quête:the last time

Blang Records are thrilled to announce another two vinyl album re-releases from Jeffrey Lewis's back catalogue: The debut classic The Last Time I Did Acid I Went Insane (originally Rough Trade 2001) and The critically acclaimed 4th album 12 Crass Songs (originally Rough Trade 2007). The Last Time I Did Acid I Went Insane (VV001LP) : The fragile poetry and lo-fi warmth of JL's home-recorded debut paint vivid scenes of downtown Manhattan life with cracked sincerity, comic book absurdity and charm. This groundbreaking album continues to charm listeners but has completely run out of stock. Press Quotes: "Jeffrey Lewis: `The Last Time I Did Acid I Went Insane' - Best Indie Album of 2002; like his drawings, his music is witty, animated and true." - New York Daily News "Bizarre but brilliant_ slugging it out to be New Rock capital of the universe, Jeffrey Lewis could well be New York's ace in the hole."- Uncut "Modestly brilliant." [Critic's Choice]- The Village Voice "He claws through the bullshit and pretence ingrained in society. [Jeffrey Lewis' work] _should be cherished."- TimeOut London "Jeffrey Lewis isn't simply a singer, but a creative comic mastermind_ brilliant_ a staggering work of_ genius." - (9 stars of 10) Addicted to Sound Blang Records and Jeffrey Lewis have history: before Blang was a label, it started life as a live night at the 12 Bar Club in Denmark Street, hosting many a set of the NY Antifolk artists over on UK shores, including Jeffrey Lewis. Now 20+ years since Jeffrey first played Blang. Native New Yorker Jeffrey Lewis is a comic book writer/artist and a musician. A cult hero birthed from the now infamous antifolk movement that sprung up on Manhattan's Lower East Side in the 90s, Jeffrey has released dozens of albums showcasing his unique blend of bleakly witty observations, scratchy, lo-fi punk and croaky folk/anti-folk, all firmly rooted in a strong DIY sensibility. Jeffrey and his band have toured the world multiple times over, released albums on Rough Trade, Moshi Moshi and Don GIovanni Records, and have been featured by NPR, The History Channel, The NY Times and more.

Spice does everything from buttery sweet soul to disco that makes you want to move. They are a firm favourite with those cultured crate diggers and their Let There Be Spice album is about as good as it gets. This fresh 7" from P-Vine features two of the standout tracks. First up is 'The Last Time' with some expertly penned choruses and a vocal turn that will have your mouth open in awe. Flip it over and the quality does not drop - "I'm So Glad To Say' is a high watermark for modern soul with staccato guitars over a persuasive bassline and gentle drums to make for a perfect captivating and mellow groove. A real must-own 45rpm.

'The Last Time...' is the new EP from the much respected Miami artist, Gosub. Expanding on the electrofunk experiments from his previous releases, these tracks are a sleazy stab at predicting funk's future.

2023 Repress / Gatefold sleeve

"For Better, For Worse" is the debut album by DJ Scientist, the founder and head of the Equinox Records label. The music on the album was produced between 2001 and 2006 and offers a unique, fully-sample based instrumental body of work that, even 6 years after its originally scheduled release date, has the power to spellbind and steer the listener into the widespread musical world of one of Germany's most passionate record collectors and artist.

Some tracks of the album were 'leaked' early. In 2006 on the "Journey Goodbye EP" and in the form of the song 'Raincoatman' which appeared on the first Equinox Records compilation. These early releases raised excitement levels for the album and fans of Scientist's unique approach. Unfortunately the album never materialised, partly due to the complexity of some of the songs, consisting of more than 50 layers. Moving from his hometown of Munich to Berlin in that period and coping with the increasing work the label was requiring of him as founder and manager also didn't help. Scientist then decided to focus on his collaboration with American rapper and multi-instrumentalist Ceschi Ramos in 2007, sealing the album off for a few more years. On the collaboration Scientist proved his skills as a producer across four singles and EPs (featuring popular cuts such as 'Same Old Love Song' and 'Bad Jokes') and an album, "The One Man Band Broke Up", released in 2010. The instrumental version of the album acted as Scientist's official solo debut. Until now…

In 2012 Scientist began to revisit the body of work that made up "For Better, For Worse" and finalised the tracks from the vast archive of finished and unfinished songs. In April he released "The Artless Cuckoo EP" which featured additional tracks from the same early production period that makes up the bulk of the album. The EP introduced the album, catching the attention of fans who had been waiting for quite some time.

"For Better, For Worse" therefore picks up from where "Journey Goodbye" had ended and where "The Artless Cuckoo" had restarted. All the tracks on the album show the musical power that resides in the "instrumental hip hop" genre, for lack of a better word. Despite the time it took to make and release, or perhaps precisely because of it, the album defines Scientist's talent and knowledge as a sample-based musician. Even if the crashing drums and melancholic samples which mark the music have now often been replaced by glitches and Dilla-esque drums elsewhere, the music on the album still sounds like little else in hip hop today. The instrumental side of the genre has rarely been purer, more powerful or more uncompromising.

It's with great pleasure that nearly 10 years after work on the music started Equinox Records finally gives spotlight to the man in the back. So stop, and listen. For better, and for worse.

Depeche Mode have released their much anticipated new single Where's The Revolution' today. A powerful and timely track, the song vibrates with a drum laden, menacing energy, anchored in frontman Dave Gahan's vocals demanding, Where's The Revolution / Come on people you're letting me down.'

