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Cutting their teeth as teens in a West Bromwich bedroom, The Sea Urchins were nothing like the heavy metal that seemed to fill every bar in the UK Black Country. Fringe haircuts, perfect trousers, suede jackets and infectious tambourines gave plenty of hints as to their youthful ambition, but nothing could fully prepare you for just how utterly spellbinding these songs would be. Compiling their fanzine-only flexi material with the full complement of singles for Sarah Records, Stardust runs chronologically from late 1986 to the middle of 1989, beginning with the singles split for Clare Wadd’s Kvatch and Matt Haynes’ Sha La La, before hitting the first of what would be an even hundred releases from the new label Wadd and Haynes would form - Sarah.

The song that launched a legendary label and defined a sound, a scene, a place and time; “Pristine Christine” still rings out as immediate and magical today as it did on first listen. What a glorious jangly rush racing around the corners of pop’s history! The band would reach such heights time and again over the course of this three year burst. The melancholy swinging folk of “Everglade” and it’s wonderfully yearning vocal; the organ-fueled british invasion garage rock sing-a-long of “Solace”; the playful psych pop of “A Morning Odyssey”; the acoustic sweep of “Wild Grass Pictures”; the perfectly named “Summershine” leaving you with a ramshackle smile out on the dancefloor. All of it is just so filled with delicate humanity, yet somehow absolutely perfect.

As Bob Stanley said about the shimmering ballad “Please Rain Fall” while bestowing it with NME Single Of The Week (an honor also bestowed upon “Pristine Christine”), “think of some variations on the word marvelous and you’re most of the way there.”

In their time, they might have seemed wildly out of step, but it’s not crazy to say that things could have been very different for the likes of Radiohead, The La’s, and Oasis without The Sea Urchins. Liner notes by Television Personalities legend Dan Treacy.

Orange Vinyl

Cutting their teeth as teens in a West Bromwich bedroom, The Sea Urchins were nothing like the heavy metal that seemed to fill every bar in the UK Black Country. Fringe haircuts, perfect trousers, suede jackets and infectious tambourines gave plenty of hints as to their youthful ambition, but nothing could fully prepare you for just how utterly spellbinding these songs would be. Compiling their fanzine-only flexi material with the full complement of singles for Sarah Records, Stardust runs chronologically from late 1986 to the middle of 1989, beginning with the singles split for Clare Wadd’s Kvatch and Matt Haynes’ Sha La La, before hitting the first of what would be an even hundred releases from the new label Wadd and Haynes would form - Sarah.

The song that launched a legendary label and defined a sound, a scene, a place and time; “Pristine Christine” still rings out as immediate and magical today as it did on first listen. What a glorious jangly rush racing around the corners of pop’s history! The band would reach such heights time and again over the course of this three year burst. The melancholy swinging folk of “Everglade” and it’s wonderfully yearning vocal; the organ-fueled british invasion garage rock sing-a-long of “Solace”; the playful psych pop of “A Morning Odyssey”; the acoustic sweep of “Wild Grass Pictures”; the perfectly named “Summershine” leaving you with a ramshackle smile out on the dancefloor. All of it is just so filled with delicate humanity, yet somehow absolutely perfect.

As Bob Stanley said about the shimmering ballad “Please Rain Fall” while bestowing it with NME Single Of The Week (an honor also bestowed upon “Pristine Christine”), “think of some variations on the word marvelous and you’re most of the way there.”

In their time, they might have seemed wildly out of step, but it’s not crazy to say that things could have been very different for the likes of Radiohead, The La’s, and Oasis without The Sea Urchins. Liner notes by Television Personalities legend Dan Treacy.

Red Vinyl

Adrian Borland and Graham Bailey might be better known as members of legendary post-punk group The Sound, but the two were childhood friends and had been playing together even earlier in The Outsiders, and continued their deep musical rapport as a duo, creating these intense and engaging songs as Second Layer at the same time as their higher profile band output.

Combining their early recordings, including the 1979 Flesh As Property EP and 1980 State Of Emergency EP, Courts Or Wars takes its title from the first song that served as the pair’s introduction to listeners. Right from the beginning you are enveloped in what The Quietus described as, “a monochrome worldview morbidly obsessed with the dehumanizing effect of war, nuclear weapon annihilation, and the fracturing and negation of the self within an increasingly distorted and technologically mediated society.” Where The Sound fit snugly next to Echo And The Bunnymen, Second Layer had far more in common with the pulsing menace of Suicide.

Borland’s familiar vocals and sense of melody hold a connection to his other songwriting, but within these songs he takes far more risks in his guitar work to suit the subject matter. What really drives everything is Bailey’s propulsive bedrock, formed by his homemade pre-drum machine rhythm generators, creating an innovative mechanical approach that somehow inserts a jittery neurotic touch that merges perfectly with his electronic layers driven by the wasp synth, various unique effects boxes or tape loops. Adding in Bailey’s own distinctive bass playing, the results feel personal and experimental, pointed and harsh, while also bracingly accessible and covered in dark manic energy.

Over forty years later, these recordings feel shockingly appropriate. In painting a bleak reality and frightening future, there is real desperate beauty here.

Espen Friberg’s solo album debut. Sun Soon is Espen Friberg´s solo album debut, consisting of eleven compositions made up of synthesizer and field recordings. The album is formed as a collage, with compositions patched on a Serge modular synth and field recordings. The patches portray the mood and wandering in mountains and forests – while at the same time meditating on the area of the Norwegian valley Hallingdal´s local history. The collage technique is something Friberg uses in both his musical and visual art. The album is meditative and exploratory, and at the same time playful and immediate. Trucks, trash cans, flowing streams, lemon soda, horses and wandering mountains, find its place between slow melodies, scratching, sinus tones and bass lines. Dissonances and harmonies come together in gliding transitions and abrupt stops, while an electronic willow flute sings and the sun is rising. The recording is done at Leveld Kunstnartun in Ål in Hallingdal, later mixed and produced in collaboration with Jenny Berger Myhre. The project captures the ambiance in the valley around Leveld, through Espen´s experiences in nature, but also from the paintings of Marianne Røthe Arnesen and Gøsta Munsterhjelm. Espen Friberg is known as an artist, designer, illustrator, cartoon creator and musician, and has received numerous awards and stipends for his work. In the beginning of 2000 he was a part of establishing the design studio Yokoland, but later started his own studio. In addition to his visual practice he has built a sound studio consisting of complex synthesizer systems and a variety of obscure electronical instruments and effect processors. He has been a central person in experimental and electronic music in Norway. He started and runs the record company Take It Easy Policy in collaboration with Emil Høgset, and has been a curator for the concert series Rett Ned. Since 2005 he has participated in a long line of sample albums under different artist names, before releasing his first EP under his own name in 2015. After this he has released six different albums with Øivind Olsen, André Borgen and Marianne Røthe Arnesen. Friberg has been active on the concert stage, both as a solo artist and in different collaborations. 1.Lazy cobweb 2.Wandering mountain 3.Gøsta Munsterhjelm 4.Foggy glow 5.Pasture patch 6.Motor sunup 7.Thirteen paintings 8.Marianne Røthe Arnesen 9.Sinuous river (part one) 10.Sinuous river (part two) 11.Orange moss bridge

2023 re-issue, 140g vinyl, reproduction of the classic Tele Music sleeve, full colour insert with liner notes and archive photographs

Wow! Tonio Rubio's Rhythms is a stone-cold killer, a heavyweight library breaks LP and the inaugural release in Be With's new partnership with legendary French library label Tele Music. Yes, you lucky people, there's lots to come. For this extremely special 50 year anniversary re-issue, we've reproduced the classic Tele Music sleeve with a full colour insert featuring rare photographs, fresh liner notes and personal memories of Tonio from the likes of Jean-Claude Vannier, Jean-Claude Petit and Janko Nilovic.

