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Aboriginal Australian blues, country, and gospel by the great Kankawa Nagarra, Queen of the Bandaral Ngadu Delta. These intimate recordings introduce the world outside Australia to Kankawa Nagarra, a beloved Walmatjarri Elder, teacher, human rights advocate, and environmental activist. Born in the traditional lands of the Gooniyandi and Walmatjarri peoples of North Western Australia, Kankawa grew up with the tribal songs at cultural ceremonies. When she was taken from her family to the mission, she was taught hymns and Gospel songs with the choir. On the pastoral lease where she was sent to work, Country music was everywhere. She first heard rock and roll on the station gramophone. But it wasn't until many years later her musical journey truly began, when she stopped to listen to a busker outside a shop in Derby, Western Australia. It was the first time she'd heard the blues, and it awakened something in her. Through it, she found a medium to express all her thoughts and feelings, and it inspired her to turn these into songs. The empathy of her message extends from those she sees struggling around her to the entire planet being ravaged for profit. These twelve tracks, recorded live near her home of Wangkatjungka, WA, offer a cross-section of Kankawa's entire musical experience - shifting gracefully between musical styles, languages, and moods, backed by the buzz of night bugs and call of daytime birds. In turns humorous, warm, and real about the hardships of life and the pillage of the land she holds dear, the record is the closest thing you can get to spending time with the great Kankawa herself. We are extremely grateful to release this record alongside Flippin Yeah Records and in collaboration with Kankawa Nagarra. High-quality vinyl comes with a four-page booklet featuring translations, stories, and track notes by the artist.

Aboriginal Australian blues, country, and gospel by the great Kankawa Nagarra, Queen of the Bandaral Ngadu Delta. These intimate recordings introduce the world outside Australia to Kankawa Nagarra, a beloved Walmatjarri Elder, teacher, human rights advocate, and environmental activist. Born in the traditional lands of the Gooniyandi and Walmatjarri peoples of North Western Australia, Kankawa grew up with the tribal songs at cultural ceremonies. When she was taken from her family to the mission, she was taught hymns and Gospel songs with the choir. On the pastoral lease where she was sent to work, Country music was everywhere. She first heard rock and roll on the station gramophone. But it wasn't until many years later her musical journey truly began, when she stopped to listen to a busker outside a shop in Derby, Western Australia. It was the first time she'd heard the blues, and it awakened something in her. Through it, she found a medium to express all her thoughts and feelings, and it inspired her to turn these into songs. The empathy of her message extends from those she sees struggling around her to the entire planet being ravaged for profit. These twelve tracks, recorded live near her home of Wangkatjungka, WA, offer a cross-section of Kankawa's entire musical experience - shifting gracefully between musical styles, languages, and moods, backed by the buzz of night bugs and call of daytime birds. In turns humorous, warm, and real about the hardships of life and the pillage of the land she holds dear, the record is the closest thing you can get to spending time with the great Kankawa herself. We are extremely grateful to release this record alongside Flippin Yeah Records and in collaboration with Kankawa Nagarra. High-quality vinyl comes with a four-page booklet featuring translations, stories, and track notes by the artist.

DREAMLESS VEIL make their debut with the new album, Every Limb of the Flood. The band, featuring members of INTER ARMA, ARTIFICIAL BRAIN, and PSYCROPTIC manifest terrifying Blackened Extreme Metal and offer one of the year's most haunting releases. Every Limb of the Flood is a concept album. Through tracks such as "A Generation of Eyes", "Saturnism", and "Cyanide Mine" Vocalist Mike Paparo and co. task the listener to consider what it would be like for an individual to fully disappear. DREAMLESS VEIL delves into this murk through 8 tracks - dramatic swells, melodic crescendos, and abrasive blast-beat poundings make way to more introspective moments ultimately resulting in pure horror. Paparo explores the concept of corporeal disintegration with pained shrieks and disembodied bellows, resulting in one of the most unchained performances of his storied career. Lyrics for the record show, but don't tell. DREAMLESS VEIL's concept alludes to misery leading to grotesquery - The opener "Dim Golden Rave" throws the listener into an ambiguous time and place: "Grief, spiritless, collapses against the filth-ridden street". The second track, "A Generation of Eyes" follows this narrative by invoking Neil Young, quoting him to the extent of "rust never sleeps." What ensues is a grief so powerful it decomposes from within. The end result manifests in the album closer "Dreamless" - the body is now fully discarded, hinting at a possible enlightenment through a horrible, gruesome process. Sonically, Every Limb of the Flood is a caustic, corrosive journey. Critically acclaimed drummer David Haley flexes some of his most creative drum work to date, dragging the listener through wild tempo changes, breakneck speeds that come to sudden halts, while guitarist Dan Gargiulo (ARTIFICIAL BRAIN) interweaves disorienting guitar madness. Recorded by Brett Bamberger (REVOCATION) Every Limb of the Flood was mixed by Gargiulo and mastered by Colin Marston (Gorguts, Krallice, and more.)

For as much as Sammy Rae & The Friends may be a band, this collective of dreamers and artists considers themselves a family first. That all-for-one and one-for-all camaraderie ignites their unforgettable and can’t-miss live shows, which serve as a catharsis for both the musicians and their fervent audience. Fronted by singer/songwriter Sammy Rae and honed through years of touring, the group is capable of flourishing in any spotlight thanks to its signature blend of palpable chemistry, deft virtuosity, and vocal fireworks.

Their sound, which has attracted new fans by the thousands in the past few years, is a unique mélange of Sammy’s influences: classic rock, folk and funk and sprinkled with soul and jazz. Rae has been building toward this moment since moving to NYC from Connecticut in her early 20s. Finding herself without a built-in peer group, she simply built it herself: the literal and proverbial Friends. When she started playing shows, she made sure the audience was part of the family too. Everything that’s happened since, from the EPs The Good Life (2018) and Let’s Throw a Party (2021) to sold-out shows in major markets and secondary markets alike across North America and the UK & Europe, to high-profile festival sets around the world, including Bonnaroo’s main stage, Sound on Sound and more, has been based on friends telling friends. As they prepare for the release of their long-awaited debut full-length album in 2024, Something for Everybody, Sammy Rae & The Friends have come to represent more than just a band: they are a full-on movement being adopted with a refreshingly diverse clientele.

