Suche:the ant

* The original sister label to Ram Records from the old Ram HQ studio in Essex, Liftin Spirit Records now celebrates its 25th year with a special ‘RELOADED’ limited vinyl series of remastered classics, alongside rare and previously unreleased tracks since the beginning in1992.

* DATs from artists such as Andy C, Ant Miles, Shimon, Joint Venture, Interrogator and Red One have been located in the archives. Also from the Ram & Liftin HQ came tracks for the Deep Seven label in 1993 and all these rare DAT masters have been located and now re-cut by Simon, the original Ram & Liftin vinyl masterer at ‘The Exchange’. Initially, Deep Seven remasters will present on a printed white label and unreleased tracks will have a black label.

* In 1994 Ant Miles launched his own imprint to accompany the vast amount of material coming out of the RAM HQ studio. The first 2 releases were white labels that formed Ant Miles’s alias as Liftin Spirits and the label itself as Liftin Spirit Records. We have selected our favourite tracks from these first 2 releases to bring you a remastered from DAT 4 track E.P which also includes the previously unreleased track ‘Blood Moon’.

* The original sister label to Ram Records from the old Ram HQ studio in Essex, Liftin Spirit Records now celebrates its 25th year with a special ‘RELOADED’ limited vinyl series of remastered classics, alongside rare and previously unreleased tracks since the beginning in1992.

* DATs from artists such as Andy C, Ant Miles, Shimon, Joint Venture, Interrogator and Red One have been located in the archives. Also from the Ram & Liftin HQ came tracks for the Deep Seven label in 1993 and all these rare DAT masters have been located and now re-cut by Simon, the original Ram & Liftin vinyl masterer at ‘The Exchange’. Initially, Deep Seven remasters will present on a printed white label and unreleased tracks will have a black label.

* The 8th release on Deep Seven brought with it a new artist to the label in the form of ‘Aeon Flux’. An alias of Nigel Broad who had previously produced tracks under the artist name ‘Release’ in 1992. His Hardcore cuts such as ‘The Spirit of Space’ EP and Dance in Eden/Passion are now seminal classics and this release is no different. Remastered from the original DAT and presented on 180g heavy weight vinyl with the extra and longer mix of Reality that was not previously included on the original 12”

Third number in the DDS split series after a pair of releases courtesy of Betonkust/Uj Bala and DJ Overdose/Sematic4, "DDS03" sees Budapest duo SILF (alias Farbwechsel chief-operators Alpar & S Olbricht) and Den Haag-based pair Intergalactic Gary and Pasiphae join forces on a quartet of elusive, unpigeonholeable power moves.

Four years after the drop of their debut joint EP on Biorhythm, "Made of Glass", I-G and Pasiphae are back at it with two left-of-centre hybrids of futuristic techno on a whirring electro-industrial tip. An off-kilter jam percolating fine hints of spiritual elation and post-apocalyptic anxiety, "Microwaves" gets the ball rolling on a dichotomous note. To slo-scudding flocks of loud, bouncy kicks supersede skeins of brittle chimes and rattling drums, all woven together by subtle tectonic shifts of moody pads.

A further hi-intensity affair, "Indistinct Chatter" drives that essential heavenly/nightmarish duplicity to higher spheres of consciousness. Fusing lighthearted, daydreaming tonalities with brooding, cavernous onslaughts from the depths, the track has us navigating in a zone of its own, deftly oscillating betwixt moments of mystique-imbued euphoria and darkling introspection. A choice exponent of the Hague-based dyad's capacity at busting antiquated patterns and limitations.

Having slept in the label's vaults for a few seasons, the two tracks composing the B-side emerge from their slumber in all their time-proof bravura. An in-your-face trampler, the ten-minute long "Mono Miner" takes no byway to get its point across, all set to smash basements and warehouses by the dozen with its electrifying compound of 909-emulated gut churn and spinning synth arpeggios circling like birds of prey over your sore, rhythm-enslaved carcass.

