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Blue Lake is the musical moniker of American born, Copenhagen based multidisciplinary artist and musician Jason Dungan, who signs to the Tonal Union imprint for the release of his new longform album ‘Sun Arcs’. It follows 2022’s release ‘Stikling’, earning a nomination for ‘Album of the Year’ at the Danish Music Awards plus warm praise from The Hum blog and musicians and DJs alike including Jack Rollo (Time is Away/NTS) and Carla dal Forno. A self taught player, Dungan began freely experimenting with self-built multi-string instruments, preferring to build his own hybrid 48-string zither and working in the realms of left-field ambient music, off kilter folk and improvised acoustic minimalism.

The starting point of ‘Sun Arcs’ saw Jason travel for a week alone to Andersabo, a cabin set in the idyllic Swedish woods just outside of Unnaryd, known also as the music project, festival and residency space which has been run by Dungan since 2016, hosting artists like Sofie Birch, Johan Carøe and Ellen Arkbro. Whilst writing 1-2 pieces per day, a conscious decision was made to leave behind everyday distractions and shut out the outside world to instead focus on the natural passage of time as Dungan recalls: “My only sense of time came from these daily walks out in the woods with my dog, and an awareness of the sun’s path as it moved across the sky each day.”

The album’s immersive world unfolds with the opener ‘Dallas’, an ode to his home state and a musical synthesis of these two disparate spaces (Texas and Denmark), the touchstones of Dungan’s life. A folk-esque single acoustic builds to a flowing arrangement of clarinets, organ and cello drones coupled with percussion. ‘Green-Yellow Field’ chimes in as the first of two solo oriented zither recordings twinned with the dreamlike title track ‘Sun Arcs’, both densely rich as cascading and overlapping harmonic tones resound. ‘Bloom’ emerges with a krautrock psyche before an eruption of cello drones, slide guitar and free-ranging zither playing, ushering in the anticipation of spring. With half of the recordings conceived in Andersabo, Jason returned to Copenhagen to form the album's centre piece ‘Rain Cycle’ which features a tempered Roland drum machine alongside shifting zither improvisations. ‘Writing’ explores the shimmering harp-like qualities of sweeping playing figurations with Dungan mapping out adjusted tuning “zones” on the zither for unconventional but creatively liberating effects. ‘Fur’ captures the feeling of openness and the momentum of time, seeing Dungan perform waves of solo clarinet, often in one takes and embellished with textural drones, a zither solo, and layers of guitar. ‘Wavelength’ the album's closer is fondly inspired by the film works of Michael Snow and Don Cherry’s seminal live album ‘Blue Lake’ (1974), as it builds out from a drone-generated zither chord and features an alto recorder solo. Dungan found a deep connection to Cherry’s stripped back performance ethos, focusing on the core beauty of minimal instrumentation creating a genre-less meeting between folk and jazz. A dialogue is formed between the solo and the bandlike performances, interlinked in a geographical duality with all finding a sense of commonplace as musical sketches of visited landscapes. The bountiful instrumentation ebbs and flows as further layers emerge with Dungan constructing his material much like an artist would, recording and reviewing, adding and subtracting.

Musically it portrays a form of double life led by an American-identifying person living in Scandinavia, and a new found presence in Denmark, seeking out underdeveloped marshlands and barren stretches of beach adrift from other rhythms and distractions. Highlighting their individual and potent importance Dungan concludes: “Both places feel like “me”, I think on some level the music is always some kind of self-portrait.” ‘Sun Arcs’ depicts the intricate balance of nature’s cycles and the paths outlined by the seasons, from a winter dormancy to a warm sun drenched scene. The album scales new glorying heights and further defines Dungan’s musical narrative, inhabiting a unique space in left-field, improvised and experimental music, borning his most accomplished compositions to date. A singular and visionary expression, drawing on an array of instruments and sound worlds with a renewed sense of joy and discovery.

The album's rich tapestry was mixed by Jeff Zeigler (Laraaji, Mary Lattimore, Kurt Vile /Steve Gunn) and mastered by Stephan Mathieu (Kali Malone, KMRU, Félicia Atkinson).

From the Dolls-meets-the-devil opening title track to the desperate Sister Lovers-adjacent finale "The Findings," The Interrogator is thirteen vibrant, crackling, scary and hilarious songs which taken together represent nothing less than a thorough and thrilling moral inventory of our decadent and depraved times. Following up and doubling down on the themes of last year's lionized cult favorite For Executive Meeting, Elizabeth Nelson has authored an album as politically potent and pointedly hilarious as antecedents like The Mekons' Rock 'n' Roll and Neil Young's on On the Beach and wed it to the sound of ZZ Top's Eliminator. As writers like Rob Sheffield and Robert Christgau have known for years Elizbeth Nelson has been one of our very best songwriters for going on a decade. On the charged anthem "Bad Day for the Group Chat" she reassesses the current state of affairs: "I have bested all my peers." “Elizabeth Nelson showcases the simultaneously fraught and giddy frequency of our weird, wired world. The Paranoid Style may be the bearer of bad news, but at least the band bears it smashingly.” NPR // “You’ll forgive them for being critic’s darlings because they’re also the goddamn life of the party.” SPIN // Features performances by Peter Holsapple of The dB’s, Continental Drifters & REM through out. Elizabeth Nelson writes for the Oxford American, N.Y. Times, Pitchfork, The Ringer and more. She has over 15,000 followers on Twitter. A

Vladislav Delay presents the fifth and last EP in his "Hide Behind The Silence" series. Intuitive and raw music, momentary and reflective, released on Ripatti's own label "Rajaton".

