Search:was a be

LP comes with 24 page 8.5x11 full color booklet. In the blurred and memorial hallways of bygone time, to remember is to wander between the rooms of our own experiences, to appear and disappear, like a play of overlapping shadows. In music set drifting through the architecture of his own memories, Moses Brown weaves a story that oscillates between the past and the present, like a mason turning over stones to reconstruct his childhood home in this beautiful and disquieting soundtrack to growing up. On Stone Upon Stone, Moses' first solo LP attributed to his given name after several releases under the brilliant and despondent "Peace de Resistance" moniker, he moves sidelong into the realm of soundtracks with this score to the construction of his childhood home in a story spanning 1993-2023. Laid out in lush and provocative minimalist instrumentals, the album unfolds a story about the planning, partial construction, and dissolution of a home in constant state of becoming through the lens of its only child, coming of age under flux. Influenced by the approach of friends and collaborators Straw Man Army's OST to Charles Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle, Stone Upon Stone was originally intended as a soundtrack to a novel of the same name by Wieslaw Mysliwski, an epic set in Poland about a family's construction of a mausoleum. Struck by the story's parallels with his own family's project, he got the idea to complete the work as a personal narrative. Created from layers of different mellotron voices then separated, re-amplified, and recorded as if they were a sitting chamber orchestra, the music eerily blurs the line between human and synthetic, giving way to something akin to a memory with it's blurriness of fact and fiction. In the same spirit of association, this record is certainly influenced by other minimalists working within the confines of "soundtrack", like Philip Glass' North Star and the film work of Michael Nyman. But Brown's soundtrack works within its own peculiar depth of field, living in the listener's imagination, thriving in its own sense of loneliness, aspiration, and confusion that only childhood can evoke. Listeners will feel the entropy of aging in Stone Upon Stone, like a memoir in cascading tones, that sets it apart from so much else in DIY music, and rewards with repeated listens. For Fans of Philip Glass, Kali Malone, Julius Eastman, Mica Levi, Roedelius.

Chickasha, Oklahoma is not a place known for producing a lot of original proto-punk bands. In fact, there is, to our knowledge, only one: Debris'. Formed in 1975 by bassist Chuck Ivey, guitarist Oliver "Rectomo" Powers and drummer Johnny Gregg, the trio created some of the most art-damaged outsider rock 'n' roll this side of MX-80 Sound.

When a local studio offered the package deal of ten hours for recording and mixing as well as pressing 1,000 LPs and two-color jackets, Debris' came in well-rehearsed – nailing all eleven of their songs in just one take. In April 1976, the same month as Ramones' debut album, Debris' would release their lone record onto the world.

Opener "One Way Spit" could easily be mistaken for a lost KBD single – from Chuck's bizarre count-in to the band's trashy start-stop rhythms, unfurling a Dadaist flag around Johnny's visceral vocals. On "Tricia," a reference to the then-current Patty Hearst trial, Oliver's gruesome groans are sardonically juxtaposed with an electric saw. These LSD-tinged tunes are a potent mix of Beefheart-ian controlled chaos and the genuinely weird avant-rock associated with the mid-'70s Cleveland scene.

Enhanced by analog synthesizers and electronic effects, the album sounds like Eno-era Roxy Music or Stooges' Fun House buried deep in the red Oklahoma dirt. While punk would spark a handful of bands who boldly straddled the line between the primal and the experimental, the relatively unsung Debris' were one of the first to do so.

Debris' had a standing invitation to play New York at Max's Kansas City and CBGB in 1976, although they never made it out of Oklahoma. The private-press edition of their self-titled album (also known as Static Disposal, which was actually the label name printed on the original front cover) has since become a collector's item and is even namechecked on the infamous NWW list.

"Sun" ist das erste Album der aus Tennessee stammenden Baritonsaxophonistin Zoh Amba für das in Oslo ansässige Label Smalltown Supersound - und ihr zweites Album nach "Oh Sun", das 2022 auf dem Label Tzadik erschienen ist. Auf "Sun" stellt Amba eine neu zusammengestellte Gruppe mit einer Reihe von Kompositionen vor, die die Grenze zwischen Performance und Prozess verwischen - wobei sich sowohl die Musik als auch der Akt ihrer Aufnahme in Echtzeit entfalten, teilweise geleitet von improvisatorischen Aufnahmetechniken. Als Bandleaderin bewegt sich Amba an den Rändern eines improvisatorischen Deltas, in dem spiritueller Jazz und Free Folk nicht als getrennte Genres auftreten, sondern als Nebenflüsse derselben Strömung, die beide aus einem gemeinsamen Glauben an die Musik als heilige Kraft entspringen. Die Entscheidung, "Sun" auf Smalltown Supersound zu veröffentlichen, entstand aus einer gemeinsamen Verbindung zum verstorbenen deutschen Saxophonisten Peter Brötzmann, der sowohl ein spiritueller Mentor für Amba war als auch mehrere Platten auf dem Label veröffentlicht hat. Und während das Album in amerikanischen Folk-Traditionen verwurzelt ist, ist es Brötzmanns furchtloser Geist - selbst ein immenser historischer Katalysator für den europäischen Free Jazz -, der wie ein roter Faden durch die musikalische Zusammenarbeit des Ensembles und seine experimentellen Aufnahmetechniken verläuft. Für Amba war es jedoch wichtig, dass das Ensemble - bestehend aus Caroline Morton (Bass), Lex Korton (Piano) und Miguel Marcel Russel (Percussion) - vor den Aufnahmen eine tiefere musikalische Verbindung aufbauen konnte: ,Wir haben tagelang einfach nur zusammen gespielt, und ich habe versucht, mir mental Notizen zu machen, was in dieser Band ganz natürlich vorhanden war - bevor ich Anweisungen gab oder Noten austeilte. Ich wollte sehen, wo wir alle in diesem Moment in unserem Leben standen. Von dort aus begann ich, mit ihnen den Prozess zu gestalten. So entstanden die Struktur der Band und der Ansatz für das Album."

