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Created between Palm Springs, California and Hilo, Hawai'i, V is the first double album from the Hawaiian-New Zealand singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Ruban Nielson's Unknown Mortal Orchestra band. Designed to play as one continuous movement and road-tested on dry California freeways, V is the definitive Unknown Mortal Orchestra car record. It's also the fifth full-length album Ruban has released in twelve years. Across fourteen sunbleached songs - written solo or with his brother Kody - Ruban draws from the rich traditions of West Coast AOR, yacht rock, weirdo pop and Hawaiian Hapa-haole music. Over a laidback blend of singalong anthems and cinematic instrumentals, he evokes blue skies, afternoons spent lounging by hotel swimming pools and the alluring darkness that lurks below perfect, pristine surfaces. It's a duality expressed in the dilapidated sunset blues and the saltcorroded soul Ruban explores through tracks like `Layla' and `Nadja. ' During the pandemic's early days, Ruban reunited with Kody at a cousin's wedding in Hawai'i. With assistance from their father, Chris Nielson (saxophone/flute) and longstanding Unknown Mortal Orchestra member Jake Portrait, they brought everything Ruban had been thinking about together. The result was V, due for release on March 3, 2023, through Jagjaguwar. When they talked about records that moved them in that spine-shivering manner, Ruban started thinking about the 70s AM radio rock and 80s pop songs that had lurked on the edge of his subconscious mind for most of his life. He wanted to write his version of records like that, leading to the two glorious uptempo singles Unknown Mortal Orchestra released in 2021, `Weekend Run' and `That Life'. However, the golden good times never last forever. Not long after, health issues began to plague his extended family.Putting his recordings aside, he helped his mother and his uncle move home from New Zealand and Portland to Hawai'i, and began dividing his time between Hawai'i and Palm Springs. During this period he reconnected with his relatives, reassessed his past, and started to look at things with fresh eyes. Hawai'i brought back memories of the darker side of his parents' lifestyle as entertainers. On those trips, he heard those classic AM radio rock records everywhere. They were inextricably intertwined with the palm trees, swimming pools, and glamorized hedonism he'd internalized from his childhood. There's a type of music in Hawai'i called Hapa-haole (Half white). You can hear it expressed in signature Unknown Mortal Orchestra style through the humid guitar-led atmosphere of V's penultimate song, `I Killed Captain Cook'. Although the songs are presented in a traditional Hawaiian manner, they're mostly sung in English. Having been influenced by Hawaiian music since Unknown Mortal Orchestra's first album, Ruban saw a space for himself within the tradition. When he reflected on his success, he realised he had the responsibility and platform to represent Hapa-haole music on the global stage.

Created between Palm Springs, California and Hilo, Hawai'i, V is the first double album from the Hawaiian-New Zealand singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Ruban Nielson's Unknown Mortal Orchestra band. Designed to play as one continuous movement and road-tested on dry California freeways, V is the definitive Unknown Mortal Orchestra car record. It's also the fifth full-length album Ruban has released in twelve years. Across fourteen sunbleached songs - written solo or with his brother Kody - Ruban draws from the rich traditions of West Coast AOR, yacht rock, weirdo pop and Hawaiian Hapa-haole music. Over a laidback blend of singalong anthems and cinematic instrumentals, he evokes blue skies, afternoons spent lounging by hotel swimming pools and the alluring darkness that lurks below perfect, pristine surfaces. It's a duality expressed in the dilapidated sunset blues and the saltcorroded soul Ruban explores through tracks like `Layla' and `Nadja. ' During the pandemic's early days, Ruban reunited with Kody at a cousin's wedding in Hawai'i. With assistance from their father, Chris Nielson (saxophone/flute) and longstanding Unknown Mortal Orchestra member Jake Portrait, they brought everything Ruban had been thinking about together. The result was V, due for release on March 3, 2023, through Jagjaguwar. When they talked about records that moved them in that spine-shivering manner, Ruban started thinking about the 70s AM radio rock and 80s pop songs that had lurked on the edge of his subconscious mind for most of his life. He wanted to write his version of records like that, leading to the two glorious uptempo singles Unknown Mortal Orchestra released in 2021, `Weekend Run' and `That Life'. However, the golden good times never last forever. Not long after, health issues began to plague his extended family.Putting his recordings aside, he helped his mother and his uncle move home from New Zealand and Portland to Hawai'i, and began dividing his time between Hawai'i and Palm Springs. During this period he reconnected with his relatives, reassessed his past, and started to look at things with fresh eyes. Hawai'i brought back memories of the darker side of his parents' lifestyle as entertainers. On those trips, he heard those classic AM radio rock records everywhere. They were inextricably intertwined with the palm trees, swimming pools, and glamorized hedonism he'd internalized from his childhood. There's a type of music in Hawai'i called Hapa-haole (Half white). You can hear it expressed in signature Unknown Mortal Orchestra style through the humid guitar-led atmosphere of V's penultimate song, `I Killed Captain Cook'. Although the songs are presented in a traditional Hawaiian manner, they're mostly sung in English. Having been influenced by Hawaiian music since Unknown Mortal Orchestra's first album, Ruban saw a space for himself within the tradition. When he reflected on his success, he realised he had the responsibility and platform to represent Hapa-haole music on the global stage.

