On Everything Harmony, the fourth full-length studio release from New York's The Lemon Twigs, the prodigiously talented brothers Brian and Michael D'Addario offer 13 original servings of beauty that showcase an emotional depth and musical sophistication far beyond their years as a band, let alone as young men. Everything Harmony successfully blends the brothers' distinct personalities while giving voice to their eclectic influences. Opening the album with the unassuming acoustic folk of plaintive "When Winter Comes Around," which echoes the sophisticated grandeur of classic Simon & Garfunkel recordings, they immediately switch things up to the sunny classic pop motif of "In MyHead." "Corner of My Eye" channels an Art Garfunkel-like vocal melody over a moody, vibraphone-tinged backing track suggesting the chamber pop of Brian Wilson. While they had no grand concept for Everything Harmony, both the D'Addarios felt a "palpable mood of defeat" prevailed while writing and recording it. "New To Me" was inspired by their shared experience with loved ones suffering from Alzheimer's, "What You Were Doing" is dressed in the tortured jangle of vintage Big Star, while "Born To Be Lonely," written after watching John Cassavetes' Opening Night, deals with what Brian calls "the fragility that often comes with age." Everything Harmony is a unified song cycle born of shared blood andcommon purpose. With two musical heads being better than one, there's no shortage of ideas to draw on. Their only impediments are time and the challenge of keeping up with their own prolific musical inspiration. "We share an intuition and tend to be influenced by one another," says Brian, "so the lyrical ideas on this record tend to complement each other. Writing has never been the issue for us. It's completing, editing and compiling that takes the time. We're trapped in a web of songs!"
DRAIN – the Santa Cruz, CA based hardcore band, whose energetic live shows have propelled them to peak underground popularity (during a global pandemic) and they are ready to break wide open in 2023.
Living Proof is the band’s Epitaph Records debut and follow up to their 2020 breakout release, California Cursed.
The new album is a testament to the hard work and heartfelt ethos that’s at the center of DRAIN’s good-time psyche. There are a couple surprises on the album. Rapper Shakewell appears on the track, “Intermission”.
There’s also a cover of “Good, Good Things,” a nearly four-decade old melodic punk carol by the Descendents: slam-pit forebearers to DRAIN if there ever were any. “It’s crazy because the song’s been out like forty years, but lyrically it’s a DRAIN song!” exclaims vocalist
Sam Ciaramitaro.
“It just hits on everything that I love, that I’m about.”
What Sammy’s about is plenty wholesome. “I hope with this record that when someone hears it, it gives them hope,” beams. “If we were able to get through the tough times, anyone can. I can’t wait to play these songs and hear a room full of people singing back to us. We’re what the title says, the Living Proof.”
Produced by longtime friend and multi-instrumentalist Taylor Young (God’s Hate, Suicide Silence), then mixed by John Markson (Drug Church, Koyo), this is hardcore for everybody.
“As the band gets bigger, I try and keep that feeling alive,” says the smiling singer. “Every night I set up the merch and run it until it’s time to play. I want to be the guy that everyone says hello to. I want to thank every single kid that comes out for being there.”
Directed by Hugo Keijzer, the film ‘Post’ starts at the low point with the mother having decided to admit her daughter to a hospital for professional help. The mother changes her mind at the hospital’s doorstep, remembering how she had dealt with emotions when she was younger, and how important nature has always been for her. She takes her daughter on a path toward healing by being in touch with nature — a last-ditch attempt that will ultimately reveal the long journey mother and daughter have been on towards recovery.
At only 19 years old, Dar Es Salaam's DJ Travella represents a new wave of singeli producers who are driving Tanzania's breakneck dance sound into fresh, innovative spaces. Unaffiliated with any of the well-known studios like Sisso and Pamoja, Hamadi Hassani's music points singeli's fusion of taraab and techno towards the stars, locating a cyber-singeli style that's dense, kinetic and unashamedly sexy. Hassani started producing at 15, and a few years later his debut is a jagged set of hi-nrg dance music that pulls influence from across the globe, folding together elements of dembow, rave, R&B, and trap. But nothing's straightforward: opening track 'Crazy Beat Music Umeme 2' juxtaposes grinding 200bpm rhythmic intensity with urgent plucked strings, sounding like Timbaland conjuring a Thunderdome soundtrack for a Tanzanian street party. 'Crazy Beat Music Umeme 4' is even more barbed, with neon rave synths and hand-jammed percussion that's one part 808 Mafia and one part DJ Diaki. On 'London Bandcamp', Travella meshes hi-speed singeli backbeats with downtempo dembow kicks, squeezing out unexpected sleaze in the process, while on 'London Uwoteeee' there's an almost romantic sparkle, with ethereal vocals draped across woodblock cracks and whistles. But Travella sounds most nimble when giving the nod to Atlanta, and his merging of earworm synth hooks and neck-snapping East African rhythms on tracks like 'London Jomon Beat' will leave no doubt that the young producer is capable of bending singeli completely to his will.
Machine Gun Kellys zweites Punkrockalbum „mainstream sellout“ ist nun auch als Vinyl erhältlich!
Das Punkrock-Masterpiece besteht aus 16 Songs, unter anderem mit Features von WILLOW, Lil Wayne, blackbear, Bring Me The Horizon, Gunna und Young Thug. Produziert wurde „mainstream sellout“ von niemand geringerem als dem Schlagzeuger Travis Barker. 2021 gewann Machine Gun Kelly einen Billboard Music Award als bester Rock Künstler. Grundlage dafür war sein 2020 veröffentlichtes, erfolgreiches Album „Tickets To My Downfall”, das als erstes seiner Alben auf Platz 1 der US Billboard Charts einstieg und sich seit
Release in 2020 immer noch in den Charts hält. In Deutschland hatte Machine Gun Kellys Album ebenfalls sein bisher erfolgreichstes Chartdebut, auf #11 der MC-Charts.
Die vorherigen Alben des Sängers haben in den USA alle Gold- oder sogar Platinstatus erlangt.
