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Lucky number 17? You better believe it. We here at Brown Acid have been scouring the highways and byways of America for even more hidden stashes of psych/garage/proto-punk madness from the so-called Aquarian Age. There’s no flower power here, though—just acid casualties, rock stompers and major freakouts. As always, the songs have been officially licensed, and all the artists get paid. Kicking off this trip, Grapple’s “Ethereal Genesis” is a heavy psych gem from 1969 written by J. Bruce Svoboda, a.k.a. Jay Bruce, formerly of The Hangmen and The Five Canadians (who were actually the same San Antonio band). The latter’s 1966 garage favorite “Writing on the Wall” has been endlessly covered, but Grapple were never heard from again. With a guitar riff that blatantly rips off Sabbath’s “Black Sabbath,” Image’s mostly instrumental lysergic obscurity “Witchcraft ’71” (originally unveiled that very year) also boasts a horror-movie organ intro, a voodoo drum break and some championship chanting. Private press heads might recall late Image drummer John Beke from his ’80s reemergence with country rockers Crossfyre. Stone Hedge were a seven-piece rock band out of Michigan with a penchant for Creedence and anthropomorphism. “Smokey Bear” is their 1972 tribute to the official mascot of the U.S. Forest Services—not to mention the A side of their sole single—and it recalls the kind of organ-drenched swamp jam that soundtracked many a Burt Reynolds flick back in the day. If you think being a Southern rock band from Milwaukee doesn’t make much sense, that’s probably why Crossfire changed their sound along with their name—to Bad Boy—after signing with United Artists. Bad Boy’s severely underappreciated second album, Back To Back, is a 1978 hard rock jewel, but you can hear their boogie-woogie roots on this rare 1975 single. With a band name like Primevil and song title like “Too Dead To Live,” you probably expect some gnarly proto-metal riffage. Instead, you a get a harmonica-drenched, soul-infused rock rave-up from 1972. Primevil would release their sole LP two years later: Entitled Smokin’ Bats at Campton’s, it’s a reference to their trusty singer, harp player (and bat smoker?), Dave Campton. Brown Acid regulars already know Pegasus from their appearance with “The Sorcerer” on our Seventh Trip. “Ready to Rave” is the flipside to that 1972 single, in which they explain how they like their whiskey cold and their women hot. It’s another killer glimpse of what might have been if these one-and-done Baltimore hard rockers had been able to keep it together. One of two obscure singles released by Texas musician Bobby Mabe in 1969 (the other appears under the name The Outcasts), “I’m Lonely” delivers a heavy dose of vocal soul to the otherwise psych-garage presentation. Fans of fellow Houstonians the Moving Sidewalks—whom Bobby and his Outcasts may well have gigged with—will especially dig this one. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, may not be known as a cultural mecca, but they did give us Truth & Janey. This deadly hard rock trio delivered their holy grail full-length, No Rest for the Wicked, back in 1976. “Around and Around” is a Chuck Berry cover that originally appeared on a 1973 single the band released under the earlier name Truth. Originally released in 1973, “High School Letter” is the debut single from San Diego rock squad Glory. This infectious bonehead cruncher features future Beat Farmer Jerry Raney and the original rhythm section of Iron Butterfly in bassist Greg Willis and drummer Jack Pinney. Glory is what they got up to after their former bandmates left for L.A.’s garden of Eden. “Jack the Ripper” is a mercilessly bootlegged Cleveland classic from 1978 with a serrated punk edge and vocals that recall Mick Blood of Aussie savages the Lime Spiders. Or maybe it’s the other way around—the Lime Spiders formed the year after Strychnine carved off this lethal paean to the infamous Whitechapel slasher of olde.

Rob Mello really needs no introduction, but you're getting one anyway.

Rob has been instrumental in putting UK House music on the map since the early 90's. Numerous legendary projects and collaborations, including the enormous Disco Elements series with Zaki Dee, Reel Houze & the exceptional, way-ahead-of-their-time psychedelic Disco / House jams via Sensory Productions, not forgetting his later, superb work for Classic.

Oh and did we forget Black Science Orchestra ?
Yeah, he was there too.

We helped out with some of Rob's early noughties DISCO45 releases (still sound absolutely amazing)
As well as the slo-mo sleaze (and a secret weapon) of Beulah Heights.

So what do we have here ?

Rob revives his No Ears moniker for a duo of perfectly crafted dancefloor delights.
Pieced together with diligence and more than a little trademark Mello funk, this is up there with his best work.

House hero, master craftsman and absolute gentleman.
Get on it !

After an international tour, the multi-instrumentalist FKJ presents his new 6-tracker jazz EP : Ylang Ylang

Produced in an intimate context, the project, both bright and melancholic, is a real journey within the artist's time capsule.

Its numerous instruments - often accompanied by warm choruses - between apotheosis and rhythmic lull, tell the different parts of his life. Story of musical and familial love, loneliness and passing time, this project spotlights his name, coming from a soothing local flower.

Full of influences, there is Bas - the first rapper signed on Dreamville, label created by J.Cole - on the single "Risk", which deals with similar themes. French Kiwi Juice introduces us to a sweet orchestral ballad. Finally, between gratitude and lightness, he states "I am still the same".

'In 1972, trumpeter Baikida Carroll and some of his colleagues from the Black Artists Group (more precisely saxophonist/flutist Oliver Lake, trombonist Joseph Bowie, drummer Charles "Bobo" Shaw and trumpeter Floyd LeFlore) took the advice of their friends in the Art Ensemble Of Chicago and left their native Missouri to come and discover the bright lights of Paris for themselves. The following year they would even get the chance to record their only album which would rapidly attain mythical status and a collector’s item: “In Paris, Aries 1973”.

Therefore, it was not surprising that they crossed paths with Jef Gilson in the capital. He was always on the lookout for new artists for his recently formed Palm label and had been active on many fronts in jazz since the end of the 50s. The French bandleader / pianist / composer / sound engineer had already recorded, in the preceding months other American musicians who would go on to have great careers: Byard Lancaster, Keno Speller, Clint Jackson III, Khan Jamal... Gilson therefore offered Baikida Carroll the chance to record his first album under his own name, which would be the 13th release on the label. Carroll logically asked Oliver Lake to join him. He also recruited Manuel Villaroel, a young Franco-Chilien pianist from the group Matchi-Oul, who had already released an album on Futura in 1971 and would release another on Palm in 1976. The group was completed with the addition of Brazilian percussionist Naná Vasconcelos, who had just released a well-received album on the Saravah label. They were ready to enter the studio for the 3rd, 4th and 5th June 1974.

The first side of the album is divided into two long tracks which send free jazz back to its long-lost African roots. The opener “Orange Fish Tears” indeed rolls out a jungle of percussion of all sorts and sizes -the whole group is involved- which weave and mix together reaching a point where all bearings are lost, lending a sense of wonder to the majestic entry of the brass and woodwinds, flying suddenly out from the undergrowth. “Forest Scorpion” (sic) is a real voodoo ceremony where a venomous percussive groove backs the fiery solos from keyboards and saxophone in a furious trance. A warning; after these two tracks listeners are physically and emotionally wiped out!

The other side is more introspective. Deliberately using dissonance and repetition, “Rue Roger” -the only composition by Oliver Lake- in a long dialogue between trumpet and saxophone, could almost remind us of Terry Riley in his favourite ballpark. “Porte D'Orléans”, the fourth and final track on the album, has the group back to their old tricks in a long hallucinatory jam which owes as much to the contemporary music of György Ligeti as to the most angst-ridden Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack music (remember the heavy chords which beat through “Planet of the Apes»).