Closing the journey on a much softer, hazier vibe, "Aces" steers us towards a realm of ambient wonder, where slo-drip cascades of tapping percussions and elegiac synth waters flow into warm, glimmering summer beds. A most contrasting, tranquillising finale to an EP defined by its propensity to change colours and intensity throughout.

* The original sister label to Ram Records from the old Ram HQ studio in Essex, Liftin Spirit Records now celebrates its 25th year with a special ‘RELOADED’ limited vinyl series of remastered classics, alongside rare and previously unreleased tracks since the beginning in1992.

* DATs from artists such as Andy C, Ant Miles, Shimon, Joint Venture, Interrogator and Red One have been located in the archives. Also from the Ram & Liftin HQ came tracks for the Deep Seven label in 1993 and all these rare DAT masters have been located and now re-cut by Simon, the original Ram & Liftin vinyl masterer at ‘The Exchange’. Initially, Deep Seven remasters will present on a printed white label and unreleased tracks will have a black label.

* The 1994 track 'Cold Fresh Air' by Higher Sense pushed Liftin Spirit Records firmly into the developing Jungle/dnb scene and is re issued and remastered here on 180g black vinyl. Both tracks remastered and enhanced from the original DAT.

“Easy rider, come and take me higher”. When the world seemingly crumbles around, music can provide an escape few other mediums can. For their debut self-titled LP, Velour effortlessly levitate you above the madness below, each track taking a new turn, cruising over hazy flecked skylines, bustling walkways and bleary eyed bedlam. A trajectory that takes in all of jazz’s vibrancies, blending elements of neo soul, broken beat and hip hop coupled with a much-needed sense of hope across nine deep, soul-searching tracks released via WOLF Music Recordings.

A style and sound taking influence from genres and moods, environments and experiences, Essen-based Velour stretch their legs for this, their first full length album. From the off, they nestle you under their wing with the rustling sax washes of opener ‘CLP’ before diving into an epic slo-mo burner, swooping down into the chaos as singer, Eva Czaya, wistfully narrates the scenes beneath.

Unafraid to shift pace within songs, the likes of ‘Pose’, sauntering from soulful summer groove into woozy late night affair, and ‘Tom's Garage’, that progresses from roadside recounting to grungy basement blowout, finished with a sample of jazz-tinged dusty beats, show that accomplished and adept heads rest on the shoulders of these relative newcomers.

WOLF Music mainstay Mr Fries continues to head up production for Velour, his trademark touch capturing the intimacy of Velour’s sound presenting it in a way that’s considered yet raw - nothing feeling rushed, nor cluttered. A separation and space that gives each element the room it deserves to breathe, with short interludes and skits providing the perfect bridge between tracks, guiding you through smokey jazz bars and twilight whisperings.

Moving through the album, Czaya at points wanders in a serene spoken dialogue, at others letting her voice loose, but always with an ethereal demeanour that comes off with natural ease. One of many highlights, ‘Anthony Davis’ shows off this celestial prowess whilst perfectly embodying Velour’s dream-like escapism. A pent up release of creativity, as moody bass tones mix with deft keys, rolling snares sit behind swirling saxophones.

The journey ends with ‘Luminate’, a transcendent closer laced with space-echoed vocals that reverberate around over-driven Rhodes and feverish drums. Cymbals crash, as modulated synths rise, building and building before easing you off into the night and on your way to a parallel universe.

As a body of work, ‘Velour’ is a shining example of the freedom, energy and enthusiasm of the new school of jazz that’s been captivating minds the world over. An instant on repeat staple - let go, feel the flow, it’s what we need in a time like this.

Black 7" dinked centre hole vinyl. Fully remastered reissue with replica artwork of this super sought after slice of 1980’s disco, 'Rockin – Poppin Full Tilting' celebrating the 40th anniversary of it's original release.

A classic in it's own right, Midland brought it back to the forefront of people's minds, expertly sampling it in the 2016 summer anthem ‘Final Credits’, leaving many scrambling to find an original copy of the 7 inch. And with prices in excess of £125 it's high time an official reissue came around.

