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Alex Lentini & STOMP BOXX return to Drumcode following January’s outstanding contribution ‘Natural Desire’.

The release marked the first in 2021 for the label and perhaps, fortuitously, their follow up ‘Split the Noise’ marks the final on Adam Beyer’s imprint for the year, reinforcing the respect the DC boss has for the Italian pair and their developing studio talents.

‘Split the Noise’ EP continues their creative, multi-faceted production approach. ‘Solstice’ is a distorted concoction of bass and techno, abrasive and beautifully eerie.

One for the winter warehouse season ahead. ‘Azimuth’ is an intergalactic trip to the moon and explores the more experimental side of techno, while having enough streamlined drive to move the dancefloor forward. ‘Equimulate’ works through a range of perky moods before a rasping bottom appears and propels the track into brain spangling territory.

The title track is an immersive weapon that sucks you in via knife-sharp percussion, spit-fire effects and a ripping Reese-inspired bassline. A full assault of noise and delicious bass that takes no prisoners.

Special Edition Double Vinyl LP - Pressed at Optimal

Manchester based trumpeter, composer, arranger and band-leader Matthew Halsall is one of the rising stars of the UK jazz scene. His unique sound was brilliantly described as "Rain-streaked spiritual jazz from Manchester" by the Independent On Sunday and as a label-boss he has nurtured the careers of Mammal Hands and GoGo Penguin via his Gondwana Records imprint, while his own recordings have explored modal and spiritual jazz, string-laden minimalism and hard-bop. ON THE GO was Halsall's 2011 breakthrough disc, drawing inspiration from the late 60s hard-bop sounds of Max Roach and Art Blakey as well as the Strata-East and Black Jazz labels. it's Halsall's punchiest recording and won Jazz Album Of The Year at Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Awards while the tracks Music For A Dancing Mind and Song For Charlie have proved amongst Halsall's most requested compositions.

Re-mixed and re-mastered at Gondwana's home from home, 80 Hertz studios in Manchester and reissued here due to popular demand, ON THE GO appears here in an extended format that adds three new tracks alongside the original album and appears on vinyl for the first time. Halsall explains the decision to reissue On The Go,

"I have always loved this album, and when fans kept asking me for a vinyl version I decided to make a special edition release, so I remixed and remastered the whole album with George Atkins at 80 Hertz Studios and in the process decided to include three bonus tracks that were recorded around the same time and took inspiration from one of my favourite jazz records, Miles Davis's Lift To The Scaffold "

Today sees Belgian-Caribbean provocateur Charlotte Adigéry and her long-term musical partner, Bolis Pupul announce their debut album Topical Dancer, due for release on March 4 2022 via Soulwax’s iconic label DEEWEE.
Cultural appropriation. Misogyny and racism. Social media vanity. Post-colonialism and political correctness. These are not talking points that you’d ordinarily hear on the dancefloor but Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul are ripping up the rulebook with their debut album Topical Dancer. The Ghent-based duo, who broke out with their 2019 Zandoli EP, are rare storytellers in electronic music: they take the temperature of the time and funnel them into their playful synth concoctions – never didactic and always with a knowing wink.

Their debut studio record – which cements them as a duo under both their names for the first time and is co-written and co-produced by Soulwax – is both a triumph of kaleidoscopic electro-pop and “a snapshot of how we think about pop culture in the 2020s.” It captures Charlotte and Bolis’s essence as musical collaborators and the conversations they’ve had over the past two years on tour, as well as their perspectives as Belgians with an immigrant background, Charlotte with Guadeloupean and French-Martinique ancestry and Bolis being of Chinese descent.

Beyond the album’s thematic heft, Topical Dancer reflects Charlotte and Bolis’s idiosyncratic sound: it’s thoughtful but it bangs. Their take on familiar genres is always off-kilter; songs sound undone or a little wonky; but these are nocturnal heaters to make the club throb. “We like to fuck things up a bit,” laughs Bolis. “We cringe when we feel like we're making something that already exists, so we're always looking for things to combine to make it sound not like a pop song, not like an R&B song, not a techno song. We’re always putting different worlds together. Charlotte and I get bored when things get too predictable.”

Topical Dancer is fizzing with ideas – there’s certainly no filler among its 13 tracks. But above all, perhaps, it has a restlessness, a desire not to be boxed in and to escape others’ narrow perceptions of who they are. It’s summarised by the refrain of their new single, ‘Blenda’: “Don’t sound like what I look like / Don’t look like what I sound like.” “One thing that always comes up,” says Bolis, “is that people perceive me as the producer, and Charlotte as just a singer. Or that being a Black artist means you should be making ‘urban’ music. Those kinds of boxes don’t feel good to us.”

‘Blenda’ in particular references how “I am a product of colonialism,” says Charlotte, “and I feel guilty for taking up space in a white country.” The song was inspired in part by Reni Eddo-Lodge’s book Why I’m Not Longer Talking To White People About Race. “It talks about the colonial past and post-colonial present in the UK,” Charlotte continues, “but that isn’t merely a British or American problem, Belgium is part of that as well.” She says that her home country is likewise “oblivious to a big part of its history” which “results in general ignorance and a lack of understanding and empathy towards Belgian inhabitants of immigrant descent.”

On Topical Dancer, it’s less about finger pointing or being dogmatic about all the things they speak about. It’s about emancipation through humour. “I don’t want to feel this heaviness on me,” says Charlotte. “These aren’t my crosses to bear. Topical Dancer is my way of freeing myself of these issues. And of having fun.”

Ltd Black & White LP

Today sees Belgian-Caribbean provocateur Charlotte Adigéry and her long-term musical partner, Bolis Pupul announce their debut album Topical Dancer, due for release on March 4 2022 via Soulwax’s iconic label DEEWEE.
Cultural appropriation. Misogyny and racism. Social media vanity. Post-colonialism and political correctness. These are not talking points that you’d ordinarily hear on the dancefloor but Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul are ripping up the rulebook with their debut album Topical Dancer. The Ghent-based duo, who broke out with their 2019 Zandoli EP, are rare storytellers in electronic music: they take the temperature of the time and funnel them into their playful synth concoctions – never didactic and always with a knowing wink.

Their debut studio record – which cements them as a duo under both their names for the first time and is co-written and co-produced by Soulwax – is both a triumph of kaleidoscopic electro-pop and “a snapshot of how we think about pop culture in the 2020s.” It captures Charlotte and Bolis’s essence as musical collaborators and the conversations they’ve had over the past two years on tour, as well as their perspectives as Belgians with an immigrant background, Charlotte with Guadeloupean and French-Martinique ancestry and Bolis being of Chinese descent.

Beyond the album’s thematic heft, Topical Dancer reflects Charlotte and Bolis’s idiosyncratic sound: it’s thoughtful but it bangs. Their take on familiar genres is always off-kilter; songs sound undone or a little wonky; but these are nocturnal heaters to make the club throb. “We like to fuck things up a bit,” laughs Bolis. “We cringe when we feel like we're making something that already exists, so we're always looking for things to combine to make it sound not like a pop song, not like an R&B song, not a techno song. We’re always putting different worlds together. Charlotte and I get bored when things get too predictable.”

Topical Dancer is fizzing with ideas – there’s certainly no filler among its 13 tracks. But above all, perhaps, it has a restlessness, a desire not to be boxed in and to escape others’ narrow perceptions of who they are. It’s summarised by the refrain of their new single, ‘Blenda’: “Don’t sound like what I look like / Don’t look like what I sound like.” “One thing that always comes up,” says Bolis, “is that people perceive me as the producer, and Charlotte as just a singer. Or that being a Black artist means you should be making ‘urban’ music. Those kinds of boxes don’t feel good to us.”

‘Blenda’ in particular references how “I am a product of colonialism,” says Charlotte, “and I feel guilty for taking up space in a white country.” The song was inspired in part by Reni Eddo-Lodge’s book Why I’m Not Longer Talking To White People About Race. “It talks about the colonial past and post-colonial present in the UK,” Charlotte continues, “but that isn’t merely a British or American problem, Belgium is part of that as well.” She says that her home country is likewise “oblivious to a big part of its history” which “results in general ignorance and a lack of understanding and empathy towards Belgian inhabitants of immigrant descent.”