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Stillness is a myth. Consider concepts such as ”still water”, or ”still air” for that matter. Go to a restaurant, ask them for a glass of still water, hold it against the light and see where we’re at. Even though the water itself has been captured and imprisoned in the glass, it never stops breathing. It’s filled with tiny particles, dancing. Everything can be explained on a molecular level, but since we’re not scientists – and even if you happen to be – it’s the natural world of perception that moves me.
Still air is very similar. A hot summer’s day with zero wind feels completely still. It’s the closest I have felt to complete stillness. Or for a more urban adaptation, imagine the same vibe inside a normal apartment. In those moments, revelations and mind- blowing experiences can be had with experiments in stillness.
Try this: Just sit down for a minute on a sunny day, making sure there’s enough natural light. Do absolutely nothing. Try not to breathe for a bit. (If you need a mental anchor, you can play Cage’s 4’33” in your head but nothing else.) Watch the tiny dots of dust dancing :..’ ̈.:; ́ ́*°.,’:,. ̈ ̈ ̈ ̈:,.’
The movement is crazy, but the feeling of stillness comes from witnessing how subtle it is. In (perceived) complete stillness, every act of microscopic mobility seems to speak volumes. Yet, it feels both reassuring and oddly threatening that the stillness is never complete. What if we would need absolute stillness? Or is it just enough that we can perceive something as such? Extremes attract, so for both water and air, extraordinary movement is equally fascinating. That is also a luxury item of sorts. For us to enjoy a very ”loud” body of water or air, we need to be safe, in enough control of the situation. So when you are, it’s worthwhile to pay attention and take it all in.
A rapid flowing free with extreme strength and just barely in control. Look at that water go! No still water on this one, only ”sparkling”. A windy day when birds seem surprised how hard it is to fly, but in the end they make it. Trees bend but don’t break. The wind shows you its movement but doesn’t hurt you. It feels friendly, like a big clumsy dog that doesn’t quite understand its size.
It’s beautiful to be a guest of the elements, but not at the mercy of them. A new kind of dialogue forms.

White vinyl, limited to 500 copies. Liam Cromby, known for his work as the lead singer and songwriter of We Are The Ocean until 2017, has today announced his forthcoming debut solo album What Can I Trust, If I Can't Trust True Love, due for release on December 1st 2023, also sharing the title track, available to stream/download worldwide now. "Drawing from my own experiences, this song is a testament to those early, fragile moments of a relationship_where every misstep feels like a fall and every kind gesture feels like flying," he explains. "Choosing to name the album after this song was instinctive, given that it was among the final tracks to be crafted. Even though it came later in the creative journey, it perfectly embodies the central theme of the album." Since revealing the first taste of new music in March, with the release of `Here I Am' - accompanied only by a contemplative, artful film featuring an elaborate dance between two performers - followed by `Breakdown', and last month, `At This Table', this new phase of his career is already off to an impressive start. With early airplay from BBC Introducing and Absolute Radio Country among others, an appearance at The Great Escape festival and sold-out headline shows across the country, Cromby was invited to play at the prestigious Black Deer Festival of Americana, and along with a full-band set, joined Brandy Clark, Drake White, Elles Bailey and Bella White for a Songwriter Session. Although recorded in a matter of days, the project was at least five years in the making.

During the Tang dynasty (around the 9th Century CE), traveling intellectual Li Yuanming would routinely leave home to write and debate poetry with likeminded scholars across China, isolating his wife Cifu for sometimes weeks on end.

Frustrated, she found comfort in the arms of a widowed neighbor, but when Li remained at home for an unexpected stretch of time, Cifu was prompted to develop a method to signal her lover it was safe to approach. She stitched a special green hat that she handed to her husband as he was about to leave town; when Li was wearing the hat, it worked like a traffic signal - green meant go.

But this didn't last for long, during one trip Li returned home early and caught Cifu and their neighbor together, and when the local community caught wind of the story, the green hat became an enduring symbol of infidelity.

On Tzusing's sophomore album the Malaysian-born artist, who lives between Shanghai and Taipei, meditates on China's complicated history of patriarchal heteronormativity, and how these archaic double standards continue to dominate the culture in pervasive, often invisible ways.

Sylvain Chauveau has been releasing quiet and minimal compositions on various labels for more than two decades. ultra-minimal marks his debut for Sonic Pieces and takes the minimal approach even further, centring on reduction and limitation.

The album was recorded live at Café Oto, London in March 2022 - one of Sylvain’s rare solo concerts and the first time he performed publicly with only acoustic instruments; no machines, no recorded sounds have been used, only piano, guitar, harmonium and melodica, played one at the time. While some of the compositions are completely new, others are live versions of previously released pieces which have either been performed close to their original or stripped-down, reduced to a single instrument and partly rearranged. This reveals a predilection for repetitions and variations that Sylvain shares with Jim Jarmusch, and at the same time it is a personal attempt to avoid electronic devices as a tool for live music.

The artwork and track titles follow this reductionist idea and an aesthetic of miniaturization that Sylvain has developed for many years. They refer to the minimalist, concrete poetry that he writes regularly. In this context rewriting some of the original titles was a consistent implication to achieve a complete work, an album that perfectly represents Sonic Pieces’ aesthetics, both musically and visually.

Die unbestrittene britische Musikikone Dizzee Rascal meldet sich mit dem elektrisierenden neuen Album 'Don't Take It Personal' auf seinem neuen Label Big Dirte3 Records Ltd. zurück. Die LP stellt seine besten Arbeiten in den Schatten und ist eine eindrucksvolle Erinnerung daran, wie Dizzee zu seinem legendären Status kam. Es fängt ihn in aufrührerischer Form ein, während er mühelos und mit unvergleichlicher Leichtigkeit durch eine ganze Sammlung an eindeutig britischen Genres fliesst. Dizzees neuestes Werk, das sich auf prahlerische Flows und beeindruckendes Wortspiel konzentriert, ist eine weitere Siegesrunde eine der prägendsten Legenden der Rap-Musik, und während es weiterhin Reime regnet, denkt daran: Es ist nichts Persönliches.

