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Toro y Moi’s seventh studio album, ‘MAHAL’, is the boldest and most fascinating journey yet
from musical mastermind Chaz Bear. The record spans genre and sound - encompassing the
shaggy psychedelic rock of the 1960s and ‘70s, and the airy sounds of 1990s mod-post-rock -
taking listeners on an auditory expedition, as if they’re riding in the back of Bear’s Filipino
jeepney that adorns the album’s cover. But ‘MAHAL’ is also an unmistakably Toro y Moi
experience, calling back to previous works while charting a new path forward in a way that only
Bear can do.
 ‘MAHAL’ is the latest in an accomplished career for Bear, who’s undoubtedly one of the
decade’s most influential musicians. Since the release of the electronic pop landmark ‘Causers
of This’ in 2009, subsequent records as Toro y Moi have repeatedly shifted the idea of what his
sound can be. But there’s little in Bear’s catalogue that will prepare you for the deep-groove
excursions on ‘MAHAL’, his most eclectic record to date.
 The second the album begins we’re immediately transported into the passenger seat, jeep
sounds and all, ready for the ride Chaz and company have concocted for us. Seeds of some of
‘MAHAL’s 13 songs date back to the more explicitly rock-oriented ‘What For?’ from 2015.
 ‘MAHAL’ was mostly completed last year in Bear’s Oakland studio with the involvement of a
host of collaborators, Sofie Royer and Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Neilson to Neon
Indian’s Alan Palomo and the Mattson 2.
 “I wanted to make a record that featured more musicians on it than any other record of mine,”
he explains. “To have them live on that record feels grounded, bringing a communal
perspective to the table.” As a result, ‘MAHAL’ is lush and surprising at every turn, from the
cool-handed ‘The Loop’, which recalls Sly and the Family Stone, to the elastic psych rock of
‘Foreplay’ and the dizzying Mulatu Astatke-recalling of ‘Last Year’.
 Lyrically, the album zooms in on generational concerns, picking up where the ‘Outer Peace’
standout ‘Freelance’ effectively left off. Bear seems to be surveying the ways in which we
connect with technology, media, each other, and what disappears as a result. Cuts like the
squishy ‘Postman’ and ‘Magazine’ take a deep dive into our relationship with media in a
changing digital world. “It’s interesting to see how we adapt to this new age. We’re so
connected, but we’re still missing out on things,” Bear ruminates while discussing the album’s
themes.
 It’s not all introspection. Bear cools things down near the album’s end with the Mattson 2-
featuring ‘Millennium’, a laid-back jam with tricky guitar licks about ringing in new times even
when everything else seems upside down. “It’s about enjoying the new year, even when it’s
been shitty,” Bear explains. “There’s nothing else to do.”
 Finding a sense of joy in the face of adversity is embedded in ‘MAHAL’s DNA, right down to the
jeepney that literally and figuratively brings the music out into the community. “We know that
touring is messed up for now, and large gatherings are a fluke,” he explains. “It’s about the
notion of us going out to the people and bringing the record to them.” And with the wide-open
atmosphere of ‘MAHAL’, Toro y Moi stands to connect with more listeners than ever before.

I’m gonna love you from the soft spot
Where the fruit begins to rot

“This area of the throat,” says Chelsea Jade, resting three fingers roughly where her neck meets her chest. “It’s particularly soft, and it's connected ... it's halfway between the heart and the mouth. And that's an interesting place of vulnerability.”

Soft Spot, the Los Angeles-based New Zealand artist’s second album, dwells somewhere between feeling and expression, certainty and doubt. It ventures beyond the exploration of delusions of grandeur that formed the focus of the critically acclaimed Personal Best (2018), and simultaneously promotes and undermines romance, specifically, in a more solemn way.

“Less glib,” offers Jade, who has opened for Lorde and Cat Power among others. Still deliciously glib in places: “Give your worst my best,” she sings on the wryly antagonizing, bass-heavy “Tantrum in Duet.” Soft Spot’s big pop tracks go hard on the interpersonal, physical and amorous, inviting the listener to entertain flirtation, lust, sex, even the experience, rare during its recording in 2020, of being in a room with more than three other people.

With the reinforcement of composition and arrangement by Leroy James Clampitt (Justin Bieber) and production by Brad Hale (Now, Now), Jade conjures up atmospheres conducive to feelings of place and potential. Created during a once-in-a-century pandemic, the album is an evocative assembly of found parts: recordings of sentences and asides delivered by friends, the sound of rain in LA, or the distant voice of bureaucracy against a backdrop of hold music. Seeming choruses were produced to give that impression, layered submission by individual vocal submission. On “Best Behavior,” the record’s danciest track, this illusory energy reaches its euphoric height.

The record transports the listener from speaker-side at a club, to wandering a party, to sitting at an open window with a pianist nearby. It shifts effortlessly from expansive sold-out-show sound to ethereal, twinkling detail. The writing on Soft Spot outwits even its clever, resourceful production, the lyrics a testament to the multi award-winning songwriter’s belief in the pop format as a venue for prose.

"For a whole decade, spanning between the second half of the ‘50s and the second half of the ‘60s, jazz took over the Italian screens. The Californian be-bop rhythms, filtered and reinterpreted in a typical Mediterranean key, became the perfect soundtrack to the Italy of the economic boom; the quintessential music for a country that was sailing through a moment of profound and exciting industrial, social and cultural renovation. A nation that was rapidly shedding its skin, changing its style, look and identity, but also its landscape, letting itself go to the inebriation of the economic miracle. The compilation was conceived like a sonic stream, a journey of discovery carefully sequenced from hundreds of soundtracks from the golden age of Italian jazz contained in the CAM Sugar archive.
33 tracks that go beyond music, telling the story of Italian cinema, society and of its unmistakable style and charm. A genre that even when nodding to Californian be-bop, to crime jazz or bossa nova still sounds surprisingly original and Mediterranean, elegant, and seductive, either with joyous peaks (the scat of I Cantori Moderni di Alessandroni or of I 4+4 di Nora Orlandi) or with enigmatic and nearly dramatic nuances (La strega in amore by Luis Bacalov, Il batticuore by Marcello Gigante). The compilation also offers a precious insight into the Italian jazz scene of the times, with its string of formidable soloists like Gianni Basso (sax) and Oscar Valdambrini (trumpet), two Piedmontese men on duty for the RAI television orchestra conducted by Armando Trovajoli; like Nunzio Rotondo (trumpet) a legendary and elusive figure who had a special bond with Piero Piccioni; or like Enrico Rava (trumpet), Franco D'Andrea (piano) and Gegé Munari (drums) who often recorded with Piero Umiliani. Not to forget international stars like Chet Baker and Gato Barbieri, who were often fortuitously dragged into the recording sessions also thanks to Umiliani’s never-ending curiosity."