Exzakt returns with ''LoveHertz,'' a masterfully crafted 10-track album released on Monotone that showcases his evolved veteran skills. This album is a flavorful fusion of Electro, Miami Bass, and Freestyle, exuding tons of character and energy. ''LoveHertz'' features a diverse array of tracks, from the powerful female vocals to the soulful vocoder ballads, and Exzakt's signature raw vocals. The standout tracks ''Don't Know How To Forget,'' ''Nothing Wrong,'' and ''Inside My Dream'' highlight Exzakt's ability to blend genres seamlessly, creating an immersive listening experience. With ''LoveHertz,'' Exzakt proves once again why he is a respected name in the electronic music scene, delivering a unique and compelling album that is sure to captivate listeners and leave a lasting impression.

Timeless Fairytale ist eine neue internationale Melodic-Metal-Band, gegründet vom dänischen Sänger Henrik Brockmann (ursprünglich Frontmann von Royal Hunt und
Evil Masquerade) und dem italienischen Gitarristen/Songwriter Luca Sellitto (Stamina). Die Band ist ein wahr gewordener Traum für alle Fans von eingängigen und eleganten Gesangsmelodien, klassisch angehauchten Instrumentalparts und majestätisch-bombastischer Musik. Kling wie Royal Hunt, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Masterplan oder Scorpions.

Timeless Fairytale ist eine neue internationale Melodic-Metal-Band, gegründet vom dänischen Sänger Henrik Brockmann (ursprünglich Frontmann von Royal Hunt und
Evil Masquerade) und dem italienischen Gitarristen/Songwriter Luca Sellitto (Stamina). Die Band ist ein wahr gewordener Traum für alle Fans von eingängigen und eleganten Gesangsmelodien, klassisch angehauchten Instrumentalparts und majestätisch-bombastischer Musik. Kling wie Royal Hunt, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Masterplan oder Scorpions.

Jade Hairpins waste no time fulfilling their second album's titular demand. From its harmony-drenched opening note to its baroque-anthemic conclusion, Get Me the Good Stuff is positively loaded with musical ideas, an absurdist buffet of sound and aesthetic that comes with one hell of a floorshow as the Hairpins stack those ideas higher and higher, almost daring them to crash to the floor. Instead, those elements - punksploitation, power pop, baggy, funk, and Italo disco are just some touchstones - are not only held aloft, they defy gravity and convention. These pyrotechnics are, in true Jade Hairpins fashion, something of a sleight of hand. While the music swaggers and gallops, Get Me the Good Stuff grapples with anxiety and self-doubt, obfuscating pain and alienation with sparkling wit and some straight-up ravers. Get Me the Good Stuff opens with one of those, "Let It Be Me," in which Jonah Falco shouts lyrics about being alone with one's shortcomings against guitars, synths, and harmonized vocals that are on the verge of closing in. The song is just over 90 seconds long, hitting with the gnarled-barb ferocity of punk and the gleeful insanity of theatrical art rock. It is, in other words, overwhelming. Or it would be if Jade Hairpins - Jonah Falco and Mike Haliechuk - weren't remarkably nimble in their ability to bring unity to sounds by placing them in competition against each other. When those sounds are adjacent, like the glam and disco that saturate "Drifting Superstition," the thrill of those universes colliding in the heat of an absolutely filthy clavichord line turns its lyrics, about the habit of solving personal problems by ignoring them, into a winner's anthem on the order of Bowie or Hot Chocolate. Get Me the Good Stuff arcs towards unequivocal joy as Falco, Jade Hairpins' primary lyricist, breaks these cycles and attempts to run away with his dreams. The arc is roughly analogous to how the album came to fruition. Four years removed from Harmony Avenue, an album of material that proved too strong to be contained within the narrative universe of Fucked Up's Dose Your Dreams, Jade Hairpins have gelled as a live act - with Tamsin M. Leach and Jack Goldstein centering them on stage - and planted their flag in the UK punk scene in which Falco has embedded himself. Working out new material live, Falco noticed that crowds were digging into his unfinished lyrics, and the album tightened around the anxieties of being in the spotlight, of being worthy of attention. At times, those songs are eager to please, like the album's title track in which a winking self-deprecation rubs up against the self-congratulatory bombast of Freddie Mercury, Falco simultaneously turning heads as a shooting star and a burning car. Elsewhere, as in "Better Here Than in Love," Jade Hairpins pitch themselves towards creating gorgeous soundscapes that exist nowhere else, channeling postpunk through the glimmering haze of '80s Japanese electronic music. Theatrical and personal, absurd and true-to-life, playful and serious, Get Me the Good Stuff is album of tremendous personal and artistic growth that signposts towards dozens of potential futures to come. It's not only worth the attention, it continuously rewards it.

Jade Hairpins waste no time fulfilling their second album's titular demand. From its harmony-drenched opening note to its baroque-anthemic conclusion, Get Me the Good Stuff is positively loaded with musical ideas, an absurdist buffet of sound and aesthetic that comes with one hell of a floorshow as the Hairpins stack those ideas higher and higher, almost daring them to crash to the floor. Instead, those elements_punksploitation, power pop, baggy, funk, and Italo disco are just some touchstones_are not only held aloft, they defy gravity and convention. These pyrotechnics are, in true Jade Hairpins fashion, something of a sleight of hand. While the music swaggers and gallops, Get Me the Good Stuff grapples with anxiety and self-doubt, obfuscating pain and alienation with sparkling wit and some straight-up ravers. Get Me the Good Stuff opens with one of those, "Let It Be Me," in which Jonah Falco shouts lyrics about being alone with one's shortcomings against guitars, synths, and harmonized vocals that are on the verge of closing in. The song is just over 90 seconds long, hitting with the gnarled-barb ferocity of punk and the gleeful insanity of theatrical art rock. It is, in other words, overwhelming. Or it would be if Jade Hairpins_Jonah Falco and Mike Haliechuk_weren't remarkably nimble in their ability to bring unity to sounds by placing them in competition against each other. When those sounds are adjacent, like the glam and disco that saturate "Drifting Superstition," the thrill of those universes colliding in the heat of an absolutely filthy clavichord line turns its lyrics, about the habit of solving personal problems by ignoring them, into a winner's anthem on the order of Bowie or Hot Chocolate. Get Me the Good Stuff arcs towards unequivocal joy as Falco, Jade Hairpins' primary lyricist, breaks these cycles and attempts to run away with his dreams. The arc is roughly analogous to how the album came to fruition. Four years removed from Harmony Avenue, an album of material that proved too strong to be contained within the narrative universe of Fucked Up's Dose Your Dreams, Jade Hairpins have gelled as a live act_with Tamsin M. Leach and Jack Goldstein centering them on stage_and planted their flag in the UK punk scene in which Falco has embedded himself. Working out new material live, Falco noticed that crowds were digging into his unfinished lyrics, and the album tightened around the anxieties of being in the spotlight, of being worthy of attention. At times, those songs are eager to please, like the album's title track in which a winking self-deprecation rubs up against the self-congratulatory bombast of Freddie Mercury, Falco simultaneously turning heads as a shooting star and a burning car. Elsewhere, as in "Better Here Than in Love," Jade Hairpins pitch themselves towards creating gorgeous soundscapes that exist nowhere else, channeling postpunk through the glimmering haze of '80s Japanese electronic music. Theatrical and personal, absurd and true-to-life, playful and serious, Get Me the Good Stuff is album of tremendous personal and artistic growth that signposts towards dozens of potential futures to come. It's not only worth the attention, it continuously rewards it.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of their formation, Hugo Largo will release Huge, Large and Electric, a three LP set featuring all of the band’s studio output (1988’s Drum and 1989’s Mettle) including a full album of previously unreleased and live recordings (Hugo Largo Unreleased and Live 1984-1991). These albums are long out of print, and will be released on streaming services for the very first time. The set includes essays from Michael Stipe, who produced the band’s debut release Drum, along with Brian Eno and Hugo Largo member Tim Sommer.