This unique and unconventional set combines a 7“ single with two yet unreleased songs by NON BAND and a photo magazine, both of which provide essential evidence of the tsunami-like tidal wave of the Japanese post punk movement.

The two featured songs VIBRATION ARMY and SILENCE-HIGH-SPEED perfectly capture the charismatic formative years of NON BAND, with their sound emerging as an entirely unique mix of driving punk veering from No Wave and Folk into raw post punk mutations.
Both songs were committed to tape in 1981 at the legendary facilities of Mod Studio, Tokyo, by engineer Yasushi Konichi when the band recorded their eponymous debut album which was issued via Tokyo‘s Telegraph Records back in 1982. Although both songs were miraculously omitted from the final album. Like all of Non Band recordings they have withstood the test of time thanks to their mix of direct, experimental yet disciplined rawness and studio magick.

The magazine features a text and a careful selection of photos from the vast archives of photographer Yuichi Jibiki, who was also the man behind the label Telegraph Records. Since 1978 Yuichi Jibiki was intimately involved with the early Japanese punk scene as their photographer, manager and organizer. He could be found very much in the midst of all NON BAND live shows between 79-82 as well as pulling the strings behind the scenes.

After the reissue edition of NON BAND‘s debut album via Stefan Schneider‘ TAL imprint in 2017 the label is excited to be able to offer another key release showcasing the creative peak of Japanese Post Punk.

Music by Non Band. Recorded by Yasushi Konishi in 1981 at Mod Studio, Tokyo.
Mastering by Detlef Funder at Paraschall, Düsseldorf 2022
Photographs by Yuchi Jibiki 1979-82

London four-piece Crows will release their highly anticipated second album, 'Beware Believers', on April 1st 2022 via Bad Vibrations Records. Conjuring a dark and visceral post-punk that's been hardened by years of notoriously rowdy live shows, Crows have amassed a legion of die-hard fans since they formed back in 2015 and cultivated a singular, much-adored presence in the British alternative music scene. Equal parts ferocious and hedonistic, the incoming 'Beware Believers' LP arrives off the back of their critically acclaimed 2019 debut 'Silver Tongues', international touring and festival appearances, and shared stages with the likes of IDLES, Wolf Alice, Girl Band, Metz, Slaves and Protomartyr. Following the release of their long-awaited debut album on the IDLES-run Balley Records back in 2019, Crows immediately set to work on its follow-up and by January 2020 they were already back in the studio tracking what would become the 'Beware Believers' LP and then Covid hit. "Once we knew Covid was here to stay, we took the first break we've taken since we released our first single 'Pray' in 2015. Being locked down for three months unable to finish the last bits of the record was very frustrating but it did mean we could come back to the album with fresh ears and make sure it sounded like it should: a true representation of Crows." Loud, cathartic and abrasive a quintessential Crows record it certainly is. "Beware Believers has felt like a marathon, a real endurance test that's been a long, winding road filled with highs and lows and plenty of twists and turns", frontman James Cox says: "The majority of the themes on the album came from what was going on in the world around Summer 2019 when we started writing the album. Covid wasn't in our lives and the biggest impact was Brexit and the madness our government were putting us through. I was reading a lot of J.G. Ballard and Kurt Vonnegut, mad dystopian novels, whilst all this craziness was going on around us and it was a weird headspace to get into."