With these two sides, and in under 45m, Baikida Carroll and his musicians show just what they can do, from cerebral to charnel without ever simplifying things. This is an essential album if you are a fan of free-wheeling avant-garde music from the Art Ensemble of Chicago to Sonic Youth and including Shabaka Hutchings and Rob Mazurek. For those with good taste, in other words.'

Kikagaku Moyo 1st self-titled album reissue. Originally released by Cosmic Eye Records in Sep 2013. Kikagaku Moyo's debut album exerts an elemental power. Enlivening their sound with sitars, percussive drums, theremins, wind instruments and ethereal vocals, the band manages to sound powerfully spacious and lazily serene all at once. Their songs can be light as air, or heavy as earth. comes with digital download

Many evolve out of intense experiences of engagement with the natural world. The album’s first track, “Can You Imagine Nothing?” was written over a night spent jamming on a suspended footbridge in remote mountains. As the song progressed the bridge began to sway, making band members feel as though they were floating weightless in midair.

Stix Records, a sub-label of Favorite Recordings, proudly presents Disco Reggae Vol. 5, pursuing the highly acclaimed series started 10 years ago.

Birth land of the Reggae music, Jamaica has also always been fed by Soul, Funk, R&B and Pop music from the US scene, delivering some of the best covers anyone could think of. With it’s Disco Reggae series, Stix Records therefore simply carried on this tradition, offering new versions of classic songs from a wide spectrum of musical styles.

On this 5th edition, the list extend to famous name such as The Undertones, Bobby Caldwell, Cerrone, Patti LaBelle, or Ray Parker Jr. to name a few. At the control to tailor these hits with new and exclusive Reggae suits, you’ll find the best producers from the Stix’ roster like Soul Sugar aka Booker Gee, Taggy Matcher, Simon Nyabinghi, or Mato.

Together they signed again a perfect soundtrack to extend your summer and fill your playlists, whether to light the dancefloors or just sip a nice cocktail facing the Negril’s sunset!

Keita Sano is a prolific Japanese producer who has released on revered labels such as Mister Saturday Night, Lets Play House, Morris Audio and 1080P. His fusion of dark, distorted, acidic textures and crunchy disco beats gives his produc tions a unique sound which works perfectly for Delusions Of Grandeur and the label is proud to welcome him for his debut DOG EP entitled Love Is Emotion.

The title track comes on like a proverbial runaway train with heavy, pounding beats and bassline forging things ahead while the most twisted, tripped out FX rise and fall creating an absolute juggernaut of a track which takes no prisoners. A decept ively simple DJ tool which is loaded with drama for maximum impact on the more left of centre dance floors.

Up next we have Violet which takes a low-slung deep house approach but with the grit and dirt that Keita always brings to the party. The first half of the track teases with tension-building chords and syncopated bassline which bounces around a massive four on the floor kick drum. Things fall away in the middle of the track to reveal a beautiful, heartwarming piano part, setting the scene before things get truly epic with orchestral strings bringing a touch of the film noir to proceedings.

I’m A Man picks up the pace again for an intense acid work out which pushes the sonic boundaries to the limits with seriously warped FX creating mayhem around a simple, percussive disco groove. As secret weapon DJ tools go, this is right up there.

Closing out this mind-bending release Keita remains in experimental mode on Love Is Emotion offsetting melodic arpeggios and sweet chords with off-kilter sonic madness ensuring things remain dark, dirty and deep.

Through evocative, emotionally resonant music, Goodbye, Hotel Arkada , the new LP from American harpist and composer Mary Lattimore , speaks not just for its beloved namesake _ a hotel in Croatia facing renovation _ but for a universal loss that is shared. Six sprawling pieces shaped by change; nothing will ever be the same, and here, the artist, evolving in synthesis, celebrates and mourns the tragedy and beauty of the ephem - eral, all that is lived and lost to time. Documented and edited in uncharacteristically measured sessions over the course of two years, the material remains rooted in improvisation while glistening as the most refined and robust in Lattimore's decade-long catalog. It finds her communing with friends, contemporaries, and longtime influences, in full stride yet slow - ing down to nurture songs in new ways. The cast includes Lol Tolhurst (The Cure), Meg Baird, Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), Roy Montgomery, Samara Lubelski, and Walt McClements . "When I think of these songs, I think about fading flowers in vases, melted candles, getting older, being on tour and having things change while you're away, not realizing how ephemeral experiences are until they don't happen anymore, fear for a planet we're losing because of greed, an ode to art and music that's really shaped your life that can transport you back in time, longing to maintain sensitivity and to not sink into hollow despondency." For the title and inspiration, Lattimore's mind returns to the island of Hvar in Croatia, where she first saw those silver ladders at the water's edge. "There's a big old hotel there called the Hotel Arkada, and you could tell it had been hosting holiday-goers for decades in a great way. I walked around the lobby and the empty ballrooms and it looked like a well-worn, well-loved place. My friend Stacey who lives there told me to `say goodbye to Hotel Arkada, it might not be here when you get back' and I heard soon after that it was actually going to be renovated in a very crisp, modern way." Lattimore became fixated on the ingredients that make a place special _ for Hotel Arkada, the patinaed chandeliers, the patterned bedspreads, the echoes of its intangible charm _ and how when those leave this world, as they inevitably always will, it feels import - ant to memorialize them, "to bottle it for a brief second.

Through evocative, emotionally resonant music, Goodbye, Hotel Arkada , the new LP from American harpist and composer Mary Lattimore , speaks not just for its beloved namesake _ a hotel in Croatia facing renovation _ but for a universal loss that is shared. Six sprawling pieces shaped by change; nothing will ever be the same, and here, the artist, evolving in synthesis, celebrates and mourns the tragedy and beauty of the ephem - eral, all that is lived and lost to time. Documented and edited in uncharacteristically measured sessions over the course of two years, the material remains rooted in improvisation while glistening as the most refined and robust in Lattimore's decade-long catalog. It finds her communing with friends, contemporaries, and longtime influences, in full stride yet slow - ing down to nurture songs in new ways. The cast includes Lol Tolhurst (The Cure), Meg Baird, Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), Roy Montgomery, Samara Lubelski, and Walt McClements . "When I think of these songs, I think about fading flowers in vases, melted candles, getting older, being on tour and having things change while you're away, not realizing how ephemeral experiences are until they don't happen anymore, fear for a planet we're losing because of greed, an ode to art and music that's really shaped your life that can transport you back in time, longing to maintain sensitivity and to not sink into hollow despondency." For the title and inspiration, Lattimore's mind returns to the island of Hvar in Croatia, where she first saw those silver ladders at the water's edge. "There's a big old hotel there called the Hotel Arkada, and you could tell it had been hosting holiday-goers for decades in a great way. I walked around the lobby and the empty ballrooms and it looked like a well-worn, well-loved place. My friend Stacey who lives there told me to `say goodbye to Hotel Arkada, it might not be here when you get back' and I heard soon after that it was actually going to be renovated in a very crisp, modern way." Lattimore became fixated on the ingredients that make a place special _ for Hotel Arkada, the patinaed chandeliers, the patterned bedspreads, the echoes of its intangible charm _ and how when those leave this world, as they inevitably always will, it feels import - ant to memorialize them, "to bottle it for a brief second.

