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Grief doesn’t have an endpoint. No matter how much time passes or how much healing you can muster, the absence stays ubiquitous. But with patience and care, you can endure and live with it. Sour Widows know this. The Oakland-based indie rock outfit was formed in 2017 by bandleaders and best friends Maia Sinaiko and Susanna Thomson during personal upheaval and tragedy: Sinaiko’s partner died and Thomson’s mother was diagnosed with cancer. Their bond and their band anchored them through this time and the songs they wrote processed the death surrounding them. Their debut album Revival of a Friend is resonant indie rock about the spiritually purifying power of connection and love in the face of loss. Across 10 winding and potent guitar-led tracks, they channel their mourning into solidarity and comfort.

Harry Potter And The Cursed Child is a play based on the latest magical Harry Potter story, written by Jack Thorne from an original story written by J.K. Rowling, Thorne and John Tiffany. It’s the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official to be presented on stage. The critically acclaimed production is the most awarded new play in theatre history with a record-breaking eleven nominations and won another record-breaking nine awards, including Best New Play at the 2017 Laurence Olivier Awards. The music is written, composed, performed, and recorded by Grammy and Ivor Novello Award-winner Imogen Heap. It is presented as four contemporary musical suites, each showcasing one of the play’s theatrical acts. This unique new album format from Imogen Heap chronologically features the music heard in the stage production, further reworked to transport listeners on a sonic journey through the world of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Harry Potter And The Cursed Child is available as a limited edition of 1000 individually numbered copies on translucent yellow coloured vinyl. This 2LP is housed in a gatefold sleeve and includes an 8-page booklet.

January 2023, Dorset. Snow is piled at the door, icy roads are closed, and Emily Cross is in a coffin. Not a setting typical for a rebirth. But for Loma, this is where they bring their band back from the brink. "It's like a demon enters the room, whenever we get together", writer, singer and instrumentalist Cross says of the struggle to bring new Loma music into the world. Following the release of their 2020 second album Don't Shy Away, Loma's three members were cast around the globe and the band-not for the first time-entered a deep sleep. Multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer Dan Duszynski remained in his studio in Don't Shy Away's central Texas heart, but Cross, a UK citizen, moved to Dorset, and writer and instrumentalist Jonathan Meiburg left the US for Germany to research a book. In the pandemic years, even being in the same room was impossible, and attempts to start a new record faltered. The following winter, in an attempt to salvage the record and the band, Cross suggested they regroup in the UK, in the tiny stone house-once a coffin-maker's workshop-where she works as an end-of-life doula. With minimal recording gear and few instruments, Loma turned two whitewashed rooms into a makeshift studio, using a padded coffin as a vocal booth. It was a turning point. They scrapped much of what they'd made, letting a new place set a new course. The one-lane roads, hedgerows and dark skies of Dorset gave the new songs an ineffable but unmistakable Englishness. The band used the ruin of a 12th-century chapel as a reverb chamber-surprising hillwalkers who peeked in to find them singing to no one-and the sounds of Cross's chilly workshop wormed their way into the recording: a leaky pipe, a drummer's brushes on a metal lampshade, the voices left on an ancient answering machine. What emerged was How Will I Live Without A Body?: a gorgeous, unique, and oddly comforting album about partnership, loss, regeneration, and fighting the feeling that we're all in this alone. Many of its songs have a feeling of restless motion; faceless characters drift through meetings and partings, tangling together and slipping away. "I Swallowed A Stone" is like a nightmare with a happy ending; "How It Starts" and "Broken Doorbell" reflect on the challenge (and necessity) of wrestling with agoraphobia. Though the record nods to the trio's separate lives- a German percussion ensemble, a pair of Texan owls, and the surf at Chesil Beach make guest appearances-the core of Loma's sound remains intact: earthy, organic and deeply human, anchored by Cross's cool, clear voice. Loma's previous album, Don't Shy Away, was galvanized by the unexpected encouragement and contributions of Brian Eno. This time, they found inspiration in another hero, Laurie Anderson, who offered a chance to work with an AI trained on her entire body of work. Meiburg sent her a photo from his book-in-progress about the once and future life of Antarctica; Anderson's AI responded with two haunting poems. "We used parts of them in a few songs," he says. "And then Dan noticed that one of its lines, 'How will I live without a body?' would be a perfect name for the album, since we nearly lost sight of each other in the recording process." In the end, Loma's efforts to reconnect with one another are the album's central focus: what do you owe a shared past, when everyone and everything has changed? "Making this record tested us all," says Duszynski. "I think that feeling was alchemized through the music." Alchemized, because How Will I Live Without A Body? is by no means a stressed-out record: an undercurrent of deep calm runs through it. But maybe 'relaxed' isn't the right word. It's more like a feeling of relief, of making it through a tough journey together.

The new album from Lebanese-American musician Solpara, Melancholy Sabotage, marks his full length debut and return to Nicolas Jaar's Other People label. While it was recorded over Covid lockdowns, Jaar had been talking about wanting to back a Solpara full-length since he put out Swing. The album came to life while Solpara was living alone in a Brooklyn loft, collecting unemployment checks and viewing ample free time as the artist residency he'd dreamed of; he'd previously been forced to make music in odd windows between numerous jobs and the unmerciful pace of city life. Free from obligations, he would wake up early to take Arabic lessons online, read Tracey Thorn's autobiography, and skateboard the deserted streets, then come home and design sounds until he had a track that felt like it needed to be released. While this easy going lifestyle was peaceful in many ways, Solpara found more complex inspiration in the emotion that stemmed from participation in Black Lives Matter protests and the 2020 Beirut Port explosion, which rocked all of his extended family members in Lebanon.

Melancholy Sabotage explores the theme of sabotaging melancholy. Echoing sounds from the post-punk, trip-hop, and ambient genres, it is about sabotaging the cycle of melancholy and looking at this process without ignoring the sources that put it into motion. It may be compared to a rattling breaking free from retention, reaching states of dreamy euphoria while simultaneously acknowledging the sources of retention, viewed from above. The sources can be personal, political, or socio-economic. They are to be apprehended post-melancholy, after the sabotaging of the initial cycle of melancholy. In other words, it is about transcending melancholy and understanding where it came from with some distance. It may be beautiful and healthy to feel for a while, but how may one sabotage this cycle when it becomes paralyzing? Ultimately, this album is about feeling melancholy but also resisting it and naming the sources that initiated it.

"Time To Hold Better" points to neglect on both personal and group levels. "This Time Last Year" is a personal time capsule. "We Keep Us Safe" is about solidarity, autonomy, and care witnessed within protest groups. "Melancholy Sabotage" is a sonic exploration of the album concept illustrating anger and sadness, but finally, resistance and liberation from these feelings. "Measures" is a more fluid exploration of the latter after the initial storm has passed. "We Don't Owe" points to bigger bodies inflicting harm on populations that we owe nothing to. "Breaking Points" harkens the times that we may lose focus while pushing to transcend melancholy. "Eviction" is about being pushed out of a space unwillingly while simultaneously being forced to move forward.

Melancholy Sabotage pulls from a range of genres, uniting electronic sounds under the same post-punky glow. It pulls from complex, heavy themes including damage and injustice, presenting Solpara's most moving body of work to date. It highlights the poignance that has always been at the heart of his fluid sound, which caters to dancefloors and avant-garde spaces in equal measure. Working with a mix of dissonant guitars, distorted drum machines, and distant, reverb-washed vocals, Melancholy Sabotage is Solpara's uneasiest outing to date. The record pinpoints the duality at the heart of Solpara's sound, which is as plaintive as it is searing.

