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To celebrate Billy Preston’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in October 2021 Apple Records and Universal Music Catalogue will be making Billy’s highly regarded 1970 album ‘Encouraging Words’ available on vinyl for a limited period. First released in the UK on 11 September 1970 the album was co-produced by Billy and George Harrison, with two of George’s songs – ‘All Things Must Pass’ and ‘My Sweet Lord’ – issued here for the first time, two months before his own recordings appeared on the triple album ‘All Things Must Pass’.In 2010 Record Collector magazine described ‘Encouraging Words’ as “one of the finest titles in the Apple Records catalogue”, while virtuoso keyboard player Rick Wakeman told BBC Radio 4’s John Wilson he considered Preston’s two Apple albums “absolute gems – a perfect combination of gospel and funk.” The album was last released on vinyl in 1992. The original album credits did not include details of contributing musicians, though the sleeve notes of the 2010 CD reissue included Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann, Ringo Starr, Bobby Keys and the Edwin Hawkins Singers.

Heavy Psych Sounds Records is really proud to present the Psychedelic-Space split of the century! "The Intergalactic Connection - Exploring The Sideral Remote Hyperspace" it's a split album that came from deep deep space! Here Giöbia meets The Cosmic Dead, two of the best modern space-rock bands you can find. The Italian quartet come with 3 incredible songs, while the Scottish guys deliver a 19 minute long suite. This piece of psychedelic journey is a travel inside the universe, 4 tracks full of heavy psych and space rock riffs that will bring you into a psychedlic vortex with no way out! A must-have for all the space travelers. Fans of Hawkwind, Pink Floyd, UFO and Gong will be more than enthusiastic ...It's a Space Ritual journey!

Half red/half blue Vinyl. Limited to 350 copies. Heavy Psych Sounds Records is really proud to present the Psychedelic-Space split of the century! "The Intergalactic Connection - Exploring The Sideral Remote Hyperspace" it's a split album that came from deep deep space! Here Giöbia meets The Cosmic Dead, two of the best modern space-rock bands you can find. The Italian quartet come with 3 incredible songs, while the Scottish guys deliver a 19 minute long suite. This piece of psychedelic journey is a travel inside the universe, 4 tracks full of heavy psych and space rock riffs that will bring you into a psychedlic vortex with no way out! A must-have for all the space travelers. Fans of Hawkwind, Pink Floyd, UFO and Gong will be more than enthusiastic ...It's a Space Ritual journey!

For years fans have been eagerly waiting for the release of ‘The Awesome Album’ by Pawnee, Indiana rock band Mouse Rat.
The band is fronted by Parks and Recreation Shoeshine Department Employee Andy Dwyer (Chris Pratt), who has led many local acts through the years such as Angelsnack, Everything Rhymes With Orange, Department of Homeland Obscurity, Just The Tip and Scarecrow Boat, among others.
The hits are all here: “5,000 Candles In The Wind,” “The Pit,” “Two Birds Holding Hands,” “Catch Your Dream (feat. Duke Silver)” and two additional tracks by the Scott Tanner (Jeff Tweedy)-fronted band Land Ho!. ‘The Awesome Album’ is sure to satisfy the millions of Mouse Rat fans across the globe. The Awesome Album features music from the Universal Television original series Parks and Recreation.

Limited Edition: Previously Unissued 7" 1978 CA

These are two groovy before unheard tunes recorded at an actual live performance at Beach Bum Burt’s in Redondo Beach, California July 23rd, 1978 remastered recently at Cannonball studios in Italy.

Ira Raibon is the musical genius behind the “Indiana Funk” wrote songs for The Vanguards, The Fabulous Souls & many more, member of The General Soul Assembly and Fabulous Souls and has been a Newport Beach/Irvine/South Orange County, USA, resident music teacher/writer/performer over decades.

Both tunes are previously unreleased and now made available for the first time on a highly limited vinyl 45, so be quick to grab yours.

Belinda Carlisle has chosen a selection of her recordings for this special limited edition release.
• The songs are all taken from her albums “Heaven On Earth”, “Live Your Life Be Free” and “Real”.
• Also featured is a brand new 2021 recording, Belinda’s fabulous version of The Youngbloods’ 1966 appeal for
unity, “Get Together”, recorded in Los Angeles in July 2021 with producer Gabe Lopez.

