A blend of Nu-Disco/Disco-funk, trip hop and cosmic with a touch of jazz from the one they call Super Paolo across 2 x 12 Inch records that has been lighting up dancefloors the world over.
DJ Support:
Ashley Beedle, Daniele Baldelli, LTJ Trevisi, Severino, Francesco Mami.
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Los Retros is the young Mexican American singer songwriter whose music has captured the hearts of fans around the world. He broke onto the scene with the viral single ‘Someone to Spend Time With’
in 2019, which has racked up over 40m streams. ‘Looking Back’ is his third EP.
Los Retros was just sixteen when he first began recording in his family’s living room on an old fourtrack. The recordings comprising ‘Looking Back’ grew out of these early sessions. Now officially released for the first time. Includes fan favourite ‘Amtrak’ (2.5m YouTube views).
For fans of Cuco, Beebadoobee, Toro Y Moi, Yellow Days, Mild High Club, Boy Pablo.
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Jungle, an ever evolving genre still rooted in it's birth some 30 years ago. Paying homage to this evolution, E-Beamz presents Continuum-z, 9 tracks of retro-futurism crafted by some of today's leading artists.
Featuring a core of UK talent such as Tim Reaper, Mani Festo and Denham Audio as well as a smattering of international artists from places as far afield as Brazil & New Zealand, Continuum-Z encapsulates Jungle's enduring global appeal, with the genre in ruder health than ever before in 2022.
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One of Deadmau5’s seminal smash hits, ‘Faxing Berlin’ gets a well-deserved reissue, with this being the first time the Piano Acoustic Mix has been pressed to vinyl. An unquestionable classic and the lead single from Deadmau5’s third album Random Album Title, this EP combines the original mix, Chris Lake edit and the Piano Acoustic & Radio Edit for the first time together on a 12 inch.
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Second edition of Night Defined Recordings’ new compilation series launched last year. NDVAX02 gathers tunes of longstanding old hands alongside rising talents. Four songs that find their common ground in a strongly pronounced emotional and melodic level.
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Back once again with the MYEDITS master. An audacious single sided weapon from the Moxy Edits crew, blending whomping speed garage basslines, a classic vocal of supreme stature and a slick, skipping beat to produce another slice of dancefloor destroying gold.
The track first appeared when Darius Syrossian dropped it at the Brooklyn Timewarp after party b2b with Seth Troxler, and lead to people scrambling for a track I.D when videos emerged. The week after it was one of the standout tunes at the WeAreFstvl Mexico festival.
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Our Lowriders album is an amalgam of the two “This Is Lowrider Soul” CDs. We have chosen 14 tracks that represent the sounds loved by Los Angelenos, often of Mexican descent, that emanate from their fabulously designed motors while cruising Whittier Boulevard in East LA or, say, Van Nuys Boulevard in the northwest of the city.
The classic Los Angeles vocal group the Superbs are featured here on their glorious ‘It Hurts So Much’, but it is mainly the records discovered by sweet soul collectors that dominate. The Carnival label has a great reputation on this scene; Lee Williams & the Cymbals’ ‘Please Say It Isn’t So’ and ‘Follow Your Heart’ by the Manhattans are a pair of killer ballads perfect in tempo and harmony for the cruisers. Other East Coast offerings include the Persians’ captivating ‘Here It Comes’ and two gems which were only on master tape prior to their Kent releases – Melvin Hicks & The Versatiles’ ‘I’m Just Passing Time’ and the similarly unknown outfit the Exceptions, with the wailing ‘So Much In Love’.
Chicago has always been a breeding ground for black harmony groups. The Esquires saw much success at Bunky; ‘No Doubt About It’ was their equally great first release at Wand. Little Ben & The Cheers hailed from the same city; their ‘I’m Not Ready To Settle Down’ fetches big bucks due to Lowrider demand, as does ‘What Am I Gonna Do’ by the mysterious Houston Outlaws – their origins are uncertain, but must be Midwestern. The Vanguards hailed from Indianapolis and deservedly charted with ‘Somebody Please’, licensed to LA’s Whiz label. All of their seven singles on Lamp are also fine, harmonic soul tracks. The Lovers were a Bay Area group who recorded in Los Angeles with the maestro Arthur Wright; their ‘Someone’ was tipped for the charts when licensed to Philips, but flopped, leaving it ripe for revival by the soul connoisseurs. Like the Lovers, the reputation of Reuben Bell’s ‘It’s Not That Easy’ has grown over the decades and a record once considered common can now fetch hundreds of dollars – class will out.
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The US-born, Norwegian-Mexican musician and producer Carmen Villain, real name Carmen Hillestad, has spent the last nine years and four albums gently unraveling song into the sound of emotional impulse. From the tilt and croon of her first two albums to the expansive warmth that flows and pulses beyond ambient in her more recent output, Hillestad's journey is artful musical deconstruction but also somehow spiritual growth.Hence new album Only Love From Now On, her fourth full-length and the culmination of a build-up that really began with the turn in sound evident from third album Both Lines Will Be Blue (2019, Smalltown Supersound) and the subsequent releases Affection In A Time Of Crisis (2020, Longform Editions) and Sketch For Winter IX: Perlita (2021, Geographic North). While the seed of her aesthetic was planted earlier, it has blossomed into something unexpected, benevolent in its composure and altogether luxuriant in its sensuality. If her themes, especially now, are wide, philosophical, and occasionally abstract, the emotional tenor of Hillestad's music is clear and purposeful. Makes sense that her key musical touchstones are dub, ambient, and cosmic jazz - flexible vehicles for tranquil wonder. While it may not contain voice or lyrics, as her two earliest records do, she describes it as, "wishing to maintain a sense of careful optimism for the future, while on the cusp of something unknown." Listening to Only Love From Now On is simultaneously comforting and alluringly strange. Partly it's the contributions of guests Arve Henriksen (trumpet, electronics) and Johanna Scheie Orellana (flutes). Partly it's the fluidity between instruments - such as clarinets - field recordings, the studio, jam, and careful composition. She calls the process a conversation with sound that occurs in her deliberate attempts to experiment with new methods, like granular synthesis, for her music-making. But mostly that strange comfort is in the peace and grateful contentment she has found via the stark recognition of her own privilege - laid bare by the pandemic. Only Love From Now On is fueled by the sense of scale in feeling small in the face of things so large, the contemplation of how the biggest impact we can have is in the people close to us, the attempt to make sure that impact is a positive one, and the choice to try to focus on love instead of fear.