On Topical Dancer, it’s less about finger pointing or being dogmatic about all the things they speak about. It’s about emancipation through humour. “I don’t want to feel this heaviness on me,” says Charlotte. “These aren’t my crosses to bear. Topical Dancer is my way of freeing myself of these issues. And of having fun.”

Mercurial London artist Nilüfer Yanya announces her hugely anticipated second
album, ‘PAINLESS’, for release via ATO Records.
 ‘PAINLESS’ is the follow-up to Nilüfer Yanya’s renowned 2019 debut album, ‘Miss
Universe’, which fully established her as a singular artist and a distinctive voice that
simply has to be heard.
 The critically acclaimed ‘Miss Universe’ - a widescreen concept record that took a
tongue in cheek swipe at the most self-involved corners of the health and wellness
industry - was followed last year by the three song EP ‘Feeling Lucky?’, which further
explored Yanya’s fascination with ‘90s alt-rock melodies and drew on themes of
resentment, her fear of flying, and the concept of luck. Pitchfork summed up ‘Feeling
Lucky?’ and her now peerless songwriting aptitude best: “Nilüfer Yanya’s melodies
have a pull so strong they almost necessitate their own law of physics.”
 Yanya also re-released her early EPs on vinyl for the first time this year, on the
record ‘Inside Out’. The release is a fundraiser for Artists in Transit, a collaborative
not for profit group she founded with her sister Molly that delivers art workshops to
displaced people and communities in times of hardship.
 As the daughter of two visual artists (her Irish-Barbadian mother is a textile designer
and her Turkish-born father’s work is exhibited at the British Museum), creativity was
always destined for Nilüfer Yanya’s future. Now she enters the next stage of her
creative journey - Yanya is running head first into the depths of emotional
vulnerability on her sophomore record, ‘PAINLESS’. The album was recorded
between a basement studio in Stoke Newington and Riverfish Music in Penzance
with ‘Miss Universe’ collaborator and producer Wilma Archer, DEEK Recordings
founder Bullion, Big Thief producer Andrew Sarlo and musician Jazzi Bobbi.
 Where ‘Miss Universe’ stretched musical boundaries to include a litany of styles from
smooth jazz melodies to radio ready pop, ‘PAINLESS’ takes a more direct sonic
approach. By narrowing down her previously broad palette to a handful of robust
ideas that revolve around melancholy harmonies and looped industrial beats to mimic
the insular focus of the lyrics, Yanya has smoothed out the idiosyncrasies of previous
releases without losing what is essential to her.
 ‘PAINLESS’ is a record that forces the listener to sit with the discomfort that
accompanies so many of life’s biggest challenges whether it be relationship
breakdowns, coping with loneliness, or the search for our inner self. “It's a record
about emotion,” Yanya explains. “I think it's more open about that in a way that ‘Miss
Universe’ wasn't because there's so many cloaks and sleeves with the concept I built
around it.” Summing up the ethos of the new album, she adds, “I’m not as scared to
admit my feelings.”
 Should stock of ATO0594BI1 sell out, a different standard vinyl format will be made
available (ATO0594LP).
 “A distinctive new voice in indie rock, a deeply expressive singer and sharply
inventive guitarist” - Uncut
 “On a musical and human level, then, the world needs more people like Nilüfer
Yanya” - MOJO
 “A true original” - The Guardian

As a confluence of ideas and methods, WILD ROCKET endeavour to interpret the subtle signals of the universe - the interplanetary vibrations - and present them as brash manifestations of sound. Scientists and Shaman alike have endeavoured to interpret the universal whispers, to elucidate meaning from the measurable and the sensible. It is known that to measure and interpret is to alter and colour those signals and this is what drives the development of WILD ROCKET's sound and interpretation.
FORMLESS ABYSS showcases the band's unflinching pummelling style, drifting from repetitive blows to unhinged swirls of din yet always remaining innately infectious and perhaps surprisingly danceable. The record is presented as a continuous piece in three parts.
The title track A FORMLESS ABYSS appears here for the first time in recorded form – a behemoth of a tune which builds around a drone, joined by dual drums and minimal bass locked into a repetitive groove. A groove that is slowly expanded via multiple guitars and synthesis. Vocals eventually join at just the right moment imploring the listener to “leave your criticisms down” and realise “we're all equal now” in the formless abyss or the place between worlds where our earthly preoccupation with human differences are meaningless. We're all in it together, whether we realise it or not.
The second track INTERPLANETARY VIBRATIONS may seem familiar to some in a simpler form. The expanded line up and extended development of the core theme brings a new interpretation and experience that is more than worthwhile. The track's vocals juxtapose the hybrid Germanic language of English with the ancient native Irish language of Gaeilge. Both used to promote meaning and interpretation of the interplanetary vibrations felt by all. The track features large dynamic shifts and changes of pace as the message that “it's time to leave” propagated by the Earth itself becomes more frantic and more desperate. The track culminates in a wash of smashed gongs and distorted guitars, leaving the listener to interpret the message for themselves. Should we leave, to protect ourselves or the Earth itself?
The final track FUTURE ECHOES is a doom/kraut juggernaut coming in at just under twenty minutes. Only one question is asked and none answered, are we doomed to repeat the mistakes of previous civilisations over and over, or can we find the cracks of light that echo through and show us a new way forward? We're left in a swirling formless abyss to consider who we are and where we're headed. Will we ever reach the cosmic truth? Or will we be continuously mocked by the cosmic trout?
WILD ROCKET have proven themselves on the live circuit, playing with such visionaries as Ufomammut, Slomatics, Earth, Boris, The Cosmic Dead and old school rock legends Girlschool. One of the heaviest bands to emerge from the melting pot of talent in the Irish music scene, WILD ROCKET's reputation precedes them wherever they travel and audiences and venues alike are left to piece themselves together in the discombobulation.

Wednesday 24th November - Kojey Radical, one of the UK's most influential musical voices, today announces details of his highly-anticipated debut album. Titled Reason To Smile, the 15 track album will be released on 4th March 2021 via Asylum / Atlantic Records. It features guest appearances from Tiana Major9, Masego, Shaé Universe, Cash, Kelis, Lex Amor, Knucks, Shakka, Wretch 32, Ego Ella May and Rex Life Raj and his own mother (whose voice weaves throughout the record) alongside a who's-who of global production talent including KZ, Swindle, Jay Prince, iO, The FaNaTiX, Cadenza, 169, Venna, Ric & Thadeus, Blue Lab Beats, Emil Larbi, Mr Cutts and Ed Thomas.

Having already made such an indelible mark on British music it's hard to believe that Kojey Radical has never released an album. Over four previous EPs, Kojey Radical has given people greatness but on Reason To Smile he's striving for perfection. Defined by a sound he describes as "space and bass" and featuring the singles "War Outside (ft Lex Amor)" and "Gangsta", Reason To Smile is without doubt Kojey Radical's most ambitious and complete work to date and an emphatic statement of the levels at which he operates.

Kojey Radical today also announces details of his “From Me To You” tour. Commencing on 4th March (album release day), the tour will see Kojey partner with record stores across the UK for a run of in-store and out-store shows and signings throughout album release week. These intimate shows will be a rare opportunity to see Kojey Radical so up close and personal and are sure to sell out quickly

Vinyl Only

Marshall Applewhite has returned from the red planet with a new discovery in tow, his Lowercase EP! As a musical pioneer he needs little introduction but a few lauds include: the creation of an entire genre of electronic music, starting legendary label YoSucka! featuring his hit release "Go Home", now running a fantastic and creative label project called Junted sharing experimental and strange sounds. For all those in the Detroit techno community, his music has been an inspiration and his devil may care attitude is a welcome refreshment from the often overly serious and judgemental air of the industry. These tracks once again change up his style, leaning a bit more toward a house groove, but with plenty of his signature freakish basslines and trippy vocal samples to ride along. Released via PITS, a Detroit-based electronic music label run by cohort John Joe XO. The project is entering its fifth year of life this summer of 2021, so in celebration this special edition release will also be shared on 12" vinyl. The label has seen support from many artists over the years including Exos, Blazej Malinkowski, Justin Carter, Laurent Garnier, John FM, and more.