Over the past decade or so, Chris Forsyth has produced a series of perennially year-end list haunting studio albums of expansive art-rock, from 2013’s Solar Motel to 2019’s All TimePresent , in the process becoming one of the leading lights of the so-called “indie jam” scene, musicians combining omnivorous influences with post-Dead sprawl.

These critically lauded albums have established Forsyth as one of today’s most unique and acclaimed guitar player/composers - a forward thinking classicist synthesizing cinematic expansiveness with a pithy lyricism and rhythmic directness that makes even his 20-minute workouts feel as clear, direct, and memorable as a 4-minute song.

Pitchfork has called his music “a near-perfect balance between 70s rock tradition and present day experimentation,” NPR Music named Forsyth “one of rock’s most lyrical guitar improvisors,” and the New York Times calls him “a scrappy and mystical historian… His music humanizes the element of control in rock classicism (and) turns it into a woolly but disciplined ritual.”

But the studio records are just the tip of the iceberg.

You see, in a live setting Forsyth’s music is never really finished.

He hasn’t had a fixed band in years and plays with a rotating cast of characters. Regulars in Forsyth’s bands have included bassists Doug McCombs (Tortoise) and Peter Kerlin (Sunwatchers), and drummer Ryan Jewell (Ryley Walker, too many others to mention), among others - basically, whoever is available for the given gig or tour.

These are not groups that rehearse, exactly. Operating more like a jazz band, Forsyth and his players treat the songs as frameworks that remain identifieable but morph based on who’s playing them, like weather to a landscape.

Embracing this flux has become a cornerstone of Forsyth’s live sets, rendering every performance special and thereby catching the attention of tapers from his home base in Philly to New York City, Chicago, and Minneapolis. In fact, most of his live performances over the last few years are recorded and posted on the Live Music Archive site.

But the taper recordings, though many are high quality and full of character, are not professionally recorded and mixed multi-tracks.

Which brings us to Peoples Motel Band , the new live LP culled from a set that Forsyth played with NY-based group Garcia Peoples as his band, and is self-releasing on his own Algorithm Free label in a limited pressing of 500 copies.

Recorded September 14, 2019 before a packed and enthusiastic hometown crowd at Johnny Brenda’s in Philadelphia, Peoples Motel Band catches Forsyth and Garcia Peoples (plus ubiquitous drummer Ryan Jewell) re-imagining songs from Forsyth’s last couple studio albums with improvisatory flair.

Forsyth and Garcia Peoples played a number of 2019 shows together, beginning with a semi-legendary jam set at Nublu in NYC in March, through a couple dates on Forsyth’s month-long weekly residency at Nublu in September and concluding with a five-date tour of the Northeast in December. The chemistry between the players is tangible.

As is often the case with Forsyth shows, the gloves come off quickly and the players attack the material - much of it so well-manicured and cleanly produced in the studio - like a bunch of racoons let loose in a Philadelphia pretzel factory.

Recorded and mixed with clarity by Forsyth’s longtime studio collaborator, engineer/producer Jeff Zeigler, the record puts the listener right in the sweaty club, highlighted by an incredible side-long take of the chooglin’ title track from 2017’s Dreaming in The Non-Dream LP (note multiple climaxes eliciting wild shouts and ecstatic screams from the assembled).

This is not the new Chris Forsyth album, exactly, but then again, it kinda is because whenever he sits down to play, something new comes out.

The Fabulous Counts were originally a teenage instrumental group of five musicians, Mose Davis (Organ and Piano), Demetrius ‘Demo’ Gates (Alto Saxophone and vocals), Jim White (Tenor Sax), Andrew T. Gibson (Drums) and Raoul Keith Mangrum (Percussion and Flute) who were later joined by the older, more experience Leroy Emanuel (Guitar and vocals). Emmanuel was invited into the group as it’s band leader by the groups manager Fred McClure, a former Detroit boxing champion who also happened to be the manager of another popular Detroit group the singing Metro’s of the hit recording “Sweetest One” fame and their subsequent respected RCA album of the same name. The Fabulous Counts would often perform at shows as the Metro’s backing band.