Kali Malone's anticipated new album "All Life Long" is a collection of music for pipe organ, choir, and brass quintet composed by Kali Malone, 2020 - 2023. Choral music performed by Macadam Ensemble and conducted by Etienne Ferschaud at Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-L'Immaculée-Conception in Nantes. Brass quintet music performed by Anima Brass at The Bunker Studio in New York City. Organ music performed by Kali Malone and Stephen O'Malley on the historical meantone tempered pipe organs at Église Saint-François in Lausanne, Orgelpark in Amsterdam, and Malmö Konstmuseum in Sweden. Kali Malone composes with a rare clarity of vision. Her music is patient and focused, built on a foundation of evolving harmonic cycles that draw out latent emotional resonances. Time is a crucial factor: letting go of expectations of duration and breadth offers a chance to find a space of reflection and contemplation. In her hands, experimental reinterpretations of centuries-old polyphonic compositional methods become portals to new ways of perceiving sound, structure, and introspection. Though awe-inspiring in scope, the most remarkable thing about Malone's music is the intimacy stirred by the close listening it encourages. Malone's new album All Life Long, created between 2020 - 2023, presents her first compositions for organ since 2019's breakthrough album The Sacrificial Code alongside interrelated pieces for voice and brass performed by Macadam Ensemble and Anima Brass. Over the course of twelve pieces, harmonic themes and patterns recur, presented in altered forms and for varied instrumentation. They emerge and reemerge like echoes of their former selves, making the familiar uncanny. Propelled by lungs and breath rather than bellows and oscillators, Malone's compositions for choir and brass take on expressive qualities that complicate the austerity that has defined her work, introducing lyricism and the beauty of human fallibility into music that has been driven by mechanical processes. At the same time, the works for organ, performed by Malone with additional accompaniment by Stephen O'Malley on four different organs dating from the 15th to 17th centuries, underscore the mighty, spectral power that those rigorous operations can achieve. All Life Long simmers in an ever-shifting tension between repetition and variation. The pieces for brass, organ, and voice are alternated asymmetrically, providing nearly continuous timbral fluctuation across its 78-minute runtime even as thematic material reiterates. Each composition's internal framework of fractal pattern permutations has the paradoxical effect of creating anticipated keystone moments of dramatic reverie and lulling the listener into believing in an illusory endlessness. On an even more granular level, the historical meantone tuning systems of each organ used, and the variable intonation of brass and voice, provide further points of emotional excavation within the harmony. The titular composition "All Life Long" appears twice on the album, first as an extended canon for organ and again in the final quarter, compactly arranged for voice In the latter, Malone pairs the music with "The Crying Water" by Arthur Symons, a poem steeped in language of mourning and eternity. For organ, "All Life Long" moves with a patient stateliness, the drama concentrated in moments when shifting tonalities generate and release dissonance and ecstasy. For voice, each word is saturated with feeling, the singers swooping gracefully downward to capture the melancholy of the narrator's relationship to the timeless tears of the sea. "Passage Through The Spheres," the album's opening piece, contains lyrics in Italian pulled from Giorgio Agamban's essay In Praise of Profanation. In it, Agamban defines profanation as, in part, the act of bringing back to communal, secular use that which has been segregated to the realm of the sacred, a process Malone enacts each time she performs on church organs. This is not music of praise, or of spiritual revelation, but it is an artistic enactment of translating the indescribable. It carries the gravity of liturgical chant, and its fixation on the infinite, but draws its weight from the earthly realm of human experience. A music that draws the listener into the present moment where they can discover themselves within the interwoven musical patterns that can come to resemble the passage of days, weeks, years, a lifetime.

Culled from three 1985 gigs in the UK during a transitional and transcendent time in the band’s story, Sonic Youth’s The Walls Have Ears appeared / disappeared as a 2LP set in 1986, not just a live album but an artful tapestry full of live experimentation with songs, between-song tape segues, darkness, humor and audio verité. It’s now issued for the first time officially under the band’s auspices.

The ’85 shows were the second time the band appeared on UK soil, Brits now getting juiced to the mythos of the emerging guitar-slinging American independent underground; an art / punk band from NYC sporting casual attitudes and tees sporting Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and Prince made some good press copy on top of their bludgeoning stage appearance. Paul Smith of the newly-founded Blast First label acted as an overseas diplomatic envoy for Sonic Youth through their SST years as well as issuing their classic 1988 Daydream Nation outside the USA. However the Smith-produced ‘bootleg’ of their ’85 UK gigs surfaced much to everyone’s surprise, just before EVOL was to be released. It turned out to be a marker of the group’s dissatisfaction that ultimately led to the release’s deletion, and the band and Smith parting ways after Daydream.

In this 2LP set brimming with primitive classics like ‘The Burning Spear,’ ‘Death Valley 69,’ and ‘I’m Insane’ (uncredited on sleeve), segues and live guitar changes ooze together threaded by Madonna tapes and vocal loops off the board (somewhat a necessity for distraction until the band had a full fledged stage crew to prepare guitars). The first two sides of Walls are massive, cavernous, with newly-drafted drummer Steve Shelley. SY tear it up especially on one trash-fi excerpt of ‘Blood On Brighton Beach’ (actually ‘Making The Nature Scene’) from a legendary outdoor gig November 8th where Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo’s guitars treble-blast dissonant shockwaves over the black-stoned beach of Quadrophenia fame.

The record’s second slab spotlights an April 1985 at London’s Hammersmith Palais and was one of the final appearances live of Bob Bert on drums, again featuring some molten takes on ‘Brother James,’ ‘Flower’ (listed as ‘The Word (E.V.O.L.)’), and others. This document remains an essential representation of some lean and mean years of the quartet’s throttling march out into the world. (by Brian Turner)

Culled from three 1985 gigs in the UK during a transitional and transcendent time in the band’s story, Sonic Youth’s The Walls Have Ears appeared / disappeared as a 2LP set in 1986, not just a live album but an artful tapestry full of live experimentation with songs, between-song tape segues, darkness, humor and audio verité. It’s now issued for the first time officially under the band’s auspices.

The ’85 shows were the second time the band appeared on UK soil, Brits now getting juiced to the mythos of the emerging guitar-slinging American independent underground; an art / punk band from NYC sporting casual attitudes and tees sporting Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, and Prince made some good press copy on top of their bludgeoning stage appearance. Paul Smith of the newly-founded Blast First label acted as an overseas diplomatic envoy for Sonic Youth through their SST years as well as issuing their classic 1988 Daydream Nation outside the USA. However the Smith-produced ‘bootleg’ of their ’85 UK gigs surfaced much to everyone’s surprise, just before EVOL was to be released. It turned out to be a marker of the group’s dissatisfaction that ultimately led to the release’s deletion, and the band and Smith parting ways after Daydream.

In this 2LP set brimming with primitive classics like ‘The Burning Spear,’ ‘Death Valley 69,’ and ‘I’m Insane’ (uncredited on sleeve), segues and live guitar changes ooze together threaded by Madonna tapes and vocal loops off the board (somewhat a necessity for distraction until the band had a full fledged stage crew to prepare guitars). The first two sides of Walls are massive, cavernous, with newly-drafted drummer Steve Shelley. SY tear it up especially on one trash-fi excerpt of ‘Blood On Brighton Beach’ (actually ‘Making The Nature Scene’) from a legendary outdoor gig November 8th where Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo’s guitars treble-blast dissonant shockwaves over the black-stoned beach of Quadrophenia fame.