Sumptuous opener “Latin Leitmotiv” is all funky phasing effects and a killer montuno, with what sounds like piano and bass in tandem, stoking straight up Latin fire. The gritty hard funk of blaxploitation groove "Red Medium" is dripping in wah-wah attitude and head-nod oddness. The atmospheric, exotica-tinged "Dead Slow" emulates the languid, sensual afro groove of Quincy Jones’ wild masterpiece “Gula Matari” whilst the proggy, electric jazz fusion epic "Rock 73" is 9+ minutes of moody, rolling menace.

But the *real* highlight of this cult classic - and why it has long been *so* desirable - is the devastating, deep, hypnotic minimalist groove of "Bass In Action N°1". Very much in conversation with Quincy's rendition of "Hummin'", the loping, rumbling bassline and sweet electric piano over clean, crisp drums making it one of those tracks that sounds like a hip-hop beat 20 years ahead of time. Sensational. “Bass In Action N°2“ features Tonio's own vocal scat performance. Remarkable.

Antonio "Tonio" Rubio Garcia got his start playing the double bass in jazz clubs. In 1962, Tonio joined the Golden Stars, the first backing band of France’s teenage idol Johnny Hallyday. A genius musician with a unique guitar sound, he played on standards of French chanson including Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot’s "Bonnie and Clyde", Françoise Hardy’s "Tous les Garçons et les Filles", Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin’s "Je T’aime, Moi Non Plus" and Serge and Charlotte Gainsbourg’s infamous "Lemon Incest". Tonio also lent his brilliance to such legendary figures as Janko Nilovic, Jean-Claude Petit, Hervé Roy, and Jean-Claude Vannier. The latter remembers Tonio as “a secretive, mysterious man, with an endearing personality, albeit difficult to reach out to. His virtuosity as a bass player allowed me to write very innovative basslines, because he was able to play any of my eccentricities!”

The audio for Rhythms has been remastered by Be With regular Simon Francis whilst Christopher Stevenson has brought the original and iconic Tele Music sleeve back to life in all its striking glory as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

It's an all electronic affair, harmonically maximalist, predominantly symphonic-synthetic, requiring active listening. Some pieces function as challengers of musical structural habits, provoking the short attention span culture, others present a problem-solution scenario, collectively via a neoteric noise aesthetic and detailed melodic weaving. Ultimately, the objective was to engineer an assortment of works full of sound, euphonic and vivid in nature.

The making of this album was intentionally a very personal process, going into self therapy territory at times interpreting the composer's contemplating mind dealing with tolerance, destruction, compassion, misery, grace and tyranny in an auditory manner. Some pieces function as challengers of musical structural habits, provoking the short attention span culture, others present a problem-solution scenario, collectively via a neoteric noise aesthetic and detailed melodic weaving. Ultimately, the objective was to engineer an assortment of works, awash with euphonic sound vivid in its essence, with a deep focus on various synthesis techniques within a compositional framework.

Dedicated to Peter Rehberg aka Pita

Ata 'Sote' Ebtekar composes music with a deeply-held conviction that rules and formulas should be deconstructed and rethought. He alters musical modal codes from their original tonality and rhythmic tradition to achieve vivid, synthetic soundscapes. Over the last three decades, his work has been published by labels such as Warp, Sub Rosa, Opal Tapes, Diagonal, Mute and Morphine, among others. In 2018, he founded a new label called 'Zabte Sote', which focuses on releases by Iranian experimental electronic composers from around the globe.

Known for creating compositions that range from the delicate to the abrasive, using sounds both of acoustical and electronic origins, Ebtekar sees music as the expression of cultural habits in sound and anti-sound (silence). Seeking to expand such traditions he creates music that, while rooted in many cultures at once, belongs to none in particular. Sote's work deals with various blueprints, in particular his solo all synthetic music, his electroacoustic audio/visual group project, and his multi-channel sound installations. Sote is on the jury panel of The DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Program, and has created commissioned work for and performed at a.o. Berghain and CTM Festival (Berlin), Unsound Festival (Krakow), Cafe Oto (London), Jazzhouse (Copenhagen), TodaysArt Festival (The Hague), Bozar (Brussels), Ultima Festival (Oslo), Donaufestival (Krems), Donaueschinger Musiktage, Mira (Barcelona), Terraforma (Milan), and many more.

A very rare jewel in the Michael Head canon of work. A two-song project recorded in 2014, pressed in France and packaged in a hand-made sleeve.
This is a unique and original artefact, not a re-press. With no band name on the sleeve , this was a personal project exquisitely packaged.

The songs are pure and quintessential Michael Head. Velvets In The Dark was written in the wake of the death of Lou Reed and centres around being on the outside of those things most important in your life. Koala Bears is a remarkable song with a structure like no other featuring two young fugitives, fixated and so in love who when caught have their code word for “we say nothing”

Bellowhead re-connected online during the lockdown in 2020 and for the
sheer fun of it remotely made and released 'New York Girls At Home' - all
from their respective homes around the UK
This unplanned performance was warmly received and ignited another idea for
the band to reunite - in person - for a full length recorded show at a mansion
house just outside London.This one- off performance was broadcast online in
December 2020, selling over 10,000 tickets and featuring a host of Bellowhead
favourites, including New York Girls, Roll Alabama, London Town and Roll the
Woodpile Down.

Led by the exuberant melodies of cross-tapping guitarist Marcos Mena,
the duo named standards make ebullient instrumental math-rock whose
effervescent riffs teem with enthusiasm for life and music
On the band's debut full- length, Fruit Island, standards deftly retool math- rock's
sinister and challenging tendencies into a style that is at once danceable yet still
compositionally profound.
In spite of the band's technical and precise stylings, the strictly instrumental
compositions are always catchy and singable, inviting listeners to join the band's
dancing fruit mascots whose colorful personalities reflect the music's upbeat
nature. Fruit Island's second single, "May," perfectly captures the duo's fruity
alternate universe, conjuring images of anthropomorphic melons and berries
bobbing along to pleasantly angular riffs and chop-heavy drums.

