* In 1980 Gerald Moore - of G.T. Moore and the Reggae Guitars and Heron fame - was in Kingston, Jamaica working with Lee Perry on the `Return of Pipecock Jackxon' LP. Gerald went into Harry J's studio with James Lascelles (Global Village Trucking Company, The Breakfast Band) and Bud Beadle (Ginger Baker & Salt) alongside members of Zap Pow: Don Grant, Cornell Marshall and Dwight Pinkney.
* Of the four tracks recorded (two vocal and two instrumental) only `Utopia' was ever released (on the Black Star Liner label in 1980 and then reissued by Partial in 2014).
* The tapes sat around gathering dust for the best part of 40 years and are now finally unearthed. * Mixed directly from the masters by Dougie Wardrop are `Jerusalem', `Working For The Dollar' and `Constant Spring'. Also `Utopia' gets a fresh mix.
* A cuts followed by their respective dub mixes.
* Review confirmed in February's edition of The Wire magazine.
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Rumours about death metal band To The Gallows
have already existed in the (Dutch) metal
underground for some years now, but an official
release has never seen the light. Until now.
In 2013, the ‘underground super group’ To The
Gallows was formed by Swedish metalwundermaster Rogga Johansson (Heir Corpse
One, Paganizer, Stygian Dark, Massacre, Blood
Gut, Dead Sun, Megascavenger, Ribspreader,
Putrevore, Revolting), Eric Daniels (Asphyx,
Soulburn, Grand Supreme Blood Court), Bob
Bagchus (Soulburn, Asphyx, Infidel Reich, Siege
Of Power) and Henri Sattler (God Dethroned).
Master plans ended when Daniels and Bagchus
re-started their career with Soulburn. The ‘match
made in Hell’ duo Johansson and Sattler continued
with To The Gallows and ‘Fury Of The Netherworld’
is their debut-album.
Brutal blackened death metal for fans of
Dissection, Zyklon, Belphegor, Hate, Necrophobic,
Archgoat and God Dethroned.
Rumours about death metal band To The Gallows
have already existed in the (Dutch) metal
underground for some years now, but an official
release has never seen the light. Until now.
In 2013, the ‘underground super group’ To The
Gallows was formed by Swedish metalwundermaster Rogga Johansson (Heir Corpse
One, Paganizer, Stygian Dark, Massacre, Blood
Gut, Dead Sun, Megascavenger, Ribspreader,
Putrevore, Revolting), Eric Daniels (Asphyx,
Soulburn, Grand Supreme Blood Court), Bob
Bagchus (Soulburn, Asphyx, Infidel Reich, Siege
Of Power) and Henri Sattler (God Dethroned).
Master plans ended when Daniels and Bagchus
re-started their career with Soulburn. The ‘match
made in Hell’ duo Johansson and Sattler continued
with To The Gallows and ‘Fury Of The Netherworld’
is their debut-album.
Brutal blackened death metal for fans of
Dissection, Zyklon, Belphegor, Hate, Necrophobic,
Archgoat and God Dethroned.
Rumours about death metal band To The Gallows
have already existed in the (Dutch) metal
underground for some years now, but an official
release has never seen the light. Until now.
In 2013, the ‘underground super group’ To The
Gallows was formed by Swedish metalwundermaster Rogga Johansson (Heir Corpse
One, Paganizer, Stygian Dark, Massacre, Blood
Gut, Dead Sun, Megascavenger, Ribspreader,
Putrevore, Revolting), Eric Daniels (Asphyx,
Soulburn, Grand Supreme Blood Court), Bob
Bagchus (Soulburn, Asphyx, Infidel Reich, Siege
Of Power) and Henri Sattler (God Dethroned).
Master plans ended when Daniels and Bagchus
re-started their career with Soulburn. The ‘match
made in Hell’ duo Johansson and Sattler continued
with To The Gallows and ‘Fury Of The Netherworld’
is their debut-album.
Brutal blackened death metal for fans of
Dissection, Zyklon, Belphegor, Hate, Necrophobic,
Archgoat and God Dethroned.
A 28 track 2LP release to be released on 20th May longside the 2CD set. This is not the first 10cc Hits collection, but it is definitely the most comprehensive TV Ad package. The CD set has aready been sold in. Promo will feature TV This Morning interview and performance, Radio R2 Johnnie Walker Sound of the 70's, , R4 Front Row, SaturdayLive, Gold, Greatest Hits Radio and a major BBC local radio campaign, plus features in Taboids and Broadsheets (We have already confirmed The Telegraph feature The Story Behind 'I'm Not in Love'). All this will be backed by a National TV campaign.
Als eine der spannendsten, neuen Stimmen im Alternative-Bereich haben Porridge Radio sich innerhalb von nur einem Jahr mit ihrem Album Every Bad (2020) von den DIY-Lieblingen hin zur Mercury Prize nominierten Band gewandelt. Mit Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky kündigen Porridge Radio heute ihr drittes Studioalbum für den 20. Mai via Secretly Canadian an. Während Every Bad die scharfsinnige und offenherzige Ehrlichkeit von Frontfrau Dana Margolin offenbarte, befördert Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky dies auf ein neues hymnisches Level. Dies ist der Sound einer Person Ende Zwanzig, die sich den Enttäuschungen der Liebe und des Lebens stellt und herausfindet, wie man in dieser Welt existiert - ohne dabei so zu tun, als wüsste sie alle Antworten. Ganz nebenbei ist das Ganze höllisch eingängig. Das Album beginnt mit "Back To The Radio" als kraftvoller Aufruf, der einen Kontrast zu Margolins Lyriks um Panik und Abgeschiedenheit zeigt ("lock all the windows and march up the stairs"), bis sich ein stürmischer Chorus aufbauscht, der einen sofort all seine Freund*innen fest umklammern lassen möchte. Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky ist wie ein surreales Gemälde, das teilweise durch eine Collage der Künstlerin Eileen Agar inspiriert ist und an das Unter- und Eintauchen, heikle Lagen und existentielle Lebensängste der letzten Zeit erinnert und gleichzeitig aus der Erzählung der Jakobsleiter aus dem Alten Testament schöpft, die wiederum "symbolizes the ups and downs of human life, of virtue and transgression", erklärt Margolin. Die Vorstellung, dass ein emotionaler Zustand nicht ausschließlich binär ist, ist dabei wesentlich für das neue Album. "With this album, the feelings of joy, fear and endlessness coexist together", fügt Margolin hinzu.