Through evocative, emotionally resonant music, Goodbye, Hotel Arkada , the new LP from American harpist and composer Mary Lattimore , speaks not just for its beloved namesake _ a hotel in Croatia facing renovation _ but for a universal loss that is shared. Six sprawling pieces shaped by change; nothing will ever be the same, and here, the artist, evolving in synthesis, celebrates and mourns the tragedy and beauty of the ephem - eral, all that is lived and lost to time. Documented and edited in uncharacteristically measured sessions over the course of two years, the material remains rooted in improvisation while glistening as the most refined and robust in Lattimore's decade-long catalog. It finds her communing with friends, contemporaries, and longtime influences, in full stride yet slow - ing down to nurture songs in new ways. The cast includes Lol Tolhurst (The Cure), Meg Baird, Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), Roy Montgomery, Samara Lubelski, and Walt McClements . "When I think of these songs, I think about fading flowers in vases, melted candles, getting older, being on tour and having things change while you're away, not realizing how ephemeral experiences are until they don't happen anymore, fear for a planet we're losing because of greed, an ode to art and music that's really shaped your life that can transport you back in time, longing to maintain sensitivity and to not sink into hollow despondency." For the title and inspiration, Lattimore's mind returns to the island of Hvar in Croatia, where she first saw those silver ladders at the water's edge. "There's a big old hotel there called the Hotel Arkada, and you could tell it had been hosting holiday-goers for decades in a great way. I walked around the lobby and the empty ballrooms and it looked like a well-worn, well-loved place. My friend Stacey who lives there told me to `say goodbye to Hotel Arkada, it might not be here when you get back' and I heard soon after that it was actually going to be renovated in a very crisp, modern way." Lattimore became fixated on the ingredients that make a place special _ for Hotel Arkada, the patinaed chandeliers, the patterned bedspreads, the echoes of its intangible charm _ and how when those leave this world, as they inevitably always will, it feels import - ant to memorialize them, "to bottle it for a brief second.

Alien Transistor is proud to announce a reissue of Such December, the fourth album by Japanese indie folk-pop artist, Gratin Carnival. Listeners might already know Gratin Carnival from their appearance on the Alien Parade Japan compilation of indie pop groups working with brass and woodwind; compiled by Markus Acher of The Notwist and Saya of Tenniscoats, it introduced this beautiful genre to the wider world. Gratin Carnival’s “Just Watching” was one of the many highlights of that compilation, and its gentle bossa-folk glide reappears on Such December.

Originally released in 2020, Such December captures beautifully the happy-sad charm of Gratin Carnival. The project of Koreyuki Mitsunaga, Gratin Carnival started in 2011; Mitsunaga had been home recording for some time and decided on the name as an umbrella for his music-making. Mitsunaga’s main instruments are guitar, which he uses to great effect throughout, his gorgeous acoustic playing reminiscent of players like Ueno Takashi of Tenniscoats or João Gilberto, and alto saxophone and clarinet. Those three instruments make up the core of Gratin Carnival’s sound, along with Mitsunaga’s charmingly doleful singing.

Recording at his parents’ home, with a four-track cassette recorder and a MacBook, Mitsunaga created Such December during 2020, though the songs on it stretch back to 2016. The closing “On The Train” was the first song written for the album – “a song about a small trip,” Mitsunaga recalls – and from there, he built a beautiful collection of songs that sit together perfectly. There’s great clarity in Mitsunaga’s writing, with nothing extraneous getting in the way of the lucid arrangements and gorgeous melodies; there’s something of chamber jazz about it at times, so it’s no surprise that Mitsunaga shares his love of Benny Goodman’s small group playing.

He's also a fan of Japanese folk artists like Kenji Endo and Kyouzou Nishioka, and grew up listening to Japanese popular music, The Beatles, and The Carpenters. You can hear trace elements of all this in Such December, in the clear-headedness of the melodic decisions made by Mitsunaga, and the quiet charm of the song’s gentle arrangements. They take on different shapes live, too, where Mitsunaga often invites other musicians to join in – his live band currently includes Masafumi Ezaki (trumpet), Nahoko Kamei (bass clarinet, piano, keyboards) and Tadashi Yonago (trombone, self-made instruments).

As with plenty of musicians from the Japanese underground, Mitsunaga is involved in other music, too – he’s been working with The Otoasobi Project, which performs music in collaboration with individuals with learning disabilities, and their families; and he’s also involved in improvised music. With Such December, though, you get to hear Mitsunaga’s music at its most personal and individual, ten songs of still, gorgeously poised indie folk-pop, where the swooning clang of six strings meets the breathy bliss of woodwind and brass.

Broken District presents a new white series aimed explicitly at the dancefloor with a distinctive UK influences, welcoming French duo Thermal and label co-founder Jus Jam for the first EP in the series.

File under : Dub / Reggea / Electro. Chinese Man records celebrate its 10 years anniversary and release a new volume of the Groove sessions. Featuring Tumi, La Yegros, Johnny Osbourne, Lush One among others... Video 1st Single: Once Upton the Time feat Tumi:

If you were to ask for a defining Habibi Funk track, there are a few that come to mind: from Fadoul’s “Sid Redad,” Dalton’s “Soul Brother” to Ahmed Malek’s “Omar Gatlato.” However, none are as widely connected with us at this point as Hamid Al Shaeri’s “Ayonha.” We heard the track for the first time when we were working on selecting tracks for your first compilation and we instantly loved it. We obviously had heard of Hamid El Shaeri’s music before, but only material from his Al Jeel phase when he was already the full-blown
superstar he is now.

Listening to his releases from the early 1980’s opened a whole new door for us. At the time, Hamid had just left Libya to pursue his career in Egypt via a detour in London, where he recorded his
first album. Hamid’s distinct sound of the sound is quintessentially reliant on heavy synths and so it was particularly important to purchase these synths in a timely manner. “Whenever a new one synthesizer would come out, we would have to buy it immediately, otherwise someone else would get their hands on that sound.” London also played an important role for Hamid as a musical epicenter.

He fondly reminisces about the many live shows he attended there, including some of the biggest international musicians like Freddie Mercury and Michael Jackson. After returning to Cairo where he also recorded his following albums, he connected with SLAM! for the
release of his debut, laying the foundation of a collaboration that lasted for 5 albums. Luckily, we were able to connect with Hamid through our friend Youssra El Hawary, whose extensive network has opened many doors for us within the Egyptian music scene. We met Hamid for the first time probably in 2016 at his office / rehearsal studio in the outskirts Cairo. We were expecting a larger-than-life
character in-line with his status as a certified superstar, yet the actual person turned out to be very approachable and super easy to connect with. He liked the idea of an effort to amplify his early works again,
which, when originally released, were far from an economic success.

While he was down to assist with an interview and his blessing for the project he also told us that for any license we needed to speak with the original label SLAM! who released these songs, still held the rights and also remained in business over the decades though they didn’t actively release any new music. Hany Sabet had started SLAM! records in the early 1980s and focused on cassette tape releases, the
format that expedited the success of a new generation of record labels in Egypt. By the mid 1980’s, SLAM! had become one of the most successful and economically dominant record labels in Egypt, with Hamid El Shaeri being just one of their key artists, alongside Mohamed Mounir, Hanan, Hakim, Mustafa Amar and many more. Luckily, Hany Sabet turned out to be a friend of our colleague Malak Makar’s father, which probably helped to warm him to the idea of licen- sing “Ayonha” to this - in the scale of his world - tiny label
from Germany. Eventually “Ayonha” ended up becoming a widely successful release and either Hany or we brought up the idea of a full album dedicated to Hamid El Shaeri’s work on SLAM!.