‘Emotional Eternal’, out on Domino, is a glorious consolidation
of the lessons learned along the way, seen through the eyes of
someone who has taken a step back, and who can see clearly
as a result.

 As with her previous acclaimed 2018 album ‘Bon Voyage’, this
album was initially recorded in the outskirts of Stockholm, with
Reine Fiske, the multi-instrumentalist member of Swedish rockband Dungen, who has worked with the likes of Travis Scott and
Anna Järvinen, and Fredrik Swahn, the musician, producer and
engineer best known for his work with Swedish indie-rock band
The Amazing.

 A deeply human collection of songs full of prolonged moments
of sonic transcendency, ‘Emotional Eternal’ is a record rooted in
adulthood, but one that still regards the world with a childlike
wonder. It includes ‘Alma_The Voyage’, a beautiful paean to
motherhood concluding with resounding violins and EBow;
‘Personal Message’ featuring a giddily assured vocal
performance from Melody, vertiginous and breathy and the
ornate and catchy, ‘Where The Water Clears the Illusion’.

 Listening to the album feels like coming across an abundant
treasure chest; strap in and get ready to be transported to
another heavenly, mediative and groove-filled world.

 CD in printed inner wallet with 18-page poster booklet.

 LP with 2-page insert plus 12” circular ‘optical effect’ card platter
disc with digital download code.

 Press - Reviews in Uncut, MOJO, Loud and Quiet, Record Collector,
Reader’s Digest, Shindig, Electronic Sound, The Skinny, NARC,
Aesthetica, Spin, All Music. Features in Clash, Shindig Magazine,
Pitchfork, The Eagle, The Line of Best Fit, Far Out Magazine.

 Radio - 6 Music Lauren Laverne, Craig Charles, Amy Lame, Radcliffe
& Maconie, BBC Radio 1 Jack Saunders, Radio X John Kennedy.

Vinyl in Gatefold Jacket, green/black double coloured LP with lyric insert and download card.

Keep This Be the Way is Helms Alee's sixth full-length and first new album in over 3 years. Across the span of their first five studio albums, Seattle trio Helms Alee have consistently refined their signature sound-a blend of lilting siren songs, crushing thunder and sludge, and heady guitar pop filled with lush guitars and elaborate three-part vocal harmonies that reach widely across various subgenres of the heavy music world. On this latest album they expand their palette by delving into the production possibilities afforded by recording the album themselves, creating their most dynamic and technicoloured work to date.. Keep This Be the Way still very much sounds like a Helms Alee record, but it's their first album that diverts from the faithful recreation of their live sound and delves into a vibrant tapestry of surreal sounds and invented spaces. This new approach is immediately evident on first single "See Sights Smell Smells," where reverse cymbal crashes, fragmented piano, layered drums, woozy drones, saxophone freak-outs, and trippy vocal treatments transport the listener to an altered state of exhilarated anticipation. The pendulum swings towards more adventurous and exploratory sounds on songs like "Tripping Up the Stairs", it's nightmarish synth glides pitted against distorted barrages steeped in classic Helms Alee timbre. And therein lies the power of the Keep Us Be the Way: it reflects a period of change, ambiguity and perseverance through its fearless curiosity, cathartic rumble, and sublime beauty. Helms Alee supporting Russian Circles on the upcoming EU Headline tour in April/May 2022.

25TH DELUXE ANNIVERSARY EDITION OF AMERICAN BABYLON FEATURING LIVE TRACKS WITH BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN Grushecky and his band had been a club fixture in the Northeast for nearly 25 years when they released American Babylon in 1995. The Pittsburgh band had proven themselves to be the consummate bar band with occasional flirtations with national success. American Babylon found them teaming up with Bruce Springsteen, who handles production, plays on several tracks, and wrote two songs for the album. The title track is an uptempo rocker detailing the disintegration of societal mores. There are plenty of songs outlining love gone wrong and the struggles of common folk, all delivered in Grushecky’s warm, well-worn voice over a barroom mixture of blues-based traditional rock. However, delivered with such earnestness and spirit makes American Babylon a worthy contender and an enjoyable listen for fans of Mellencamp, Seger, and, especially, Springsteen. The 25th anniversary deluxe reissue edition will include LIVE tracks from the Houserockers’ legendary October Assault Tour recorded at an enthusiastic hometown show that same year. “American Babylon is an impassioned, sharply-etched portrait of working-stiff triumphs and travails.” -Rick Reger, Chicago Tribune “As the leader of the Pittsburgh-based Iron City Houserockers, Joe Grushecky hammered out four heartland rock albums in the late 70s and early 1980s. These won over more critics than fans, so he became a special education teacher to support his family. Still, he maintained a close relationship with Bruce Springsteen, and in 1995, they teamed up for American Babylon. The two remain tight and play together at least once a year, but this album remains their greatest joint accomplishment.” -Rolling Stone “At a time when rock had splintered into grunge, industrial, alternative, and more, Joe Grushecky planted a defiant flag in the soul of rock and roll with American Babylon--one of the very best and undeservedly overlooked albums of the 1990s, and one that sounds just as fresh, vibrant, and relevant 25 years later. Bruce Springsteen may have helped bring the album to life, but his contributions only elevate a collection of songs that in another time would have been radio classics on their own.” -Ken Rosen, E Street Shuffle

With Fierce Bliss, the legendary Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductee Ann Wilson -recognized as one of the greatest singers of all time and co-founder of multi-platinum stars Heart- has created a supremely lavish, warm and seductive slice of rock ‘n’ roll which provides an instant soundtrack whether on the freeway or in front of the fireplace. Recorded between Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL and Power Station, Waterford, CT, Wilson got together with famed Nashville session guitarist Tom Bukovac and invited several friends (including Warren Haynes, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Vince Gill) to help fashion an album which carries the glow of an ochre sunset and the pristine vocals of a rock legend who still has every single unique octave at her fingertips.

Fierce Bliss is truly an album which embraces all the finest qualities of classic American rock with the comforts and escapes that it can bring. Lead track “Greed” roars like a muscle car, Wilson’s rich voice hitting over drive, while “Love of My Life” is a beautiful rendition of the Queen classic featuring Gill on guest vocals which will strike empathy in all who hear who it. There’s the uniquely mysterious “Black Wing”, Wilson again the driver through a hazy, mystical journey, and a spectacular cover of “Bridge of Sighs”. The stomp ‘n’ roll thunders through “A Moment in Heaven” and Wilson takes charge of “Missionary Man” with a storming rendition that reframes the classic song.

With album art created by the famous fantasy artist Roger Dean (Yes, Asia) whose work has sold more than 150 million copies worldwide, Fierce Bliss is destined to be the American rock ‘n’ roll classic album that speaks to millions of people and provides them with quality, assurity and good ol’ goddamn comfort in these turbulent times.