The record’s second slab spotlights an April 1985 at London’s Hammersmith Palais and was one of the final appearances live of Bob Bert on drums, again featuring some molten takes on ‘Brother James,’ ‘Flower’ (listed as ‘The Word (E.V.O.L.)’), and others. This document remains an essential representation of some lean and mean years of the quartet’s throttling march out into the world. (by Brian Turner)

Alara Music is releasing the new album of OXY, the new stunning electronic project by Ivan Pavlov (COH) and Sasha Galianov (Shortparis).

OXY is a transient project combining talents of Ivan Pavlov, major electronic artist better known as CoH who has collaborated with Coil, and Sasha Galianov, the main force behind the electronic sound of the avant-garde performance collective Shortparis. The two once met at a festival where they performed a semi-improvised live set. The first performance sparked mutual interest in continuing joint experimentation, which, after a series of concerts, eventually led to this studio recording.

The name of the album is constructed of the two titles presented each on one side of the LP. The first side, AETHER, delivers a powerfully charged contemplative exploration, in which the two seem to carefully study the sound of each other's instruments. The search for balance between the analogue and the digital reveals a murky terrain of focused sonic pressure interwoven with potent silence filled with echoes. Towards the end, AETHER, amorphous in the beginning, gains structure and rhythm, as if preparing the listener to its more agitated sequel, GUST.

Side two, starting with trademark minimalistic patterns of CoH quickly picks up in intensity and wanders into the domains of digital heavy-metal, in which Sasha's menacing guitar riffs are meticulously disjointed in favour of power focus. Then GUST takes the listener through a minor apocalypse, past a few relieving joyful moments of temporal enlightenment, and towards a strange peace found in a disorienting, synth-framed collage of acoustic guitar sounds.

AETHER GUST is a record that requires listener's full attention, offering in return a captivating journey though peculiar landscapes at the intersection of the worlds of two adventurous music explorers, exchanging their sonic beliefs and passions. An intense journey through a landscape of contrasts, between the warmth of analogue sounds and the aridity of demanding electro, both minimalist and abundant. This journey, these intersections, but also this permanent encounter between analogue and digital, are magnified by the physical version of AETHER GUST: it comes as a bundle of both Vinyl + CD versions of the album, all in a 12" vinyl sleeve then nestled in a thick crafted carboard black embossed sheath.

Riding the Low are fronted by actor Paddy Considine, who was inspired to start a band after seeing Guided by Voices play live. "Robert Pollard's songwriting is just incredible. The immediacy of it just blew me away. His presence on stage... Being a fan felt like being in a gang. I wanted my own gang". The name Riding The Low came from a biography on Lee Marvin that Paddy read before the idea of having a band was even conceived. "There was a section in the book where it described the way Lee felt after he’d completed a movie. He used to see a psychiatrist who advised him that after movies he should fill his time doing the things he enjoys to take his mind off things and settle him back into normal life. The psychiatrist called this period 'Riding the Low'." 'Riding the Low' initially came about as a hobbyist outlet for Paddy's musical interest and ability; writing Pavement inspired songs on acoustic guitar on his own, before developing them with The Leisure Society's Nick Hemming.

Get ready to unleash your inner seventies funk and soul enthusiast with the reissued edition of Miami's self-titled album! This record, which sadly became their last before disbanding in the early 1980s following the collapse of T.K. Records, for which they were the in-house band, will take you on a captivating musical journey.

The energy radiating from this album is almost palpable, filling the air with an electrifying atmosphere. From start to finish, Miami's self-titled album bursts with infectious energy that will transport you back to the soulful sounds of the era.

As the needle hits the vinyl, you'll be captivated by the undeniable groove and irresistible beats. It's a sonic experience that will make you want to move your feet and let loose to the soulful rhythms. This reissued masterpiece brings new life to a record that has long deserved celebration and recognition.

So, let's give Miami's self-titled album the overdue acclaim it deserves. Dust off this musical gem, crank up the volume, and let the funky and soulful melodies guide you on a nostalgic journey. Get ready to groove like never before and experience the magic of Miami's
unforgettable sound in this special reissue

`La Camita’ is an incredible Latin funk nugget –recorded in Peru by Traffic Sound and later on by funk pioneers Black Sugar, comprising all the right ingredients to shake dance floors worldwide. Both takes on the song were released on records that today are extremely difficult to find in any condition. Latin party music in all its glory! Peru enjoyed a thriving and exciting music scene since the mid-1960s. Bands such as Los Saicos, Los Shain’s and Los York’s, to name just a few, released a number of brilliant records that drove young fans crazy and set an example for many to follow. The end of the decade brought about an evolution in sound and new music genres, as Peruvian bands kept an eye on the groundbreaking British and US artists. One of them was Traffic Sound, founded in Lima in 1967. Over a very short period of time the band managed to successfully develop their career. In 1971 Traffic Sound recorded ‘La Camita’ where their Latin influences overpowered the psychedelic prog vibe of their previous records. The song became a local hit and several versions were recorded by different Peruvian artists. On the other side of this single we find Black Sugar, a Peruvian band considered to be a pioneer group in Latin America in mixing funk influences with rock and Latin rhythms. In 1976, following their gig at Coliseo Amauta in Lima, opening the night for the legendary Spanish band Barrabás, they started to show a growing interest in disco music, resulting in some line up changes with members leaving the project due to their lack of interest in the new sound and new ones joining in. Their own take on ‘La Camita’ was released in 1978 and adds a modern twist to the original song, becoming decades later a winner spin at the most discerning dance floors worldwide. Latin party music in all its glory!

Rock juggernaut Futurebirds’ newest release – a 22-track live compilation titled …Thanks Y’all – is a benchmark that not only celebrates 14 years together, it’s also a testament to the sheer iron will of a group of musicians hungry for the fruits of its labor.

The Athens, Georgia-based group once again teamed up with storied My Morning Jacket guitarist/producer Carl Broemel for the latest chapter of a seamless, bountiful partnership that initially came to fruition with the 2021 EP, Bloomin’, and was followed up with the 2022 EP, Bloomin’ Too.

Recorded over 9 shows in February of 2023, the live compilation finds the “Carlbirds” firing on all cylinders, with the best highlights captured for posterity on …Thanks Y’all. The album delivers the sound and energy of the live concert experience, as though the listener were standing dead center in the raucous crowd.

Singer/guitarist Daniel Womack says, “We're long overdue for a live release and feel super lucky to have one of our mentors quarterbacking the project. Carl takes us to another level and I think the stoke translates well in these versions""

Specimen Records will kick off with "Zero Plague" January 2024 after a long hiatus from 2022 through to 2024. Specimen are now proud to present such a prolific artist as MANASYt whose level production has reached so many labels, along with extensive Dj work throughout Europe.