NYC-based producer Endemic Emerald is proud to
present the release of his 3rd album entitled “The
Virux”. Featuring such renowned emcees as
General Steele, Chris Rivers, Sadat X, Planet Asia,
Tragedy Khadafi, Ruste Juxx, Rim & Royal Flush
- to name but a few - the set is packed with high
class talent embedded in electrifying soundscapes.
Endemic, known for producing outstanding
compilation records Terminal illness 1 & 2 once
again does not disappoint with this offering, which
comprises a cohesive selection of epic, yet gritty
east coast bangers. Collaborating with a
combination of legendary and upcoming rappers
“The Virux” has that classic feel from beginning to
end, ensuring it to become an underground
favourite.
Originally released for RSD2019 The Single That Never Was’; ‘Davni Chasy / Katrusya’. A rollicking, Ukrainian folk song with the usual Wedding Present thrashy brilliance, the song was initially set for release in 1988 when The Wedding Present were signed to RCA but the band felt the song was not appropriate for their first single on a major label, and with test pressings already in existence, that band pulled the single. Fast forward 30 years and ‘Davni Chasy / Katrusya’ finally gets its well-deserved release. Remastered for the first time, the 7” includes artwork re-designed by Jonathan Hitchen, designer of the original 1989 ‘Ukrainski Vistupi’ LP artwork.
Part of The Optic Sevens 4.0 Reissue Series.
Limited to 1000 copies worldwide. Please check your allocation with your sales rep.
Pressed on Red Vinyl.
Includes postcard and poster. Non-Returnable.
The Monochrome Set were something of the unsung heroes of the post-punk world; they fitted into absolutely no category whatsoever and their puckish take on spaghetti western soundtracks meets lounge jazz via the twisted lyrical imagery of vocalist Bid was as singular as it was unique.
Comprising a couple of ex-Ants in Andy Warren and Lester Square, with singer / guitarist Bid and drummer JD Haney, their filmic, playful material found favour with many, including John Peel although they failed to match this with commercial success.
The Jet Set Junta was originally released on Cherry Red in 1983 with its urgent, ringing guitars surrounding Bid’s lyrics telling of dodgy arms dealings and armoured limos as Lester Square’s Ennio Morriconetwang bends and reverbs as a counterpoint.
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Our next mixtape features a superb, tight blend of some of the very best tracks to fly out of the speakers at the Cherry Moon Club. At the helm we have DJ Ghost, spinning the grooves to take us on a journey through the ages, through the genres, from twisted acid concepts to hypnotic trance and gut busting hardcore. Ghost aka Bjorn Wendelen has been a stalwart for us at Bonzai since the very early days. He’s delivered several cuts for us over the years and has branched out with his own Ghoststyle brand with great success. The famous Cherry Moon was and remains one of the biggest names in Belgian club-life, with 30 years of embracing club culture. Since the start in 1991, they have brought the best techno, hard-trance and house to the scene. During the 90's and early 00's, Cherry Moon was the place to be for clubbers from all over Belgium, France, the Netherlands and even other European countries. Housed on classic K7 tape, this comp features a host of tracks from the likes of DJ Ghost, Insider, Body-Shock, DJ Looney Tune, Jones & Stephenson, Push, Blue Alphabet, Final Analysis, Joyrider, Dreamland and more. So, dust off your vintage cassette machine and prepare to be blown away by the sound of Cherry Moon.
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Following releases with YAM, Tiff’s Joints, Dr Banana and Touching Bass, artist Romaal Kultan (Ollie Malin) now inaugurates his own record label, Personal Discs.
No Time Like The Future showcases Romaal Kultan’s finest productions, charting a distinct personal trajectory between hiphop, house and broken beat. Opener One Moment Please is a sassy boom bap affair, with an unexpected nod towards jungle. Music Room, made in collaboration with producer Cypriano, is a patient, moody chugger — a tapestry of piano, organic percussion and crackly vinyl samples laced with acid.
On the B-side, Personal Effects delivers a unique, hypnotic broken beat groove, where swelling synths and a twinkling Rhodes meditate together in careful arrangement. Finally, the intimate title track No Time Like the Future stomps off into the sunrise, carried along by a rolling, yearning dreaminess.
Each one of these tracks represents a special, all-too-rare moment of ecstasy in the studio. I hope that this feeling lives on in the music.
So far the record has received support from Alexander Nut, Mr Scruff, Lefto, Kai Alcé, Bradley Zero, Mary Anne Hobbes, K15, Dr Banana, Alex Attias, EVM128, Zakia, Shy One, Tereza, Alia, Earl Jeffers, Footshooter, K-Lone, Poison Zcora, Dean Chew, Marcia Carr, Leanne Wright, Dead Man’s Chest and more.
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The Light Inside, The Dark Outside is Italian ambient duo ILUITEQ's third full-length album.
The Light Inside, The Dark Outside is out on May 6th on limited edition orange vinyl (plus download card with bonus track)
Influenced by the uncertainty and precariousness of the current times, the album was conceived as a means to nourish the light inside all of us, no matter how difficult and dark the reality can turn out to be.