Few would dispute that the title of Trower's latest album – No More
Worlds To Conquer – is a fair summary of the thumbprint he has left on the musical universe


But as he reminds us, it should not be misinterpreted as his mission being accomplished. "I definitely feel like I'm still reaching," he considers, "with the guitar, and the songs, and everything else."
Turning once again to his trusty toolkit of Fender Stratocaster and Marshall amp, Trower's guitar work is ageless, whether that's the tough chop of Ball Of Fire, Losing You and Cloud Across The Sun, or the slower-burn wah squalls of the title track and Deadly Kiss.
On Waiting For The Rain To Fall, Trower's playing is crystalline as a dew drop, while the aching finale, I Will Always Be Your Shelter, offers a solo whose masterful touch is compelling as anything in his catalogue.

Honeyglaze are the South London-based, Haiku-loving trio comprised of vocalist and guitarist Anouska Sokolow, bassist Tim Curtis and Yuri Shibuichi on drums.

 Born out of lead songwriter Sokolow’s un-desire to be a solo act, the group met officially at their first ever rehearsal - just three days ahead of what was to become a near-residency, at their favoured Windmill in Brixton. Forming a mere eighteen-months ahead of a subsequent eighteen-months of mandatory solitude, a parallel that’s both aligned and universally un-timely, Honeyglaze, at first appearance, are a group who play with chance, time, and synergetic fate, in mannerisms few others are able to do.

 Pricking the ears of seminal producer Dan Carey and his team of merry tastemakers, the Speedy Wunderground / Honeyglaze partnership would manifest into a dynamic that, despite not having met prior, quite simply just worked.

 Much like the eponymously debuted statements of contemporary folk-singer Bedouine’s ‘Bedouine’, ‘Crosby, Stills and Nash’, or, dare we suggest Madonna’s ‘Madonna’, ‘Honeyglaze’ the album presents to the world an audibly picturesque documentation of soul-searching, in all its figment’s of reality; a proclamation of cultivated intent which in turn creates a subliminal safe-space between relatability and self-projection, and creative-comradery paired with introspective artistry.

 A self-described “opposite to a concept album” that sonically encapsulates the who, what, where and how of their individual circumstances coming together as one, Honeyglaze is a meticulously transformative feat of which, in their own eyes, is a “quite accurate” sonic encapsulation of who the trio believe to be.

 This is storytelling at its most soulful, and ‘Honeyglaze’ presents human instinct in a manner that accepts all of the insecurities that come from their present adolescence, whilst acknowledging the formative maturity that’s earned when we allow ourselves to embrace the unknown, of our futures ahead.

 “If someone is going to find you special - then you want to show what’s most special about yourself,” notes Curtis. “Then you can do what you want from there.”

 Mixing the personal with romanticised ideals in ways that are simultaneously heart-wrenching, and humorous to a dead pan effect, there is no one trajectory for Honeyglaze, whose greatest ability is finding ways to present what’s written in-between the lines, in moments of beautifully well-versed clarity.

 In their own words: “Hi we are Honeyglaze, and there’s no time to explain.”

Marta Sanchez's creative voice is strikingly original - circling rhythms,
elaborate forms and criss-crossing counterpoint distinguishes her sonic signature on the crowded New York contemporary music scene

Following three critically acclaimed quintet releases, the Madrid- born pianistcomposer presents 'SAAM (Spanish American Art Museum)' on Whirlwind Recordings, an album driven by emotional candour and boundary- pushing compositions. A talented cast realises her knotty, technical writing - frontline partners Alex Lore and Roman Filiu meet Sanchez, Rashaan Carter and Allan Mednard on backline duties.'SAAM' riffs on the Smithsonian American Art Museum, on an album that's an exhibition of Sanchez's life in musical form: "It's made up of all the elements of society from both countries Spain and America that impact my life and make me who I am." Matters internal and external are realised in musical expositions of complex feelings. The pieces took shape in lockdown, as Sanchez exchanged fortnightly composition tasks with a pen- pal.

"Those compositions express all the phases I was going through at that time. I was reflecting super deeply on what's important, and how we might give some sense to life."

Sixteen great tracks, a dozen of which were Muddy Waters most successful recording for Chess Records, including 'Hoochie Coochie Man' and 'I Just Want To Make Love To You', staple repertoire of British blues bands during the 60s.

Bonus CD includes the complete album 'The Best of Muddy Waters' plus fourteen bonus tracks. Digipak presentation with updated liner notes.











[k] 11. I Want You To Love Me [aka Mad Love]

Last available copies of the instrumental version of Umse's album "Hawaiian Snow" from 2015.

The Line Is A Curve is about letting go. The core of the record is that the pressures we face do not always have to be heavy burdens, but can be reframed; the more pressure a person is under, the greater the possibility for release.

The album plays like a chronicle of pressures - the mind-numbing pursuit of a comfortable life, the eternal striving for more, the pressures of the city, the country, the times. The pressures of maintaining relationships, of battling illness, addiction, poor mental health, the vacuous life of our online selves. As we move through these chronicles though, the mood brightens. The musicality becomes more expansive as the lyrical horizon broadens and we glimpse coastlines, high streets, scrap yards, train stations in the rain; the entire album begins to let go. We encounter the contributions of artists who I love and admire, guest vocalists and instrumentalists, and so we defeat the sense of isolation felt in the opening track with a sense of deeply connected community. More Pressure, the penultimate song, is the essence of the whole album and the epiphany that leads to Grace, which is a prayer, a surrendering; ‘Please move me, please move through me, please unscrew me, please loosen me up.’ But once we get to the end of Grace, and the album, we loop back to the start – to ‘Kiss off the day with a mute mouth. Pass the commute like I can die faster than you.’ Because no matter how much a person grapples with, realises, deeply understands, about life and their place in it, we still wake up in the morning back to square one. Life isn’t solved the minute you figure something out about it. It’s a daily operation to increase your resilience, cultivate a deeper acceptance, let go of what’s chasing you and lean in to the pressures. It’s cyclical, as I believe all things are. And instead of trying to fight the cycles, this album asks us to surrender to them. To let go.

These general themes, of acceptance, resilience, surrender are also about where I’m at in my personal life, in my journey towards a greater acceptance of myself as an artist and as a human being. Being more honest with the world and my community about who I am and letting go of some heavy heavy shame, which is a glorious thing.

This album has a beautiful heart, there is so much love running through it and I can’t wait for people to experience it.

Linda Fredriksson (they/them) shares their debut solo album "Juniper" on We Jazz Records, 29 Oct 2021. Linda (of Mopo and Superposition) has been working on the compositions heard on the album for several years, composing them mostly on guitar, keys and by singing. Only later have they been arranged for the band heard on the album, including Fredriksson on saxes and various instruments, Tuomo Prättälä (of ilmiliekki Quartet) on rhodes, moog and piano, Minna Koivisto on modular synth, moog and OP, Olavi Louhivuori (of Superposition) on drums, and Mikael Saastamoinen (of OK:KO and Superposition) on bass, plus featuring the Swedish artist Matti Bye on piano.

