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In 2021 Bristol Hip-Hop duo Ree-Vo released two singles from their forthcoming album ‘All Welcome On Planet Ree-Vo’. The first was the Electro-Hop, LFO-surfing ‘Combat’ with a remix by SURGEON. The second -dropped as a digital double A-side in December - was the dark, submersive ‘Groove With It’ remixed by New Jersey’s legendary Dälek and ‘Protein’ remixed by The Bug (who released what many considered to be 2021’s album of the year ‘Fire’). smartURL.it/EDDA56

Ree-Vo begin 2022 in contrast with this their hookiest track on their album, a party throwing chorus spinning tipsy visitors around the intergalactic control booth of mission control.

“Lift off, blast off, shirt off, pants off, bra off, Dance off! Naked in the dance hall SPACE BOX!”
is the beamed mantra, rapper Relly transmitting to all occupants of the galaxy.
“We wanted to make a hedonistic and colourful dancehall track, a bold response to the suppressive circumstances of the last two years”.

Helping them on this seven’s mission are two remixes, one by NØISE (the musical collective of Joe Cassidy, Shepard Fairey, Merritt Lear and John Goff) and BATBIRDS (the duo of Joe Cassidy and Aaron Miller). Common to both of course is Joe Cassidy who recorded for Dell’Orso (as well as Rough Trade and Dedicated) as Butterfly Child. These mixes were made at the end of 2020, the record sent off to print in February 2021, five months before Joe’s incredibly sad departure from this planet, at least physically. So for all of us involved it’s a very bittersweet release, but another piece of art that Joe was undoubtedly thrilled to be involved with.

Nonesuch Records releases Ghost Song, the label debut of singer/songwriter Cécile McLorin Salvant. Ghost Song features a diverse mix of seven originals and five interpretations on the themes of ghosts, nostalgia, and yearning. Salvant says, “It’s unlike anything I’ve done before – it’s getting closer to reflecting my personality as an eclectic curator. I’m embracing my weirdness!” Cécile McLorin Salvant plays at Cadogan Hall on November 16 as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival, four shows at SFJAZZ in February, and two nights featuring the music of Ghost Song at Jazz at Lincoln Center in May. Salvant says of the title track, out now, “What if the love has gone, the love has left you and you have the emotions around that, and you’re still going through them, still engaging with the ghost of that love?” She continues, “Some songs are so painful to come out but this one came out pretty quickly. I’ve had some loss the last couple of years: my grandmother, the drummer in my band Lawrence Leathers.”



Ghost Song opens and ends with a sean-nós (traditional Irish unaccompanied vocal style) performance by Salvant, recorded in a church. On track one, she transitions into Kate Bush’s 1978 classic ‘Wuthering Heights’. Salvant says of the song, “Wuthering Heights is a book that really struck me to my core as I was making this album, during the pandemic. And the best interpretation of the novel is Kate Bush’s song.” She continues, “It’s the most classic ghost story. I decided I wanted to do an album called Ghost Song, and I knew that one had to be on it. Then I had the idea to mix it in with the sean-nós ‘Cúirt Bhaile Nua’, which binds it to the traditional ‘Unquiet Grave’, the last track on the album. The ghost is not haunting me; now I am haunting the ghost. They parallel each other so well and they’re such different time periods. I wanted the album to be a circle, with the sean-nós reference at the beginning and at the end. So it is the first track but it’s also the last track and it’s also the middle track, which is how I listen to music, walking around my neighborhood, on a plane, travelling somewhere, putting stuff on repeat.” “All the songs on the album kind of mirror each other. I tried to create this strange symmetry. So as you go in from both ends, the songs are sort of matched together,” Salvant says. “‘I Lost my Mind’ is the center of the Russian doll. I wrote that in the middle of the pandemic. There were nights when I wanted to just scream. It was this deeper part of me saying, ‘It’s OK if this sounds completely crazy, OK to just go with the completely crazy thing and not worry if people think you have lost your mind for doing it.’



“The bands also mirror each other from top to bottom. In terms of the instrumentation, everything,” Salvant explains. “That’s why the songs are there in that relationship: they match each other, they’re like fraternal twins, or one is the evil twin of the other. I, as the living, am visited by the ghost, and then I go visit the ghost in turn. I am haunting the ghost and annoying the ghost, which is saying, ‘Get out of here and go live.’” Of the sonic variety on Ghost Song, Salvant says, “Texture is a big part of how I sing, having multiple textures in one song. It’s almost a compulsion. I can’t allow myself to stay in one texture. The instrumentation creates that but the recording process as well. It’s something I like, even when I’m eating. You want the creamy and chewy and crunchy at the same time. Warm and cold.”



Cécile McLorin Salvant, a 2020 MacArthur Fellow and three-time Grammy Award winner, is a singer and composer bringing historical perspective, a renewed sense of drama, and an enlightened musical understanding to both jazz standards and her own original compositions. Classically trained, steeped in jazz, blues, and folk, and drawing from musical theater and vaudeville, Salvant embraces a wide-ranging repertoire that broadens the possibilities for live performance. Salvant’s performances range from spare duets for voice and piano to instrumental trios to orchestral ensembles. Her unreleased work Ogresse is an ambitious long-form song cycle based on oral fairy tales from the nineteenth century that explores the nature of freedom and desire in a racialized, patriarchal world. Salvant studied at the Université Pierre Mendès-France. She has performed at national and international venues and festivals such as the Newport Jazz Festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Village Vanguard, and the Kennedy Center. Salvant is also a visual artist.

On a balmy Brazilian night in February, 1981, a crowd gathered in Rio de Janeiro's Gávea neighbourhood under the iconic dome of the city's Planetário (Planetarium). Alongside musicians like Helio Delmiro and Milton Nascimento (who were in the audience that night), they were there to see the great "Bruxo" (sorcerer) Hermeto Pascoal live in concert, with his new band formation which would become known simply as "O Grupo" (The Group).

Growing up on a farm in Brazil's northeastern state of Alagoas, Hermeto has always been deeply in tune with, and inspired by nature. In his youth he would make his own flutes to play call and response with the birds and frogs. He would build scrap-metal instruments in his blacksmith grandfather's forge, and sit for hours by the lake listening to the sounds of nature. On the Planetário Da Gávea recordings though, Hermeto is cast as the "sorcerer" or the "cosmic emissary" (as the great Brazilian guitarist Guinga once called him), exhibiting an intuitive sense of harmony and melody beyond that of our own world.