LA-based singer-songwriter Lily Kershaw returns with Pain & More, her new concept album that is a collection of exquisitely heartbreaking, proof-of-life ruminations about existing behind a pall of melancholia. Collectively, they feel like a lifetime of repression, suddenly liberated. Central to Lily’s narratives is the idea that others will probably relate to, or benefit from, her pain. Humbled yet highly melodic, the facetiously named Pain & More is an emotionally tactile album that confronts the many incarnations of the prolonged, persistent depression that has shrouded Lily’s life for decades. It may be her third full-length, but it’s her defining moment -- a vivid, if sometimes uncomfortable, whirl of the angst and hope.Lily released her debut album Midnight In The Garden in 2013, featuring break-out single “As It Seems.” The album scored millions of streams and critical acclaim, and in the following years she landed multiple syncs on shows like Criminal Minds, Grey’s Anatomy, Finding Carter, Ted Lasso and more. She followed it up her 2018 EP Lost Angeles and her 2021 sophomore album Arcadia, which received acclaim from Nylon, American Songwriter, Vulture, Earmilk, Refinery29, CNN and more. Along the way, Lily cut her teeth on tours alongside Radical Face, Mason Jennings, The Weepies, and Joshua Radin, to name a few, and today has amassed more than 80 million streams.

Larry Mullins, langjähriger Mitarbeiter von Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Iggy Pop and The Stooges, Swans & The Residents, hat mit "Camissonia" ein einzigartiges und persönliches Soloalbum aus minimalen elektronischen Sci-Fi-Vignetten geschaffen, das lose auf den Schriften und dem Leben des deutschen Schriftstellers und Botanikers Adelbert von Chamisso basiert. Das Album ist nach der von Chamisso benannten Pflanzenart benannt, die von seinem Kollegen, dem Botaniker Johann Friedrich Eschscholtz, erstmals beschrieben wurde. Es ist größtenteils ein instrumentaler Soundtrack, der mehrere bemerkenswerte Ereignisse aus Chamissos Buch "Peter Schlemihls wundersame Geschichte (Der Mann, der seinen Schatten verkaufte, 1814)" sowie seine tatsächliche Überseereise an Bord von Otto von Kotzebues Schiff, der "Rurik", während der Jahre 1815-1818, als Botaniker, musikalisch illustriert. Das Artwork zum Album besteht überwiegend aus drei Holzschnitten, die zwischen 1915 und 1919 von Ernst Ludwig Kirchner geschaffen wurden. Kirchner hegte Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts, also ca. 100 Jahre nach der Veröffentlichung von Chamissos Buch, eine ähnliche Faszination für das Werk wie Larry Mullins weitere 100 Jahre nach Erstellung von Kirchners expressionistischem Meisterwerkes - dem "Peter Schlemihl-Zyklus". Diesmal erweitert "Camissonia" das Chamisso-Erbe als Interpretation in Musik. Camissonia wurde 2020 während der Lockdown-Periode in Wien, Österreich, aufgenommen, die das belebte Zentrum Wiens in einen Zustand einer evakuierten Sci-Fi-Dystopie versetzte. Während Mullins als Musiker im Burgtheater arbeitete, fand er seine Sammlung von Instrumenten plötzlich für die kommenden Monate im Orchestergraben eingeschlossen. Er hatte jedoch eine kleine Auswahl an Elektronik in seiner Wohnung und hatte auch die Möglichkeit, sie aufzunehmen. Außerdem hatte er einen Stapel Bücher zum Lesen, und ganz oben lag - "Der Mann, der seinen Schatten verkaufte". "Die Bilder dieser Geschichte verließen meinen Geist weder bei Tag noch bei Nacht. Ich begann, Chamissos echtes Leben zu erforschen und fand ein wildes Abenteuer rund um die Welt auf einem Schiff! Eine parallele nächtliche Obsession mit den Sci-Fi-Filmen von Rainer Werner Fassbinder verschmolz schließlich zu einem bizarren Moment der Klarheit. Ich richtete mein karges Equipment ein, um zu sehen, welche Klänge ich erzeugen konnte, um die Bilder in meinem Kopf zu interpretieren. Ich entdeckte, dass die mir auferlegten Einschränkungen eine eigene Atmosphäre schufen, und so entstand jeden Tag ein neues Musikstück. Nach meiner Rückkehr nach Berlin wollte ich das Projekt so schnell wie möglich abschließen und keine weiteren Instrumente hinzufügen, um die seltsame Qualität zu bewahren. Ich lud zwei Sängerinnen ein, die ich in Berlin kannte, um bei zwei Stücken einen Chor zu singen, und ich fügte bei einem weiteren Stück selber einen Chor hinzu. Dann schloss ich die Tür und warf den Schlüssel weg."

Unequal cycles in search of synchronous experiences: On his new album »Pounding«, Frank Bretschneider tells of distance, convergence and congruence in a continuous, ever-changing flow of events. What is often regarded as an unquestionable dogma in club music (for which Bretschneider has provided significant impetus since the 1990s) – the groove – appears precarious, unstable, and in motion. Pulse and accent are volatile encounters and have to be found again and again for short, delightful moments. Music becomes a constant process of negotiation.

