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Zopelar arrives on Tartelet with Charme - an album of effervescent machine funk harking back to a golden era of Brazilian party music, releasing October 21st.

The era of interest for Sao Paulo’s Pedro Zopelar begins in the 1980s in Rio de Janeiro, when a particular phenomenon caught on at suburban parties which became known as Charme. “Charme was like a mix of slow boogie, RnB and new jack swing,” explains Zopelar. “DJ Corello started calling ‘charme’ the moment of the party when he played slow grooves and felt that the people started dancing differently, with sexier synchronized moves. Some years later, charme evolved from an awaited moment of a night to a whole movement of parties just playing that kind of music. On this record I tried to make something that brings this emotional feeling to my music in a modern way.”

Much like the original genre-not-genre he drew inspiration from, Zopelar’s approach across his latest LP spans different moods and tempos. There’s blissful, sultry mystery lingering around ‘Clara’ and ‘Do You Feel?’ while OSAGIE lends some chops to the exquisite, Rompler-powered synth funk of ‘Chain Net’. The lead singles ‘Shibuya’, ‘Charme’ and ‘Passado’ all tap into varying shades of deep house, from slinky City Pop-tinted loungers to peak-time dance pop and Larry Heard-influenced flavours, with the constant being Zopelar’s immaculate production and the unbridled warmth of his compositions.

Continuing the Latin-rooted theme of the album, the artworkconception of Charme was realized by multidisciplinary artist and curator Ode, showcasing a popular style of street paintings made by anonymous artists throughout Latin America. It’s not about graffiti-culture but a popular solution utilized by small restaurants, bars and other establishments to use their own walls for commercial purposes, hiring artists to paint food and drink menus or other information about their products.

With an emotional sincerity stemming from his move to reconnect with the Brazilian dimension of his creative background, Charme arrives as Zopelar’s heartfelt celebration of life and music, of sentimental moments shared and good times enjoyed.

Sarathy Korwar returns with new album KALAK. The follow up to the politically charged, award-winning More Arriving is an Indo-futurist manifesto - in rhythmic step with the past and the present, it sets out to describe a route forward. It celebrates a rich South Asian culture of music and literature, which resonates with spirituality and community, while envisaging a better future from those building blocks. Recorded at Real World studios with meticulous production by New York electronic musician, DJ and producer Photay, who translates these communal rhythms and practices into a timeless and groundbreaking electronic record. There"s a spirituality and warmth at play in the polyrhythms, group vocals and melodic flourishes. The KALAK rhythm is the fulcrum upon which the 11-track project balances. After an intense lockdown induced period of reflection and meticulous note-making, Korwar boiled this down to the circular KALAK symbol which he then presented to his band before recording began. With the symbol projected on the walls in order to de-code and improvise around, Korwar had utter faith in the musicians he"d assembled and conviction in the concept.

…If I Die, I Die was released only weeks before the Heresie box set. The two albums show very different faces of the Virgin Prunes – one that explored mythical worlds and another that showed their surrealistic interest in the creative power of insanity. They also highlight the ways in which the band enjoyed experimenting with different genres, sound forms and recording techniques. As Friday has commented recently, ‘The Virgin Prunes contained four different bands at the same time.’

The album was recorded at the Windmill Studios in Dublin in the summer of 1982 and produced by Wire’s Colin Newman. Rather than adopt an A/B format, the sides of the 1982 vinyl and album cover, which was designed by Steve Averill, were given brown and blue colours, signalling earth and sky respectively. The art work on each side of the sleeve was also inverted so that either side could be read as the front cover. Ursula Steiger’s photography captured, on the brown side, the band running through a forest like a nomadic tribe. On the blue side we then find them in different costumes, performing with fire and mannequins within a derelict building.

This 40th Anniversary Edition of the album sees a full remaster housed in a Limited Edition Special Finish Gatefold Sleeve on Transparent Vinyl. This Deluxe LP also comes with a 16 page booklet featuring sleeve notes by Dr. Jonathan Wood exploring the writing, recording and production of the record. Plus an exclusive 12x12 Art Print. The album is also available as 2CD Mediabook & Digital Deluxe.

Anyone who's cast even the most casual eye over their ever expanding catalogue will have realised that one thing Past Inside The Present do best is bring artists together for unexpected and inspired collaborations. Departing in Descent is the first collaboration between James Bernard and Bvdub but their creative conversation effectively started as far back as 1994 when the latter bought Bernard's Atmospherics album in 1994 when it was "mistakenly stocked" in his local house music store. He says it was and remains his favourite ambient album, so when the pair found themselves crossing paths for one night in LA years later, a collaboration was the only logical conclusion. The results are more organic and friendly on the ear than some ambient offerings, with real instrumentation meshed with walls of woozy synths and delays, but no less fantastical and ambitious for it.

Library Music: Volume One is a sixteen track double LP collecting the North London drone pop band’s 7” singles, one-offs and compilation tracks spanning the first 14 years of the group’s existence. It includes synth pop, indie fuzz and moody motorik workouts, alongside pastoral folk sketches, dubby electronics and the occasional drone experiment. More immediate than their stretched out and slow-burning recent album tracks, the music here is taken from limited vinyl releases, album bonus tracks and music for compilations on labels as diverse as Bezirk Tapes, Second Language, Modern Aviation, and Concrete Tapes as well as the band’s current home, Where It’s At Is Where You Are. The compilation is a happily cohesive document of an inventive band that rarely stand still for long. The band says, “We wanted to gather all our early, scattered work before we move on to our next album, to remind ourselves (and others) of some of the poppier and less characteristic things we’ve done. We’ve always felt a lot more relaxed and freer making one off things for people – it’s a chance to try things that might otherwise be daunting on a full record”. Always a prolific group this is by no means an exhaustive collection, the title giving a clue to how much more they have left to share. “We have been introduced to loads of bands that we love initially through non-album compilations – Broadcast, The Chills, Stereolab, Piano Magic, Flying Saucer Attack amongst others – we wanted to add our own to that (admittedly slightly daunting) lineage.” The Leaf Library are formed around the core group of singer Kate Gibson, former Saloon and Singing Adams guitarist Matt Ashton, guitarist SJ Nelson, drummer Lewis Young and bass player Gareth Jones. They have released three studio albums (Daylight Versions, About Minerals and The World Is A Bell) as well a number of electronic and experimental albums and EPs, remix compilations and long form tracks. They have also released five Monument CDRs; an on-going series of experimental solo and side projects on their Objects Forever imprint. The band have collaborated with musicians as diverse as Alasdair MacLean of The Clientele, singer Ed Dowie, noise group Far Rainbow and string collective Iskra Strings, and have provided music for a number of exhibitions, films and performances. A collaborative album with Japanese artist Teruyuki Kurihara is due in late 2022 on the Mille Plateaux label. Tracklisting: 01 Agnes In The Square 02 Goodbye Four Walls 03 City In Reverse 04 Walking Backwards 05 Soundings 06 Diagram Loop 07 The Greater Good 08 Losing Places (ISAN Remix) 09 A Stone In Water 10 Architect Of The Moon 11 Tired Ghost 12 The Still Point 13 Wave Of Translation 14 Badminton House 15 Tranquility Bass 16 A Gap In The Trees