Machine Gun Kelly ist neben seiner musikalischen Karriere auch ein erfolgreicher Schauspieler, wie sein Mitwirken in „Bird Box“ an der Seite von Sandra Bullock oder auch seine Verkörperung von Tommy Lee in der Bandbiografie über Mötley Crüe zeigen.
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Limited Edition Clear 12” Vinyl Single (1 x 12” clear vinyl in sleeve). Soft Cell’s 2022 return with ‘*Happiness Not Included’, featuring hit single ‘Purple Zone’ with Pet Shop Boys, has proven to be well worth the 20 year wait, with the album receiving a deluge of critical acclaim as it raced into the UK Top 10 - making it their highest charting studio set in almost 30 years. ‘Light Sleepers’ was a ‘*Happiness Not Included’ highlight and band favourite, accompanied by a video directed by Charlie Ann Max and starred esteemed performer and winner of season 7 of the American RuPaul's Drag Race, Violet Chachki, as a young Marc Almond. Available on limited edition 12” clear vinyl, this release features new mixes of the track by The Grid. The 12” also features brand new re-recorded brass mixes of ‘Last Chance’, a track from previous album ‘Cruelty Without Beauty’. A huge fan favourite, the track was according to Marc Almond, “the natural successor to Say Hello, Wave Goodbye and one of my preferred Soft Cell songs period, why was this never a single?’. The re-reworked versions by Dave Ball and album producer Philip Larsen are now adorned with a full live brass section.
A lot can happen in 15 years. Few things manage to thrive for a decade and a half, especially in music. But a scrappy, left of center, Bay Area house music label, Dirtybird, has managed to do just that. Claude VonStroke, Dirtybird’s founder, is marking this 15-year milestone the only way he knows how… working. This year, VonStroke will throw two dozen-plus parties, three festivals (including the famous Dirtybird Campout), host his traveling Dirtybird BBQ series in major cities across the US, publish a coffee table book, release a seasonal clothing line, stage art shows, produce a fly on the wall docu series...and kick it all off by releasing a new album, out February 21st.
What began as a free party, turned basement record label, has morphed into a truly thriving community whose familial, fun and welcoming vibe has won over hearts and minds across the world. And while Dirtybird has grown and evolved, VonStroke’s core focus on music remains unwavering. The new album ‘Freaks & Beaks’ is a celebration of quirky innovation and a relentless pursuit of something new and fresh, while hearkening back to the freewheeling spirit that inspired the launch of his label. This is a project that draws upon the inspirations of family, old friends, new fans and proper dancefloors.
Claude will let his flock wet their beaks while they wait in anticipation of the new album with two new singles demonstrating the breadth of the dance music landscape explored on the record. Youngblood touches on the deeper sides of Claude VonStroke, a throwback to the label’s early days, featuring local LA music house talent Wyatt Marshall, while All My People in the House is a dancefloor heater that is sure to unite new and old Dirtybird fans together.
Today, Claude also delivers fans part one of an intimate video series, shot by his sister Emily (an accomplished filmmaker), documenting the creation of ‘Freaks and Beaks’, celebrating this historic milestone and taking a deeper dive into the day to day life of Claude VonStroke on the road.
‘Freaks and Beaks’ is the fourth artist album and sixth full-length project from Claude VonStroke. He approached the album with a new process, including committing to daily creative time, experimenting with a lot of new hardware and having fun creating a huge amount of sketches. He made music on many levels of gear all the way from complex modular synths to simple drum apps on his iPad. Keeping it all DIY, he sampled his own voice and his two children on several tracks as well. He allowed himself to breathe while creating over 130 ideas, which were whittled down to the finished 11 album tracks.
Freaks & Beaks nods at the inspirations that underpin VonStroke’s world, inside jokes between him and Justin Martin (FlubbleBuddy), unused experimental live sessions (Session A), playful noodling on synths (Alpine Arpline), obscure French producers (Frankie Goes To Bollywood), championing new talent (Youngblood), irreverent self-aware humor (Birthday Messages) and genre inspirations that range from ghetto tech and drum n bass to hip-hop and breaks. This is VonStroke’s love letter to the vibrancy and genre diversity that have made Dirtybird such a singular label.
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Ardalan’s debut album, “Mr. Good” was a perfect launching off point for the bright, young artist. A genuine reflection of the producer he has become with a considerable nod to the future. The album was widely admired by critics, DJs, fans and industry alike, and we’re super proud of what Ardalan continues to accomplish.
For the remixes of the album, Ardalan’s music receives re-interpretations from DJ Deron, Delano Smith, The Martin Brothers and Ardalan himself.
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In 1974, a brash young designer called Augustus Kerry Taylor had an idea. He'd gather together the hottest musicians in Ghana and record an album of the heaviest and funkiest sounds coming out of America. And this time, he wouldn't just design the cover, like he'd done with Fela Kuti, he'd even release it on his new label, Emporium, as well. Local Accra legends Joe Wellington, Jagger Botchway, Leslie Addy, Officer Toro, Oko Ringo, Soldier and Steve answered the call. They were christened the Kelenkye Band and gelled immediately. Moving World, is a funky, disparate album that exudes a rare warmth, enthusiasm and togetherness. 'Moving World' and 'Brotherhood of Man' are hard, grinding funk. 'Jungle Music' has a more soulful groove. There's also a bit of reggae, 'Dracula Dance', and old-skool highlife, 'Wale Tobite'. Accra's leading DJ, Charlie Sam, declared his mind 'well and truly boggled.' The Kelenkye Band never recorded another album. Augustus Kerry Taylor shut down Emporium and went back to designing album covers. But in Moving World they delivered a perfect moment of funk alchemy that has rightly become the Holy Grail of 70's Ghanian groove. - Peter Moore / Licensed by the bandleaders and songwriters of the album, Joe Wellington and Jagger Botchway.