Mit »A Corner Of The Sky« veröffentlicht der britische Singer-Songwriter Rhys Lewis sein zweites Album.
Das Album beinhaltet unter anderem die bereits veröffentlichten Singles »Simple« und »Symmetrical«.
Lewis hat sich für dieses Album auf eine besondere, persönliche Reise begeben. Über mehrere Wochen
hinweg lebte er auf einer kleinen Farm, umgeben von Natur und einer Hand voll Musiker-Freunden. So
entstand das für den aus Oxofordshire stammenden Musiker ein Album, wessen Fokus war, sich selbst
kennenzulernen und Abstand zum meist wilden und hektischen Alltag zu gewinnen.
Die Veränderungen seines Lebensstils ist auch in seiner Musik erkennbar. Ihm gelang es so beispielsweise
das Gefühl des „im Moment lebens“ musikalisch zum Ausdruck zu bringen und Menschen auf diese Art
und Weiße emotional zu berühren.
„Corner Of The Sky“ diente für Lewis als Anstoß, mehr aus den uns gebotenen Situationen und Tagen zu
machen die wir geschenkt bekommen.
Das Album ist eine Art Liebeserklärung an genau diese Momente.
Das Album ist auf CD und Vinyl erhältlich.

Debut solo album by Dave Rowntree, best known as the drummer in Blur. It"s a record set to surprise many people, being an electronic-based album with orchestral fringes, filled with great, tuneful songs delivered by Rowntree"s assured and expressive vocal performances. While down the years he"s provided backing vocals on many of Blur"s albums and onstage during their live sets, this is the first time the drummer has stepped up to the microphone as a singer in his own right. He says he didn"t particularly find the prospect daunting. Produced by Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno, Ghostpoet, Wild Beasts), featuring co-writers including Gary Go and Högni Egilsson and stirring orchestrations recorded in Budapest, Radio Songs is a sonically expansive, but also deeply personal record.

Shamir's art is a synthesis of the full spectrum of human emotion;
sensual, furious, yearning, joyful
The freedom in his self produced and released Hope, although tethered through
style to greats (like Miss Nina Simone, Prince, and Taylor Swift) is based almost
entirely in a hyper specific, fully autonomous, embodied expression of
personhood. Originally––and somewhat begrudgingly––released via SoundCloud
n 2017, Hope was received with the sort of enthusiasm that marks this work as a
truly iconic, world building project that only Shamir could have constructed. The
original vinyl pressing was quick to sellout, and now, via the venerated label Kill
Rock Stars and following its 5 year anniversary, Hope finds itself remastered on
color vinyl, in a gatefold jacket and featuring two never- before- heard bonus
tracks; marking a maturation all the way from Shamir's bedroom 4- track to
platforms available worldwide.

Masters of anthemic rock ‘n’ roll Black Star Riders (The former Thin Lizzy
members) return with their hugely anticipated 5th studio album by
Earache records
Featuring 11 tracks, it was recorded in the Autumn of 2021 at Studio 606 in
Northridge California and Toochtoon Sound in Redmond Oregon with producer
and long time BSR associate, Jay Ruston. With Ricky Warwick on Lead Vocals /
Guitar, Robert Crane on Bass, Christian Martucci on Guitar and drummer Zak St.
About the album Ricky says “I am very proud of this record, Black Star Riders
fifth release and the first with our new and exciting relationship with Earache
Records. As with all BSR albums, ‘Wrong Side Of Paradise’ is an anthemic
statement of intent, driven by ferocious guitars and thundering drums. I can only
write about my own personal experiences, my families, my friends and how I see
a world that is unravelling and changing faster than we can comprehend. I’m a
firm believer however, in the power of positivity, something that echoes
throughout this album”.

One of New York's early pioneers of techno and DJ culture, Reade Truth has been an integral part of the cities' techno history. His first of over two dozen releases came out in 1994 on the Brooklyn underground acid label, Direct Drive. Since then, his releases have made many a mark on labels like Planet E, Strictly Rhythm, Sonic Groove, Instinct, Pomelo, Wurst, N-Syde, Path Records and so on. Basic Moves continues the New York vs. Belgium love story with six carefully selected tracks (never released before!) out of Reade his personal archive. (NOTE: original liner notes will be written by his best friend Adam X)

Balearia Records continues its personal trip around the pure house rhythms.

"Playa d'en Bossa" is a mix of beautiful melodies drifting over a shuffling drum pattern and tumbling percussion.

Heady and hypnotic mood, and who better to kick things off than some Italian heroes like Daniele Baldelli, Marco Dionigi, Fabrizio Fattori, Claudio Tosi Brandi and more. Cosmic lovers, unmissable calling for your decks!

NO(w) Beauty is a jazz quartet in its most traditional form.
In the perfect continuity of the history of this music, these four young musicians have gathered in Paris, where Hermon Mehari, trumpeter of American origin, has settled, like many of his peers before him. There, in the detours of the jazz clubs, a dialogue was created, then a friendship, thanks to the common language of music. Their personalities and influences mingle and define their sound. Jazz standards, blues, French and European classical music, soul, hip-hop, but also modern jazz and the avant-garde. A traditional quartet, but one that wants to be in tune with the times, and that looks ahead.
The three Frenchmen, in addition to having studied jazz, are largely rooted in French popular and learned music and their influences range from improvised music to Olivier Messiaen via Claude Nougaro... Enzo Carniel and Damien Varaillon both studied at the CNSM in Paris, renowned for its excellence and its very "European" aesthetic. Stéphane Adsuar studied at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, the leading school in the United States. Hermon Mehari, originally from Kansas City, Missouri, brings his unique heritage to the table, while innovating in the tradition of the great American trumpeters.
Together they create a space where all these influences intermingle, without nationality, without borders.

“For the last decade, Calum Lee AKA Paleman has steadily built a powerful catalogue of releases showcasing his unique percussive and textural take on electronic music. In 2020 he launched a new alias ‘Fresnel Lens’ that showcases his film scoring work and more experimental, explorative personal works running alongside his continuing work as Paleman. After 2021’s self-released PLMN005, 2 Fresnel Lens albums and a short film OST, Paleman turns to Florence based Sublunar Records in 2022 for his next release and longest work to date – ‘Veiled’. The release encapsulates a considered and focused writing process informed by rhythm, momentum, abstract moods and a desire for tangible visceral sound design orbiting techno, UK experimental electronic music, and early electronics. ‘Veiled’ begins with a statement of precision, opener Bite gallops into action with polyrhythmic vactrol loops and grainy incisive modular sound design. The LP moves through moods, spaces and tempos arriving at the distilled and appropriately named ‘Mandible’ that chews into the previous tracks’ themes with a stumbling urgency and an insectoid textural palette. Veiled feels like the culmination of a decade of Paleman works, a collection of tracks and merged sonics that represents his experiments, his club focused minimal works and his more recent explorations on PLMN and as ‘Fresnel Lens’ with drone, experimental and cinematic work. ‘Veiled’ paves the way for a new decade for Paleman, condensed and focused, whilst simultaneously expressive, experimental and free.

The themes that permeate »Senderos de luz y sombras« simultaneously engage the overwhelming, unyielding immensity of the beginnings of the universe and the forces at work in the unconscious mind. What connects these themes are the dark energies operating outside our knowledge, far beyond the conceptual scope of our limited thinking. How to convey all this and build music from these concealed forces? What Beatriz Ferreyra achieves, thanks to her trademark virtuosity, is precisely to summon energies, to bring in the raw forces that govern the laws of Acoustics, so as to trigger sonic storms as one would call the rain, to transform all sound matters into the core of a ritual. Indeed, Beatriz Ferreyra addresses the mind-body reconciliation, for in providing this unique sound and musical experience, with a rare sensitive intensity, the great composer simultaneously invites us to engage in a personal experience. (François Bonnet, Paris, 2021)

Commissioned by the French State for INA grm – 2016-2020.