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Following Chari Chari and Rui Maia's albums, Organic Series releases another collection of beautiful music by funcionário, artistic alias of multitalented Pedro Tavares.
"Lisbon Dreams" is a conceptual album shaped by Pedro that evoques his travels between Setúbal and Lisbon, while studying Fine Arts at the portuguese capital city.
Music wise, "Lisbon Dreams" represents an unfolding new world, full of overwhelming feelings translated into musical landscapes and possibly inspired by contemporary producers like Nuno Canavarro or Susumu Yokota.
But when Pedro talks about his album he likes to quote John Cage: don't try to create and analyze at the same time. They're different processes.
- For fans of Susumu Yokota or Nuno Canavarro
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Limited Edition Vinyl LP – 1971 album cover, thick tip-on sleeve, 700 copies only
Finally putting an end to a long wait for library music lovers, Four Flies Records is proud to present the first reissue of Piero Umiliani's Paesaggi – a record that, despite remaining for many years pretty obscure compared to other titles in the maestro's discography, is now regarded by collectors and experts as the gold standard in Italian library music.
Originally released in two versions with different sleeves, the first on Liuto Records in 1971 and the second on Ciak Record in 1980, the album features tracks composed by the maestro himself (under his alias Zalla) and performed by the legendary super-group of Italian session players I Marc 4, this time with Angelo Baroncini instead of Carlo Pes on guitars (which probably explains the name being spelled with a 'k' instead of a 'c' on the album cover).
The Italian word paesaggi means "landscapes", and that is exactly what the music in the album has been designed to evoke – a journey of moods and emotions, through exotic and pastoral scenery, with loungey sounds that caress your ears like the song of an enchanted nightingale. Mysterious yet captivating soundscapes transport you to a faraway and peaceful place, possibly somewhere in rural Asia. While listening to the record, you'll feel as if you are sitting under a pavilion, right in the middle of a tea plantation, enjoying a freshly brewed green tea and watching the calm sunset.
In addition, Paesaggi is paradigmatic of Italian library music and its genre-defying nature. By using a multitude of instruments, such as flute, vibraphone, harpsichord, sitar, gong and others, it brings together a variety of arrangements, styles, and genres spanning from bossa nova to jazz, easy listening to psychedelic, Latin, exotica, and many more.
Under Umiliani's brilliant direction, the pianos and keyboard instruments of Antonello Vannucchi, the guitars of Angelo Baroncini, the bass of Maurizio Majorana, and the drums of Roberto Podio dance together and – enriched by other instruments played by top session musicians like Bruno Battisti D'Amario (sitar), Franco De Gemini (harmonica), or Franco Chiari (vibraphone) – create the sound that makes Paesaggi so unique.
With the honour of reissuing this masterpiece so many decades since its release comes a responsibility to do full justice to one of the greatest Italian composers of the 20th century and his now celebrated legacy. Four Flies have done their best to put out a record that replicates as closely as possible the value of the original as a cultural artefact, providing Italian library connoisseurs and novices alike with an exquisite sonic, and tactile, experience.
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Breaking News! DJs Pareja and Matias Aguayo have joined to form the dance project MDM Factory!
Modern transcendental Techno music for those who know, and those who want to learn!
In a turmoil of events nightlife would change forever, and confined to their respective places - A flat in Buenos Aires and a house in the jungle Diego Irasusta, Mariano Caloso and Matias Aguayo joined forces to create new communication on distance via music.
Taking all their dance floor knowledge and dreaming of sound systems and togetherness in a better future, DJs Pareja & Aguayo put their minds, bodies and souls to work on this stunning EP that will please the forward thinking underground freaks as well as the big room techno pros.
Let’s dive into this divine mess of glorious dance floor jams from the future...
A1. Curvas Peligrosas
With the first track it becomes clear what this is all about: Wobbly metamorphous sounds from outer space jamming with stomping and bass driven techno beats of tomorrow, a new kind of rave, hypnotic and seductive, utterly strange but wonderfully catchy and contagious in a good sense, harsh shuffled hiatus and alternating kick drums, a relentless bassline and sophisticated electronic sounds in a a permanent evolution resembling and invoking altered states of consciousness.
A2. Love Boat
This new rave anthem seems like a classic you haven’t heard about. Muscle memories from dancefloor days trigger your body as you listen on your headphones, awaiting the chance to play it out soon, hopefully, as the dance floors slowly reopen. Alternating between parts of kickdrum, clap and snare awesomeness, and the mangled rave signals that slowly morph into a more concrete melody reminiscent of ancient dreams of the future, this track has it all for the club kids of today.
B1. La Vida Loca
The title track is a tech banger that will please those who dig Kenny Larkin, Claude Young, The Surgeon, Dave Clark or any other star in the nocturnal sky of Techno Techno, as well as the lovers of DJs Pareja’s classic Cómeme Clubbangers, or the more Techno side of Mr. Aguayo. Definitely has the potential to become a huge hit if enough djs that don’t rely on algorithms get their hands on it
B2. Las Llaves
The closer is hyper modern tech funk at its best. Percussive greatness as you can find it on many Cómeme releases is triggered in a different way, “sabroso” rhythms that are played in the light and purposeful way of an elegant jazz drummer, pave the way for an always evolving psychedelic lead synth sound, that will be a useful tool for the dj who knows when to keep the groove, prolonging those magic times between the risings...
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One of Europe’s most popular queer parties launches its record label, showcasing the residents who made Adonis such a cult, must-attend event. The four-track ‘ADONIS 001’ EP is released on 25 February, featuring four tracks from residents Nyra and Wilson Phoenix, representing the different music styles experienced across both rooms at their infamous party which ended its four-year residency at The Cause with a bang on New Year’s Day this year.