Such "light" is reflected in the album's widescreen and hopefully ardent ambient. In contrast to their previous albums, The Light Inside, The Dark Outside is permeated by a strong sense of motion. The Light Inside, The Dark Outside is an evolution for the duo, themed by the inner need for brightness and hope.
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The Qualitons are one of the few internationally known and critically acclaimed bands Hungary has had to offer in recent years.
They played at numerous festivals across Europe and the USA, performed a live session at legendary indie station KEXP and have released a total of four albums.
Their latest (and last) LP called Kexek is a beautiful and respectful tribute to the music of KEX, one of the most legendary, interesting, and tragic bands of Hungarian music history.
Their avant-garde performances were ahead of their time (especially in communist Hungary) and resulted in brutal repression from the authorities.
They could release only one official single before they were literally smashed by the police, to save his life, key figure Janos Baksa-Soos even had to flee the country.
The concept of the Kexek album was simple: each member of The Qualitons picked one KEX song which they had full creative control over, they re-arranged, mixed them individually and then recorded the tracks together.
What came out of this process is a unique, yet consistent mix of folk, psychedelic, and progressive funk-rock that gets more exciting with each listen.
The LP is limited to 500 copies worldwide.
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The Magic Movement marks its twenty-fifth release this May with Coss & Luca Musto's 'Remind Me Tomorrow' EP, comprised of three originals from the Berlin-based pair and a remix from label boss Noema.
Coss has been a mainstay at Berlin's Kater Blau club for some time now and just recently delivered an EP on the club's in-house imprint Kiosk ID as well as an EP for his own metanoia.
Italian rooted but Germany-based Luca Musto returns to the Magic Movement here following his 2018 'Parabel' EP and has since gone on to release further material with Cologne's Feines Tier and Laut & Luise in recent years.
Here joining forces with the 'Remind Me Tomorrow' EP the two artists deliver more of their distinctive tripped-out, dropped tempo club sound.
'Broken Promises' leads the way via dreamy dubbed out textures, gnarly bass tones, twinkling chimes and airy arpeggios atop a bumpy drum groove.
Title cut 'Remind Me Tomorrow' follows and brings modulating resonant synth lines into the forefront alongside elongated subs, cinematic pads, and circling sequences while Luca also stirs in his own rap/spoken word hip house style vocals.
The third original 'Concept Zero' follows next and lays down psychedelic guitars, choppy stabs, murky bass swells and dynamic delays before Noema rounds out the release with his take on 'Remind Me Tomorrow', flipping the switch to raw, crunchy drums and spoken word vocal chants amongst the original's chuggy arps and dreamy melodic elements.
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Light Green Marbled Vinyl
Naarm/Melbourne 4-piece screensaver is back with a double A-side 7-inch single just 6-months after delivering their 10-track debut album Expressions of Interest on Upset the Rhythm (UK) and Heavy Machinery (AU) to positive international response.
See praise for the record on Maximum Rock ‘n’ Roll, KEXP, and Post Trash. The album has also been a regular feature on Henry Rollin’s KCRW Santa Monica radio show.
The band return with two distinctly different tracks that extend upon the blend of post-punk, new wave and synth-punk on their debut.
Side A, Clean Current is a burst of high-energy: nervy guitars and groovy bass underpinned with krautrock drums and cosmic synth noise, overlayed with delay heavy vocals. Repeats is the flipside of the coin, a moody post-punk stomper, led by gritty sawtooth synth, chorus-soaked guitar, textural percussion and soaring vocals. Lyrically Clean Current spits out retorts aimed at the engulfing nature of anxiety whilst Repeats critiques the repetition of modern life, languishing human existence.
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Continuing the run of classic represses from the much loved Bear Necessities label, this original slice of d’n’b / jungle is unmissable. A-sdies and Nut-e-1 combined talents to make a deep, rolling and epic EP. Lovingly remastered from DAT, no lover of our scene can afford to be without this one…
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Emotional Rescue looks back again with a 2022 repress, digging deep in to the early 80s Bristol post punk scene of Pig Pag, the Wild Bunch and the Dug Out club. A short lived project of just 3 releases, Mouth trail-blazed leftfield percussive jams in the rich vain of Liquid Liquid and ESG but in their own jazz-infused way.
Centered round the cultural melting post of the St Paul's district, it's pubs, clubs and blues parties threw together young and old to the sounds of dub, funk, jazz and soul and took the spark lit by punk rock and new wave and spawned music that still resonates today.
Consisting of a floating line up based around main members Andy Guy and Rob Merrill, alumina included a young Nellie Hooper before he would go on to be a founding member of the Wild Bunch and on to produce the likes of Bjork, U2 and Madonna.
Based around a hard tribal drumming, mixing guitar, trumpet, shouted vocals and effects, the thrown in the mix nature was inspired as much by avant-jazz than punk's do it yourself attitude.
Here then, on one EP are their complete recordings, including as the title cut, their best and deepest, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea. Featured on a compilation LP from the legendary Y Records, its bottom heavy dub sound is augmented by female and toasted vocals riding a top a heavy stepper style riddim.
This is followed by an increasingly dizzy array of percussion jams. Acab (Part 2) is all skips and trumpets, while the versions of Take Your Coat Off perfect skat vocal / tom interplay, before the finale busts out the rockabilly influences in full effect with jagged guitar, skipping hats meets double bass punk style.
Thomas Leer and Robert Rental’s ‘The Bridge’ is re-issued on vinyl for the first time since its original release in 1979, and on CD for the first time since 1992. With Robert unfortunately passing away in 2000, this record, Leer and Rental’s one and only album together, stands alone in capturing the duo’s pioneering capabilities.