The Fabulous Counts first big break came after knocking several Detroit Record labels doors. They were eventually invited in by Ollie McLaughlin’s Moira studio to record, under the tutelage of Popcorn Wylie the one take hit “Jan, Jan (Moira-103). A further two Moira 45’s followed of which “Get Down People/Lunar Funk “(Moira-108) also scored high on the R&B charts. Through a deal arranged by McLaughlin The Counts released their respected “Jan, Jan” album on the Atlantic distributed Cotillion label in 1969. Moving on to Armen Boladian’s Westbound label, during 1970 the group simply changed their name to The Counts and charted with their 1971 “What’s Up Front” Westbound album, also releasing a solitary 45 “Thinking Single/Why Not Start All Over Again”. In 1972 while still part of the Westbound set up The Counts recorded two major label 45’s under the pseudonyms of Bad Smoke “Crawl Ya’ll Part 1&2” (Chess-2124) and Lunar Funk “Mr Penguin Part 1&2” (Bell 45-172), the latter being thier biggest hit. A subsequent move to Atlanta, GA saw The Counts sign with Michael Thevis’s Aware records where they recorded a further two successful albums “Love Sign” (1973) and “Funk Pump” (1975), plus a string of 45’s. In 1976 although officially never breaking up The Counts members went their separate ways to explore different life opportunity’s.



During 1978 and while still in Atlanta Leroy Emanuel borrowed money from his family and reuniting with his fellow Counts, Mose, Demo, and Jimmy Jackson Jr, they, accompanied by a local strings section recorded a session of material that spawned two songs “What’s It All About” and “Motorcity”. Which Leroy later made a deal with Terry Mendelson to release on a 45 on his TM label. The Counts had previously known Mendelson through his brother Bernie at Westbound. The TM 45 made very little noise with many of the copies having mispressed labels. Although later reissued and mistakenly credited as two previously unissued Westbound recordings on several latter Cd compilations it came to light that quite a few avid European soul collectors actually owned copies of this high quality, very elusive and desirable 45! With demand still seemingly high it seems a good time for Soul Junction to reissue it. The A-side, “What’s It All About” features its composer Leroy Emanuel on lead vocals with the other Counts adding to the backing chorus. The flipside of this 45 from the same session is the previously unreleased Mose Davis penned “Watch The Clock” which is more in keeping with the Counts traditional funk groove, enjoy.

Belinda Carlisle has chosen a selection of her recordings for this special limited edition release.
• The songs are all taken from her albums “Heaven On Earth”, “Live Your Life Be Free” and “Real”.
• Also featured is a brand new 2021 recording, Belinda’s fabulous version of The Youngbloods’ 1966 appeal for
unity, “Get Together”, recorded in Los Angeles in July 2021 with producer Gabe Lopez.

After being championed by John Digweed on his iconic Transitions radio show, London duo The Pressure team up with Digweed and his long-time studio partner Nick Muir on Counting Down The Days, a soaring, hypnotic, emotive progressive house cut that points to brighter times ahead.

The Pressure are a London-based electronic band. Diverse production and energetic performance form the pair’s foundations, with influences from rave culture and performance-centric dance acts such as Depeche Mode and Underworld prominent across their releases and live shows.

2020 saw them self-release Ride and Planes: two tough club tracks with songwriting at the heart of them. A statement of intent from the duo, both cuts showcased a varied production approach reminiscent of the Bristol-era of UK electronica. Earlier in 2021 they made their debut on Undisputed Music with Saturday Night, a distinctive dance cut that sat somewhere between deep house and crossover electronica, and has to date clocked up more than a million streams across all platforms.

John Digweed is one of the most celebrated electronic artists of all time, and alongside Nick Muir is responsible for an incredible catalogue of music, so even before you listen to it you know this is going to be something special. Counting Down The Days is a stunning collaboration, combining the pure, driving progressive house of Digweed and Muir with the poignant emotion and raw talent of The Pressure to incredible effect.

Passionate about breaking records and being immersed in the music that fuels our most cherished dancefloor moments, Undisputed Music is doing just that with a coalition of existing and new artists spanning many electronic genres, lining up releases to illuminate audiences across the globe.