Ltd Transparent Blue Colored Vinyl. Lonnie Liston Smith JID017 is the seventeenth installment in the Jazz Is Dead catalog. This album features nine original songs by Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and the 1970s jazz-funk pioneer, Lonnie Liston Smith. Smith's music (Expansions, 1974 and Visions of a New World, 1975) has served as the foundation for iconic hip-hop samples and ecstatic dance floor revelry. Lonnie Liston Smith 017 marks the legend's return to the Fender Rhodes keyboard, an instrument he had not played since the 1970s. All songs produced by Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad. Recorded and mixed by Adrian Younge at Linear Labs, the preeminent analog studio of Los Angeles, CA.
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Blasting off higher than ever before, Metro Boomin proudly presents his anxiously awaited blockbuster new album, HEROES & VILLAINS, out via Boominati Worldwide/Republic Records through Island in UK. Assembling an Avengers-level guest list, the album also notably boasts the likes of John Legend, Future, Chris Brown, Don Toliver, Travis Scott, 21 Savage, Young Nudy, Young Thug, Mustafa, A$AP Rocky, Gunna, and the late Takeoff. It notably serves as his first solo LP in four years and the follow-up to his 2018 full-length debut, Not All Heroes Wear Capes. The latter bowed at #1 on the Billboard 200, picked up a platinum certification, and housed the triple-platinum “Space Cadet” feat. Gunna, platinum “No Complaints” feat. Drake & Offset, platinum “Don’t Come Out The House” feat. 21 Savage, triple-platinum “10 Freaky Girls” feat. 21 Savage, platinum “Overdue” feat. Travis Scott, among others.
Spider-Man: Homecoming is a 2017 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Spider-Man. The movie was directed by Jon Watts and the soundtrack composed by Michael Giacchino. Besides the original motion picture soundtrack by the award-winning composer, the score also features the theme from the 1960s cartoon series composed by Paul Francis Webster and Robert “Bob” Harris.
The film follows a young Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Captain America: Civil War, who begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging superhero. Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man
– but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.
Spider-Man: Homecoming is available as a limited POP-UP edition of 2000 individually numbered copies on blue coloured vinyl with an etch on Side D. The vinyl package includes a 4-page booklet and movie poster.
[a] A1. Theme (from “Spider Man”) [Original Television Series]
For polymath artist Wesley Joseph, writing a song is like shooting a film. He sees in terms of scenes and colors, lighting the proper mood, drawing the right emotional arc_far beyond just getting a catchy melody down on tape. Music and filmmaking are Joseph's two great loves. Film came first_he started making DIY videos at age 12 to entertain himself and his friends growing up in a small UK community_but when he moved to London to study it, the energy he discovered in the city demanded to be captured in song, resulting in his 2021 debut ULTRAMARINE, a distinctly cinematic collection of avant-R&B and soulful future-pop shot through with moments of surprising aggression and an intriguingly complex postmillennial aura. Since collaborating with the likes of Jorja Smith and Loyle Carner, he returns with GLOW, eight more songs of love, loss, anxiety, and joy about coming of age at a time of unprecedented change. Showcasing his range across songwriting, performing, and production_not to mention his flawless transitions between singing and rapping, between character studies and raw emotional honesty_it's a stunningly beautiful work that makes it clear Joseph's on the path to becoming a worldchanging talent. As on previous projects, Joseph is providing his own visual accompaniments for GLOW, creative directing its artwork and directing its first video. "COLD SUMMER" finds Joseph singing from a supervillain's perspective over woozy film-score strings, and the concept bleeds over into its video accompaniment, a cryptic post-post-Tarantino gangster comedy shot in Kazakhstan. It's usually hyperbole to call an artist as young and new as Joseph "visionary," but it's undeniable that he has a vision, one that transcends old ideas of genre and medium, one that seems to get bigger and richer every time he steps into a studio or behind a camera. GLOW is one of the deepest and most satisfyingly cinematic listening experiences of the year_and Wesley Joseph is just getting started.
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Hard rave wave brothers, Younger Than Me and Curses have joined forces once again for their 2nd EP as Y2C. This time, in collaboration with 24/Hrs- the electronic concept label part of Milano's invincible Tempio Del Futuro Perduto collective, club and creative community space.
The project invites artists to come spend 24 hours at the on-site studio located within Tempio, and create music inspired by the energy and vibe of the multi-dimensional space.
Y2C return harder this time. Dragging their rave roots into a rusty blender drenched in neon acid and metallic percussion heard in the tunnels of lost dystopian cities.
From heavy hitting club tracks to a hypnotic ambient escape, the EP rounds out furiously with an absolutely devious and destructive electro techno bomb of a remix from fellow Berliner, Infinity Division (ex Minimal Violence).
Get ready for the storm. Y2C is bringing the hail and snow.
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One of the most recognisable keyboard players of all time, Lonnie Liston Smith has been a crucial figure in the ongoing pollination of jazz for over fifty years. Having worked and performed with some of the genre"s biggest innovators, he is responsible for some of the genres" major stylistic shifts and taking Jazz-Funk into exciting new directions. His notable turns as sideman for heavyweights like Max Roach, Art Blakey, Got Barbieri, Miles Davis & Rahsaan Roland Kirk, along with his output as a leader of his own group stands as some of the most creative keyboard work of all time. He is revered by generations of musicians and continues to be a presence in shaping contemporary sounds.
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'All Of This Will End' markiert für Indigo De Souza eine wärmere und kühne Ära. Es ist eine Aussage darüber, sich furchtlos von der Vergangenheit in eine von Dankbarkeit erfüllte Gegenwart zu bewegen, jeden Schritt zu fühlen und sich dafür zu entscheiden, liebevolles Bewusstsein zu verkörpern. Über 11 Songs hinweg ist das Album ein radikal optimistisches Werk, das sich mit Sterblichkeit, der Verjüngung, die die Gemeinschaft bringt, und der Wichtigkeit, sich jetzt zu zentrieren, auseinandersetzt.
With Cruisin', their second album for Telephone Explosion, Toronto's Bernice distils their playful sense of composition resulting in the most affecting collection of their young career. Across fifteen tracks, a special kind of contemporary, jazz-inflected pop unfolds, miraculous for being both fun and musically adventurous, all in the name of emotional resonance. Each groove in the bassbin is matched by a little scratch at the listener's heartstrings. The album was recorded at home with Phil Melanson (Sam Gendel, Andy Shauf) and Thom Gill (Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Joseph Shabason), led by songwriter and vocalist Robin Dann (Martha Wainwright) and producer Matthew Pencer, with additional contributions from longtime members Dan Fortin and Felicity Williams (Bahamas) being captured remotely.