The long running vessel for Cameron Stallones' psychedelic excursions, Sun Araw, returns to Discrepant after last year's split with Tarzana via Keroxen sister label (KRXN033).
Without much precedent in his own - already wide-ranging - back-catalog, 'Cetacean  Sensation' discards the dubby vibes, psych-rock sunburnt jams, tropical visions, or stalking sensibilities of such classic efforts as 'On Patrol' or 'Ancient Romans' towards a deeply focused and vivid solitary approach, while still retaining this Sun Araw blissed out escapist feeling.
Composed of hydrophone recordings of whales and dolphins sourced during a summer in Galicia, 'Cetacean Sensation' paints an impressionistic and sensory floating canvas that expertly escapes both academic-like documentarian purposes and any new-age spa vibrations one could associate with such subject matter. Processing those raw recordings into alluring collages that flow gracefully between moments of clear eco-location  and submerged impressions of wildlife social dynamics. By the third track - Dance of the Minke - we're introduced to this ringing MIDI tone that evokes a CD-ROM era of mystic educational programs and click-and-deploy strategies  that still feel very much like an unfulfilled future, conjured again by 'Spider Crab Elegy's sparse keyboard pads and sound effects that give way to this properly elegiac tentative melody. 'The Spider Crab Point' ends the album on a more uneasy vibe, with synth tones pointing towards no particular direction, confounding and strangely inviting at the same time. As sensations often do.
Music written and produced by Cameron Stallones using hydrophones and digital synthesisRecorded in 2019 in Galicia, ES
Mastering by Rashad Becker

HOMESHAKE ist das Projekt des kanadischen Home-Producers Peter Sagar, dessen Sound halluzinatorisch und herzzerreißend in seinen Schreien nach Verbindung ist, strukturiert, tiefgründig, auf einzigartige Weise seine vielfältigen Einflüsse würdigend. "Horsie", das siebte HOMESHAKE-Album und das zweite in 2024, vertieft Sagars Beziehung zu Einsamkeit und Angst und untersucht diese Themen im Kontext von Live-Auftritten. Die 12 Songs verwenden von Künstlern wie Four Tet und My Bloody Valentine beeinflusste Texturen, die rhythmischen Formen von D’Angelo und Sade sowie Ambient Americana-Momente im Stile Ry Cooders.
Following March's CD Wallet, HOMESHAKE presents his second album of 2024, Horsie. Written and recorded at his home studio in Toronto, it explores Sagar’s complicated feelings about returning to live performance. Deepening his relationship to loneliness and anxiety, the record examines those themes in the context of touring.

Horsie employs various textures influenced by artists like Four Tet and My Bloody Valentine, the rhythmic forms of D’Angelo and Sade, and moments of ambient Americana found in the works of Ry Cooder. The cornerstone pieces of gear used were an Ensoniq EPS and Roland Juno 60, though the album also employs a great deal of electric guitar, along with his beloved SP-404. He maintains a philosophy of “less is more,” finding the simplest route from one point to another.

HOMESHAKE, the musical project of Peter Sagar, is an expression of adjustment and contortion within the world as he experiences it and the sounds he wants to hear in it. Hallucinatory and heartbreaking in its cries for connection, Sagar’s sound is often imitated but has proven to be entirely his own; textural and profound, uniquely honoring his diverse influences but adrift within its own transportive imagination.

LIMBONIC ART kehren mit "Opus Daemoniacal" zurück! Das neunte Album der norwegischen Black Metal Pioniere ist schwarz wie ein Rabe, grimmig wie ein Wolf, majestätisch wie ein Adler und so mächtig wie die frühen Werke der legendären Band, die Sänger und Multi-Instrumentalist Vidar "Daemon" Jensen im Jahr 1993 gegründet hat. Auf "Opus Daemoniacal" bleibt der Norweger seinem geradlinigen schwarzen Kurs treu, den er zuletzt eingeschlagen hatte. Doch das Album lehnt sich gleichzeitig auch bewusst an die atmosphärische Dichte und das cineastische Gefühl von LIMBONIC ARTs bahnbrechenden Frühwerken an. Nach dem Anwachsen zu einem Duo erschien das Debütalbum "Moon in the Scorpio" im Jahr 1996 bezeichnenderweise über Nocturnal Art Productions - dem Label von EMPEROR-Gitarrist Samoth alias Tomas Thormodsæter Haugen. Die einzigartige Kombination aus hartem nordischen Black Metal mit erhabenen Kopfkino-Elementen, die ihre Inspiration aus romantischer und klassischer Orchestermusik bezogen, erwies sich in den folgenden Jahren als äußerst einflussreich. Mit dem Nachfolger "In Abhorrence Dementia" (1997) und dem dritten Album "Epitome of Illusions" (1998) reduzierten LIMBONIC ART allmählich die symphonischen Elemente in ihrem Sound. Im Februar 2003 löste sich das Duo auf, aber Daemon reformierte die Band im Jahr 2006. Es folgten die LIMBONIC ART Alben "Phantasmagoria" (2010) und "Spectre Abysm" (2017). "Opus Daemoniacal" verbindet die Gegenwart mit dem frühen Klanggefühl der norwegischen Kultband, was sowohl Freunde der ersten Werke als auch eine neue Generation von Liebhabern des klassischen nordischen Black Metal ansprechen wird.

"80s Pop Stars Collected is the new electrifying compilation featuring the hits from legendary pop stars and bands who defined the 80s era. Unforgettable tracks included are by iconic bands, which produced a string of numerous hits, Tears For Fears ""Head Over Heels"", Culture Club ""Victim"", Duran Duran ""New Moon On Monday"", ABC ""The Look Of Love Pt.1"", The Human League ""Human"", and artists such as Paul Young ""Come Back And Stay"", Climie Fisher ""Love Changes Everything"", Rick Astley classic ""Never Gonna Give You Up"". 80s Pop Stars Collected is available as a limited edition of 2000 copies on red (LP1) and silver (LP2) coloured vinyl and includes an insert. "

Kaipa sind zurück! Im Sommer 1964 begann die musikalische Karriere von Hans Lundin, als er Mitglied seiner ersten Band als Organist und Sänger wurde. Er sagt, dass die folgenden Jahre "die beste Ausbildung waren, die ich je bekommen konnte". Neun Jahre später, 1973, gründete er die Gruppe KAIPA. Jetzt, 60 Jahre nach Beginn seiner Karriere, sind er und seine aktuellen Bandkollegen Per Nilsson, Jonas Reingold, Darby Todd, Patrik Lundström & Aleena Gibson stolz darauf, die Veröffentlichung von Kaipas 15. Studioalbum "Sommargryningsljus" (Summer Dawn Light) anzukündigen. "Eine flüsternde Morgendämmerung, die Sonne ist auf dem Weg, um einen brandneuen Tag aus den Schatten der Nacht zu eröffnen", heißt es zu Beginn des Songs "Songs in Our Hands". Das Thema der Morgendämmerung lag Hans Lundin in seinem Songwriting schon immer sehr am Herzen. Auf seinem selbstbetitelten Debütalbum, das 1975, also vor 49 Jahren, erschien, schrieb er darüber in dem Lied "Se var morgon gry". Auch in den Liedern "Dagens port" und "Visa i sommaren" auf den folgenden Alben kehrte er zu diesem Thema zurück. Mit dem neuen Album schließt er den Kreis und kehrt dorthin zurück, wo alles begann. "Sommargryningsljus" enthält acht Stücke, die eine nächtliche Reise von der Abenddämmerung bis zum Morgengrauen darstellen, wobei die ersten beiden Stücke die Dämmerung und die letzten beiden die Morgendämmerung repräsentieren. Diese nächtliche Odyssee kann als Metapher für den Zustand zwischen Tod und Wiedergeburt oder als Allegorie des Lebens in umgekehrter Reihenfolge betrachtet werden.