In memoriam Bernard Baschet, Bernard Parmegiani and Carlos Pellegrino. A 16-channel piece inspired by astrophysics, the mystery of the pre-Big Bang era and some of the uncanny motions of the unconscious mind, where strangeness meets the ordinary.

Everest Magma’s career over the past 10 years has been slowly building one of the most ecstatic and singular paths of the Italian underground scene. His dense and beautiful three albums were not afraid to cross boundaries with a mix of hypnotic tape beats, digital wonk, psych folk tropicalia and kinetic dub. This new offering ‘Alto//Piano‘ once again sees him in uncharted territories, where nature is sublimated into a personal alien vision mixing acid-folk fingerpicking, tonal ambience, psychedelic eccentricity and Italian 70s minimalism.

Everest Magma rediscovers the folk roots of his dreamy alter ego Woodcutter. Once again he appears as a minstrel crossing moonstruck woods inhabited by gnomes, butterflies and crawling creatures. Nature is sublimated into a personal alien vision in which a lysergic approach triumphs in the arrangement of sound material and immersive musique concrète. Pure acid-folk fingerpicking communicates directly with the forest’s humus, steeped in wild and ethereal moods. Between schizoid or more lyrical moments, a persistent taste for subtle subterranean noises, electric flashes, radio and ufological interferences, deviant scents.

Eclectic Italian quartet Eugenia Post Meridiem are ready to reveal their sophomore full-length record, a rather magnificent musical masterpiece. The gloriously kaleidoscopic, dazzling celebration of sound ‘like i need tension’ is available everywhere now. Demonstrated over eight tracks, the all encompassing, musical odyssey, ‘like i need tension’ features initial single ‘willpower’; which burst across our radar with lashings of personality, and became the introduction to the now familiar Indie outfit. Next up was the punchy and fearless ‘around my neck’ and last but by no means least came the intriguing, alluring ‘whisper’, the calm before the sophomore album storm. Gifted with a further five previously unheard gems, listeners certainly have plenty to sink their teeth into. With focus track ‘crucial spring’ traversing the spectrums of shadow, the progressive and percussive ‘unchained will’, the slow voluminous ballad ‘ocean flows’ and the infectious, chaotic energy of ‘tiny perspectives’ and ‘mazes of gazes’. Oozing with iridescence, flavour and texture, there’s something to suit all manners of music fans. Completed over a span of two years plus a two week post-lockdown writing and recording stint, it was then that like i need tension truly came to life in a small converted barn near the village of Montaldo Bormida, in northern Italy. “It was a totally collaborative process... All the composing was done together, right there in the room.” and thus, like i need tension was born. “Tension is a powerful force. It drives things forwards, its friction producing interesting and unexpected results. Above all, it fuels creativity, inspiring and focusing in equal measure.” Such togetherness and chemistry as a band truly shines through across the eight track project. There’s a bold, fearless tenacity to experiment and to go against the tide as each track is filled with quality, curiosity and ingenuity. With purpose and intention studded throughout, like i need tension is as poetic and reflective as it is meditative and utterly transcendent. Placing its roots somewhere in the mystical universe of Hiatus Kaiyote, Christine and the Queens, PYJÆN and Tame Impala. Eugenia Post Meridiem’s sound holds an intrinsic synergy, refreshingly intangible, allowing space for the listener’s own interpretation and understanding. The depth they venture as a collective rewards those who journey beyond the initial passive listening. With technical structures, composition and developed time signatures just waiting to be unearthed, depicted and understood, Eugenia Post Meridiem offer a treasure trove for the adventurous and devoted musical palate yet still remain accessible and incredibly generous to all those who decide to listen. “And so it is that all eight tracks hang together beautifully, linked not by some overarching concept or narrative, but simply a band exploring their talent and the vast space afforded by an open-minded approach.”

Five tracks of masterful, ritualistic, and pitch-black evil make up the
entirety of Ng'ambu - an album which is meant to be interpreted as a
hymnal to invoke and praise spirits - shows the band drenched in
offerings to the bands personal connection and dedication to Quimbanda,
the Afro-Brazilian diasporic belief system based around magic, rituals,
and offerings
The band explains, "It is both an offering to our Cabula, that is our house, as it is
to the spirits of Quimbanda themselves. In some sense we are turning what could
otherwise be poison into medicine. It is a process of engaging, through struggle,
with those aspects of ourselves and the world which live at the pivot point of
chance and desire. It is about seeking agency even in the thistles of the road.
Quimbanda is the fire by which we forge our iron and the strangling plantst that
cure disease. Quimbanda is both the pox and the inoculation. Quimbanda is our
anxiety and the motivation that anxiety produces. It is conflict and the strength
that comes from engaging that conflict. People say, idle hands are the devil's
plaything, and so we have put those hands and The Devil to work."
For the band's sophomore release, MEHENET connects a powerful fury of black
metal mastery to the deeply rooted sounds of New Orleans - by way of utilizing
samples of the bustling French Quarter and by paying respect and praise to the
cultural music of the city by incorporating congas, whistles, and bells. Recorded
and mixed in 2019 by James Whitten at High Tower Recording in New Orleans,
LA.

Five tracks of masterful, ritualistic, and pitch-black evil make up the
entirety of Ng'ambu - an album which is meant to be interpreted as a
hymnal to invoke and praise spirits - shows the band drenched in
offerings to the bands personal connection and dedication to Quimbanda,
the Afro-Brazilian diasporic belief system based around magic, rituals,
and offerings
The band explains, "It is both an offering to our Cabula, that is our house, as it is
to the spirits of Quimbanda themselves. In some sense we are turning what could
otherwise be poison into medicine. It is a process of engaging, through struggle,
with those aspects of ourselves and the world which live at the pivot point of
chance and desire. It is about seeking agency even in the thistles of the road.
Quimbanda is the fire by which we forge our iron and the strangling plantst that
cure disease. Quimbanda is both the pox and the inoculation. Quimbanda is our
anxiety and the motivation that anxiety produces. It is conflict and the strength
that comes from engaging that conflict. People say, idle hands are the devil's
plaything, and so we have put those hands and The Devil to work."
For the band's sophomore release, MEHENET connects a powerful fury of black
metal mastery to the deeply rooted sounds of New Orleans - by way of utilizing
samples of the bustling French Quarter and by paying respect and praise to the
cultural music of the city by incorporating congas, whistles, and bells. Recorded
and mixed in 2019 by James Whitten at High Tower Recording in New Orleans,
LA.

Whether intentional or not, Philadelphia’s Circa Survive have become experts on that critical second word of their band name. With six full-length records and three EPs behind them, the beloved alt-prog/post-hardcore giants are entering their 17th year together amid global upheaval and personal renaissance, creating together while navigating through one of the most unstable chapters in American history. It’s a necessarily existential period, where that one imperative rises to the top: survive.
In early 2020, the band was forced to reschedule the tenth anniversary tour for their ground-breaking 2010 LP Blue Sky Noise. Pushing off the tour—now slated for 2022—and delaying plans for a new record has ushered in a new chapter for Circa Survive.