Jesse B Weaver, since christened Schoolly D, is one of the most iconic
figures in rap music.
Within the hip-hop industry, Schoolly is considered to be the creator of
gangster rap via his globally acclaimed singles 'P.S.K.' and 'Gucci Time'
Schoolly D has transcended the boundaries of genre and created "rap" music that
has been integrated in films, animated series and sampled by some of the most
prolific acts in music including Beastie Boys, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Lil Wayne
and The Chemical Brothers.
Deemed a "pioneer" by Jay-Z (Decoded, 09) and credited by Ice-T as releasing the
first gangsta rap record (Props Magazine), Schoolly D's career has given
inspiration to countless musicians and fans alike. Songs like 'Gucci Time',
'Saturday Night' and 'P.S.K. What Does It Mean?' have become classics and
illustrate the uncompromising narrative that has become synonymous with the
hardcore gangsta rap of the eighties. His true-to-life lyrics give a snapshot of the
streets of his hometown, Philadelphia, and the influences that drugs and gang life
had on him as a young man. Today, Schoolly D has an almost cult-like following,
as his music continues to be referential. Even younger generations have been
turned onto him thanks to his work with Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
This release is Schoolly's 2021 album 'Cuz Schoolly D Is Crazy' and features a
remake of his classic 'P.S.K.' with appearances by B-Real from Cypress Hill and
Too Short. The album also features appearances by Chuck D and Ice- T. The
album was recorded using the same studio and production of his legendary first
three albums. It's reminiscent of his early work and showcases his rhythmic raps,
mastery of beats and sometimes-explicit lyrics, proving the lasting power of one
of rap's legendary b-boys.

Liverpool duo Hannah Merrick and Craig Whittle, aka King Hannah have announced their debut LP I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me for February 25 via City Slang. The announcement is accompanied by the release of the new single “All Being Fine”. Originally inspired by Smog and noisy, lo-fi 90s bands, the track pulls the listener in immediately with its upbeat on the outside, sinister on the inside atmospherics, coming across like the aural equivalent of the opening of David Lynch’s classic film “Blue Velvet” - the bloody finger lying in the lush green grass. The video’s sun-drenched visual, directed by Whittle, is a perfect pairing, showcasing the band at their best: enigmatic, mysterious, but blackly humorous with it.

Liverpool duo Hannah Merrick and Craig Whittle, aka King Hannah have announced their debut LP I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me for February 25 via City Slang. The announcement is accompanied by the release of the new single “All Being Fine”. Originally inspired by Smog and noisy, lo-fi 90s bands, the track pulls the listener in immediately with its upbeat on the outside, sinister on the inside atmospherics, coming across like the aural equivalent of the opening of David Lynch’s classic film “Blue Velvet” - the bloody finger lying in the lush green grass. The video’s sun-drenched visual, directed by Whittle, is a perfect pairing, showcasing the band at their best: enigmatic, mysterious, but blackly humorous with it.

Life moves in cycles. As things change and morph over time, it circles back to key points and offers second chances. Volumes find themselves at such a point in 2020. After four years apart, the group—Myke Terry vocals, Raad Soudani [bass], and Nick Usich [drums]—reconvenes with original vocalist Michael Barr. In doing so, they perfect a boundary-breaking balance of guttural grooves, magnetic melodies, proficient metal, and unbridled hardcore. In essence, the guys pick right up with they left off in 2015…In 2010, Volumes burst out of the gate with The Concept of Dreaming EP. The hypnotic and hard-hitting Via [2011] and No Sleep [2014] inspired the enthusiasm of a diehard fan base. After parting ways with Barr during 2015, the band maintained its prolific output on Different Animals [2017] and the Coming Clean EP [2019]. Their total stream tally exceeded 40 million as they incited applause from Alternative Press, New Noise Magazine, Rock Sound, Metal Injection, and more.

FFO: Arthur Russell, Stealing Sheep, Neu!, Agar Agar, Galaxians
Holodrum are a new disco-infused synth-pop group, who feature members of Hookworms, Yard Act, Cowtown, Virginia Wing, Drahla and more.

Maybe Holodrum were destined to start at this point. This might be the first time they’ve all officially worked together, but between Emily Garner (vocals), Matthew Benn (synth/bass/production), Jonathan Nash (drums), Jonathan Wilkinson (guitar), Sam Shjipstone (guitar/vocals), Christopher Duffin (sax/synth) and Steve Nuttall (percussion) they’ve shared bands, mixed each other’s records, promoted live shows and made music videos together in and around Leeds. As Holodrum, this is the 7 piece’s debut album, but the interlocking grooves and hot headiness of their repeato-rock-via-CBGBs dopamine hits have in one way or other been fermenting for years.

“When it comes to doing music most bands fall between two extremes of doing it for some goal or as an end to itself” says Shjipstone. “I think Holodrum is about the joy and complexity of living, and I just hope to god everyone gets to have a good time doing it.”

Ultimately the core of the group comes from Shjipstone and his former Hookworms bandmates Benn, Nash and Wilkinson. After their abrupt dissolution in late 2018, the four of them spent six months apart; Benn still had Xam Duo, his ongoing project with Virginia Wing and some-time James Holden & The Animal Spirits live member Duffin, Nash remains vocalist and guitarist of long-running DIY rockers Cowtown and helms his solo project Game_Program; and Shjipstone plays guitar with Yard Act. However, the four of them missed the sixth sense synergy they’d built-up playing together over a decade and soon enough demos were being swapped and new ideas were discussed.

The vision of a large live electronic ensemble formed quickly. Friends were added: Duffin and Nuttall – who was keen to resurrect the double percussion interplay that he and Nash had been exploring as part of motorik trio Nope joined first. Then animator and VIDE0 singer Garner crystallised the line-up by joining on vocals.

“Apart from Emily, all of us had actually played together before in a covers band at a New Year’s Eve party at the Brudenell Social Club a couple of years ago, so we knew we could have fun together” says Benn. “So we set up to be a live party band early on. We wanted lots of people on stage having fun, playing for people that also wanted to have fun. It makes sense we take inspiration from bands like Tom Tom Club and Liquid Liquid; they were trying to help people to party at a point when New York was quite a scary and dangerous place we’re doing the same, albeit in the face of a decaying world and a global pandemic.”

Covid-19 hasn’t given them much opportunity to do that yet, with two fledgling shows in late 2019 to their name before festival appearances at the likes of Bluedot, Sounds From The Other City and Gold Sounds were scuppered last year. However, the 6 tracks on Holodrum crackle with the energy of the dancefloor. Opening cut 'Lemon Chic' described by Garner as her “workout track” starts out sparsely, with tight drum claps and burbling synths holding a teetering suspense before the whole thing’s prised open, allowing beaming saxophone skronk to shine in. Garner’s vocals bob and weave around the syncopations of the track’s building cacophony.

It sets the stall for an album heavy on euphoria, built atop crisp interplaying percussion and acid-flecked grooves. At times Shjipstone provides a raw counterpoint on vocals, while elsewhere - like on the strutting, swirling disco of 'Free Advice' and 'Low Light'’s late night ping pong synths - the pair indulge in playful call and response as the instrumentation builds and contorts around them. 'Stage Echo' provides a respite of sorts halfway through, a swirling, fever dream of a track that peaks with big squelchy frequencies and cavernous reverb, before the album returns to its repetitious exercises in body-moving catharsis underpinned at all times by a relentlessly propulsive rhythm section.