Zero Plague - another neurovision broadcast by replicant agent MANASYt. The opener - is a dystopian death march anthem, guided by a rolling snare, thick kick and throbbing bass. Arpeggios sounding like wasps on acid hover in the background, adding to the atmosphere of imminent danger!
Angellust - a hectic breathless industrial electro monster. Fuzzy distorted bass is driving us through a dark desolate territory. Complete with chaotic claps, minor synth stabs, a siren-like clinical pad and Petar's hopeless vocals (reminiscent of his days fronting metal bands).

Next is the Pestilent Mix for SNS Sensation new wave masterpiece "Mirror Radio". Sebastian is also the voice of UK duo Heartbreak (with synth wizard Ali Renault). Petar says : "It's a very impulsive work that sounds nothing like the original! Blending two different beats, mangled voices and psychotic off-kilter leads. Total madness."

First on the flip is the Novichok Mix for Poladroid. Petar and Vadim go way back to Roulette Rekordz in 2003, so this colab is natural, to say the least. It's the only time where the tempo slows down a bit on this EP. Bubbling worm-like bass, metallic percussion, cold windy pads and a classic electro lead take you on a journey to a soulless barren planet.

At last "In Deep Tongues". A heady schizophrenic exercise. A commanding beat, a grotesque polka bass followed by a paranoid synth lead pull you through a darkened maze with no exit. Underwater gurgles and fearsome corroded effects fill the air, no escape!

After 20 years, MANASYt hasn't slowed down or mellowed his intense immoderate sound one bit! And "Zero Plague" is undoubtedly a true testament to that!

He is an artist who couldn't care less about trends or hype, and whose main driving forces authenticate passion for this genre. Some of his tunes resemble future horror movie soundtrack, others a visit to a mental clinic, but most sound like what hostile aliens would listen to while attacking Earth.

Bulgarian dark mastermind Petar Tassev Manayst has been rocking his brand of Nuroelktro since 2003. He is responsible for a vast array of menacing titles on labels such as Touching' Bass, Kommando 6, Musar, and the infamous Bunker, along with 40 others.
MANASYt is currently based in Xiamen, China.

Repress on cream and black galaxy vinyl, limited to 500 copies. PHOBOPHILIC's abrasive explorations of existentialism and the limits of human consciousness are a welcome feature of the currently thriving US death metal scene. The influence of death metal's forefathers is evident in PHOBOPHILIC's full throttle output, but their gaze is fixed firmly on the future - wherever it may take them... Since their 2016 formation PHOBOPHLIC have steadily accumulated early releases in the shape of two demos, 2019's Undimensioned Identities EP and a split release with Canada's Sedimentum, all the while honing their craft out across the North American touring circuit - featuring live stints with Gatecreeper and Mutilated respectively, as well as appearances at LDB Fest and Philadelphia Death Nexus - positioning themselves among US death metals most intriguing young acts. Across Enveloping Absurdity's runtime PHOBOPHILIC's quest for elucidation is explored in punishingly heavy fashion across tracks such as Those Which Stare Back, Nauseating Despair and Survive in Obscurity. But for all of the Midwestern group's old school death metal artisanship and lyrical angst, there is a fundamental rejection of misplaced nihilism in the form of quieter and reflective passages throughout. No better is this showcased than mid-album track Individuation's calm before the storm, which offers up Enveloping Absurdity's most contemplative moment.

There is a parallel, submerged dimension in which musicians meet when they improvise. Sound microcosms emerge in those moments, and this is precisely the magic that BOTTAZZ! wanted to photograph in their first album: BOTTAZZ! VOL.1.

A "live" album, capable of transmitting spontaneity, sonic truths, empathy, feelings; ingredients that are difficult to transmit by recording the instruments individually or with other techniques.
Recorded in the historic "Auditorium 900" studios, a true time achine, as well as an institution for music in Naples.

Auditorium 900 took up the challenge in the figure of sound engineer Fabrizio Piccolo and from here the sound of BOTTAZZ was born!

A sound made up of lysergic Funk trips, 70's influences in all possible nuances: from progressive funk to Santana's Hispanic rock, up to touching its darkest and most hidden latitudes; audio waves
nfluenced by the soundtracks of the cinematography linked to those times, organs, synths, percussion and wah wah guitars, which generate a melting pot in which nothing is taken for granted.

BOTTAZZ! VOL.1 is a ship's diary, a journey into which each sailor has inserted its own emotions accumulated over the years, thus giving us a sincere and genuine record. Happy navigation.

REPRESS of the sophomore album Sang Dragon. "The whole tone of the album is one of pure DOOM though shades of Psych Rock and Stoner Metal do appear to show you there is much more to the bands sound. Though this will take a few listens to fully appreciate as Witchthroat Serpent have created quite a complex album at times. Tracks such as - Lady Sally, Into The Black Wood and Mystical Detective - even venture into the world of Prog Rock as some of the guitar solos can only be described as epic." - Outlaws of the Sun

REPRESS of the sophomore album Sang Dragon. "The whole tone of the album is one of pure DOOM though shades of Psych Rock and Stoner Metal do appear to show you there is much more to the bands sound. Though this will take a few listens to fully appreciate as Witchthroat Serpent have created quite a complex album at times. Tracks such as - Lady Sally, Into The Black Wood and Mystical Detective - even venture into the world of Prog Rock as some of the guitar solos can only be described as epic." - Outlaws of the Sun

Madi Diaz has been making records and writing songs professionally since the mid 2000s, but it wasn"t until she released 2021"s History Of A Feeling that she felt the glare of wider notoriety. It wasn"t her debut album, but it certainly felt like it. She made her daytime and night time television debuts, embarked on her first solo tour since 2012, and supported Waxahatchee and Angel Olsen on tour, and also collaborated with them on record. Harry Styles handpicked Diaz to open for him in arenas and stadiums in North America, and was so taken by her captivating live show, he asked her to be a member of his touring band, to sing alongside him all over Europe and the UK, as well as continuing to open the show in various cities. After three months on the road touring internationally, Diaz is back in Nashville, and gearing up to release her new album, Weird Faith, perched on the precipice of her moment. Featuring Kacey Musgraves and produced by Sam Cohen and Konrad Snyder, the album feels expansive and exploratory, showcasing her growth as a songwriter and speaking earnestly about the fears that come from falling in love again.