"Tudo e Som" (All is Sound). It's a phrase Hermeto regularly returns to, and it points to the fact that not only can music be made from anything, but also alludes to something much more profound. It's an understanding of the universe as being in a state of constant movement, forever vibrating at the quantum level, like the string of a guitar, or a saxophone's reed. "Tudo e Som" is a declaration of the mystical and spiritual power of sound, as a fundamentally vibrational force.

The series of concerts at the Planetário marked the birth of "O Grupo" which would last with the same line-up (apart from Zé Eduardo Nazário) for the next eleven years. Every member of O Grupo was a phenomenal musician in their own right. It was one of saxophonist/flautist Carlos Malta's first gigs with the group, and the concert unusually featured two drummers, Zé Eduardo Nazário and Marcio Bahia. Nazário, from São Paulo, had played with Hermeto during the mid-70s (as well as with Milton Nascimento, Egberto Gismonti and Toninho Horta, to name a few). Bahia though had just joined the group. Acclaimed keyboard player Jovino Santos Neto was on keyboards, piano and organ, and the great Itiberê Zwarg (who remains in Hermeto's band to this day), played bass. Rounding the group off was the percussionist Pernambuco. During this period (up until the early 90s) the group would rehearse for hours on end, virtually seven days a week, with a total dedication to music and Hermeto's musical vision.

Most of the compositions performed that night at the Planetário had never been recorded before, and many are unique to this album, including the wild 'Homônimo Sintróvio', the exaltant 'Samba Do Belaqua', 'Vou Pra Lá e Pra Cá' and 'Bombardino', which features Hermeto's wonderfully absurd call and response mouthpiece soliloquy. Then there's the stunning 7/4 Samba 'Jegue' which builds with inventive dissonance, before releasing yet another celestially colourful, celebratory refrain. The show also features the first recorded performances of 'Era Pra Ser e Não Foi' and 'Ilza na Feijoada' (inspired by Hermetos' wife Ilza's famed black bean and meat stew), which Hermeto later recorded on his 1984 studio album "Lagoa Da Canoa Município De Arapiraca".

Dubbed by Miles Davis as "one of the most important musicians on the planet", a Hermeto Pascoal live show was (and still is) an experience like no other. Across the recording of the Planetário concert, wild improvisation meets groovy, virtuosic vamping on progressive, extended psychedelic jams. The tracks are generally built around a beautiful, transcendent melody; instantly recognisable as being Hermeto's, and for the most part, the musicians then solo over extended two chord vamps. There's a plethora of powerfully delivered rhythms, wild solos and the performances are punctuated by Hermeto's unpredictable, at times comical sonic antics.

Over forty years since this historic happening, Far Out Recordings is overjoyed to release this magical recording of Hermeto Pascoal e Grupo Live at Planetário Da Gávea, on double vinyl LP, CD and digitally for a February 4th 2022 release.

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.

Jimpster’s lockdown LP was made throughout 2020 and finally sees the light of day at the end of February 2022 having been delayed around 6 months due to the ongoing vinyl pressing hold ups. Birdhouse is the revered producers seventh full length LP and can be considered a full circle as he takes a step away from the dance floor to revisit his early inspirations of jazz, 70’s fusion, library music, ambient and sample-based downtempo electronica. With its soulful touches, vocal and live musician features and trademark warm Jimpster production, we also think it could be his most accomplished and accessible yet.

The opening title track sets the tone for what’s to come with rustling percussion, widescreen choral samples, dub FX and drifting pads all coming together to create a sense of optimism. The first of six vocal features comes next. Ascension with UK vocalist Oliver Night (featured on IG Culture’s recent Earthbound LP) is a simple soul jam with live bass from Nick Cohen and Jimpster’s beloved Fender Rhodes joining the lo-fi drum groove.

Next up we’re treated to Voodoo featuring brilliant young NYC MC/poet/producer who first grabbed Jimpster’s attention with his mind-melting track Signs, released in 2020 on Youngbloods. Yoh’s sung (not sung) vocal flow adds a new dimension to the Jimpster sound and is hopefully the first of many more collaborations to come with this perfect pairing. Still Believe takes us on a tripped-out journey into slo-mo, lopsided MPC beats punctuated with otherworldly vocal samples, live bass and Rhodes making for an immersive late night mood.

The first of two tracks on the LP featuring London vocalist and songwriter Cairo drops next entitled Beautiful Day. Another incredibly talented young artist introduced to Jimpster through a mutual friend, Cairo adds a deep and uplifting vibe making for a track you’ll come back to time and time again. A slow-burning nu-soul groove which will draw you in with its warm glow. Lazarusman is a Johannesburg-native poet and vocalist known for his collaborations with Stimming, Joris Voorn and Booka Shade. Here he delivers a poem called Heavy, perfectly punctuating the haunting reverb-drenched horn, Detroit-esque chord stabs and filtered drums.

Future Paradise drops the BPM's further still for a slow-stepping synth ride mixing up rising arpeggios, dubby flugel horn FX and the lushest of strings. It’s been 15 years since Jimpster and Capitol A last joined forces on Left n Right from Jimpster’s Amour LP. Known for his work with Jazzanova, King Britt, Mark De Clive-Lowe and 2008 club anthem Serve It Up on Mantis, the San Francisco native MC delivers his inimitable flow to a blunted jazzy hip hop groove making for one of the LP highlights.

Up next, Rain is an intimate and understated slice of contemporary soul music which pushes another spellbinding Cairo vocal front and centre, underpinned by loose, crunchy beats, dusty keys and moogy flourishes. Picking up the pace, Doors Of Your Heart sees Jimpster get busy chopping up a funk groove whilst Nick Cohen lays down another killer live bass line. Lush keys, modular synths and some crazy FX processing take this into the stratosphere and call to mind some of his earliest productions in the late 90’s on his seminal LP Messages From The Hub.

Winding things down, Jimpster continues to revisit some of the sounds and flavours of his earliest work on Tell You, which goes seriously deep with touches of cinematic big band horns and a looped up vocal sample. Closing out the LP we have the aptly titled Full Circle complete with sublime Metheny/Mays-style pads, muted synth arps and subtle FX to drift away to.