Throughout their eleven years as a group, working at the intersections of several scenes and spotlights (many of which begin and end at Toronto's beloved Tranzac Club), Bernice have developed an idiosyncratic musical language that feels immediately inviting and wonderfully refreshing. The group's two previous releases, Eau De Bonjourno (2021) and Puff: In The Air Without A Shape (2018) received generous nods from both Stereogum and Pitchfork, who described the music as "unusually mesmerizing". With the songcraft a little more crystalline and the vulnerability notched up, Cruisin' feels like the right record to open Bernice up to a much wider audience.
Development of the album began in Spring, 2021 during a writing retreat at the family farm in Bond Head, Ontario. Members of the band luxuriated in slow time, tinkering with lyrics and melodies, sharing meals, knitting. From this communal gathering, the concept of 'dedication' emerged as a guiding theme. Specifically, developing songs in an almost epistolary form; as love letters or check-ins for friends, community members, pets and other more elusive acquaintances (a longtime working title for the project was 'Songs For People').
Lead single 'Underneath My Toe', one of the first pieces developed under this theme, finds the group at their most graceful and direct. Beginning with songwriter/vocalist Robin Dann singing simply 'Hi / I miss you all the time', the composition proceeds to shift subtly between soft jazz balladry and low-bit funk, revelling in the intimate beauty of a long-time-no-see letter to a dear old friend.
Though being a band that so deeply values the art of fartin' around, Bernice couldn't settle on such a straightforward approach. During the creative process, a clarifying question arose: 'Can you cruise to it?'. This somewhat ambiguous aesthetic criteria became a guiding light for the album. 'Sure, it's a beautiful song about building trust with a new nonagenarian friend... but can you cruise to it?'.
Case in point, both follow up singles, 'No Effort To Exist' and 'Second Judy', fall into a more nebulous, bewildering category of song. Undoubtedly affecting, emotionally charged, existentially searching, yet also undeniably juicy. Drum patterns skitter into place while synth tones shift on a dime to meet thematic twists. There's errant whistling and curious overdubs. Then in come elegant backing vocals, elevating the narrative while an unlikely, left-field groove is established. Miraculously, the listener is not just moved, but Cruisin'.
Therein lies the marvel of Bernice: they remind us that the rec room funk of Mario Kart 64 need not exist in mutual exclusivity to a rich tapestry of human emotions. Even as we live through this most cursed timeline, we can look into the heart of things, dwell on the challenges we're called to witness, and find a little levity to carry us through; grab a lil' mushroom and cruise the existential soup.
For polymath artist Wesley Joseph, writing a song is like shooting a film - he sees in terms of scenes and colors, lighting the proper mood, drawing the right emotional arc. Music and filmmaking are Joseph’s two great loves. Film came first—he started making DIY videos at age 12 to entertain himself and his friends growing up in a small town in the UK. “There wasn’t really much happening,” he remembers, “and from a young age it created this mindset that doing everything myself was the only way to do it.”
But when he moved to London to study as a filmmaker, he discovered something in the freedom and independence of city life that demanded to be captured in song, and found a crew of collaborators—including A.K. Paul, Dave Okumu, Joy Orbison, Leon Vynehall, Lexxx, Loyle Carner and his childhood friend Jorja Smith—to help him do it. The result was his breakthrough single ‘Ghostin’’ and the 2021 debut ULTRAMARINE - released on his own imprint EEVILTWINN - a deeply textured collection of avant-R&B and soulful future-pop that stretched from psychedelic ballads to hard hip-hop bars (often in the span of a single track) and crystallized the mood of a young cohort trying to find love and live their dreams while the world is falling apart. Whilst his collaboration with Loyle Carner on single ‘Blood On My Nikes’ lead to him featuring on the artist’s critically acclaimed - and #3 charting album - earlier this year.
Now the nascent auteur returns with his Secretly Canadian debut GLOW, eight more songs of love, loss, anxiety, and joy about coming of age at a time of unprecedented change. Showcasing his range across songwriting, performing, and production—not to mention his flawless transitions between singing and rapping, between character studies and raw emotional honesty—it’s a stunningly beautiful work that makes it clear Joseph’s on the path to becoming a world-changing talent.
GLOW opens with the title track’s warm analog synths and cascading vocals that channel the harmonious Northern soul Joseph’s dad raised him on, a shimmering bed of clouds for the project’s opening credits. But like any good director, he quickly deepens the mood, drawing together disparate influences and emotions to build a unique sonic world spilling over with synchronicities and juxtapositions. “MONSOON” conjures nocturnal hedonism at the same time as it contemplates grief.
As on previous projects, Joseph is providing his own visual accompaniments for GLOW, creative directing its artwork and adding to his growing filmography as a director—he’s repped by the renowned production company Stink—with its first video. “COLD SUMMER” finds Joseph singing from a supervillain’s perspective over woozy film-score strings, and the concept bleeds over into its video accompaniment, a cryptic post-post-Tarantino film shot in Kazakhstan.
“I've never really seen them separately,” Joseph says of music and film. “They kind of just constantly drift into each other. And when they come together, it's like it was meant to be in my head the whole time.
It’s usually hyperbole to call an artist as young and new as Joseph “visionary,” but it’s undeniable that he has a vision, one that transcends old ideas of genre and medium, one that seems to get bigger and richer every time he steps into a studio or behind a camera. GLOW is one of the deepest and most satisfyingly cinematic listening experiences of the year—and Wesley Joseph is just getting started.