At heart, "Juniper" is a "singer-songwriter album", performed by an instrumental jazz band. The end result is unique, personal, and as Linda themself puts it "quiet and introspective". The first single from the album is "Neon Light and the sky was trans", "a song from the shining streets – the beginning of something new", featuring field recordings of rain falling down behind the window of Linda's Helsinki working space.

It's a fitting introduction to an album full on wonders and carefully crafted secrets ready to be discovered. "Juniper" is a world unto itself, and Fredriksson describes the process as one of isolation and of learning slowly to do new things. After the demo stage, the songs were taken to the full band, but what's on the record often stays true to the minimal nature of the early demos. Linda credits their co-producer Minna Koivisto as a key ally in the process of maintaining the demo sessions' fragile beauty on the actual finished record.

With regards to instrumentation, those who have heard Linda Fredriksson in Mopo and Superposition are likely to be surprised by their credit listing including not only alto and baritone saxophones, plus bass clarinet, but also guitar, Rhythmic8 synths, ambience recordings and drum programming. Linda describes the way of finding new sounds through their beloved old guitar as follows: "It's an old acoustic guitar that has been hit by a car and is literally full of holes, but that makes the sound just perfect for this album and you can hear the instrument on 'Pinetree song' and 'Lempilauluni' (Finnish for 'My Loved Song')."

In fact, Linda began their music-making with guitar and vocals, and the debut of the hole-filled vintage acoustic guitar makes perfect sense here, while also describing the album's immediate sound perhaps better than any other individual instrument used. The influence list for the album name checks the likes of Feist, Neil Young, Susanne Sundfør, Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Eric Dolphy and Fever Ray, yet the number one inspiration for Fredriksson prior to making the album was "Carrie and Lowell", the 2017 album by Sufjan Stevens. Different as the albums are in terms of instrumentation and general scope, it's fascinating to draw parallels between them by listening to the quietness and immediacy of the music. "Nana – Tepalle" also relates to the world of "Carrie and Lowell" in being a dedication to a lost family member, Linda's grandmother (she is featured in the digital single artwork).

Throughout the album, Linda plays their saxophones in a way that is serving music first and foremost. The musician's ego, so often at the forefront in jazz, takes a backseat, and the songs themselves remain. Linda thinks as a composer, utilising their instrument where and how necessary, not presenting "chops". "It's sometimes hard to play simple," they say, "but I tried to follow my instinct about what the songs need. The mood rules here, any solos or improvisations happen around that at all times."

"Juniper" can still be heard as a jazz album, but perhaps one reminding that the word doesn't need to mean any one thing in particular. At its best, jazz music is highly personal and "of the moment", both true on "Juniper". The album has been made in two different studios, three homes, two summer cottages and four working spaces. It was recorded with professional studio equipment but also with an iPhone and on a basic built-in laptop speaker. With that, "Juniper" stands as a remarkable musical diary of a creative musician and composer during the early 2020's.

Fresh new collaboration between friends Handy x Shall Not Fade, bringing together artists from each label to produce a side each for the VA.

Lining up for Shall Not Fade we have London's 9th House & Berlins Ruff Stuff and batting for Handy we have Trouble Makers Adam Curtain, Bobby Cazanova & a collab from Arthur Dudley and the ever on-form Retromigration.

As it says on the tin – “Keep it in the Family”

Started in 2019, still motions is a Post Rock band from Phoenix, Arizona. The idea behind the music is to harbor emotions and feeling through sounds, creating stories for the listeners without words. still motions released their first record, Mirrors, in May, 2020 and quickly caught the attention of the scene. It was named a top 10 release of 2020 by multiple music outlets, and received numerous outstanding reviews. The band aims to follow up this effort with their upcoming record, syn?the?sis, out Summer 2022.

Tape

You can’t keep a good thing down: 99 marks the triumphant and long overdue return of Matthew Edwards’ Rekid project. More than just Radio Slave records slowed down, his alter ego preferably ploughs the field between ambient excursions, downtempo hypnotism, sample sculptures and the general space in between raves.

Since its first appearance with the Lost Star EP for Classic in 2004 and the still breathtaking follow up Made In Menorca opus on Soul Jazz Records, Edwards firmly established himself as a producer of many, if not all trades. Thought of, produced and conceived during the first lockdown of 2020, 99 is conceptual (with the tempo firmly set at that tempo), concise (34 minutes and 34 seconds long) and content with exploring the possibilities of limitation (one track a day, live takes, no editing).

Without departing the original Rekid ethos of glacial music, it presents a modernized and contemporary version of IDM tropes, chill out topics and a capturing sound of mesmerizing materiality.

After a while, it all made sense to Edwards as one piece, was presented to Running Back, where the A& R department thought the same and is now available as a continuous cassette mix and a separated vinyl single album as well as for streaming and downloads.

Jeep music for ballet dancers.

Kenny Lynch was a popular singer, songwriter, actor and all-round entertainer. A self-styled “black cockney”, Kenny was one of the few people of Caribbean origin prominent in the British entertainment industry during the ‘60s and ‘70s.

During his musical career, Kenny released a number of Top 10 singles, including a version of ‘Up on the Roof’ (1962), competing with the original by the Drifters. He composed and co-wrote songs recorded by Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, the Drifters and the Everly Brothers. He also worked briefly as a songwriter at the Brill Building in New York.

Whilst probably best known as a prolific Pop Crooner during the earlier part of his acting and musical career, we must not forget his stomping disco success of the early eighties, released under British-borne Satril Records. “Half The Day’s Gone, and We Haven’t Earne’d a Penny” was a milestone moment for British Disco. Produced by Kenny himself at Satril Studios, London 1983, this record still encompasses that organic late-70s disco sound, with true instrumentation and minimalist electronic synth elements.

This is the album’s first ever repress since 1983 and has been remastered in high-definition from the original analogue tapes. Pressed on heavyweight 180g vinyl, this is one not to be missed. Limited to 500 copies only.

“They were so solid. They meant what they said, they did what they did… here’s two guys, a guitar player and a harmonica player, and they could make it sound like a whole orchestra.” – Taj Mahal

“It was perfect. What else can you say?” – Ry Cooder

Nearly sixty years after they first played together, Ry Cooder and Taj Mahal, longtime friends and collaborators, reunite with an album of music from two Piedmont blues masters who have inspired them all their lives: GET ON BOARD: THE SONGS OF SONNY TERRY & BROWNIE MCGHEE, on Nonesuch Records.

With Taj Mahal on vocals, harmonica, guitar, and piano and Cooder on vocals, guitar, mandolin, and banjo – joined by Joachim Cooder on drums and bass – the duo recorded eleven songs drawn from recordings and live performances by Terry and McGhee, who they both first heard as teenagers in California.