After years spent living on opposite sides of the Atlantic world events threw Laura Mary Carter and Steven Ansell of Blood Red Shoes back together into what has become the must fruitful era of their 17 years together.

“It’s been a loooong time since we both lived in the same city”, explains Steven. “I mean we actually wrote this album in LA at Laura’s place, then came to the UK to record it…and then everything went nuts”.

Realising very quickly that they wouldn’t be able to release the album or tour until the world returned to some kind of normality, the band found their energies quickly spilled over into other projects. Laura-Mary started a podcast, Never Meet Your Idols, with her best friend in LA, interviewing everyone from Zack Snyder to Mark Lanegan to CHVRCHES. It is now about to start its third season. Steven started applying his love of electronic music by writing and producing other alternative artists like Circe, ARXX, Aiko and XCerts, racking up millions of streams in the process.

Having worked together on Laura–Mary’s forthcoming solo mini album Town Called Nothing and restless from the lack of touring, the duo started jamming out in rehearsal rooms, which led to the light-speed writing, recording and release of the impossibly-titled Ø EP in the summer of 2021. Which concludes what the band call an “off year”.

And that brings us back to GHOST ON TAPE. It appears that like David Lynch’s The Lost Highway, nothing is linear in the world of Blood Red Shoes. Written and recorded before their most recent EP, GHOSTS ON TAPE is a huge jump into new terrain for the band. Musically and emotionally their most mature work, it is a complex, imaginative, and very gothic development on their sound. Musically, it leaves almost no trace of their former selves.

A sequel to the 2001 series Blue Planet, it took 4 years to complete this seven part new exploration of the underwater worlds, with 125 expeditions across 39 countries and 6000 hours of underwater filming. The series was broadcast on BBC One on 29 October 2017 with viewing figures exceeding 10m and its exposure of plastic pollution in our oceans has started a global conversation about reducing plastic waste.

With over 120 soundtracks to his credit which have grossed 24 billion dollars at the box office, Hans Zimmer has been honoured with many accolades: an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, three Grammys, an American Music Award, a Tony Award and The Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement. His Academy Award nomination for Interstellar marked his 10th Oscar nomination.

The composition is completed by Jacob Shea and David Fleming from Emmy and BAFTA nominated Bleeding Fingers Music. Bleeding Fingers has created original music for productions including the Fox’s The Simpsons, BBC’s Planet Earth II, National Geographic’s Princess Diana In Her Own Words, NBC’s hit Little Big Shots, Sony’s Snatch (TV), Amazon’s American Playboy, AMC’s The Making Of The Mob, Netflix original Roman Empire and History Channel’s Mountain Men.

C-L-A-S-S-I-C library breaks and beats set of heavy drums and louche funk.

One of two Be With forays into the archives of revered British library institution Conroy, we present one of our favourites on the label - the super in-demand Dramatic Tempi / Larry Robbins Background Rhythms, originally released in 1975. Rare and sought-after for many years now, this is one of those cult library LPs that rarely turns up on even the deepest dig.

As a single LP, Dramatic Tempi / Larry Robbins Background Rhythms is two distinctly different collections of music. The first side, Dramatic Tempi, is made up of four tracks each from Sammy Burdson and Klaus Weiss.

Sammy Burdson was one of the many, many aliases of the mighty Austrian composer, arranger and conductor, Gerhard Narholz. Founder of adored library label Sonoton in 1965, and a classically trained composer, his work runs from easy listening through pop, jazz and electronic, to avant-garde.

About as cult as it gets when it comes to library music legends (German or otherwise) Klaus Weiss produced essential records on German library labels Coloursound, Selected Sound and Sonoton, as well as making two essential entries in the Conroy catalogue. Having started his career at the age of 16 as a jazz drummer, the Klaus Weiss trademark electronic sound is unsurprisingly built on top of sometimes funky, sometimes frenetic, but always hard-hitting drums.

The second side is both titled and also credited to Larry Robbins Background Rhythms. We have to admit to being stumped as to who Larry was, but we don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to assume it might well be yet another incarnation of Gerhard Narholz’s.

First up from Dramatic Tempi are the phased, gargantuan hip-hop beats of Sammy Burdson’s impeccable “Pop Waves”. This is otherworldly funk on a whole new level. Hearing is believing. The magnificently titled “Cyclodrom” is up next, a beast of booming bass and wah wah guitars over frenetic funk drums. “Devils Drive” is dramatic, blaxploitation street funk with rolling, pounding drums. “Crime Ways” is an acid-squelch, slow-pace neck-snapper.

Klaus Weiss starts by askings us “Is It Hip” and we can only answer “yes it is!” to the clean, skipping drums, booming bass and proto-hip-hop bells, layered beneath laconic and melodic guitar shredding. This is just horizontal soul perfection. “The Camp”, propelled by jazzy guitar à la Joe Pass over fast drum and conga breaks, gives way to the dark guitars and cymbal crashes of “Tomorrow”. It sounds like an early New Order jam session. Closing out a pretty startling side of library greatness, “Rhythm Trip” presents early stuttering funk before easin' on in to a jazzy, soulful groove; all breezy guitar and warm keys. Lush.

Larry Robbins Background Rhythms is a lighter, poppier affair, but it’s not without its drum-heavy bangers. “Vox Pop” and “Pop Phase” each have clean, open-ish drum breaks, ripe for sampling or more daring DJ sets. “Pop Twang” is a short and sweet beat-heavy number that gives way to the fantastically out-there “Canned Pop”. We‘d love to know if this was ever actually licensed for something! The final seven tracks are a set of 1-to-2 minute “Percussion Takes”. All compelling, and all equally useful for any number of production needs. Get sampling.

The British library label with those instantly recognisable “orangey-red” sleeves, Conroy began releasing production music in 1965. A sub-label of Berry Music Co, its catalogue typified the library industry’s strange mixture of tradition and experimentation from the start. Conroy’s early releases included work by big band stalwarts like Eddie Warner as well as early electronic recordings by the likes of Belgian experimental pioneer Arséne Souffriau. With Berry Music Co working as a distribution partner to the German library label Sonoton, it was through the Conroy that a great deal of German library music found its way into the UK market.