Long-term resident Nyra delivers both A-Side tracks, presenting the uplifting, main-room house sound of Adonis. Opening with ‘Used To Love Me’ which evokes classic early New York house with its sultry “you used to love me, basic lover” vocal refrain alongside deep atmospheric beats and hypnotic saxophone sounds. ‘Visions’ sparkles with vibrant electro beats which bounce and shimmer throughout, combined with the Italo house inspired synth chords for an anthemic track perfect for peak-time dance-floors.
Resident Wilson Phoenix, known for delivering the faster paced, darker sound of Adonis, provides both B-Side tracks. As the BPM rises, the vibe gets harder. The thumping yet euphoric ‘Dash Und’ flexes its muscles from the out, with its punchy 909 matched by robotic synths and nostalgic acid and rave influences. ‘K-12’ ups the intensity; a sweat-soaked techno stomper with stabbing hi-hats which make for the ideal heads down cut.
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Red hot Modern Soul 45 recorded in Memphis, Tennessee in 1985. Big thanks to Robert Garcia @mrbighappy & Daniel Mathis @quartzwatches for the research and words on this one!!
Brotherhood Band was started by Ernest Coleman(EC) and Clint Hyson, who met thorough a US Navy band called "Mid-South", which was the US Navy's premier musical organization operating out of Millington, Tennessee (20 min outside of Memphis). The group initially played as an instrumental jazz band. In keeping up with the times, they shifted gears towards a more contemporary sound. Shortly after, they decided to cut a single. Enter "Nicci's Theme", which is the B-side here and it's a beautiful jazz tune EC wrote for a girl he fell in love with. This song was supposed to be his door way in, but he actually never opened the door with her.
A few weeks later Clint called EC and played this syncopated bass line for him over the phone. And then EC being the ladies man that he was wrote the lyrics to "Leather Pants" to it. Part of the lyrics read "The pants they stretch, but they don't bust. Enough to make a blind man cuss", but it originally read as, "The pants they stretch, but they don't bust. Enough to make a PREACHER cuss". The song was ready, but they needed to find a singer. That's when member Richard Owens mentioned that he had a young cat back in Atlanta named Taji. In a gamble Taji drove up to Memphis for the Sunrise recording studio session to record the track. According to EC when Taji laid the vocals down he took the song to the next level. In fact it was so impactful that EC, who is now a Grammy producer, still references Taji's sessions when working with new artist.
After the single dropped the group played at Memphis hot spots, Bills Twilight Lounge and Club No Name. EC even had an idea to host a local leather pants contest as a way to promote the song. This lead to a frenzy of women seeking to be "Miss Leather Pants".
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50th Anniversary 180g Vinyl LP Reissue All-Analog Mastered from the Original Tapes!
This reissue celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Ismael Rivera's third album, Lo Ultimo en la Avenida, recorded with the Kako y Su Orquesta. Ismael was known as one of the greatest soneros in salsa and Kako was one of the most popular timbaleros during the 60s and 70s, making the combination undeniably electric. Highlight tracks include the hit "Mi Negrita Me Espera," plus the exhilarating "El Cumbanchero." This 180-gram vinyl LP pressing boasts all-analogue mastering from the original tapes.
Chet Baker’s work is legendary and the arrival of this previously unreleased live set, recorded at Palermo’s Brass Club in 1976, is a real delight for his fans. Here Baker’s marvellous trumpet revelry is matched by the rest of his dynamite Quartet, this time featuring the esteemed composer and vibraphonist Enzo Randisi on piano (his only collaboration with Baker), Vito Tommaso’s brother Giovanni making full use of the fretboard on melodic stand-up bass, and Gianni Cavallaro taking an unusual approach with the drums. Their keen musicianship helps spur Baker to squeeze the best from his horn, and there’s a rare take of the ballad ‘I Can’t Get Started’ too, making this a must-have for all serious Chet devotees.
“Revel in Time”, the third album from ARJEN ANTHONY LUCASSEN'S STAR ONE, is as much of a reaction as it is a contrast to Arjen Lucassen’s previous album, “Transitus” from Ayreon. While “Transitus” is a cinematic experience that you may almost call a musical, “Revel in Time” is a heavy album that is very riff driven and there is more focus on virtuoso musicianship. Similar to its predecessors, “Revel In Time” works as a concept album. All tracks are inspired by different movies that deal with some kind of manipulation of time. There is one thing this time around that is quite different compared to the earlier STAR ONE albums: The first two had the same cast of four singers: Floor Jansen, Russell Allen, Damian Wilson and Dan Swano. However, this time Arjen decided to generally have mainly one singer per track, and a different for almost each track. This shows especially on CD 2, the “Same Songs, Different Singers”-CD as Arjen likes to call it. The guide vocals that were recorded (for the other singers) were way too good to just be guide vocals. Thus, Arjen decided to release a second version of the songs with the guide vocals on them as CD2. At some point he started spontaneously inviting other singers to sing some of these tracks, because he was curious how the songs would sound with their voices. Ultimately CD2 ended up with no less than 9 different singers, all equally as good as the ones on CD1. A total of about 30 different musicians contributed to the new album, not all of them being singers though. The core of STAR ONE remains Ed Warby’s powerful drums as well as Arjen’s guitar and bass work that hold it all together and give it that typical STAR ONE sound. The icing on the cake is the front cover art that was created by Arjen’s trusted favorite artist Jef Bertels.