‘The Bridge’ was originally released on Throbbing Gristle’s Industrial Records label in 1979 and is considered to be an early electronic avant-garde synth-pop masterpiece, seeing the likes of John Foxx, Propaganda, Art of Noise and ABC citing the pair as key influences.
The release of this album aligns with the longawaited London debut of the exhibition ‘From The Port To The Bridge’ which will be held at The Horse Hospital in central London from 21st January until 10th February 2022. The exhibition, which was previously shown in Greenock in 2018, shares the story behind Thomas Leer and Robert Rental and the making of the album.
White vinyl LP includes sleeve notes and high definition audio download code.
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A core group coming out of the Philadelphia soul sound of the 70s, this 7 inch release takes two tracks from The O'Jays 1971 LP "Super Bad", the last made before altering their four member line-up. P-VINE are releasing Crossroads of Life and Gotta Get My Broom Out for the first time together on this one-time press 7 Inch format.
'The Best of Chet Baker' pressed on limited edition 180g violet coloured vinyl 14 Essential Chet Baker tracks recorded in Los Angeles, New York, Milan, and Paris between 1954 - 1959 and featuring Herbie Mann, Pepper Adams, Bill Evans and Kenny Drew among others.
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When it comes to floor-filling tracks that balances smart drum programming with pure melodic bliss, you can always rely on John Beltran to deliver. The five track EP contains masterful ambient pieces with a Detroit/Chicago analog house vibe brining a warm and psychedelic feel. He joins the label’s third release with a brilliant chill-out EP entitled ‘The Peninsula’, united by another Detroit legend Luke Hess, bringing his traditional 303 upbeat sound remixing ‘Begin Again’. Visual artist Alona Rodeh also joins the release showcasing her stunning High-Vis (Future, Black) which featured in her first solo exhibition at the Christine König Galerie in Vienna last year.
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Vor gerade mal zehn Jahren wurde "Down To The Bone" von Les Disques Du Soleil Et De L'Acier veröffentlicht - ein DEPECHE MODE Tribute Album, auf dem SYLVAIN CHAUVEAU zum ersten Mal auf einem Album sang. Er interpretierte elf Tracks in seinem typisch minimalistischen Stil und ließ nur die ,bare bones" der Originale zurück. Mit dem ENSEMBLE NOCTURNE definiert er die Konturen dieser bekannten Hits auf ungeheuer intime Art und Weise neu. Das von Kritikern hochgelobte Album ist ein Muss für Fans von CHAUVEAU ("The Black Book Of Capitalism", "Nocturne Impalpable") und DEPECHE MODE. Zur Feier des zehnten Jubiläums des Albums macht sich Ici D'ailleurs an das Re-Issue auf CD und zum allerersten Mal mit neuem Artwork auch auf LP. Ein Jahrzehnt und eine ganze Stange Alben später ist "Down To The Bone" noch immer ein großer Erfolg für CHAUVEAU - das Album reicht weit über ein simples Tribute hinaus, indem es einen Schritt von den Originalen zurücktritt. Die Inspiration des Pop ist noch immer vorhanden, doch diese Stücke geben dem Ganzen einen melancholischen Touch. Das Album ist der beste Weg für CHAUVEAU, der Musik von DEPECHE MODE seine Liebe zu erklären.
24 Songs. A new project from The Wedding Present. A new 7” single every month throughout 2022. 24 Songs sees David Gedge writing with legendary Sleeper guitarist Jon Stewart for the first time, and a more perfect union could not have been predicted. The notion of a monthly 7” single is not new to The Wedding Present, but 24 Songs shows us that even classic concepts can be reinvented. The series also continues the band’s association with photographer Jessica McMillan, who has created stunning images and films as a visual accompaniment to the recordings. Explaining 24 Songs, David Gedge said: “In 1991, The Wedding Present were rehearsing in a studio in Yorkshire when we hit upon an idea that immediately thrilled us all. Our bass player Keith Gregory had been a member of the ‘Sub Pop Singles Club’ - a service that allowed subscribers to receive 7”s released by that Seattle label on a monthly basis. Keith wondered if we, as a band, could attempt a similar thing. In that instant, The Wedding Present’s Hit Parade series was born and, during 1992, we managed to release a brand new 7” single each and every month. “The Hit Parade went on to become something of a significant milestone in the history of the band and it’s a project about which I’m often asked. As its thirtieth anniversary approached, I began to wonder if we should celebrate it in some way. A ‘Hit Parade Part 2’ didn’t feel quite right, though. Then, someone said to me: “Other bands have released music in similar ways but there has been nothing like the Hit Parade.” And they were right! A 7” single a month seems, somehow, very ‘Wedding Present’. So, inspired by that little idea from three decades ago, we’ve embarked on this new project, 24 Songs. “Even though The Wedding Present have never been known for taking the easy route, the idea of recording 24 tracks and releasing them in this way could seem daunting to any band. However, I’ve been inspired by the music that has been written since Jon and Melanie joined the group. The thought of celebrating this exciting new line-up with an exciting new series has motivated us all… and I suppose we also didn’t want any of these songs to be hidden away in the middle of an album!”