Founded by industry aficionados Tony Garvey and Marc Thomas, they share over two decades of experience between them. From currently running the UK Electronic roster for world renowned management company, Red Light, to many years within the walls of, Island Records, Def Jam, Priority Records, MCA / Motown, AM:PM, Defected Records, Strictly Rhythm and Universal Music Publishing, their wealth of knowledge is well earned.


DJ Support:

Pete Tong, John Digweed, Nick Muir, Taiki Nulight

An unheard production unit entirely geared towards hi-octane live explosiveness and spine-tingling studio hustle-and-bustle, Hysteria Temple Foundation step up with their anticipated debut platter, "Atrahasis EP" - a four-track EP by way of manifesto, due out for release on September 13 / 21.

Elusive and haunting by nature, skirting Shackleton-esque dub meanders, polyrhythmic folk instrumentation and further left-of-centre sonic divagations, the sound of Hysteria Temple Foundation is one that sheds skins when you expect it least. Scanning out a baroque timeline where no-holds-barred floor traction wildly clashes along deeper sound investigations, "Atrahasis" ushers us into a twirly pit of tribal drums and bow echoes.

Summoning the spirits of Muslimgauze and African Headcharge for a hectic ride in a sandstorm-caught bazaar of processed darbukkahs and further steely industrial tropes, "Annunaki" gets the ball rolling in sheer immersive fashion. Cranking the heat up a notch, "Gamesh" rushes us headlong into ruthless rapids of accelerated ritual drums and mind-expanding acid onslaughts breathing in some squelchy spaciousness into its intricately-woven web of sound.

Flip sides and here's the proper grime-steppish number "Ziuziu" taking over your brainwaves with a fierce unloading of harnessed machine rage and dystopian cybernetics turned into some club-optimised weaponry. Back to a dubby kind of vibe, "Chmanze" raises an army of louder-than-loud kicks, FX-laden percs, sizzling spurts and ankle-snapping breaks, all fit to breeze across the bulkiest sound systems with utmost sangfroid and nonpareil trenchancy.

In Paris, it’s hard to miss Mayflo and his positive and soothing aura. The lad is all around, both through his fierce Radio presence with his residencies at Rinse, Le Mellotron and Station Station, and behind the decks across the Parisian nightlife spectrum, under his name, with his ravy duo Les Déménageurs Bresson, or with his collective ItinéraireBis. He never seems to struggle, to tire out or to force himself, and it is this energy, this fluidity and ease to navigate vast Sonic universes that make this project so special. On paper, combining the fury of Bristol banging breaks with those of Baltimore Club into a singular positive unity, with solar and dreamy overtones inspired by the warmth of House is no easy task. Yet, Mayflo lays it all there through his 5 tracks with an unsettling ease, drawing the outlines of this Solar Club Continuum in question: driven by a club energy, but never outrageous, 100% intimate and sensible. This makes it a one of a kind disc in the contemporary Dance landscape.

Happenstance can be a fortuitous element. A union funded single discovered in a dusty store, a long disbanded band found, leads to unreleased post punk dubs in a box of unreleased demos.

Formed during the mid-80s in the downbeat town of Walsall, their music a blend of disparate influences from 50s crooners, blues and reggae to Killing Joke and The Bunnymen; Ron's Neighbours were out of step with the perfect pop of the C86 indie generation.

Their only single - "To The Fight" - a split 7" was supported by the Trade Union Resource Centre, while many gigs were benefits for striking miners, leading to a loyal local following.

Engineered by Ozzy Osbourne's brother Tony, tracks were recorded at an 8 track bedroom / home studio, while a terraced house served as rehearsal space. Here Ron Next Door was born. When a tape recorder was left running it captured the long-suffering neighbour for posterity. His outburst gave the band and song, its name.

Experimenting with drum machines, the resultant jam track, here in its "Alternative Mix", languished unheard until now. Ron's 'Black Country' tones lead to driving bass / percussion against crashing Stratocasters and repeating, refrained vox - a post punk dub turned symphony.

The B side, Sitting On Top of the World, is an indie anthem, becoming their theme, a blend of grandiose and banal that characterised their songs.