Conroy stopped putting out new music in the 1980s, but its history and its catalogue offer an excellent window into the trends and eccentricities of a highly unique industry at the height of its international appeal.

This re-issue of Dramatic Tempi / Larry Robbins Background Rhythms has been mastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis from audio from the original tapes. Richard Robinson has handled reproducing the iconic, hypnotic original Conroy sleeve. Essential.

BIOHAZARD formed in Brooklyn in 1988 and soon after released their first demo. The band consisted of founding members Billy Graziadei (vocals, guitar), Bobby Hambel (lead guitar) and Evan Seinfeld (vocals, bass). After the release of their second demo in 1989, drummer Anthony Meo left the band and drummer Danny Schuler replaced him. BIOHAZARD released their combined the urban sounds of hard-core, metal and rap with scorching lyrics describing the forces at work in our modern urban lives. With an impressive career spanning over 20 years with 10 albums (on both indie and major labels), the band sold over 5 million records. In 1990, Biohazard signed a recording contract with Maze Records. The band's self-titled debut album was poorly promoted by the label and sold approximately 40,000 copies. The album's subject matter revolved around Brooklyn, gang-wars, drugs, and violence.

In 1992, Biohazard signed with Roadrunner Records and released Urban Discipline, which gave the band national and worldwide attention in both the heavy metal and hardcore communities. The video for the song "Punishment" became the most played video in the history of MTV's Headbanger's Ball, and the album sold over one million copies. The band also began opening for larger acts such as Pantera, Suicidal Tendencies, House of Pain, Fishbone, and The Cro-Mags. In 1993, the hardcore rap group Onyx brought on Billy Graziadei for an alternate "Bionyx" version of their hit single "Slam" with Biohazard as their backup band. This led to a collaboration on the title track of the Judgment Night soundtrack. The soundtrack would go on to sell over two million copies in the United States. Months later, the band left Roadrunner Records and signed with Warner Bros. Records Inc. who released their third studio LP, State of the World Address. The album was produced by Ed Stasium in Los Angeles and contained the single "How It Is" featuring Sen Dog of Cypress Hill, for which a video was also shot. During their 1994 tour, the band made an appearance on the second stage at the Monsters of Rock festival held at Castle Donington. State of the World Address went on to sell over one million copies, and Rolling Stone magazine selected the Biohazard logo as the best logo of the year.

This was the last Biohazard album with Bobby Hambel, who left due to differences with the rest of the band. The band recorded their fourth studio album, Mata Leao, as a three piece in 1996. It was produced with the help of Dave Jerden. For the 1996-97 Mata Leao Tour, former Helmet guitarist Rob Echeverria joined the band. The band also played on the Ozzfest mainstage alongside Ozzy Osbourne, Slayer, Danzig, Fear Factory, and Sepultura. While touring Europe in support of the Mata Leao album, the band recorded their Hamburg, Germany, show for their first live album, No Holds Barred (Live in Europe), which was released in 1997 through their former label, Roadrunner Records. The band signed to Mercury Records and released their fifth studio album, New World Disorder, in 1999, once again with Ed Stasium as a producer.

The relationship with Mercury Records soured quickly as the band felt betrayed and misunderstood by the label. They severed their ties with the label amidst the merger of Mercury Records, Island Records, Def Jam Records, and Polygram into the Universal Music Group. The following year, Biohazard signed two new record deals with SPV/Steamhammer in Europe and Sanctuary Records for the remainder of the world. Despite the new record deals, the band took some personal time in order to work on other projects. Graziadei and Schuler also collaborated in transforming the band's rehearsal Brooklyn studio into a digital recording studio, known as Rat Piss Studios and soon after changed the name to Underground Sound Studios. Re-investing into the band, Graziadei and Schuler honed their engineering and productions skills while recording and producing local acts and new Biohazard demos. The band then undertook the process of writing, recording, and producing their own music. Their studio work led to the band's sixth studio album, Uncivilization, released in September 2001.
The album featured several guest appearances by members of bands such as Agnostic Front, Hatebreed, Pantera, Slipknot, Sepultura, Cypress Hill, Skarhead, and Type O Negative. Shortly after the release of Uncivilization, guitarist Leo Curley left the band and was replaced by former Nucleus member Carmine Vincent, who had previously toured with Biohazard as part of their road crew. The band had to cancel scheduled European festival dates when Carmine Vincent underwent major surgery. The band did manage to find a temporary guitarist, Scott Roberts, formerly of the Cro-Mags and the Spudmonsters, in time to join the Eastpak Resistance Tour with Agnostic Front, Hatebreed, Discipline, Death Threat, Born From Pain and All Boro Kings. Biohazard completed their seventh studio album in seventeen days; Kill Or Be Killed was released in 2003. While touring North America with Kittie, Brand New Sin and Eighteen Visions, Biohazard announced that Roberts would remain as their permanent lead guitarist. The tour was curtailed when it was announced that Seinfeld had fallen ill. With more downtime due to Seinfeld's illness, Graziadei and Schuler collaborated to mix Life of Agony's live comeback album, River Runs Again: Live 2003. Once Seinfeld was healthy again, the band toured Japan and North America, headlining over bands such as Hatebreed, Agnostic Front, Throwdown, and Full Blown Chaos.