Liberation is the latest evolution by David West, a dedicated underground dweller and traveler with his groups Rat Columns and Rank/Xerox and previously spotted in Lace Curtain and Total Control. Many familiar elements of West's songwriting creep out from the speakers this time around, albeit in a sonically more adventurous and personal manner. Swathed in analogue and FM synths, pinned down by near-funk drum machines, and with a vision expanded into the past and future. While in previous incarnations, West's alienated and fragile vocal has battled with jangling guitars and distortion, Liberation sets free his woes and ruminations into space. Taking inspiration from the heyday of Mute Records, the beginnings of electronic dance music's rudimentary sampling, broken and sound art, Liberation's debut LP is 10 songs of the road, about the nameless ghosts on the highway, accidental lovers, the alienation of the stranger in a strange land, the unbearable weight of freedom.
Beginning with a curveball, Liberation's first vocal sets out the position of the forever-cuckold, the sad lover hanging on: Looking For A Lover combines a Roland 707's loping mid-tempo with creeped-out synth lines as West intones his intentions close to the ear. Continuing in a more baroque manner, Move Me makes astounding use of string samples and space, with esteemed engineer Mikey Young's (Total Control / Eddy Current Suppression Ring) production prowess making for a distilled yet inviting loneliness. Forget is the night-drive centerpiece of the album, a 7 minute that erupts into a nihilistic sub-disco darkness. A constant theme of Liberation is the friction between West's characters: a frustrated love in victim-status paired with a menacing intent. The adorable, fragile stalker in the moonlight, illuminated by Whatever You Want, a
subjugated protagonist offering they have while the city burns. The brightest pop moment of the album has this in abundance: Cold And Blue, a classic synth pop jam to be played on repeat til the end of time, like New Order played by one man in his bedroom, with no drugs for a cushion, coming down the stairs, she looks like a perfect fear and Im a monument to your existence. But West has moments of touching sincerity that speak direct to the listener, as in album highlight Leaves Falling; a sparse string arrangement frames his vocal, "why do I keep falling for you I must just really like to be alone." Liberation is the freedom from attachments, about how sometimes they're what you want most.
• 180 GRAM AUDIOPHILE VINYL
• SECOND ALBUM FROM BROTHERS MICHAEL, JACKIE, TITO, MARLON AND JERMAINE
• INCLUDES THE BILLBOARD HOT 100 #1 SINGLES “ABC”, “ONE MORE CHANCE”, “THE LOVE YOU HAVE” A.O.
The brothers Joe, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael Jackson formed the pop band the Jackson 5 in 1964. In 1968 they signed with Motown Records and became the first group to debut with four consecutive number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “ABC”. This single is featured on the same-titled album which was released in 1970. Other hit single “The Love You Save” is also included on the album. Both singles went directly to the number one position across the board, even knocking The Beatles off their number one spot. ABC peaked at #4 on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart and at #1 on the Billboard Black Albums Chart in the U.S. It remains one of the most popular efforts by the Jackson 5, selling over 5.7 million copies worldwide.
Received a 7.5 rating from Pitchfork. The debut full length from Melbourne, Australia’s Romero is a burst of hard hitting, punk-laced powerpop. Well informed by the classics and every bit as relevant-as-it-is timeless, Turn It On! is a memorable party. An album that captures the vitality of a young band hitting their stride and doing it on their own terms without a single note of indecision. Much in the way that The Undertones, Blondie, and even Big Star debuted with a sense of purpose, Romero invite us to eleven tracks of soulful powerpop gold. Sharp production across Turn It On! catapults the impressive guitar work of both Adam Johnstone and Fergus Sinclair to the front of the mix alongside Alanna Oliver’s heart-pounding energy and show-stealing vocal prowess. Anchored by the smooth rhythm pocket of Justin “Murry” Tawil and Dave Johnstone, Romero waste no time in showing their hand on the quick-paced album opener ‘Talk About It’—recalling '80s powerpop rhapsodies. The title track beckons bodies to the dancefloor with a rich Runaways-like temper that naturally explodes into a fiery guitar solo. Meanwhile ‘Halfway Out The Door’ and ’White Dress’ show off the band’s adept ballad-writing, boasting truly emotional highs, lows and soaring choruses. Those hip to the incredible debut Romero single—‘Honey’ b/w ‘Neapolitan’ (Cool Death, 2020) will be overjoyed to see these relatable anthems recast in the album’s tracklisting. Turn It On! reveals stories of personal striving, restarting, mulling-over the unsaid, resisting control, deteriorating relationships, the emotional throes of uncertainty and celebrating growth through all such experiences. The rollercoaster of life is mirrored by the sonic and lyrical turns Romero have crafted into their debut album—a hopeful tonic for whatever you’re going through, and a dose of excitement for what’s to come. Includes lyric insert and 11"x17" poster.
Through the 24 pieces, rare and unpublished, carefully selected for this double LP, BEATITUDE agnès b. MUSIQUE and Kwaidan Records offer a retro-futuristic sound journey through this musical period so rich, so diverse and so innovative. And, in order to properly celebrate the launch of this long-awaited volume 3, the 1st DES YOUNG GENS MÖDERNES festival will be organized in November 2020 at La Station - Gare des mines, with an intergenerational line up highlighting the musical lineage and the influence that this cold wave scene continues to exert on many emerging artists.
Last year, Eartheater released her latest album, Phoenix: Flames Are Dew Upon My Skin, via PAN. After sharing a fully reworked version of the album, Phoenix: La Petite Mort Edition, digitally out February 26, 2021, PAN is now releasing a special, color vinyl LP edition of it. Originally conceived as a "sleep" mix for CRACK Magazine, Eartheater re-sculpted her entire album Phoenix into a seamless ambient edit. "This is Phoenix crushing, undressing, and compressing like carbon particles under the weight of boulders folded into silky soil, and decomposing. She is folding over and over and over and over like the rolls of young gummy stone. This is one REM cycle. I suggest listening to Phoenix: La Petite Mort Edition while asleep after climax. You are wet ash smudged across a pillow case." - Eartheater
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Italian producer duo 'Crossroads' are back 10 years after their first release.
Inspired by classic R&B, Disco and Neo-Soul they have had the knack of finding talented unsigned vocalists from all over the globe to feature on their tracks. This time around, the Italian singer Raffaella Zago covers a super soulful track originally composed in the 70's by the disco-soul duo Grey & Hanks.