Explaining where Terry and McGhee took him musically, Cooder says, “Down the road, away from Santa Monica. Where everything was good. ‘I have got to get out of here,’ was all I could think. What do you do, fourteen, eighteen years old? I was trapped. But that first record, Get on Board, the 10” on Folkways, was so wonderful, I could understand the guitar playing.”

Taj Mahal adds, “I started hearing them when I was about nineteen, and I wanted to go to these coffee houses, ‘cause I heard that these old guys were playing. I knew that there was a river out there somewhere that I could get into, and once I got in it, I’d be all right. They brought the whole package for me.”

Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder originally joined forces in 1965, forming The Rising Sons when Cooder was just seventeen. The band was signed to Columbia Records but an album was not released and the group disbanded a year later. The 1960s recording sessions, widely bootlegged, were finally issued officially in 1992. GET ON BOARD is Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder’s first recording together since then.

Harmonica player Sonny Terry and guitarist Brownie McGhee, both originally from the southeastern United States, had active solo careers as well as collaborating with some of the most celebrated musicians of their time. But they were best known for their forty-five-year partnership, which began in 1939 and included mesmerising live performances around the world and numerous acclaimed recordings.

Their Piedmont blues style became popular during the folk music revival of the 1940s and ’50s, centered in New York City’s flourishing club scene for jazz, boogie-woogie, blues and folk music. Terry and McGhee traveled in the same circles as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Leadbelly, and Josh White, among others in a rich mix of writers, actors and musicians. As a new generation emerging in the 1960’s drew inspiration from folk and blues, Terry and McGhee toured the world as the foremost exponents of the acoustic music of the Piedmont. They were named National Heritage Fellows in 1982 in recognition of their distinctive musical contributions and accomplishments.

“You got the south on steroids, when you got the music of the south, the culture of the south, the beauty of the south, through Brownie and Sonny,” Taj Mahal says. He describes McGhee as a “solid rhythm player. To really play behind the harp like that. He would set stuff up. He wasn’t making many notes. Sonny had all the notes, running around. But Brownie, he laid it down.” Cooder adds: “This thing of squeezing the thumb and first finger and a little bit of the second finger, which I still do. I’d forgotten where it came from. That’s what Brownie did. I saw him do that and said, ‘I think I can do that.’”

Taj Mahal calls Terry “a wizard harmonica player”. Cooder says, “Sonny had incredible rhythm for one thing. Making sounds with his voice and the harmonica so you couldn’t tell quite which was which. He was good at that.”

“We’ve been doing this a while,” Cooder says. “Perhaps we’ve earned the right to bring it back. Taj Mahal concludes. “We’re now the guys that we aspired toward when we were starting out. Here we are now… old timers. What a great opportunity, to really come full circle.”

VINTAGE CROP serve to serve again. Over the last four years the Geelong group have become a burgeoning force in the Australian punk scene. Their burly, brusque yet supple songs have evolved from the garage rock of 2017’s ‘TV Organs’ album into the post-punk panic attack of last year’s ‘Company Man’ EP. Now they’ve sculpted their sound further, the barrage now offset with robust songwriting, their full-pelt bounce tempered with flailing guitar lines and sardonic commentary. Bringing to mind Wire tackling tracks from early 7”s by The Yummy Fur, it’s an inspired approach, both striking and effortlessly mirthful. Vintage Crop still dish-up plenty of commanding stomp, their lyrics remain as keen-eyed as ever, but now they’re unafraid to mess with the tempo and drive their point home.
‘Serve To Serve Again’ is Vintage Crop’s third full-length album. It was recorded by Mikey Young after a year of playing solid shows, including tours in Europe and the UK alongside Louder Than Death and URSA and some of the band’s biggest shows to date in Australia with Amyl & The Sniffers, R.M.F.C. and The Stroppies. This allowed Vintage Crop to nail the songs live before committing them to tape, pulling and pushing ideas, stretching them into new-found territories. ‘First In Line’ races off the blocks with its sawtooth riff and splintered beat, all jagged edges and ragged vocals. Quickly follow a pair of totemic bruisers in the guise of ‘The Ladder’ and ‘The North’, both brimming with a nigh anthemic quality, confident in their faculty to rouse the rabble. ‘Jack’s Casino’ is a lurching romp about gambling, ‘Streetview’ is similarly propellent, only choosing to meander and divert itself with cryptic trips around the neighbourhood: “He only moved to that side of town because the postcode is worth it’s weight in gold”.
There’s no better poised nod to frustration than ‘Gridlock’ - “the hustle and bustle of inner-city traffic is driving me nuts because the radios on static”. Guitar lines entwine and wriggle wildly free from the song’s pouncing rhythm and potent vocal, making for the most vigorous of rackets. ‘Just My Luck’ prowls with a shared thrumming verve, whilst ‘Everyday Heroes’ closes out the album with measured flair. Skewed and fervent, rangy at times yet always assured in its intent ‘Serve To Serve Again’ is long-legged leap for Vintage Crop into the delirious now. These songs strive to make sense of futility, they criticise the chain of command, question privilege and most importantly make us want more from life. Now all we have to do is turn up the volume!

After blazing a trail with 2020's critically acclaimed Good Luck Seeker, The Waterboys waste no time in delivering again with the announcement of their brand new record All Souls Hill on Cooking Vinyl. First track 'The Liar' is a creeping, groove-laden masterpiece, taking a powerful, descriptive swipe at Trump and the lies and deceit that infest those in power. The video, featuring a haunting image by satirical collagist Cold War Steve, leaves nothing to the imagination and amplifies its subject matter in a dark, eerie fashion. "The Liar is a comment on recent and still-current events, and both the song and video speak for themselves." says frontman Mike Scott. "We were proud to work on this video with the brilliant Cold War Steve." All Souls Hill is nine tracks of Waterboys brilliance, all mixed by Scott himself. Announced off the back of the band's recent sold out UK tour and latest box set 'The Magnificent Seven: The Waterboys' Fisherman's Blues/Room To Roam Band, 1989-1990 ', All Souls Hill is current, on the money social commentary, but with an air of hope. "All Souls Hill is mysterious, otherworldly, tune-banging and emotional." comments Mike. "I made it with Waterboys old and new and my co-producer, brilliant sonic guru Simon Dine. Its nine songs tell stories, explore dreamscapes, and cast a cold but hopeful eye on the human drama."

After blazing a trail with 2020's critically acclaimed Good Luck Seeker, The Waterboys waste no time in delivering again with the announcement of their brand new record All Souls Hill on Cooking Vinyl. First track 'The Liar' is a creeping, groove-laden masterpiece, taking a powerful, descriptive swipe at Trump and the lies and deceit that infest those in power. The video, featuring a haunting image by satirical collagist Cold War Steve, leaves nothing to the imagination and amplifies its subject matter in a dark, eerie fashion. "The Liar is a comment on recent and still-current events, and both the song and video speak for themselves." says frontman Mike Scott. "We were proud to work on this video with the brilliant Cold War Steve." All Souls Hill is nine tracks of Waterboys brilliance, all mixed by Scott himself. Announced off the back of the band's recent sold out UK tour and latest box set 'The Magnificent Seven: The Waterboys' Fisherman's Blues/Room To Roam Band, 1989-1990 ', All Souls Hill is current, on the money social commentary, but with an air of hope. "All Souls Hill is mysterious, otherworldly, tune-banging and emotional." comments Mike. "I made it with Waterboys old and new and my co-producer, brilliant sonic guru Simon Dine. Its nine songs tell stories, explore dreamscapes, and cast a cold but hopeful eye on the human drama."