Two Dreams, the forthcoming seventh full-length record from Philadelphia’s Circa Survive, is a project of dual realities in both theory and practice. The 12-track record comprises two individual six-song EPs, titled A Dream About Love and A Dream About Death. The dreams in question aren’t the idyllic material of sleep, but a much more tangible, dark surrealism. They’re the twin experiences of vocalist Anthony Green after relapsing and overdosing on heroin during the writing of the album.

With Two Dreams, Circa Survive aims higher in both collective spirit and individual practice. After nearly two decades of international tours and festival mainstages, the band has regrouped to protect one another and their work. They’re playing the long-game. “I want to make 100 more records,” laughs Green. But now, the goal isn't to simply survive. It’s to thrive.

With magical chemistry and crystal clear singing, Lily Arbor invites you to
a music experience without facades that feels both genuine and
vulnerable
To their tunes, the contemporary gray curtain suddenly opens to reveal that our
hopes and dreams are within an arm's reach. Felicia Darhult Störby and Lovisa
Nilsson have with skillfully composed songs and accurate lyrics proven that they
are a musical act to count on.Lily Arbor is a Swedish folk-duo formed in 2017 by
longtime friends Felicia Darhult Störby and Lovisa Nilsson. With a harmony
driven, heartfelt sound, complemented by deeply personal lyrics, they have been
described as "a music experience without facades, that feels both genuine and
vulnerable".The duo met in high school and bonded quickly. After high school,
they went their separate ways, traveling the world. After two years apart they
started writing music together as Lily Arbor.
The duo reuniting instantly proved to be fruitful, and the self produced debut EP
'Longing for the Sun' was released in 2019, followed by the single 'Where are you
going'. In early 2020 the second EP 'Better Minds' was released, also this self
produced.
This fast paced surge of creativity combined with a natural proneness for
songwriting led to praise and participation in Swedish media. It also let the duo
tour both Sweden and the world, opening for acts such as Israel Nash, Cordovas,
Sarah Shook & the Disarmers and Joshua Radin.
They had big plans for the year of 2020 and were going to play in Europe, but
everything was cancelled. They decided to record their self- titled debut album
instead.
The duo got their revenge and were touring in Europe in 2022 and in January
2023 we finally see the release of their debut album.

There is an endless abundance of variations that the clarinet can use in changing the colour of a single note. As a privileged listener - and - experiencer, Ben Bertrand through his favourite instrument shared the musical blueprints with me, which resulted in this album. His music has become a vivid part of my almost daily thoughts - allowing what I hear to clash and sing with the patterns and rhythms already established in my mind. A voluntary trip, an absorbing experience in our Brussels vibrant cultural life. With his instrument and countless machines, Ben creates a web of sounds that are hard to pin down but easy to absorb as a whole. Ben Bertrand happened to me. His music, full of beauty, is good to listen to and pleasant to follow. A sense and perception of continued growth too illuminated and overwhelming to resist. While I sense when a new composition is coming, Ben was able in our daily conversations, to progressively untangle a musical mystery and layout the puzzle of a new creation. Listening to his music is like sitting at the sea, watching a slow motion of our crazy life sailing by. You, as a listener, with this record stepped in an early stage of his career, with hardly any involvement of other people, composition wise. Besides composing alone, there have been countless hours when Ben Bertrand worked and interacted with Christophe Albertijn for the recordings. There is also the essence of our regular exchanges and the visions we knit. These are in my opinion just the starting points of plural interactions and musical endeavours to be. It is a matter of his artistic trust and let go, while Ben creates his own language, package and macrocosm. The excellence of Ben Bertrand's music lays in its involving and easily accessible nature, regardless of your personal or musical past experience. Ben Bertrand is all before you for you to dig, and nobody is asking you to file him away under any category. - Tommy Denys

David J, of Bauhaus/Love & Rockers, pays tribute to his old friend Pat Fish (AKA The Jazz Butcher), who sadly passed away in October 2021. Featuring musical contributions from Dave Morgan (Weather Prophets/Jazz Butcher), Rolo McGinty (Woodentops), Max Eider (Jazz Butcher), Kevin Haskins (Bauhaus/Love & Rockets), Owen Jones (Jazz Butcher). Colin Henney (Jazz Butcher) and Raoul. The B Side is 'Vienna Song', a Jazz Butcher song, featuring Paul Wallfisch (Swans) on piano, Wolfgang Tschegg and Tony Green. Random Colour Vinyl. Quelle Tristesse Writing this song was my immediate emotional response to hearing about the untimely passing of my dear friend, Pat Fish. This is how I process these things. It is both personal therapy and heart felt tribute. The song simply poured out of me and when it was done I knew that I had to involve various stellar musicians all of whom had collaborated with Pat in the past. Also present and correct, Pat’s beloved familiar, Raoul the black cat. The title came from a comment that someone made online when the shocking news was announced. 'Quelle Tristesse'. How sad. Indeed. RIP old pal. David J. In Loving Memory Patrick Huntrods (AKA Pat Fish AKA The Jazz Butcher) (20 December 1957 - 5 October 2021) Tracklist Side A Quelle Tristesse Side B Vienna Song

Repress auf babypink w/ blue splatter Vinyl, limitiert auf 200 Exemplare. Be Well - ein Zusammenschluss bekannter Gesichter der Hardcore Szene! Ins Leben gerufen von Brian McTeran, Gründer der ikonische Straightedge-Hardcore-Band Battery und ergänzt durch Mike Schleibaum von Darkest Hour und Battery, Aaron Dalbec von Bane sowie Peter Tsouras und Shane Johnson von Fairweathe, wurde Be Well gegründet um McTeran einen neuen Output für seine Emotionen zu geben. Nach der Auflösung von Battery im Jahr 2000 lenkte McTernan seine Energie zunächst in eine arbeitsreiche Karriere als Produzent um. Er hinterließ auf wegweisenden Alben von Bands wie unter anderem Thrice, Hot Water Music, Circa Survive und Turnstile seine Spuren. Bis er 2014 schließlich eine radikale Kehrtwende machte und eine Projektmanagement-Funktion für ein Bauunternehmen übernahm. Anfangs fühlte sich der Wechsel in Tempo und Karriere gesund an. Doch nachdem er oft zwischen Baustellen hin und her und reiste und dabei 400 Meilen pro Tag fuhr - traten größere Probleme in McTernans psychischer Gesundheit hervor. Eine Zeit schwerer Depressionen verlief laut McTernan jahrelang unkontrolliert, bis sich Battery 2017 vorübergehend wiedervereinigten und ihren ersten neuen Song nach 17 Jahren schrieben. Der Song, "My Last Breath", unterschied sich deutlich von allem, was vor ihm kam. In vielerlei Hinsicht diente der Text als spiritueller Vorläufer dessen, was schließlich zu Be Well wurde. Also schrieb McTernan weiter, began seine Erfahrungen durch Texte zu verarbeiten und eine neue Band zu formen. The Weight And The Cost ist das Ergebnis dieser gesammelten Erlebnisse. Ein Album das weit über die Grenzen dessen hinausgeht, was man über die früheren Bands seiner Mitglieder weiß. Die Vergangenheit der Be Well-Mitglieder könnte sogar das Uninteressanteste an diesem Projekt sein. Wo die meisten Hardcore-Platten ihren Inhalt an die Form der Genrekonventionen anpassen, zeigt dieses Album, was möglich ist, wenn der Inhalt die Form schafft: The Weight and the Cost folgt McTernans zutiefst persönlicher Erfahrung.