(180 gram pressing) Kosmo Sound from Ghent presents its long-awaited debut album 'Antenna'. The instrumental sextet is inspired by the typical dub sound where their background in jazz is never far away. They mix heavy bass lines and tight drums with spacy melodies into an organic trip that sets every venue on fire. They have already performed twice as the support act for Dub legend Adrian Sherwood and became winners of Sound Track 2019.

One of the most expensive records in the world. The only available copy on Discogs is a mere £4,000!

This was Willie Tee returning to his '60s anthem "Teasing You" but updating it with a beautiful 1972 New Orleans production turning it into a Modern Soul anthem. It's a work of sublime genius and the fully remastered 7" reissue will have replica artwork of the original Gatur label. You have just been spoilt, again.

In the late-1970s Athens, Georgia was buzzing with a raw but sophisticated music scene. Traditional Southern rock had been the Georgia musical export for years before but the turn of the decade began producing new sounds from bands like the B-52’s, REM and Alt Rock luminaires Pylon.
 Before they were a band, Pylon were art-school students at the University of Georgia: four kids invigorated by big ideas about art and creativity and society. However, Pylon were less of a band and more of an art project, which meant they had very specific goals in mind, as well as an expiration date.
 While their time together as a band was short lived (1979-1983), Pylon had a lasting influence on the history of rock and roll. Throughout their brief history, they were able to create influential work that would help foster the post-punk and art-rock scene of the early 80s. Artists like R.E.M., Gang of Four, Sonic Youth, Sleater-Kinney, Interpol, Deerhunter and many more claim inspiration from the band.
 Their 1979 single ‘Cool’ / ‘Dub’ reached legendary status, with Rolling Stone titling it one of the 100 Greatest Debut Singles Of All Time.
 In 1980 the band released their first record, ‘Gyrate’, and began touring across the country in support of the release. The band would soon develop a following across the country and specifically in the bustling music scene in New York City. One of their earliest gigs was opening for the Gang of Four in the Big Apple.
 Following the critical acclaim of their debut release, Pylon went back into the studio. They gleefully pulled their songs apart and put them back together in new shapes, revealing a band of self proclaimed nonmusicians who had transformed gradually but noticeably into real musicians. The resulting album, ‘Chomp’, was barely off the press when Pylon were booked to open a run of dates for a hot new Irish band called U2 (after previously playing two arena shows with them in the month leading to the album release). Most bands would have jumped at the opportunity but Pylon were sceptical. At a critical point in the life of Pylon, they opted to become a cult band rather than stretch their defining philosophy too far.
 “We fully intended Pylon to be an almost seasonal thing that we were gonna do for a minute and then get on with our lives,” says Curtis Crowe, drummer for the band. “But it just never went away. It still doesn’t go away. There’s a new subterranean class of kids that are coming into this kind of music, and they’re just now discovering Pylon. That blows my mind. We didn’t see that coming.”
 New West Records are proud to partner with Pylon to reissue ‘Chomp’ and ‘Gyrate’ back into the masses. Beautifully remastered from the original audio sources and pressed on vinyl (140g) for the first time in over 30 years.
 New West Records also present ‘Pylon Box’, a comprehensive look at the band that features the remastered studio LPs ‘Gyrate’ and ‘Chomp’, the 11-song collection ‘Extra’ - which includes rarities and previously unreleased studio and live recordings - and ‘Razz Tape’, Pylon’s first ever recording: a 13-song unreleased session that pre-dates the band’s seminal ‘Cool’ / ‘Dub’ debut.
 ‘Pylon Box’ also includes a hardbound 200-page full colour book featuring pieces written by the members of R.E.M., Gang of Four, Steve Albini, Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth, Interpol, B-52’s, Bradford Cox of Deerhunter, Mission of Burma, Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening and K Records, Anthony DeCurtis, Chris Stamey of the dB’s, Steve Wynn of the Dream Syndicate and many more. Features an extensive essay chronicling the band’s history, with interviews with the surviving members of the band as well as members of R.E.M., B-52’s, Gang of Four, Method Actors and more. It also features never before seen images and artifacts from both the band’s personal archives as well as items now housed at the Special Collections Library at the University of Georgia and the Georgia Museum of Art, UGA.