For a quarter of an hour, Zürich was the navel of the world. Let's look back: at New York's CBGB's, pre-punks were shredding away, Malcolm McLaren, as a man with a fine-tuned taste for the hip, imported the sound to London, where his sweetheart Vivienne Westwood dressed the test-tube band The Sex Pistols. A few pop magazines later (we are in an analog world!) punk bands sprouted everywhere, like shiny pimples on poorly fed teenagers. Contrary to legend, even back then, it was often those with a musical background who were the most successful. One such example, Henrich "Wüste" Zwahlen, who had learned the violin, attended a jazz school and went into prog-rock before joining the Nasal Boys, one of the first punk bands in Zürich. The scene included the female band Kleenex (cover: Fischli of art heroes Fischli/Weiss), whose minimalism was praised by the London music press, while the world's most important rock theorist, Greil Marcus, wrote an ode highlighting Zürich's role as the birthplace of Dadaism. A fertile ground for the militant youth movement that exploded in 1980 and stirred up the city of banks, protestantism and boredom with raw wit and expressive violence. Gathering at concerts of local bands and fueled by endogenous and artificial substances - they paid homage to exuberance and self-indulgence.
The mantra of "everything-is-possible" was driven forward on the musical front by progress in terms of means of production: analog electronic instruments were no longer reserved for hippie nerds, who sat in front of large plug-in boards like autistic-psychedelic switchboard operators connecting cables for their sound carpets. Now snazzy stage personnel elicited fast-paced sounds from handy devices often made in Japan. Kraftwerk was fashionable, the Zurich duo Yello experimented with new synthetic sounds, and the groundbreaking album "Alles Ist Gut" by the Düsseldorf based duo D.A.F. (Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft) was released, which chanted its program of provocation times danceability with lines such as "Tanz den Jesus Christus, tanz the Mussolini, tanz the Adolf Hitler." In England meanwhile, electronically backed New Romantic bands were replacing New Wave. The Human League, Heaven 17, Duran Duran, OMD, Depeche Mode or Visage stormed the charts.
In Zürich's underground, the duo Aboriginal Voices caused a stir at that time. A couple, good-looking, styled, looking cool into the cold neon light, with a danceable beat and sequenced electro sounds, to which Micheline gave a very unique touch when she sang in French and English. Micheline had a classical piano education, had left home early, worked as a lighting technician in a strip joint and at Booster, the hottest boutique in town (one of the relicts that still exists). Voilà: a musician who was as stylish as she was tough. She was already playing with Wüste in the band "Doobie Doos", a band where everyone played an instrument they didn't master. In 1980 the Aboriginal Voices were formed, initially with vocalist Magda Vogel (of later UnknownmiX fame), who was trained as a classical singer.

Frustrated by organizational friction and constant hassles with band lineups, Wüste and Misch decided to do everything as a twosome: self-mixed, self-styled, self-produced. With the top-of-the-line Linn drum machine clocking the beat, Wüste's guitar and Micheline on the Yamaha synthesizer created a unique sound of danceable electronic music. Whereby the Aboriginal Voices acted as a kind of proto-influencer, receiving the latest equipment to try out, especially since they made it a point not to work with tapes, but to design everything for live shows. They had an interface built for the legendary Roland MC-4B, who sequenced the modular Roland System 100M but where one output controlled a light show synchronized with the sound. A pioneering act that fit well into the DIY spirit of punk, with its self-distributed tapes and fuck-you attitude towards the cretins of the music industry. Consequently only two cassettes and an EP were released. There was something futuristic about the sound, the vestiary style and the electronics, while the attitude remained rebellious. Of course something so deeped in the Zeitgeist wasn't meant to last. Wüste moved to New York, Micheline stayed in Zurich, both still active in the music scene to this day.