Liverpool duo Hannah Merrick and Craig Whittle, aka King Hannah have announced their debut LP I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me for February 25 via City Slang. The announcement is accompanied by the release of the new single “All Being Fine”. Originally inspired by Smog and noisy, lo-fi 90s bands, the track pulls the listener in immediately with its upbeat on the outside, sinister on the inside atmospherics, coming across like the aural equivalent of the opening of David Lynch’s classic film “Blue Velvet” - the bloody finger lying in the lush green grass. The video’s sun-drenched visual, directed by Whittle, is a perfect pairing, showcasing the band at their best: enigmatic, mysterious, but blackly humorous with it.

Liverpool duo Hannah Merrick and Craig Whittle, aka King Hannah have announced their debut LP I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me for February 25 via City Slang. The announcement is accompanied by the release of the new single “All Being Fine”. Originally inspired by Smog and noisy, lo-fi 90s bands, the track pulls the listener in immediately with its upbeat on the outside, sinister on the inside atmospherics, coming across like the aural equivalent of the opening of David Lynch’s classic film “Blue Velvet” - the bloody finger lying in the lush green grass. The video’s sun-drenched visual, directed by Whittle, is a perfect pairing, showcasing the band at their best: enigmatic, mysterious, but blackly humorous with it.

AD 93 presents the new album from Polish composer Wojciech Rusin. Syphon is the second instalment of an ‘alchemical’ trilogy which started with The Funnel on Akashic records. The record consists of speculative medieval and renaissance music, imagined composed in the future, where it is reconstructed from the ashes of the past, via incomplete fragments.

"In a future where the old semantic systems don't apply anymore, what we are left with is some kind of delirium."

The album features 3D printed instruments, multilayered bagpipe chanters, double recorders and other hybrids. With additional voices of soprano Eden Girma and Emmy Broughton.

Artwork by Wojciech Rusin and Nicola Tirabasso. Mastered by Rupert Clervaux.

wars will release their second studio album 'A Hundred Shivers' on 26th November 2021 via A Wolf At Your Door Records. Not afraid to buck the trends the band have been releasing tracks from the record in ‘chapters’, which although untraditional, according to vocalist Rob Vicars, that was part of the appeal, “It’s meant we have been able to wrap all our little communications around each individual selection of songs really tightly, and be creative in a tonne of different spaces, all over the course of this one record. “Getting to release what we’ve been working on, putting more music out frequently feels like the perfect complement to the way we write and create.”

 The Slow Show release their fourth studio album, their first for three years, entitled ‘Still Life’,
via PIAS. The four-piece, who first formed in Manchester, will support the release with a
European tour in February and March 2022, culminating in an already sold-out hometown show
at Manchester’s Hallé St Peters on 4th March.
 Lead track ‘Blinking’ is a perfect taster to the new direction ‘Still Life’ offers. Same but different
again. “An ode to love and loyalty. The song is a defiant pledge to never giving up on the
people you love. Musically we wanted the song to have impact, a directness and powerful
punch that we’d previously shied away from.” - Robert Goodwin (vocals)
 The making of ‘Still Life’ has been quite the ride. Following their breakthrough album, ‘White
Water’, it was clear The Slow Show were not just ‘another band from Manchester’. The legacy
of The Smiths, Joy Division and all those other great predecessors is not something to be trifled
with, but The Slow Show didn't need to wear their address on their sleeve: this was something
else, fully formed, with a mesmerising sound, rich in atmosphere and melody.
 With the band’s desire to push each other outside of their respective comfort zones during the
recording process, ‘Still Life’ subsequently offers a more diverse, rich and interesting sound
than previous albums.
 “We did develop our sound,” says Rob Goodwin. “We had to try something else. We felt we
owed that to ourselves, and to the people that come and enjoy the music. We explored a lot of
stuff: different sounds, different feelings, different ideas, different processes as well. Some of
them didn’t work at all, but some did. It was difficult and challenging, but it felt good in the end.”
 This experimental side to the creative process allowed the band to introduce new elements to
their work. “Some new approaches and sounds crept in,” keyboardist Frederik ‘T Kindt admits.
“Some were far from our older work. For instance: after some initial encouragement from me,
Rob was keen to sing a bit higher on this record. Chris was encouraged to make his drums a
bit more present; some things almost sound like a breakbeat to my ears.”
 Recorded remotely over the course of the past year, with Goodwin recording vocals from
Dusseldorf in Germany and the rest of band recording in the UK, ‘Still Life’, as a concept, takes
inspiration from the experiences of lockdown: “Before the virus arrived, I had a busy life;
spending two weeks in Germany with my girlfriend, and then flying to Manchester to work with
Fred or to a gig.” Goodwin remarks: “And then all of a sudden, life came to a halt. It took a little
getting used to, but I actually had a really nice realisation during that time. I understood that the
slower life got, the more I saw. I spent a lot of time in nature, seeing things in a different
perspective. And that's what you need when you're trying to create. You have to really look,
and then you see things happening everywhere.”
 The tracks themselves are brimming with emotion and reverence towards the significant
relationships we encounter in life. Stand-out anthem ‘Blinking’ is a defiant pledge to never
giving up on the people you love. Musically the band wanted the song to have impact, a
directness and powerful punch that they’d previously shied away from. Whilst ‘Woven Blue’
deals with the aftermath of uncoupling. The idea that meaningful relationships are very often
woven and complex, making resolve difficult.
 These very personal tracks are counterbalanced with the more topical, ‘Breathe’, which
documents some of the unjust and heart-breaking scenes of 2020 with spoken word references
to John Boyega’s emotional rallying cry in support of Black Lives Matter movement in London’s
Hyde Park.
 In all, Still Life marks another evolution of a band that have never tried to fit in any particular
box but have inhabited their own unique universe.
 LP pressed on white viny

On his aptly-titled Mascot Records’ debut, What Happens Next, roots singer-songwriter and guitarist Davy Knowles boldly steps forward with timeless and cohesive songwriting; sleek modern production; and a lyrical, play-for-the-song guitar approach informed from soul, folk, rock, and blues. The 12-song album is just as influenced by The Black Keys, Fantastic Negrito, Gary Clark Jr., as it is Muddy Waters, Junior Kimbrough, and R.L. Burnside. It is a cohesive body of work rather than a collection of disparate songs. On What Happens Next, Knowles’s poetic songwriting, and his soulfully emotive singing steal the show. The 12-song body of work offers forth a peaks-and-valleys album experience winding through brawny riffs, jazzy blues balladry, and vintage soul before concluding with one of Knowles’s most personal songs released to date. Throughout it all, his guitar playing is brilliantly understated, his rhythm work is deft and dynamic—beefy on the rockers, and subtly supportive on the slower tunes—and his leads are economical but feature juicy blues bends and thick as molasses lead guitar tones."What Happens Next" is released on CD and digitally on October 22, 2021 and on vinyl on December 3, 2021 via Mascot Label Group/Provogue Records.

Tender tonkori melodies, meditative dub excursions and hallowed folk vocals combine on Tonkori in the Moonlight, an 11-track collection of mostly traditional songs performed by indigenous Ainu musician OKI. Born on the Japanese island of Hokkaido in 1957, OKI's released his debut album in 1996 and since then he has recorded 11 studio albums both solo and with his Dub Ainu Band and toured internationally - from WOMAD in the UK to the John F.Kennedy Center in Washington DC via festival appearances in Singapore, Australia and across Europe. OKI is one of only a handful of musicians who play the tonkori, a five-stringed Ainu harp, which is both the pulse of this record and the force that unifies the disparate sounds he introduces such as reggae, dub, Irish folk, throat singing, African drumming and music from Central Asia.