FOR FANS OF: Big Thief, Parquet Courts, Cate Le Bon, Elliott Smith, LVL UP. On their debut for Western Vinyl, recording engineer and multi-instrumentalist Nate Mendelsohn and his band use lyrical maximalism for the powers of good. Where Market’s previous home recorded releases shifted genre restlessly, on The Consistent Brutal Bullshit Gong Mendelsohn took a core band of longtime collaborators to a house in rural Massachusetts where they carved out space for his words to speak through with humor and intensity. Though he comes from a background in experimental music, Mendelsohn’s ear for pop has prevailed. Certain moments on Bullshit Gong reveal his stranger side, as on the thundering bridge of “Scar,” which sounds like a more unhinged Parquet Courts, or the angular “I Would Do That,” which takes cues from Cate Le Bon. On the whole, though, this band of close friends insists on directness, their arrangements clear despite the intricacies. Guitars and synthesizers tangle fluidly atop the rhythm section’s tight bedrock, evoking the tenderness and backbeat-centric qualities of Elliott Smith or Big Thief. After college, where he met most of the members of Market, Mendelsohn became an engineer and producer at the Brooklyn studio Figure 8 Recording. Through that community he’s recorded artists like Frankie Cosmos and Wendy Eisenberg, and played with Yaeji, Vagabon, Katie Von Schleicher (who co-produced Bullshit Gong with him), and Sam Evian, who mixed the album. Creating intimacy out of manic self-reflection requires a delicate balancing act, one Mendelsohn tackles with abandon. His words never skew too poetic or grandiose, and when he invokes the ugly it’s met with a sonic tonality that sets him right again. In tender moments, his voice is often flanked by bandmates Natasha Thweatt or Von Schleicher, who help skew his words toward the universal. Still, Bullshit Gong is an obsessive look inward, one in which Mendelsohn simply asks himself if he is good to those he loves. It’s an act of trust between the artist and the imagined listener he takes with him. UK press campaign by Silver PR. Mendelsohn has worked in the studio as an engineer and musician with Frankie Cosmos, Yaeji, Sam Evian, Wendy Eisenberg, Thor Harris, Rebecca Black, in addition to touring as a member of Katie Von Schleicher’s band. Market developed a cult following emerge after being championed by British comedian James Acaster, who featured the band’s first album in his book Perfect Sound Forever and his follow-up podcast for BBC Sounds.
Studio album number 10 is now ready, and the anniversary is marked by what the band itself refers to as 'The Dogs 2.0'
They have recruited the star producer Chips K, who, in addition to producing
bands such as The Hellacopters, Sahara Hotnights and Millencolin, has played in
both Sator and Thåström. Locked up in the venerable Athletic Sound for a few
weeks last summer, they gave Chips free rein to manage the song material they
had given him 18 months prior. During the past years, via numerous releases and
massive touring, The Dogs have established themselves as one of Norway's
hardest working and most critically acclaimed bands. They have played sold-out
gigs all over Norway, supporting the likes of Bruce Springsteen as well as
Kvelertak on their European tour. The Dogs serve up intense, flat-out rock 'n' roll,
with A- list celebrity and TV and radio personality Kristopher Schau's ferocious
voice leading it all. The Dogs will embark on a massive release tour in Norway,
Sweden, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium and The Czech Republic
in March and April 2022.
These sides from 1970s band Smith & Gordera are prototypical for the "Sounds Like Santana" genre coined at the Friends of Sound record store in Austin, TX years ago. Heavy Latin Rock fusion on these tracks with just a pinch of Jazz thrown in for good measure.
"Evil Deeds" starts right into it the moment the needle hits the groove on your turntable - heavy organ, percussion, shakers, and guitar all greet your ears. Moving into the track you get the typical shredding guitar solo, organ solo, and a sax solo, for good measure.
"Time and Space" starts with a nod to the classic Dave Brubeck "Take Five" and continues on an adventure into a more psychedelic groove and more of a Rock vibe. Time changes and tempo shifts and big solos round out the side.
7A Records announces the 50th Anniversary expanded reissue of Michael Nesmith’s ground-breaking 1972 album ‘And The Hits Just Keep On Comin’’. The album has been expanded with bonus tracks and features extensive liner notes. The Vinyl issue is pressed on 180g Honey Beige Coloured vinyl and comes in a gatefold sleeve.
Philadelphia, US, noisemakers The Mary Veils return with new album Esoteric Hex, their first full-length as a band. Mixed by Jeff Zeigler (Kurt Vile, The War on Drugs etc) and Cory Hanson (Wand, Ty Segall etc), Esoteric Hex is a scintillating ten-track exercise in punk-inflected garage rock rooted deeply in the intersection between riffery and melody, taking its cues the classic punk of New York Dolls, Johnny Thunders and The Dickies, as well as more contemporary influences like Osees and Hot Snakes. The record is out on Sweden's PNKSLM Recordings (ShitKid, Les Big Byrd, Holy etc.)
Brand new double 7” by The William Loveday Intention! As part of an incredibly productive year by one of the world's most productive and cherished artists, Billy Childish releases a new EP by The William Loveday Intention as part of his attempt at “a career in a year”. “Four tracks that address the game of being a human being.” 'I'm Good Enough' is a fresh look at Thee Headcoats' classic. 'Failure not Success' speaks for itself - and embodies the quest for un-muddied art. 'Becoming Unbecoming Me' is the story of a Jewish girl in Austria who changed her identity and married a Nazi to escape the death camps. 'Subterranean Homesick Blues' is our version of Bob Dylan's version of 'Too Much Monkey Business' by Chuck Berry.” WILLIAM LOVEDAY 2022
After the Bend is the second album from Louisville based Flanger Magazine, and the follow up to FM’s 2018 debut, Breslin. Whereas Breslin was the solo creation of Christopher Bush, an album noted for “an astute synthesis of ‘library music’ and solo acoustic guitar,” and “a seamless blend into the uncluttered and airier side of classic 1970’s giallo,” After the Bend is an ensemble affair. An ecosystem, a perfect mutualism bodies forth—of strings, outdoor recordings, electronics, reeds, and percussion—featuring new FM players Anna Krippenstapel (Frekons (Freakwater + Mekons), The Other Years), Jim Marlowe (Equipment Pointed Ankh, Tropical Trash, Sapat), Eric Lanham and Benjamin Zoeller (both from Caboladies). The various combos perform with both a distinguished efficacy and unhurried Sunday drift—charged and beautiful, pulsating and pleasing. The production is subtle and tasteful. Mutating past the old saws of bounded individualism, a strange form of tentacular life accrues, cyborgian-fungral-tangles of the more-than-human variety.