Sven Regener, head of the band Element of Crime and one of Germany's most successful pop writer said a few years ago when asked if he knew of any Swiss music: "Of course! In 1983, a Swiss band called Aboriginal Voices played with us at a festival in Zurich. Great, avant-garde electro-pop. That was my first encounter."

If you ever saw them live, you never forgot them, and so over the years you belonged to a teeny-tiny circle of insiders, happy to be joined after all these years by new aficionados who appreciate the sound of that quarter-hour, when Zurich was ravishing, creative and exciting.

- Thomas Haemmerli

10 brand new tracks across two discs from Chicago legend BOO WILLIAMS! "DEPTHS OF LIFE" fuses classic melodic deep house with spacey acid and hard swung rhythms in BOO's signature style. A must cop for fans of SJU, PRESCRPITION,...

Hailing from the Netherlands, Roberto Auser has been a mainstay of the underground electronic scene for over a decade. With a passion for vintage synthesizers and a knack for crafting irresistible beats, he has released a string of critically acclaimed albums and EPs that have won him a dedicated following around the world.

His new release for Ferry Lane sees Roberto on a synthwave tip, and it is a testament to his skill and creativity as a producer. Flush, with its infectious beats and hypnotic synth lines, is a prime example of Roberto's ability to create music that is both danceable and emotionally resonant. On the flip, Spy Satellite showcases his versatility and range with its haunting melodies and atmospheric textures.

Limited to 200 copies, hand-stamped labels.

RIYL Martial Canterel, Wierd, June

A limited edition 7' release by Francisco Aguabella, both tracks taken from the rare Hard Hitting album released 1970 on EPSILON records. These two have never been on 7' before, includes wonderful re-production cover of the original sleeve

Track A1 - 'Desire' - Amazing vocal club classic which has stood the test of time always in demand. Never before pressed and released as 45. A massive dancer and a must have release.
Track B2 - 'Casa fuerte' - if you like Latin jazz dancers this is for you - top class banger.

Detroit icon Eddie Fowlkes drops ‘Forever EP’ on Rekids this March.

As one of Techno’s originators, Godfather of Techno Soul Eddie Fowlkes has shaped the Techno genre for over 36 years. With his releases on Metroplex, Tresor, Sony, Peacfrog, and his own imprint CityBoy Records and Detroit Wax Label, Fowlkes' contribution to the blueprint of modern electronic music cannot be overstated.

Returning in fierce form for 2023, Eddie Fowlkes arrives on Radio Slave’s Rekids with a sizzling four-tracker. From the red hot drums and trippy vocals on the opening track ‘Forever’ through to the bubbly synths and swinging percussion on the B2 ‘Nice’, Fowlkes’ funk-infused House and Techno has its sights set squarely on the dancefloor - an unwavering testament to the lasting production chops of a true originator.

This is the fifth western in a row for Sergio Leone after the Dollar Trilogy
and "Once Upon a Time in The West"
"Giù la testa" (Duck, you sucker, 1971) is also the fifth collaboration between the
director and Ennio Morricone, which would be followed by "Once Upon a Time in
America" nearly 15 years later, before Leone's premature death in 1989.
Now a world famous and feted director, Leone directed "Giù la testa" an epic film
that tells of the friendship between a Mexican bandit and an Irish explosives
expert during the 1913 Mexican Revolution. With a over two hours running time,
the film has the tones of a Hollywood extravaganza, but it is only occasionally
accompanied by Morricone's music, which focuses more on the romance and
melancholy triggered by the two protagonist's memories.
This score's main theme is extremely memorable and makes this a classic
soundtrack. Thanks to the recurring "Sean- Sean" tune, and the melody sung by
Edda Dell'Orso, a theme that is universally recognized.
Limited 180gr. crystal clear vinyl edition.