In search of new sound spaces, Bretschneider has recently worked a lot with modular synthesizers, both solo (for example on »abtasten_halten«, 2020) and in collaborations, including the project Beispiel together with Jan Jelinek. »Pounding« was created using similar means – conceived in 2020 for the Pochen Biennale in Chemnitz, subsequently developed further and recorded in March and April 2023 on a sample-based modular system. And in fact, Bretschneider is once again exemplarily scanning his own sound material, such as dub effects that listen to themselves disintegrate; but also the human voice, or more precisely: the stuttering of fragments of speech, far in the distance but omnipresent, like a mysterious narration. Aesthetically, the eleven pieces form part of a series of works with a focus on percussion. Bretschneider has already perfected this approach with albums like »Rhythm« (2007) and has been shifting the perspective ever since, for ever new results.

Shifting is the basic principle of »Pounding«. Bretschneider combines elements that are in different aggregate states, changing their relationship to each other and thus ensuring the complex overall movement. He lets one to two-bar loops run against each other and through small manipulations, develops a network of rhythms that creates a hypnotic state in the counterplay of repetition and mutation, between clearly recognizable meter and disorientation. There are comparable approaches in aleatoric music. Bretschneider combines them with sounds and patterns that are reminiscent of step sequencer logic and at the same time go far beyond it. The result is relational techno. Never obvious, always restless and exciting.

The mighty U Roy is the originator, the man who put the DJ phenomenon on the map and made it an artform. From Kingston Jamaica to the corners of all the Dancefloors, Clubs and Sound Systems across the world. U Roy (B. Ewart Beckford, 1942, Kingston, Jamaica) began his musical career spinning records for Doctor Dickies Sound System way back in 1961. The mid sixties saw him working for Sir George The Atomic before moving in 1967 to the man who best shaped his sound King Tubby on his Home Town HI - FI. Tubbys work in the dub field, dropping out vocals on his versions for the Sound Systems allowed U Roy to voice over these spaces adding to the excitment of the Dance!!!

U Roy moved into the recording arena firstly cutting two disc's for Producer Lee Perry 'Earths Rightful Ruler' and 'OK Corral' and then following this with 'Dynamic Fashion Way' and 'Riot' for Producer Keith Hudson. Producer Duke Reid seeing the protential in this new found form brought U Roy to his Treasure Isle Studios to voice over his back catalogue of Rocksteady Hits. His first three releases for Duke Reid 'Wake The Town', 'Rule The Nation' and 'Wear You To The Ball' held the Top 3 positions for 12 weeks in early 1970's.

We have compiled some of U Roy's best loved cuts from his mid 70's period when all were still looking at him for guidence.  The opening cut Call On Me sees him working over Delroy Wilson's 'Got To Be There'.  You Never Get Away gets U Roy answering Delroy Wison's 'Keep On Rocking'. Johnny Clarke's 'Time Gonna Tell' with rootsy bassline turns into Every Knee Shall Bow. Cornell Campbell the Gorgon himself gets his 'Check Mr Morgon' turned into Gorgon Wise. Johnny Clarke's Hold On gets reworked. Jeff Barnes 'Blowing In The Wind' tuned into Number 1 and alongside King of The Road which sees Lennox Brown blow his saxophone over the instrumental 'In The Swing of Things', was one of U Roys first releases. Linval Thompson's 'Let Jah Arise' is versioned to Joyful Locks. I Originate which lends us to the title of this compilation, says it as it is, a classic built over Dave Barker's 'Shocks of Mighty'. Linval Thompson again provides the backbone with his Cool Down Your Temper cut for U Roys version. The mighty Burning Spear's Creation Rebel although providing our next track, it is Johnny Clarke's version that gets worked over. Leo Graham's 'Birds of A Feather' turns into Stick Together. Soul Syndicates instrumental 'Goliath' grows into Riot. A big hit for Max Romeo Wet Dream sounds great under U Roy's new rendition.

Two extra tracks for the CD release of this album sees the great voice of Slim Smith on his 'Let's Stick Together' becomes ‘Ain’t To Proud To Beg’ and Cornell Campbell's 'Stand Firm' works with
U Roy to sign us off with ‘I Shall Not Remove’.  A fine collection i hope you agree to the Daddy of all DJ's who in his own words ''I Originate, so you must appreciate, while the others got to imitate'' says it all really……

Quirky and very engaging singer-songwriter from London; mentored by John Lee Hooker and Benny Gallagher and with ten albums to her credit, this pianist, singer and flamenco guitarist defies categorisation, but has thus far succeeded in gaining new fans from appearances at Glastonbury, The Jazz Café and the 100 Club, and at music festivals in the USA, Greece, Romania and Germany. With lyrics sometimes witty, sometimes poignant and always reflective, this is music for anyone who’d rather hear the singer than the electronics.

"It's Love" war das erste von drei Alben von The Softies zwischen 1995 und 2000. Herzschmerz, Sehnsucht und ultimative Finesse wird zu Ultra-Pop, dem man sich nicht entziehen kann. Rose Melberg (Tiger Trap, Gaze, Go Sailor) und Jen Sbragia (All Girl Summer Fun Band) kreieren mit zwei Gitarren und zwei Stimmen Songs, die sich tief in dein Herz und deine Seele bohren - und die du nicht mehr loslassen willst. Die Musik von The Softies hat eine Kraft, die nicht nachlässt, und die Songs brechen über einen herein, pure Schönheit. Der hier enthaltene Song ,This House" wurde von Lil Peep für seinen Song ,Ghost Boy" gesampelt. Das Cover von "It's Love" wurde von dem weltberühmten Comiczeichner Adrian Tomine gestaltet.

Between December 2022 and January 2024, the collective De Niemanders (producer Rick Wiegerinck joined the team) visited asylum seekers' centers in the Netherlands with a mobile studio, searching for singers, musicians, and their music and stories. The music sessions were mostly filled with pure joy, while the conversations were heavy, hopeless, hopeful, cheerful, and everything in between. The collective connected with creative individuals from all over the world, who in turn introduced them to even more artists, writers, and storytellers. Rocco, Wout, and Rick quickly realized that they needed to offer more than ‘just’ the music album as a platform, so a completely unique Niemanders newspaper was born, and journalist Christianne Alvarado joined for a six-part podcast series.

Following their instincts, they created a new Niemanders album that became a genuine collaboration between the people they met and themselves. A significant difference from the prisons was that this time, the singers and musicians could be recorded in a mobile studio. As a result, the album is a mix of many singers and languages, telling the stories of their journeys, dreams, families, past lives ‘back home,’ and their current situation as refugees. There are songs inspired by the stories that residents of asylum seekers' centers told or wrote down, sung by Rocco, while other tracks emerged from writing sessions with singers Isma IP, Guy-El Mabiala, Q-Mars, and Hamid Reza Behzadian, and are also sung by them. The song material is a creative melting pot of colorful music that ranges from swinging afrobeat, highlife, desert rock, and rootsy psychedelia, but the alternative rock for which Ostermann and Kemkens are known also seeps through. You could say that, with few exceptions, each song is a film soundtrack for the text.