By the end of 2003, the band had begun recording its eighth studio album, Means To An End. The completed album was lost in a studio disaster, forcing the band to completely re-record the album, which was finally released in August 2005. In October 2004, Graziadei announced that Means To An End had been the final Biohazard album and that he would continue playing with his new band Suicide City as his main focus. One month later, on the Biohazard website, it was announced that there would in fact be a 2005 Biohazard tour. On December 15, 2005, Seinfeld and Graziadei participated in the Roadrunner United conglomerate event at the Nokia Theater in New York for an all-star event. The show opened with Biohazard's "Punishment," performed by Seinfeld, Graziadei, Sepultura's Andreas Kisser, former Fear Factory member Dino Cazares, and Slipknot's Joey Jordison. Graziadei and Schuler relocated their recording studio to South Amboy, New Jersey and renamed it Underground Sound Studios. The studio was renovated to include a live room with 20-foot (6.1 m) ceilings and 4,000 square feet (370 m2) of studio space. After Schuler's departure from the studio business, Graziadei relocated the studio to Los Angeles and changed the name to Firewater Studios. In January 2008, the classic lineup of Evan Seinfeld, Billy Graziadei, Danny Schuler and Bobby Hambel made the announcement that rehearsals had begun for a 2008 summer tour to commemorate the band's 20th anniversary. They toured Australia and New Zealand in April with Chimaira, Throwdown, Bloodsimple and headliners Korn to celebrate their newly declared reunion. The band also took part in Persistence Tour 2009, and announced at one of their shows that they were working on a new record. Biohazard brought in producer Toby Wright to work on the album and after several months at Graziadei's Firewater Studios in Los Angeles, the band completed their recording sessions. In June 2011, Biohazard announced that Evan Seinfeld had quit the band and Scott Roberts returned to replace Seinfeld for two UK dates but no decision regarding a permanent replacement was made. In January 2012, the band decided that Scott Roberts would remain with the band as a permanent member. The new album, Reborn In Defiance, was released worldwide, with the exception of North America, on January 20, 2012 through the Nuclear Blast label. In support of the album, Biohazard embarked on a short co-headlining tour of Europe with Suicidal Tendencies in the latter half of January 2012. After touring the world in support of Reborn in Defiance, the band entered the studio to work on a new release and after a falling out, Roberts departed the band.

Biohazard remains as it’s core founding members of Graziadei, Shuler and Hambel. Graziadei has since ventured off onto a solo career as BillyBio and teamed up with Cypress Hill frontman Sendog to start Powerflo. Both groups are working on their second releases due out late 2021 and early 2022.

The Nonesuch debut of Hurray for the Riff Raff (aka Alynda Segarra), LIFE ON EARTH, is a departure for the Bronx-born, New Orleans-based singer/songwriter. Its eleven new “nature punk” tracks on the theme of survival are music for a world in flux – songs about thriving, not just surviving, while disaster is happening. Hurray for the Riff Raff tours North America this spring, beginning March 19 in Atlanta and continuing through April 20 in Nashville, with stops in Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York, among others. International tour dates will be announced shortly.

For her eighth full-length album, Segarra (they/she) drew inspiration from The Clash, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, Bad Bunny, and the author of Emergent Strategy, adrienne maree brown. Recorded during the pandemic, Life on Earth was produced by Brad Cook (Waxahatchee, Bon Iver, Kevin Morby).

Life on Earth’s first single, ‘RHODODENDRON’, is about “finding rebellion in plant life. Being called by the natural world and seeing the life that surrounds you in a way you never have. A mind expansion. A psychedelic trip. A spiritual breakthrough. Learning to adapt, and being open to the wisdom of your landscape. Being called to fix things in your own backyard, your own community,” says Segarra.

Of the ‘Rhododendron’ video, which was directed by New Orleans-based artist Lucia Honey, Segarra says: “It is really far out and fun. I got this bodysuit that just looks like the inside of the human body. It looks like you’re skinless. It’s in a scene where I’m playing to an audience of plants. Just really absurd, but I put that suit on and I was like man, this feels really good. It feels like, ‘This is who I am. Let’s just take the skin off.’

“It reminds me a little bit of Kids in the Hall,” they continue. “With this ‘Rhododendron’ shoot, something clicked in me where I was like, ‘All I have to do is be myself.’ I had been thinking that I had to be something bigger than myself. I felt like I was just never quite making the mark and then something clicked where I was like, ‘I just gotta be me. I could do that. I could show up and be me. And if people don’t like it, then I don’t know what to fucking tell them.’ It was like a brain shift of, ‘Oh, this can be fun. It doesn’t have to be suffering.’ With so many videos and photo shoots before, it really felt like suffering. I felt so uncomfortable being perceived. I didn’t know who I was.”

Honey adds: “We wanted to create something surreal, playful, and saturated that indulged heavily in the aesthetic of the early ‘90s. Alynda and I had many overlapping visual and philosophical references which sparked the initial collaboration. We wanted to make this video an homage to Gregg Araki’s Teenage Apocalypse trilogy but as a nature documentary crossover. I came across Araki’s work as a queer teenager, and he’s always been a big inspiration. Sex, blood, punk rock, camp, etc.

“We live in a moment where the future is bleaker and more unknown than ever, so there becomes a deep comfort in nostalgia and reliving the past. Through our talks, I realised Alynda’s new album touches on many of these same subjects, but perhaps in reverse; running from a past that is always haunting you. Shifting into a more refined self/identity through confronting one’s trauma and baggage. It was easy to reach collaborative synergy for this video project because we’re both interested in tackling similar issues.”

Alynda Segarra was born and raised in the Bronx, which they left at the age of seventeen, running away from everything and everyone they knew, hopping freight trains or hitchhiking across the country in the company of a band of street urchins. Segarra moved to New Orleans in 2007 and formed two bands: Dead Man’s Street Orchestra and Hurray for the Riff Raff. In 2015, Segarra decamped to Nashville, then to New York, to make her most recent album, 2016’s critically praised The Navigator, an ambitious and fully realized concept album that was her quest to reclaim her Puerto Rican identity. Segarra’s previous records as Hurray for the Riff Raff are Crossing the Rubicon (EP, 2007), It Don’t Mean I Don’t Love You (2008), Young Blood Blues (2010), Hurray for the Riff Raff (2011), Look Out Mama (2012), My Dearest Darkest Neighbor (2013), and Small Town Heroes (2014).

F.S.Blumm and Nils Frahm have confirmed details of their fourth collaborative album, 2X1=4, which will be released on September 3, 2021, by LEITER, the new label formed by Frahm and his
manager, Felix Grimm. The seven-track album finds the duo unexpectedly exploring a dub influenced universe, though in truth it’s one already familiar to both. F.S.Blumm, for instance, is
co-founder of Quasi Dub Development, whose 2014 album, Little-Twister vs Stiff-Neck, featured Lady Ann and Lee Scratch Perry, while Frahm’s music – not least 2018’s All Melody – has
occasionally betrayed a fondness for the form’s associated studio techniques, though he concedes wryly that his approach has always been “a little bit more German” than his influences.