"The art of the remix has been around for several decades, from the fervid imaginations of JA pioneers like Coxsone Dodd, Duke Reid or King Tubby to the disco enthusiasts of New York, such as Tom Moulton, who bequeathed us the modern iteration of the remix and provided a template from which most remixers still work. Moulton's first commercial remix, a reworking of BT Express' appropriately-named `Do It 'Till You're Satisfied', which stretched it from three minutes to a luxurious five, assisted the band in securing its first Billboard R&B Number One, as well as providing a pathway for remixers like Walter Gibbons, Larry Levan, Richie Rivera and Tee Sott, to completely reinvent the concept of a remix (and in some instances, deconstructing the idea of what comprised a song). It has subsequently been used as a marketing tool, a dancefloor-devastator, a gimmick (both cheap and expensive) or even as a way of reaching a different audience (think Tori Amos' `Professional Widow'). Khruangbin are no slouches when it comes to the remix themselves. They've been reworked before, in 2016, with the highly collectible EP on Boogiefuturo. But this time, they're taking it a step further with an album dedicated to the art. Entering the tight-knit world of a Khruangbin song can be a little daunting. They have created this entire universe in which the trio seem to function telepathically in the way the music is composed, arranged and played. To mess with their delicate eco-system can invoke feelings similar to that of an unwanted guest crashing a good-time party. "We write our music to be interpreted; this is another wonderful interpretation of the music," reassure Khruangbin. "There is something very vulnerable about letting others work on your music. But through the correspondence with the different artists, we gained a bigger connection to the songs themselves." The choice of remixers for this album is neither arbitrary nor accidental. They're not names picked randomly out of a hat or chosen via a throw of the dice. All have some connection to the band, sometimes personal friendships, musical connections, or simply mutual musical appreciation. Harvey Sutherland and Ginger Roots have both toured with the band, Kadhja Bonet and Ron Trent had their own mutual fan club going on, Knxwledge sampled `White Gloves' on a recent mixtape, Natasha Diggs and Soul Clap's Eli's are recent buddy-ups, Quantic is a mutual friend of Bonobo (crucial in the KB origin story), while I've known Laura for number of years; plus she is also godmother to one of Felix Dickinson's kids. Doesn't get much more intimate than that, right? Some of these remixes were specifically made so you can dance your ass off while getting down to the Khruangbin sound, while some might better be appreciated horizontally with headphones on, wearing fashionably loose clothes. The choice is yours. But all were made with love and respect for Khruangbin. "A good remix deconstructs, recontextualizes, or simply extends a good time," say the band. Amen and out." - Bill Brewster

In March 2020 Elton was forced to pause his record breaking Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour due to the unfolding COVID pandemic. As the world began to shut down, different projects presented themselves with artists Elton had enjoyed getting to know through his Apple Music show Rocket Hour. This was the beginning of one of Elton's boldest and most interesting records to date that he has billed ‘The Lockdown Sessions’. This album saw Elton coming full circle and returning to his roots as a session musician. While it was no easy feat recording during a pandemic, a completely new way of working for Elton, he leaned into the challenge with some magnificent results.

Kicking off with current single ‘Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)’with Dua Lipa, the album takes the listener on a heady journey through many different genres, all held together with expert finesse and understanding by one of the greatest champions of music of our time. Much more than a mere collaboration album, ‘The Lockdown Sessions’ is a dazzlingly diverse collection of 16 tracks with 10 brand new unreleased tracks that celebrates togetherness and sees Elton collaborating with an unparalleled range of artists only he could draw together. The enduring influence of his musical milestone with one of the most ambitious projects ever conceived. An unprecedented 20+ artists feature spanning an unbelievably vast range of genres, generations, cultures, continents and more, each contributing a unique style to the album that is sure to hold its place amongst one of pop and rock’s greatest songbooks. ‘The Lockdown Sessions’ sees Elton collaborate with GRAMMY Award winning producer Andrew Watt on five of the tracks.