'If You're In Need' is the perfect link between original 70's disco to contemporary soulful nu-disco, mixing live instruments with modern rhythms and synths. The b-side starts with a more uptempo remix by French DJ and producer Young Pulse, who is set to establish himself as one of the best remixers in the contemporary disco scene. Last but not least 'Call Me Dub' pays more attention to the instrumental parts of the track taking you on a deeper journey into the whole song.
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Limited Edition RED Vinyl – 100 units Hand numbered
Omid's parents were Iranian but he spent his childhood in Putney, London. He grew up listening to rock music, and listed Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young and the Cure among his favourite artists – after Robert Smith became a fan Omid would later remix various Cure songs. He learnt to play guitar and formed a rock band, but after hearing hardcore records played on pirate music stations he began making his own tracks on basic equipment that he had bought. Beginning in 1995, his early house and techno singles were released on his own Alola and Disclosure labels under the names of 16B and Phaser, but they soon attracted the attention of big-name DJs such as Derrick Carter, François Kevorkian and Sasha, and he signed to Sven Väth's Eye Q label to release his debut album Sounds from Another Room in March 1998, which was described by the Independent on Sunday as "avant-garde" and by Muzik as "quite breathtaking".
Although he started out as a producer, Omid gradually moved into DJing, at the request of friends who asked him to play records at parties. He secured a regular spot playing the Elements club night run by Hooj Choons record label boss Red Jerry. In October 2001 Omid released The Witch/Which Equation under the alias of the Sixteen Million Dollar Man.Inspired by Prince initially releasing his Planet Earth album as a covermount with a British newspaper, Omid released his third studio album Like 3 Ears and 1 Eye (Part 1) in a similar manner as a covermount with the November 2007 issue of DJ Mag.
Omid also formed the SOS collective of DJs, consisting of him, Desyn Masiello and Demi. The trio secured a residency at London's Ministry of Sound nightclub, and were asked to produce the club's first mix CD in 2010
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An intergenerational meeting of minds, Galaxy is the first collaborative EP from Meanjin, Brisbane musicians Sam Poggioli aka Sampology and Charlie Hill. Equal parts brain dance and body music, Galaxy’s seven tracks represent a vivid intermingling of 70s jazz-funk, fusion, machine-funk, Latin house and broken beat, accented by flourishes of minimalist composition. Considered as a whole, it evokes the possibility and potential of a space-age future where technology and nature exist in simpatico.
One of the most in-demand young jazz drummers in the Meanjin (Brisbane) music scene, Charlie started producing electronic music on his laptop three years ago. It was a vibe shift that hit him after several months spent immersing himself in Europe’s jazz and electronica scenes on the eve of the global coronavirus pandemic. After returning home, he approached Sam about recording some music together.
Sam, a well-travelled Australian DJ, producer and Worldwide FM radio host, was cautious about starting a new side project. However, when he heard his demos, he realised Charlie was blending rhythmic fundamentals he’d learned while completing a music degree with a beautifully wide-eyed approach to jazz-tinged electronica.
With Charlie on drums and Sam on MPC, they set about recording the songs on Galaxy, along the way discovering Sam’s mother taught Charlie visual art as a child. They also learned that Charlie’s mother plays with Sam’s father in the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, synchronicities which made their collaboration feel like it was meant to be.
As part of the Galaxy sessions, Sam and Charlie collaborated with fellow Australian vocalists Tiana Khasi and Merinda Dias-Jayasinha. On ‘Constant Call’, Tiana threads neo-soul/modern soul melodies through a backdrop that sounds like Burial on a future jazz tip. ‘Merinda’, on the other hand, sees Merinda laying a repeated Steve Riech-style vocal refrain over a man/machine instrumental accented by stargazed synths.
At the same time as they were creating Galaxy, Charlie was also busy recording his debut solo EP Yore, both of which are due for release in August 2023, respectively, through Middle Name Records.
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Formed by Alison Statton of much-loved Welsh avant-garde/indie pioneers the Young Marble Giants alongside guitarists Simon Booth and Spike, Weekend have been more than a cult band during their short career. La Varieté was their 1982 debut album a delicate collection of songs set against a jazz backdrop, switching across several musical settings including samba, cabaret, Afrobeat and truly original contemporary exotic pop. The album was originally released in 1982 on the Rough Trade label and still deserve the status of a masterpiece. It was revered by critics on release as a bold new departure from the prevailing post-punk ethos and served as a major influence on future indie stars as Saint Etienne and Belle And Sebastian.
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8 Mile – Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture (Expanded Edition) the soundtrack to Eminem’s semi-autobiographical legendary film of the same name was released 20 years ago (on 10/28) and spawned one of the biggest hits of his career, Lose Yourself, which has been certified 13x Diamond. 8 Mile is also famous for launching 50 Cent’s musical career with his first hit “Wanksta.” This new expanded edition features all of the songs from the album in an instrumental format alongside the demo version of “Lose Yourself.”
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‘’Ace Todmorden label makes a significant discovery on its own doorstep: a superb cache of ‘loner folk’ songs recorded in the early-70s by Hebden Bridge’s answer to Nick Drake’’ UNCUT PLAYLIST
"This is music that can confidently hold its own with pioneers such as Davey Graham, Michael Chapman, Bert Jansch and Jackson C Frank, as influenced by jazz, blues and steel guitar as any of the old songbook classics from ancient Albion.” Benjamin Myers
"Defiantly Northern and out of this world" Folk Radio
Anti-counter culture loner folk from a teenage attic in the heart of rural Northern hippiedom.
Today the valley town of Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire is world-renowned as something of a bohemian backwater. It wasn’t like this back in the late 1960s and the early 1970s, when a disparate selection of radicals, drop-outs, heads, musicians, artists and writers started to be attracted to the Calder Valley. Local lad and future poet laureate Ted Hughes called the area “the fouled nest of industrialisation”.