F.S.Blumm, a revered mainstay of the German underground for over two decades, and Nils Frahm, who’s enjoyed significant success in recent years with his ground-breaking compositions
for piano and synths, first met in the early 2000s. Frahm was a big fan of Blumm’s 2001 album, Mondkuchen – he refers to his fellow Berlin resident admiringly these days as “a vital brick in the
Berlin Wall” – while Blumm was soon dazzled by Frahm’s studio set up. “Compared to mine,” he says, “it was like a space ship!” Soon they were working together on a variety of projects –
including theatre pieces and animated films – and by 2010 they’d released their first collaborative album, Music For Lovers Music Versus Time. A second, Music For Wobbling Music Versus
Gravity, followed in 2013, and a third, Tag Eins Tag Zwei, in 2016.

2X1=4 is very different to its predecessors, but its final track, ‘Neckrub’, first took shape as they wound up work on Tag Eins Tag Zwei. “We had a certain sound in the back of our heads,”
Blumm recalls, “which was influenced by these 80s rhythm machines, and we suddenly discovered a common love for dub.” Most of the new album, therefore, was initially developed in 2016 during improvisation sessions recorded by Frahm to two-track cassette. “It was like we were running a combine harvester,” Blumm laughs, “so we could write our names on a single grain!”

Afterwards, they worked on editing and overdubs in Frahm’s new studio at Berlin’s legendary Funkhaus. “We kept on making new songs out of these sessions and starting over and over again,” Frahm smiles. “It was a process that was time consuming but really fun.” Not that either of them is eager to claim a purist approach. “I love ending up somewhere where I’m surprised by myself or the machine or the person with whom I’m making music,” Blumm concludes, while
Frahm emphasises that, “None of this is too serious. The record is only as much of a dub record as the ones before are jazz records…”

Kapingbdi came together in Liberia, West Africa, during the late 1970’s and had their own unique style. This six to seven-piece band played original compositions in a vibrant mix of African Rhythms, Soul, Spiritual Jazz, Funk and Rock. Led by Kojo Samuels on sax, flute and vocals “Born in The Night” presents the essential tracks from their rare studio LPs produced between 1978-1981. The work has been carefully edited and remastered in 2019 for vinyl LP and a 6-Page Digipack CD, which includes two additional recordings. Kapingbdi toured through Europe and the U.S. and were the only Afro funk band to ever come out of Liberia.

Kapingbdi hail from Liberia, West Africa and have their own imitable style. They effortlessly combine traditional African music in a modern mix of Jazz, Funk, Soul and Rock. The band is a fusion of the old and the new.

The word "Kapingbdi" is taken from the Sierra Leone language Mende and means "born in the night". Kojo Samuels was given the name by his Latin teacher whilst attending high school in Freetown, They often meet and debate at night in the city and soon after Kojo is called Kapingbdi. The name serves as a description of his origin. Born In Lagos, Nigeria in 1943. The son of slave children. His mother from Nigeria and father from Sierra Leone who moved the family to Liberia, during the 1950’s.

Kojo has played music for as long as he can remember. He starts with the harmonica and later becomes a drummer and percussionist in his first band at school. During his art studies 1965-1972, he tours Germany and works as an art teacher in the USA. His band Kapingbdi is reorganized five times and consists of up to seven musicians. In a VW-Bulli he drives the group from concert to concert and if the drummer fails, he jumps in himself. Between 1978 and 1981 three Kapingbdi LPs are produced for the independent label Trikont, recorded in Hamburg and Munich. During this creative period, the band plays at festivals in Africa and Europe. In 1984, the band tours the United States and shortly after, they came to an end.

At their best, Kapingbdi would rouse the audience with original compositions like "Human Rights", justice for all, especially for South Africans, and "You Go Go You Go Come". The officials and employees in the government departments have no time for the common man, for any questions such as job search, scholarship or similar, he receives the answer "go, come back tomorrow" and the same thing the following day. Or "Now Is The Time For Cry For Love." Now it is time to scream for love and finally, time for humanity and justice. Despite immense difficulties, the musicians consciously live and work in Africa and are at home in Liberia.

On April 12, 1980, ordinary soldiers and non-commissioned officers organize a coup against the government. This is an attempt to put an end to a policy of exploitation of the Liberian people. Whilst efforts to eradicate poverty, lawlessness and illiteracy are obvious throughout the country, Liberia is still Americanized to a high degree. This is evident, as the radio programs of that time almost exclusively played American disco music. Under these conditions, the people seek a reconnection to their folk music, and Kapingbdi were aware of this. Kojo tried many times to come together with traditional Liberian musicians. This passion takes him north of the country. Meeting and playing with the old hornblowers and playing music on traditional instruments, such as the elephant tusk.

Kapingbdi make high quality tape copies of their own vinyl LPs and patiently try to displace all unauthorized tapes from the domestic "market". Nevertheless, it is hard to make a living through music in Liberia. Kapingbdi, is now celebrated. The radio plays are in abundance, but royalties are not forthcoming. Their musical link is the feeling of Afrobeat and Highlife, which is found in each of the many Kapingbdi pieces. They embody Jazz, which is understood to be the most refined example of black music outside of Africa. In Liberia, Jazz is virtually impossible to hear. Bright shining names such as John Coltrane, Charlie Parker or Miles Davis were widely unknown. Thus, the Black Jazz, including its Back-To-Africa movement of the 60’s and 70‘s, passes by without leaving a trace in Africa itself.

Kojo's claim at the time, was to make African music with the depth, sensitivity and the freedom of the technical level of Jazz. This makes Kapingbdi the torchbeares. The underpaid prophets in small Liberia. It is the passion with which the founder of the band continues to work on their music for years. Tirelessly, stimulating and encouraging his fellow musicians. This is ultimately responsible for the success of Kapingbdi in Liberia itself. The local audience seems to listen to the band in fascinated astonishment. One wonders about the ability to develop as demonstrated by Kapingbdi on the basis of their music. It is African and unusually jazzy, danceable and better than the American disco music heard on the radio.

Rather than chase the money and the job opportunities in Europe, Kapingbdi are firmly rooted in Africa. The musicians live in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia, at the Kabingbdi workshop, located in the Congotown area on the eastern edge of the sprawling city. Kojo works here as a sculptor, painter, batik artist and musician. The sales revenue that his activities generate, gives him the opportunity to support the development of African Jazz music. The highest percentage of funds are from Germany and Kojo’s work ethic is “to work on your own thing“. The stance taken aims to support the welfare of Liberians and Africans. The other musicians of the group live in a second house that is nearby.