Unfortunately, the harsh reality of asylum procedures also intruded into some of the blossoming musical friendships. Due to a negative decision by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (IND), one of the great singers was forced to leave the Netherlands. This is just one example of the lack of control over—and the nerve-wracking wait for—an IND decision, which unfortunately seems to be something every person in an asylum procedure must endure. The asylum process can bring years and years of uncertainty and waiting, or sudden deportation.

Max Volume solo EP on Audiotrix.
Minimal or mental, Breakbeat pumpin music...
Defenitly kind of a family sound remaining here... Uncommercial one.

Luv !

PYJÆN is the reflection of 5 souls. Their joy, their happiness, their worries and experiences come together in one unified higher identity. PYJÆN’s story will be expressed not only musically but also with other visual arts.

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Consisting of guitarist Dani Diodato, trumpeter Dylan Jones, saxophonist Ben Vize, drummer Charlie Hutchinson and bass player Benjamin Crane, PYJÆN have been touring in the UK this year with dates at iconic venues such as the Jazz Cafe, Vortex Jazz Club and Ronnie Scott’s as well as playing Glastonbury, Love Supreme and Brainchild Festival.

Described by Jazz Wise Review as having “a groove propelled with dynamism and formidable technique”, PYJÆN seamlessly meld funk, afro-beat and contemporary sounds with nods to hip-hop and disco, whilst acknowledging the traditional era of 1920s jazz and dance music.

Their debut self-titled album ‘PYJÆN’ was released on 20th September 2019, both digitally and physically with 300 limited copies of Vinyl being distributed across selected UK record stores, as well as Bandcamp.
The album will also be supported by a graphic novel, which will tell the story of PYJÆN and the influences and stories behind the songs.

It's finally here! We are proud to present two of Pola & Bryson’s most frequently requested anthems together on vinyl for the first time.

On 'Phoneline', a track which took the dance music scene by storm, Pola & Bryson and Emily Makis serve up their most captivating work to date through a blend of mesmerising vocals, songwriting and masterful production.

The B-side sees Pola & Bryson team up with Zitah for this outstanding cover of the R&B classic 'Tweet feat. Missy Elliott – Oops (Oh My)’.

Awards: Phoneline was voted as 2nd best track of the year (behind Badadan) in the 2023 D&B Arena Awards!
Awards: Emily nominated for best track and best vocalist in 2023 D&B Arena Awards
Awards: P&B nominated for best track and best producer in 2023 D&B Arena Awards
Awards: Emily nominated for best vocalist in DJ Mag’s ‘Best Of British 2023’ awards

After teaming up with Boldy James to release Real Bad Boldy (2021) and Killing Nothing (2022) and linking up with rising star Pink Siifu for Real Bad Flights (2022), Real Bad Man returns to announce his first collaborative album of the year with Serpent.

Serpent brings Real Bad Man together with the inimitable Kool Keith and is produced in its entirety by Real Bad Man. Serpent features appearances from Slug of Atmosphere, Ice-T, Edan, Cool Calm Pete and Zeelooperz.

“My rhymes go where the tracks take me and Serpent took me on a journey through time and space. I channeled Ultra, Ocatgon, Rhythm X, and Black Elvis to make something new and mind-blowing” Kool Keith declares. When the Serpent bites, don’t try to understand it; just enjoy the injection. The sound dynamic crystals mix so proper, my vocals and guest appearances are set in the right spots.

“My goal for this album is to capture my favorite parts from Keith’s catalog. I wanted to make beats that got into his (Keith’s) subconscious” Real Bad Man maintains. “I think it worked. “

Reeling In The Weeks—which felt like Years — after my first Current 93 album, I had started on the difficult second C93 album, DOGS BLOOD RISING.

Having been asked to appear on both Top Of The Pops AND The Old Grey Whistle Test 93 times in the same week after the release of NATURE UNVEILED, I realised that God was telling me that I had hit on a winning formula of Christian eschatology and Apocalyptic Christian texts over a SoundScape As Cool As Flies, but that I was missing the vital ingredient of a Simon & Garfunkel song. DOGS BLOOD RISING — which I described to myself in a VISION as an album which hoped, wished, and made bad trips sound like good trips — was essentially the Mirror Night of NATURE UNVEILED, although only half of it was recorded at Roundhouse Studios. Squats were calling, and 8-track studios were all I was able to afford. DOGS BLOOD RISING didn’t chart, except in my NightSweats. Listening to it now, it makes me as restless as I was then, staring beyond the windows there, watching and praying for something, someone, anything, anyone.

Remastered by The Bricoleur at Bladud Flies!, and with the original artwork refreshed and reborn by Rob Hopeye, this 12” vinyl picture-disc comes in a full-colour die-cut sleeve, which is printed on both the outside and inside.

This is one of the first 4 reissues of the entire back catalogue of C93 on picture-disc and standard vinyl, in the lead-up to the publication of my autobiography at the end of 2025, whilst I also work on many other recording, publishing, and painting projects, and Watch And Pray! Each release in the picture-disc vinyl reissues series is limited to 1,000 copies, and the titles will not be repressed as picture-discs once they have sold out.

Yannis Philippakis von Foals veröffentlicht sein erstes Solowerk, eine Kollaboration mit dem verstorbenen legendären Schlagzeuger Tony Allen. Yannis & The Yaw" präsentieren die EP 'Lagos Paris London', die nach den Orten benannt ist, an denen sie geschrieben und aufgenommen wurde und an denen sie beide gelebt haben. Das fünf Tracks umfassende Werk wird am 30. August auf Transgressive veröffentlicht.

Im Jahr 2016 bot sich Yannis die Chance seines Lebens: eine zweitägige Session mit dem großen Schlagzeuger Tony Allen, den er für seine einflussreiche, genreübergreifende Arbeit mit Künstlern wie Fela Kuti, Sébastien Tellier und Jeff Mills sehr bewundert.

Als Yannis sich in ein verrauchtes 70er-Jahre-Studio in Paris begab, erwartete er, dass sie eine nostalgische Afrobeat-Platte aufnehmen würden. Doch es kam etwas ganz anderes dabei heraus. Die beiden entwickelten schnell eine intuitive Telepathie, die Musik entstand aus Jams und Loops, und die verschiedenen Berührungspunkte - Rock, Funk, Jazz, Dub und mehr - wurden durch die einzigartige Atmosphäre des Aufeinandertreffens zweier Kulturen und kreativer Köpfe ergänzt, deren Ausdruck durch das Musizieren im und für den Moment selbst befreit wurde.