SUMMER OF SEVENTEEN are MONIKA KHOT (NORDRA, ZEN MOTHER), WILLIAM FOWLER COLLINS, DANIEL MENCHE, FAITH COLOCCIA (MAMIFFER), and AARON TURNER. (SUMAC, SPLIT CRANIUM).

Wildfires plagued Washington state during the summer of 2017, their smoke drifting westward toward the Seattle area and toxifying the air. Shortly before that trauma, MONIKA KHOT, WILLIAM FOWLER COLLINS, DANIEL MENCHE, FAITH COLOCCIA, and AARON TURNER had gathered at the latter two musicians' House Of Low Culture studio on idyllic Vashon Island with revered producer RANDALL DUNN. There they cut eight songs that capture the makeshift band's feelings of what COLOCCIA calls "a kind of doomsday lurking in the background." It's as if these highly attuned players had a premonition.

"Summer Of Seventeen" -which was edited and arranged by MONIKA KHOT, who records apocalyptic music solo as NORDRA and plays in the avant-rock band ZEN MOTHER—is a nuanced admixture of these musicians' sounds and a culmination of all of their previous collaborations. COLOCCIA and TURNER have created eldritch folk and chamber rock for over a decade in MAMIFFER while engaging in various solo and group projects that explore their profound spirituality in sound. MENCHE has been a fixture on the abstract composition scene for 31 years and COLLINS is a savvy explorer of drone and ambient forms. Their ephemeral summit meeting has yielded a masterwork for the ages.

A heaven/hell and beauty/beastliness dichotomy pervades the album—as if a titanic struggle was transpiring in that small studio. The fearsome trumpet fanfare that starts "Chorus Of The Innocents" heralds a baleful fate. With a subliminal industrial rhythm bristling beneath the eerie exhalations, the song submerges us in a slow-motion maelstrom, a horror-film facsimile of MILES DAVIS' "Bitches Brew". "Perceived Slight" threads death-metal screams through a stark, suspenseful atmosphere, with austere glints of guitar and beats like fists on a casket lid intensifying the dread.

Angelic chants and celestial drones perfume the air in several of the songs on "Summer Of Seventeen", countered with muted blast beats, serrated hums, jagged glitches, simulacra of grinding gears and lightning. It's as if no good deed goes unpunished. "Spirits Of Redeemer" could be an elegy for the human race while "Cultural Orphan" sounds like a symphony for a malfunctioning factory. The album ends with "Theatre Needs An Audience," a harrowing ballad somewhere between EINSTÜRZENDE NEUBAUTEN and MERZBOW; it's a savage rent in the space-time continuum.

"Thinking about this record now," COLOCCIA recalls, "it seems like we were all sort of anticipating something like this current pandemic happening, although we were thinking about it as fire in the hands of man (literal fire, and also gunfire) that would overturn the normal running of things and reveal the current false beliefs systems holding up most of America."

That grave aura infiltrates "Summer Of Seventeen", However, a hopefulness bubbles beneath the foreboding architecture of sound and noise summoned here. The bunker is the new penthouse.

-Dave Segal, April 2020

Mort Garson’s road to cool cultural caché and the sublimity of Plantasia meant a decades’ long journey through an underworld of sophisticated, international, string-laced dreck (i.e., your great-grandparents’ record collection) to arrive at Music from Patch Cord Productions, this set of queasy-listening you now hold.

Music from Patch Cord Productions shows that Garson’s knack was to exist in both worlds, super-commercial and waaay out. He cut delirious minute-long blasts for commercials (as to whether or not they were actually ever aired remains unknown) and spacecraft-hovering études. Were there really account managers out there in the early ’70s that gave the greenlight to these commercial compositions which seemed to anticipate everyone from John Carpenter to Suicide? What were these campaigns actually for, Soylent Green? Regardless, Mort’s jingle work laid the groundwork for the future. As Robert Moog himself noted: “The jingles were important because they domesticated the sound.” Via Garson’s wizardry, the synthesizer transcended novelty to ubiquity and dominance.