Robert Beatty’s cover art of otherworldly and interconnected river-scape gradients, coupled with song titles like “Reservoir,” “Falls Fountain Removed,” and “Sympathies for the River,” cue and clue the listener toward a river as a singular multitude analogue for the album. Interstitial gaps, clearings and openings give rise and merge into an accumulated flow from the tributaries of spirited improvisational performance, palimpsestic song cycles, and high fidelity studio production. The composite sound-image of After the Bend refuses to put both oars down into any one of the eddies of the folk, sound, chamber, electronic, or jazz idioms, and instead glides along the currents found within the slipstreams between.
Gathering samples, a River Doctor Limnologist inspecting the properties of After the Bend might note the specter of Leroy Jenkin’s free-violin heat-light deepin the water’s thermal stratification. Or mortgage the late-Maestro’s time with Gruppo di Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza to pay down the growing river heat budget. Or take one’s dirty buckets to the banks of the 19th laundromat where Walt Dickerson plays his vibraphone parts from Divine Gemini with dowsing rods. Or excavate the bedrock in the drainage basin, noting skeletal remains of a Shostakovich string quartet attempting to tune up a Kentucky Fiddle’s subsequent influence on the chemical composition of the water. Or consult the historical revisionist reenactment troupe’s episode of Fishing with John (Fahey) in which Codona, The Sea Ensemble and Nuno Canavarro guest host as their fleet of paddle boats churn river water into a regal lager, and all the fish get drunk in their quest for the leaner enamel Hosianna Mantra GPS coordinates of the Fattened Herb.
Bush and Marlowe recorded and produced the album at End of an Ear Studios, located in the Portland neighborhood, in the west end of the city of Louisville, bordering the Ohio River, between Kentucky’s Upper South and the Indiana’s Midwest, during the first year of the global pandemic, amidst the planet’s sixth great extinction event. As good a time to be alive as any other. (by Kris Abplanalp)
RIYL: Guided by Voices, Pavement, The Clean, XTC, Flying Nun. The title of The Stroppies' newest LP, Levity, serves as a creative statement of intent and an acknowledgment of the dichotomy between the music they have made and the conditions in which they were produced. For a group that started over an initial idea to "create open ended music, quickly and haphazardly”, the logistical challenges of creating their second album in the midst of a pandemic, in a city that endured the longest lockdown in the world, created a need to redefine process. Levity, The Stroppies strongest creative statement to date, is the result of this new approach to creative process. Playful yet focused, but broader in scope and experimentation than previous efforts, the ten songs that comprise Levity continue the band's exploration of the pop song as both foil for experimentation and conduit for personal reflection. Whereas the group's debut LP Whoosh! demonstrated their ability to craft clean, concise jangle pop, Levity takes a different route by utilizing a darker pallet of sounds to create its impressionistic whole. Fuzz and distortion are employed to add weight to songs built on tape loops and Motorik drum patterns. Warbling synthesisers and modulated keys add new moods and dimensions to The Stroppies unique brand of pop classicism. Thematically, the band continues their exploration of the personal refracted through the lens of the absurd, though this time around the music feels a few shades darker, a somewhat inevitable consequence of the collective trauma of the past 24 months. While the narrative around the 'lockdown record' is increasingly commonplace, there are unavoidable realities involved in making creative decisions under such circumstances that can't be overlooked, especially for a band that thrives on collaboration. "The restrictions around COVID really informed the way we made the record', says Angus Lord, the band's co-founder and guitarist. "It meant that there was a lot less opportunity to meet and build ideas collaboratively, which is how we’ve worked in the past. Instead, ideas were developed in isolation, then shared digitally, developing slowly over correspondence and only bearing fruit when we were able to be in a room together. I think this had a big effect on the songwriting and execution.” This process even extended to the studio, where The Stroppies found a kindred spirit in John Lee of Phaedra Studios, who mixed the record in isolation, somehow managing to synthesise the band's pop sensibilities with their penchant for studio experimentation. Furthermore, the addition of new member Zoe Monk, known for playing in a diverse array of Melbourne acts (Eggy, Thibault, The Opals) contributed both synthesiser experimentation and rock solid rhythm guitar, a huge addition to the band's developing sound, an infectious combination of the off-kilter 90s US underground, British artpunk ala Wire and a more than generous love of classic Pop songwriting. The Stroppies have managed to craft a record of weight and substance. Through Levity the Stroppies have, at least temporarily, found their feet amongst the chaos
RIYL: Guided by Voices, Pavement, The Clean, XTC, Flying Nun. The title of The Stroppies' newest LP, Levity, serves as a creative statement of intent and an acknowledgment of the dichotomy between the music they have made and the conditions in which they were produced. Levity, The Stroppies strongest creative statement to date, is the result of this new approach to creative process. Playful yet focused, but broader in scope and experimentation than previous efforts, the ten songs that comprise Levity continue the band's exploration of the pop song as both foil for experimentation and conduit for personal reflection. Whereas the group's debut LP Whoosh! demonstrated their ability to craft clean, concise jangle pop, Levity takes a different route by utilizing a darker pallet of sounds to create its impressionistic whole. Fuzz and distortion are employed to add weight to songs built on tape loops and Motorik drum patterns. Warbling synthesisers and modulated keys add new moods and dimensions to The Stroppies unique brand of pop classicism. Thematically, the band continues their exploration of the personal refracted through the lens of the absurd, though this time around the music feels a few shades darker, a somewhat inevitable consequence of the collective trauma of the past 24 months. While the narrative around the 'lockdown record' is increasingly commonplace, there are unavoidable realities involved in making creative decisions under such circumstances that can't be overlooked, especially for a band that thrives on collaboration. "The restrictions around COVID really informed the way we made the record', says Angus Lord, the band's co-founder and guitarist. "It meant that there was a lot less opportunity to meet and build ideas collaboratively, which is how we've worked in the past. Instead, ideas were developed in isolation, then shared digitally, developing slowly over correspondence and only bearing fruit when we were able to be in a room together. I think this had a big effect on the songwriting and execution." This process even extended to the studio, where The Stroppies found a kindred spirit in John Lee of Phaedra Studios, who mixed the record in isolation, somehow managing to synthesise the band's pop sensibilities with their penchant for studio experimentation. Furthermore, the addition of new member Zoe Monk, known for playing in a diverse array of Melbourne acts (Eggy, Thibault, The Opals) contributed both synthesiser experimentation and rock solid rhythm guitar, a huge addition to the band's developing sound, an infectious combination of the off-kilter 90s US underground, British artpunk ala Wire and a more than generous love of classic Pop songwriting. The Stroppies have managed to craft a record of weight and substance. Through Levity the Stroppies have, at least temporarily, found their feet amongst the chaos.