"Maktoub Aleina” is the first single and will be released January 14th. Following the massive success of "Ayonha,” “Maktoub Aleina” is another mid-tempo groover with a beautiful, synth-forward melody, that brings together a lovely combination of soul, disco and Arabic pop music of the highest order, giving a taste of full album. The second single, “Yekfini Nesma Sotak” will be released January 28th and combines Hamid’s unique formula of soul and pop, held together by a catchy synth melody. “Yekfini Nesma Sotak” picks up the
pace a bit, making the uplifting mood of the track even more powerful. Third single, arriving February 11th, is “Dari Demou’ek,” one of the stand out tracks of Hamid’s early recordings done for SLAM! in the early 1980s. Dominated by a disco infused bassline, the track offers a lot of space of the funky production to shine while Hamid inserts his vocals at all the right moments. A masterpiece of disco touched by Arabic pop music.

Full album arrives February 25th. This release is dedicated to Hany Sabet, the founder of SLAM! and his wife Rosemary Jane Sabet (who
took the photos we used for the cover and the booklet), who sadly passed away during the time it took us to prepare the release.
Vinyl comes with an extensive booklet with an interview with Hamid as well as unseen photos

Chicago"s Axis: Sova hit the beaches of southern California with Ty Segall to make a total hi-fi classic. Often feral and consistently catchy, Blinded By Oblivion is lit up with interlocking drum kit + drum machine, adventuresome guitar, bass, and harmonic vocals on every song. Icy lyrical perspectives, rendered in a sunshiny natural paradise, transmit the fun and fraud of human polarities with urgency and an occasional eye roll. Making for an undeniably good/bad time, streamlined and more reflexibly physical than previously known, Blinded By Oblivion begs the universe to bring back rock and roll radio. All the elements are there: compassion for our collective fallibility, rebuke on the tip of the tongue, all rolled tight with hook-laden, high-energy construction. "Bout halfway through Blinded By Oblivion, we hear Sova say, "I think my heart is made of metal." Yuuuup. But we"d argue there"s at least a ventricle or two made of post punk! And with vena cavae split between psych and southern boogie. And cardiac veins of glam, power pop, and punk Sometimes the heart is simply filled with sweet melody - so man, the beats of this metallic muscle are insane!

Chicago"s Axis: Sova hit the beaches of southern California with Ty Segall to make a total hi-fi classic. Often feral and consistently catchy, Blinded By Oblivion is lit up with interlocking drum kit + drum machine, adventuresome guitar, bass, and harmonic vocals on every song. Icy lyrical perspectives, rendered in a sunshiny natural paradise, transmit the fun and fraud of human polarities with urgency and an occasional eye roll. Making for an undeniably good/bad time, streamlined and more reflexibly physical than previously known, Blinded By Oblivion begs the universe to bring back rock and roll radio. All the elements are there: compassion for our collective fallibility, rebuke on the tip of the tongue, all rolled tight with hook-laden, high-energy construction. "Bout halfway through Blinded By Oblivion, we hear Sova say, "I think my heart is made of metal." Yuuuup. But we"d argue there"s at least a ventricle or two made of post punk! And with vena cavae split between psych and southern boogie. And cardiac veins of glam, power pop, and punk Sometimes the heart is simply filled with sweet melody - so man, the beats of this metallic muscle are insane!

The Mapendo album of the Mighty Cavaliers, up to today, has been shrouded in mystery. If you look at the original cover of this very rare Kenyan funk-infused album all you will find are the names of the engineer and the producer, as EMI Kenya omitted the names of the musicians and the songwriters. Digging deeper a rather sinister story of deceit develops whereby Mapendo becomes symbolic for all what was wrong about the Kenyan record industry in the 1970s, and the music industry in Africa as a whole. As this maltreatment of artists proved endemic throughout the continent, although little talked about.

One of the three surviving members of the Mighty Cavaliers, bass player Bonnie Wanda - who started his career in 1971 with Gloria Africana - vividly remembers participating in the recording of the two albums the band made in 1976 and 1977 - Fisherman and Mapendo - and how they, especially on the last album, got short-changed by shrewd record label executives. In the 1960s it was mostly Indian and European record bosses that called the shots and usually gave musicians the chance of a one-off payment for their session time and recorded songs or wait for - hopefully - a generous royalty check. In most cases records didn't sell more than a thousand copies with an occasional hit selling in the tens of thousands, so musicians were reluctant to register themselves with the Music Copyright Society of Kenya. Although without doing so one couldn't receive royalties.

'For two years the Mighty Cavaliers performed five nights a week at the Starlight Club for five hour sets.

The re-release of Mapendo, the first of the German Want Some Records label, is another exciting puzzle piece in the tapestry of groovy Kenyan music. It proves that there are still great gems out there to be re-discovered for audiences worldwide.

Text written by Michiel van Oosterhout

This Album is dedicated to the musicians
Bonnie Wanda, Rashid Salim, Vuli Yeni, Juma Waweru Njuguna and Athmani 'guitar boy'."

Limited Loser Edition on Mustard Yellow vinyl. In 1988 Mudhoney released their debut 7" single, "Touch Me I'm Sick," and it rapidly became the defining anthem of the Seattle scene that, shortly thereafter, took the world by storm. Punk? Garage? G****e? Who cares when it rips this much! The B side, "Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More," ain't no slouch, either. Later in 1988, the band followed up with Superfuzz Bigmuff, a six-song EP so overflowing with chaotic rock energy it warped thousands of minds, and inspired countless guitarists to immediately search for the titular fuzz pedals. In the words of Dynamite Hemmorage's Jay Hinman: "My feeling - and I know I'm not alone in this one - is that for all the play and worldwide attention several Seattle-area bands got during the 1988-92 period, at the end of the day (and even at the time), there was Mudhoney - and then there was everybody else. To me, you, and most everyone who was paying close attention to underground rock music during those years, Mudhoney still sound like the undisputed kingpins of roaring, surging, fuzzed-out, punk rock music. These first recordings were so life-affirming upon their release, connecting everything great about the sixties (biker movies, fuzzboxes, old guitars, three-minute songs) with the frothing, punk rock of the early 80s, that a whole new style of music was born. They called it grunge, but to me it was amped-up, clear-the-room, ramalama rock that exploded like Nagasaki live, and it was about as joyous and as fun a noise as anyone'd heard in years." These 2023 colored-vinyl editions of the two releases celebrate the 35th anniversary of Mudhoney's opening salvos, and we couldn't be more excited to have them back in print.

The 1990 debut album from Pale Saints, The Comforts of Madness, is an outstanding record that owed as much to post-punk and L.A."s Paisley Underground scene than it did to shoegaze. The Sunday Times called it "an unintended indie manifesto: music that is at once wayward and concise, dissonant and beautiful." Shortly after its release and in need of a second live guitarist, Lush founding member Meriel Barham joined the Leeds trio of Ian Masters, Graeme Naysmith and Chris Cooper, bringing a new dynamic to the band. Having previously worked well with producer Hugh Jones (Echo & The Bunnyman, Modern English, The Sound), he did a brilliant job recording their second album, In Ribbons (1992), despite some studio tensions. Brooklyn Vegan said in a recent celebration of the album that it was the "push and pull between Masters" outsider tendencies and (the rest"s) commercial interests that makes In Ribbons so good. If some of the wild, ragged edges of Comforts of Madness have been smoothed off, the album makes up for it with scope and beauty. And there"s still no shortage of weird." Missing its original release date last year due to Covid delays and a production plant in meltdown, In Ribbons is finally getting the 30th Anniversary celebration it deserves with a special double LP / CD release - the first disc being the UK version of the album, the second a bonus disc of never before heard demos (including their first attempt at Slapp Happy"s "Blue Flower" and Ian"s 4 track recording of "Kinky Love") and two brass band versions by The Tintwistle Band.