Other curios and questions abound. How did Garson’s arrangement work for Arthur Prysock’s satiny body worship album This Is My Beloved transmogrify into the body-snatcher pulses of “This is My Beloved”? Are the two pieces even related? What is the IATA code for the airport of “Realizations of an Aeropolis”? What denomination is the “Cathedral of Pleasure”? If “Son of Blob” sounds like a hallucinatory melted ice cream truck theme, what on earth does Blob’s father sound like? Every sound wrangled out of that Moog by Garson pushes things further and further out.

Of course, these are all questions that may never get answers, as Garson wasn’t the most organized modern day composer, busy as he was conjuring strange new realms with his circuit boards and synths. He worked and wrote right up until his death in 2008, his daughter and Sacred Bones still going through all of the material left behind. He wouldn’t live to see it, but his renaissance was just around the corner, the seeds that had been scattered in record bins around the world suddenly coming to bear fruit. Take a bite!

Thaba is a collaboration between South African singer/
songwriter Khusi Seremane and American producer/musician
Gabriel Cyr. Tragically in July 2020, while the two were
working with Soundway to prepare the release of their first
record, Seremane died a few days past his 41st birthday, after
battling health issues for several years.
The particular Thaba sound reflects a sonic duality drawing
on a double pop heritage of Mbaqanga and Bubblegum artists
like The Soul Brothers, Paul Ndlovu and Pat Shange alongside
traces of Roxy Music, Grace Jones, Sade, and Talk Talk that’s
wrapped up in a modern, electronic, layered, introspective
and at times jazz-tinged production style.
Brought together by a shared love of kwaito, 90’s R&B and
classic downtempo, Seremane and Cyr collaborated for a
decade after meeting online in the halcyon days of Myspace
Music. While the pair initially planned for Seremane to guest
on a Teleseen track, their ideas eventually evolved into an
entire record. Their debut, Eyes Rest Their Feet, was created
remotely over the course of several years, with the core
recorded during a 2016 studio session in Cape Town.
After returning to New York, Cyr honed these recordings with
several Brooklyn-based musicians, calling upon members
of Antibalas, Underground System, Midnight Magic, Loboko
and others. Eyes Rest Their Feet spans genres as well as
geography, touching on elements of soul, reggae, synth-pop
and beyond, with lyrical themes that explore loneliness and
the challenges of human relationships.
Eyes Rest Their Feet not only represents the apex of
Seremane’s work as an artist but also a meditation on the
transformative power of love and the impermanence of all
things.

Demon Records presents the first ever vinyl pressing of The Durutti Column’s 2009 studio album “Love In The Time Of Recession”.

Formed in Manchester in 1978, The Durutti Column were one of the first acts signed to the iconic Factory Records by Tony Wilson. Primarily the project of guitarist and vocalist Vini Reilly, the group have a cult following with notable fans including Brian Eno and John Frusciante.

“Love In The Time Of Recession” finds Reilly and co continuing to explore genre-blending sounds. Highlights include the fuzzy guitar filled ‘In Memory Of Anthony’ (a tribute to the late Factory Records founder), and ‘More Rainbows’, an instrumental conversation between Vini Reilly’s soaring guitar and girlfriend Poppy Morgan’s dreamy electric piano.

Pressed on two 140g translucent amber vinyl, housed in printed inner sleeves.