For the sake of consistency, Kapingbdi is a full-time band. However, the revenue, from all of the sources, could not keep them afloat. Equally, as important to the group are Kojos's knowledge of traditional African music and his sculpting skills. His knowledge is shared with others at the afternoon workshops. It is here that they discuss new lyrics, engage in political debate and the self-imposed task of improving conditions in Africa. At times the debate became heated, especially during rehearsals. This was regarded as good and integrative, sowing the seeds of innitiative to keep the band together.

From 1980 to 1985 Kojo also opened and ran the club "Panjebota", located on the grounds of the U.S. Consulate in Monrovia. Almost every evening Kapingbdi perform the song "Wrong Curfew Walk", whose lyrics lament the killing of citizens during the curfew imposed by the Liberian government. When the head of state Samuel Doe hears the song, he behaves agressively and forces Kojo to close the "Panjebota". Kojo had already moved on. Soonafter he meets Fela Kuti at the Africa-Festival and plays concerts in Germany with Cecil Taylor's workshop band.

Kapingbdi is for thinking, dreaming, dancing. What they sing about is what they have experienced. Kojo Samuels is 76 years old today and still follows his vocation as a critical musician, artist and activist.

Ekkehart Fleischhammer / Sonorama 2019 (with the help of original press sheets and the memories of Kojo Samuels)

Words have a force of their own: a life generated by their meaning and by the imaginary world they refer to; a power increased by the dynamic interplay with other words. Just put 'Moon' and 'Apollo' together, and you'll be almost inevitably transported to mankind's greatest adventure: the Moon landing and, before that, the space race between the US and USSR, the early missions, and the incredible technological challenges faced at the time by astronauts and engineers.

It is against this imaginative background that beat-maker and bass player Moonbrew and organist and keyboardist Paolo Apollo Negri conceived The LEM Tales project. Their collaboration, too, is the coming together of 'Moon' and 'Apollo', and of their two worlds: a sonic universe where hip hop meets funk, pop merges with jazz, old school interacts with new possibilities, and urban and space blend into something new.

The LEM Tales - Chapter One narrates the space race from the American point of view. This vinyl edition, which includes two exclusive tracks (*) not on the digital release, takes us on a journey from "Project Gemini" - NASA's second human spaceflight program - to "Tranquillity Base" (*) (the site on the Moon where Armstrong and Aldrin landed and walked in July 1969) , through tracks titled "Capsule Communicator" (the individual in the mission control center who maintained communication with the astronauts in space), "EMU" (Extravehicular Mobility Unit, better known as the spacesuit), "Saturn V" (a threestage, liquid-fuelled rocket used between 1967 and 1973), and "Mercury Seven" (*) (the group of seven astronauts chosen for the Mercury Program in 1959).

Inspired by iconic images that are part of our collective visual memory, Moonbrew and Apollo's first collaborative effort tries to provide a contemporary sonic representation of what the past means to us today – and, perhaps, will mean to future generations. It does so through a feast of vintage synthesizers, transistor and tonewheel organs, string machines, electric pianos, tube amplifiers, obscure analogue devices, electric bass, and modern samplers.

An old-school hip hop approach was used in the first stages of writing the album: individual drums hits from old, dusty records were first sampled and then physically played on real instruments to create patterns and build up the rhythm section. Moonbrew then laid down the electric bass grooves and Apollo layered his dreamy, evocative vintage keyboards on top. The result is a combination of different styles, sounds and genres that is fresh, original and contemporary while being clearly influenced by many musical legends of the past.

The LEM Tales - Chapter One is released by Four Flies in partnership with Record Kicks.

After 30 years living in the US, between Las Vegas and Los Angeles, Matt Goss has decided it’s time to return home to London. Goss’ new solo album “The Beautiful Unknown” will launch an exciting new solo chapter in the British pop music legend’s career, following a resurgence of recognition off the back of 2018’s BAFTA winning documentary After The Screaming Stops.

As one half of BROS, the global chart-topping, cultural pop phenomenon, Matt has amassed 16+ million album sales, with debut album Push going 4x Platinum in the UK as well as hitting #1 in 22 countries. The younger of the BROS siblings, Matt Goss is officially the youngest artist to sell out and headline Wembley Stadium, as well as a joint world record holder for selling out two nights at London’s O2 Arena in just seven seconds.

Matt Goss is a true internationally recognized performing icon, with Las Vegas residences at the world renowned Caesar’s Palace and The Mirage hotels.

Lake Havasu is a community of winding hillside roads, launched in the 1960s alongside a brick-for-brick rebuild of the original London Bridge. “It’s this very synthetic, gimmicky place set in this soulful, desolate landscape,” laughs Pedro the Lion’s David Bazan, who moved to the Arizona city for one year in seventh grade. Bazan collected his earliest childhood experiences for 2019’s Phoenix, the prolific artist’s celebrated return to the Pedro moniker and the first in a planned series of five records chronicling his past homes. To write its sequel, Bazan traveled to Havasu four times over several years, driving past his junior high campus, a magical skating rink, and other nostalgic locations that evoked feelings long suppressed. “An intersection I hadn’t remembered for 30 years would trigger a flood of hidden memories,” he says. “I was there to soak in it as much as possible.” Driving the inscrutable loops of Havasu’s lakeside, Bazan listened through an audiobook of Tom Petty’s biography, eventually dialoguing with Petty’s voice in his mind. A revelation from the book—that Petty subconsciously wrote the song “Wildflowers” as an act of kindness toward himself—inspired Bazan to approach his own work with radical generosity toward his young self. “I wanted to be there for that kid,” he offers. “That twelve year old still needs parenting, and still needs to process.” To revisit his past with openness, Bazan modified harmful work habits he’d accepted as necessary. That meant doing away with deadlines, and accumulating moments of play as he felt moved to—“Rather than squeezing stones every single time. I’m on a slow journey away from that,” he clarifies. As he worked through the music that became Havasu, flexibility and curiosity informed the arrangements. Bazan began writing on a simple synthesizer and drum machine setup. He detoured to a more elaborate assortment of analog electronic equipment, then woodshed his original two-handed keyboard arrangements on fingerpicked acoustic guitar. Concurrently relearning his catalog for a weekly series of livestream concerts also renewed his gratitude toward songwriting. “I was trying to evaluate what I have to show for 20 years of kicking my own ass,” Bazan quips about the strenuousness of full-time touring. “But the garden of my songs is what I’ve been building. It doesn’t have to be an ego test.”