Lia Ices was pregnant with her first child when she started writing her forthcoming record, Family Album, a stunning collection of psychedelic-tinged Americana. She was living with her husband, a wine-maker, on Moon Mountain in Sonoma, CA, where she walked from house to studio through a rose garden with an orchard at its center every day to sit at her piano and see what fell out. It was a “total Eden,” Ices describes. “I got pregnant in January, and Una was born in September, so I was on the same ripening mode as all the fruit.” “This album is terroir,” she says, using a wine-making term used for the complete natural environmental factors that make something taste the way it does. Fully, spiritually connected to the soil on which it was made, to the air Ices breathed. Ices hasn’t released music for six years, since her last album, Ices, in 2014. It’s been a long personal journey to get to Family Album, which she’s putting out on her own label, Natural Music. The first song Ices wrote for Family Album was “Young on the Mountain,” a breezy folk-rock track about life and death and freedom that’s the album’s highest energy. “The more real life gets, the more mystical it feels,” she explains. This idea reaches throughout the album, like on “Anywhere At All,” which is essentially an ode to “how psychedelic it is to be a first time mother,” Creating a life and creating this record at the same time is only part of the story. Those two acts also brought Ices closer to who she really is, and to the music she’s supposed to make. There’s a holistic energy around Family Album, epitomized by the opening track, “Earthy,” a gorgeous, dynamic song that begins with Ices solo on the piano, and midway through becomes a total psych-Americana jam. Though it starts the album off, even by the end it’s clear this is the record’s centerpiece, both its introduction and its heart; she sings about the Muse, about life and death, about both being here and giving herself away in order to find herself. She worked with producer JR White (Girls) all over California: three studios in LA, one in Stinson Beach, and one in San Francisco. Ices describes White as a “Brian Wilson type” with a singular mastery over gear; she says even just the way he rigged the mic while she was singing allowed her to get some of her best-ever vocal performances. And for the album’s accompanying visuals, she entrusted good friend and filmmaker Conor Hagen to follow her and her band around the west coast of California on tour over the course of 9 months for the album’s first single ‘Hymn’, as well as director Aaron Brown (Cass McCombs, Arctic Monkeys) to help her make the aura-themed video for the record’s title track. Ices says of Family Album. There’s a “universal timing” to this record that it’s had since its beginning, with Ices’ ripening. “It keeps being a teacher to me, it has its own energy field around it.”
The Tribe co-founder’s debut, lacquered directly from his master tapes in an all analog transfer by Bernie Grundman. The definitive reissue of this Spiritual Jazz album which set the stage for his Vibes from the Tribe The Tribe label, one of the brightest lights of America’s 1970s jazz underground, receives the Now-Again reissue treatment. This is your chance to indulge in the music and story of one of the most meaningful, local movements of the 20th Century Black American experience, one that expanded outwards towards the cosmos. In the words of the collective themselves, “Music is the healing force of the universe.” Included in an extensive, oversized booklet, Larry Gabriel and Jeff “Chairman” Mao take us through the history of the Tribe, in a compelling story that delves not just into the history of the label and its principals, but into the story of Black American empowerment in the latter half of the 20th Century. The booklet features never-before-seen archival photos and rare ephemera from Tribe’s mid-1970s heyday.
Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros—consisting of Bobby Weir, Don Was, Jay Lane and Jeff Chimenti—are set to release their first ever vinyl collection of recorded material. Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros: Live In Colorado is out February 18 on Third Man Records—their debut with the label. Bobby Weir & Wolf Bros: Live In Colorado features a collection of songs recorded at the band’s live performances at the historic Red Rocks Park &Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado and the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail, Colorado on June 8, 9, 11, 12, 2020. These shows were the group’s first live audience concerts in over a year and featured Greg Leisz on pedal steel, along with The Wolfpack: Alex Kelly, Brian Switzer, Adam Theis, Mads Tolling and Sheldon Brown. “Been too long,” Weir said of the performances, “but I can’t think of a better place to pick it back up…” Weir explains “I’ve been workin’ in my spare time on expanding the sonic coloration of the songs I do. The Wolfpack is basically a step toward full orchestration - and further, I gotta say, these guys are game. We worked on the arrangements a bit but eventually we needed to trot it all out and play it for folks - and right at that moment, the folks in Colorado reached out and told us they were gonna open up. Holy Shit, WTF? Let’s Go.” Third Man Records says “When Don approached us about this project of course we all jumped at the opportunity. The whole live music experience is so important to everyone here at Third Man Records and the chance to work with a few of the all time greats, well it seems like a miracle.”
Not to add to the deluge of artistic clichés brought on by the Global Event Which Shall Not Be Named, but spending more or less a year in the house offers plenty of time for reflection, reevaluation, and revision. Though there was a lot to process already in those months, it was an opportune time to try and get your shit together, whatever that may mean for you. For Jakob Armstrong—in addition to many other things like the rest of us—part of it meant fine- tuning a collection of songs first recorded in late 2019. A prolonged process leading to five of the seven songs on Get Yourself a Friend retooled into their better-than-even final form. Jakob Armstrong—youngest son of Green Day frontman Billie Joe—began playing guitar at seven years old and honed his craft privately until about sixteen, playing in bands in and around Oakland after meeting friends with like-minded tastes in music. Soon enough, with the memories of Ultraman action figures fighting in his mind, he and a group of friends he cultivated from those years playing around and pouring over records, formed Ultra Q (its name inspired by an Ultraman prequel series). Opening double-shot “Pupkin” and “It’s Permanent” soar to the heights of Ultra Q’s powers in much different ways; the former a black-clad romp through a rainy graveyard, the former pushing straight to the clouds with its soaring chorus. “Straight Jacket” veers pleasantly close to the jangle-pop of the Go-Betweens. “Bowman” features guitars like cats getting into a scratch-fight while an astoundingly metronomic drumbeat is played live rather than punched out on a beat pad. Closing the EP is its title track, an affecting end credits anthem full of nostalgia and a twinge of regret. As a whole, Get Yourself a Friend marks the synthesis of a songwriter’s vision and his band’s ability, forged through an invisible existential threat and an ever-changing world, eager to show what they’ve found while we were all inside