Single-LP edit of Piñata lacquered at half speed master by Metropolis Mastering in London for the highest fidelity.

After the original release Freddie Gibbs & Madlib's Piñata in 2014, cover artist Jeff Jank made a new sleeve for the album in the style of a 1964 Blue Note album.

Featuring Danny Brown, Mac Miller, Earl Sweatshirt, Raekwon, Scarface, Domo Genesis, Ab-Soul, Polyester the Saint, BJ The Chicago Kid, Big Time Watts, G-Wiz, Casey Veggies, Sulaiman, Meechy Darko & Freddie Kane.

Freddie Gibbs is the product of violent, drug-laden streets but unlike most rappers with similar resumes, he brings the block to the booth without inhibition or an exaggerated rap persona. Piñata, a 17 track collaboration with producer Madlib, is the best distillation yet of his transparent approach to making music, combining an at times stark honesty with electrifying talent as a lyricist and performer.

Piñata is a gangster Blaxploitation film on wax, says Gibbs, who came up on the streets of Gary, Indiana, the disregarded city previously best known for producing Michael Jackson. Here he is joined by Mac Miller, Earl Sweatshirt, Raekwon, Scarface, Domo Genesis, Ab-Soul and a host of others in setting his soliloquies of the streets alongside film snippets and dusted funk, soul and prog musical tapestries. While this is the latest in a series of single-artist collaborations for Madlib, after Jaylib (J Dilla), Madvillainy (MF Doom) and the street-centric O.J. Simpson with Detroits Guilty Simpson, the pairing is unique as it is the first time for Gibbs working with just one producer.

On Piñata, where Gibbs can shift from textbook lessons in robbing and drugging on trackslike Scarface and Knicks, to perhaps the albums most personal song, Broken, a collaboration with Scarface, who, along with Tupac, DMX and 50 Cent, make up the rappers own Mount Rushmore of MCs (Youre getting a hurricane of all those motherfuckers hitting you at once when you listen to Freddie Gibbs, he says). Deeper, a Gibbs favorite and the third single from the album after Thuggin (2012) and Shame, (2013) is an ode to hip-hop in the mold of Commons I Used to Love H.E.R.; High, featuring Danny Brown, is self-explanatory and just what you would expect from Gibbs, Madlib and one of Detroits finest; while on Real, Gibbs addresses an old score just as Michael Corleone settled all family business on baptism day.

As a producer, Madlib, quite simply, is music, and ten years into his career-a time when other artists become comfortable-Gibbs remains restless, focused, with an eye on the competition and their position relative to his ascent. This is because mentally, hes still on the corner hustling, which would be the downfall of the average rapper. With Piñata, Gibbs confirms that he is anything but average.

With Stvarno Nestvarno, Ena Cosovic delivers a deeply personal and intoxicating take on dub techno. Soaked in a deep knowledge of its roots and painted with the colors of her own past. As a veteran in the scene and a resident DJ at Copenhagens most prolific club Culture Box she has an intuitive feeling for the dance floor.
Stvarno Nestvarno is ”emotional body music - pulsating rhythms, hypnotic beats laced with catchy hooks.

Lous and the Yakuza commence à peine à changer la face de la musique francophone. Elle a débarqué en 2020 avec son premier album Gore, et sa flopée de titres personnels, Dilemme (70 millions de streams), Tout est gore ou encore Solo (6 millions de streams), se voyant nommée dans la catégorie Révélation aux Victoires de la musique l'année suivante. Son deuxième opus, que Lous appelle Iota, va plus loin dans sa volonté de proposer un son singulier. Elle y déploie une musique éclectique sans coquetterie, ni calcul. L'album est un statement sur l'amour dans une forme rare : ce qui reste, une fois que la passion a déserté. Les titres égrènent les effusions, les déceptions comme dans ce jeu enfantin où on arrache les pétales de fleurs pour décrire son état amoureux. (Je t'aime) Un peu, beaucoup, passionnément, à la folie, plus du tout... un Iota. Lous nous refait le film de ses relations dans un projet produit en partie par le fidèle El Guincho (Rosalía) dans toute l'incandescence où la mène les errements de son coeur. D'ores et déjà adoubée par la critique, on a récemment pu la retrouver en Une de Vogue France ou encore en interview dans les Inrocks.

Matador
Gaz Coombes veröffentlicht die Neuauflage seines zweiten Soloalbums – ”Matador” - das 2015 erschien.
Ein Gefühl von Freiheit durchdringt jede Sekunde des Albums, das unter anderem die 2013er Single ”Buffalo” enthält. Von der astralen Pracht von ”The Girl Who Fell To Earth” bis zu den träumerischen Klängen
von ”Oscillate” ist es der Sound eines Songwriters, der musikalische Grenzen wie Schnee zum Schmelzen
bringt und Elemente von Neu!, Disney-Musicals, den schwedischen Psychedelikern Goat, Gyorgy Ligeti und
Eno in einer eisigen Klanglandschaft vereint, die ebenso anspruchsvoll wie schön ist. Das Ergebnis ist ein
Album im klassischen Sinne. ”Matador” ist der Sound eines der größten britischen Songwriters, der mit
Freude in die Zukunft blickt.
World’s Strongest Man
”World’s Strongest Man” ist die großartige Neuauflage des dritten Soloalbums von Gaz Coombes, das
auf das 2015 erschienene ”Matador” folgte. Inspiriert von Grayson Perrys ”The Descent of Man”, Frank
Oceans ”Blonde”, kalifornischem Gras, britischen Wäldern, unkontrollierter Männlichkeit, Neu! und HipHop (und vielem mehr), ist es eine wahrhaft bemerkenswerte Sammlung von elf zutiefst persönlichen Songs,
die alle von einer raumfüllenden, fesselnden Melodie begleitet werden. Vom tiefgründigen Titeltrack bis
zum mitreißenden ”Deep Pockets”, über die wunderschöne rhythmische Ballade ”Slow Motion Life”, ist
”World’s Strongest Man” ein kühnes, ehrgeiziges, frei denkendes, zukunftsweisendes Rock’n’Roll-Album.

Matador

Gaz Coombes veröffentlicht die Neuauflage seines zweiten Soloalbums – ”Matador” - das 2015 erschien.