Mika Miko were a band from Los Angeles from 2003-2010 playing a mix of danceable, post punk and late 70's style power pop and street punk. Formed by sisters Jennifer and Jessie Clavin (who would later form Bleached) with high school friends Michelle Suarez, Jenna Thornhill and drummer Jon Erik Edrosa. After a 7" EP in 2004 (PPM) they signed to Kill Rock Stars in 2006 with new drummer Kate Hall to release "C.Y.S.L.A.B.F." which would see them tour throughout the US, Europe and Japan. Returning to PPM in 2007 to release their "666" EP, and their second and final LP (with another new drummer, Seth Densham) "We Be XUXA" in 2009, they disbanded in 2010. Mika Miko were highly influential and integral to the LA scene in the early and mid aughts surrounding the all ages club The Smell. This limited edition of 300, silk screened cover + poster LP is a "Best Of" compilation of their previous work compiled by the band.

All Again. That's the title of the upcoming full-length record from Philadelphia's Queen of Jeans. The LP tracks an entire arc that, by the final hazy vibrato wash of "Do It All Again," bleeds back into the ambient first seconds of the record. "Thought I'd call tonight, hear how you're dealing," Miriam Devora sings to a distant lover on opener "All My Friends" in a neon-lit, melancholy tenor, the precise sound of lonesome love. The full band joins her in a beautiful night time sway, but it's still no use: "I got all my friends around, but I'm not home til I'm alone with you."The rest of the record follows this relationship as it tumbles through loneliness and longing, to elation and joy, to pain and anger, and finally to its foggy close, where Devora admits, "If I got to do it all again, I'd find you there like I did back then."Releasing on Memory Music, All Again is principally an enveloping, rich indie-rock record, changing dance partners between cheek-to-cheek '60s pop sweetness, '90s alt-rock dirt, spacious and pained emo, and the songcraft and melodicism of the sharpest acoustic singer-songwriter acts. Devora (vocals, guitar, keys) and Matheson Glass (lead guitar, piano) took extra care this time to create a Queen of Jeans full-length that reflected in sound and structure the emotional depths they were exploring.It's the first time since their 2015 debut, Dig Yourself, that they've had a full band, with drummer Patrick Wall and bassist Andrew Nitz, to build with. Where on releases like 2022's sparkling lockdown-pop Hiding In Place Devora and Glass had gone into producer and mix/master engineer Will Yip's Studio 4 with sketches and worked with Yip to arrange the songs in studio, this time, they went in with a complete vision for the record. That allowed them to use studio time to expand the record's sonic boundaries. "We had a lot more room to play with some of the ear candy we've always wanted to explore and get weirder in the studio," says Glass.Those elements lend a physicality and playfulness to the memory and emotions that unfurl through All Again. "We're trying to tell the story of when you look back at an important relationship," says Glass. "Years go by, and the more you reflect on it, it becomes more warped and the facts become a little bit more murky. We wanted to play with that and get surreal with the story." (Literally: listen for a "monster" voice in the already-released banger "Karaoke.") The record's artwork, conceptualized by Devora, renders this idea with devastating clarity.

Bona fide all-girl bands the Hairem, the Girls, the Debutantes, the Missfits, the Beat-Chics and the Ace Of Cups are stars of the show on this new vinyl volume in our ear-grabbing “Girls With Guitars” series, providing further confirmation that girls can do what the guys do.

This collection opens with ‘Get Away From Me’ by the mean-sounding Angels (probably not the ‘My Boyfriend’s Back’ group of that name), a slice of feisty she-rock recorded circa 1965 that remained on the shelf at Philadelphia’s Swan Records until Ace rescued it about 40 years later, and closes with ‘Glue’ by the Ace Of Cups, a hippy outfit raved about by Jimi Hendrix in a Melody Maker interview back in 1967.

Elsewhere, ballsy-voiced Joyce Harris (think Wanda Jackson meets Tina Turner) teams up with Texas bar band the Daylighters to tear the roof off ‘I Got My Mojo Working’, teenage ice skater Debbie Williams sings lead with male garage band the Unwritten Law, guitarist Chiyo fronts the Crescents on the instrumental ‘Pink Dominos’ and, well, you get the picture. Those so inclined can learn more about all the tracks on the swanky inner bag containing a picture-packed 3,000-word track commentary by series compiler Mick Patrick

1993 Chick Corea - the venerated 27-time Grammy winner and National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master - unveiled the second incarnation of the Elektric Band. With the brand new lineup of guitarist Mike Miller, bassist Jimmy Earl and drummer Gary Novak, and saxophonist Eric Marienthtal (the lone holder over from the first iteration of the Elektric Band,) Corea, approached this ambitious outing in the same way he had done everything throughout his career, by pushing the boundaries of what modern jazz is.

With material written with these specific players in mind, Corea gathered this group of remarkably flexible musicians into Mad Hatter Studios in Los Angeles. Recorded almost entirely live in first takes, the album is notable for its “less is more” approach to Corea’s particular style of genre bending composition. Though the focus may have been more on acoustic piano than synths, the same proficiency, spontaneity, impeccable execution and jaw-dropping display of chops that characterize the five first Elektric Band albums applies.

Of special note here is the inclusion of the track “Final Frontier”, originally released exclusively on the Japanese and European editions. This all out burner is the lone tune on the record featuring Corea on a synthesizer.

Written as an answer to “Got A Match” from 1986’s The Chick Corea Elektric Band album, it’s an uptempo showcase for the players to stretch out and the kind of track that exemplifies the jazz fusion that Corea and his groups came to define."

Danny Paul Grody's position within the modern instrumental guitar underground is unique - he isn't a polymath or a virtuoso. What he is is someone who plays with extreme feeling and deep emotion, sensations that pour through his audio to anyone listening. It has been this way for his work in his former band Tartentel as well as his solo work over the past 15 years.

2023's "Arc of Day" saw Grody step into a new environment, one where an album bearing his name featured other players, prominently his old friend Rich Douthit on drums / percussion. That glorious album was such an emotional success for the two players that they quickly recorded a sibling album in a darker tone. "Arc of Night" was born. The nature of writing was such that they re-titled the project the Danny Paul Grody Duo as well. Whereas the prior LP focused on "daytime" sounds, such as they are, with bright and ringing acoustic tones, this LP focuses on the darker side. Deep, shimmering electric tones take hold and guide the listener through those hours that can enrich, enchant and haunt us all.

Joined on some tracks by Chuck Johnson (pedal steel) and Trevor Montgomery (bass), this is an album that will make anyone tuned into material by Steve Gunn, William Tyler, Six Organs of Admittance, Jack Rose, Marisa Anderson, Eli Winter or Daniel Bachman quite excited. A great adventure that you and your inclined customers will not soon forget.

Underground lifer Nick Sakes returns on the debut LP from Upright Forms. The tight-knit Minneapolis trio feels like the culmination of Sakes' varied and prolific career to date, bringing together the unhinged prog-punk ferocity of Dazzling Killmen & Colossamite with the careening chaos of Xaddax and the shout-along hooks and dynamic songcraft of Sicbay. Blurred Wires is skewed yet tuneful, challenging yet compulsively listenable, concise yet brimming with invention. The experience of a lifetime distilled to 33 rotations across a gripping 33 minutes.

Consider “They Kept on Living,” a song that first appeared in an earlier version on the SKiN GRAFT comp Sounds to Make You Shudder!. It starts off with a grinding 7/4 groove, with cryptic lines over scratchy noise-punk chords. After a brief build, the band explodes into a massive chorus, with Sakes shouting the title line against a fist-pumping riff.

The trio sound equally convincing digging into the pummeling aggression of “My Lower Self,” where Sakes’ vocals start off as a feral snarl and then soar triumphantly during the chorus, or the soothing indie-pop hush of the Paster-penned “Drive at Night.”

Various “tug-at-your-heartstrings” touchstones informed “Long Shadow”. Sakes channeled Television Personalities, cult heroes of melodic British post-punk, on “Animositine,” which he accurately labels “our prettiest song.”

Nearly 35 years into his career, Sakes is finding new ways to challenge himself — and in Paster and Westphal, he’s found two musicians who are equally comfortable with both the thorniest and the loveliest manifestations of underground rock. When they reflect on their chemistry, they agree that their openness to collaboration is, as Sakes puts it, “one of our superpowers.”