Debut full length album on the Valley of Search label by Mexican born, New York-based vibraphonist, marimbist, improviser and composer Patricia Brennan. The twelve original instrumentals that make up the album were composed and performed solo by Brennan on vibraphone and marimba. Employing unusual performance techniques and occasional electronics, many of the compositions were borne from improvisations created live in the studio at the time of recording. At times exploring silence and space, stillness and patience the album investigates new sonic territories with an endless sense of curiosity. "This album is a personal statement not only as a vibraphonist but also as an improviser and composer," says Brennan. "From bowing and bending pitch, to the use of extended effects via guitar pedals, this album reflects my vision for the vibraphone and the potential of all the possible ways it can be played. I wanted to not only incorporate all those techniques in the compositions but also wanted them to become part of my general improvisatory language." Patricia has performed with many renown musicians including singer and composer Meredith Monk and Theo Bleckmann, saxophonists Jon Irabagon and Scott Robinson, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, drummer Marcus Gilmore, guitarist Mary Halvorson and many others. She has performed in venues such as Newport Jazz Festival, SF JAZZ, and Carnegie Hall, as well as international venues such as Wiener Konzerthaus in Vienna, Austria, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Germany, Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

You can’t keep a good thing down: 99 marks the triumphant and long overdue return of Matthew Edwards’ Rekid project. More than just Radio Slave records slowed down, his alter ego preferably ploughs the field between ambient excursions, downtempo hypnotism, sample sculptures and the general space in between raves.

Since its first appearance with the Lost Star EP for Classic in 2004 and the still breathtaking follow up Made In Menorca opus on Soul Jazz Records, Edwards firmly established himself as a producer of many, if not all trades. Thought of, produced and conceived during the first lockdown of 2020, 99 is conceptual (with the tempo firmly set at that tempo), concise (34 minutes and 34 seconds long) and content with exploring the possibilities of limitation (one track a day, live takes, no editing).

Without departing the original Rekid ethos of glacial music, it presents a modernized and contemporary version of IDM tropes, chill out topics and a capturing sound of mesmerizing materiality.

After a while, it all made sense to Edwards as one piece, was presented to Running Back, where the A& R department thought the same and is now available as a continuous cassette mix and a separated vinyl single album as well as for streaming and downloads.

Jeep music for ballet dancers.

Philadelphia, PA's finest rock & roll up-and-comers, Big Nothing, have announced their sophomore full-length, Dog Hours, due out February 18th from Lame-O Records. Dog Hours finds the four-piece incorporating new dynamics and textures into their timeless songwriting to make ten songs of warm and welcoming guitar pop that's as comforting as it is catchy.

To mark the album's announcement Big Nothing have shared Dog Hours' lead single "A Lot of Finding Out" a slice of up tempo, alt-country tinged power-pop that's sure to please fans of Evan Dando and Tom Petty alike.

Big Nothing (guitarist/vocalist Matt Quinn, bassist/vocalist Liz Parsons, guitarist/vocalist Pat Graham, and drummer Chris Jordan) have a sound that's rooted in big guitars and big hooks, but unexpected circumstances forced them to try a different approach making Dog Hours. “With the pandemic, we were all writing separately and stuck playing quietly in our apartments,” Quinn explains. “And so it was pretty natural that we started making more stripped-back music.” The result is a more intimate version of Big Nothing that brings the acoustic guitar and layered harmonies to the forefront without sacrificing the palpable camaraderie that makes their music so endearing. It's an album that explores all of the uncertainties and existential dread of adulthood, but counters it with a Westerberg-esque sense of humanity and warmth.

3x12"

Extraordinary musical talent returns with a deeply textured third outing on Blu Mar Ten Music.

Having made serious waves with the release of his debut album "Coeur Calme" in 2014 and the incredible 2016 follow up album "Zawadi", Kimyan Law steers his sound in a darker, more introspective direction with the twelve heavily themed set-pieces of his new album, "Yonda".

The album title, "Yonda", homophonically flits between a location in Kimyan Law's native Congo and definitions of something situated at a distance but still visible, foreshadowing the artist's move away from his typical uplifting palette into less playful territory.

While previous work seemed to be a personal exploration of joy-tinged melancholy, "Yonda", feels much more sober and pensive, infected with external events. In conversation with Kimyan Law the artist described one piece ("Krieg") as his "portrait of war", with the music moving through phases of violence, silence, panic, redemption and peace. Ever the allegorist, Kimyan Law relates themes of conflict and war not just to obvious geopolitics but also to his own physical struggles, and even an obsessive battle with the music itself, ("Yonda" has been more than three years in the making). In 2017 the artist wrote, "I've reached a point where I couldn't sleep because it bothered me so much... I have found myself unable to make any music except for Krieg".

An accomplished drummer in his own right, Kimyan Law's intricate rhythmic sensibility is the lifeblood that runs throughout the album, incorporating ever more outlandish sources of percussion recorded from his natural surroundings and filtered through technology.

"Yonda's opener, "Jaardin", is deceptively gentle, with off-kilter rhythms and pianos providing fertile ground for Elyn's delicate singing before the whole piece careens off into what can only be described as orchestral proto-jungle territory. It soon becomes apparent that this placid introduction is misleading, with subsequent tracks fluctuating between pounding tribal beats ("Arboreal Epitone" / "Kin"), chilling orchestration ("Byo" / "Krieg") and rehabilitated jungle forms ("Seven Ant Foley"). A constant mix of light and dark, futuristic yet primitive atmosphere hangs over the album, with waves of luscious synths and deeply musical string arrangements lovingly cloaked over the razor-sharp drum work.

Unusual conceptual themes litter "Yonda"; "Dor Rhythm" is about a Dung Beetle's journey, "Lampion" is about paper lanterns, "Nova" is about plant growth while "Kilele" is a song about peace, featuring Kimyan Law's own vocals in a new language he created himself, conjuring memories of Cocteau Twin's Liz Fraser.

While "Yonda" contains moments of incontestable beauty it can often be a difficult listen, an illustration of an anxious mind yearning for peace. An obsessive and intricate musician, Kimyan Law's use of African percussion, finely honed polyrhythmic patterns and celestial sprinklings of keys melded with slabs of sub-bass power and sheer energy makes for an intoxicating listen. As ever, Kimyan Law has delivered a profoundly serious piece of work that expands the vocabulary of his genre. Despite the darkness saturating the work, a soft light still breaks through the window. It is the east, and Kimyan Law is the sun.