Over time, those seeds of radicalism and collectivism ensured Hebden Bridge evolved into a place where people could be themselves and all shades of individual oddness not only tolerated but actively encouraged. But back at the turn of the dreary 1970s it remained a monochrome world defined by its unforgiving surrounding landscapes, where the old gritstone over-dwellings were stained with soot and rain lashed down for weeks.
It was here that Trevor Beales, who was born in 1953, grew up, and from where he drew musical and lyrical inspiration.
Perhaps it was this dual nationality heritage, unusual in the valley’s largely white working class population at the time, that gave the teenager Trevor Beale’s music an outsider’s perspective. The discovery of Bob Dylan, Django Reinhardt, The Byrds and James Taylor at a young age, lead to him picking up a guitar at the age of ten, and he was soon writing his own originals and performing them at local (though often remote) folk clubs and pubs.
Recorded in the attic of the family home at Ivy Bank in Charlestown on the verdant wooded slopes at the edge of Hebden Bridge between 1971 and 1974, these early recordings are collected here for the first time and mark Trevor Beales long-overdue solo debut.
In these songs is a suffer-no-fools sense of realism that is defiantly Northern, yet also expresses a worldliness that belies Beales’ young years, whilst also showcasing an inherent storyteller’s ear for narrative. Here is a postcard from the past at that crucial musical period of transition, when the idealistic exponents of the 1960s emerged into an austere new decade that was to be shaped by strikes, rising unemployment and economic upheaval.
Two aspects of this music make it remarkable: Beales’ natural ability showcases a sophisticated guitar-picking style that was leagues ahead of many of his (older, more recognised) contemporaries. This is music that can confidently hold its own with pioneers such as Davey Graham, Michael Chapman, Dave Evans, Bert Jansch and Jackson C Frank, as influenced by jazz, blues and steel guitar as any of the old songbook classics from ancient Albion.
Secondly, his lyrics are a far cry from either the naïve bedroom scribblings of a teenager who has barely left his upland home, nor do they fall foul of the type of lazy cliches and sub-Tolkien imagery that was still in abundance in the early 1970s. Most remarkably the earliest songs here were laid down less than a year after he left school (an unearthed report written by his headteacher on July 3rd 1970 noted he had “a considerable ability and interest in music”, though his education ended abruptly when he simply walked out of a science lesson one sunny day while at sixth form, never to return).
Trevor’s music is grounded in reality – his reality. ‘Then I’ll Take You Home’, for example, considers the Guru Marajai, who encouraged his acolytes to give over their worldly possessions, yet who drove a Rolls Royce and lived like a playboy. Unsurprisingly, this latest in a long line of spiritual charlatans found several followers in Hebden Bridge, and Beales casts a disdainful eye over the growing popularity for such false prophets.
With its ancient narratives and propensity for myth-making, folk has certainly produced it’s fair share of cult figures who have enjoyed rediscovery or career resurgence and with this debut compilation of home recordings, rescued from cassette tapes, Trevor Beales might just be the latest addition. Certainly he was the real deal.
Crucially, Beales' music is never jaded or cynical, but instead possesses a poet’s ear, a strong sense of self and some sound critical faculties. And much of it recorded at an age when he could neither vote nor order a pint of heavy.
Trevor Beales died suddenly and unexpectedly on March 29th 1987, aged 33. He left behind Christine and their young child Lydia.
Long before today's 'rebellious' pop idols, singers Frank Sinatra,
Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. plus Actor Peter Lawford and
Comedian Joey Bishop had entered showbiz legend as the
genuinely hellraisin' Rate Pack. The handle proved a gift to
journalists chronicling the life and high times of the all-male quintet
whose leading lights were, without a doubt, three of the greatest
entertainers of the 20th Century. Captured on this 3LP compilation
album are some excellent musical memories performed at their best
King Creole was the fourth of Elvis Presley’s Hollywood movies, released in June
1958. Loosely based on Harold Robbins’ novel A Stone For Danny Fisher, about a
struggling young Boxer. Producer Hal Wallis decided it would make a perfect vehicle
for Elvis Presley, and so the lead character became a Singer instead of a Boxer, and
the whole project was promptly transformed into a musical. It’s one of the best of the
Presley soundtracks opening with the title track King Creole penned by Leiber &
Stoller, followed by R&B number Crawfish, and the contrasting Rock'n'Roll track
Dixieland Rock which is reminiscent of Jailhouse Rock. Sadly, it was to be the last
truly dramatic role Elvis was ever given, and Presley himself would always cite King
Creole as his personal favourite out of all the films he made.
Outstanding free jazz session recorded in 1973 in Paris by Chicago outfit BAG.
It was Lester Bowie, trumpeter with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, who suggested that the Black Artists' Group (BAG) should head for Paris. In 1972 several members of BAG took his advice and flew to France for an extended stay. The following year a concert featuring saxophonist Oliver Lake, trumpeters Baikida Carroll and Floyd LeFlore, drummer Charles Bobo Shaw and trombonist Joseph Bowie (Lester's younger brother) was recorded and subsequently issued as In Paris, Aries 1973, a strictly limited edition LP on the group's own label.
Since the formation of Black Artists' Group in 1968, the home of this multidisciplinary arts collective had been St Louis, Missouri, the city where the Bowie brothers had grown up. It was there that Lester Bowie had started to investigate the expanding horizons of jazz before moving, in 1966, to Chicago where he joined the recently established Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). His close friend Oliver Lake visited Bowie, attended AACM concerts and meetings and was inspired not only by their artistic vision and integrity but also by their efficient organisation. In Chicago musicians were making things happen for themselves, taking control of their own destinies and giving shape to their lives as creative artists.
In June 1969, the Art Ensemble of Chicago had taken their music to France. During the preceding decade Paris had established a reputation for audiences that were unusually well-informed and open-minded, receptive to the uncompromising music of black American innovators such as Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler and Sun Ra. The city that had nurtured not only Cubism and Surrealism, but also Jean-Luc Godard and contemporary cinema's Nouvelle Vague was well prepared for the sonic collage forms and stylistic dislocations of the Art Ensemble. During that same month violinist Leroy Jenkins, trumpeter Leo Smith and saxophonist Anthony Braxton also arrived in Paris, three further emissaries from the AACM.