CLEAR BLUE VINYL

`Oh Me Oh My' is both elegant and ferocious. It is stirring in one moment and a balm the next. It details histories both global and personal. Lonnie Holley's harrowing youth and young manhood in the Jim Crow South are well-told at this point _ his sale into a different home as a child for just a bottle of whiskey; his abuse at the infamous Mount Meigs correctional facility for boys; the destruction of his art environment by the Birmingham airport expansion. But Holley's music is less a performance of pain endured and more a display of perseverance, of relentless hope. Intricately and lovingly produced by LA's Jacknife Lee (The Cure, REM, Modest Mouse), there is both kinetic, shortwave funk that call to mind Brian Eno's `My Life in the Bush of Ghosts' and the deep space satellite sounds of Eno's ambient works. But it's a tremendous achievement in sonics all its own. It's also an achievement in the refinement of Holley's impressionistic, stream-of-consciousness lyrics. On the title track which deals with mutual human understanding", Holley is able to make a profound point as ever in far fewer phrases: "The deeper we go, the more chances there are, for us to understand the oh-me's and understand the oh-my's." Illustrious collaborators like Michael Stipe, Sharon Van Etten, Moor Mother and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver serve as not only as choirs of angels and co-pilots to give Lonnie's message flight but as proof of Lonnie Holley as a galvanizing, iconoclastic force across the music community.

Pop Matters said that "Nnamdï's sounds are a testament to the continual melting away of genre distinctions in the current era of (particularly Black) music." His extensive catalog includes covers significant ground in hip-hop, pop, rock, punk, orchestral, and experimental music. In 2021, NNAMDI expanded his freewheeling sonic explorations for an entrée into the world of pop-infused dance and electronica with the release of the Are You Happy EP on November 12, 2021. Notably, Are You Happy is the only NNAMDI project to date that he did not produce, perform, and record by himself. To the surprise of his fans, NNAMDI bucked that self-imposed precedent to work with Chicago producer Lynyn. Lynyn is the alias of composer Conor Mackey, NNAMDI's longtime bandmate in the jazz-fusion quintet Monobody. Are You Happy released shortly before Lynyn's 2022 debut electronic LP lexicon (Sooper Records), which went on to garner significant acclaim. DJ Magazine said that "lexicon is likely to set him apart as one of IDM's next visionaries".

Perennial jazz stars Chet Baker and Bill Evans rarely recorded together and this 2LP set, including a bonus track, represents all of their collaborative sessions.
By the time the music was taped, Chet was already known as much for his singing as for his trumpet playing, but all of the performances here are entirely instrumental. After cutting these sides Baker and Evans would go their separate ways and these recordings remain the only testimony of their subtle and elegant musical
interactions.
Chet Baker trumpet
Bill Evans piano

Herbie Mann, flute
Pepper Adams, baritone sax
Kenny Burrell, guitar
Paul Chambers, bass
Connie Kay, drums
Philly Joe Jones, drums
Zoot Sims, alto sax.
Pepper Adams, baritone sax
Earl May, bass
Clifford Jarvis, drums

Mark Grusane's latest offering, A House of My Own is a testament to his long-standing discipleship to the craft of producing hard-hitting house tracks with authenticity and depth. The title-bearing opener on A1 strongly demonstrates this notion with a slew of raw bass stabs and emotive pads leading through a battery of driven percussion in a manner that calls to mind those early 90's Mr. Fingers records. While A2's Essence of Life (Afterhours Mix) takes us further into the darkness with a spiraling timber of percussions lain over distorted vocal arrangements, the "Daytime Mix" of A3 builds on the momentum of its predecessor with a robust uplifting synth lead and sounds of atmospheric ambiance added to the mixture, effectively taking the composition to an entirely new level. B1 kicks off punching and swinging with the track Knock knock, Who's there?, a ferocious gut-puncher of a track that sees classic Chicago "beat-track" style 909 arrangements lay over an intense saturated 303 bassline that relentlessly worms its way throughout the mix with a booming urgency. B2 sees a turn for the naughty on the track Love And Lust with a xxx-rated vocal line slithering its way through the track, sandwiched in between high-pitched keys and a slinky drumline. Finally, Jack Your Ass Off closes out the album and ties it all together on B3 showcasing the full-fledged insanity of the classic trademark Chicago "jack" style that sees the title of the track frantically screamed over and over though a sampler amid hard hitting drums and 303s engineered to make you dance like a freak. A serious 'must have' for any selector or music enthusiast.