In the late-1970s Athens, Georgia was buzzing with a raw but sophisticated music scene. Traditional Southern rock had been the Georgia musical export for years before but the turn of the decade began producing new sounds from bands like the B-52’s, REM and Alt Rock luminaires Pylon.
 Before they were a band, Pylon were art-school students at the University of Georgia: four kids invigorated by big ideas about art and creativity and society. However, Pylon were less of a band and more of an art project, which meant they had very specific goals in mind, as well as an expiration date.
 While their time together as a band was short lived (1979-1983), Pylon had a lasting influence on the history of rock and roll. Throughout their brief history, they were able to create influential work that would help foster the post-punk and art-rock scene of the early 80s. Artists like R.E.M., Gang of Four, Sonic Youth, Sleater-Kinney, Interpol, Deerhunter and many more claim inspiration from the band.
 Their 1979 single ‘Cool’ / ‘Dub’ reached legendary status, with Rolling Stone titling it one of the 100 Greatest Debut Singles Of All Time.
 In 1980 the band released their first record, ‘Gyrate’, and began touring across the country in support of the release. The band would soon develop a following across the country and specifically in the bustling music scene in New York City. One of their earliest gigs was opening for the Gang of Four in the Big Apple.
 Following the critical acclaim of their debut release, Pylon went back into the studio. They gleefully pulled their songs apart and put them back together in new shapes, revealing a band of self proclaimed nonmusicians who had transformed gradually but noticeably into real musicians. The resulting album, ‘Chomp’, was barely off the press when Pylon were booked to open a run of dates for a hot new Irish band called U2 (after previously playing two arena shows with them in the month leading to the album release). Most bands would have jumped at the opportunity but Pylon were sceptical. At a critical point in the life of Pylon, they opted to become a cult band rather than stretch their defining philosophy too far.
 “We fully intended Pylon to be an almost seasonal thing that we were gonna do for a minute and then get on with our lives,” says Curtis Crowe, drummer for the band. “But it just never went away. It still doesn’t go away. There’s a new subterranean class of kids that are coming into this kind of music, and they’re just now discovering Pylon. That blows my mind. We didn’t see that coming.”
 New West Records are proud to partner with Pylon to reissue ‘Chomp’ and ‘Gyrate’ back into the masses. Beautifully remastered from the original audio sources and pressed on vinyl (140g) for the first time in over 30 years.
 New West Records also present ‘Pylon Box’, a comprehensive look at the band that features the remastered studio LPs ‘Gyrate’ and ‘Chomp’, the 11-song collection ‘Extra’ - which includes rarities and previously unreleased studio and live recordings - and ‘Razz Tape’, Pylon’s first ever recording: a 13-song unreleased session that pre-dates the band’s seminal ‘Cool’ / ‘Dub’ debut.
 ‘Pylon Box’ also includes a hardbound 200-page full colour book featuring pieces written by the members of R.E.M., Gang of Four, Steve Albini, Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney, Sonic Youth, Interpol, B-52’s, Bradford Cox of Deerhunter, Mission of Burma, Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening and K Records, Anthony DeCurtis, Chris Stamey of the dB’s, Steve Wynn of the Dream Syndicate and many more. Features an extensive essay chronicling the band’s history, with interviews with the surviving members of the band as well as members of R.E.M., B-52’s, Gang of Four, Method Actors and more. It also features never before seen images and artifacts from both the band’s personal archives as well as items now housed at the Special Collections Library at the University of Georgia and the Georgia Museum of Art, UGA.