The 1990 debut album from Pale Saints, The Comforts of Madness, is an outstanding record that owed as much to post-punk and L.A."s Paisley Underground scene than it did to shoegaze. The Sunday Times called it "an unintended indie manifesto: music that is at once wayward and concise, dissonant and beautiful." Shortly after its release and in need of a second live guitarist, Lush founding member Meriel Barham joined the Leeds trio of Ian Masters, Graeme Naysmith and Chris Cooper, bringing a new dynamic to the band. Having previously worked well with producer Hugh Jones (Echo & The Bunnyman, Modern English, The Sound), he did a brilliant job recording their second album, In Ribbons (1992), despite some studio tensions. Brooklyn Vegan said in a recent celebration of the album that it was the "push and pull between Masters" outsider tendencies and (the rest"s) commercial interests that makes In Ribbons so good. If some of the wild, ragged edges of Comforts of Madness have been smoothed off, the album makes up for it with scope and beauty. And there"s still no shortage of weird." Missing its original release date last year due to Covid delays and a production plant in meltdown, In Ribbons is finally getting the 30th Anniversary celebration it deserves with a special double LP / CD release - the first disc being the UK version of the album, the second a bonus disc of never before heard demos (including their first attempt at Slapp Happy"s "Blue Flower" and Ian"s 4 track recording of "Kinky Love") and two brass band versions by The Tintwistle Band.

Eine der dienstältesten, deutschen Oi-Punk Bands feiert ihr Jubiläum mit einem brandneuem Album… eigentlich haben sie es knapp verpasst: 41 Jahre HERBÄRDS, da darf man sich zurecht als "Alte Strassenköter" bezeichnen. 1982 gegründet, veröffentlichen die Stuttgarter mit "Eu se Bois" ihr Debutalbum, was zurecht bis heute als ungehobeltes, rotzfreches Kultalbum gilt. Das Nachfolgewerk "Wakos" bekam vom Label das Branding "German Oi Attacke" und nach einem schwerem Motorradunfall von Sänger "TEK" löste sich die Band auf, um kurz vor der Jahrtausendwende mit dem dritten Album "Wir sind zurück" reanimiert zu werden. 2017 dann ein neues Kapitel mit der Buchpräsentation und Ausstellung "Wie der Punk nach Stuttgart kam" und ein neues Lebenszeichen mit der Mini-LP "Oi! Oi! Oi!". Musikalisch "Back to the roots", begleitet von vielen Konzert- und Festivalauftritten, schrieben die Herbärds dann die neue offizielle Hymne des Eishockey-Teams "Stuttgart Rebels". "Alte Strassenköter" vereint alles, was diese Band ausmacht: Oi!-Punk der alten Schule, Texte direkt aus dem Bauch, der Szene und dem bewegten Leben…von Parole Spaß ohne Zeigefinger ("Rebels" / "Fußball Liebe") …mal fast als Selbsttherapie verpackte Hymnen wie ("Punk ist meine Therapie" / "Krüppel") …bis hin zu eindeutigem Klartext: ("Fass mich nicht an" / "Verraten und verkauft") . Und mit dem Offbeat versetztem Partyhit "Alte Männer tanzen nicht" beweisen sie genau das Gegenteil. Die HERBÄRDS sind sich selbst über die Jahrzehnte und ihren Fans gegenüber treu geblieben, ohne auf Trends oder den großen Markt zu schielen. Wenn Du eine der authentischsten, deutschen Oi!-Punk-Bands mit Rückgrat und klarer Kante hören willst und dabei auch noch jede Menge großartiger Szenehymnen, dann ist das ein klarer Anwärter für Deinen Plattenschrank.

• Latin Freestyle was a dizzying, passionate, ultra-modern music. It was the aural equivalent of a can of thirst-quenching Quatro or a Spanish Harlem dance-off, and it became the electronically constructed bridge between disco and house.

• Freestyle grew out of the electro sound of the early 80s, combined clean staccato rhythms with morse code synth hooks, and topped them off with emotive, usually female, frequently Latina vocals. There was plenty more going on besides: proto-house piano lines, Cuban percussion, high emotion and synth hooks to die for.

• Put together and annotated by Bob Stanley (who also compiled the acclaimed “The Daisy Age” and “Fell From The Sun”), “Latin Freestyle” is the first compilation to cover the whole gamut of Freestyle from its early 80s breakthrough to its early 90s revival. So many classics… Lisa Lisa made the UK top ten with the 808 joy of ‘I Wonder If I Take You Home’. Stacey Q’s cosmically great ‘Two Of Hearts’ came out in 1986, while 1987 saw the likes of Company B’s ‘Fascinated’ and Exposé’s ‘Point Of No Return’ become huge UK club hits.

• Today, Freestyle is a scene with a solid collector’s market, and rarities like Janelle’s ‘Don’t Be Shy’ sell for hundreds of dollars. It’s a classic summer soundtrack, finally condensed in one Ace Records compilation – “Latin Freestyle”.

Was als Lockdown Homerecording Projekt von Lars Schmidt Subterfuge begann, ist mittlerweile zu einer passablen Band aus alten Bekannten herangewachsen durch Christoph Schneider Klee, Clayton Farlow, Soccer, Philipp Breuer [Pale] und Mark Specht [ehem. Subterfuge]). Mit Don'ts and Dos liegt nun das Debut-Album vor, welches am 25. August digital sowie als CD und Anfang Oktober auf Vinyl über Subjangle und Less Records erscheint und über Cargo vertrieben wird. Nach der hochgelobten Simple EP im letzten Jahr (drei dieser Tracks sind als neue Versionen auf diesem Album zu finden) ist The Radio Field zurück, um uns mit ihrem Debüt "Don'ts and Dos" eine Art musikalische Archäologie des Jangle-& Twee-Pop der 80er und 90er Jahre zu liefern, mit herrlich knackigen, klaren, hochmelidiösen Riffs plus des den einehmenden Vibes des College-Rocks, welcher nie weit entfernt anklingt. "Die Songs von The Radio Field bohren sich wie ein kleiner fieser Alien-Wurm durch meinen Gehörgang direkt in das Wohlfühlzentrum meines Gehirns - und bleiben dort für immer! Schon das Debüt 'Simple EP', die Lars (man kennt ihn von der institutionellen Düsseldorfer Band Subterfuge) noch ganz alleine eingespielt hat, war grandios, jetzt kommt endlich das erste Album. Die zehn im Domblick Studio von Bassist Christoph in Köln eingespielten und mit einigen prominenten Gästen (Robert Stadtlober, Stefanie Schrank, Phantom Handshakes, Bukahara) veredelten Stücke sind durch die Bank weg Hits! Und Ohrwürmer! Und Meilensteine! Oder wie nennt Ihr denn Songs, die ihr sofort mitsingen und niemals vergessen könnt?" MARK KOWARSCH (ANTIKÖRPER AUF BYTE FM, SHARON STONED)

From the grey-skied isles and horse farms of British Columbia comes the second volume of Crystal Dorval aka White Poppy’s “Paradise Gardens” trilogy: Sound Of Blue.

Originally conceived back in 2016, the album was then recorded, finessed, abandoned, resurrected, overdubbed, and finally mixed into nine refinements of daydream shoegaze and therapeutic pop, born from bedroom epiphanies and long winters of the heart.