Madi Diaz has been making records and writing songs professionally since the mid 2000s, but it wasn"t until she released 2021"s History Of A Feeling that she felt the glare of wider notoriety. It wasn"t her debut album, but it certainly felt like it. She made her daytime and night time television debuts, embarked on her first solo tour since 2012, and supported Waxahatchee and Angel Olsen on tour, and also collaborated with them on record. Harry Styles handpicked Diaz to open for him in arenas and stadiums in North America, and was so taken by her captivating live show, he asked her to be a member of his touring band, to sing alongside him all over Europe and the UK, as well as continuing to open the show in various cities. After three months on the road touring internationally, Diaz is back in Nashville, and gearing up to release her new album, Weird Faith, perched on the precipice of her moment. Featuring Kacey Musgraves and produced by Sam Cohen and Konrad Snyder, the album feels expansive and exploratory, showcasing her growth as a songwriter and speaking earnestly about the fears that come from falling in love again.

Following-on from her publicly and critically-acclaimed album "Bloom" in 2021, Rosie Frater-Taylor is back with her third album "Featherweight". It shows a much grittier side of the young musician, both musically and visually. The album relates her personal journey since her previous album "Bloom", from love to relationships, to navigating life as a young woman and affirming her strength through vulnerability. Written off the back of extensive international touring with her trio in 2022, "Featherweight" can be categorised as "modern indie jazz pop". Rosie"s creative, and highly musical guitar accompaniment, combined with heart-stoppingly fresh lyrics, echoes an important legacy of artists from PJ Harvey, through Joni Mitchell and Kate Bush, to the rockier roster - where John Mayor, Meshell Ndegeocello, St Vincent, and Madison Cunningham hold court... The album relates her personal journey since "Bloom", from love to relationships, to navigating life as a young woman and affirming her strength through vulnerability.

Skylax Welcome Back Nicolas Aftalion With Another Powerful Ep "Spirit of House Ii" After His Sensational Debut on the Label, Acclaimed by the Queen of the Genre Cinthie. Deeply Inspired by the New Jersey House Sound Popularized by Tony Humphries, and the Vibrant Energy of the New York Scene. This Release Embodies the Essence of Original House Music, Delivering an Exhilarating and Impactful Experience. Following the Success of "Spirit of House I", This Sequel Is a Natural Progression in Aftalion's Musical Journey. Prepare to Be Transported by the Enchanting Tracks Within. "Cruise in Paradise" Blends Jazz and Spanish Influences, Reminiscent of the Iconic Moments on the Album "Forever Changes" by the American Band Love (As Crazy as It Sounds), Fusing Original House With Free Jazz in an Improbable Yet Captivating Manner. "A Message to Mad Mike" Pays Homage to the Visionary Dj and Producer of Underground Resistance, Expressing Profound Admiration and Love. This Is a Monumental Record That Encompasses Everything Contemporary Electronic Music Has Forgotten. "Paris Is Burning" Serves as an Ode to the Voguing Culture of the '90s, a Celebration of Queer Expression and Vitality. "Soulful in Paris" Takes Us Back to the Soulful and Rhythmic Sounds of Strictly Rhythm and the Timeless Energy of Ultra Naté. as a Digital Bonus, Indulge in the Excellence of "Baby Driver" and "Blaster." "Spirit of House Ii" Is a Masterpiece That Captures the Essence of House Music's Roots While Embracing Innovation and Artistry. Prepare Yourself for an Extraordinary Musical Journey That Showcases Nicolas Aftalion's Profound Understanding of the Genre and His Ability to Create Timeless and Groundbreaking Compositions....

2024 Repress

Classic jacking tracks by Byron the Aquarius on Clone Jack for Daze. A 6 track ep that will make you dance till your numb. A big booming sound system in a dark room filled with big artifical clouds from the smoke machine, rattling drum machine with pulsating basslines, the hypnotizing lights from the strobe and you've entered the Land Of Confusion! Thats all we need to have a good time. Byron hits exactly that sweet spot with his take on the classic stripped down jack tracks.

Do Flower Storm's aural incantations return for another edition of slicing club mutations. Five storming sonic rituals forged in the flames of mythical rites of past times, fortified in nu-club sorcery. EP Do's A1 is a reimagined take on Coil's "further back and faster", paying homage through a smoldering iranian lens along with low riding tornado tracks and ecstatic percussive squalls. Flower Storm's sophomore release heeds the call to the wind. When it rains it pours.

DNO welcomes two new signees, Slovenian producer Marka San and UK rapper Axel Holy, for one of the label’s darkest releases yet. The ‘Hidden Knowledge’ EP presents five tracks of dread bass and bad-trip sonics, as the Bristolian MC delivers cut-throat bars with the kind of calm, looming menace of a tomcat toying with its prey.

It was DEDW8, Axel’s horror-touched collab with Split Prophets’ Blanka, that first made him known in Slovenia, prompting Marka San to get in touch about working together. The same sinister vibe that drives that project has spread its tendrils right through the ‘Hidden Knowledge’ EP, from the twisted brass and squirming bass of ‘Where Did You Go’, which drags its feet like some zombified blues track as Axel repeats the titular phrase in his husky drawl, to the equally chilling ‘Classics’— all eerie samples and abyssal lows, with a pitched-down hook and braggadocious bars.

On ‘Patterns’, Axel goes to war, attacking the creeping beat with vicious battle bars and stories of the hustle, while ‘Hidden Knowledge’ sees him flex his vocabulary to take swipes at the powerful, and ‘Robert Downey’ makes his unswerving determination clear over grungy guitar.

Deliciously macabre, with intricate layers and lyrics that’ll have you spotting something new on every listen, yet still heavyweight enough for the dance, this is a match made in the nine circles and we can’t get enough of it.

Rhythms of postmodern realism at the very bottom of the DNO.

Part two of the retrofuturistic 12’’ compilation series introduced by To Pikap Records. LEGACY inaugurates the release with an acid JeffMillsian ode to Detroit’s techno-electro sound, Future Draft takes us back to Europe with a euphoric broken house, while The Jaffa Kid concludes side A with a number of quirky melodies floating over Autechre’s (or Aphex Twin’s) memories of the genre previously known as idm. On side B, Odpein updates the Drexciyan electro palette slipping in elements of Chicago’s footwork combined with heavy acid bass, subsequently Dj Tsoug’s misty atmosphere crawls over some dry city bringing catharsis with its most anticipated drops of acid and finally happy99 enforces us to open up our eyes with a stripped and muffled techno-acid anthem of the future. It’s a must have till the next one!