On Blurred Wires, that superpower yields dynamic, challenging and profoundly memorable results.

Limited Edition MOD Compact Disc in Digipak Lite packaging."

Lionel... Plays Drums, Vibes, Piano is a seminal album by Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra, where Hampton excels on tracks such as “Flying Home” and “Stardust”. His mastery of the drums, vibes, and piano is showcased, blending jazz, swing, and blues with unparalleled energy. This work, rich in innovative arrangements and memorable performances, embodies Hampton’s musical genius and his indelible impact on the world of jazz. Unavailable for many years, it is now released in a limited edition on TRANSPARENT ORANGE vinyl.

Repressed mint coloured vinyl for the 10th anniversary of the first Flenser pressing! Double Vinyl-LP including digital download code & comes with a 75-page zine. Layout by Niels Geybels (Agalloch, Planning for Burial), note new price on the mint edition. Long requested CD version back in print, note new price. For fans of Enemies List Home Recordings, Giles Corey, Black Wing, Planning For Burial. In 2008, Have A Nice Life released their now cult classic Deathconsciousness album to a whimper and critical non-interest. Six years after its release the band followed up with 2014's stunner The Unnatural World, and by then Deathconsciousness had become a force of influence and fanatic obsession. Seamlessly blending shoegaze, post punk, new wave, industrial and noise with unparalleled depth and weight, the album was originally released by Enemies List Home Recordings founded by HANL members Dan Barrett and Tim Macuga. The 75-page booklet accompanying the deluxe format of Deathconsciousness details the dark and forgotten history of the Antiochean cult. Blurring the lines between novella, liner notes, and academic text, the zine itself presents an engrossing narrative. The corresponding album is rhythmic, primal and expansive, and is a gloomy-post-punk masterpiece a mediation on death, loss and existence. It feels more fresh and engaging with every listen and has held up as a remarkable piece of art. Fans of Have A Nice Life exhibit both cultic thought and action for good reason it is perhaps a fanbase as dark and mysterious as the Antiochean's, which the album itself revolves around. Quotes : "Deathconsciousness is probably a perfect record" - Last Train To Cool // "A masterpiece of depression" - The Quietus // "85-minute powerhouse of a double-album" - The Needle Drop // "Have a Nice Life's Deathconsciousness could quite possibly move the Earth" - Sputnik Music (5/5 rating)".

Lenticular Sleeve / White Vinyl. When Jack Tatum began work on Life of Pause, his third full-length to date, he had lofty ambitions: Don't just write another album; create another world. One with enough detail and texture and dimension that a listener could step inside, explore, and inhabit it as they see fit. "I desperately wanted for this to be the kind of record that would displace me," he says. "I'm terrified by the idea of being any one thing, or being of any one genre. And whether or not I accomplish that, I know that my only hope of getting there is to constantly reinvent. That reinvention doesn't need to be drastic, but every new record has to have its own identity, and it has to have a separate set of goals from what came before." What came before: a rightfully acclaimed, much beloved display of singular pop craftsmanship. Tatum's dreamy, unexpected 2010 debut, Gemini, was written while he was still a student at Virginia Tech University. Its equally disarming follow-up, 2012's Nocturne, marked the first time he'd been able to bring his bedroom recordings into a studio, to be performed and fully realized with the help of other musicians. There has been a set of wonderfully expansive EPs in between_each hinting at new directions and punctuating previous ideas_but with Life of Pause, Tatum delivers what he describes as his most "honest" and "mature" work yet, an exquisitely arranged and beautifully recorded collection of songs that marry the immediate with the indefinable. "I allowed myself to go down every route I could imagine even if it ended up not working for me," he says. "I owe it to myself to take as many risks as possible. Songs are songs and you have to allow yourself to be open to everything." After a prolonged period of writing and experimentation, recording took place over several weeks in both Los Angeles and Stockholm, with producer Thom Monahan (Devendra Banhart, Beachwood Sparks) helping Tatum in his search for a more natural and organically textured sound. In Sweden, in a studio once owned by ABBA, they enlisted Peter, Bjorn and John drummer John Ericsson and fellow Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra veteran Pelle Jacobsson, to contribute drums and marimba. In California, at Monahan's home, Tatum collaborated with Medicine guitarist Brad Laner and a crew of saxophonists. From the hypnotic polyrhythms of "Reichpop" to the sugary howl of "Japanese Alice" to the hallucinogenic R&B of "A Woman's Wisdom," the result is a complete, fully immersive listening environment. "I just kept things really simple, writing as ideas came to me," he says. "There's definitely a different kind of `self' in the picture this time around. There's no real love lost, it's much more a record of coming to terms and defining what it is that you have_your place, your relationships. I view every record as an opportunity to write better songs. At the end of the day it still sounds like me, just new."

Madlib Invazion presents a colored vinyl issue of the long out of print 11th issue on the Madlib Medicine Show series - Low Budget High-Fi Music, on clear pink vinyl. In 2010, Madlib launched an ambitious series of releases known as the Madlib Medicine Show, which allowed the prolific producer to release new material on a monthly basis. The series touched on all the genres Madlib digs, and that’s just about any genre you can consider - from Jazz to Rock, Soul to Disco, myriad African musics, Brazilian and Reggae. On the 11th installment in series Madlib returned to his hip hop roots with Low Budget High-Fi Music. Featuring a run-down of regular Madlib collaborators who provide the Beat Konducta’s foil, it also included a hint of what was meant to come on the never-realized second Jaylib album, with a previously unreleased J Dilla collaboration."

Repressed. In 2010, Madlib launched an ambitious series of releases known as the Madlib Medicine Show, which allowed

the prolific producer to release new material on a monthly basis. The series touched on all the genres Madlib digs, and that’s just about any genre you can consider from Jazz to Rock, Soul to Disco, myriad African musics, Brazilian and Reggae. On the 11th installment in series Madlib returned to his hip hop roots with Low Budget High-Fi Music. Featuring a run-down of regular Madlib collaborators who provide the Beat Konducta’s foil, it also included a hint of what was meant to come on the never-realized second Jaylib album, with a previously unreleased J Dilla collaboration.

SABÏRE has now returned in 2024 with a 15 track epic, self-styled "half-concept" album, "Jätt", 5 years in the making. SABÏRE began at the tail end of 2010 as an idea to have a band that played simply what came naturally on guitar to Scarlett Monastyrski with no set genre or category. Simply the natural music. Shortly thereafter, the concept grew to accompany that sound with a big show and distinctive stylisation. The biting and sharp sound production, along with their personal lyrics, birthed for them a label for their music: ACID METAL. Not to be confused with the mind altering substance, Acid Metal took its name from the concentrated corrosive fluid not unlike the blood of the Xenomorph in the Alien films. The instruments are awash with acidic modulation, "like a drop of acid in the dark." The lyrics all hold a tinge of biting realism that once realised by the listener, stings them like a droplet of acid resting upon their skin. To take their metaphor further, their distinctive production style let's stand apart from the rest of the "modern" sound that degrades the potentcy of many new bands. They call it "brick culture," because it all sounds the same. Concentrated acid burns all the way through anything solid leaving a hot trail behind it, like the band continues to do so with garnering the attention of the world of heavy music. Band leader Scarlett Monastyrski comments : " 'Jätt' is meant to be THE sound of SABÏRE. A monolith to what we stand for artistically. We wanted this album to be its own art piece rather than simply a collection of arbitrary songs, a really 'blue' coloured sound. The physical copies hold beautifully styled texts detailing the concept for those chosen songs, as well as small epistles to accompany each track," says . “ 'Jätt' is a “blue” sounding album; the colour. You may understand that more when listening to the album yourself. The cover of 'Jätt', “Dante and Virgil in the Ninth Circle of Hell” - Gustav Doré, 1861, could be seen through a symbolic lense in which the listener is symbolised as Dante, the artist as Virgil, and the bodies locked within the ice of frozen lake as the music surrounding them; we as the artist are shepherding the listener through the mire. This could be perceived like this, or you may just see it as an attractive album cover. “ "We put our heart and soul into this one and can't wait to give our Wild Ones and Acid Fiends what they've been so patiently waiting for