In Elton’s words: “The last thing I expected to do during lockdown was make an album. But, as the pandemic went on, one‐off projects kept cropping up. Some of the recording sessions had to be done remotely, via Zoom, which I’d obviously never done before. Some of the sessions were recorded under very stringent safety regulations: working with another artist, but separated by glass screens. But all the tracks I worked on were really interesting and diverse, stuff that was completely different to anything I’m known for, stuff that took me out of my comfort zone into completely new territory. And I realised there was something weirdly familiar about working like this. At the start of my career, in the late 60s, I worked as a session musician. Working with different artists during lockdown reminded me of that. I’d come full circle: I was a session musician again. And it was still a blast.”

An unparalleled career that has forever changed the cultural landscape, Elton John’s collaborations with Bernie Taupin and others continue to shape the cultural landscape, break records, top charts and win new fans across the generations. We’ve had the book, the film, the farewell tour, the fashion collections and the greatest hits. And now with ‘The Lockdown Sessions’ available on digital formats, fans can enter Elton’s new world which is no doubt another fitting addition to his oeuvre.

Lana Del Rey’s highly anticipated eighth studio album, Blue Banisters, set for release on 22nd October and featuring the previously released songs 'Blue Banisters,' 'Wildflower Wildfire' and 'Text Book.'

Cinema' is a brilliant snapshot of both artists working together in unison, with Fabrice providing his trademark 'high tech funk & soul' sound alongside Wolfgang's keen, tried and tested ability to fuse clever pop inspirations and catchy vocals through the use of robotic mechanics. Perfect music which balances the headphones and dancefloors on the horizon.
Five versions are on hand with the EP, including the original version of 'Cinema,' a French version of the original, as well as a remixes from Detroit's Ectomorph, UK Electro kingpin Carl Finlow, and Dutch synthesis maestro Versalife aka Conforce.
The original version of 'Cinema' is a gorgeous slice of sonic wizardry designed for exploring the borders between underground electronic club music and pop sensibilities. Catchy vocals play alongside a multitude of synth textures, coexisting perfectly in a melodic mélange equally as pleasing to the ears as the dancing feet. Catchy and clever vibes in equal doses.
Detroit legend Ectomorph's 'Sinema Mix' strips away the main elements and twists the original into an analogue heavy, heads-down drum workout saturated with carefully calculated effect manipulations to the vocals. Equal parts trippy and relentless, the remix is a broken beat workout designed to melt minds, fully ready for a dark concrete warehouse when permissible.
Electro legend Carl Finlow (Random Factor / Silicon Scally) delivers an interpretation of the original which stays loyal to the playful pleasantries of the original version. The signature bouncy, staccato-tinted grooves from Mr. Finlow are at center stage, with the UK producer fully embracing the original vocals and musical elements. A crisp, clean and precise remix, just as expected.
Versalife (aka Conforce) brings his beloved Dutch electronic style to higher levels with his take on the original, fully utilizing (what feels like) each and every one of his favorite machines from within his studio. Aggressive, quickly moving mischief is the name of the game with his remix, complete with sharp, attention- grabbing synths stabs and punchy, powerful drum programming.
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Over nearly 20 years, Howlin Rain may have become the quintessential independent American rock ’n roll band: a steam-spitting Hydra of cranked guitars, kicking asphalt dust through a kaleidoscoping travelogue of desert motels and dives, volleying forth transmissions of sci-fi poetry from the blacktop veins of this cracked and aching country.

Now, in America 2021, capping these strangest and sorest of times, the band returns with The Dharma Wheel, a six-track, 52-minute dive into a joyous fantasy realm of exaggerated present.

“I wanted The Dharma Wheel to be a portal from our everyday world, the one from which you stand on hard ground and hold the album in your hands and peer into the artwork, and into another universe,” says songwriter, guitarist and vocalist, Ethan Miller. “You enter into that universe with your eyes and ears and mind and take a ride through free-form meditation on these ideas — from big, fundamental concepts about our existence right down to the grease that rolls down the arm of a pulp novel killer as he eats a gas station hot dog in an old Dodge in an alleyway.”

Lyrically, Miller has completed his evolution into a mushroom-plucking Whitman of the West, singing outlandish tales in a topographic blend of Humbead’s Revised Map of the World and an inverted U.S. where downtrodden bodhisattvas roam the back streets and moonless country roads.