‘Flicker’ is the second album from Ride guitarist and songwriter Andy Bell. Written almost as a conversation with his teenage self, it follows the triumphant solo debut that was 2020’s ‘The View From Halfway Down’. This 18-track double album finds Andy moving towards classic songwriting, notably on the reflective lead single ‘Something Like Love’, the strident harmonies of ‘World of Echo’, the joyous refracted loops of ‘Jenny Holzer B. Goode’ and the fuzz-laden late-’60s balladeering of ‘Love Is The Frequency’. Stylistically, the four sides of ‘Flicker’ take in everything from modern psychedelia to fingerpicked folk, whimsical baroque pop, and Byrdsian 12-string beauty. It’s a breathtaking array and makes it even more abundantly clear that Andy has entered a purple patch in his songwriting, hitting a new velocity in contrast to his initial inhibitions about becoming a solo artist. He gradually overcame these after the passing of David Bowie in 2016, with the Thin White Duke’s bountiful 50 years of music providing inspiration from beyond the grave. ‘Flicker’ is also an apt description for the genesis of the album. At the start of 2021, Andy returned to the stems of the recording sessions he made at Beady Eye and Oasis bandmate Gem Archer’s North London studio and added fuel to the fire, writing melodies and lyrics and turning them into fully formed songs. The same sessions were also the starting point for ‘The View From Halfway Down’ and this album picks up where that one left off, quite literally, with the very first words being “I was halfway down…”. This is the first of several playful, possibly intentional, references to albums and song titles that litter the record like a musical breadcrumb trail. As much as this is a modern sounding and forward-looking record, it’s also very much about looking back, something that is clear from the first glimpse of the front cover – a previously unseen outtake from Joe Dilworth’s photo sessions for the inner sleeve of Ride’s debut album, ‘Nowhere’. “When I think about ‘Flicker’, I see it as closure,” explains Andy. “Most literally, on a half-finished project from over six years ago, but also on a much bigger timescale. Some of these songs date back to the ’90s and the cognitive dissonance of writing brand new lyrics over songs that are 20-plus years old makes it feel like it is, almost literally, me exchanging ideas with my younger self.” This conversation takes place across ‘Flicker’’s 18 tracks. Essentially it advises us to stop worrying about the future and enjoy each day as it comes, embracing the crushing, unpredictable lows of life as much as the almighty highs of being in love. Some of it remains unspoken, taking place sonically rather than verbally: the album has a reflective, meditative feeling throughout, exploring many aspects of mental health, and the beautiful stillness of first single ‘Something Like Love’ could almost be a musical salve to the heartache 19-year-old Andy poured into ‘Vapour Trail’ in 1990. “The ‘Flicker’ I’m talking about in the lyrics is that flame that makes a person who they are,” explains Andy. “I wanted to find that in myself, so I went back to the teenage me – a technique I learned in therapy and have been doing ever since – and got some advice on how to live and be happy in the 2020s.“‘The View From Halfway Down’ was about turning 50 in a very weird time of introspection. ‘Flicker’ is about gathering the tools to equip myself mentally for life in 2022 and beyond – post-pandemic, post-Brexit, post-truth.”
Old school friends and long-time collaborators, Mark Rowland and Paul Webber formed The Volunteered at the tail end of 2019 when they started working on new songs channeling old indie rock heroes such as Built to Spill, Guided By Voices, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Belle and Sebastian. They put out the ‘We Fall Apart’ EP in 2020 as a modest self-release and now, what started as a way to keep busy during lockdown has been expanded into a full-length vinyl and digital album, out on Scratchy Records next February. “We had the vague notion of recording an album at some point in 2020” says Mark “and we definitely intended to play more shows. We were talking to people about joining the band. It was supposed to be a big year for us.” Then the pandemic happened. Mark got COVID and was sick for more than a month, leaving him with breathing issues and a fear that he may not sing again. Stuck indoors with all plans put on ice, Mark and Paul went through their demo recordings to see what they had to work with. They took elements of those recordings, added to them, and started working on some new songs. The process was challenging as Mark was still building up his vocal strength, but they muddled through, working on each song remotely. Along the way, they recruited some friends to guest on the record, including future Volunteered member Elizabeth Sadzik, Detroit-based singer-songwriter Cody Ketchum, René Methner of German indie rock band Para Lia, solo artist Ritch Spence and Simon Bromide. It was Simon, Scratchy Records founder, who persuaded the band to make the new material into a full album having fallen head over heels for the song he guests on, Going to Amsterdam, which is released as a single on January 14th 2022. “I thought Going to Amsterdam would make a great single on Scratchy” he says. "But the more songs I heard, the more I liked, and after talking to Mark it was clear that we could make it into a full album” Mark and Paul recorded three additional songs for the album in 2021. At the same time, the full Volunteered line-up was completed with Sadzik on piano, her husband Jake on bass and Paul Douglas on drums. The sound too was broadening, with more piano being incorporated into its newest songs. The final version of We Fall Apart was completed in Autumn 2021. It’s a varied listen, from the pounding, tuneful fuzz of lead single Going to Amsterdam to the atmospheric heart-string puller The Lights. Everywhere you look there are hooks waiting to pull you in and some great pop songwriting recalling everyone from Buddy Holly and Weezer to The Triffids and Pearl Jam. For fans of: Sparklehorse, Built To Spill, Guided by Voices, Big Star, REM and Neil Young.
First and foremost, deathcrash approached the task of putting together their debut album as music lovers. To all four members, a good album seemed to stamp out periods of their life, capturing a time, a feeling, a mood. This was their approach when trying to make whole two-years-worth of fragmented songwriting. Their songs may differ from each other in certain ways, but they manage to conjure similar feelings. ‘Return’ captures many of the difficult moments of the last couple years in the band members’ personal lives and yet, as a whole its complexity emerges as a beautiful and hopeful message. Amongst other things, writing the album was a cathartic process for the band, and so it can be for the listener too. The first parts of ‘Return’ came from quite a dark and jaded place. To get better can be a path marred by self-sabotage and a desire to hide. It can be easier to have no faith in something new, and rely on the comfort of an old feeling, even if it hurts. There is a reassurance in pain, a familiarity in its narrative. Return asks when things heal, where does the wound go? deathcrash recorded Return with their close friend and producer Ric James, who they’ve worked with since their early recordings. The album was recorded live, with an emphasis on dynamics, bringing together tense intimacy with atmospheric vastness. The members brought things to light they previously hadn’t, and shared words, riffs, ideas and thoughts for the first time. Each band member is able to see something that the others can’t, and write something unique. For deathcrash that is where the magic of making the album happens, when it clicks for everyone. As the album took form, a lot went on, and in many ways deathcrash got back in touch with a newer, more open feeling, sometimes happy, sometimes fearful. Something good returned that had previously been lost, and this is captured on the album. The album aims not to romanticise a dark place however, being equally about hope and renewal.