Soul Direction are pleased to announce a new member of the Family “Contempo Soul” series. This label will showcase more contemporary sounding soul from independent artists. Our first offering in conjunction with Kevin Edwards III, and with the help of Dave Thorley. The Keved Project (Feat. Delbert Nelson) – “Life Has Been a Thief” / “Spread Love” – SDCO-1001. Edwards was born in Hamtramck, Michigan in 1959. As a young boy listening to Jimi Hendrix play guitar on Band of Gypsies, he knew he wanted to be a guitar player. By 16 Edwards, was playing in a high school band and at local cabarets. In 1979 Edwards played with Sons, a local jazz band. The group played Top 40s in local venues and eventually opened for the nationally renowned group, Brainstorm, which recorded on the CBS label. Sons and Brainstorm merged in 1980. When Brainstorm broke up in the early '80s Edwards freelanced with several local groups. His career took a turn in 1984 when he began writing and recording his own music. Edwards drew from his experiences and the R & B and jazz classics he'd grown up listening to as his inspiration for writing. Two years later in 1986, Edwards expanded his skills even further when he started producing young local talent. He and a partner produced Rhapsody, a rap group that released several singles on the Giant Record Label. The year 1998 saw the beginning of a new era for Edwards when he and long-time friends Darryl Lee and Greg Nance formed Ground Level. Ground Level enjoyed tremendous success, opening for the Isley Brothers, LL Cool J, Roy Ayers, Ronnie Laws and the funk group Slave. The band received accolades and grew in popularity. In 2003 the band changed its name to Level Rizon, signifying its new status and the fact that they are no longer at "ground level." Level Rizon took a year off of performing to produce That Vibe. With That Vibe Edwards feels he has started a whole new genre of music he calls "NuUrban Soul." He describes NuUrban Soul as a unique blend of jazz-fusion and R & B that has not failed to delight audiences of all walks of life. Kevin has performed with the late Michael Henderson (R/B recording artist known for You are my Starship, Sending a Valentine, Wide Receiver) in 2014. Kevin has also has a certificate in Audio Engineering from the Recording Institute of Detroit, Associates of Science in Electrical Engineering Technology from Lawrence Technological University, and Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from ITT Tech. Kevin built, and operates his own recording studio, and is continuously writing and recording new music..

Die Box, limitiert auf 1000 Stück im Handel, enthält das Debüt Album in seiner Original Version mit 6 Songs auf transparenter 180gr Vinyl.
Die Bonus LP "Demos & Rarities" erscheint als Picture Vinyl, die im Artwork Bilder des Original Master Tapes des Albums nutzt.
Neben den Demo Aufnahmen der Songs "Forgotten Past" und "Black Sun" befindet sich auf der LP auch der Song "Tommorrow's Dead", der zuvor nur auf der Vinyl Compilation "10 Years 8MM Musik" erschienen ist. Der Track "Living In Your Head" war damals B-Seite der Single "Creature of the Demon" und "The Man I Shot" & "Broken Wings" waren Teil des Split Album mit Aqua Nebula Oscillator "White Ring".
Nun werden all diese Songs aus der prägenden Zeit des Debüt Albums erstmals gemeinsam auf Vinyl veröffentlicht.

Das Foto Buch "The Early Days" zeigt eine große Auswahl von Fotos aus der Entstehungszeit der Band und enthält einen Text des Schriftstellers und Musikers Hendrick Otremba.

Auch die Dokumentation "MammutTigerWolf" der Regisseurin Irem Schwarz gibt vorher nie gesehene Einblicke in die Proben, Aufnahmen und Auftritte der Band Kadavar in ihrer Gründungszeit und wurde nie zuvor veröffentlicht.

Die Demo CD als Teil der Box war und ist ein Muss. 2010, Tiger, Lupus und Mammut nehmen ein paar Songs auf, brennen sie auf CD. Im Job-Center in Berlin, unten, in dem kleinen Copyshop, kopieren sie das Cover. Jedem Typen mit langen Haaren, dem sie in dieser Zeit begegnen, drücken sie ein Exemplar in die Hand: die ersten Aufnahmen von Kadavar. Die CD wurde in dieser Form nie neu produziert oder vertrieben.
Nun gibt es für diese Box die CD noch einmal, im Original Artwork. One time only.

Mit diesen Bestandteilen entsteht mit der "Kadavar - The First Album (Ltd. Anniversary Boxset)" eine einzigartige Sammlung an Zeitdokumenten die einen mit in ersten Jahre und die Entstehungsphase des legendären Debüt Albums von Kadavar entführt.

Boxinhalte:
- Debut Album (Gatefold / 180 gr Vinyl / transparent Vinyl)

Record Store Day repress!

Emerging from the undeniable pit of despair that is 2020, LADYMONIX offers up a brand new 4 track EP to lift your spirits and accompany your ever-evolving isolation as we head into an uncertain Fall.

CLUB NOWHERE begins with two meditative grooves that naturally rolled out from LADYMONIX's attempts to self-sooth during the early stages of lockdown. The confident basslines and swirling pads of the A1 title track and A2 'Mood' make a lush bed for you to curl up on.

Flip over the to the B-side and the underground therapy session continues with a little more signature 'Monix swing and attitude. 'Gonna Let' is one of those joints that creeps up on you and settles into your collection - the kind of track that makes you close your eyes and melt into your own space; future-tripping from your couch about clubbing again in 2021... To conclude, 'Movin On' lays out LADYMONIX's closing statement on the sorry state of global affairs: "I'm gone." -accepting the new-normal with a knowing musical eye-roll. Coz what else are you gonna do? Change what you can, accept what you can't, and whatever you do MAKE IT FASHION, HONEY!

Music From Memory is pleased to announce the upcoming release of ‘Salt And Sugar Look The Same’, a collaborative album from Tim Koh and Sun An.

Tim Koh is an American multi-instrumentalist and visual artist born and raised in Los Angeles. He has been touring, releasing music and showing art works internationally for nearly two decades. Sun An is a Southern California-based graphic designer, art director, and sound designer who has self-released music since 2012.

‘Salt And Sugar Look The Same’ plays somewhat like a dreamlike collage; across 18 short compositions, finger-picked guitars melt with electronics and warped samples to create a form of American Primitivism bent and refracted through Tim and Sun’s unique lens.

Their collaborative journey unfolded gradually, exchanging snippets via email over the span of a year or so, Sun in LA and Tim in Berlin. Amidst personal struggles and uncertainties, the act of recording and composing became a refuge, a safe space where they could navigate life's complexities together. Though they didn't converse much, mostly just sending music, their musical dialogue spoke volumes, shaping a narrative that evolved naturally over time. As they shared their musical ideas, they discovered a profound sense of connection and understanding with one another. The music became a conduit for healing, bridging the gaps between them and offering comfort in times of need.

Their musical influences and backgrounds anchored them. From reminiscing about past scenes to exploring cultural intricacies of being Korean American in Los Angeles, infused with a natural sense of shared identity, their collaboration reflected a mergence of old and new memories into a hallucinatory, dream-like experience. Across the 18 compositions that make up the album, incense emerges as a poignant motif, symbolizing the passage of time. Each incense stick becomes a vessel carrying the essence of moments gone by, while the holder becomes the custodian of these ephemeral memories.

‘Salt And Sugar Look The Same’ invites the listener on a boundary-transcending journey of introspection, joy, and pain, creating an experience that lingers long after the last note fades.

Sleeve art by Brian DeGraw, design by David McFarline.