From slowdive reverie (“Apathy,” “Melancholic Serenity”) and color wheel psychedelia (“Time”) to spiral chorale (“Happy”) and finger-picked drift (“Wiser”), Dorval’s songcraft moves between escape and acceptance, tracing delicate melodies from undercurrents of loss, light, and solitude. It’s music for memory gardens and pastel horizons, dreaming of bliss and distance, but bound to the here and now: “Thinking about leaving here forever / thinking about leaving here for good / but I keep holding on for something / hoping that it could get better than this / what’s one more night?”

Throughout their legendary, decade-long run, the Shadow Ring were an enigmatic force on the international musical sub-underground. Before their disbandment in 2002, this shambolic rock outfit, formed by a group of rowdy teenagers in southeast England, left behind a mighty run of eight LPs, a handful of 7"s, and a spate of raucous live shows and cryptic zine appearances on both sides of the Atlantic, all which have bolstered their enduring word-of-mouth mystique. Beginning this year with the first-ever vinyl pressing of the self-released pre-Shadow Ring tape The Cat & Bells Club (1992), Blank Forms Editions is conducting a systematic retrospective of the storied group, including a multi-year LP reissue effort and a forthcoming comprehensive CD box set and an over five hundred page book. Recorded and self-released by the group's own Dry Leaf Discs in 1993, City Lights is the debut record of the then duo Graham Lambkin and Darren Harris_an assured arrival statement teeming with stripling angst and ambition. Lifelong chums Lambkin and Harris were barely nineteen and living at home in the seaside town of Folkestone, Kent, with few overhead expenses. The two were freshly employed as a forklift operator at a hardware store and an aide at a home for children with disabilities, respectively, affording them the time and funds to commit to a proper full-length release. Frontman Lambkin describes the album as a "microscopic examination of leisure activities, this time centered around a nightclub," a conceit surging through its lyrics, song titles, cover art (depicting an audience of cats and mice at the Leas Club, a Folkestone fixture), and flip side (replete with fictional bandmates and pseudonymous liner notes). On a recently-acquired secondhand guitar, Lambkin plays repetitive, brooding licks that form the record's backbone, weaving in and out of sync with Harris's free-form percussion and the pair's sing-song poetry. Tracks range from unraveling nursery-rhyme ditties to extended jams awash with Casiotone and toy piano noodling. The duo's musical hobby-horses work themselves in: the influence of Mark E. Smith's breathless deadpan, the headless outer-edges of ESP-Disk's back catalog, the eerie atmospherics of Hirsche Nicht Aufs Sofa, and the deconstructed rock tunes of the Dunedin scene are all detectable, although there is a sui generis quality to the Shadow Ring's artless temerity. "I've got to see and taste those city lights," intones Lambkin on the album's title track_indeed, this is a record of naked drive and pent-up desperation, and a shimmering glimpse of what's to come. For Fans of The Fall, Royal Trux, The Dead C, Shirley Collins, '70s British progressive rock, Dean Blunt.

Jacob Bellens’ new solo Off My Meds took shape over two turbulent years in Jacob’s life. Several major life events happened back to back in a very short time, and it ended up breaking him down to a point of total exhaustion. The energy needed to uphold the outer self we all need to function was no longer there, and his inner actual beliefs and values began to show themselves one by one, which was not pretty to look at. Change was inevitable, simply because the price of not changing would be much higher in the long term.

The album is a pop-poem about accepting the premise of the life given to you. It is an ode to the perils of modern existence and our birthgiven right to love, laugh and cry, whatever hand we may have been dealt to begin with. Lyrically it is centered around self care and the courage to love someone and be loved in return. About taking responsibility for everything in your life instead of using your life history as an excuse for not living, no matter how tragic or unique your situation might be or seem to yourself.
Musically it draws upon an eclectic mix of influences and genres, while still maintaining a distinct underlying red thread throughout the album. It is a melancholic funk hybrid with a positive DNA, and though it sounds like pop music in the best sense of the word, it doesn’t quite look and feel like pop music. It is rather a collection of sounds and feelings put into words that are deeply personal - but personal for all.

After an incredible journey spanning 8 years and 40 releases, Marked is proud to unveil a monumental milestone - their first EP released on the timeless medium of vinyl. There is no better way to do this than with upcoming superstar Amazingblaze. His Stargaze EP is a journey of pure power and brightness -a dopamine rush- waiting to find its place of honor within your cherished wooden vinyl cabinet.

Starting with Treasures, this is one of those musical gems that keeps on overflowing with life with an almost mystical quality. A sound and melody that have emotions run deep, while the heart of the track keeps your pulse racing at its beats per minute.

The answer to a surefire way to light up the dancefloor is Quantumness. The lead synth and perc rhythm make a deadly and irresistible groove. Its notes soar and dive, creating a rhythmic anchor that holds everything together.

In Geerson's remix of Quantumness, most of the original's iconic lead synth is kept intact. In this version, the kicks fire in rhythmic drum salvos. The sonic landscape traverses peaks and valleys, sending you to both extremes in orbit.

Powerhouse Tham brings in the Club Kid remix of Pittsburgh by sending new life into one of the layers of the lead synth. Tham's signature sound is applied to turn it into a full-fledged hammer track: the sound is ruthless, the groove contagious.

Owners Club call themselves a "pub rock four piece" - but they are so much more than that. There's a through line in their taut, visceral guitar sound going from British greats like Roxy Music and Marc Bolan, through The Buzzcocks and The Jam before taking a detour off to NYC and nodding towards The Strokes and The Walkmen. The Dorking-based four piece are a blistering live act, with songs that range from singing about the long discontinued Double Diamond beer to vampires, the occult and an England that feels like a distant memory.

This EP will be the band's debut release on vinyl. Recorded at Small Pond Studios in Brighton in April this year, and produced and mixed by Matt Gleeson of WELLY fame, it presents three songs that brilliantly demonstrate what a ferocious, tightly-wound sound this Dorking four-piece can produce.

The lead single will be Double Diamond - a song that came about after a chance purchase of a Double Diamond-branded ashtray from a car boot sale by Dorking train station. The song is a romantic and messy vision of the life the ashtray’s lived, the pub it came from, the punters who left their fag ends in it and the messy nights and bar fights it’s witnessed. With sprawling synths, punchy guitar lines and tongue-in-cheek lyrics, the song is an anti-advertisement for a drink which no longer exists, as well as a look through rose-tinted beer googles at what Britain's night life - for better or (almost certainly) for worse - was once like. As the advert used to state: you know where you are with Double Diamond. It works wonders.

Forever is a 1993 album by the British shoegaze band Cranes. Forever continues the trend of the band's previous albums, revolving largely around Alison Shaw's distinctive vocals. The album contains elements of shoegaze, dream pop and gothic rock, and features the singles "Adrift" and "Jewel".

The album starts with hypnotizing acoustic guitar chords on the first track "Everywhere". Songs like "Cloudless", "And Ever" and "Far Away" show the band taking an extremely minimalist approach to their songwriting with sometimes nothing more than a piano accompanying Alison's voice. The songs "Adrift" and "Clear" are heavy post-punk rockers and "Jewel" is one of the brightest and most colorful songs that Cranes have ever produced.

"Jewel" ended up being an underground hit in the U.K. and U.S., though thanks to a somewhat transformed remix courtesy of longtime Cranes fan Robert Smith (Forever takes its name from a The Cure rarity of the same title).

Forever turned out to be a favorite amongst fans and critics, it's a lost treasure of early 90s dream pop, delivering unique and mesmerizingly beautiful music. The hidden track "Shine Like Stars" is included on the LP.