From Richmond, Virginia arrives Tempter, a soundtrack for end times hurtling along to the speed of global rage and impending doom. Merging the very best parts of crossover metal and hardcore from the 80s Japan, Sweden and UK, Tempter bring a new voice to a legendary sound. It comes perhaps as no surprise then that the group comprises of veterans of the hardcore scene from bands such as Candy, Division of Mind, Nosebleed, Ekulu and more. Instant bulldozers Sacricide and Pestilence, with their punchy riffs and wild solos bookend the S/T EP, whilst Uniformed Madness and Night Terror run along with at times almost apocalyptic walls of acidic noise. The production provides a dense atmospheric swamp of rage, mixed by Fucked Up’s Jonah Falco, providing a fitting soundtrack for Valentina Lopez’s huge vocal that sounds like 1000s of witches chanting. La Lluvia, with its use of samples and layers of synths, dances around spoken word sections that read out a poem of the same name by Roberto Bolaño, one of Chile’s greatest literary writers. Bolaño’s work fits perfectly with a biting satirical punk mood that Lopez exudes with every breath. He often questioned the privilege of making art whilst the junta would torture people in basements. Hardcore, punk and metal often likes to think of itself as a political act more than music, whether in its DIY ethic or protest lyrics. However, perhaps we find it too easy to fall into its angry embrace and eat each other alive whilst the world outside continues to fall. This music makes hell on earth that little bit more bearable, however ultimately Bolaño, and Lopez, call on counterculture music to have meaning and political action.
Escape Music are pleased to announce the release date for Lonerider’s second studio album titled “Sundown" with 500 limited edition Vinyl “Smokey” colour all will be numbered 1-500 and will include an exclusive hand signed postcard from all members of the band! (limited edition 500 units in “smokey” colour). The Band is: Steve Overland: Vocals / Simon Kirke: Drums / Steve Morris: Guitars, Keyboards and Hammond / Chris Childs: Bass - In 2019 the debut album “Attitude” by Lonerider was released, a band that not only features Steve Overland (FM, Solo, Shadowman), Steve Morris (Heartland, Shadowman) and Chris Childs (Thunder) but legendary drummer Simon Kirke of Free and Bad Company fame. The band come across like Bad Company mixed with Shadowman and their debut “Attitude” was loved by many. Lonerider have the feel of that classic Bad Company that we know and love, yet the songs are modern, fresh and vibrant. Since 2019 the band have been working on a new release and it will be available in early 2022, entitled “Sundown”. This new album boasts 12 new tracks of classic rock in the same vein as “Attitude”, well why change a winning formula? - The vinyl version is a numbered edition of 500 and to make it special it has two different tracks to the CD, namely “Love to Love” and “Long Time Gone”. A great start to 2022.
I was invited to perform in Melbourne, Australia. It happened thanks to my dear old friend Mick Glossop, who made the suggestion to Sophia Brous, at the time the curator of a music-festival called Supersense' at the Melbourne Arts Centre in summer 2015. In addition to the solo performance I'd planned, Sophia proposed an additional collaboration or session performances with some of the other participating musicians. I had never been very happy in performing public sessions". I've always tried to first look for a conceptual approach, and my wife, Ilona J. Ziok, came up with the idea of performing some Ash Ra Tempel classics. That's when the idea for an Experience' was born. I decided that pieces from the second and third Ash Ra Tempel albums Schwingungen' and Seven Up' (both from 1972) would be most appropriate for a group performance with Ariel Pink, Shags Chamberlain and Oren Ambarchi. We conversed by email, and much to my surprise, they all claimed to be very familiar with this music. ... It felt a bit like pushing at open doors - or, to put it another way - it felt like being welcomed with open arms. We finally met in Melbourne for a relaxed afternoon rehearsa
Free your mind and float away, you’re now entering the mode of the Growing Bin. Hamburg’s centre for audio enlightenment is back with another sublime sensory experience, this time from the land of the rising sun. Keen to get another stamp on his passport, Basso reached out to Japanese duo Singu, two open minded cats who just love to jam. Marrying Kiyo’s free drumming with Keta Ra’s melodic mastery of keyboard and guitar, the two-piece fuse free jazz, post-rock, kosmische and ambient into immersive and esoteric improvisations. Free from any compositional concerns, the Hiroshima outfit trade in energy, emotion and expression. The frenetic percussion and ephemeral melodies of opener ‘Aurora Gate’ instantly transport you to the breathless churn of a Tokyo crossroads, where thousands of people rush by but you stand still in the eye of the storm. Though they may be explosive, the drums sit back in the mix, offering a soft intensity behind the shimmering wall of melody. A nimble and nuanced affair, ‘Bop’ brings rapid fire rhythm, slick syncopation and hypnotic piano refrains. Cool bass rolls along like KDJ’s ‘Rectify’, as Singu update the acid jazz template like Toshio Matsuura covering Carl Craig. Singu journey from far out to Furthur on Aside closer ‘Nagebu’, strapping in for psychedelic synth wig out which is heavy on the resonance and free on the filter. Blooming out of the darkness on the B1, Basso favourite ‘Fazaria’ soothes and moves you with its twinkling keys, nebulous wave forms and delicate guitar, leaving you wide eyed in wonder as the drum fills burst like fireworks across a star-filled sky. ‘828’ sweeps into abstraction as Kiyo and Keta Ra combine snapping glitches and aquatic electronics with fractal guitar tones and woozy bass, pushing through a portal to see what’s beyond. An a-grade wal
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Originally released in 1983, this 12’’ from French-Haitian saxophone player Ulysse became cult – and extremely rare – within the French boogie niche. Both tracks wonderfully succeed in mixing political statements with dance-floor delights.
Boogie-pop track “Naïma” seems to be a love song at first, but actually says the impossible resilience of a woman who has grown up in war.
The heavy digital reggae song “Tiers Monde” warns us about the abandonment of Third World children.