- Legendäre experimentelle Jazz-Aufnahmen von David Lynch und Angelo Badalamenti von Anfang der 90er Jahre. - die Musik wurde versatzweise in David Lynchs Film- und Fernseharbeiten verwendet, ist aber nie als richtige Veröffentlichung erschienen. Thought Gang wurde nach der Ausstrahlung der zweiten Staffel von ,Twin Peaks" geboren, als die Hauptproduktion des Kinofilms ,Fire Walk With Me" gerade erst begonnen hatte. Das esoterische Jazz-Side-Projekt von David Lynch und Angelo Badalamenti entwickelte sich ursprünglich aus dem Slow Cool Jazz, der die ,Twin Peaks" TV Serie mitgeprägt hatte. Thought Gang erblühte zu einem experimentelleren Sound: horizontlose Aussichten auf LSD-getränkten Freejazz, geschnürt mit gesprochenen Wortnarrativen und ausgedehnten Geräuschkulissen. Der Soundtrack zu ,Fire Walk With Me" präsentierte zwei vorläufige Tracks ("A Real Indication" und "The Black Dog Runs at Night") von einem Album, das von Mai 1992 bis 1993 stückweise aufgenommen und zweieinhalb Jahrzehnte lang nicht veröffentlicht wurde. In den folgenden Jahren tauchten Fragmente und Arbeitsversionen von Thought Gang-Material immer wieder auf: in einem von Lynch geführten Adidas-Werbespot; in Szenen in ,Hotel Room", ,Mulholland Drive" und ,Inland Empire"; in gelöschten Szenen von ,Fire Walk With Me" und am meisten in Showtimes dritter Staffel von ,Twin Peaks". "Frank 2000" und "Summer Night Noise" sowie ein alternativer Instrumental-Mix von "Logic and Common Sense" unterlegen Szenen der dritten Staffel und helfen, den ausgesprochen experimentellen, rauschhaften Soundtrack der Serie zu definieren. David Lynch über Thought Gang: "It's sort of like jet-fueled jazz in a weird way, but it's all based on stories. It's Modern Music."

LP im Klappcover! Es war der Abstand - der zeitliche, räumliche und methodische - der Mac DeMarco zu "This Old Dog", dem ersten Longplayer seit "Salad Days" von 2014, inspirierte. Mit einer Handvoll Demos in der Tasche, die er in New York geschrieben hatte, zog er von Queens nach Los Angeles und realisierte nach ein paar Monaten in der neuen Heimat, dass dieser Abstand ihm neue Perspektiven eröffnete. Mac DeMarco sagt: "I demoed a full album, and as I was moving to the West Coast I thought I'd get to finishing it quick. But then I realized that moving to a new city, and starting a new life takes time. Usually I just write, record, and put it out; no problem. But this time, I wrote them and they sat. When that happens, you really get to know the songs. It was a different vibe." Mit dem Poppen und Klicken der CR-78 und dem akustischen Geklimper des Album-Opener "My Old Man" sowie dem von Synthesizern durchzogenen zweiten Song "This Old Dog" wird schnell klar, dass Mac DeMarco diesmal tief in die Trickkiste gegriffen hat. Auf "This Old Dog" sind die Synthesizer stärker verwurzelt als auf seinen bisherigen Releases, aber trotzdem achtet DeMarco sorgfältig darauf, dass diese den Rest der Instrumente und den "unplugged"-Eindruck des Albums nicht überschatten. Oder wie er erklärt: "This is my acoustic album, but it's not really an acoustic album at all. That's just what it feels like, mostly. I'm Italian, so I guess this is an Italian rock record." ENG Gatefold LP! This Old Dog by Mac DeMarco (A.K.A. 26-year old McBriare Samuel Lanyon DeMarco) is his third album and first full-length since 2014's Salad Days. The album opener "My Old Man" and title track "This Old Dog" show a new sonic direction and a glimpse into the very personal nature of this record. It was a little space-in time, location (he moved from Queens to Los Angeles), and method-that inspired DeMarco while making This Old Dog. Arriving in California with a grip of demos he'd written in New York, he realized after a few months of setting up his new shop that the gap was giving him perspective. DeMarco says, "I demoed a full album, and as I was moving to the West Coast I thought I'd get to finishing it quickly. But then I realized that moving to a new city, and starting a new life takes time. Usually I just write, record, and put it out; no problem. But this time, I wrote them and they sat. When that happens, you really get to know the songs. It was a different vibe." DeMarco wrote some demos for "This Old Dog" on an acoustic guitar, an eye-opening method for him. "The majority of this album is acoustic guitar, synthesizer, some drum machine, and one song is electric guitar. So this is a new thing for me." And right from the offset, from the pops and clicks of the CR-78 and acoustic strums on the album-opening "My Old Man," and the synth-drenched beauty of the second track, "This Old Dog," it's clear that DeMarco's bag is filled with new tricks indeed. This Old Dog is rooted more in a synth-base than any of his previous releases, but he is careful not to let that tactic overshadow the other instruments and overall "unplugged" mood of the work. "This is my acoustic album, but it's not really an acoustic album at all. That's just what it feels like, mostly. I'm Italian, so I guess this is an Italian rock record."

Gottwood Festival's imprint Gottwax returns for its eighth installment. At the controls of this release is the London-based duo 'Make A Dance,' whose playful, party-driven sound has been making waves in the underground since their inception. Delivering a lively four-track EP, which includes two originals and two reworks, all of which are club-ready and certainly have 'The dance in mind.' This is going to make it into a lot of DJs' bags this summer and is not one to be missed."

Kicking things off on the A-side is 'Pocket Beagle,' a playful track that exudes energy with its infectious bassline groove and unforgettable vocal. Make A Dance showcases their slick production abilities and sense of humour with this track, which is sure to be a staple at many parties this summer. Moving to the A2, 'Pocket Beagle (Acid Dub)' is the duo's club-ready reimagining of the A1, injecting some serious attitude and character with its acid-infused bassline and metallic top line.

Onto the B-side, we've got 'Woof Doof.' This track is a real groover, with a lively bass and catchy melody. It's a solid addition to any DJ's arsenal and one you can expect to hear at many parties this year.Closing out the EP is 'Woof Doof (Hardcore Labrador Mix),' the duo's haunting rework that cleverly rethinks the B1 but takes you on a deeper journey. With its heavy drum groove, swelling sound effects, and that catchy top line, this track is tailor-made for those late-night dance floors.

We're excited to welcome Make A Dance to the Gottwax family and share the 'Woof Doof' EP with you.

What might appear to be the most unlikely collaboration of 2024 proves also to be one of the most invigorating listens of the year! Shackleton & Six Organs of Admittance are in full aural/metaphysical alignment in their mutual effort to become Jinxed By Being. On first listen, it becomes immediately clear that this fusion of Shackleton"s bass heavy cosmic dread and Six Organs" ritual folksong makes total sense. Longtime listeners know that both Shackleton and Six Organs of Admittance have been unafraid to pursue their muse into any and all encroaching depth of darkness or outer boundary of potential dissonance - in fact, that has always been their default mode, finding more of resonance way out there in the process. They also share that ol" maverick psychedelic ritual transcendental music vibe, don"t they? And a fascination with repetition and cycles. And a mutual inspiration drawn from alternative tunings and literature...all this considered, it"s been basically inevitable that Ben Chasny and Sam Shackleton would work together. It took a while for them to find each other-and once they did, it was almost eerie, how preordained it felt. When the music started coming, though-that"s when it got really eerie. The mood rises from the music like smoke, a sure signal of total integration. Jinxed by Being finds Shackleton & Six Organs of Admittance delighting in their synthesis. Reveling in the unique sonic textures found in the collage, they launch small details that unfold into a massive space and often multiply into lines of dimensional space, crossing the stereo spectrum with enervating motility. Here lies all the proof you need against the danger of categorizing by perceived genre rather than intention-encounters like Shackleton & Six Organs of Admittance might never have found the linear space in which they sit next to each other, beyond alphabets and other institutional organizing principles. Rearrange your libraries-or you might miss getting Jinxed By Being.