“Down in Florida swamps, run by nature’s law, standing in the water, Eden gone. Two men loading rifles, beasts making time, they shot a boy from an orange tree and watched the colored birds take flight, watch the colors as they soar and dive.” — ‘Under the Wheels.’

The band, Jeff McElroy (bass, backing vocals), Justin Smith (drums/percussion, backing vocals) and Dan Cervantes (guitar, backing vocals), again sounds hardwired into Miller’s vision, building tracks that swagger and sway in response to his verse. Lending a hand this time around is the legendary Scarlet Rivera (Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue) on violin, and the endlessly inventive Adam MacDougall (Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Circles Around the Sun) on keys.

Songs were shaped via the blast furnace of endless gigs, then recorded often mere hours after the band slipped the stage.

“The captured sonic fact about this record is that it’s the sound of a band that rehearsed this material a lot and put a ton of work into its construction and was on the road a lot and recorded on days off in the tour schedule,” Miller says. “In some cases we were on stage on Saturday night playing these songs at quarter-to-2 in the morning and by Noon the next day we were sipping coffee in the studio playing them for the machine.”

Rivera’s violin is the first sound heard as the album dawns on the instrumental “Prelude.” Soon, the band joins, twirling the theme into a psychedelicized awakening. “Don’t Let the Tears” brings the boogie, with MacDougall’s madcap synth work and wah-wah guitars showering 70’s glitter upon a parquet dance floor of the mind. “Under the Wheels” and “Rotoscope” center the album with taut, compositional epics populated by murdering drifters and fuzz pedal explosions. The blue hour comedown of “Annabelle” meditates upon the weariness of lost love, with Rivera again amping the heartache via her violin strings.

“In the evening the trains go by, and shake the dust from dirty walls, sometimes I feel like a spider in an old mason jar, who threatens only convex light from down the hall. I’ve been lost to the world since the photos of the black hole, landed on my desktop screaming, perhaps the all and nothing all-in-one is just too much to take, for particles and matter that never found their way.” — ‘Annabelle’

The record closes with the 16-minute title track, a multi-movement suite which cycles from Crazy Horse-meets-Traffic jams through colossal, mass-moving funk stomp, eventually cresting and washing into a sing-along gospel lament.

The Dharma Wheel is an album of great depth, and one steeped in good vibes: a rich, glistening world of the ultra-vivid. As illustrated in Arik Roper’s cover art, the grand dharmachakra has been set in motion, churning off the California coast.

“We were trying to build a world big enough that the imagination won’t go soft on you after just a few listens and where our love for this music, and music in general — along with a good dose of audacity — create a magic carpet ride through the world of The Dharma Wheel,” Miller continues. “In pursuing that I think we also managed to make a record that has a lot of joy in it: the joy of playing music, the joy of experiencing music, the joy of storytelling and poetry, the kind of singular joy and extended ecstatic moment that only a real ‘band’ can express in just that way.”

And it’s this joy, this exuberance and dedication to the lines of cosmic expression — all centered in the exalted art of the everyday — that constructs the heart of the record. At its core, The Dharma Wheel is the triumph of a working band, a transmission from a never-paused before arriving for our strange, bruised, spectacular now.”

Over nearly 20 years, Howlin Rain may have become the quintessential independent American rock ’n roll band: a steam-spitting Hydra of cranked guitars, kicking asphalt dust through a kaleidoscoping travelogue of desert motels and dives, volleying forth transmissions of sci-fi poetry from the blacktop veins of this cracked and aching country.

Now, in America 2021, capping these strangest and sorest of times, the band returns with The Dharma Wheel, a six-track, 52-minute dive into a joyous fantasy realm of exaggerated present.

“I wanted The Dharma Wheel to be a portal from our everyday world, the one from which you stand on hard ground and hold the album in your hands and peer into the artwork, and into another universe,” says songwriter, guitarist and vocalist, Ethan Miller. “You enter into that universe with your eyes and ears and mind and take a ride through free-form meditation on these ideas — from big, fundamental concepts about our existence right down to the grease that rolls down the arm of a pulp novel killer as he eats a gas station hot dog in an old Dodge in an alleyway.”