Zusammen mit Tonys regelmäßigen Mitstreitern Vincent Taeger (Schlagzeug), Vincent Turrell (Tasten, Marimba) und Ludovic Bruni (Bass, Gitarre) entstand bei diesem ersten Treffen eine Handvoll fast fertiger Songs, die in einigen nachfolgenden Sessions weiter entwickelt wurden. Aufgrund von Terminproblemen und Corona-Einschränkungen wurden die Aufnahmen jedoch nie abgeschlossen, bevor Tony im April 2020 im Alter von 79 Jahren verstarb.

Yannis fühlte sich zutiefst verpflichtet, das Projekt zu vollenden, nicht nur als bittersüße Art, seinen alten Freund zu ehren und zu feiern, sondern auch, weil Tony so begierig darauf gewesen war, diese Songs mit der Welt zu teilen. Das Ergebnis ist die kommende Fünf-Track-EP 'Lagos Paris London' unter dem Dach von Yannis & The Yaw - ein Projekt, zu dem er in Zukunft zurückkehren möchte, um weitere Kollaborationen mit inspirierenden Musikern aus der ganzen Welt einzugehen.

- Ltd. 12" EP

The wild greaser with an ever-broken heart, Cong Josie, is back! His
eagerly anticipated sophomore album; Moto Zone, pulls up throbbing,
revving, sweating and grinding hotter than bitumen on a summer day
It is a non- stop EBM'in', synth- punkin', rock 'n' rollin' and doo- woppin' sizzler, in
much the same vein as his 2021 debut Cong!. With this release however, Cong
pushes his own M.O. even deeper. The throbs get bolder, the NRG goes harder,
slow sleaze hip-grinding enters and the dream washes return to envelope all that
hear them like a siren's call. On Moto Zone, Cong conjures the age of rock 'n' roll,
a world of motorcycle gangs and hot rods, leather, chains, backcombing and hair
pomade, with an Aussie twist on greaser 'cool'. Confessional lyrics tell tales of
addiction and mental illness tracing the scars of a troubled past. Cong says the
"Moto Zone" reflects his daily life and mindset. A life of ADHD, burning the
midnight oil, living on black coffee, obsessively creating and revving through
every day. Ultimately Cong is reaching for bliss, feeling connection and a new
world in these songs. Exhilarating? Anxious? Hedonistic? Dangerous? Beautiful?
A lust for life? The record is all of the above.

Nonesuch Records releases Laurie Anderson’s Amelia, the 2024 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipient's first new album since 2018’s Grammy-winning Landfall. The record comprises 22 tracks about renowned female aviator Amelia Earhart’s tragic last flight. Anderson, who Pitchfork says, ‘sees the future, but she starts by paying attention’, wrote the music and lyrics for this subjective narrative piece. On the album, she is joined by the Czech orchestra Filharmonie Brno, conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, and Anohni, Gabriel Cabezas, Rob Moose, Ryan Kelly, Martha Mooke, Marc Ribot, Tony Scherr, Nadia Sirota, and Kenny Wolleson.



Earhart was a passionate pioneer of early aviation, achieving fame as the first woman to cross the Atlantic, in 1932. Five years later, she embarked on a flight around the world. Before she could complete the voyage, her plane disappeared without a trace; it has never been found. “The words used in Amelia are inspired by her pilot diaries, the telegrams she wrote to her husband, and my idea of what a woman flying around the world might think about,” Anderson says. First premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2000, the updated piece was recently performed across Europe.



Laurie Anderson is one of America’s most renowned – and daring – creative pioneers. Her work, which encompasses music, visual art, poetry, film, and photography, has challenged and delighted audiences around the world for more than 40 years. In a recent 60 Minutes profile, Anderson Cooper said she ‘is a pioneer of the avant-garde, but ... that doesn’t begin to describe what she creates. Her work isn’t sold in galleries. It’s experienced by audiences who come to see her perform: singing, telling stories, and playing strange violins of her own invention... she blends the beautiful and the bizarre, challenging audiences with homilies and humor. She blurs boundaries across music, theater, dance, and film.’ The Washington Post has said she ‘doesn’t just tell stories; she draws out every word with a kind of physical pleasure, tasting its flavor as she probes the everyday mysteries of life,’ and the Guardian has called Anderson ‘one of the great popular artists and storytellers of our time.’



Anderson released her first album with Nonesuch Records in 2001, the critically lauded Life on a String. Her subsequent releases on the label include Live in New York (2002), Homeland (2010), the soundtrack to Anderson’s acclaimed film Heart of a Dog (2015), and her Grammy-winning collaboration with Kronos Quartet, Landfall (2018). Additionally, Anderson’s virtual-reality film La Camera Insabbiata, with Hsin-Chien Huang, won the 2017 Venice Film Festival Award for Best VR Experience, and, in 2018, Skira Rizzoli published her book All the Things I Lost in the Flood: Essays on Pictures, Language and Code, the most comprehensive collection of her artwork to date.



Recent exhibitions and installations of Anderson’s work include Habeas Corpus at New York’s Park Avenue Armory; her largest exhibition to date, The Weather, at Washington, DC’s Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum of Modern Art; and Looking into a Mirror Sideways at Stockholm’s Moderna Museet, which was her largest European exhibition to date. Anderson recently toured with Sex Mob, performing her piece Let X=X. Earlier this year, she was awarded the 2024 Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication, along with Christopher Nolan and David Attenborough, and the International Astronomical Union named a minor planet in her honour: Asteroid 270588, Laurieanderson.



Nonesuch released a re-mastered edition of Anderson’s landmark 1982 album Big Science in 2007 for its 25th anniversary, followed by a vinyl LP re-issue in 2021; its beloved single, ‘O Superman’, became a surprise viral hit on TikTok earlier this year.

With their new album 'Rhapsody, the extraordinary vocalists fedayo Gatling, Dennis Bailey, and George Marage are able to fully explore the entire range of music that influenced them. The follow-up to their acclaimed 2021 release 'Look Up!', the record is a dive into a lesser-known but hugely important era in the evolution of gospel music.

Starting in the mid-1960s, local gospel groups and singers began incorporating elements of popular soul and funk styles and in 2006, Chicago-based reissue label Numero Group released Good God! A Gospel Funk Hymnal. HGT's longtime friend and mentor Eli.

"Paperboy Reed" approached the group with the idea of digging through the Numero catalog and recording some of the gospel funk material, reinterpreted in their own way from the high-energy, old-school soul of "God's Been Good to Me" to the hip-hop-inflected "Get Involved."