2023 marks the 30th anniversary of Forever. Therefore, the album is available as a 30th anniversary edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on crystal clear vinyl and includes an insert. Also, the band will perform the complete album at EartH in London on October 14.

Northern California psychedelic sorcerers Carlton Melton are brain surfers, mind trippers, … “psychlists,” if you prefer. The band will take your head for a ride, occasionally rushing at superluminal speeds through a wormhole or gliding softly on a gentle breeze in a leafy glade. Sometimes your brain needs to rage, and sometimes it needs to repose. For a decade and a half, the band has yo-yo’ed, almost schizophrenically, between these two modes: walloping space jams with furious guitar solos in one hemisphere of the brain and ethereal, feather-light splashdowns in the other. Not to mention a track here and there that builds from the latter into the former. But with two new releases in 2023, the band has evolved. Whether psych rock or ambient trance, their sound remains driving, organic, and flowing. With the addition of Anthony Taibi (White Manna, DDT), however, the group’s metal freak-outs are Hawkwindier and their droning kraut trances are Spacemen 3-er. In January, the quartet released the playfully spacey Resemble Ensemble, recorded in Taibi’s home studio 3D Light. October now sees the band Turn To Earth, a work with scents of Autumn, a season of death and transition. The cover art evokes a vine-covered, electric crucifix. The sound is, well, earthy but also gritty and striving towards change. The album was recorded in Fall 2022 and now harvested in Fall 2023. Phil Becker (Terry Gross, Pins Of Light) contributed drums and percussion to a few tracks on Turn To Earth, recording the album at El Studio in San Francisco.

With Becker at the helm, the synths have become more prominent (“Cosmicity,” “Roboflow,” “Migration”) and the tone heavier on the doom (“Cloudstorming,” “Unlock The Land,” title track): several moments could even serve as background music for epic dark fantasy films like Conan the Barbarian, Fire and Ice, or Heavy Metal. As exquisite as Turn To Earth is, Melton are best appreciated as a live act: their recordings as well as their gigs are largely improvised – not so much composed as birthed. And yet their most recent tour ended abruptly and perilously. The group had to cancel its final three shows once members were admitted to Arnhem hospital in the Netherlands. Five years later, reinforcements have strengthened the band and restocked its arsenal of great tracks. After the rockus interruptus of that 2018 tour and the tantric tease of the intervening Covid lockdown, Melton have some unfinished business. An October 2023 tour is poised to set the freshly minted quartet back onto the stages of Europe and within the cerebral folds of its fans. Turn To Earth, sure … but keep your head in outer space. Carlton Melton is: andy duvall – drums/gtr; clint golden – bass; rich millman – gtr/synth; and anthony taibi – synth/gtr.

Rarely could a project be called such a culmination point of a career as what Kris Defoort presents with Pieces of Peace. Just about all the backgrounds, influences and acquaintances the iconic Belgian composer and improvising pianist collected throughout his long career come together in this distinct and original musical adventure.

Together with vocal artist Veronika Harcsa and three fellow musicians, he forms a chamber orchestra in the strict sense of the word, although they are by no means restricted to that one idiom. As an experienced opera and classical composer, Kris Defoort dribbles the timbres, harmonies, dynamics and, if you like, drama of a complete (opera) orchestra through these compositions, supplemented by an inescapable layer of jazz, obviously the other form of music that remains continuously prominent in Kris' life and DNA.

As always in his work, also improvisation is added as a core element, not least thanks to the voice and inventive personality of Hungarian vocalist Veronika Harcsa, a true European reference in this field. This duo has worked together regularly over the past decade, including for Diving Poet Society (2017, W.E.R.F.148) and in DUET: pure vocal and piano improvisations, on poems by Theodor Roethke, Peter Verhelst and William Blake.

Those musical ideas formed the framework when composing the final new song cycle Pieces of Peace. The duet was then quickly expanded into a quintet, with Lode Vercampt on cello, Jean-Philippe Poncin on clarinets and Benjamin Sauzereau on electric guitar. These three musicians are as well compagnons de route of Kris has since many years, allowing him to incorporate each one's own playing style in a special way throughout these compositions: therefore, the entire orchestral spectrum (woodwinds, strings, percussion) is thus prominently represented through these five instruments.

Intimate and joyful, playful and complex, lyrical and rhythmic, ... and layered and full of detail, each track on the eponymous record unfolds like a story in itself. They are all states of emotions, impressions from real life - another reference to opera. They are also an ode to the voice, the human instrument par excellence. As improvised compositions (or composed improvisations?), Pieces of Peace represents a constant evolution that offers hope, softness and inspiration in times when all this sometimes dares to be lacking.

My ZEITGEIST. (in the words of The Legendary Tigerman)

Musically, I tried to follow the path left behind by early modular synths explorers like Suzanne Ciani or Wendy Carlos, mixing it with the raw & powerful energy of early punk explorers like The Cramps, Suicide or The Sonics (my teenage heroes!) and the orchestral universe of people like Lee Hazlewood or Scott Walker, looking back at the past while keeping an eye out for the future.
Zeitgeist is also the point where my work as a soundtrack composer meets my life as a punk Rock’n’roller.

The Legendary Tigerman is the artistic name of Portuguese musician and composer Paulo Furtado. With a solid career stemming from the DIY movement and characterized by the reinvention of genres such as blues, rock, and garage rock, while always maintaining a punk attitude, The Tigerman's recognition is founded on a galloping international career, marked by the release of the iconic album "Naked Blues" in 2001. In a few years, he goes from a cult artist to a reference name and with the acclaimed "Femina" (2009), he writes his name in the pantheon of the most creative rock made in Europe.
With "True" (2014) and "Misfit" (2018), he consolidated his position in the international rock scene with two albums that explore the dense soundscapes of a rock 'n' roll that moves away from common places. Live, the unstoppable and infernal rock machine, consisting of Paulo Furtado on vocals and guitar, Filipe Rocha on bass, Mike Ghost on drums, and Cabrita on saxophone, makes concerts unpredictable and explosive, exactly as expected from a rock 'n' roll act.
The success of The Legendary Tigerman goes beyond the borders of Portugal, thanks to tours in various countries in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. In addition to his work on stage, Paulo Furtado has become notable for his prominent career in theater, cinema, soundtrack creation, photography, and film direction.
Focused on being a catalyst for unique and authentic music, The Legendary Tigerman is one of the main European rock names, renewing himself with creativity and innovation with each album. In 2023, there will be a new album, featuring more ethereal and intimate sounds alongside rock 'n' roll, but always keeping it punk.

A warm, loving collection of electropop, ‘I Made an Album’ was recorded and produced entirely by Daði Freyr: every programmed note, every melody, every harmony and every beat has come from him alone in his small studio. “I basically wanted this to be a very true record, to my sound and to what I've been working towards for the past four years”. With themes of reflection and appreciation for both fans and loved ones, the songs in this collection are defined by an innate sense of niceness: there are no tricks or twists, no snark, just genuine good energy. A debut English language record that gives Daði’s dedicated fan base everything they know and love, whilst proving that he's an artist with plenty more to offer. He made an album and it’s going to get you dancing all night.

In the Shadows is the third full-length studio album by Danish heavy metal band Mercyful Fate. It is the first offering of the band since their reunion in 1992. After an almost decade-long hiatus, Mercyful Fate's reunion did not disappoint; it was as if they picked up right where they had left off. There are more of King Diamond's gothic tales of horror and the supernatural, and the music sounds better than ever. It doesn't have the historical significance of their early-'80s material, but that doesn't really matter; this is high-quality material from a tight veteran band.