Moody Blue Vinyl. RIYL: Codeine, Mazzy Star, Bedhead, Red House Painters, Low & American Music Club. Previously unreleased 16-track recordings that predates Spain’s 1995's landmark “The Blue Moods Of Spain". Includes original studio version of "World Of Blue" featuring Petra Haden on violin. Re-mixed and re-imagined by Kramer for Shimmy-Disc. The LP “World of Blue” features Merlo Podlewski on guitar. I first met Merlo in 1994. My sister Rachel Haden, who had been working with him at the Rhino Records store in Westwood, knew I was looking for a new guitarist for my band, and introduced us. Merlo is one of those guitarists whose playing is so smooth and effortless he makes anyone feel like they can play. He had an instinctual grasp of harmony and theory, which brought a great counterpoint to the technical knowledge and finesse of lead guitarist Ken. Spain played their first official L.A. gig with Merlo at a club called Pan, which shortly thereafter changed its name to Spaceland. We opened for Beck and That Dog. We played at Spaceland a lot and at other small clubs and coffee joints like the Troy Cafe (owned by Beck’s mom), Congo Square Coffee House in Santa Monica, Alligator Lounge, and others. At a certain point that year we were ready to record our first 7” single, and I reserved some time at Poop Alley. Poop Alley didn’t seem like the ideal recording setting. The walls and floors were made of concrete, and there was no soundproofing. The mixing board was in a loft up this steep staircase with no guard rails. But it worked somehow. On the particular day we recorded basics there was a rain storm which you can clearly hear in the background. The ceiling was so high there almost wasn’t a ceiling. A steep curving staircase with no guardrail led up to a loft area where the console was located, and next to it, on a custom-built, guardrail-less ledge, a queen-sized bed where Tom slept. I paid for the session with weed I grew in my closet. We set up and it started raining. Tom put a microphone outside. After tracking was finished, Petra came over and overdubbed violin. There was a cushioned area where I remember sitting during mixdown. We stayed good friends with Tom. We recorded a couple more songs with him the following year. Tom recorded lots of bands at Poop Alley. My sisters’ band That Dog, Beck, the Rentals, Rod Poole, Tom’s band Waldo the Dog Faced Boy, and many others. There were parties in the alley. There would be a keg of beer. Everyone was well-behaved. The most dangerous it got was when Kenny asked Beck if he was a Scientologist. I remember laughter and happiness the most from those parties. Not long afterwards Tom shut down the studio. Luckily for us, the tapes still exist. On those tapes are five songs, all of which are represented here. “I Lied” and “Her Used-To-Been” were released on the 7”, the remaining three have never been released before now. I can’t remember who I sent copies of the 7” to but shortly after it came out I got a call from an A&R executive at Geffen inviting me to their offices to talk. “I love your songs,” I remember him saying to me, “but my boss David Geffen won’t let me sign you because he doesn’t know how to market you.” Eventually a label that did want to sign us got in touch with me. Restless Records, they had decent distribution, so I said to myself, “Why not?”. This eventually led to the recording that produced our debut LP “Blue Moods of Spain”. Track listing: A1. Her Used-To-Been A2. Phone Machine A3. I Lied B1. Dreaming of Love B2. World of Blue

"The LP "World of Blue" features Merlo Podlewski on guitar. I first met Merlo in 1994. My sister Rachel Haden, who had been working with him at the Rhino Records store in Westwood, knew I was looking for a new guitarist for my band, and introduced us. Merlo is one of those guitarists whose playing is so smooth and effortless he makes anyone feel like they can play. He had an instinctual grasp of harmony and theory, which brought a great counterpoint to the technical knowledge and finesse of lead guitarist Ken. At a certain point that year we were ready to record our first 7" single, and I reserved some time at Poop Alley. Tom Grimley converted an auto-repair shop into Poop Alley Studio. The walls and floors were made of concrete, and there was no soundproofing. The mixing board was in a loft up this steep staircase with no guard rails. But it worked somehow. On the particular day we recorded basics there was a rain storm which you can clearly hear in the background. We set up and it started raining. Tom put a microphone outside. After tracking was finished, Petra came over and overdubbed violin. There was a cushioned area where I remember sitting during mixdown. There were little stacks of Aphex 16-track tape everywhere. We stayed good friends with Tom. We recorded a couple more songs with him the following year. Luckily for us, the tapes still exist. On those tapes are five songs, all of which are represented here. "I Lied" and "Her Used-To-Been" were released on the 7", the remaining three have never been released before now." - Josh Haden

Giorgia Angiuli’s 13 track album ‘Quantum Love’ on her UNITED label combines and contrasts fast, insistent dance beats with her signature melodic synths and dreamy lyrics; ‘an eclectic work including piano downtempo tracks and techno melodic tracks with ethereal vocals’ (Angiuli).

The multi-talented live artist/DJ/producer/vocalist/lyricist and studio-building tech wizard used lockdown as a creative nexus. Einstein’s ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge’ led her to explore quantum physics, while her first India tour inspired ongoing interest in sound meditation and philosophy, culminating in the LP.

‘Quantum Love’ has many moods and speeds; physics and philosophy, contemplative and full-on fast, sweet vocals, meaningful lyrics or purely instrumental, it’s all there. ‘’Quantum Love’ is my inner soundtrack to my recent transformation, summarized in the following sentences: we are made of energy, everything is vibration. We are each our own placebo, happiness can be a choice, we have all the elements inside us for the right path. Nature can teach us everything.’ (Giorgia Angiuli)


Press:

DJ Mag Feature

Flow Music Interview

DJ Mag Post

Four Four Magazine News Piece


DJ Feedback:

Sasha (Last Night On Earth) - solid!

Guy Mantzur (Kompakt, Bedrock, Lost & Found, Sudbeat) - love them all

Anthony Pappa (Selador) - The Timo Maas Remix is excellent.

AFFKT (Sincopat) - Superb remixes!

Fur Coat (Oddity / Delete) - Nice Armonica and Glowal remixes

Israel Sunshine (Fur Coat / Oddity) - Great job! digging all tracks specially Timo and Glowal

Animal Trainer (Mobilee / Stil Vor Talent) - fab remix by Armonica!

Dee Montero (Knee Deep in Sound, Selador Recordings, Anjunadeep) - Timo Maas mix for me

Siavash (You Plus One) - Glowal mix takes the cake in this ep

Chris Fortier (Thoughtless / Sullivan Room / Balance) - super super

Pisetzky (JUST THIS / Last Night On Earth / Oddity) - amazing giu

Sinca (Anjunadeep) - Great remix ep

James Trystan (Suara / Bedrock) - Feeling this!!! Timo Maas for me

Henri Bergmann (Automatik) - armonica always!