Hotel Paral.lel, released in 1997, marks the full length debut release from Austrian Christian Fennesz, originally released by MEGO, following the twitching drone as found on the 1995 EP Instrument, also included in this deluxe 2LP reissue. Once launched, Hotel Paral.lel was to instigate a sublime exploration of a wide variety of forms, from formal abstraction to shimmering drone around to ground zero glitch pop.

Recorded just before mobile computing devices became omnipresent it was an investigation into the sonic possibilities residing in guitar based digital music. Sz launches the career with a constantly buzzing sound that resembles a fax machine encountering a G3 laptop for the first time, realising the game is up. Nebenraum is the first foray into the style for which one would attribute to Fennesz. A glacial drone unexpectedly morphs into a gorgeous melody and microscopic groove. Adding pulse and melody was hearsay in the radical end of experimental music up until this point and with this single gesture, everything changed, for everyone. Blok M nails this trajectory home with a straight up 4/4 beat. Such rhythm also features on Fa with a euphoric mix of a thudding beat, sharp splinters of noise and a devastating exploding melody. Repetition plays heavily through this album as the hyper metronomic beat on traxdata lays a bed for all manner of buzzing electronics. On the closing “Aus” we see a glimpse of what was to come in the future works of Fennesz, an experiment in popping, bubbling pulse pop. A far more darker and experimental work than Fennesz’ subsequent work. This is an exquisite radical field of freeform noise, sliced techno beats and subtle ambient texture all coming together to create a timeless work. There’s little out there in the world of music, still to this day, that sounds remotely like Hotel Paral.lel.

With a radical reinvention of music Hotel Paral.lel is an essential addition to collectors of pioneering music in the late 20th Century and sounds as enthralling today as it did to the shocked ears occupying 1997.

Remastered by Stephan Mathieu.

Originally released in 1982, Anna's cosmic coldwave bomb "Systems Breaking Down" is one of the most mysterious singles of the period. Remarkably, it was released on a major label - RCA - yet very little is known about the shadowy Anna.

Despite being recorded nearly 35 years ago, it still sounds strikingly vital. Both sonically relevant and lyrically prescient, it's hard to imagine a more apposite track to soundtrack the dark days we're currently occupying. A masterful study in dread, describing the gentle collapse of all structures, it is set against a backdrop of eerie, synth-heavy electronics.

Produced by 80s disco-pop mavericks Geraint Hughes and Ken Leray, the A-Side contains the epic synth-pop original, all heart-wrenching atmosphere and haunting vocals.

The B-Side wins again, however. The more uptempo 'Dance Version' is a dubbed out dark-disco tour-de-force, with cut-up vocals drifting in and out of a bassline that throbs like Carpenter's best (think Assault on Precinct 13) and a palette of head-nod minimal wave.

Both sought-after mixes have been remastered for vinyl by Simon Francis and are housed in a replica jacket of the maxi original. Outstanding.

Trojan have pulled together some of reggae's finest moments here, and importantly they come from some of the genre's most vital female talents, who can often be overlooked in favour of their more visible male counterparts. Across four sides of vinyl the likes of Millie Small, Althea & Donna, Marcia Griffiths, Phyllis Dillon, and Susan Cadogan all deservingly feature and personal sleeve notes from musician Rhoda Dakar also add real value. Big hits, unknown rarities and some brilliantly wonky numbers like Sandra Robinson's "Sensi For Sale" make this an instant NEED!

"“The New Backwards” was conceived by Peter “Sleazy” Christopherson in 2007, revisiting stray tracks which hadn’t seemed to gel with the material he had chosen for the more somber “Ape of Naples” from 2005, COIL’s initial posthumous release, a sort of requiem and a kiss-goodbye to his then recently deceased partner John Balance.

Significantly different to its sister release, this album collects the brilliantly chaotic and outrageously rhythmic material from the original sessions for the album that was begun as early as 1993 and had originally been conceptualised as the follow-up to “Love’s Secret Domain”. These songs are as diverse and wild as the places they originated from, partly infamously spawned in Sharon Tate’s former home in the Hollywood Hills, the Nine Inch Nails home base in New Orleans and London’s Swanyard, remixed and restructured with the help of long-term friend Danny Hyde in Thailand, this collection has its own unique flow and an atmosphere not found on any other COIL release.

Both “AYOR” and “Backwards” had by the time the album was first released already become favourites in COIL’s manic live performances. Some of the other tracks had only leaked in demo versions and are here presented updated and polished as Christopherson and Hyde intended them to be heard. It is interesting to consider Balance’s vocal contributions, too. Whilst on the albums COIL did release at the time this material was first put aside (“Black Light District” and “ElpH”) his voice is all but absent, his vocal performances and his lyric writing here are arguably more closely indebted to the previous “Love’s Secret Domain” era, especially the epic “Copacaballa” is noteworthy in that respect.
The New Backwards” effectively became the final official COIL studio release of all new material whilst Peter was still alive and is here presented for the first time fully supervised by Danny Hyde, its co-creator.
The stunning cover uses a detail from artist Ian Johnstone’s “Cubic Raven” painting, licensed from the estate of IJ..

It is high time to rediscover this timeless album with the Infinite Fog release boasting eight further tracks of previously unheard material from the same sessions, rough working stages and surprising remixes which will surely delight the dedicated COIL archaeologists, as they shine yet another light on the creative process and on what could have been.

Recorded at Swanyard, London and at Nothing Studios, New Orleans, 1996.
Thanks to everyone there, especially Trent Reznor who made it all possible.
Written & Produced by Coil & Danny Hyde.
Remixed by Peter Christopherson & Danny Hyde, Bangkok 2007.
For that session Coil were: Peter Christopherson, Jhonn Balance & Drew McDowall.
Mastered by Jessica Thompson.
Front artwork by Ian Johnstone.
Artwork licensed from The Estate of Ian Johnstone.
Layout Cold Graves and Oleg Galay."