NYC-based collective MICHELLE release their debut album,
‘AFTER DINNER WE TALK DREAMS’, via Transgressive
Records.
 MICHELLE recently announced new 2022 US tour dates with
Mitski. The band also toured with Arlo Parks and followed with a
string of dates with Gus Dapperton in November and a UK and
European headline tour in February.
 Born-and-bred New Yorkers, MICHELLE formed in 2018 and
are comprised of Sofia D’Angelo, Julian Kaufman, Charlie
Kilgore, Layla Ku, Emma Lee and Jamee Lockard. The
predominantly POC and queer collective mix and match the
writing and production groups amongst the six of them.
 The hallmarks of MICHELLE’s music - layered vocal harmonies,
analogue synthesizers, vibrant percussion, smouldering hooks -
dominate the sonic landscape of their upcoming album, with the
four female vocalists pushing the boundaries of their
considerable singing talents while Charlie and Julian fine tune
the production. Despite all the tinkering elsewhere, it is
important to note that the vocals remain largely untouched and
appear in their organic state.
 Songs hop across genres, from funky R&B to bedroom slow
jams to amped-upbeat-heavy anthems and more. The
songwriting on ‘AFTER DINNER WE TALK DREAMS’ has been
elevated, as there is a depth and prowess at work that makes
good on the promise of the band’s early songs, something they
admit was learned by reflecting and allowing room for artistic
growth.
 “crisp R&B with a bright indie flourish… musical serotonin you’ll
want to bathe in for hours” - NME
 “A formidable new collective with a genre-bending approach to
songwriting” - The Line of Best Fit
 “like an aural hit of Vitamin D” - DIY
 “we can’t get enough” - Gay Times
 LP pressed on Ocean Blue vinyl.

Formed in 1983, Hallows Eve was a thrash metal band hailing from Atlanta, GA, whose first brush with notoriety came via the inclusion of their song Metal Merchants” in the Metal Massacre, Vol. 6 compilation two years later. Duly signed by the collection’s parent label, Metal Blade, the group, comprised of vocalist Stacy Anderson, guitarists David Stuart and Steve “Skullator” Shoemaker, bassist Tommy Stewart, and drummer Ronny Appoldt, released their debut album, Tales of Terror, later the same year and then followed it with two more discs (1986′s Death & Insanity and 1988′s Monument).

Formed in 1983, Hallows Eve was a thrash metal band hailing from Atlanta, GA, whose first brush with notoriety came via the inclusion of their song Metal Merchants" in the Metal Massacre, Vol. 6 compilation two years later. Duly signed by the collection's parent label, Metal Blade, the group, comprised of vocalist Stacy Anderson, guitarists David Stuart and Steve "Skullator" Shoemaker, bassist Tommy Stewart, and drummer Ronny Appoldt, released their debut album, Tales of Terror, later the same year and then followed it with two more discs (1986's Death & Insanity and 1988's Monument). By 1989, the band had folded but eventually re-formed in 2004 with plans to record a new, as yet unreleased, effort. - Eduardo Rivadavia (All Music Guide)

PAUL DRAPER RETURNS WITH HIS NEW ALBUM, 'CULT LEADER
TACTICS'
Former Mansun frontman, Paul Draper, returns with a collection of his
fnest songwriting since the bands' imperial phase
'Cult Leader Tactics' is a self-help manual on how to become a complete cult in
the music industry & is his frst solo album since 2017's much- lauded 'Spooky
Action'.
'Cult Leader Tactics' offers a satirical analysis of the self-help manual genre. A
guide on how you can get to the top of your chosen profession, or ahead in life &
in affairs of the heart, by acting in a Machiavellian manner, employing dirty tricks
or 'Cult Leader Tactics' to achieve your life goals. After experiencing these types
of human behaviours & themes, the album arrives at the conclusion that the only
true answer in life is love.
Paul plays most of the instruments on the album, including lead vocals, guitar &
various Moogs & synthesisers. An album produced with long-time collaborator &
acclaimed producer Paul 'P-Dub' Walton (Massive Attack, The Cure, Bjork) at Loft
Studios, it also includes guest appearances from Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson
& Gam of the band 'Sweat' as well as featuring a 288- person C.L.T. Lockdown
Choir.
'Cult Leader Tactics' offers a selection of Paul's most focused & ambitious work
so far, a brilliantly dark commentary on an industry he is all too aware of.
Digipack edition with 16-page bookletOn tour across the UK from 27th February
to 23rd March 2022.'Cult Leader Tactics' will be available via Kscope.

25TH ANNIVERSARY OF GAVIN HARRISON'S DEBUT ALBUM REISSUED
Gavin Harrison has established himself as one of the most revered
drummers in the progressive rock scene in recent years
As a member of Pineapple Thief, Porcupine Tree & King Crimson at one time or
another, as well as guesting on numerous acclaimed recordings, he has secured a
reputation as one of the most thrilling drummers around.
In 1997 Gavin released 'Sanity & Gravity', an impressively ego- free debut solo
release featuring performances from a stellar line-up including Mick Karn, Richard
Barbieri, Jakko Jakszyk (21st Century Schizoid Band) & Dave Stewart (Egg,
National Health). Avoiding making a typical 'solo' drum album as a means of
demonstrating his prodigious technique, Gavin created an expressive & emotional
album that is strong on both groove & melody.
In his own words, "faced with the prospect of making a 'solo' drum album I
decided I would take a more experimental approach to playing my instrument,
rather than make a record of fast fashy solos & flls to try & show off my
technique. I felt there was a way to express emotion from the drums played with
the attitude of "blowing" on a saxophone or "twiddling" around on a piano."
The original album has gone on to gain legendary status in the 25 years following
its original conception with the CD fetching high sums on the resale market.
Kscope is now thrilled to present the album reissued & remastered with an
exclusive bonus track & new original artwork for the anniversary. Essential
listening!
'SANITY & GRAVITY' WILL BE ISSUED VIA KSCOPE

24 Songs. A new project from The Wedding Present. A new 7” single every month throughout 2022. 24 Songs sees David Gedge writing with legendary Sleeper guitarist Jon Stewart for the first time, and a more perfect union could not have been predicted. The first release includes a gorgeous duet featuring David and Louise Wener also from Sleeper on ‘We Should Be Together’, and it’s coupled with a rousing new track called ‘Don’t Give Up Without A Fight’ which combines classic Wedding Present feistiness with a Krautrock finale. The notion of a monthly 7” single is not new to The Wedding Present, but 24 Songs shows us that even classic concepts can be reinvented. The series also continues the band’s association with photographer Jessica McMillan, who has created stunning images and films as a visual accompaniment to the recordings.‘We Should Be Together’ will be available to listen to at The Wedding Present’s official YouTube channel from Tuesday 19 October at 12 noon. Subscription details with an early bird incentive can be found at 24songs.scopitones Individual singles and a collector’s box can be ordered from the same site or via all participating record shops. Explaining 24 Songs, David Gedge said: “In 1991, The Wedding Present were rehearsing in a studio in Yorkshire when we hit upon an idea that immediately thrilled us all. Our bass player Keith Gregory had been a member of the ‘Sub Pop Singles Club’ - a service that allowed subscribers to receive 7”s released by that Seattle label on a monthly basis. Keith wondered if we, as a band, could attempt a similar thing. In that instant, The Wedding Present’s Hit Parade series was born and, during 1992, we managed to release a brand new 7” single each and every month. “The Hit Parade went on to become something of a significant milestone in the history of the band and it’s a project about which I’m often asked. As its thirtieth anniversary approached, I began to wonder if we should celebrate it in some way. A ‘Hit Parade Part 2’ didn’t feel quite right, though. Then, someone said to me: “Other bands have released music in similar ways but there has been nothing like the Hit Parade.” And they were right! A 7” single a month seems, somehow, very ‘Wedding Present’. So, inspired by that little idea from three decades ago, we’ve embarked on this new project, 24 Songs. “Even though The Wedding Present have never been known for taking the easy route, the idea of recording 24 tracks and releasing them in this way could seem daunting to any band. However, I’ve been inspired by the music that has been written since Jon and Melanie joined the group. The thought of celebrating this exciting new line-up with an exciting new series has motivated us all… and I suppose we also didn’t want any of these songs to be hidden away in the middle of an album!”