First time out for this wildly raw dubplate, sister-recording to the Pablo master-rhythm, shot through with other-worldly, illusively allusive incantation.
Surely that's Family Man stalking a sunken cavern, and his bro battering all seven shades out of his drum-kit, like Meters on fire, and Chinna on guitar, glazed and violent. The mixing rears up right in your face.
Producer Gussie Clarke says Theophilus 'Easy Snappin' Beckford is playing piano, with the front removed so he can strum the strings (like he finally snapped) — but he credits the work overall to Augustus Pablo.
Transferred from acetate — fuss-pots don't grumble, just be humble — though the flip brings a clutch of criss, unmissable alternates, direct from Gussie's tape-room (where the files are entitled 'Classical Illusion / The Sun').
Heavy, heavy funk. Simplicity People dug in. Stunning.

Repress!

With a rare combination of powerful vocals, honest song writing and dynamic live performances, Izo FitzRoy's music is a unique and captivating blend of soul, gospel and blues.

Album Promo feedback:

RADIO: 6Music Craig Charles Funk and Soul Show, KCRW (Garth Trinidad), NPR Radio, Robert Elms BBC Radio London live show and interview, Radio 1 (Holland), Jazz FM, Radio One Italy

Radio 1 Prague, Solar Radio, Radio Nova - Porto / Portugal, Kiss FM Ukraine, WCLK Atlanta 91.9 FM, KaneFm, Açik Radyo, WUTK-FM 90.3, WPRK 91.5 FM, Republic 100,3/Thessaloniki, eastside radio, THE MELTDOWN SHOW, Radio Z 95.8 Nuernberg, WBAI 99.5fm, WHCR 90.3 FM, Radio Kraków, Black Country Radio, Ibiza Sonica 95.2FM, Rado Tomek, Pioneer DJ Radio, Scanner FM, Juice FM

PRINT PRESS: Blues & Soul, Echoes, R2 Magazine, Music Republic, Blues In Britain, Uncut, Vents Magazine

ONLINE PRESS: Clash Magazine, DJBooth, Indie Shuffle, Eton Messy, La Belle Musique, Sound Control, Bear Toons, Monkeyboxing, elitemuzik, soulandjazz, Ok-Tho, Withguitars, The Listening Post, Rockstone Sessions, Backseat Mafia

Dispatches From Solitude is their latest album from Ortrotasce on the mighty Dark Entries. For over a decade, the man behind this project, Nic Hamersly, has been making brooding yet propulsive darkwave anthems that draw on the similarities and differences between industrial and synth-pop, all while connecting past and present sounds. He recorded this album during the Covid and post-Covid era and it captures some of the prevailing moods of those times across eight expertly crafted synth-pop tracks that delve into grief, romance, and the weird and wonderful nature of our modern world.

„D“ ist das erste Soloalbum seit 11 Jahren von Daryl Hall nach riesigen weltweiten Tourneen und Katalogwachstum als Teil von Hall & Oates und ausverkauften Daryl Hall Solo-Terminen auf der ganzen Welt. Das Album wurde gemeinsam mit Dave Stewart von den Eurythmics geschrieben, koproduziert und eingespielt. Daryl Hall ist ein moderner Renaissance-Mann, der in die Rock and Roll Hall of Fame aufgenommen wurde, der Star seiner eigenen preisgekrönten Webserie Live from Daryl’s House„ und ein erfolgreicher Veranstaltungsort mit Daryl’s House“, einem restaurierten Veranstaltungsort und Live-Musikraum in Pawling, New York. Der Soul-Mann aus Philadelphia erreicht auch mehr als vier Jahrzehnte später immer noch Meilensteine in seiner Karriere und tritt mit seiner Band weiterhin in ausverkauften Hallen auf.

*REMASTERED ROUGH TRADE 4 TRACK E.P LIMITED TO JUST 500 COPIES*

Everything on “Up Home!” is bigger, richer; the guitars are huge, as though they’re being played through the clouds, massive gusts of blue-green noise that move across the stereo spectrum like weather systems. “Baby Milk Snatcher” is built around face-flattening dub bass, with glinting piano and shards of guitar ricocheting through the song. “W.O.G.S.” is delirious to the point of expiration; “One Way Mirror” is their attempt at weird, lopsided ‘anti-funk’, the song’s melody crushed by avalanches of six-string interference. And the closing “Up” is AR Kane’s masterpiece, a disembodied thud pulsing at its heart as a six-note guitar melody spirals ever onward, Ayuli’s voice lost in its own reverie, hymning escapism via references to Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey’s ‘black star line’.
• Jon Dale, lead review in Uncut Magazine
who grew up together in Stratford, East London. From the off the pair were outsiders in the culturally mixed (cockney/Irish/West Indian/Asian) milieu of the East End, with Alex and Rudy’s folks first generation immigrants from Nigeria and Malawi, respectively. The two of them quickly developed and fostered an innate and near-telepathic mutual understanding forged in musical, literary and
artistic exploration. Like a lot of second-generation immigrants, they were ferocious autodidacts in all kinds of areas, especially around music and literature. Diving deep into the music of afro-futurist luminaries such as Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Lee Perry and Hendrix, as well as devouring the explorations of lysergic noise and feedback from contemporaries like Sonic Youth and Butthole Surfers, they also thoroughly immersed themselves in the alternate literary realities of sci-fi and ancient history (the fascination with the arcane that gave the band their name), all to feed their voracious cultural thirsts and intellectual curiosity.

It was seeing the Cocteau Twins performing on Channel 4 show the Tube that spurred A.R. Kane into being - “They had no drummer. They used tapes and technology and Liz Fraser looked completely otherworldly with those big eyes. And the noise coming out of Robin’s guitar! That was the ‘Fuck! We could do that!
The duo debuted with the astonishing ‘When You’re Sad’ single for One Little Indian in
1986. Immediately dubbed a ‘black Jesus & Mary Chain’ by a press unsure of WHERE to put a black band clearly immersed in feedback and noise, what was immediately apparent for listeners was just how much more was going on here – a tapping of dub’s stealth and guile, a resonant umbilicus back to fusion and jazz, the music less a conjuration of past highs than a re-summoning of lost spirits.

The run of singles and EPs that followed picked up increasingly rapt reviews in the press, but it was the ‘Up Home EP’ released in 1988 on their new home, Rough Trade that really suggested something immense was about to break. SimonReynolds noted the EP was: Their most concentrated slab of iridescent awesomeness and a true pinnacle of an era that abounded with astounding
landmarks of guitar-reinvention, A.R. Kane at their most elixir-like.

If anything, the remastered ‘Up Home’ is even more dazzling, even more startling than it was when it first emerged, and listening now you again wonder not just about how many bands christened ‘shoegaze’ tried to emulate it, but how all of them fell so far short of its lambent, pellucid wonder. This
remains intrinsically experimental music but with none of the frowning orthodoxy those words imply. A.R. Kane, thanks to that second generation auto-didacticism were always supremely aware about the interstices of music and magic, but at the same time gloriously free in the way they explored that connection within their own sound, fascinated always with the creation of ‘perfect mistakes’ and the possibilities inherent in informed play.