"Half a Klip" is a Vinyl Reissue of Kool G Rap's first solo release It was originally released in 2007: As is to be expected, G Rap fills out the lyrics sheet here with banana clips and stacks of body bags -- certainly not a disappointment (he played a big part in inventing this agenda after all), though the MC's steady, workmanlike approach and topical sameness leaves a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of his producers. t's open to debate as to whether there has ever been a rapper more influential, yet somehow less celebrated, than Kool G Rap. From his seminal work on Marley Marl's Juice Crew productions and Cold Chillin' Records, to the major contributions he gave to the blueprint of gangster storytelling in rap, the Kool Genius has remained relevant and consistent despite heaps of record label drama and the ever-diminishing attention span of the listening public. It's unlikely that the new Chinga Chang Records EP Half A Klip will do much to elevate G Rap's legacy, but there are still shining moments to remind us why the legendary MC is more than deserving of the little reverence he receives.IThus, the EP's best moments come when he is united with a strong hand behind the boards. Marley Marl's sinister keys and kettle drum composition for "With A Bullet" (inexplicably buried at track eight on this 11-track offering) is probably the best canvas for Rap's gangster mentality. DJ Premier contributes a strong track (merely serviceable by Premier standards, but a standout here) and the lesser-known Domingo also seems to be able to give G Rap room to run. Unfortunately, the rest is just middling with one true mistake, Critical Child's dismal "Turn It Out", which sounds like a cast-off from a Jim Jones studio session. In any event, this collection of new and unreleased material is not the next Road to the Riches. On the bright side, the MC behind Road to the Riches is still here (in every sense) and still doing it 20 years later.

Swedish sibling-duo Trummor & Orgel returns with new album Longevity – an album which clearly displays the two brothers to not be gearing down despite seven full-length prequels

Still energetic, curious and with a large portion of melodic groove they are still mesmerizing us the same way thousands of concert attendees have already had the pleasure to experience over the past one and a half decade. Born from a close- to- telepathic interaction, Longevity leads you through nine tracks underlining the wide musicality we have learnt to expect from the brothers: commencing with the gloomy Astral, followed by the intense beat piece Glow – Flatten the curve could be the soundtrack to your daydreams, and the ending organ ooze of Crystal leaves no-one untouched. The analogue feel is draped in a veil of electronica, but it’s familiarly dynamic, lively and present.

Having already solidified his reputation within the
past year, gaining praise from key publications
including Dork and Gigwise, alongside spins on
BBC Radio 1 (Jack Saunders) and BBC 6 Music
(Shaun Keaveny, Huw Stephens), Jaws The Shark
is certainly swimming in a sea of potential, and
with support slots for Dinosaur Pile Up imminent,
his presence across the indie landscape is primed
to become even bigger in the months to come.
 Produced by Theo Verney (FUR, FEET, Lazarus
Kane, English Teacher), Jaws The Shark’s ‘Still
Young’ is out via Nice Swan Records.

What It Means To Fall Apart sees Mayday Parade wading in a wide range of complex emotions. The band shared the first taste of the album with the anthemic single “Kids of Summer,” which infuses nostalgic memories of their care-free formative summers at Warped Tour into song, followed by the self-confrontational and vulnerable “Bad At Love.” On the newest single “One For The Rocks And One For The Scary,” the band sings about making the most of the time we have with the people we love.

Their seventh studio album together, What It Means To Fall Apart was created with longtime collaborators Zack Odom and Kenneth Mount, and saw the band diverge from their typical path in the studio. With no final destination in mind and setting their sights on just writing the best songs they could, they started chipping away at something, letting go of any attachment to whether they left the studio with a single, an EP, or a full record. They arrived at a fully realized album, 12 contemplative tracks written through the eyes of a band moving forward with the knowledge they could only gain from looking back. Full track listing can be found below.

The band is looking forward to sharing these songs in venues around the world, noting that it’s not just about creating music for them, but how that music connects them with their fans and each other. “We all live in different states and have separate lives with different things going on,” bassist Jeremy Lenzo shares, “But just being able to get back together and play music is always a highlight.” Lead singer Derek Sanders mirrors that sentiment as well, sharing that the spark that started Mayday Parade still shines bright, “Even after all this time and plenty of other ways it could have gone or plenty of other things that we could be doing with our lives, we're lucky to be able to do this.”

For his first solo album since the early 1990s, Steven Brown,
Tuxedomoon's joint-front man, delivers a hypnotic collection of songs
which draws from his life in Mexico, where he's been living for many
years

'El Hombre Invisible' is centred around his emblematic vocals, melodies and lyrics, set in an intimate environment, with sparse elegant, arrangements for guitar, bass, occasional horns, and his own trademark piano and saxophone playing.The atmosphere and lyrics of the songs reflect some of the experiences and impressions he has gathered including earthquakes, a kidnapping, rubbing shoulders with the Zapatistas in Chiapas, and being confronted with the still omnipresent traces of the Spanish conquest five centuries. Other influences are Steven's years of working as a cultural activist, and his enduring love for the beauty of the natural world and the people of his hometown of Oaxaca. El Hombre Invisible was recorded in Oaxaca with local musicians, including Lila Downs, who duets with him on the song Familias Ricas plus special guests:

Tuxedomoon's Luc van Lieshout on trumpet and Chris Haskett (ex-Rollins Band) on guitar.

»Obsessions« is clearly a cult single of the era and one of their Neon's personal highlights. The band recorded the 4 track live in April 1982 and then reprocessed the take at Kindergarten Studio. The twelve inch was then released on the highly influential indie label Materiali Sonori. Neon is still considered as a legend of the Italian new-wave scene, one of the leading figure of the Florence underground movement that spread between the late '70s and the early' 80s.

2 rare historical recordings (1983 and 1986) originally released as single sides and gathered here for the first time.

"Conductor might be my favourite composition and Life And Death Of Pboc might be my most sincere. Conductor was my first composed piece with no obvious reference points ... Life And Death Of Pboc was the second. These two compositions gave me the title Godfather of Dark Ambient."

Carl Michael von Hausswolff, born in 1956 in Linköping, Sweden, lives and works in Stockholm. Since the end of the 70s, von Hausswolff has worked as a composer using recording technology as his main instrument and as a visual artist using light projections, film/video and still photography as well as other media. He has exhibited at dOCUMENTA (Kassel), the biennials in Venice, Moscow, Liverpool, Istanbul, Sarajevo etc and in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Nicosia, Kaliningrad, Tokyo, London, New York, Philadelphia etc. His music has been played in festivals such as Sonar (Barcelona), CTM (Berlin), L'audible (Paris), el niche Aural (Mexico City), MUTEK, (Montreal) etc. and release works on LP/CD/DL by labels like Erototox (Ashevile), Sub Rosa (Brussels), Touch (London), Pomperipossa (Göteborg) and iDeal (Göteborg). He recently curated the 2nd part the sound-installation FREQ_OUT named freq_wave in co-operation with TBA21-Academy and collaborates with artist Leif Elggren, EVP re-searcher Michael Esposito, composers Hans-Joachim Roedelius, Mark Fell, Jim O'Rourke, author Leslie Winer and as Dark Morph (with Jónsi of Sigur Rós). He has also collaborated with Pan sonic, The Hafler Trio, Freddie Wadling and Erik Pauser (as PHAUSS).

First physical solo release of singer/songwriter & multi instrumentalist Aiden Ayers comes in the form of a 7” showing two sides to his work. “Off My Mind” highly spiritual, almost psychedelic guitar pop & “Surface Tension” slightly more heavy downbeat instrumental vibes, both equally mesmerizing these tracks give small hints to what is still to come in 2022.