MD Records, a small independent label started in 2018, are pleased to present the debut single from “Lost in Rio” on the new MD Gold series imprint.
Their debut single which will be out in August, ‘Little Piece of Heaven’ is a festival summer feel good slice of Latin pop featuring energetic musicianship and the vocals talents of Highland based Miss T.It is also something the guys are, rightly, very proud of.
The vinyl release of this single is presented as a double A side as both sides are phenomenal, with the remix bringing a NYC disco mix, designed purely for dancefloors with thumping bass, chic style guitars and soaring strings, think Studio 54 and the heady crossover soul of Philly meeting the early disco of New York.
Early plays by several funk and soul radio stations (Totally Wired Radio and FACE radio) has attracted interest from DJs keen to feedback with so many positive vibes and offers to collaborate on future songs.
Who Are Lost In Rio:
The band herald from the Highlands of Scotland. Inverness provides the base for a collection of musicians that have made their home here, whether they originated from Manchester, Melbourne, Malaysia or indeed the Highlands! The band has taken the funk and soul sound from their former incarnation, The Leonard Jones Potential (LJP) who were BBC6 Craig Charles Funk & Soul Show favourites with whom they undertook several live interviews on the show with Craig and also a popular live session as well as a number of joint live dates at Kendal Calling Festival, Inverness and Aberdeen. The guys were also asked to undertake some prestigious live work with world renowned DJ Carl Cox, on the bill at his personal request and alongside other acts such as Brand New Heavies, Danny Rampling, Gilles Peterson and of course, Carl himself.
The songwriting team behind all this - Anthony, Andy, Neil and Ruairi quickly set up Lost in Rio upon the demise of The LJP and began collaborating with a number of singers and a rapper (MC Butterscotch). They developed their sound into a smaller, tighter, groove based soul vibe.
From 2017 the grouped honed their sound with a number of live appearances across the Highlands including festivals and supporting acts such as Smoove and Turrell. Utilising guitars, bass, drums, Hammond and percussion, the guys set about leaning on key influences - Acid Jazz Corduroy and Brand New Heavies, dynamite disco guys Chic, Northern Soul, rare soul and a whole plethora of funky hip hop acts - The Allergies, The Herbaliser and Tribe called Quest to write a lot of new tunes. Latin influence comes to the fore in much of the groups new sound, particularly highlighting the impressive skills of Aussie percussionist Andy Pearce.
Live, the band have a good reputation and have been much sought after by promoters. Audiences have loved the tight rhythmic groove that these guys produce, meaning gigs are full of dancing and long encores. Recently the guys have been concentrating on driving up the already high standard of songwriting and production. This hard working band has plenty of material they are eager to share with those ears who are partial to quality funk, soul and pop and are looking for the right partners to work with and spread the message. Future releases will seek to exploit the wordsmith alacrity of MC Butterscotch who as well as Lost in Rio, also features as part of Scottish award winning hip hop act, Spring Break.
MD Records specialise in Unreleased soul and funk on its Yellow Series, contemporary soul and funk artists on the Gold Series, re-issue soul and funk on the Black Series and Missouri Soul and Blues via its Blue Lotus UK imprint.

Society is shaped by its history, stories that have evolved over time and held to be true. Stories of the imagination, stories from the ill-informed, stories conjured by favored subjects, but all loosely wrapped in the truth. Systems such as morals, religion, politics, and a culture are powerful enough to influence the mind of one and the minds of many and therefore direct the evolution of the species. Unseen Forces is a conceptual work that dissects this idea. A collection of four songs cause the listener to re-examine not only what they believed to be real and true but also why. Side A dives head first into testing your belief system by introducing the first stage of influence - Disruption and Experimentation. Introducing a simple question into the belief system that cannot be answered and observing the result. The Disruptor - subtle but powerful making its point with eerie, off center synth lines, and synthesized drums. Driving a wedge between the listener and the comfort of familiarity. Dr. Blowfin's Experiment - a long time and highly revered classic previously released on SID, continues to re-evaluate beliefs with modifications to the original. The question of why is still unanswered. Beliefs are broken and chaos ensues. Side B begins to take direct the chaos with another classic - Crossphaze - injecting live funk and modulated filters with this flexible floor mover previously released on Accelerate. Crossing into another realm unfamiliar to the listener as new beliefs are formed. Deconstructing the Immortals - leaves the listener with no other choice but to eagerly leave their old world behind and everything they know in ruins. This offbeat and mesmerizing anthem makes the question of why unimportant, because the answer is what now.

‘Borderline’ is the debut single from hotly-tipped Jamaican-Canadian artist and musician, SeeMeNot. Released on 18 September, 2020 and accompanied by a remix from Roman Flügel, ‘Borderline’ is available via SeeMeNot’s own imprint, Brainstream. Her debut will be followed by the release of ‘Invisible Me’ produced by Peace Division’s Justin Drake, and ‘Chez Renee’, remixed by Joe Goddard, all in the coming months. A 21 st century house anthem, ‘Borderline’ is a stunning debut that shows the power of both SeeMeNot’s voice and her lyrics, and has been championed so far by Skream, Anja Schneider, Solomun, Adriatique, TSHA, Erol Alkan, Adana Twins, Monika Kruse, Andhim, Tim Sweeney, Chloé, Marco Carola, Digitalism, and many more.