There's naturally much to enjoy on the latest volume in Africa Seven's A7 Edits series, which pairs original - and usually obscure - old Afro-disco and Afro-boogie gems with fresh 21st century edits.

This time round, the A-side is all about Kemayo & K System's piano and horn-heavy disco-funk jam 'Biram', a two-minute blast of dancefloor exuberance that Phillip Lauer cleverly re-imagines as loopy, locked-in chunk of Afro-disco/disco house fusion.

Over on the flip there's a chance to savour Afro National's heavy, low-slung stomper 'Push Forward', a cut that brilliantly adds chanted vocals and Hendrix style guitar solos to a sweaty, non-stop groove. Al Zanders does a great job in ratcheting up the tension and heaviness on his accompanying club-ready extension.

Matasuna's latest tidbit takes us back to the South American continent once again - to Venezuela to be exact. The song "Zambo" by the band "La Retreta Mayor", which was released in 1976 on the self-titled LP, is now available as an official reissue and the very first time ever on a 7inch vinyl single! The 45 is complemented by an excellent rework of the American producer & DJ "King Most" from San Francisco.

The A-side features the original of the song. "Zambo" is a furious mix with versatile influences of Latin, Jazz & Funk. The rich horn section and percussion of the guest quartet bring pure heat to the track - the drums, bass and piano intensify this even more. An absolute heater for any dance floor!

The B-side features the "King Most" Redirection. The talented producer gently takes on the song, keeping the organic vibe of the original but still giving it a different, new side. His re-arrangement and additional in/outro and a new passage in the middle of the song fit exquisitely. Also his crunchy drums and own piano passages are very tasty and give the song an own flavour!

"Alexandro Rodríguez" was born in Caracas in 1952 and is considered one of Venezuela's most important jazz guitarists of the seventies. He studied classical guitar in his early years, played electric guitar in various rock groups and performed at various national music festivals. He also had the opportunity to play as a musician for renowned orchestras such as "Onda Nueva", "Renny Show's Orchestra" on Venezuelan Television and "Radio Caracas TV's Orchestra".

In the late 1970's he recorded two significant works that may be considered a reference in Venezuelan music history. He formed the short-lived band "La Retreta Mayor" to record a self-titled album, which was released as an LP on the Venezuelan label "Discomoda" in 1976. The 10-piece band and numerous guest musicians created a jazz-funk & fusion gem. The band unfortunately broke up right after the recording and did not play live or record any more music.

His self-released album "Busqueda", released in 1978 under his name, was recorded between New York and Caracas and has an excellent reputation not only in connoisseur circles. In 2012, the album was reissued on CD by a Japanese label, proving the influence Alexandro's music still has in the jazz scene today.

Between 1979 and 1982, Alexandro lived in "New York", where he worked as a composer, arranger, performer and orchestrator in the jazz scene with renowned orchestras before returning to Venezuela. Subsequently, his musical career turned to the classical guitar, both as a composer and performer. In 2013, he settled in "Pittsburgh", Pennsylvania (USA), where he continues his activity as composer, arranger, guitarist, bassist and teacher to the present time.

His third studio album in as many years, ‘La La La’ arrives as the follow-up to 2020's album 'Cheap Medication' and 2019's debut 'Next Episode Starts In 15 Seconds’ in what is the next instalment of Johnny's annual series of releases. The new album continues a prolific spell of activity for the songwriter that has also seen him release two compilations of outtakes and rarities (Low Fidelity Vol. 1 & 2); work in collaboration with his partner Billie Piper and playwright Lucy Prebble (Succession) to score the entire soundtrack for the critically acclaimed Sky Atlantic series ‘I Hate Suzie’ and write the original motion picture soundtrack to Billie Piper's film 'Rare Beasts

CELESTE have been breaking the outer boundaries of heavy music for over fifteen years. When they first evolved from the Lyon hardcore punk scene, they were absolutely brutal and entirely unique, delivering extremity on their own terms that they pushed further and further with each successive album. “We just wanted to get darker and more violent,” says drummer Antoine Royer, until 2017’s Infidèle(s) saw the incorporation of a more melodic streak. Their most focussed record yet, it was tremendously received, critically adored, and backed with the band’s biggest shows to date.

Its follow-up was always going to be something radical. Even by their own inordinately high standards, however, new record Assassine(s) is one hell of a step forward. Even if this album still contains cyclonic walls of guitar, of battering rhythm, and passages of blissful, rushing release. it’s unlike anything the band have ever released; embracing a modern and forward-thinking production, they're just as complex but more direct, diverse and accessible than before. “Our leitmotif here was to open our minds,” says guitarist Sébastien Ducotté. “We made a real effort to think outside of our box.”

During lockdown CELESTE’s members were forced to each write individually. “We each went further into our personal, inner views of what the songs were,” says bassist and vocalist Johan Girardeau. When eventually they began sessions under producer Chris Edrich, it was gruelling. “We ended up exhausted, physically and mentally” says Johan. “There was no break in two weeks. We didn’t see the sun at all during that time. Every night we were so tired that we didn’t enjoy being together as much as we’re used to.” Nevertheless, in the same way the hardships of isolation led to richer and more complex songwriting, it’s that relentlessness that led to the record’s razor-sharp edges.

Above all else, CELESTE are innovators. Whether by pioneering French avant-garde metal when they formed at the turn of the millennium, by making their boldest leaps despite being seven albums deep into their career, or using two years away from live shows to tightly finetune their stagecraft, they refuse at all costs to rest on their laurels. There can be consequences to this instinct – fans of the band’s older work might be thrown off by their constant shifts of pace – but they’re throwing caution to the wind. A bit of backlash “would be a good thing, because it would mean that we’ve really changed,” says Guillaume . “It's not disrespectful, it's just that we never made music to please people, but just to enjoy what we're doing.” In the end, CELESTE are a band so forward-thinking that they can only be judged on the strength of their latest work. And when it comes to a record as bold as Assassine(s), they’ve hit a whole new peak entirely.