The Harlem Gospel Travelers story began when Gatling and Marage met while studying under Reed's tutelage. The group put out their debut LP, 'He's On Time', to rave reviews in 2019, earning them high profile fans like Elton John and landing them festival slots everywhere from Pilgrimage to Telluride Jazz. Originally a quartet, they brought in Bailey and reconfigured as a trio prior to recording Look Up!, their first album of all original material.

At a moment when the world is reconsidering the concepts of genre and category and who's allowed to participate in which traditions, HGT are squarely on the cultural pulse.

"We always found it difficult to stay in this one lane of what people think gospel is supposed to be," says Gatling. "This record allowed us to hear people that were innovators in their own time, pushing how gospel music sounded, and now we've created this project that is message-wise gospel, but the feeling and the sound can be whatever you want it to be."

With their new album 'Rhapsody, the extraordinary vocalists fedayo Gatling, Dennis Bailey, and George Marage are able to fully explore the entire range of music that influenced them. The follow-up to their acclaimed 2021 release 'Look Up!', the record is a dive into a lesser-known but hugely important era in the evolution of gospel music.

Starting in the mid-1960s, local gospel groups and singers began incorporating elements of popular soul and funk styles and in 2006, Chicago-based reissue label Numero Group released Good God! A Gospel Funk Hymnal. HGT's longtime friend and mentor Eli.

"Paperboy Reed" approached the group with the idea of digging through the Numero catalog and recording some of the gospel funk material, reinterpreted in their own way from the high-energy, old-school soul of "God's Been Good to Me" to the hip-hop-inflected "Get Involved."

The Harlem Gospel Travelers story began when Gatling and Marage met while studying under Reed's tutelage. The group put out their debut LP, 'He's On Time', to rave reviews in 2019, earning them high profile fans like Elton John and landing them festival slots everywhere from Pilgrimage to Telluride Jazz. Originally a quartet, they brought in Bailey and reconfigured as a trio prior to recording Look Up!, their first album of all original material.

At a moment when the world is reconsidering the concepts of genre and category and who's allowed to participate in which traditions, HGT are squarely on the cultural pulse.

"We always found it difficult to stay in this one lane of what people think gospel is supposed to be," says Gatling. "This record allowed us to hear people that were innovators in their own time, pushing how gospel music sounded, and now we've created this project that is message-wise gospel, but the feeling and the sound can be whatever you want it to be."

Reissue von"Take A Picture", Margo Guryans einzigartigem Klassiker - das unerwartete Meisterwerk in jeder Schallplattensammlung. Hell, luftig, leicht psychedelisch und absolut kosmopolitisch, aufgenommen 1968 in New York City. Neu restauriert von Jessica Thompson von den originalen Zwei-Spur-Masterbändern. 1968er Pop Tour-de-Force hat nie besser geklungen.

Reissue von"Take A Picture", Margo Guryans einzigartigem Klassiker - das unerwartete Meisterwerk in jeder Schallplattensammlung. Hell, luftig, leicht psychedelisch und absolut kosmopolitisch, aufgenommen 1968 in New York City. Neu restauriert von Jessica Thompson von den originalen Zwei-Spur-Masterbändern. 1968er Pop Tour-de-Force hat nie besser geklungen.

Kompakt is proud to announce, finally, a reissue of the first, self-titled GAS album. Originally released on electronica imprint Mille Plateaux back in 1996, it’s been unavailable in its original form ever since – the version of GAS included in 2008’s Nah Und Fern box featured several different tracks. Here, however, GAS is restored in all its glory, the debut full-length from Wolfgang Voigt’s most enigmatic, quixotic project.

There had, of course, been signs of what was to come. Back in 1995, Voigt essayed the first GAS release, a slender, yet remarkable four-track EP, Modern. Its centre label featured a reduced symbol – an overhead or lamp light, switched on, its glow radiating outwards in four bold black lines – a perfect representation of the tight, stylised ambient electronic pop contained on that 12”. A few curious compilation tracks were floating around, too, for Mille Plateaux’s Modulation & Transformation and Electric Ladyland series. If you were attentive enough, you could tell something was up.

But nothing quite prepared us for the languorous, effervescing loops and regular-like-clockwork beats that Voigt folded together on GAS. Its six long tracks, all untitled, neither begin nor end but hazily fade into earshot, vibrate majestically in your cochlea for fifteen-or-so minutes – some a bit shorter, some longer – and then meander away, reading the mise-en-scène for the next example of Voigt’s drift and dream logic to unfold. The material is referential in the most distant way, and you can sense only the most evanescent of ghostly presences, haunting these six compositions.

GAS feels, also, like a more pliable hint at what’s to come, as the GAS concept really solidified on its successor, 1997’s Zauberberg, and reach its apotheosis on Königsforst and Pop. Those three albums share a very similar palette – blurred, hazy samples, often of classical music, stacked and cross-thatched across a muted 4/4 thud. GAS, then, is an outlier of sorts: it’s more expansive in its remit, lighter in its mood, perhaps more fleet of foot. This, of course, is part of its charm.

In clearing space for Voigt, by preparing the terrain, GAS sits both at the edge of the forest, and at the verge of an expansive, wide-eyed future; one where GAS would become truly eternal.

Text by Jonathan Dale

Kompakt ist stolz, endlich eine Neuauflage des ersten, selbstbetitelten GAS-Albums ankündigen zu können. Ursprünglich im Jahr 1996 auf dem Electronica-Label Mille Plateaux veröffentlicht, ist es seitdem nicht mehr in seiner ursprünglichen Form erhältlich – die gleichnamige Version von GAS, die 2008 in der Nah Und Fern Box enthalten war, enthielt verschiedene andere Titel. Nun liegt das 3er Album in seinem naturbelassenen Originalzustand wieder vor.

Bereits 1995 zeichnete sich mit der Maxi GAS - Modern auf Profan, sowie einigen Kompilation-Beiträgen auf Modulation & Transformation und Electric Ladyland auf Mille Plateaux dieser frühe, weltentrückte, rätselhafte GAS Sound ab, der sich erst in den sechs scheinbar endlosen, majestätisch-sprudelnden Tracks des Albums voll entfaltete. Die Musik ist von ätherischer Leichtigkeit, in der wie aus einer anderen Sphäre abstrakte Referenzen aus weiter Ferne nur andeutungsweise herüberzuwehen scheinen.