Lyrically, Miller has completed his evolution into a mushroom-plucking Whitman of the West, singing outlandish tales in a topographic blend of Humbead’s Revised Map of the World and an inverted U.S. where downtrodden bodhisattvas roam the back streets and moonless country roads.

“Down in Florida swamps, run by nature’s law, standing in the water, Eden gone. Two men loading rifles, beasts making time, they shot a boy from an orange tree and watched the colored birds take flight, watch the colors as they soar and dive.” — ‘Under the Wheels.’

The band, Jeff McElroy (bass, backing vocals), Justin Smith (drums/percussion, backing vocals) and Dan Cervantes (guitar, backing vocals), again sounds hardwired into Miller’s vision, building tracks that swagger and sway in response to his verse. Lending a hand this time around is the legendary Scarlet Rivera (Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue) on violin, and the endlessly inventive Adam MacDougall (Chris Robinson Brotherhood, Circles Around the Sun) on keys.

Songs were shaped via the blast furnace of endless gigs, then recorded often mere hours after the band slipped the stage.

“The captured sonic fact about this record is that it’s the sound of a band that rehearsed this material a lot and put a ton of work into its construction and was on the road a lot and recorded on days off in the tour schedule,” Miller says. “In some cases we were on stage on Saturday night playing these songs at quarter-to-2 in the morning and by Noon the next day we were sipping coffee in the studio playing them for the machine.”

Rivera’s violin is the first sound heard as the album dawns on the instrumental “Prelude.” Soon, the band joins, twirling the theme into a psychedelicized awakening. “Don’t Let the Tears” brings the boogie, with MacDougall’s madcap synth work and wah-wah guitars showering 70’s glitter upon a parquet dance floor of the mind. “Under the Wheels” and “Rotoscope” center the album with taut, compositional epics populated by murdering drifters and fuzz pedal explosions. The blue hour comedown of “Annabelle” meditates upon the weariness of lost love, with Rivera again amping the heartache via her violin strings.

“In the evening the trains go by, and shake the dust from dirty walls, sometimes I feel like a spider in an old mason jar, who threatens only convex light from down the hall. I’ve been lost to the world since the photos of the black hole, landed on my desktop screaming, perhaps the all and nothing all-in-one is just too much to take, for particles and matter that never found their way.” — ‘Annabelle’

The record closes with the 16-minute title track, a multi-movement suite which cycles from Crazy Horse-meets-Traffic jams through colossal, mass-moving funk stomp, eventually cresting and washing into a sing-along gospel lament.

The Dharma Wheel is an album of great depth, and one steeped in good vibes: a rich, glistening world of the ultra-vivid. As illustrated in Arik Roper’s cover art, the grand dharmachakra has been set in motion, churning off the California coast.

“We were trying to build a world big enough that the imagination won’t go soft on you after just a few listens and where our love for this music, and music in general — along with a good dose of audacity — create a magic carpet ride through the world of The Dharma Wheel,” Miller continues. “In pursuing that I think we also managed to make a record that has a lot of joy in it: the joy of playing music, the joy of experiencing music, the joy of storytelling and poetry, the kind of singular joy and extended ecstatic moment that only a real ‘band’ can express in just that way.”

And it’s this joy, this exuberance and dedication to the lines of cosmic expression — all centered in the exalted art of the everyday — that constructs the heart of the record. At its core, The Dharma Wheel is the triumph of a working band, a transmission from a never-paused before arriving for our strange, bruised, spectacular now.”

Nachdem die Songs ”Matter of Time” und ”Say Hi” bereits im Rahmen eines Charity Events digital veröffentlicht wurden, folgt nun der physische Release als 7inch Vinyl Single.

Beide Songs von Eddie Vedder sind inspiriert von Familien, die mit der genetisch bedingten Hautkrankheit Epidermolysis Bullosa kämpfen und wurden in Zusammenhang mit einem virtuellen Charity-Event veröffentlicht. Für das Finden einer Heilung setzt sich Eddie Vedder mit seiner Frau Jill seit Jahren ein und gründete die gemeinnützige Organisation „EB Research Partnership“ mit. Eddie Vedder erreichte mit Pearl Jam stets Top 10-Positionen der weltweiten Charts.

“Matter of Time/Say Hi” erscheint als Vinyl Single und digital.