Revolt! Strikes Back With A New Va And Powerful Sounds Made By Greece's Man Of The Moment Lee Burton, Moroccan Uncompromising Producer Adil Hiani And Romania's Uprising Talent Sonohat, Who Join The Label For The First Time.

It's full of moments that can be heartbreaking (as on the AMA UK 2023 Awardwinning single 'Car Crash'), deeply romantic and genuinely uplifting. These are songs imbued with the virtues of forerunners that inspired Hannah as both an artist and a producer, from Wanda Jackson to the Shangri-Las, and that exude the atmospheric allure of true, original Americana noir. The common link is a voice that's at times delicate and restrained, and at others powerful and stirring.

The Besnard Lakes have passed through death and they’r e here to tell the tale. Nearly five years after their last lightning-tinted volley, the magisterial Montreal psych-rock band have sworn off compromise, split with their long-standing label, and completed a searing, 72-minute suite about the darkness of dying and the light on the other side. The Besnard Lakes Are The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings is the group's sixth album and the first in more than 15 years to be released away from a certain midwestern American indie record company. After 2016's A Coliseum Complex Museum - which saw Jace Lasek and Olga Goreas attempting shorter, less sprawling songs - the Besnards and their label decided it was time to go their separate ways; with that decision came a question of whether to even continue the project at all. What use is a band with an instinct for long, tectonic tunes - rock songs with chthonic heft and ethereal grace, five or 10 or 18 minutes long? How do you sell that in an age of bite-sized streaming? How do you make it relevant? "Who gives a shit!" the Besnard Lakes realized. Ignited by their love for each other, for playing music together, the sextet found themselves unspooling the most uncompromising recording of their career. Despite all its grandeur, ...The Last of the Great Thunderstorm Warnings honours the very essence of punk rock: the notion that a band need only be relevant to itself. At last the Besnard Lakes have crafted a continuous long-form suite: nine tracks that could be listened together as one, like Spiritualized's Lazer Guided Melodies or even Dark Side of the Moon, overflowing with melody and harmony, drone and dazzle, the group's own unique weather. Here now, the Besnard Lakes finally dispensed with the two/three-year album cycle, taking all the time they needed to conceive, compose, record and mix their opus. Some of its songs were old, resurrected from demos cast aside years ago. Others were literally woodshedded in the cabanon behind Lasek and Goreas's "Rigaud Ranch" - invented and reinvented, relishing this rougher sound.

It's been three years since Jessie Ware released her second album Tough Love. Described by Pitchfork as an album that moves into the territory of real, messy love' Tough Love was the critically-embraced follow up to Jessie's landmark debut Devotion in 2012. Signed to the influential London label PMR, Jessie's deep roots into UK music saw collaborations with SBTRKT and Disclosure bear fruit before her acclaim reached international levels. With both albums now gold-certified in the UK, a million albums sold worldwide and her influence undeniable, Jessie has spent the last three years working on her third album Glasshouse. The album includes multiple Radio 1 & 2 playlist singles and Jessie is confirmed for Sunday Brunch and Later with Jools around album release.

The newest solo work by Roger Eno in nearly a decade. This Floating World holds rustic and melancholic piano works, as grey and mossy as a country cottage. I hear the LP chiming from the dark corners of a pub, soaking in the damp wood like spilled ale.

I first fell in love with Roger's music with his 1985 debut album Voices, which cradled many rainy and caffeinated mornings when I was living in San Francisco years back. He played on the infamous Apollo, Music for Films vol. 3, and recorded a theme for the Dune soundtrack. Pad-keyboards and veils of reverb pour through those processed tracks.

I later rediscovered Roger Eno in a different light with his 1997 album The Music of Neglected English Composers. A playful and beautiful album of chamber pieces guised as the works of forgotten (and fabricated) composers from the past century. His compositional sensibilities remind me of my favorite recent English composers... Hobbs, White, Bryars, Skempton, etc.

This Floating World feels like a hybrid of these two styles, a melding of both his ambient and 'prelude'-esque compositions. Warm and feathered furniture music. An antique on the shelf gifted from an a cherished relative.

In our communication Roger has been a real charmer, ending every email with Roger and out.' A curious fellow, with a knack for tracing the understated beauties of this world.

In addition to the lovely LP, Roger wrote some brief stories which are set in a 12-page booklet alongside his photography.

Introducing a new label, Koko Music, founded in West London by a long time friend of ours. Their first release:

'Allegedly Coltrane's favourite singer, Andy Bey recorded as vocalist for Max Roach ('Members, Don't Git Weary'), Horace Silver ('Won't You Open Up Your Senses'), Gary Bartz ('Celestial Blues') and Stanley Clarke in the late sixties / early seventies. He released one solo album and then disappeared from view for 20 years, resurfacing in the nineties.

This 1998 album showcases his four-octave range, the intimacy of love songs and raw power of the blues on a mixture of standards ('Pretty Girl', 'Some Other Time'), Latin ('O Cantador', 'Drume Negrita'), modern (Nick Drake's 'River Man'), and a couple of original tunes. Available for the first time on vinyl, cut at 45rpm, it features Andy on vocals and on piano, with appearances from Gary Bartz and Geri Allen.'