Toronto party and record label Hypnotic Mindscapes returns with the second instalment of their compilation series featuring an array of Canadian and International artists both established and emerging.
The A side begins with label head Cosmic JD exhibiting a high-energy, acid-infused number, entrancing and mysterious modulations ideal for the witching hours. The A2 cut welcomes long-time Hypnotic collaborator, Montreal ’s own Adam Solomon aka Weekend Logic with a retro-futuristic acid breakbeat with round basslines and enhancing science-fiction melodies. On the flip-side, Hypnotic member DJ Zenta from Tokyo debuts on the label with an unique approach to timeless progressive and tech-house vibes. The final cut on the B-side presents Japanese via Toronto Masayuki Tomita contributing with an after-hours track that exposes his signature of funky and wonky analog electronics. Full colour sleeve art by label artist Sofia Eleni.

After more than a year of strengthening our bodies through workout, our poetic endeavors via the discovery of our inner worlds, and also the life of plants and mushrooms, insects, arachnids, birds and wild mammals, after a year and a half that saw us in lockdown, shattered around the planet, after one a and a half year in which we deepened our production skills and also the meaningfulness of our work, Cómeme returns to a new planet with new music.

The beginning is this unique collaboration between Medellín based musician and DJ Julianna, and Matias Aguayo aka “The Don” himself.

In this deep therapeutical exploration of rhythm and sound, these artists established a magical dialogue on distance, leading up to this EP called “Que si el mundo”, roughly translated: “What if the world”.

Between soulful industrial expressions, emotional breakdowns but also discoveries free of any grids and algorithms, Julianna and Aguayo have created a beautiful piece of work, intense as the movements that we had to experience mentally and economically. “Que si el mundo” is state of the art electronic music of today, a work that is both introspective but also extremely open to the outside world and the universe. Compositions reminiscent of Coil, Angelo Badalamenti, Closer Musik, Steve Pointdexter or Mark Broom, shaped this EP that can be considered a short album in its conceptual layout and narrative. Let’s dive into it...

A1. Hiedra
One of the more danceable tunes, ideal for both a sensual warmup or the very late night to the rising sun sensitivity, is polyrhythmical melancholy and hypnotic inevitability, slow dance, deep trance.

A2. Primer Paso
A fat, slick and modern synth sequence, accompanied by heavy drumming and celestial drops that seem to fall onto the body of the listener or dancer, this post EBM stomper is a manifestation of elegant minimalism and reason. As if Liaisons Dangereuses reincarnated in a cloudy forest, to then pause towards the end of the track, with sentimental and gloomy synth chords that open the view towards the horizon.

B1. Que Si El Mundo
The title track keeps up the more melodic approach - somewhere between ambient, avant- garde and late night jazz. Morphing melodies that are both disturbing and soothing at a time encounter smooth free jazz drumming with drums that seem to have travelled from the sixties to today’s world.

B2. Bajo Tierra
This track continues the deep drumming experience that this record means, between laid back rides and intense taikoesque drumming. Distorted dark pads and subterranean choirs build up to a heavy sadness and intensity. Again, a therapeutical track to send those demons fly.

B3. Micelio
A more hopeful conclusion of the EP is “Micelio”. Open chords, soothing and melancholic, spread over profound drum grooves of champed and house. Nothing seems as it was before. A new life has begun.

Hailing from Sydney, Australia, prolific producer Cabu (860K Monthly Listeners and more than 90M cumulative streams on Spotify alone) has come a long way; from his successful remix work – from Joe Hurtz's "Stay Lost" edit (37M Spotify-streams) to Big Wild's "Empty Room" flip (20M Spotify-streams) – to his consistently catchy original productions, Cabu's only getting started. He keeps this momentum alive with the EP "So Far To Go", his first to be released by Ta-ku & Jakarta Records' sublabel 823 Records.

823 is a perfect place for Cabu's bouncy, hypnotic grooves and is a return to form for what "Cabu" represents: a driving force in the pursuit of happiness through sound. It's a well-timed collaboration, as Cabu's fanbase has continuously grown over the past few years through features on Australia's Triple J, DJ Complexion's Future Beats Radio, Soundistyle, The South East Grind, Mutual Friends, ThisSongIsSick, Majestic Casual, Soulection Radio, BBC 1xtra, Pilerats, Maison Kitsune and more. To that end, "So Far To Go" features some of the most talented artists to come out of the Pacific continent, such as Milan Ring (95K monthly Spotify listeners) – coined "Australia's R&B Princess" by Apple Music – Brisbane native hit-maker Young Franco (1M+ monthly Spotify listeners), Kamaliza (123K monthly Spotify listeners), NOÉ, Gabby Nacua, Pastel and of course label-head Ta-ku himself.

1st single, "Process" featuring Ta-ku & Milan Ring was released on November 3rd. Hypnotically bouncy, with heavenly synth pads, crisp percussive elements combined with the ethereal voices of Ta-ku and Milan harmonically push the sonic envelope to make this track an infallible groovy knockout. As Cabu says, "Process" is "the dream-like state in which you take gratitude in your current situation whilst being hopeful in the future." The track provides a perfect taste of these artistic and creative powerhouses. The stunningly beautiful music video – directed by Sydney based Redscope Films and premiered on The Sound You Need – is the perfect accompaniment.

2nd single, "Sun & Moon" featuring Young Franco & NOÉ is set to be released on December 10th along with an announcement of the EP and pre-order. The song is a contagiously bouncy bop, with the different vocal harmonies and synth chords giving the track an almost prime 00's throwback, it's the perfect year-end anthem to keep dancing and growing through the good and bad.

The album's focus track, "About U" featuring Kamaliza will be released along with the EP release on January 28th, 2022. The song perfectly blends electronic elements within an R&B / Soul aesthetic, and is all about moving forward with intention, from the lyrics to the groove, making you feel tipsy on life.

All singles off the EP will be accompanied with custom visualizers by Perth-based design / creative firm Gesture Systems. The album's single-releases and videos will be promoted in-house via the artist's and the label's social media channels in Germany and Australia.

The 823 label represents the appreciation for the people, ideas and places that inspire and push their protagonists forward. "823 celebrates the simple beauty of everyday life and the people in it that inspire us." (Regan Matthews aka Ta-ku)

Miles Kane is back with brand new album 'Change the Show', set for release on 21st January 2022 via BMG.
Following a chance “no frills session” with psych-rock duo Sunglasses For Jaws at the band’s Hackney studio, Miles’ fourth solo album ‘Change the Show’ really began to take shape. “I saw myself in their energy, but also their taste and their knowledge of music,” Miles explains. “It was the first time I’d felt old!”
Opening with the honest soft croon of ‘Tears are Falling’, the album is a joyous ride from start to finish and features a surprising, but spectacular appearance from Grammy-nominated singer Corinne Bailey Rae for a duet on ‘Nothing’s Ever Gonna Be Good Enough’. ‘Don’t Let It Get You Down’, the first track released from the record, is Miles Kane at his very best: energetic, infectious and full of swagger, the track opening with a sample from fellow Wirral alumnus Paul O’Grady. It's an album that best represents Miles himself: charmingly authentic, and like nothing else you'll hear in pop music today.
“This album was born out of an intense period of self-reflection; having all this unexpected time on my hands,” Miles said of the last 18 months. “I wrote songs about big highs, big lows, daydreams, true friends and deep feelings. I learnt to let the future unfold of its own accord, while staying true to myself and that has led to what feels to me like a really uplifting album!”
A record for fans both new and old, ‘Change the Show’ is the Miles Kane album we’ve all been waiting for. The apotheosis of his previous works, incorporating those classic rock and glam influences, but focusing more closely on Motown, soul, and Fifties R&B.