Cesar Romero (Simply City) nice!

juSt b (Bedrock / Configurations of Self) nice release, love the key work and vox.

Nhii (No Human Is Illegal) (Sounds of Khemit / Stil Vor / Kindisch) - Timo Maas remix right up my alley!

Greg Puciato, the enigmatic singer known for his diverse list of projects, from the incendiary The Dillinger Escape Plan to the brutalist electro-pop outfit The Black Queen and the unabashedly thrashy Killer Be Killed, releases his debut solo album, Child Soldier: Creator of God this Autumn via Federal Prisoner. The Los Angeles-based singer premiered the single “Fire For Water” on BBC Radio 1’s Rock Show with Daniel P. Carter and followed with the debut of a video for the three-minute track via Revolver. The video was edited and directed by Puciato and fine artist Jesse Draxler, Puciato’s Federal Prisoner co-founder. Puciato played all of the instruments on the song with the exception of drums, which were done by Chris Pennie (the last original material the pair worked on together was The Dillinger Escape Plan’s 2004 Miss Machine), who also contributed additional programming. “I started writing in May or so of 2019, for what I thought would be the next Black Queen album, except that’s not at all what came out. So, just like with everything else that’s been born from necessity, it felt like the right time to create a home for anything that I do that didn’t fit neatly under any other existing roof. The misfits needed a place to go,” explains Puciato about releasing his first solo album.

As this album represents a spiritual return to a foundational past, sonically this record is likewise about going back to our fundamentals and our roots; when Eon and I were two kids with guitars in a bedroom figuring out some songs. Our last album, Mass, featured so many parts. We recorded it in New Orleans at Preservation Hall with a thirteen-piece horn section, percussionists, strings, etc. For the most part, it’s tough to find any guitar on the record. So we decided to simplify and reconnect with what inspired us. We kept the ingredients limited, the palate simple. We went back to our beginnings and rediscovered the joy of just playing on an acoustic, and a bass through a small amp, with a vocal. We spent our days like we used to when we were younger. We hung out and talked about music. If it was sunny we went to the beach. We played some tennis. Then in the afternoon we might play through some ideas. If it sounded good in the front room of the house, we took it to the studio.

New pressing on Opaque Natural Vinyl. For Fans Of... Durand Jones & The Indications, Tame Impala, Temples, Lee Fields. Monophonics cordially invite you to attend the grand re-opening of the once thriving, once vibrant establishment, the legendary Sage Motel. A place where folks experience the highs and lows of human existence. A place where big dreams and broken hearts live, where people arrive at without ever knowing how they got there. It's where folks find themselves at a crossroads in life. So join us as we examine where the stories are told and experiences unfold..... and sink into a soft pillow of soulful psychedelia.....down at the Sage Motel. Sage Motel, Monophonics' fifth studio album since 2012, tells its story. Once again produced by brilliant bandleader Kelly Finnigan, the album captures a timeless sound that blends heavy soul with psych-rock. With their previous album, It’s Only Us, selling over 10,000 physical units and garnering over 20 million streams, Monophonics have built a reputation over the past decade as one of the most impactful bands in the country. If these walls of the Sage Motel could talk, this is what they'd say. So join us as we examine where the stories are told and experiences unfold.....and sink into a soft pillow of soulful psychedelia.....down at the Sage Motel. Tracks 1. Check In 2. Sage Motel 3.Let That Sink In 4.The Shape of My Teardrops 5. Broken Boundaries 6. Love You Better 7. Never Stop Saying These Words 8. Warpaint 9. Crash & Burn 10. Check Out

2022 Repress

Feel Fly is the alter ego of Daniele Tomassini: DJ and producer, composer of sound for theater and cinema, member of multiple hybrid projects, both live and studio. Based in Perugia (IT), the co-founder of the monthly party Afro Templum, has been for years an active organizer of musical and cultural events in the underground city scene. Raised between the walls of the historical and transversal Norman Club, he is currently a resident of the Tangram and Numbers parties at Perugia’s Urban Club, which led him to share the console with many important national and international artists. An avid collector of synths, keyboards and any noisy toy he can lay his hand on, after appearances on on “Roots Underground” and his own"Too Romantic” it’s now time for his first full length release “Syrius” on “Internasjonal” co-produced and mixed by Prins Thomas. “In the mystical crescendo of soft cosmic-melodic carpets and expansive Balearic pulses, Feel Fly tinges his sounds with Neo Disco, House, Synth-pop and Italo incursions. A slow pilgrimage permeated by immersive and dreamy beats that envelop you .” Prins Thomas , April 2019

Drawing the night in around his private, unnerving vigil, Ellis Swan returns to Quindi Records with an album of cracked beauty and haunted balladry. The Chicago-based singer-songwriter debuted on the label last year with a collaborative project called Dead Bandit, a vividly produced instrumental set in thrall to the badlands and a laconic, languid Americana.

Under his own name, Swan records intimate, poetic songs in a stark fashion, so fragile they might disintegrate in between your fingers were you to pick them up. He draws the microphone close to pick up every whisper and drags the music through layer upon layer of tape fuzz, leaving room for atmospheric impressions which loom out of the walls like the ghosts of past misdeeds. These pieces play on the natural distortion and delirium which occurs at the farthest end of the night - the hour before dawn might hope to break the veil of darkness.

Swan's is a hauntological sound, but like the late Israeli rockabilly icon Charlie Megira his process strikes a spooked tone past revivalism and out of time or place. The only anchor which places Swan anywhere is the subtle presence of Katherine Swan providing lyrics to '3am' and lyrics and backing vocals to 'It Could Be Worse'.

The impression cast is of one man and his guitar, but there are other textures tucked into the music - the muffled murmur of a drum machine or a low frequency organ hum, some desolate piano, other treated percussive impulses which might well have been the work of incidental sprites while the four-track was rolling.

There are fuller cuts like 'Evening Sun' and the title track '3am' which play with structural dynamics and creep out of the shadows a touch, while passages of plaintive, instrumental unease such as the hypnotic, mantra-like 'Chinatown' protract the space between songs. 'Swing' lolls between moments of bottomless silence and a discernible, rickety funk, and 'Puppeteers Tears' teases out a buried drama. But primarily, it's the light touch of 'Horses Bones' and tin can tenderness of 'She's My Sweet Summer Storm' which spell out the spellbinding character of 3am; a singular creation fusing the best qualities of folk, blues and Americana with a fearlessly experimental sound palette.