Ein Gefühl von Freiheit durchdringt jede Sekunde des Albums, das unter anderem die 2013er Single ”Buffalo” enthält. Von der astralen Pracht von ”The Girl Who Fell To Earth” bis zu den träumerischen Klängen von ”Oscillate” ist es der Sound eines Songwriters, der musikalische Grenzen wie Schnee zum Schmelzen bringt und Elemente von Neu!, Disney-Musicals, den schwedischen Psychedelikern Goat, Gyorgy Ligeti und Eno in einer eisigen Klanglandschaft vereint, die ebenso anspruchsvoll wie schön ist. Das Ergebnis ist ein Album im klassischen Sinne. ”Matador” ist der Sound eines der größten britischen Songwriters, der mit Freude in die Zukunft blickt.

World’s Strongest Man

”World’s Strongest Man” ist die großartige Neuauflage des dritten Soloalbums von Gaz Coombes, das auf das 2015 erschienene ”Matador” folgte. Inspiriert von Grayson Perrys ”The Descent of Man”, Frank Oceans ”Blonde”, kalifornischem Gras, britischen Wäldern, unkontrollierter Männlichkeit, Neu! und HipHop (und vielem mehr), ist es eine wahrhaft bemerkenswerte Sammlung von elf zutiefst persönlichen Songs, die alle von einer raumfüllenden, fesselnden Melodie begleitet werden. Vom tiefgründigen Titeltrack bis zum mitreißenden ”Deep Pockets”, über die wunderschöne rhythmische Ballade ”Slow Motion Life”, ist ”World’s Strongest Man” ein kühnes, ehrgeiziges, frei denkendes, zukunftsweisendes Rock’n’Roll-Album.

The old adage about Elvis Presley is that his soundtrack work never held a candle next to his studio albums. Though true for a majority of his film-related outings, the traditional notion is forever disproved by his Blue Hawaii set. Originally released in 1961 in support of the film in which he starred, the triple-platinum LP spent nearly five months at the top of the Billboard album charts; outsold his two prior studio efforts; and ultimately, remains the second-best-selling soundtrack of the musical-dominant 1960s. And now, it has received sonic treatment befitting rock royalty.

Recorded before the King started to burn out on soundtracks and go into a creative tailspin, Blue Hawaii presents him in tremendous voice. The newly uncovered layers of detail, body, emotionalism, and tonality on this SACD bring that treasured element – as well as the brilliance of the arrangements and accompaniment – to light like never before. Presley's warm crooning alone warrants unmitigated attention. It's not for nothing that this record – replete with panache, whimsy, romance, and seriousness – forever altered the course of his career.

Much like the film itself, the music on Blue Hawaii subscribes to a feel-good aesthetic. Presley plunges into a stylistic deep end with equal parts fearlessness and fun. He delves into early rock ‘n' roll ("Rock-A-Hula Baby"); touching balladry ("Hawaiian Wedding Song"); playful rumba ("Beach Boy Blues"); relaxing luaus ("Hawaiian Sunset"); and naturally, island-inspired fare ("Ku-U-I-Po"). It becomes immediately evident that the King is enjoying himself and committed to the mission. Is Blue Hawaii all serious art? No, but it was never intended to be. Rather, it serves as a showcase of Presley's outgoing personality and chameleon-like ability – like that of Frank Sinatra – to inhabit different roles and entertain.

Of course, Blue Hawaii remains timeless for another reason: The inclusion of the timeless, gorgeous, and still-untouchable staple "Can't Help Falling in Love." Penned by Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, and George David Weiss, the love song quickly transformed into an international standard – with Presley's definitive version hitting No. 2 on the charts and ultimately becoming the closing song to his concerts. Ranked among the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time by Rolling Stone, its conviction, sentiment, and depth testify on behalf of why Presley still reigns as the King.

However subtly, the staple also underscores another reason Blue Hawaii should never be overlooked in Presley's canon: the ace musicians involved in its creation. Guitarists Scotty Moore and Hank Garland; drummer D.J. Fontana; percussionist Hal Blaine; pianist Floyd Cramer; bassist Bob Moore; and iconic gospel backing vocalists the Jordanaires all contribute masterful performances. Hearing them with such expressiveness, openness, and realism on this 2LP 45RPM & SACD should forever alter how Presley's 1961 soundtrack – the finest of his career – is viewed. As he sings in the title track, dreams come true, indeed.

The four-piece known as Man…or Astro-Man? have been using the pandemic to conduct more research at Astro Labs and a by-product is a new vinyl single! The B-side features a cover by Solid Space. Space 1991. The year the future finally begins! You now indeed live in the future. The past is so outdated and we all know how fleeting the present is, so seriously... why not live in the future? In fact, the first ever computer “website” was created this very year. Soon enough, everyone will have their own personal “website” or “webspace” that will reside in its own virtual “domain.” Think of it: everyone in the whole world will be now be digitally connected and able to interact in just a matter of a few minutes. Dear citizens of the past and present: we want to welcome you all. Enjoy the future. The future is now.

High Focus Records is proud to present 'Powerizm', a brand new single from Fliptrix, fresh off the heels of the success with his group The Four Owls and their ground breaking album 'Nocturnal Instinct'

Produced by Yabu, ‘Powerizm’ is a deeply personal track which pays homage to fallen friend and graffiti artist POW. Dedicating the song to him, Fliptrix reminisces of brighter times as well as touching upon recent sobriety and future fatherhood.

This limited edition double A side single is pressed onto lumniescent red & yellow splatter vinyl. The second track is entitled 'Holy Kush' and produced by Zygote.

Limited to 300 copies, never to be repressed, get yours while stocks last.

The trashed hotel room and communal living depicted on the cover of the J. Geils Band's sophomore album tell you all you need know about the music, spirit, and energy spilling from within The Morning After. Shot through with raw, lean rock n' roll sparked by juke-joint blues and loose rhythms, the 1971 set comes on like the most fun, party-still-raging hangover any group in the 70s enjoyed. And now it rolls with an abandon that takes you inside the sweaty, smoky roadhouses and wall-to-wall-packed clubs the group dominated in its heyday.

Mastered from the original master tapes, pressed at RTI, and limited to 3,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's 180g vinyl LP achieves a sonic acumen that brings you face-to-face with the sextet's white-hot instrumental prowess and magnetic personalities. It's always been difficult to single out just one member of the band given the cohesive bluster the ensemble achieves as a whole, but this collectible audiophile edition allows you to do just that if you so choose, by way of superb imaging and separation. As for the band's trademark dynamics? Here, they feel like they're on the verge of exploding.

So go ahead. Twist the volume knob to the right as much as you want. You'll lose none of the focus, detail, placement, or presence no matter how high the decibels climb. The Morning After spills forth with previously unheard tonalities, ranging from the distinctive swells of Seth Justman's slow-burn organ to the live-wire spark of Geils' own downed-power-line-jumpy guitar work to the mooring hi-hat/cymbal/snare combinations of arrangement-steadying drummer Steven Bladd. Friends, this is raw rhythm n' blues, this is how it should feel, and, man, this is how it should sound.

Not for nothing did the Massachusetts-based collective name the album The Morning After. The music within doesn't abide by rules, ignores speed limits, flips the bird at curfews, and digs deep down into America's blues roots to yield organic material at once fresh, exciting, traditional, and original. The back-porch punch provided by the combination of "Magic Dick" Salwitz's searing, melodic, snake-like harmonica and vocalist Peter Wolf's animated, barely controlled deliveries is alone enough to make anyone with a faint pulse to stomp their feet, climb atop a kitchen table, and kick their boot heels until the neighbors call the cops.