Pioneering Kansas City, MO emo rock band The Appleseed Cast's 2002 Deep Elm release 'Lost Songs' is now available to pre-order on vinyl via Thirty Something Records. Comprised of material recorded after the band's 1998 debut 'The End Of The Ring Wars' and before 2000's 'Mare Vitalis', 'Lost Songs' displays the transitional phase of the band in between the two albums. Carefully uniting old-school and new-school songwriting styles, 'Lost Songs' combines the bitter emotional release of the band's earliest recordings and the meticulous soundscapes crafted through endless hours of studio time on later recordings. Dynamic song structures, hurricane-force rhythms and ultra-vivid lyrics paint bold portraits of disillusion and heartache, while at other points 'Lost Songs' overflows with swells of symphonics, feedback and electronics. The title joins the already released (and still available) vinyl reissue of the band's long out-of-print 2000 Deep Elm sophomore release 'Mare Vitalis.' Ominous, powerful, and magnetizing like the sea, 'Mare Vitalis' is dreamy and charming, and flows from a tide of moody energy with guitars that sweep around complex, precision rhythms. A masterpiece of timeless inspiration, the record is absolutely stunning.

Imagine deserted volcanic wasteland, freezing winds and the all-embracing darkness of the longest winters on this planet: The obvious inspiration for rather vicious and somber tunes for lonely evening hours that the biggest part of Iceland’s heavy music scene is known for. Who would even dare to think of tales about brave warriors and mystical creatures coming from such an island? Power metal seemed like a fairytale until 2017 when Reykjavík based sextet POWER PALADIN (originally founded as PALADIN) rose in quest of carrying out their uplifting tunes and finally proving everyone wrong. On an island known for its musical doom and gloom, they are the midnight sun. “Iceland has such a great representation of extreme metal. We didn’t feel we had much to add to that scene so why shouldn’t we do the complete opposite?” the band recall their origins. A truly wise decision! Their first live performances and demo releases were of such good reception that they were booked for Iceland’s main underground festivals, Eistnaflug and Norðanpaunk, and subsequently played at one of the country’s biggest music events, Iceland Airwaves, in 2019. Highly praised as a “standout” act by The Reykjavík Grapevine, POWER PALADIN kept crafting material at Windfyre Studios, composing their 9-track strong debut album titled »With The Magic Of Windfyre Steel«. The opus is a historical landmark for both the group and Atomic Fire Records, being the label’s first full-length release since its recent founding. “We actually started to write some of these tunes in the very beginning of our band history and captured them over the course of about two years at various places: at Ingi’s bedroom, at Atli and Bjarni’s workplace, at a cabin outside Reykjavik etc.”, POWER PALADIN say about their approach to songwriting and recording. And while self-producing such a splendid album has been no easy quest, it almost reads like a part from Joseph Campbell’s »The Hero’s Journey«:“So we went through a whole lot of trials, but that’s why we’re even happier and prouder of this record now!” Mixed by Haukur Hannes at Mastertape Studios (AUÐN, DYNFARI etc.) and mastered by Frank de Jong at Hal5 Studio (BLEEDING GODS etc.),
” they explain. The group’s love for fantasy games and books from authors such as Brandon Sanderson and Joe Abercrombie doesn’t remain unnoticed either: James Child (Astral Clock Tower Studios) translated that inspiration into the album’s adventurous artwork. »With The Magic Of Windfyre Steel« gets the listener's attention immediately. Air guitar-provoking lead single 'Kraven The Hunter‘, a track that’s frequently been aired via Iceland’s radio stations prior to the album’s release, peaking at position #1 of X-977’s chart, sets the right tone for this 51-minute venturesome ride. A ride that ranges from songs in the vein of the opening track like 'Creatures Of The Night' to rather aggressive bangers such as the second single 'Righteous Fury' and 'Ride The Distant Storm'. In the end, critics might say that “only a ballad is missing” to deliver all ingredients for a great heavy metal album. But does a power metal saga whose first chapter has just been written need one at all? Well, we will find out in chapter 2...

Imagine deserted volcanic wasteland, freezing winds and the all-embracing darkness of the longest winters on this planet: The obvious inspiration for rather vicious and somber tunes for lonely evening hours that the biggest part of Iceland’s heavy music scene is known for. Who would even dare to think of tales about brave warriors and mystical creatures coming from such an island? Power metal seemed like a fairytale until 2017 when Reykjavík based sextet POWER PALADIN (originally founded as PALADIN) rose in quest of carrying out their uplifting tunes and finally proving everyone wrong. On an island known for its musical doom and gloom, they are the midnight sun. “Iceland has such a great representation of extreme metal. We didn’t feel we had much to add to that scene so why shouldn’t we do the complete opposite?” the band recall their origins. A truly wise decision! Their first live performances and demo releases were of such good reception that they were booked for Iceland’s main underground festivals, Eistnaflug and Norðanpaunk, and subsequently played at one of the country’s biggest music events, Iceland Airwaves, in 2019. Highly praised as a “standout” act by The Reykjavík Grapevine, POWER PALADIN kept crafting material at Windfyre Studios, composing their 9-track strong debut album titled »With The Magic Of Windfyre Steel«. The opus is a historical landmark for both the group and Atomic Fire Records, being the label’s first full-length release since its recent founding. “We actually started to write some of these tunes in the very beginning of our band history and captured them over the course of about two years at various places: at Ingi’s bedroom, at Atli and Bjarni’s workplace, at a cabin outside Reykjavik etc.”, POWER PALADIN say about their approach to songwriting and recording. And while self-producing such a splendid album has been no easy quest, it almost reads like a part from Joseph Campbell’s »The Hero’s Journey«:“So we went through a whole lot of trials, but that’s why we’re even happier and prouder of this record now!” Mixed by Haukur Hannes at Mastertape Studios (AUÐN, DYNFARI etc.) and mastered by Frank de Jong at Hal5 Studio (BLEEDING GODS etc.),
” they explain. The group’s love for fantasy games and books from authors such as Brandon Sanderson and Joe Abercrombie doesn’t remain unnoticed either: James Child (Astral Clock Tower Studios) translated that inspiration into the album’s adventurous artwork. »With The Magic Of Windfyre Steel« gets the listener's attention immediately. Air guitar-provoking lead single 'Kraven The Hunter‘, a track that’s frequently been aired via Iceland’s radio stations prior to the album’s release, peaking at position #1 of X-977’s chart, sets the right tone for this 51-minute venturesome ride. A ride that ranges from songs in the vein of the opening track like 'Creatures Of The Night' to rather aggressive bangers such as the second single 'Righteous Fury' and 'Ride The Distant Storm'. In the end, critics might say that “only a ballad is missing” to deliver all ingredients for a great heavy metal album. But does a power metal saga whose first chapter has just been written need one at all? Well, we will find out in chapter 2...

Imagine deserted volcanic wasteland, freezing winds and the all-embracing darkness of the longest winters on this planet: The obvious inspiration for rather vicious and somber tunes for lonely evening hours that the biggest part of Iceland’s heavy music scene is known for. Who would even dare to think of tales about brave warriors and mystical creatures coming from such an island? Power metal seemed like a fairytale until 2017 when Reykjavík based sextet POWER PALADIN (originally founded as PALADIN) rose in quest of carrying out their uplifting tunes and finally proving everyone wrong. On an island known for its musical doom and gloom, they are the midnight sun. “Iceland has such a great representation of extreme metal. We didn’t feel we had much to add to that scene so why shouldn’t we do the complete opposite?” the band recall their origins. A truly wise decision! Their first live performances and demo releases were of such good reception that they were booked for Iceland’s main underground festivals, Eistnaflug and Norðanpaunk, and subsequently played at one of the country’s biggest music events, Iceland Airwaves, in 2019. Highly praised as a “standout” act by The Reykjavík Grapevine, POWER PALADIN kept crafting material at Windfyre Studios, composing their 9-track strong debut album titled »With The Magic Of Windfyre Steel«. The opus is a historical landmark for both the group and Atomic Fire Records, being the label’s first full-length release since its recent founding. “We actually started to write some of these tunes in the very beginning of our band history and captured them over the course of about two years at various places: at Ingi’s bedroom, at Atli and Bjarni’s workplace, at a cabin outside Reykjavik etc.”, POWER PALADIN say about their approach to songwriting and recording. And while self-producing such a splendid album has been no easy quest, it almost reads like a part from Joseph Campbell’s »The Hero’s Journey«:“So we went through a whole lot of trials, but that’s why we’re even happier and prouder of this record now!” Mixed by Haukur Hannes at Mastertape Studios (AUÐN, DYNFARI etc.) and mastered by Frank de Jong at Hal5 Studio (BLEEDING GODS etc.),
” they explain. The group’s love for fantasy games and books from authors such as Brandon Sanderson and Joe Abercrombie doesn’t remain unnoticed either: James Child (Astral Clock Tower Studios) translated that inspiration into the album’s adventurous artwork. »With The Magic Of Windfyre Steel« gets the listener's attention immediately. Air guitar-provoking lead single 'Kraven The Hunter‘, a track that’s frequently been aired via Iceland’s radio stations prior to the album’s release, peaking at position #1 of X-977’s chart, sets the right tone for this 51-minute venturesome ride. A ride that ranges from songs in the vein of the opening track like 'Creatures Of The Night' to rather aggressive bangers such as the second single 'Righteous Fury' and 'Ride The Distant Storm'. In the end, critics might say that “only a ballad is missing” to deliver all ingredients for a great heavy metal album. But does a power metal saga whose first chapter has just been written need one at all? Well, we will find out in chapter 2...