2 x 180 g LP + CD , Gatefold,

Mit über 20 Millionen verkauften Alben weltweit, unzähligen Auszeichnungen und einer Karriere, die sich nicht nur über mehrere Genres erstreckt, sondern auch deren Verlauf geprägt hat, sind QUEENSRYCHE nach wie vor eine Größe für sich. "Digital Noise Alliance", das 16. Studioalbum von QUEENSRYCHE und das vierte unter der Leitung von Gründungsgitarrist Michael Wilton, Sänger Todd LaTorre und Bassist Eddie Jackson, setzt das sich ständig weiterentwickelnde Vermächtnis der aus Bellvue, Washington, stammenden Band fort, das 1982 mit ihrer viel beachteten, selbstbetitelten 4-Song-EP begann. Ihre jüngste US-Tournee mit Judas Priest bewies, dass die Zeit, welche die Band abseits der Straße und im Studio verbrachte, ihren Ehrgeiz und ihr Feuer nur weiter anheizte. "Digital Noise Alliance", das erneut mit Produzent Zeuss (Rob Zombie, Hatebreed) eingespielt wurde, blickt nicht nur auf die vergangenen Erfolge von QUEENSRYCHE zurück, sondern auch in die Zukunft der Band: Vom frenetischen Opener "In Extremis" über das nachdenkliche "Forest" bis hin zu "Behind The Walls", das an QUEENSRYCHE-Klassiker und genreprägende Alben wie "Operation: Mindcrime" und "Empire" erinnert. "Digital Noise Alliance" ist QUEENSRYCHE, die mühelos all ihre Stärken ausspielen - unmittelbar und zum Nachdenken anregend. Durch und durch QUEENSRYCHE eben.

For its latest album, Pirate Radio / Radio Pirata (Thirty Tigers), the band collaborated with major songwriters such as Blair Daly, Zac Maloy, and Sam Hollander for a triumphant and empowering collection of rock fused with an accessible pop structure and some of the everyday heart infused by Nashville’s country sound. “On this album, I’m free, and I can say things I was scared to say before. People deserve hope, and this record spreads a message,” Diaz says. The 11-song album will be released in English and Spanish—a unique feat for a rock release. SLP’s sophomore American release, Pirate Radio / Radio Pirata, is an artistic and personal milestone for the group. It is a concept album that loosely mirrors SLP’s journey to be artistically liberated against a stifling government regime, and the story unfolds with theatrical grandeur. The album’s unique melding of ultra-hooky choruses with ethereal ambience and passionate vocals and lyrics recalls such diverse artists as Paramore, Muse, and Olivia Rodrigo.

For its latest album, Pirate Radio / Radio Pirata (Thirty Tigers), the band collaborated with major songwriters such as Blair Daly, Zac Maloy, and Sam Hollander for a triumphant and empowering collection of rock fused with an accessible pop structure and some of the everyday heart infused by Nashville’s country sound. “On this album, I’m free, and I can say things I was scared to say before. People deserve hope, and this record spreads a message,” Diaz says. The 11-song album will be released in English and Spanish—a unique feat for a rock release. SLP’s sophomore American release, Pirate Radio / Radio Pirata, is an artistic and personal milestone for the group. It is a concept album that loosely mirrors SLP’s journey to be artistically liberated against a stifling government regime, and the story unfolds with theatrical grandeur. The album’s unique melding of ultra-hooky choruses with ethereal ambience and passionate vocals and lyrics recalls such diverse artists as Paramore, Muse, and Olivia Rodrigo.

The End of the Ocean has joined forces with Post Recordings to offer up a revisited and remastered version of In Excelsis. This one comes on lovely 180 gram coloured vinyl and is limited to 200 copies. It is a classic bit of post-rock that is notable not only for the musicianship, complex songwriting and subtle pop sensibilities in a monist the big walls of fuzzy and textural guitars but also because the band had two female members. The Columbus, Ohio outfit dropped the album originally in June of 2012 but the ensuing decade has done nothing to diminish its charms nor originality,

Still Wednesday is the 5th album in the annual release of the Chris Webby Wednesday series. The series, which began in 2017, begins with the release of a song every 2 weeks beginning in April and culminates with the album release in December. Still Wednesday boasts potentially the strongest line up Chris Webby put together. The album features the single “We Up” featuring the DMX in an officially cleared verse and the last feature the late rapper recorded. The album also features Tory Lanez, Dizzy Wright, Millyz, Young M.A, Jarren Benton, Futuristic, Locksmith, Apathy and more! Tracks: A1. Pearly Gates A2. We Up (feat. DMX) A3. Whippin (feat. Young M.A) A4. Humble Giant A5. GO! (feat. ANoyd & Jitta On The Track) A6. Narco (feat. Millyz) B1. Arabian Nights (feat. Bria Lee) B2. Ex-Men (feat. Tory Lanez) B3. Word on Lock B4. Walls (feat. Skirzzly Adams) B5. Animals B6. Lullaby (feat. Bria Lee) C1. Raw Thoughts V C2. Politically Incorrect (feat. Nems) C3. Burn (feat. Locksmith & Apathy) C4. Playground D1. Def Jam Vendetta (feat. Jarren Benton) D2. Backdoor (feat. Dizzy Wright & Futuristic) D2. Lord Knows (feat. Justin Clancy) D3. Way Home

Los Cotopla Boyz: Millennial Cumbia For The End Of The World. The newest psychedelic space ranger Cumbia band from Bogotá's infamous DIY scene have been sent to earth to save the party! Los Cotopla Boyz make the walls sweat, they set fire to your feet on the dance floor. It all started in Bogotá, which you might say is the tropicanibal venue par excellence, a place that has brought life to acts like Frente Cumbiero, Los Meridian Brothers, Romperayo, Chúpame el dedo, Dub de Gaita, Los Pirañas, Onda trópica and León Pardo, among other eccentricities that have taken the world and stand out not only for their virtuosity but also the connection that lives between that salvaging of traditional folklore and lysergic futurism that expands hypnotically around the world. From this musical hotbed that emerged in the second decade of the new millennium, there is now a new generation to continue the tropicanibal scene, with groups such as La Sonora Mazurén, La Tromba Bacalao, Los Yoryis, El Conjunto Media Luna and, of course, Los Cotopla Boyz, a five-piece that formed in Bogotá in 2018 but inhabit a post-pandemic dystopian multiverse where their mission is to save the party. So their live performances have that illusion of frantic Power Rangers singing about their adventures, as if these were epic chants, except instead of heroic feats they sing with humor about their everyday lives, like the drama “N’sync” about that chat where they leave you on read, or “Me Malviajé con las Ganlletas” about the hallucinogenic experimentation of ingesting cannabis and flipping out. These experiences also lead to songs like the clumsy love lost of “Dama tu Wasap,” the cathartic “Tren de Cotopla” and the ode to excess that is “Raspafiestas,” that moment in your life when the night seems eternal and you only want to go from one party to the next until the world ends. These songs, together with “Plankton (Abanico Sanyo)” and “El Peruanito” are part of Mamarron, Vol. 1, a compilation of seven millennial cannon shots inspired by Los Mirlos, Los Hechizeros Band, Anan, Wendy Sulca, La Sonora Cordobesa, Bad Bunny, Yandel and Los Corraleros de Majagual, tracks laid down on their debut record that saw the light in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic and will be re-released in 2022 by AYA records (ZZK Records imprint.) As well as being pressed on vinyl the album will include the bonus track “El Peruanito” remixed by Colombian producer Santiago Navas and taken from Mamarrón, Vol. 2, their album of remixes by figures such as Frente Cumbiero, Cerrero, Prendida, Sonido Confirmación, DJ Rata Piano and Felipe Orjuela, local producers and musicians with a global scope and vision who expand the raspafiesta universe to the limits of the world. Los Cotopla Boyz are a sweaty, schizophrenic cumbia experience that has been witnessed by emerging Bogotá clubs like Matik-Matik, Boogaloop, El Chamán, Tejo Turmequé, Videoclub and the festival Hermoso Ruido, providing nights of wild abandon to the beat of an outrageous big cumbia sound, a ritual of release giving those present a maximum catharsis that has no compare, not even the most animalistic moves of any metaller shaking his powerful mane. Los Cotopla make the walls sweat, they set fire to your feet on the dancefloor, drawing amorphous moves from their fans on exquisite nights. Tracks SIDE A: 1. Plankton (Abanico Sanyo) 2. El Peruanito 3. Dame tu Wasap 4. N’sync SIDE B: 1. Tren de Cotopla 2. Me Malviaje con Ganlletas 3. Raspafiestas 4. El Peruanito (Santiago Navas Remix)