New Heavy Sounds is proud to present the new album by Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard. now known simply as MWWB. There has been some speculation amongst fan circles that the final part of the trilogy of albums that preceded this, marked the end of Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard’s five-year mission. Not so. We can categorically confirm that having officially slimmed their name down to the acronym, MWWB are continuing their voyage through the far reaches of the galaxy. The first phase of that journey is their new album ‘The Harvest’. ‘The Harvest’ is the band’s fourth album, and of course it is a record shot through with the trademark heavy MWWB sound, and their unique blend of metal and shoegaze. However it also sees the band adding more experimentation, a progressive approach, and going a bit more left field conceptually. To some extent, it shares similarities with Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’. Not only by having the mix of experimentation and melodicism as that seminal record, but also in the way that it has been engineered and constructed as a seamless piece. Nine tracks flowing into one another. Space age riff monsters segueing into shorter musical interludes, where John Carpenter, rubs shoulders with Pink Floyd and a maelstrom of moog and mellotron. There are surprises, and of course a bucketload of heavy shit. With ‘The Harvest’ MWWB have refined and honed their sound, it’s a carefully crafted distillation of ideas, written, conceived and sequenced to be listened to in its entirety (preferably in one sitting). MWWB have always loved film scores and this new album is in many ways, the soundtrack to a film. MWWB provides the musical narrative (the song titles also provide a pointer) and the listener's imagination does the rest. ‘Oblok Magellana’ and its spooky atmospherics set the scene. before things really kick in with the riffs of title track ‘The Harvest’. A grooving Sabbathian chug intro’s Jessica Ball, who at the top of her game throughout. Her voice simultaneously sweet yet dark; almost neofolk; which when put against those riffs, is always a startling juxtaposition, nevertheless it perfectly crystallises MWWB’s distinctive dynamic. ‘Interstellar Wrecking’ is a succinctly crafted nugget of John Carpenter-esque drama, you can imagine the thundering mothership forging its way through the universe on some nameless quest before encountering ‘Logic Bomb’ and its fat fuzzed-up ride through light and shade guitar/vocal interplay. Ball’s voice soaring and shimmering throughout. ‘Betrayal’ gives a nod to Pink Floyd’s ‘On The Run’ but with its freaky spoken word and four on the floor kick it’s almost a dance track, yet there’s no incongruity here. ‘Altamira’ is epic MWWB, adding large doses of psych into a melodic concoction of dreampop and metal. Ball’s vocals here are many layered and textured effortlessly gliding through the weight of the backing. ‘Let’s Send The Bastards Whence They Came’ is another little gem. A plaintive repeating synth figure that builds with bass, drums, mellotrons and synths into ‘Strontium’ which rounds off the album’s ‘heavy’ numbers, a blend of monster grooves, and Ball’s swooning vocals. Finally, and outstandingly, Jessica strips things back to a distorted guitar and voice on ‘Moonrise’. Shorn of the layers of fuzz, it is a simple, beautiful and fitting catharsis to an epic voyage. MWWB are a thrilling proposition. They demonstrate that you can seamlessly mix crushing power, experimentation and delicate vulnerability into something that transcends any genre.