On her sophomore album "Germ in a Population of Buildings", upsammy moves through her surroundings with the curiosity of a place-bending landscape architect. The album is rooted in her interest for ambiguous environments in constant shift, and the feeling of discovering strange patterns in different ecosystems. Often, the Amsterdam-based artist finds herself zooming in and out beyond a place's most recognizable surface features to inhabit the microscopic and gigantic. Gathering field recordings and evocative environmental sounds, she shapes this source material into vibrating electro-acoustic rhythms and unstable, psychedelic textures. upsammy's debut album, 2020's critically-acclaimed "Zoom", was praised for its careful reimagining of IDM, evolving vignettes that nodded towards the dancefloor without being shackled to its rigid set of rules. On "Germ in a Population of Buildings" her process has evolved considerably; the skeletal trace of IDM is still present but it's been trapped in amber, allowing her unique sonic landscape to develop organically. 'Being is a Stone' is a proof of concept in many ways, layering upsammy's contorted voice in rickety patterns beneath a lattice of fragile rhythms and faintly melancholy synths. It's never immediately obvious where the sounds are coming from - a hiccuping beat might be glass cracking underfoot, and larger pulses could be wet concrete, rusted iron or bent plastic. As the sounds develop they morph into each other, demolishing what came before and building on top of the ornamental wreckage. On the dynamic 'Constructing', upsammy's sound design fluxes through hyperactive bass music structures, abstracting expectations at every turn. Often her sounds are whisper quiet, rattling and vibrating until heavier masonry drops and disrupts the structure. And when discernible rhythms subside into the background, like on the album's eerie title track, they become almost illusory, morphing between the real world and the electronic. upsammy's processed voice works like a bridge between these realms, snaking between stark, whimsical melodies on 'Patterning', arching from AutoTuned detachment into cooing, dreamy intimacy. By considering the harmonies between each location she's visited, upsammy has been able to build a unique topology that's an uncanny digital amalgam of her lived experience. It's a thoughtful alternative in an era more concerned with flatting the landscape than crumpling it and examining its peaks and troughs.

1st press sold out
LTD repress soon

Following Chicago’s tradition in special edits and dj personal reworks to extend crucial parts and surprise the dancers, Theo Parrish has always sparkled his legendary sets with his own versions of classic and obscure disco, funk and soul cuts to maximum effect! Some of those were available to fans in mid 2000s via the Ugly Edits series, now it’s finally time for the LOVELY EDITS.

Officially licensed and using the original parts from the master tapes, here we have Theo’s takes on two absolute staples: BT EXPRESS ‘Peace Pipe’ and GEORGE DUKE ‘I Want You For Myself’.

The revered British singer/songwriter Linda Thompson's latest project, the aptly named 'Proxy Music' features artists handpicked by Linda and her son (and album co-producer) Teddy Thompson, to record a new set of her tunes by "proxy". Thompson, who Rolling Stone hailed as having "one of rock and roll's finest voices," has limited singing capabilities now due to a rare vocal condition. 'Proxy Music', however, impressively showcases her songwriting range and prowess. Tracks like "Darling This Will Never Do," and "Mudlark" hold a timeless quality, while "Those Damn Roches" and "John Grant" (sung by John Grant himself) boast very modern sensibilities. 'Proxy Music' contains performances from Linda's long-time friends and admirers as Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Eliza Carthy, The Proclaimers, Dori Freeman, and Grant, along with many talented Thompsons, including her children Teddy and Kami, and her ex-husband Richard Thompson playing guitar on several tracks. "Music in my family," Thompson shares. "It's like glue. It binds us."

A Gilles Peterson-approved deep jazz-rap classic.

2024 first time vinyl release, 140g double vinyl, remastered audio with restored artwork.

Limited and Non-Returnable.

Holy grail hip-hop alert! Superstar Quamallah's Invisible Man was never released on wax so, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of this astounding record, we present the first ever vinyl edition. A stunning record which gained accolades upon its initial release, such as a prominent feature on Gilles Peterson's renowned Best Of 2009 show, it's one of the most essential jazz rap albums of all time.

Deep jazz rap on that mellow-melodic tip, Invisible Man is an unforgettable album with nothing but dope beats and dope bars. There's a strong chance this album has passed you by but we truly believe it to be a lost hip-hop masterpiece. It supremely captures the essence of a golden age classic without being slavish to the past. No, this ain't some facile throwback rap. It's a fresh and deeply soulful, original album shot through straight from the heart. Perfect to chill to, Invisible Man is profoundly jazz-oriented and captures with simplicity and sincerity the essence of hip-hop circa 1983-1994. It sounds like vibing with your nearest, dearest and oldest friends on a long hot summer night as the tantalising thought that anything is possible fills the air. You know what, we can just call this "magic hour rap" and we think you'll know what we mean. It's just beautiful. Just Listen.

Brooklyn-born, California-based emcee, DJ, and producer Superstar Quamallah was active in the West Coast underground scene throughout the 90s and recorded extensively with such revered names as Defari and Tajai. His parents were some serious artistic heavyweights, too; his father was soul organist Big John Patton, a giant in the jazz world known for his releases on Blue Note whilst his mother was an active designer. However, he remains relatively unknown. Invisible Man, named ostensibly after the classic Ralph Ellison novel, could also refer to how he is viewed by the public at large. With close affiliations to the Hieroglyphics, Dilated Peoples and Likwit crew, his debut EP "Don't Call Me John" arrived in 1999 on ABB Records, after which he took a sabbatical from recording which included graduate school, travelling, teaching at Inglewood High and eventually a professorship of African Studies at Berkeley.

With a laidback flow and deep, relaxing presence on the mic, Superstar Quamallah is equal parts Big Daddy Kane, Rakim and Guru. Invisible Man is refined, soulful, feel-good hip-hop of the old school. Its wise, spiritual and literate sound, combined with the summertime vibes projected by the smooth beats and the nostalgia-inducing samples and vocal scratches, created jazzy boom-bap rap reminiscent of prime De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest and Gang Starr.

Irresistibly bouncing opener "You Need Knowledge" loops sparkling pianos, horns and a nagging whistle refrain with scratched vocal refrains from Slick Rick, Mobb Deep and Guru. The super-smooth head-nod classic "88 Soul" also utilises a beautifully swelling piano line and dusty breaks whilst Quamé reminisces about his childhood in NYC. Deeply moving, the silky, sultry "Black Shakespeare" is built around an elegant piano loop and goes hard on the superman lover tip whilst "For My People...It's Spiritual" is transcendental rap in conversation with Rakim and older gods. The "Moment Of Truth"-sampling "Lonely At The Top" is striking for its undiluted boom-bap stylings and the staccato flute-hop of "Just Listen" is riddled with soulful refinement. The deeply-affecting, wistful-yet-triumphant bells and horn-drenched single "California Dreamin'" is top-tier rap of unimpeachable quality. What a flow!

Another highlight is the rich melodic piano-rap of "Purity", a beautiful ode to the foundations of rap and those keeping the culture authentically alive. Beautifully played instruments and spiritual jazz samples elevate the deep thinking present on "Kunta Kente" whilst the darker jazz-tinged battle-rap of "93 Shit" goes super hard both in a lyrical sense and with its no-holds drum punches. The breezy Rhodes and string loops that serve as the sonic backdrop to the slinky jazz rap of "We Got Plots" are just gorgeous as our hero evokes Common's "I Used To Love H.E.R." with a head-spinning tale of crime, deception and double crossing. And some twist! "Do Win-Dis" has a tense crime-funk backing and rolling beats which complement Quamé's flow perfectly before the record is rounded out by the tough yet jazzy brilliance of rap confessional "Hope She Remembers Me". Just sensational.

Upon its original release, Quamallah himself declared: "My favorite time period for Hip Hop music was definitely between 1983 and 1994 with 1988 and 1993 being two years that standout as extremely impressive years musically and culturally. The fashion, slang, movies, TV shows and vibe during those years was incredible. While totally submerged in the feelings and music of that entire time period, I went to work on Invisible Man and I am excited for people to hear the result! It is an album that I would want to hear from some of my favorite artists of the past and present today. This is not a RETRO trip for me; this is me at my best lyrically and spiritually using the accessories of the 80s and 90s to fuel me. I am a 88 soul as the song states!"

This album goes deep. It goes all in. When Invisible Man first came out it had a real hold on us here at Be With HQ. We couldn't stop listening to it. We'd venture to say it's one of the top 25 rap records of the 2000s. In the years since its release, it has remained a criminally underrated record, an increasingly hidden gem. We sincerely hope this first time double LP release will go some way to correct this.

It's been mastered for vinyl by Simon Francis, cut by Cicely Balston and pressed at Record Industry. Finally available on the format it should always have been on, it must never be rendered invisible again.