This maxi single, where each track is instantly followed by its instrumental version for greater DJ use, is an authentic snapshot of the Paris mixed club scene of the 1980s. Really hard to find for a very long time, it’s a great pleasure for Stima Records to make this music
available again, in order to reach a well deserved new audience nearly 40 years later!
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After their debut album Space Voyage for Warner Chappell, Eleven76 are back with a new album commercially available for the first time entitled Occhio Occhio.
The album contains insect-themed outernational grooves with tropical and Arabian flavours and smooth and buttered tunes with soulful vibes that are reminiscent of classic European library music. Vintage synthesizers and hot tape-recorded drums continue to lead Eleven76's mystique, with travels through funk territories and all the while frenzied percussion-heavy break beats keep b-girls and b-boys moving on the floor.
Including the sold-out first two singles "The Scarab’s Quest" & "The Hornet’s Nest" plus 3 exclusive tracks for this vinyl edition.
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While previous albums, most notably Leland and Minutes of Sleep (2014) as well as two albums released as one half of the duo Aris Kindt (most notably the stellar Swann and Odette from 2017) have relied on singular thematic and narrative drives that were often of a personal, collaborative, or hermetic in nature, Thresholds is an album that aspires to sonic universality and the presentation of a fully formed psychoacoustical world. That being said it is not an “album of ideas”. Inspired by the ecological and political upheavals of the present and the role of speculative thought as an avenue of global transformation Thresholds is the work of a mature artist fully in control of his powers. Both expansive and nuanced the album widens the aperture of the affective possibilities of the electronic assemblage; themes skip from one track to the next, elevating and informing each other in tangible fields of abstract figuration. The titles, while often heady, concisely allude to strategies implicit in the construction and arrangement of the works: Cut Up, within the context of the album, is exactly that. Luck Takes a Step juxtaposes stately synths with just the right touch of playful fluctuation and latent atonality. The title track itself is a knotted mass of uncertainty and propulsive beats the breakdown of which is a nervous series of fits and starts that resonate not just within the track but as the fulcrum of the entire album: the threshold of our Threshold: “…we are caught up in our own original transversals of time to the point of dissolution, and that which remains a part of the contrivance of ourselves is ultimately that which crosses the threshold and is somehow, miraculously, reconstituted on the other side of it. Because it is via the threshold that we can best observe the conditions of experience as lived even as we cross to the other side of understanding, rejoining the ancient equilibriums of which we, in our depths, are comprised.” (From the liner notes)
No track overstays its welcome and with the help of standout vocalist Eliana Glass, and instrumentation by Dave Harrington (Darkside with Nicolas Jaar), Mark Nelson (Pan American), Will Shore, Greg Paulus and Gareth Redmond, and mixed by Phil Weinrobe, the result is a dizzyingly pure inward gaze that is first and foremost an album about connection.
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At the start of 2021 I realized I hadn't paid much attention to my own productions lately, rather spending time doing remixes
or mixdowns for others or like many others, worrying over what the future will bring.
I started going through tracks and ideas I had started on but not completed and now as another annus horribilis nears the end
I have 2 albums ready for release, entitled "8" and "9".
Although I promised myself to never say it I personally think they're my best work so far and I hope someone else will get the
feeling of "a light at the end of the tunnel" when listening to these tracks just like I feel when listening back to them.
There are contributions from the very capable hands of Bugge Wesseltoft("8") and John Carroll Kirby(on both "8" and "9"), besides that it's just me.
Prins Thomas December 2021
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After their celestial Arcturian Corridors opened proceedings on Quindi, London-based brothers Clive and Mark Ives are back with a new record. When Woo first began recording at home in the early 70s, Clive and Mark were the embodiment of furtive genius. Since re-emerging in 2013, they've released scores of albums, collaborated with Seahawks, and have now struck up a productive relationship with Quindi.
On Paradise In Pimlico, you're hearing a very different sound to the one gently creaked out on early classics like Into The Heart Of Love. This is fulsome, contemporary production rich in detail and artful sound design, but crucially, Clive and Mark's gorgeously melodic approach remains open and inquisitive, even with the sheen and shimmer of modern studio techniques.
Woo sound more confident than ever in their composition, too. The crystalline, fragile tones of 'Cadenza D'Innocenza' glide through key changes that spell out an engrossing narrative, while the cascading melodies on 'Moment To Moment' pirouette across the space between notes with masterful poise. 'Paradise In Pimlico' is an illustrious suite of orchestral composition played out with the lightest touch, framed by the slightest of synthesized fauna and topped off with tender sax and flute. Album closer 'In Case Love Fails' takes on a subtly cinematic urgency with its undercurrents of walking bass and the strike of the string section (synthetic or otherwise).
There's space for markedly new approaches, too. The rhythm section on 'The Motorik Mirror' clunks and pops with a tactile, high-definition quality which teeters between electronic sculpture and clockwork, organic machination. The deft, lightly-brushed drums coursing through 'Even More Notes' see Clive and Mark step into a different mood, celebrating the beat as another fluid, tonally-rich texture in the mix and adding a smoky, jazzy hue to the Woo repertoire.
It's far from a drum-focused exercise though. At every turn, you're confronted with aching beauty and timbral surprises. If there's one constant throughout Paradise In Pimlico, it's the omnipresent chimes. These twinkling drops of light scattered throughout are something of a hallmark of Woo, ensuring the lilting, lullaby-like magic of their music persists whichever direction they head in.
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Oh Yeah" - Charles Mingus (p, voc); Booker Ervin (ts); Roland Kirk (fl, ts, siren, manzello, stritch); Jimmy Knepper (tb); Doug Watkins (b); Dannie Richmond.