Capra made a name for themselves with the adrenaline jolt that is In Transmission, and return with their riveting sophomore effort Errors. Maintaining all the elements that made their 2021 debut so compelling--raucous energy, frantic riffs, the from-the-gut lyrics and soul-searing delivery of vocalist Crow Lotus—they’ve stepped things up, with stronger songwriting and a determination reach the next level. “We wanted to create something authentic, something real and honest. Nothing more and nothing less,” says Lotus. Adds guitarist Tyler Harper, “I knew that I wanted it to pick up where the first album left off, but that it needed to have an entirely new attitude. If you listen to the last song from In Transmission into the first song on Errors, it’s a continuation. From there the album steers off into a direction that still feels similar, but is new.” Coming primarily from a hardcore background but incorporating elements of metal that complement the overall tone, everything the band do on Errors resonates with emotion; nothing is forced. Kicking off with the vicious “CHSF,” which is pure sonic bile and pounds the listener, they work their way through “Silana,” with its grinding, punishing riff, and the thrashy “Kingslayer.” The LP culminates with the frankly gorgeous “Nora,” showing yet another dimension to their sound. “My main goals going in were to structure the songs to let the vocals shine more often, more breakdowns, and to keep the raw attitude of the first album alive,” says Harper. “This album is a party. A heavy, fast, fun, loud party. The first album was definitely more chaotic but this one brings something to the table for everyone to enjoy.”

Orions Belte has been a steady supplier of groovy, catchy and dreamy instrumental pop since their 2018 debut album Mint. Women is their third studio album, but that doesn’t tell the whole truth when you also count their two live albums with accompanying films, three EP’s and a huge project where each of the members released their own solo album under the Orions Belte moniker. The three musicians rarely sit still, and the inspiration seems to be endless. This is probably also why their music is in such high demand. As usual, all the songwriting and production is done by the band members themselves, and this time they have put a lot of effort into making everything bigger and more powerful than on the previous records. The string arrangements flow easily throughout the record. It almost feels like releasing a million balloons all at once while lying looking at the night sky and dreaming of road trips on bumpy country roads through the Amazon in Brazil. There is always a great span to the Norwegian trio's songs, and on Women we are served noisy guitar riffs on "Silhouettes", cinematic string arrangements on "I Will Always Miss You", irresistible and catchy summer vibes on "Jai Alai", while Louien (Live Solberg) contributes beautiful vocals on the almost mournful "When You're Gone, I'll Be Gone". Matias Tellez is – as expected of an Orions Belte release – involved in the mix, while Ola Kvernberg and Øyvind Torvund have written string arrangements.

Following five years of improvised live shows, film scores and jams, Carl Brown and Josh Horsley align to offer a bittersweet record of shimmering noise and textured Fourthworld ambience set within a drenched and darkened, distinctly Northern context.

What began as sample-heavy collage music slowly shifted as the pair crafted new live sets to embrace classical and noise music, always treated with an experimental spirit and minimalist sleight.

Powders stripped back the set up for these album sessions, this time leaning more heavily on the use of granular synthesis with cello as the lead instrument and sound source.

‘Concede to Circumstance’ sees Powders exploring their hometown of Preston and it’s longstanding experimental underbelly - not as a location that demands elsewhere aspiration or an outward face but as a place to din to be.

Repress on a new colour - Red/clear half-and-half vinyl with black splatter. Kingston-upon-Hull’s The Black Delta Movement return with their stunning new album ‘Recovery Effects’ – 8 tracks of immersive, groove-heavy garage rock released April 21st 2023 on Fuzz Club Records. Determination and a commitment to musical development are writ large across Matt Burr’s personal and artistic journey as the main creative force behind The Black Delta Movement. His most collaborative work yet, ‘Recovery Effects’ sees Matt recruiting highly lauded UK guitar-slinger and Little Barrie frontman Barrie Cadogan and bandmates Lewis Wharton (Bass) and Tony Coote (Drums) to provide musical backing on the album. With legendary producer, The Heliocentrics’ co-founder and drummer extraordinaire Malcolm Catto also helming production duties. “The album’s a love letter to the band and all the emotions that come with it,” explains Matt when talking about the period of adversity that led to its creation. Finding himself without his former bandmates following the release of their highly-praised 2018 debut ‘Preservation’ and that record’s subsequent live shows, the pandemic-induced lockdown periods throughout ’20 and ’21 initially gave time for reflection before proving to be a time of productivity. Giving Matt the breathing space to fine-tune the new songs alongside Cadogan before hitting the ground running when entering the studio in late 2021 – the band cutting the basic tracks live and Malcolm Catto providing invaluable input when it came to moulding the music you hear contained throughout. The results of this creative melting pot of such talented and seasoned musicians see The Black Delta Movement delivering that ring thing: a layered, honest and deeply entertaining rock’n’roll record. There are a myriad of moods and textures, whether on the garage-blues grooves of opener and first single ‘Fourth Pass Over The Graveyard’, follow-up single ‘Zip-Tie’ which explodes from its moody intro into punk-rock motorik, or the psychedelic slow-burn of ‘Hiding In The Tall Grass’ which manages to channel the likes of The Doors and Spacemen

The iconic voice of Luzmila Carpio rings out from the Andes, spreading messages of indigenous struggle, female empowerment and unceasing love for both the people and planet around us. An undeniable icon of Bolivian Andean culture whose career spans multiple decades, Luzmila has released more than 25 albums (there’s a reason that Rolling Stone described her as”one of the most prolific indigenous singers of South America”), inspiring millions while singing in both her native Aymara-Quechua language and Spanish. Yet Luzmila Carpio isn’t someone who’s content to simply rest on her laurels; she continues to take risks and push her music into vibrant new soundworlds. On new album Inti Watana: El Retorno del Sol (her first LP in a decade), she’s teamed up with Argentinian producer Leonardo Martinelli (a.k.a. Tremor), a ZZK veteran who’s spent the bulk of his career finding the common ground between Latin American folk rhythms and modern electronics. Building off the momentum created by 2015’s Luzmila Carpio Meets ZZK collection in which her music was reworked by not only Tremor, but standout electronic artists like Nicola Cruz, Chancha Vía Circuito and El Búho this new album is meant to stretch across genres, generations and continents, with Luzmila’s sonorous, occasionally birdsong-inspired vocalizations gracefully gliding amongst ambient textures, programmed beats and (of course) a bevy of traditional instrumentation from around the globe. Over the course of the LP, Bolivian charangos and quenas sit comfortably alongside the sounds of harmonium, violin, acoustic and electric guitar, Argentinian bombo leguero and sacha guitar, Armenian duduk and a litany of Asian percussion. Inti Watana: El Retorno del Sol which will be accompanied by a full length documentary might not sound like previous Luzmila Carpio releases, but on a spiritual, political and lyrical level, her core values remain unchanged. A native of Bolivia’s Potosí region, she’s long been a beacon for indigenous communities in not just her home country, but throughout Latin America, her voice inspiring joy and pride amongst ancient peoples whose culture and inherent beauty are often overlooked. Her pursuit of music a field traditionally dominated by men in Andean communities long ago made her a pillar of women’s empowerment, but Carpio has also been a vocal proponent for social change, using her influence to advocate not just for the rights of women, but for the protection and increased visibility of all indigenous people. Yet it’s the planet itself that Carpio is most passionate about, and she’s devoted much of her new album to conversations with Mother Earth and Father Sun