When we did the first ever vinyl reissue of this 1972 masterpiece back in 2012 it sold out so fast and so many lost the chance to grab a copy has translated into continuous messages asking us to do a repressing of this marvel - which we did and, again, it sold like hot bread. So here is a new edition of this UK jazz masterpiece, this time with a twist :

- Silk-screened cover art : we respect the original design, but have upgraded the printing from regular offset to silk screen to give it an artistic touch!

- In adition to the limited black vinyl edition (400 copies), we offer an ultra limited clear vinyl version (100 copies-only!)

One of the big names in UK Jazz, Neil Ardley was offered the leadership of the seminal New Jazz Orchestra in 1964. Under his direction the Orchestra moved though different styles and changes of personnel, bringing in musicians such as Mike Gibbs (trombone), Harry Beckett andHenry Lowther (trumpets) or even Jack Bruce (bass), some of them also contributed with the writing of some original compositions, making the NJO the root from which the UK's 70's jazz scene was to blossom.

By 1972 the NJO was already defunct, but his legacy remained in the works of its members. Ardley's 'A Symphony Of Amaranths' is a perfect example of what was boiling in the UK jazz scene. It was Ardleys tribute to his idols Duke Ellington and Gil Evans, and featured the skills of some great musicians of the scene including Don Rendell,Stan Tracey, Henry Lowther, Harry Beckett, Jeff Clyne & Jon Hiseman. Side B is inspired by the words of Edward Lear, W. B. Yeats, James Joyce and Lewis Carroll that are musicated by Ardley and feature, among other highlights, Ivor Cutler's narration of 'The Dong With A Luminous Nose' and Norma Winstone's vocals on 'Will You Walk A Little Faster'.



Musicians that participated in the recording session :

- Derek Watkins, Nigel Carter, Henry Lowther, Harold Beckett (trumpets)
- Derek Wadsworth, Ray Premru (trombones)
- Dick Hart (tuba)
- Barbara Thompson, Dave Gelly, Don Rendell, Dick Heckstall-Smith (woodwind, saxes)
- John Clementson (oboe)
- Bunny Gould (bassoon)
- Dave Gelly (glockenspiel)
- Neil Ardley (prepared piano)
- David Snell, Sidonie Goossens (harp)
- Stan Tracey (piano, celeste)
- Karl Jenkins (electric piano)
- Alan Branscombe (harpsichord)
- Frank Ricotti (vibraphone, percussion)
- Chris Laurence, Jeff Clyne (bass)
- Jon Hiseman (drums, percussion)
- Eric Gruenberg, Jack Rothstein, Kelly Isaacs (violin)
- Ken Essex (viola)
- Charles Tunnell, Francis Gabarro (cello)
- Ivor Cutler (narrator)
- Norma Winstone (vocal)
- Jack Rothstein, Neil Ardley (conductors)

An extremely rare Northern Soul 45 RPM single originally released in 1965 on the Holly label, Billy Arnell And The Sparkles "Tough Girl" was the product of two childhood friends that lived less than a block apart in suburban Fairlawn, New Jersey in the early 1960s - Billy Smith and Lou Hemsey.

Billy played guitar and sang; Lou played guitar and wrote songs, so they decided to form a band. They added friends Eddie Hoffman on organ and Jack Gullone on drums and began playing lots of gigs locally as Little Willie & The Sparkles. They were young, ambitious, and imagined themselves as the next Beatles. By a stroke of fate, they met Joe Martin of Apex-Martin Distributors in Newark, NJ, who caught the band's live show and was duly impressed. That meeting led to the recording session for the "Tough Girl" single. When they recorded the first version of the song, the producer wasn't happy, nor was Joe Martin - so he fired that producer and brought in the young, up and coming producer, George Kerr. Kerr didn't care much for the band, so they redid the entire thing without Hoffman and Guilone - with just Billy singing and Lou playing guitar.