Dive into the ethereal realms of electronic soundscapes with Lake Haze's first release of the year, 'Ionosphere' EP. Comprising four tracks, this sonic journey begins with 'First Contact,' an enigmatic exploration into extraterrestrial communication. 'Nibiru Ritual' follows suit, blending hypnotic electro beats and acid basslines with ritualistic energy. The titular track, 'Ionosphere,' takes inspiration from Earth's atmospheric layers, crafting a dynamic sonic environment into a more futuristic electro. Closing the EP is 'No Escape,' a high-energy finale propelling listeners through an intense sonic vortex. Get ready for an intergalactic adventure as 'Ionosphere' EP unfolds its mesmerizing narrative.

The by-now seminal Is It Balearic label welcomes long-time Balearic boss Max Essa for another superbly horizontal offering that will take you to the beach no matter where you are. He is a regular on this label who has been serving up top tunes and compiling superb collections like 2016's 10-Year Anniversary comp for ages, and the quality levels never dip. This fresh four-tracker traverses gently breaking synth waves, undulating dubby undercurrents and gloriously sun-kissed synth work all in a soothing and meditative style.

Bristolian producer Claude Cooper returns with hot new single ‘Stay A While’, inspired by the vinyl discoveries made from months of digging and cataloguing the bulging inventory of Bedminster’s Friendly Records record shop.

‘Stay A While’ introduces some delightful twists to Cooper’s psychedelic-funk sound. Blurring the lines between sampling and performance, lush string flourishes are sliced with 6Ts girl-group vocals and rollicking piano chords resulting in a dreamy, end of night, lights up anthem in-the-making. The track is backed with the insistent ‘Dance Tonight’, a ragged bass-boogie surf-rocker that doesn’t take no for an answer.

Cooper’s irrepressible debut album ‘Myriad Sounds' (Jan ‘22) caught the attention of the UK's press and radio alike. Mojo's four star review described it as “Bristol’s beat scene backdrops late night jams”, Uncut enjoyed the "rugged psych-funk romp" and Louder than War declared "it’s vital and vibrant and exactly what we need to kick start the year”. BBC radio DJs including Cerys Matthews, Gideon Coe, Huw Stephens, Jamie Cullum, Lauren Laverne, Stuart Maconie, Tom Ravenscroft rinsed the singles, with Huey Morgan inviting Cooper to contribute a Block Party Mix for his show.

Bonus round 'More Myriad Sounds' (Apr ‘23) added Brooklyn vocalist Brain Fog to the melange with a bounty of pyretic vocal performances. DJ Mag called it “A fierce, kaleidoscopic trip” while Bandcamp Daily said “This album of cross-genre influences is as likely to get it included in any number of best-of columns, with the theme of serious fun as their common element”.

Behind the release is Friendly Records, the best little record shop in Bristol and now a burgeoning record label. Opened by Tom Friend on North Street in 2016, it’s gone on to become a hub of the local musical community. As well as Claude Cooper, the label has reissued two of Alison Cotton’s albums, 'The Twenty-Three Views' by outernational ambient jazz project Floating World Pictures, and Christian Madden & The Enemy Chorus’s organ heavy ‘The Extra Weight’.

Claude Cooper will return with a new album on Friendly Recordings this year.

Enigmatic Mancunian Act AnD brings a dynamic and raw take on modern techno in his dj sets. He maintains always strong analogue production ethics and showcase this in his heavy hitting live show. Alongside production work that takes in everything from techno to electronica to hip hop with the uncompromising AnD attitude towards sound design.Always expect the unexpected!!!” Embracing the shadowy outskirts of techno, AnD’s covert productions on his own selftitled white label series looks to push them even further into their own brand of sonic destruction. In doing so AnD follow in the footsteps of UK luminaries Surgeon, Regis, James Ruskin and The Black Dog by continuing to shape a genuine and unflinching vision of techno. – credits All music by AnD Mastering by Joe Farr

Optimo (Espacio) started life as a weekly club night. It was born at The Sub Club in Glasgow on a wet, windy, wintry November Sunday night in 1997. Run by JD Twitch and partner in crime Jonnie Wilkes. Optimo was a reaction against what felt like an increasingly conservative musical soundtrack in clubs here at that time. Clubland felt as if it had become very bland and a bit too serious; it was the era of the dawn of the Superstar DJ. Clubs often felt like bastions of male energy. It seemed dance music and culture was going somewhere far, far away from where it was meant to be. The notion of fun had got lost.

It was no longer the world they had devoted ten years of their lives to already, and lots of their friends felt the same. When the opportunity came up to do a Sunday night at The Sub Club it felt like the perfect opportunity to rip it all up and start again. So they did. There was nothing in the city (or possibly anywhere) like it. As the club believed wholeheartedly in what they were doing, there was no pressure from The Sub Club to fill the club. So, they embraced the freedom. Groups of people who had never been in the same room at the same time before came together. A community of kindred spirits started to emerge.

Word spread, slowly. Lots of people checked it out. Many loved it, some hated it. The core of the Optimo idea was to embrace music they loved that might work on the dancefloor from whatever era or genre they thought felt right. It might not seem very radical now but at that time it was revolutionary.

After about a year and a half, the club went from having 100 people attending most nights to suddenly one week having 500 people turn up. It was very weird. It was as if a collective light bulb went off in people’s heads in Glasgow. From that week on, until the very last weekly Sunday night at the Sub Club, in 2010, over a decade later, it was packed.

There were 550 Sunday Optimo nights. A LOT of music was played. So, what was the music? People often find it hard to pin down exactly what Optimo is. This has been a positive but also a negative as we live in a world where people want easily defined “brand identities”. The simplest definition of the music played is “music for dancing”, which of course is a very broad definition. Even better than trying to define it in words, we have these 2 volumes of music that give a hint of what that might be.

This is not a “Best of Optimo” or a “Greatest Hits of Optimo” compilation. For people who come to, or used to come to the nights there are of course “Greatest Hits”. But, over such a long timespan they are “hits” belonging to a certain moment in time and space. Someone who came to Optimo in 1997 would have a completely different notion of the big tracks at the club to someone coming in 2003, or 2010, or today. This compilation is just a snap shot missing several genres that might make up the DNA of Optimo. There is though a broad sweep through lots of music Optimo loves, that they believe is amazing. Music that they know will rock a dancefloor, that they have played between 1997 and 2023. Of course Optimo nights were not all about rocking the dancefloor. The first hour was always a time for them to play music they loved that often was far removed from the dance. Side 1, Volume 1 of this compilation is the kind of music one might hear at the very start of an Optimo night.