The adventure of collective improvisation resonated with the Parisian zeitgeist. Enthusiastic audiences attended their concerts and coverage in the media. In Paris, Aries 1973 offers an isolated and fascinating glimpse into that phase of the group's existence. The album is dedicated to the memory of Kada Kayan, a bassist who had hoped to make the trip from St Louis to France but, tragically, had grown ill and died. His absence adds special poignancy to the sound of the bass when it appears on this recording, played by Baikida Carroll. Listeners keen to hear Kayan himself in the company of Lake, Bowie, Shaw, LeFlore and Carroll should seek out Red, Black and Green by the 10-piece Solidarity Unit, Inc. That album, recorded on 18th September 1970 and dedicated to Jimi Hendrix, who died on that day, features an earlier version of Shaw's composition 'Something to Play On.'
In Paris, Aries 1973 reveals BAG's musical affinities with the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Both groups preserved an independently minded approach to the notion of free jazz and a carefully filtered awareness of pan-African musical practices, while their creative interest in space, mobile structure, chance occurrences and simultaneity also suggests parallels with the concerns of leading experimental composers working at that time. These performances in Paris of Shaw's 'Something to Play On' and Lake's 'Re-Cre-A-Tion,' plus two collective compositions/improvisations, display the dedication to structural fluency and sensitivity to coloration that accompanied BAG's unorthodox group dynamics and their unconventional instrumental combinations. In this case the musicians embrace congas, log drums, marimbas, woodblocks, cowbells and gongs. This is not a showcase for solos, but a shape-shifting and multi-centred statement of togetherness, quest and discovery. Removed from BAG's original multidisciplinary context the music still exudes an exhilarating spirit of collaborative exploration and shared excitement.
Prinz & Prinz is one of the most mysterious bands from 1980s Austria. It remains unknown who the two of them actually were. Their music has never been sold in shops, either. It only appeared on one of the obscure Youngers of Vienna-compilations, which were the outcome of a local band contest. If this was a one-off project, it certainly was a brilliant one. The first song on this 7“, “Kleine Segelschiffe” (little sailboats), does everything right in combining reggae rhythms and German vocals. The second track, “Einsamkeit” (loneliness), is a weird, organic lo-fi disco tune that amounts to the best Austrian take on Philly disco we have heard yet. Neither of the pieces disappoints. Both will make you want to find out more about Prinz & Prinz.
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Robocop Kraus wurden 1998 in Hersbruck, Deutschland, gegründet. Sie haben mehr als 800 Shows in Clubs, Kneipen, Konzerthallen und auf Festivalbühnen in ganz Europa, in den USA, Großbritannien, Japan und Russland gespielt. Sie haben 5 Alben auf L'Age d'Or, Epitaph, Anti und Day After Records veröffentlicht.
Robocop Kraus sind zurück! „Smile“ heißt das erste neue Album der „Robos“ seit unglaublichen 15 Jahren. Produziert wurde das Ganze von Jan Philipp Janzen (Die Sterne, von Spar etc.) und es klingt wie ... tja … unverkennbar nach Robocop Kraus! Können wir das ein für alle Mal festhalten, dass die Band, die wahlweise als deutsche „The Make Up / Franz Ferdinand / Talking Heads / The Rapture / Devo“ bezeichnet wurden, einfach einen ganz eigenen Sound haben? Das muss man erstmal schaffen. Apropos Schaffen? Wie haben wir das eigentlich so lange ohne Robocop Kraus ausgehalten? Und wie kann es sein, dass die Band 25 Jahre nach ihrer ersten Show in einem Hersbrucker Jugendzentrum nun das beste Alben ihrer Karriere veröffentlicht? Ein Album, das an einer komplett erfolgsoptimierten, blutleeren Indieszene vorbei auch eines der erfrischendsten Alben des Jahres 2023 sein wird?
Robocop Kraus wurden 1998 in Hersbruck, Deutschland, gegründet. Sie haben mehr als 800 Shows in Clubs, Kneipen, Konzerthallen und auf Festivalbühnen in ganz Europa, in den USA, Großbritannien, Japan und Russland gespielt. Sie haben 5 Alben auf L'Age d'Or, Epitaph, Anti und Day After Records veröffentlicht.
Robocop Kraus sind zurück! „Smile“ heißt das erste neue Album der „Robos“ seit unglaublichen 15 Jahren. Produziert wurde das Ganze von Jan Philipp Janzen (Die Sterne, von Spar etc.) und es klingt wie ... tja … unverkennbar nach Robocop Kraus! Können wir das ein für alle Mal festhalten, dass die Band, die wahlweise als deutsche „The Make Up / Franz Ferdinand / Talking Heads / The Rapture / Devo“ bezeichnet wurden, einfach einen ganz eigenen Sound haben? Das muss man erstmal schaffen. Apropos Schaffen? Wie haben wir das eigentlich so lange ohne Robocop Kraus ausgehalten? Und wie kann es sein, dass die Band 25 Jahre nach ihrer ersten Show in einem Hersbrucker Jugendzentrum nun das beste Alben ihrer Karriere veröffentlicht? Ein Album, das an einer komplett erfolgsoptimierten, blutleeren Indieszene vorbei auch eines der erfrischendsten Alben des Jahres 2023 sein wird?
Als Thes Ones langjähriger musikalischer Partner bei People Under The Stairs 2021 plötzlich starb, wandte er sich nach innen, um ein Werk über Trauer, Verlust und Erlösung zu schaffen. In dieser ehrgeizigen instrumentalen Elegie erzählt Thes One die Geschichte ihres gemeinsamen Lebens, indem er Double Ks Lieblingssongs in einem dicht geschichteten Mosaik aus Jazz, Beats und Psychedelia covert. Mit einer Besetzung aus renommierten Musikern aus der ganzen Welt Kat 010, Headnodic, Mikhail Galkin, Paul 'Chop' Caruso und Saint Ezekiel ist diese letzte Fußnote sowohl ein Abschiedsgeschenk an die Fans als auch ein Liebesbrief an einen verlorenen Freund.