‘Borderline’ was sampled on SeeMeNot’s July 2020 debut mixtape ‘Long Overdue: The Sound Of A Revolution’ along with an excerpt of the powerful speech by Tamika Mallory in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

Reclaiming house music as a form of protest, ‘Long Overdue: The Sound Of A Revolution’ was SeeMeNot’s first creative work. Released via her Soundcloud page, ‘Long Overdue’ featured SeeMeNot singing a cappella over a mix from DJ Oliver Baptiste. The 30 minutes of music is the sound of a Black female artist detailing the journey of Black people from Fight to Flight, channeling the pain she’s experiencing – and experienced – into something beautiful that pays respect to her ancestors but serves as a contemporary reinterpretation of traditional healing through singing and music. Influences from country music to gospel are joined through a shared history of hymnals as both protest and healing music. SeeMeNot recently released a PSA on her YouTube featuring an acapella from the mixtape – “a childhood cover” of the late Ray Charles – paying homage to Black Lives Matter.

Today internationally renowned composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and visual artist Tim Koh announces the release of his debut solo album ‘In Your Dreams’, set for release on 18 September via Tim Burgess’ O Genesis Recordings. The announce follows the release of recent single ‘Fall Into Your Dream’ in May.

In Your Dreams is Tim’s most straightforward and accessible release to date, and an exciting addition to his body of solo work, which hitherto can broadly be described as experimental noise. The poignant song collection tackles core themes of life’s calamities, broken love, and transitory relationships, yet counterbalances its essential melancholy with a whimsical, upbeat, and playful spirit throughout. While not strictly autobiographical, the songs draw from Tim’s recent personal experiences during his two-year isolation from friends and family, and create a compelling narrative of alienation, loss, and love.

Tim wrote In Your Dreams in Amsterdam, L.A., and London in-between his time touring with Ariel Pink, and subsequently recorded the songs at home in Amsterdam while recovering from a near-fatal 2018 accident. The recurring hospitalizations that Tim has endured in recent years subtly find their way into the album through phone recordings from Tim’s actual hospital stints, underscoring the album’s themes on this highly personal work. In Your Dreams deftly juxtaposes lush, densely layered sounds with stark simplicity through a series of quick turnarounds, creating the captivating feeling of tension and release that characterizes this remarkable song collection.

Guest musicians on In Your Dreams include Chris Cohen on guitar, and drum help from Jay Watson (Tame Impala, Gum) and Josh da Costa (CMON). Adding to the family feel of the album, longtime Ariel Pink and Tim Koh collaborator Jorge Elbrecht performed mixing duties along with mastering by Heba Kadry.

With current album ‘Automatic’, Mildlife have made a step-change from their debut. It’s more disciplined, directional and more danceable. As on ‘Phase’, they are unafraid to let a track luxuriate in length without ever succumbing to self-indulgence. The arrangements, tightly structured thanks to Tom Shanahan (bass) and Jim Rindfleish’s fatback drumming, permit space for the others to add spice to the stew, topped off with Kevin McDowell’s ethereal vocals as Mildlife effortlessly glide between live performance and studio
songwriting.

The two remixers tackling ‘Automatic’ track ‘Vapour’ here need little introduction. JD Twitch, one half of Glasgow’s Optimo Espacio and discerning curator of all things Caledonian and beyond, takes the reins for remix two, adding some clattering post-punk energy to the rhythm, turning ‘Vapour’ into something approaching a take-no-prisoners anthem.

Cosmodelica is the remix handle for Colleen Murphy (aka DJ Cosmo), the hostess of the hugely popular Classic Album Sundays series. She is fresh off the back of a superb Róisín Murphy reworking and her offering here is simultaneously faithful to the original while lending it some serious dancefloor power.