Optimo have always loved a good slogan. The most long lived, and fitting Optimo slogan is "We Love Your Ears", which is in essence what it is all about to them.

The third and final EP from the ten year anniversary series by French label D3 Elements is another one that offers a wide range of excellent grooves. To kick off, Jason Hogans takes us into woozy late night territory with muffled leads and lazy breaks, then Zopelar heads for the cosmos on his radiant synth laced house offering 'Resolution.'

Malik Hendricks keeps it low key and slow with his intimate basement sounds on 'Green Mango' then Meftah rebuilds on a dusty Theo Parrish tip with 'Maha Shatki.' Damar Davis offers pure cosmic deep house lushness on closer 'Kiss In The Dark.'

Side A / Double A / Iko (Never Felt This Way)
Back once again with his signature big breaks sound, Double A dips into a multitude of sample genres for this party sure-shot.

A building intro pays off with a drop of bangin’ drums and funky
horns, and features a nod to his D&B / hardcore breaks origins with a sneaky vocal sample throwback around the halfway mark. If you’re looking for a sure-fire set-starter, you found it!

Side AA / Jim Sharp / Tell Me What To Do
The man who needs absolutely no introduction in the 45s world returns for his second release with Mountain 45s.

Jim takes a classic funk sample and with his usual polished touch, pays his respects to its earliest iteration as a New York party breaks mainstay.

Piano stabs, funky guitars and horns, mixed with call and response vocals alongside the originals make this one yet
another can’t miss from the maestro. Don’t sleep!

Double LP on recycled & random-coloured "Re-Vinyl" Return to the unwavering wild in Downpour, where you explore new, harsh lands and survive new predators. As time passed, the slugcat has evolved. With five variants of the species - take advantage of various skills that they possess and explore their own personal tales. Black Screen Records, Videocult and Akupara Games are excited to take you an aural journey into the strange land of "Rain World: Downpour". Two LPs pressed on recycled & random-coloured "Re-Vinyl". The soundtrack is housed in a beautiful gatefold sleeve comes with UV spot varnish. The artwork was created by Kelocitta who has also reimagined the vinyl art for "Rain World". The "Rain World: Downpour" soundtrack is a collaborative work that was made possible by James Primate, Lydia Esrig, Intikus, Ongomato, Connor "12LBS" Skidmore and Progfox. A unique piece of music and very interesting mesh of different styles that truly bring the environment of Rain World to life. It's fully enjoyable without the game itself. The songs of "Rain World: Downpour" are a treat to experience, with some themes referencing the original soundtrack, such as "Threat - Waterfront Complex" or "Reflection of the Moon", and some being whole new, entirely original tracks, such as "Breathing Hyometer", "Fragile" and "Sheer Ice Torrent". Once you've experienced the "Rain World" soundtrack and gotten a feel for the style of the artists who worked on the music, "Rain World: Downpour" is an amazing continuation to experience next.

Come get it! Dynamic Dallas soul singer Bobby Patterson cut some seriously sizzling sides in the mid '60s, including the James Brown rebuttal Mama's Got A New Bag Too " the pugnacious original "Knock Out Power Of Love " and the rambunctious funk of "T.C.B. Or T.Y.A."! Gems from the Jetstar label and originally unissued treasures collected on LP!

"My Thing Is Your Thing: Jetstar Strut From Bobby Patterson" by Bobby Patterson includes the following tracks: "I’m Leroy - I’ll Take Her", "Broadway Ain’t Funky No More", "I’m In Love With You", "The Knock Out Power Of Love" and more.

For its ninth release, Dusk Notes invites 3 guest artists, each gifted and stylistically distinctive in their own right, to reinterpret tracks from Imagery's self-titled album. Wide-ranging and divergent in genre, the compilation closes out with a remix from the label founders.

Homemade Weapons' striking take on ''Asymmetric Information'' features his signature audio sculptures of precise and militant choppage. Viels' intricate rework of ''Don't Crush the Acid'' is marked by commanding breakbeats and ominous ambience. Fred P's version of ''Don't Crush the Acid'' embarks on a jazzy groove with musing and yearning melodies. Soramimi and Rondec take us inward at eventide with a hushed andintoxicating montage of ''Inner Sunset.''

If the genesis of The Big Idea was written both in the corridors of their high school and the surroundings of La Rochelle, the first chapter truly takes place in a big house in outskirts of Paris, where the six boys settled once they got their baccalaureate in 2015. Throughout these five years, The Big Idea hosted every European band playing in Paris with no landing place. The house of Champigny-sur-Marne, almost invisible in the monstrous metropolis, became a central location of the capital’s underground scene.

That creative cyclone within which the band is placed quickly shows results and the band hit it hard with their debut LP “La Passion du crime 3” (2017). This quadruple album, written as the movie score of a police investigation story, affirms something fundamental: The Big Idea is determined not to do things like everybody else. The influences of the great psychedelic rock’n’roll tribes naturally appear, the band release several record, start touring all around Europe allowing them to develop a furious alchemy on stage. But then covid brought everything to a halt. However, the band returned to La Rochelle and plotted a new, mad project.

The Big Idea becomes the first band to record an album on a sailing boat while crossing the Atlantic. Once again, the idea is fabulous, and “The Fabulous Expedition of Le Grand Vésigue” represents both the thirst of adventure of the sextet from La Rochelle, and their yearning for calm, psychedelic horizons. After the release of the documentary film and the big tour that followed this extraordinary adventure, the band decides to reaffirm the most essential part of its identity and announces for February 2024 the releasing of a new record more electric and radical, in the image of their live performance with more and more intensity. “Tales of Crematie” is a story built on a fantasy medieval backdrop, but could have however taken place in our modern era. If the elegant, psychedelics parts have not disappeared, the record’s tone is clearly more rock than what the band has ever created before, and as The Big Idea always likes to go overboard, the album will be released as a double LP in which you’ll hear trumpets as well as pianos, violins, tropical influences, post-punk, and above all, loads, loads of fuzz. Just like a toy chest whose key would’ve been thrown away on purpose, hidden arrangement treasures abound inside of “Tales of Crematie” , along with a violent revolt against the modern archetypes of “too normal music.”