Just witness the deceptive smoothness of the snake-like "So Sharp" or Maxwell Street zest of the aptly titled Magic Dick showcase "Whammer Jammer," which will leave you gasping for breath before it even ends. J. Geils Band also knew its way around deep-cut soul. The ensemble's Top 40, howling, adrenaline-to-the-heart rendition of the Valentinos' "Looking for a Love" and swirling, romantic take on Don Covay's "The Usual Place" seamlessly balance drive and emotion. Coupled with rafter-shaking originals such as "Floyd's Hotel" and the riff-propelled "I Don't Need You No More," sent up with typical Wolf vocal flair, and the record parks the band's all-night festivities and go-for-broke attitudes right on your front lawn.

One last word of warning to the uninitiated: The Morning After is not the slick-pop J. Geils Band of "Centerfold." And that is a very good thing.

The story of Del cuarto rojo (From The Red Room) began in March 2020, when the Peruvian composer and percussionist Manongo Mujica received a call notifying him that the visual artist Rafael Hastings, his friend of almost half a century, had passed away. Since then, and in the midst of the pandemic, Manongo Mujica began a personal journey searching for sounds, which has resulted in a new set of pieces that evoke the memory of a friendship. Del cuarto rojo (From The Red Room), subtitled Homenaje sonoro escuchando la pintura de Rafael Hastings (Sound Tribute Listening To Rafael Hastings' Paintings), is Manongo Mujica's new album, and it has also motivated the preparation of a new show by the dancer and choreographer Yvonne von Mollendorff, wife of Hastings. The history of this friendship dates back to 1974, when a young Manongo returned to Lima, after ten years living in London, while young Rafael Hastings and Yvonne von Mollendorff settled in Peru after a long period in Europe. Since then, the collaborations between these artists have been continuous, always marked by an experimental impetus. The attitude of listening to images and painting sounds was more than a metaphor and became a code that identified them and a way of working, where the crossing of disciplines set the tone, both in video works and in unusual visual / conceptual scores, works of dance and experimental music, in the context of a creative effervescence that renewed the arts and music in Lima in the 70s. Del cuarto rojo is an album that integrates many of the musical resources developed by Mujica. It is an amalgam that well sums up his own language: from the creation of environments with extended techniques and objects, to experiments in jazz fusion; from the use of field recordings and sound montages to compositions with string arrangements: everything around the hypnotic pulse of percussion and drums, which oscillate between moments of subtlety and explosive improvisation. The album features the participation of outstanding musicians such as Pauchi Sasaki (violin), José Quezada (cello), Terje Evensen (electronic effects), Jean Pierre Magnet (Saxophone), Cristobal, Daniel and Gabriel Mujica (sons of Manongo Mujica, on percussion, string and wind arrangements). It is published in vinyl LP and includes a full color 12-page booklet with a sample of Rafael Hastings' visual art, which also illustrates the album cover.

In an age where most contemporary bluesmen strive to mimic the past and pattern their music after the greats, Keb' Mo' is content to be himself. Original, charismatic, and immensely gifted, the guitarist/vocalist (born Kevin Moore) brings country blues in the late 20th century on his stunning self-titled Epic debut, which quickly climbed the charts and turned the former backing instrumentalist into a household name. Replete with gritty textures, close-up vocals, and resplendent acoustics, Mobile Fidelity's scintillating version of this 1994 set finally possesses the fidelity that brings Mo's Delta strains out of the backwoods and onto a lively back porch.

Half-speed mastered from the original tapes, this numbered edition 180g LP represents the very first time that Mo's watershed album has been given a much-needed sonic facelift. Gone are the hazes that obscured his singing, artificial ceilings that blunted the highs, and digital fog that interfered with the multitude of illuminating tones, details, and notes. What's revealed is startling intimacy and soothing emotion, Mo's gorgeous vocal timbres and inflections given equal space with his guitar, harmonica, and pace. Finally, a great-sounding contemporary blues record that doesn't resort to derivative recycling and bland revivalism.

The son of Southern parents, Mo' channels his heritage via a batch of superb folksy songs that relax, refresh, and regale. While he's since traveled in a more commercialized pop-oriented direction, Mo's initial salvo is nothing but raw, pure blues played with unbridled passion, tremendous conviction, and what is best deemed the essence of heart and soul. Keb' Mo' engages with a compelling mix of tradition and modernity, the headliner refraining from any attempt at assuming an artificial personality and instead basing his reputation on quality songs. As such, Mo's material resonates with deep, mellow vibes and extraordinary National steel guitar work, which complements his fluid, acoustic finger-picking and soulful strumming.

Mo' occasionally teams with an ensemble. But this record is mostly all about the basics: guitar, voice, and harmonica. Tunes such as "Victims of Comfort" and "Angelina" testify on behalf of his phenomenal country-blues songwriting; his covers of Robert Johnson's "Come On In My Kitchen" and "Kindhearted Woman Blues" speak to his reverence for the past. Shuffles, ballads, dance songs – Mo nails them all.

Keb' Mo' remains one of the finest blues albums made in the post-Stevie Ray Vaughan era. Don't miss this American gem that so many have since tried to copy.

Personnel: "Ascenseur pour l'échafaud" - Miles Davis (tp); Barney Wilen (ts); René Urtreger (p); Pierre Michelot (b); Kenny Clarke (dr


In 1957, Miles Davis is in Paris for an engagement at the Club Saint-Germain and a wonderful concert at the Olympia Theatre. Once in Paris, Miles came into contact with many members of the modern existentialist cultural environment in the neighborhood of Saint-Germain-des-Près. These include the director Louis Malle who had just finished his first movie : "Ascenseur Pour L'échafaud".

Jean-Paul Rappeneau, a Jazz fan and Louis Malle's assistant at the time, suggested asking Miles Davis to create the film's soundtrack. A private sceening has been organized.

On December 4 1957, Miles Davis brought three French Jazzmen - Barney Wilen on tenor saxophone, René Urtreger on piano, Pierre Michelot on bass and his american compatriot Kenny Clarke on drums - to the recording studio Le Poste Parisien without having them prepare anything. Miles Davis only gave the musicians a few rudimentary harmonic sequences he had assembled in his hotel room.
This recording was made at night in a most informal atmosphere.

The soundtrack was not released on it's own in the USA but ten songs from this soundtrack were released as one side of the album "Jazz Track" which received a 1960 Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Performance, Solo or Small Group.
"Ascenseur Pour L'échafaud" has become a great achievement of artistic excellence.

You’re Not a Bad Person, It’s Just A Bad World is the fourth studio album from the genre-bending Canadian punks, Rare Americans. Containing the massive singles, “Love Is All I Bring,” & “Lose My Cool,” (which seeks to raise awareness on bullying), the nine-track album expands on the wildly inventive world Rare Americans have created through their gripping stories and visuals. After ripping through America on their first ever US tour, of which all dates were sold out well in advance, the band’s next mission seems clear. Global domination.