Universally credited as the band that invented grindcore, it's no
exaggeration to say that Napalm Death are one of the most important
acts in metal history
Earache Records' third ever release (MOSH003), classic debut album 'Scum' had
an immediate, seismic impact in 1987 and its influence can still be felt far and
wide today. To celebrate its 35th anniversary, this essential album is repressed
with a limited-edition Blue colour sleeve. An absolute 'must have' for any heavy
metal collector. Pressed from the original master tapes, the album has been
specially recreated using 'fdr' – full dynamic range mastering - allowing the
music's nuances to shine through and giving the classic album a more ferocious
and dynamic sound, enabling the listener to immerse in the full audio heaviness
like never before.
LP Tracks: Multinational Corporations / Instinct of Survival / The Kill / Scum /
Caught in a Dream / Polluted Minds / Sacrificed / Siege of Power / Control / Born
On Your Knees / Human Garbage / You Suffer / Life? / Prison Without Walls /
Point of No Return / Negative Approach / Success? / Deceiver / C.S. / Parasites /
Pseudo Youth / Divine Death / As the Machine Rolls On / Common Enemy / Moral
Crusade / Stigmatized / M.A.D / Dragnet

Universally credited as the band that invented grindcore, it's no
exaggeration to say that Napalm Death are one of the most important
acts in metal history
Earache Records' third ever release (MOSH003), classic debut album 'Scum' had
an immediate, seismic impact in 1987 and its influence can still be felt far and
wide today. To celebrate its 35th anniversary, this essential album is repressed
with a limited-edition Blue colour sleeve. An absolute 'must have' for any heavy
metal collector. Pressed from the original master tapes, the album has been
specially recreated using 'fdr' – full dynamic range mastering - allowing the
music's nuances to shine through and giving the classic album a more ferocious
and dynamic sound, enabling the listener to immerse in the full audio heaviness
like never before.
LP Tracks: Multinational Corporations / Instinct of Survival / The Kill / Scum /
Caught in a Dream / Polluted Minds / Sacrificed / Siege of Power / Control / Born
On Your Knees / Human Garbage / You Suffer / Life? / Prison Without Walls /
Point of No Return / Negative Approach / Success? / Deceiver / C.S. / Parasites /
Pseudo Youth / Divine Death / As the Machine Rolls On / Common Enemy / Moral
Crusade / Stigmatized / M.A.D / Dragnet

Universally credited as the band that invented grindcore, it's no
exaggeration to say that Napalm Death are one of the most important
acts in metal history
Earache Records' third ever release (MOSH003), classic debut album 'Scum' had
an immediate, seismic impact in 1987 and its influence can still be felt far and
wide today. To celebrate its 35th anniversary, this essential album is repressed
with a limited-edition Blue colour sleeve. An absolute 'must have' for any heavy
metal collector. Pressed from the original master tapes, the album has been
specially recreated using 'fdr' – full dynamic range mastering - allowing the
music's nuances to shine through and giving the classic album a more ferocious
and dynamic sound, enabling the listener to immerse in the full audio heaviness
like never before.
LP Tracks: Multinational Corporations / Instinct of Survival / The Kill / Scum /
Caught in a Dream / Polluted Minds / Sacrificed / Siege of Power / Control / Born
On Your Knees / Human Garbage / You Suffer / Life? / Prison Without Walls /
Point of No Return / Negative Approach / Success? / Deceiver / C.S. / Parasites /
Pseudo Youth / Divine Death / As the Machine Rolls On / Common Enemy / Moral
Crusade / Stigmatized / M.A.D / Dragnet

Albert van Abbe & Jochem Paap join forces for General Audio.

Recorded at Willem Twee studios in Den Bosch, General Audio explores a unique and esoteric approach to sound creation. Using test and measure equipment from the 1950’s, originally designed for the maintenance of various audio and radio transmitters, van Abbe and Paap create otherworldly walls of sound and dense rhythmic abstractions with an early form of synthesis. Rudimentary signals are combined and processed before being committed to tape via mic’s set up to capture the Willem Twee studio’s unique acoustics. The equipment itself predates the invention of the analog, modular synthesizers developed in the 70’s that are now commonplace in many studios.

The record opens with 220Lock-in, a gently undulating drone composition. Effervescent at the top end and fathoms deep at the bottom, it shifts ominously with ring modulated tones that build and then give way to thick washes of white noise. A single synth flourish provides a surprising final moment. The record continues with WZ-1Wobbel Zusatz, a low-sunk percussive piece with an off-kilter rhythm and wet spring reverb doing the bulk of the sonic heavy lifting. Deep in the mix, delicate shifts in pitch and tone deliver a kind of arcane musicality, and as the recording approaches its final moments the piece descends into an exhilarating chaos, with sonic components falling slowly by the wayside. Pegelmesser riffs on a similar reverb characteristic, but this time a driven, arp-like lead propels the work forward. Crisp shifts in colour and distortion arrive unexpectedly, providing a curious musical sensation once more – and harsher moments of feedback break up the recording in its later stages. On Rel 3L 212c LC-pi the pair strip things back, with more present percussive components and subtle distortion lines, before Wandel ups the ante with a corrosive dirge broken up by sporadic submerged synth hits. The penultimate recording SR 250 Boxcar Averager shows off impressive pitch modulation, resulting in a variety of intriguing sensations. Cinematic and remarkably visual, it charts a strange and affecting course, the synth lead underpinned by a repetitive percussive motif and all manner of sends delivering fascinating details. Nim Bin closes the record and once more van Abbe and Paap invite that subtle musicality into the recording. A tight VCO modulation drives the piece while various percussive synth strikes provide a kind of rhythmic component, though they remain untethered to any time signature – a neat conclusion to an intriguing and exploratory record.