Twang, Hmmm, click, thunk.



When XTC finally downed guitars after the recording and release of “Wasp Star”, their last album to date, one of Andy’s ideas about what to do next, was to become a songwriter in the traditional sense, writing songs for others…



It was something he had been asked to do throughout the XTC years, but never had the time.



Songs were written. Songs were sent. Sometimes speculatively, often specifically requested, many tailor-made for an artist's requirements, but then choppy waters could still lay ahead. Even where everyone seemed to think that newly written song A would be wonderful if recorded by singer B, whose manager C had initiated the request via music publisher D for album E on record label F…



Well, you begin to see the potential problems of such an approach – almost a quarter of the way through the alphabet and not a note recorded beyond Andy's original demo. That’s without detailing the sort of horrendous politics that makes a fresh batch of alphabet spaghetti of any of the above as they interact.



Still, songs are like children. A songwriter gives birth to them, feeds them, watches them grow before sending them out into the world. So it’s unfair to abandon them as orphans just because their first experience outdoors might be a traumatic one of being cold shouldered.

As a loving parent, Andy brought them all back together, re-Andy-fied them and buffed them up in his home studio, et voila! Here is the first selection of song siblings that resulted from all of this work, four brothers and sisters, happily reunited and presented as a family group aural snapshot for your entertainment and delight.



The story has a happy ending after all. It is almost as if The Sound of Music, had been set in Swindon.



If only we all failed so well…

Argentine producer Pedro Canale returns from a three-year sojourn with his long awaited third album. Originally coming out of Buenos Aires's famed digital cumbia scene, Chancha has notoriously broken way outside those boundaries to forge unprecedented mergers between Brazilian rhythms, Paraguayan harp, Andean mysticism and the solitude of Argentinian folklore - all processed through his own futuristic style of postdubstep.

Chancha's sound is without question truly unique and instantly recognizable to the point he has become a key reference point for an entire crop of artists that have begun to carry his genes.

Hailed by the Washington Post, the New York Times, Pitchfork, NPR and countless others, Chancha Via Circuito defies even the shrewdest of marketing geniuses. On one hand, he is something of a cult artist within micro-circles of electronic music, having been invited to perform at Montreal's MUTEK as well as the Roskilde and Vive Latino Festivals. At the same time, Chancha's music has found broad appeal outside of the avant-garde, most notably his magnificent remix of Jose Larralde's "Quimey Neuquen" which was heavily featured in 2013 as part of the final season of the critically acclaimed television series Breaking Bad. Fans of the show undoubtedly remember Walter White burying his millions in the desert, soundtracked by the wide and gentle grooves of Chancha Via Circuito.

Amansara is a natural progressing of Chancha's special strain of electronic South America. Lead single "Coplita" features the haunting vocals of previous collaborator Miram Garcia, while "Sueno En Paraguay" merges Andean folklore sounds with bleeps and blips and pounding drums in a way that sounds completely natural and ordained. "Jardines" features the driving vocals of Lido Pimienta merging with heavy synths, percussion and bells into an unforgettable track, while both "Tarocchi" and "Guajaca" ramp things up into deep, electronic dancefloor inna rainforest territory.

Art for Amansara comes from Argentinian psychedelic folklore painter Paula Duro who has crafted the look of all of Chancha's previous releases.

Believed to have been recorded in 1983, ‘O Filho Do Homem’ is a newly discovered and previously unreleased single by the late Brazilian composer and keyboardist Ana Mazzotti. Though it’s her only known studio recording of the decade, ‘O Filho Do Homem’ is one of several unreleased compositions Mazzotti and her band performed on TV Cultura and Programa MPB during the 80s.*

These performances showed Mazzotti had transitioned towards a harder edged and more daringly experimental sound in this period, while keeping the core components of samba, jazz and funk that characterised her two studio albums from the 1970s, Ninguem Vai Me Segurar (1974) and the self titled Ana Mazzotti (1977). This evolved 80s sound had evidently taken a similar path to that of her contemporaries and mentors, like Azymuth, whose keyboardist José Roberto Bertrami arranged her debut album, and Hermeto Pascoal who described her as “a super musician.”

Following the resurgence in appreciation for Ana’s music that arose from the 2019 reissues of her two studio albums, her son Toni Mazzotti was compelled to re-examine the archive of artefacts he’d inherited from his parents. Amongst the LPs, chord sheets, photos and VHS recordings, Toni stumbled upon a mysterious reel of tape, which he swiftly dispatched to the Far Out office in London. Toni and the Far Out team were delighted to discover the mystery tape was a hazy jazz-funk gem recorded by his mother (and father, drummer Romildo Santos) during the twilight of her short career; Ana Mazzotti sadly passed away in 1988 from lung cancer at the age of just 37. Aside from Ana on keyboards and vocals and Romildo who produced and played drums on all of Ana’s recordings, the line-up for the quartet is unknown.

“O Filho Do Homem” will be released on 7” vinyl and digitally on the 10th December 2021 via Far Out Recordings.

If it wasn't for the global lockdown, we might never have had the chance to hear one of this year's most intriguing and inventive albums. Lonely Guest was conceived and put together over the last 18 months by one of British music's true innovators: Tricky. Bu tas he's keen to make clear: this ain't noTricky album. Rather it's a thrilling meeting of musical mavericks, with the likes Idles' JoeTalbot pitting his unique approaches to songwriting against Tricky's otherworldly production. From an unsettling tale of isolation courtesy of Maxïmo Park's Paul Smith ('Christmas Trees') to the grunge stylings of Marta's 'Move Me', via the tense storytelling of London rapper Kway's 'On A Move', these diverse statements come together as a bold artistic statement of their own. The late artistic visionary and legend Lee "Scratch" Perry features vocals on 'Atmosphere' with Tricky and Marta. It is with great sadness that Tricky and the False Idols team acknowledge and honour Lee "Scratch"Perry's passing.

A live experience on its own! A never before released live recording from the Lady Soul ! On July 21 1970 Aretha Franklin made her appearance at the great Antibes Jazz Festival in the south of France. At the head of a twelve piece backing band, "Lady Soul" gave a great performance based on a fine set-list full of hits such as "You Send Me", "Dr. Feelgood", Spirit in the Dark and a couple of tributes to "British Pop", via two heartfelt renditions of the Stones's "Satisfaction" and the Beatles's "Eleanor Rigby".

Aretha Franklin (Piano, Vocals)
Donald Towns, John Wilson, Charles Horse & Clay Robinson (Trumpet)
Chancey Outcalt & René Pitts (Trombone)
Louis Barnett, Miller Brisker, Donald Walden & Charlie Gabriel (Saxophone)
Truman Thomas (Organ)
Ted Sheely (Piano)
Leslie Harvey (Guitar)
Melvin Jackson (Bass)
Hindel Butts (Drums)
Evelyn Green, Almeta Latimer & Wyline Ivy (Backing Vocals)