British producer Burland and Ghanaian vocalist Zongo Abongo join forces here for UK to GH, a new collaboration that collides the respective backgrounds of each artist. Reggae, highlife, dancehall, UK bass and rave all meet in a world of fresh rhythm and melodic invention. 'Telephone No Wire' opens with a feel-good highlife sound on a 2-step beat with vocalist Adotey Johnson in fine form. 'Nyura' heads to the club with weighty bottom ends and enchanting melodies then things get darker on the flip with 'Try To Test' exploring another take on 2-step with hints of UKG and grime overlaid with catchy vocal hooks. 'Last Chance' pairs dancehall vocals with downtempo breaks for a superb conclusion.

This EP contains unreleased music composed and produced by Alessandro Alessandroni in the 70s, taken from a dusty tape found in his vault. Afro Discoteca strikes immediately for its modernity and rich textures, sounding unbelievably contemporary.

Alessandro Alessandroni is one of those pioneers, a maestro that built the legend of Italian soundtracks and library music along with Ennio Morricone, Piero Umiliani and many others. His vault testifies how prolific had been those times, with hundreds of tapes and obscure recordings from that period. Among the many, a dusty tape bearing the hand-written label Afro Discoteca' captured the attention of Four Flies.

The music contained in the tape had never been released until now. When he listened to the tracks, Italian legendary DJ LEO MAS (one of the undisputed inventors of the Balearic sound) told us: It is surprising to listen to something that sounds

so modern... This EP is the perfect union of Afro influences and Italian taste. There's something Afro lounge here but also incredibly cinematic - it makes me think of John Carpenter's atmospheres. B1 (Afro Discoteca) reminds me of clubs I've been in Malindi in the late 70s and the closing track is absolutely spellbinding. This is wonderful.' PAOLO SCOTTI, head of Déjà vu Records and an authoritative Italian jazz expert said: Alessandroni's contribution to music is huge, he's a great musician and a great experimenter. Afro Discoteca sounds like it's been produced yesterday by a DJ of our times, an absolutely surprising EP and proof of Alessandroni's spontaneous genius!'

2023 Repress

Greyscale is extremely proud to bring Martin Schulte to its long growing and talented roster.
Not only is this a double-single but each track is supported with a remix from a top-tier artist in Vril and our very own grad_u! Dancing Street & Skyscraper Street is special in many ways!
On 'Dancing Street', Martin gives your equilibrium a real test with its off-axis beat structure and fantastic chord definition. As the track releases the pressure nearing the end is nothing short of genius. This is not for the faint of heart! 'Skyscraper Street' is the ideal counterpoint to 'Dancing Street'. A perfectly tempoed tech masterpiece, it soars over a city soundscape riding a confident beat. For the B side, grad_u on the remix gives us a wall-shaker! A serious
main floor sound and the only relief from the intense bass is the beautiful chord work. The word epic comes to mind from our label leader! There is a handful of names that are buy on site when you see them and VRIL is no doubt one. This remix of 'Skyscraper Street' is drenched in layer upon layer of shimmering and fractured melodies. This experimental and almost dreamlike state of consciousness is auditory sensory overload of the highest order! Martin Schulte, VRIL and grad_u on the same EP!
Mastered at the legendary Dubplates & Mastering in Berlin on white 180 gram vinyl. The depth of these should not be understated!
Analogue photography by Rima Prusakova