Written and Produced by Albert Van Abbe & Jochem Paap

AM006 is by Berlin's ML, titled 'Life always breaks your heart'. Two 30-minute pieces were written, constructed, collaged and fixed together by himself. It's an important story, so there's a copy from ML below and also ours was written by Bokeh Version Industrial to do it justice.

Hallucinated Brazilian poetry read by text to voice engines, supernatural thrillers ripped from Youtube, the clang of cutlery and distant canteen conversation, that noise wire fencing makes when you rake it with a stick, crickets chirping over odd dance emotions, a sample you think your recognise but can’t name…..

The trivial is cosmically important, the cosmically important is trivial. ‘It’s about the product’ - all of life’s a sample. You contain universes.

Alice in Wonderland, late night sessions with kosmische guitar legends, ethnographic chants from an unknown land, “There’s no monopoly of knowledge / there’s no monopoly of power”: forecasts from global political trends, China will be important they say, someone’s whistling a tune that doesn’t exist, I’m thinking of times long before I was born . . .

Growing naturally like a beautiful montage from his field recordings (a rich library of personal psychoacoustic details) and his 150 Session on NTS, ML's Life Always Breaks Your Heart is mixtape-concrète:

Gamelan of the soul, Bio-Curry-Wurst in Kreuzberg, zither overlays the booms of the squatter’s homegrade grenades…

Mark Leckey vs. Alvin Curran, Gustav Flaubert vs Cabaret Voltaire, free association flashbacks with the timestamps mixed up, with added bass guitar, OP-1, Ableton, distinguishing the ‘real’ instruments becomes unimportant….they’re absorbed by memory foam….

No country, no flag – outernational without a cause!

There is no purpose, there is only reverie.

ML -

"A useless ruin, things are falling apart, even in our deepest, we long for harmony. A hypothetical path, for obscure reasons, fades into transparency. The mediocrity of Western culture, sicken by P.R., life offers a chance, a place for enthusiasm. The texture of the world, them can read it in your eyes. In the heart of schizo-culture, distance, suddenly shortened, forms characters as symbols. Deafen by mass media, embittered by unsettled chemistry, the willing body, forever in transition. The pre-invented existence, owned by language, creates a passage towards chaos. Paragraphs of currents, amplify the feelings, while silence leaks into the new luxury of time. Gentrification of sentiments, beneath our palms, all these memoirs. A modern consciousness, stretching over years in narcissistic differentiation. In touch with another human spirit, blowing backwards, beneath dark waters. We put our hands on your body, onto a new landscape, employed by metaphysical mutations. At the edge of the cosmos, prairies and mountains hide the truth in tactical silence. Apparently so, a number of months ago, above our head, a landscape of journals. Mystical content, statistically insignificant. A new patio, them crawled through the walls."

Die Presse war sich bereits 2008 einig, dass Downburst ein echter Banger ist. Auch 14 Jahre nach Release steht Downburst für den Moment, in dem der typische, eigenständige Brainstorm-Sound geformt wurde. Grund genug, das Album endlich wieder auf Vinyl verfügbar zu machen.

Mit der Platte "Downburst" bekamen die BRAINSTORM-Fans, einen wahren Downburst vorgesetzt! Ein Manifest des Powermetals, für das auch die Presse nur lobende Worte fand! Dieses siebte Album klingt erdiger als seine Vorgänger, es verfügt über - Höllisch eingängige, dabei nie aufdringliche Hooklines, komplexes, thrashiges Riffing, orchestrale Klangtupfer - 100 Prozent in Brainstorm-Manier. Mittlerweile liegen 14 Jahre seit dem Release zurück und die einmalige Vinylauflage längst vergriffen. Das schreit doch nach einer Neuauflage dieses großartigen Klassikers! Brainstorm haben ein paar Songs der Platte sicherlich auch auf der "Brainrage"-Tour mit im Gepäck!

With their "wall of fuzz" - the Swedish duo NOVA BLAST have a strange
way of finding their way into the heart of different audiences
Whether it has been by opening for acclaimed lo-fi electro acts or breaking the
sound barrier at punk, doom and indie festivals, NOVA BLAST have made a mark.
On Eccolalia - their wonderfully loud, melodic, dynamic and long-awaited debut LP
- they continue to do so.
The album treats the time when lyricist and frontman Anti Zurowski was in
neuropsychological evaluation - it's a diary about Swedish mental health care,
forced medication, stigma and insomnia. The lyrics (in both Swedish and English)
are purposely dreamy, metaphorical, repetitive and shaped as dialogues to
capture the broad (and chaotic) range of his inner conversations. The same can
be said about the music with sudden shifts in dynamics and sensory stimulating
walls of reverb and distortion, a focus on bass/ mid glide chords and noise
crescendos. Limited Edition Blue and Pink color vinyl.

THE LONG AWAITED AND CONSTANTLY DELAYED LP VERSIONS ARE FINALLY AVAILABLE-

want to take you on a journey. Not to their Russian homeland, but beyond that, to a place not on any map where the trio’s dreamy “celestial blackgaze” can properly get beneath your skin and into your mind. With their fourth album, Istok, their first for Candlelight Records, they’re pushing even further into the unknown. The band formed in 2013 in Saint Petersburg, following the breakup of similarly blissful-minded outfit, Princ Persii. Though not wanting to limit themselves to a genre, the “celestial blackgaze” fit so well that it stuck – descriptive enough to catch their vibe, loose enough to have no walls. Available across 5 physical formats: CD / double transparent grey vinyl / double metallic ice vinyl / double baby blue vinyl / double black vinyl.