Dieser frühe, eher sphärisch-leichte, gleich einer sonnendurchfluteten (Wald-)Lichtung anmutende GAS Sound, stellt gewissermaßen den Ausgangspunkt der audiovisuellen „Welt“-Reise in den düster-romantischen Acid-Wald dar, in den sich GAS ab 1997 mit den Alben Zauberberg, Königsforst, Oktember und ab 2000 mit Pop an anderer Stelle wieder hinaus und in seine ganz eigene Ewigkeit begeben hat.

The wild greaser with an ever-broken heart, Cong Josie, is back! His eagerly anticipated sophomore album; Moto Zone, pulls up throbbing, revving, sweating and grinding hotter than bitumen on a summer day. It is a non-stop EBM’in’, synth-punkin’, rock ’n’ rollin’ and doo-woppin’ sizzler, in much the same vein as his 2021 debut Cong!. With this release however, Cong pushes his own M.O. even deeper. The throbs get bolder, the NRG goes harder, slow sleaze hip-grinding enters and the dream washes return to envelope all that hear them like a siren’s call. On Moto Zone, Cong conjures the age of rock ’n’ roll, a world of motorcycle gangs and hot rods, leather, chains, backcombing and hair pomade, with an Aussie twist on greaser ‘cool’. Confessional lyrics tell tales of addiction and mental illness tracing the scars of a troubled past. Cong says the “Moto Zone” reflects his daily life and mindset. A life of ADHD, burning the midnight oil, living on black coffee, obsessively creating and revving through every day. Ultimately Cong is reaching for bliss, feeling connection and a new world in these songs. Exhilarating? Anxious? Hedonistic? Dangerous? Beautiful? A lust for life? The record is all of the above.

Beneath the steel strings and steely demeanor exemplifying the spirit of bluegrass lies the heart of a wanderer: the heartbroken rambler looking for the next big break and the next story to tell. The Po’ Rambin’ Boys’ Wanderers Like Me is a quintessential bluegrass record, full of melodies that burst with energy and emotion and music driven by melancholy but refusing to succumb to it. They confront their losses with original songs that resonate poignantly across the hills and hollers where bluegrass was born. For The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys wandering is anything but aimless: they ramble not to escape the past but to experience the future.

Young Marble Giants' "Colossal Youth" has mystified and beguiled audiences since its 1980 release. Seen by primary songwriter Stuart Moxham as "a last gasp" at making a record, Stuart insisted the one-off 7" deal offered by Rough Trade be altered to allow an entire album . . . that paid off when with a big seller which produces cover versions even from bands whose members were a decade or two away from being born on the album's release. When YMG disbanded, Stuart was at a loss; he'd never envisioned a follow-up. A series of experimental recordings made with pal Phil Legg (Essential Logic) and supported by other YMG members, musicians from This Heat and Swell Maps, old Cardiffian pals, and new friends like Vivien Goldman resulted in an album, "Embrace The Herd", as The Gist. Released just before Rough Trade made bold moves toward pop charts with Scritti Politti, The Smiths and others, the album was odd for its time, but has since taken on the lustre of genius. Years of silence followed, thereafter intermittently broken by the odd release from small labels. Stuart delved into family life, though he never stopped writing and recording. In more recent years, two retrospective compilation of lost recordings by The Gist have been released, as well as a superb collaboration with French arranger Louis Philippe, "The Devil Laughs". "Fabstract" is the final gathering of Stuart's lost recordings. Compiling long-lost YMG-era tracks with the recent brilliance of "Crow, Crow" and "Suburban Monochrome", through bits of whimsy and vastly alternate versions of fan faves, this diverse album shouldn't work . . . but it does, telling a satisfying story of an underrated talent whose mistake was following his muse, not the charts. This album precedes a new recording, years in the making, produced by Dave Trumfio, which promises to be Stuart's most complete - and original - work since "Colossal Youth". Tracks:

Fourth Drawer Down is a compilation album by the Scottish post-punk and new wave band the Associates, released in October 1981. It compiles the A- and B-sides from the six singles the band released that year. The songs that appeared on Fourth Drawer Down had a notably darker and more experimental edge than their debut studio album The Affectionate Punch. The album was well received by music critics, with reviewers commenting on the band's increased experimentalism. Alastair McKay of Uncut called Fourth Drawer Down ""an extraordinary document on which the sense of mystery deepens, and the commitment to sonic experiment becomes more pronounced."" Fourth Drawer Down is available as a limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on translucent blue coloured vinyl and is housed in a gatefold sleeve.

Wiederveröffentlichung des gefeierten Roots-Reggae-Harmony-Group-Klassikers aus dem Jahr 1977 mit Original-Artwork. Die entscheidenden Rhythmen kommen von The Aggrovators & The High Time Band. Aufgenommen bei King Tubby's. Excellent produziert von Prince Jammy. Enthält die drei seltenen und gesuchten Singles 'Jah Gave Us This World', 'Keep On Trying' und 'Black Black Minds'.

Pirates Press Records is proud to re-release Close My Eyes, the 2002 album by NYC ska-reggae legends The Slackers - a complex and nuanced album that shows the band's versatility and capacity for both commentary and introspection. It is often said - to the point of cliche - that New York City is a "character" in the work of the city's most noted filmmakers. A similar statement could be made about the artistic symbiosis between the city and The Slackers. From the Bronx-born accent of lead vocalist Vic Ruggiero to the band's embrace of cosmopolitan musical traditions from a melting pot of cultural origins, New York defines The Slackers at least as much as the band have contributed to defining the sound of New York for well over 30 years.Therefore, it bears mentioning that - aside from a 2002 collaborative album by "The Slackersand Friends" - Close My Eyesis the band's first proper studio LP released after the traumatic terrorist attacks on their home city in 2001, and the band took enough time to reckon with the global fallout of this tragedy. "So feel free go steal and rob, revolution ain't my job," sings Ruggiero on the title track. "And if I sing your happy song, please don't tell me I am wrong." It is the statement of an artist searching for a way to still sing about joy and life in uncertain times of great upheaval. And ultimately the band must reckon with these times. On "Real War," toaster Marq Lyn takes lead vocals as the band addresses the march to war that was omnipresent in those early days of the 21st century, stating in no uncertain terms that it was "Time to fight the real war_ Against hunger and poverty_ For racial equality." The Slackers make it clear that while the machinations of hawkish politicians grind on, the real needs of people all over the world are left behind. This tension between a dangerous world and the struggles of one's personal life are present throughout the record, and the band weaves stories from the whole spectrum of human emotion, war, heartbreak, joy, and everything in between. Bookended by instrumental tracks, opening with the energetic "Shankbon" and ending with moody dub reggae, these veteran virtuoso players ultimately take listeners on a masterful journey through the human experience.