This first-ever vinyl reissue, remastered from the original analog tapes, includes a gatefold jacket and inner sleeve with restored, new, and alternate art and photos by Terry and Jo Harvey Allen; an insert with lyrics, original notes, and Terry’s letter to H.C. Westermann about the songs; and a high-res download code. Deluxe CD edition features a trifold jacket and inner sleeve. Recorded exactly two years after acclaimed visual artist and songwriter Terry Allen’s masterpiece Lubbock (on everything), the feral follow-up Smokin the Dummy is less conceptually focused but more sonically and stylistically unified than its predecessor it’s also rougher and rowdier, wilder and more wired, and altogether more menacingly rock and roll. Following the 1973 Whitney Biennial, in which songwriter and visual artist Terry Allen and fellow iconic artist Horace Clifford “Cliff” Westermann both exhibited, Allen maintained a lively long-distance correspondence and exchange of artworks and music with Westermann, whose singular and highly influential art he admired enormously. In a February 1981 letter to his friend and mentor, written shortly after the late 1980 release of his third album Smokin the Dummy, while he and his family were living in Fresno, California, Terry explains the genesis of the album title: Westermann died shortly after receiving this letter, enclosed with a Smokin the Dummy LP, the minimalist black jacket of which Allen suggested that Cliff fold into a jaunty cardboard hat if he didn’t like the music. That response was unlikely, since Westermann loved Terry’s music, calling his debut record Juarez (1975) “the finest, most honest and heartfelt piece of music I ever heard.” The Panhandle Mystery Band had only recently coalesced during those 1978 Lubbock sessions, Lloyd Maines’s first foray into production. Through 1979, they honed their sound and tightened their arrangements with a series of periodic performances beyond Allen’s regular art-world circuit, including memorable record release concerts in Lubbock, Chicago, L.A., and Kansas City. Terry sought to harness the high-octane power of this now well-oiled collective engine to overdrive his songs into rawer and rockier off-road territory. His first album to share top billing with the Panhandle Mystery Band, Dummy documents a ferocious new band in fully telepathic, tornado-fueled flight, refining its caliber, increasing its range, and never looking down. Alongside the stalwart Maines brothers co-producer, guitarist, and all-rounder Lloyd, bassist Kenny, and drummer Donnie and mainstay Richard Bowden (who here contributes not only fiddle but also mandolin, cello, and “truck noise theory,” the big-rig doppler effect of Lloyd’s steel on “Roll Truck Roll”), new addition Jesse Taylor supplies blistering lead guitar, on loan from Joe Ely (who plays harmonica here). Jesse’s kinetic blues lines and penchant for extreme volume were instrumental in pushing these recordings into brisker tempos and tougher attitudes. Terry was feverish for several studio days, suffering from a bad flu and sweating through his clothes, which partially explains the literally febrile edge to his performances, rendered largely in a perma-growl. (By this point, he was regularly breaking piano pedals with his heavy-booted stomp.) Like the album title itself, the songs on Smokin the Dummy ring various demented bells. The tracks rifle through Terry’s assorted Obsessions especially the potential energy and escape of the open road, elevated here to an ecstatic, prayerful pitch and are populated by a cast of crooked characters: truckers, truck-stop waitresses, convicts, cokeheads, speed freaks, greasers, holy rollers, rodeo riders, dancehall cheaters, and sacrificial prairie dogs, sinners seeking some small reprieve, any fugitive moment of grace. A reigning deity of a certain kind of country music since the mid-70s. – The New York Times // The kind of singular American artist who expresses the fundamental weirdness of his country. – The Wire
RIYL: David Byrne, Guy Clark, Bob Dylan, The Flatlanders, Randy Newman, John Prine, Lucinda Williams, Townes Van Zandt. The first-ever vinyl reissue of Allen’s manifold, moving fourth album, remastered from the original analog tapes. Deluxe LP edition features 140g virgin vinyl; a gatefold jacket, inner sleeve with restored, new, and alternate art and photos by Terry and Jo Harvey Allen and friends, insert with lyrics and original notes & DL. Deluxe CD edition features a trifold jacket & inner sleeve. On his manifold fourth album, acclaimed songwriter and visual artist Terry Allen contemplates kinship the ways sex and violence stitch and sever the ties of family, faith, and society with skewering satire and affection alike. Bloodlines compiles thematically related but disparate recordings from miscellaneous sources both theatrical and historical: two songs written for plays; two full-band reprises of selections from Juarez; the irreverent hellfire-hitchhiker-on-highway ballad “Gimme a Ride to Heaven Boy” (featuring Joe Ely); and the poignant eponymous ode to the arteries of ancestry and landscape (the debut recording of eight year-old Natalie Maines, later covered by Lucinda Williams). Since 1970, when they met in Allen’s studio in his hometown of Lubbock, Texas, one of songwriter and visual artist Terry Allen’s great foils and friends was the sometimes cantankerous but always brilliant art critic and writer Dave Hickey, with whom he sparred on topics musical, visual, and beyond (and to whom this reissue is dedicated in memoriam, in the wake of his passing in 2021.) Hickey, a fellow Texan paddling against the currents of the hermetic New York centric art world, was an accomplished songwriter in his own right, and he and Terry pushed each other to refine their respective practices. In 1983, the two were thick as thieves brothers in blood and Hickey’s wry but big-hearted presence haunts the history and periphery of Bloodlines, the album Terry released in June of that year. Hickey’s commercial doubts notwithstanding, critical recognition was not in short demand. In a 1984 review of Bloodlines, the L.A. Herald Examiner called Allen “one of the most compelling American songwriters working today … making the most unique art-pop of our time,” elsewhere comparing him not only to Moon Mullican and Jerry Lee Lewis, but also to the Velvet Underground and Philip Glass (probably the first time that unlikely quartet ever appeared together in one sentence). In 1983, against all odds, such sentiments were growing in underground prominence, as Allen’s records gained a fanatical word-of-mouth following they weren’t easy to find in those days. Recorded piecemeal at Caldwell Studios in Lubbock, in sessions spanning August 1982 through January 1983, Terry self-released it, like all his previous records, on his own Fate Records imprint. Despite his frustration with the protracted timeline and some anxiety about the correspondingly higher budget, the production on Bloodlines courtesy, once again, of master guitarist Lloyd Maines is slicker, cleaner, and more dynamic than prior efforts, and it reached a broader audience than ever before. UK label Making Waves reissued it in 1985, facilitating semi-reliable European distribution for the first time as well as a 1986 UK tour, on which the great BJ Cole filled in for Lloyd on pedal steel. No veteran country songwriter sounds more attuned to the national mood. His songs still feel like little guidebooks for staring down a harsh universe. – The Washington Post // It has always been a fool’s errand to frame Allen in terms of other artists there was nobody like him before he showed up, and the subsequent 40 years have been equally light on plausible peers. Uncut