4 LP set is for Indies only until further notice. Unravelled: 1981–2002 shines a loving light on lo-fi pioneers Tall Dwarfs, the prized New Zealand duo of Chris Knox and Alec Bathgate. The collection, available as a 4-LP or 2-CD box set, compiles songs from Tall Dwarfs' two decades of recordings. The vinyl edition includes a 20-page collector's booklet of photos, comics, posters, and other ephemera. The songs on Unravelled: 1981–2002 were curated by Alec Bathgate, who also designed the box set packaging; Chris Knox suffered a debilitating stroke in 2009 just as they had started work on a new album. The collection captures the different sides of the Tall Dwarfs in 55 songs. Though the band was an excuse for two good friends who lived in different cities to get together, drink beer, watch shitty old movies, and do some recording and drawing, Tall Dwarfs created music unlike anyone else. Capturing the initial excitement of creation and taking pride in what they did, Knox and Bathgate showed a whole generation of musicians what could be done at home on a 4-track and what magic could be made if you mixed pop melodies and hooks galore with homemade sounds. After a failed flirtation with success in their previous band Toy Love, Knox and Bathgate formed Tall Dwarfs in 1981, opting to record themselves on a 4-track reel-to-reel. New Zealand’s AudioCulture wrote of the duo’s project: “Early live performances were a ramshackle work in progress. Knox described them in an interview with American magazine Forced Exposure as ‘two minutes of song followed by five minutes of fucking around,’ and they dismayed many Toy Love fans—but the pair had no interest in a career spent in pubs cranking out ‘Pull Down the Shades.’” Tall Dwarfs was meant to be a one-off, but after the founding of their New Zealand label Flying Nun, they continued to record music for the next 21 years, releasing seven EPs and six albums. Their process was spontaneous, with songs being recorded as they were written. Typically, Bathgate would work up something on guitar while Knox provided vocals, lyrics, and tape loops. Then they added any sounds that seemed necessary to finish a song, using whatever was lying around: pans, chairs, baby rattles. Though Tall Dwarfs could be weird, they were never too experimental; Knox and Bathgate both loved melody too much (“Beatlesque” appeared more often than any other adjective in their reviews).

The newest psychedelic space ranger Cumbia band from Bogotá's infamous DIY scene have been sent to earth to save the party! Los Cotopla Boyz make the walls sweat, they set fire to your feet on the dance floor. It all started in Bogotá, which you might say is the tropicanibal venue par excellence, a place that has brought life to acts like Frente Cumbiero, Los Meridian Brothers, Romperayo, Chúpame el dedo, Dub de Gaita, Los Pirañas, Onda trópica and León Pardo, among other eccentricities that have taken the world and stand out not only for their virtuosity but also the connection that lives between that salvaging of traditional folklore and lysergic futurism that expands hypnotically around the world. From this musical hotbed that emerged in the second decade of the new millennium, there is now a new generation to continue the tropicanibal scene, with groups such as La Sonora Mazurén, La Tromba Bacalao, Los Yoryis, El Conjunto Media Luna and, of course, Los Cotopla Boyz, a five-piece that formed in Bogotá in 2018 but inhabit a post-pandemic dystopian multiverse where their mission is to save the party. So their live performances have that illusion of frantic Power Rangers singing about their adventures, as if these were epic chants, except instead of heroic feats they sing with humor about their everyday lives. Mamarron, Vol. 1 consists of seven millennial cannon shots inspired by Los Mirlos, Los Hechizeros Band, Anan, Wendy Sulca, La Sonora Cordobesa, Bad Bunny, Yandel and Los Corraleros de Majagual. The tracks were laid down on their debut record that saw the light in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic and are now re-released in 2022 by ZZK Records imprint AYA records and being pressed on vinyl. The vinyl album also will include the bonus track "El Peruanito" remixed by Colombian producer Santiago Navas. Los Cotopla Boyz are a sweaty, schizophrenic cumbia experience that has been witnessed by emerging Bogotá clubs like Matik-Matik, Boogaloop, El Chamán, Tejo Turmequé, Videoclub and the festival Hermoso Ruido, providing nights of wild abandon to the beat of an outrageous big cumbia sound, a ritual of release giving those present a maximum catharsis that has no compare, not even the most animalistic moves of any metaller shaking his powerful mane. Los Cotopla make the walls sweat, they set fire to your feet on the dancefloor, drawing amorphous moves from their fans on exquisite nights.

"This album is intended to be a journey through every genre of music that I love the most. It was inspired through the use of a vast number of tools and foley recordings. As an artist I force myself to be versatile while keeping my own touch on the music I create. Much of the creative ideas behind this album were inspired by the feeling of loss, a loss of attachment to any of the restraints and walls I had created within my art. I am never pushing for a specific sound, I go with my subconscious flow. Once again my grandpa has continued to inspire me through his art. Every time I get to work with him I feel grateful. I am so lucky to have the chance to pair his art with mine."
--Chrizpy Chriz

BBC 6 MusicAlbum of the Yearas chosen by

DJ Craig Charles

★★★★Mojo

★★★★★Blues & Soul

★★★★★UK Vibe

9/10 DJ Mag (Single I Miss You)

"One of the very best soul voices I've heard for a very long time"

Craig Charles (BBC 6Music)

"Delivered with a vocal dripping with yearning and desperation"

4/5 Mojo

"A high octane soul masterpiece"

Blues & Soul,5/5Album of the Month

"Undoubtedly the album of the year"

5/5 UK Vibe

Burundian soul singer JP Bimeni is set to release his first music since his BBC 6 Music award winning album Free, from 2018. Give Me Hope is a slice of horn heavy, Afro tinged, Stax inspired soul and is the first taster of a new album set for release in early 2022

Give me Hope is the title track from his new album, featuring his band The Black Belts, set to drop on February 4thon Lovemonk Records.

A supremely funky number it boasts bassline and powerful horn arrangements, and gives a taster to a new work that dots between classic '60s Motown, psychedelia and Afro-funk.

“Total Terror” is the second of two self-released cassette tapes by EBM-industrial act Front Line Assembly. At this point, Bill Leeb was the band's only dedicated member, with some help from Rhys Fulber. Most of the original cassette was remixed and remastered to be commercially released on CD in 1993 as “Total Terror 1”. This edition added three previously-unreleased bonus tracks from other old sessions: "Freedom", "Distorted Vision" and "Cleanser”. The original recordings of these songs were done in 1986 using nothing more than a four track recording system. This would be quite primitive for today's standards and sound quality will not be so effective, however the ideas are all there letting us enjoy some of the first songs created by Front Line Assembly.

Deluxe re-release including all tracks from “Total Terror 1” plus the rare song “Eternal” and some bonus taken from old compilations. Limited pressing of 500 copies with double vinyl record, deluxe gatefold sleeve and new vintage artwork.

Hidden behind the walls lies a world of people, words, music and machines.

Yuna has arrived.

The Mystery Continues..

On the 10th anniversary of their eponymous debut release, The Oh Hellos put forth a limited-edition, vinyl-only reissue of The Oh Hellos EP. The package has been thoughtfully produced to celebrate the occasion, including new album art, embossed cover, 180g etched vinyl, hand-written lyrics, and individual numbering.

The album also includes a new, stripped-down acoustic version of “Hello My Old Heart” as a bonus track. Surrounded by the warmth of a crackling fireplace, The Oh Hellos invite you in for an intimate performance of their signature song.

"Listening to this EP is like time traveling, for us. Suddenly we’re back in the house we grew up in, all the furniture shoved up against the walls of an old bedroom so the guitars and drum set would fit.