Commenting on this album in 1962, Billboard magazine wrote: »He seems to be everywhere, everywhere that is but on his usual instrument«. Charles Mingus, one of the most impressive musicians in the history of jazz, doesn’t play a single note on the bass for a change, but leads the band from his (blues-)piano – the instrument that he always used for composing. He hits the keys, he sings the blues, he shouts and he encourages – apparently Mingus really found the need to express himself loudly in this album. (Doug Watkins stood in for him on the contrabass.) "Oh Yeah" is definitely Mingus’s most powerful and passionate album. He calls on two hot, intensive saxophonists – Roland Kirk and Booker Ervin – as well as Jimmy Knepper on the trombone. Kirk is the main soloist, but all three wind-players deliver expressive improvisations, carrying out a non-stop dialogue with one another, and pushing one other to achieve maximum energy. The music is wild and ecstatic, but it’s not free jazz, remaining – as it does – grounded in blues and gospel. "Hog Callin’ Blues" is an enthralling shuffle with a wealth of riffs, "Devil Woman" a clever slow blues with inventive wind figures. "Ecclusiastics", with its constant change of rhythm and expression alternating between gospel and blues has the most complex form. Blues has always been a part of a black church service, said Mingus. "Eat That Chicken" (a homage to Fats Waller and his favourite food) even plays around with an old-time, Dixie feeling. Humour is never far away. Even in the atomic bomb song (this too, a sort of churchy blues) one hears the words: »Don’t let ’em drop it! Stop it! Be-bop it!«
Vienna 2009; Whizz Vienna, an Austrian musician is nominated for the Amadeus Austrian Music Award in the category 'Album of the year'. Why and how that happened, he is still not sure of to this day. By now, the album in question 'Versager ohne Zukunft', which is produced in collaboration with Kamp, has turned into a classic.
Even though he has released several projects since then, such as the renowned 'Wiener Staub' Beat-LP, it has become quiet around the producer. His studio existence and his musical creation more or less turned into dust.
Darmstadt 2020; during a thorough tidying up of old hard drives a folder labeled 'Whizz Vienna Beatz' experiences a musical renaissance. The dopeness of the material is undeniable to this day and that kind of freshness cannot be just left in the digital wasteland ready to rot.
The search for the missing Whizz Vienna was more challenging than expected due to the fact that he enjoyed his own presence to be buried in the underground. In the end, the hidden asset has been unvcovered, plans have been cultivated and now after a two year waiting time the final product is ready to be launched.
13 long-lost instrumentals, Kamp and Prinz Pi spitting on 2 of them, cuts by DJ Vektor, 1 love for Eva.
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Alt-R&B singer, songwriter, and producer Marshall Vincent announces his new EP 'In No Particular Order', a collection of five tracks on SA Recordings. Inspired by his time living in Berlin, New York, and Chicago, Marshall weaves together a soulful blend of orchestral, electronic, pop and folk elements to tell stories of life and love in vivid colour. Songs that are a mix of heartfelt ballads, haunting basslines, and dramatic strings draw a strong line to the alternative R&B of Moses Sumney, and the folky inspired songs of Kate Bush. Following a series of EPs that have garnered him critical praise - as well as landing him a support set for Kelsey Lu - In No Particular Order draws upon a multidisciplinary background spanning orchestral and theatrical training to explore the idea of ‘provocative healing’ - the use of pain, conflict, and emotional turmoil to create love, honesty, and intimacy. Sonically, Marshall’s music can be defined as intimate R&B, but there are threads of classical, folk, and electronic present, and all woven together with the aim of honest, universal storytelling. More important than genre is the pursuit of clarity and meaning, and as such, the references found within Marshall’s work are abundant. "I have always been quite sensitive, since I was a child. I also experienced hardships that made me closed off, cold and detached. I had to learn to face my pain. This fight manifested itself into creation. The ability and need to create my own world helped me see myself in others. In a way, it feels no different than the creation of a universe… my mania, my intensity, and my stress go into themselves, and they explode in these moments… sonic textures, movements, visual cues… all acting as tools to put me back together." - Marshall Vincent
Jonas Lindberg & The Other Side is the progressive rock project from Stockholm, Sweden-based bass player, songwriter and producer Jonas Lindberg. The new album - called "MILES FROM NOWHERE" – features Jonas joined by Jonas Sundqvist, Jenny Storm and Jonathan Lunderg. Returning on a few tracks is Simon Wilhelmsson (drums) who some may remember from their first EP, as well as Jonas's brother Joel and Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings, Transatlantic) on lead guitars,amongst others. “MILES FROM NOWHERE” is a journey that takes in stunning guitar solos, intense drums, folky melodies, majestic instrumentals & a 25-minute epic. Available as Limited CD Digipak, Gatefold 180g 2LP+CD+LP-Booklet & as Digital Album.
Modern metallers DAGOBA are back! After putting their stamp on the metal scene with a unique blend of metal and neckbreaking grooves, relentlessly touring and sharing the stage with legendary acts like Metallica, Machine Head and In Flames, DAGOBA have signed with leading Austrian metal label Napalm Records and are prepared to hit the next level. The French four-piece returns with the band’s most ambitious material yet: punishing vocals, groove and modern metal infused guitars and hard-hitting production shows DAGOBA on top of their game, pushing boundaries and incorporating electronic elements seamlessly into a unique modern metal formula. Vocalist Shawter impresses with a high variety in his singing by covering a wide span from intense and deep growls, strong shouts and precise clean vocals. The album starts off with an electronic intro that bursts into the massive attack „The Hunt“, that has already been released in July 2021 as a standalone single and includes all the significant trademarks: melodic passages with clean vocals alter with intense breakdowns and all of this underlined with electronic elements. This mixture leads to a catchy sound as showcased on the dramatic „Bellflower Drive“ or the melodic „City Lights“. Furthermore the sound of DAGOBA stands out for dominant drumming that oscillates between double bass, blast beats and forward going up tempo drumming as it occurs on „The Last Crossing“ or „Sunfall“. Between all the action, there is also space for calmer parts such as the interlude „Break“ or the track „On the Run“ that begins with female vocals that gradually build up into another hymn lining up brilliantly with the other songs of the album. DAGOBA manages the balancing act between harsh breakdowns, dense soundwalls and grooving passages with ease. Even on its hardest passages, the album never gets too enigmatic - quite the opposite: One smashing track is followed by the next, the record just flies by and leaves no time to breathe. By Night is a beast of an album showcasing how far DAGOBA can take electronic influences on the upcoming material – a must-have for true fans of modern metal! alone!