd Barrett and Jefferson Airplane when they still all lived together.
Recorded on tape in Mercado’s garage, there’s a DIY heart with epic results across sixteen songs. Only one track over three minutes and some under thirty seconds. “It’s just chatter about life and human feelings. Stylized human expression”. - Is Christopher's self effacing explanation of his mind bending, playful, storytelling. It opens with the walloping drum canter/bass attack of WHO WANTS TO DIE FOR RELIGION. Passes through the furious distorted acoustic guitar solo on I TELL YOU HOW I FEEL. The woozy, elastic time-stretching of COOL TRIPPER. The brief, funky lurch of IN YOUR DREAM YOU ARE NO ONE. The almost lush, cinematic SEVEN DAYS which conjures Serge Gainsbourg by way of Moby Grape. HIP COMMA’s floaty strut and the groovy raga of MAKA THE NATIVE, which has not one but two ‘breath solos’. CLOUDS OF DUST is a skeletal Krautrock fragment and THERE ONLY IS a luminous psych-pop single. Final track APPLES ends the album with a sinewy twelve bar blues and a killer psych guitar break. Bliss.
Somehow the MAD WALLS manage woozily florid and sharp as a blade. Studiedly detailed but effortless. Whip smart and dumb. And as we said at the start - just gorgeous…
-Produced by Sirplus with scratches by Exile.
-The vocal version of "Home" featuring Blu is exclusive to this vinyl release.
Sixteen beats in honor of the sixteen squares in Sirplus's Akai MPC 2000XL. Classic beats from a classic machine. No eight outs, just straight out the stereo jack. You can hear the time that was put into crafting a clean sound even without the detailed mixing from DAW. Raw beats from Sirplus with help from Exile on the turntables. That's it. Also take note of the vinyl only vocal feature from Blu on the last track. This version will not be on digital platforms.
Like an unsent love letter to a psychedelic London where everyone is trying to find their way to a secret Television Personalities gig, Cuneiform Tabs emerge with an astounding debut of lo-fi pop and DIY experimentation. A hazy collage of joyful heartaches, twisted children's TV themes and sing-song melodies, the album echoes the sounds of '60s AM radio from a dozen narrow alleyways to the North.
Over 18 months, the Tabs' Matt Bieyle and Sterling Mackinnon traded 4-track tapes between the Bay Area and the UK. While they previously played together in indie band Violent Change, the duo's physical distance and their songwriting process of building, blurring and distorting across the Atlantic would create something no one saw coming. Grabbing any instruments at their disposal and splitting vocal duties, Bieyle and Mackinnon pushed their Tascam to its limit to make glittering, odd-shaped gems.
There is an insular feel to Cuneiform Tabs, suited for late nights after the entire city has stumbled into dreamtime or lazy afternoons when you can't quite recall where you need to be, but you know you won't make it there on time. It's like a pirate radio show where Bob Pollard alternates Swell Maps and Cleaners From Venus records while randomly unplugging various bits of gear and reading passages from a book on R.D. Laing.
Originally released in a hyper-limited artist edition, W.25TH / Superior Viaduct is thrilled to bring this kaleidoscopic LP to a wider audience.
MERMAID'S TAILS ist ein kraftvoller Mid-Tempo-Track mit Deep-Soul-Flavour, Psyche-Einflüssen und einem starken Hip-Hop-Feeling. Der Song führt die Hörer durch die verträumten Sehnsüchte der perfekten Liebe. Die Melodie und der Text sind sowohl poetisch als auch trivial. Der Track verschmilzt Fantasie und Realität in einer Psyche Soul Stimmung. Der Bass ist schwer und tief, das Schlagzeug klingt wie ein Hip Hop Sample, während das Rhodes und die Gitarren satt sind. Zusammen mit dem Fuzz-Gegengesang und den Flötenimprovisationen bilden sie die perfekte Musik zu Rachel Yarabous intensiver und doch sehr sanfter Stimme.
KICK OFF THE ROAD ist ein Uptempo-Song mit bluesigen Strophen, einem starken, treibenden Beat und einem schweren, stampfenden Bass.
Sie führen uns zum funkigen Refrain voller Orgelschläge und Drum-Breaks. Das Stax-Feeling der Band vermischt sich mit den Einflüssen von James Brown bis zur Bridge, die den Song in eine erhabene, psychedelische Klammer treibt. In diesem Song singt Rachel Yarabou die Geschichte eines Mädchens, das seinen eigenen Weg gehen will und es vorzieht, die Straße zu verlassen, bis sie am Ziel ist. Christelle Amoussou, die Songwriterin der Band, schenkt uns eine weitere Soul-Hymne für die Freiheit und die Emanzipation der Frau.
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Last delivered 2 years ago available to reorder, subject to availability
Die britische, in Nashville beheimatete Bluesrockerin Joanne Shaw Taylor stellt nach dem allseits gelobten Vorgänger "Nobody's Fool" aus dem Jahr 2022 erneut mühelos ihr Blues-Rock-Können und ihre sich ständig weiterentwickelnden Fähigkeiten als Singer-Songwriterin unter Beweis. Ihr neuntes Studioalbum "Heavy Soul" unterstreicht Joannes Gitarrenskills und ihre sofort erkennbaren, rauchigen, aber dennoch sinnlichen Vocals in sieben brandneuen Originaltiteln und drei fesselnden Coverversionen von Van Morrison, Joan Armatrading und Joe Simon. Joanne Shaw Taylor bekräftigt mit "Heavy Soul" erneut ihren Ruf als kraftvolle moderne Bluesrock-Musikerin und Ikone ihrer Generation.
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Bassist, bandleader and composer Orlando le Fleming continues to make music that crosses genres as readily as he crosses the Atlantic - after 20 years in New York City, he"s back in his native UK, forging new pathways and renewing old partnerships. His love for the acoustic tradition continues unabated alongside his deep affection for the robust, muscular electric fusion that emerged in the 1980s. Old London friends Tom Cawley (piano/keys) and James Maddren (drums) completed the rhythm section: new acquaintance Nathaniel Facey was picked from the ranks of the UK"s brightest young saxophone players: NYC stalwart Philip Dizack flew in from the US to play trumpet. Orlando"s old schoolfriend Chris Martin contributes a starkly sincere vocal performance, singing words from a poem by Persian poet Rumi, in unison with Orlando"s daughter Nadia.
2LP - schwarzes, schweres Standard-Doppelvinyl; enthält einen exklusiven Hidden Track, bei dem der handgeschriebene Liedtext auf der D-Seite eingraviert ist.
Otherness" ist das zweite Studioalbum von Ferris & Sylvester. Die Musik erstreckt sich über ein Spektrum von psychedelischem Folk, Blues, Rock und Soul - und doch sind die Songs durch das starke und lebendige Storytelling des Duos verbunden. Anklänge an Alabama Shakes, Madison Cunningham und die Teskey Brothers schwingen mit. Aufgenommen im Studio der beiden auf einer Bandmaschine aus den 1960er Jahren und veröffentlicht über ihr Label Archtop Records, widmet das Ehepaar das Album "jedem, der sich als Außenseiter fühlt".