Decomposed recalls classic American hardcore like Bad Brains, Poison Idea and Jerry’s Kids or Japanese ragers like Paintbox, The Comes, Eiefits and Skizophrenia. But there’s also a healthy slug of classic UK and US punk and even a bit of Krautrock, psychedelia and Black Sabbath in there too. Nottingham has always been a melting pot for heavy music. For a small city, it has boasted more than its fair share of genre defining bands and artists, not to mention record labels. Bands cross-pollinate, form projects and offshoots and play one-off gigs that would result in lengthy careers and world tours if they had happened across the Atlantic. It has always been like that there. No big deal (but yet, a really big deal if you know). One such band/project/offshoot were Endless Grinning Skulls. Formed by guitarist Andy Morgan (also from Bloody Head, Army Of Flying Robots, Nadir and countless more), drummer Steve Charlesworth (Heresy, Wolves Of Greece, Meatfly, Geriatric Unit) and bassist Gords (Hard To Swallow, John Holmes, Geriatric Unit) in the early twenty-teens, they re-set the bar for the 3-piece hardcore band before (perhaps inevitably) burning out in 2018. Morgan and Charlesworth weren’t done though. They’d forged a bond in EGS and wanted to carry on playing together so - in a familiar Nottingham storyline - they recruited former Pitchshifter guitarist Stu Toolin on bass and Anmarie Spaziano (who you might know from running a famous burger joint) on vocals and formed Blind Eye. They knew Toolin was about to relocate to Portland, Oregon so they wrote and recorded an EP (released on Morgan’s own Viral Age Records). Quick-sharp. No messing about. And that – by rights – should have been that: over and out. New band please. However, the demo captured a rare intensity and vitality that more considered projects often fail to achieve. This was a band let loose, free from previous shackles and loving the noise they made. It seemed a shame to stop there. Recruiting Matt Grundy (a former bandmate of Morgan’s in both Nadir and Dead In The Woods) to the bass vacancy they went back to Stuck On A Name Studios in 2021 with Ian “Boulty” Boult at the helm again and delivered the album Decomposed.
Decomposed genuinely rocks out without losing one iota of the effervescent anger that made the demo such an essential listen. From the insistent, minimal opener Ready To Go Now via the unhinged thrash of Straw Man and the menace of the stomping Pero No Quieres, to the measured chugging and epic crescendo of closer Broken Star, this record is a fucking blast. Needle off, flip it back over, play it again. Your neighbours are loving it so much they’re banging on the walls to tell you. “I suppose the intention was to write high energy, catchy hardcore, with a nod to what has come before, but also to do our own thing,” explains Andy. “Lyrically, the album was written during the pandemic, and although it’s not ‘a pandemic album’, I think it deals with a lot of the feelings of loss, separation and isolation

The Woggles are proud to announce the release of “The Wicked Coolest Songs” which compiles “Coolest Songs of the Week” the Woggles have had on Little Steven’s Underground Garage, while on Wicked Cool Records. These tracks also coincide with the years that Flesh Hammer aka Jeff Walls was the guitar player in band. It has 12 tracks, with an insert featuring the Woggles pictured as 8" Mego styled dolls. Layout and design by Scott Sugiuchi and doll concept by by Austin Hough. All proceeds benefit the “Flesh Hammer Family Fund.” Jeff Walls passed away on May 29, 2019 from pancreatic cancer. As a member of the Woggles, he spread joy to people all over the planet. Let's join together to honor him by raising funds to help his family with the overwhelming medical expenses.

Tiptoe between the toadstools of Liverpool’s city parks, and amongst the foliage you might find a Strawberry Guy, contemplating his next chord-progression. Composing hi-fi symphonies from within his humble abode, the Welsh-born songwriter is ready to share the fruits of his labour with debut album Sun Outside My Window. A timeless vista of ethereal balladry looking towards 19th Century musical maestros and works of art, it brings new meaning to the term ‘Modern Classic’ and is the most optimistic of lockdown records yet.
“It’s about seeing the simple things in life and them making you happy,” tells Alex Stephens, the Guy behind the Strawberry. “I remember this day when I was really down… looking out the window, the sun beaming in was beautiful, it made me want to go outside – it was simple but made me so happy in that instance.”
A one-man impressionist, painting majestic soundscapes, Strawberry Guy blends truthful lyrics with lush arrangements to conjure new emotive worlds. Inspired by composers of the Romantic period, or Debussy, Ravel, and other classical artists of the 1800s, his wonderland moves like a Monet painting where arpeggios dance between meadows of dazzling dynamics and dramatic key changes. As former keyboard player of The Orielles and Trudy and The Romance, the light through his floor to ceiling windows has caused a dramatic Greenhouse Effect and now ripening on solo terms, his innocent uploads of ‘Without You’ and ‘F-Song’ comfort 2 million Spotify listeners a month. ‘Mrs Magic’ has received 40 million streams, landing at #13 in its chart and countless fan-created videos have appeared on YouTube. “Throughout history composers have tried to capture emotion, painting their own impressionist pictures with musical brush strokes… I guess I’m just trying to do the same and people enjoy that,” he suggests modestly.
Named by musical friends Her’s after his impeccable taste in milkshakes, Strawberry Guy upturns ‘bedroom artist’ perception, as each idea is crafted into a widescreen wonder where vocals tag-team instrumentals and countermelodies flourish within the Georgian walls of his Liverpool flat’s small space. “I want it to sound like I’ve squeezed an 80-piece orchestra into my room, and for listeners to wonder how all those strings got there,” he says. “Working on the 4-part harmonies, the orchestra became real; I began believing in myself.”
Imitating nature’s effect on emotion, like 70s songwriters, or the fantastical soundtracks accompanying vibrant scenes in the Japanese animated Studio Ghibli films and video games, landscape is brought to the fore. Monet’s picturesque Meadow at Giverny features as the album’s accompanying artwork – perhaps a reminder of the rural Welsh countryside views through his childhood home’s window; “I was inspired by how calm and peaceful the image felt. Its painted lines show real-life scenes in a magical way, which to me reflects my music.”
Just as the first Strawberry Guy EP Taking My Time To Be offered a slowing down for the soul, Sun Outside My Window is musically unhurried, written and recorded over 2 years. “Recording as a lone berry meant I could run with my emotions in the moment and deliver something true; it would have been an entirely different album had it been recorded in a studio,” he says.
Modern Classic? Only time will tell. For now this Guy’s happy-sad world is here to get the juices flowing and with, pandemic permitting, a US tour in 2022, life looks a whole lot sweeter. Until then, take it slow, be at one with the wilderness and remember, when life gives you lemons, swap them for Strawberries.

Another collaborative effort from the consistently fascinating US ambient kings Past Inside The President, this time with Hendrix - not that one - and Wayne Robert Thomas, whose atmospheric guitar-led work has featured several times on the label before. If the average ambient album has its head in the clouds, this is more grounding, more gamboling in the fields perhaps than floating in the ether, with gentle flute and guitar giving the walls of synth sounds some perspective. That said, the closing track of the four, 'Retract R (Type K)', sizzles away like something by Growing or even Spaceman 3 left to fry in the sun. Magnificent stuff..