The pair of old friends were buoyed by session aces Eric Gale on guitar, Bernard Purdie on drums, Bobbie Banks on organ, as well as a bass player whose name has been lost to time. In addition to those changes, they used the studio horn section that Hemsey arranged for, plus two trumpets, two saxes and two vibes players. The resulting single was an infectious amalgamation of rock and soul. Billy changed his surname to Arnell for the 45 release (because he thought it sounded more "show-biz") and the rest is pop history. Arnell later started a record company (Fire Sign Records) and purchased a recording studio (112 Greene Street Recording) in the trendy SoHo section of Manhattan with Steve Loeb.

As for the rest of The Sparkles, Hoffman became a teacher somewhere on Long Island, Guilone graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Massachusetts and ended up living in Northern New Jersey. Hemsey became a well-known recording engineer, composer (Lou was the one who wrote "Tough Girl"), guitarist, arranger, orchestrator, editor, film director and producer for records and commercials.

First-ever double vinyl release of TARIKAT, featuring 16 tracks recorded between 1986 and 1989, originally released on the now out-of-print 1997 double CD (Daft Records) and innitial 1991 cassette. This release features 16 tracks, remastered for this edition, showcasing E.G.'s unique sound from the eighties, reminiscent of other albums like Arispejal Astisaró, Nador, and Sheikh Aljama. This is a period especially appreciated by E.G. fans, where they developed their original and unique style that influenced many later groups and artists of industrial music and even certain forms of techno. Rough, primitive and minimalist, the tracks are constructed on distorted and noise rhythms, sometimes industrial, sometimes with tribal and African influences using synthesizers and analog electronic instruments. Gabriel Riaza, founding member of E.G. until 1991, worked in Melilla (North Africa) during those years, and this influenced the conception of many of Tarikat's tracks. The images used in this release are by Andrés Noarbe, who was responsible for Esplendor Geométrico's graphic design during the eighties and also served as the band's manager. The overall design is by Alonso Urbanos. Recorded by Arturo Lanz and Gabriel Riaza in Madrid and Melilla (North Africa) between 1986 and 1989. Tarikat is available as a limited edition double LP, a key release for fans of E.G., capturing their innovative and influential style that shaped industrial music and techno.

Zur Feier des 10-jährigen Jubiläums ist Chris Stapletons von der Kritik hochgelobtes Debütalbum Traveller
jetzt erhältlich. Das 7-fach mit Platin ausgezeichnete Album wurde mit zahlreichen Preisen ausgezeichnet,
darunter die Grammy Awards 2016 für das beste Country-Album und die beste Country-Solo-Performance
für den Titeltrack. Jetzt auch zum ersten Mal als coloured Vinyl!

Cleaning Out The Empty Administration Building ist Ross Farrars neuestes Werk aus rohem, gesprochenem Wort und experimentellem Sounddesign, hier präsentiert unter dem Namen R.J.F.. Der Frontmann der amerikanischen Bands Ceremony und SPICE begann dieses Soloprojekt zunächst als persönliche Herausforderung: Songs von Grund auf selbst zu schreiben, sich mit Instrumenten vertraut zu machen und dabei zugleich sein Unterbewusstsein freizulegen. Dabei ging es weniger um musikalische Virtuosität als um Verletzlichkeit - darum, etwas Ehrliches aus einem ungeschützten, unbearbeiteten, unpolierten Moment zu ziehen, kompromisslos amateurhaft und rein.Diese Sammlung zeigt Farrar im offenen, poetischen Dialog: mit Drumloops und gefundenen Klängen, durchbrochen von Gitarren, Bass und Tasteninstrumenten. Nach über zwanzig Jahren in der vertrauten wie chaotischen Welt von Band-Kollaborationen, legt Farrar all das ab - als Experiment. Das Ergebnis ist unverwechselbar und bewegend.Farrars Punk-Pathos ist in Spuren vorhanden, doch seine deutlichsten Einflüsse stammen von repetitiven Musikformen: Drone, No-Wave, Avant-Jazz und darüber hinaus. Seine nüchternen Texte erinnern an Lou Reed, Rowland S. Howard und andere große Exzentriker. Farrars Texte kreisen um Liebe, Sucht, Vaterschaft und das Leben in der heutigen Welt. ,Ich wollte Bilder schaffen, die die Menschen klar vor sich sehen können", sagt er. Farrar unterrichtete früher Schreiben und Literatur - und wendet hier ein einfaches Prinzip an, das er auch seinen Schülern mitgab: Nicht zu viel nachdenken. ,Ich habe mir einfach gesagt: Diese Songs sollen Spaß machen. Sie sollen nicht stressig sein. Zwei, drei Takes aufnehmen und dann gut ist. Nicht über jedes Geräusch den Kopf zerbrechen. Mach einfach das, was natürlich aus dir herauskommt - und wenn es sich gut anfühlt, dann nimm es."Aus hunderten freier Songs, die Farrar in den letzten Jahren mit geliehenem Equipment aufgenommen hat, kristallisierte sich dieses Album langsam heraus. ,Es kam einfach immer wieder."Der Ton von Cleaning scheint die Zeit zu verbiegen, versetzt die Hörer in eine Art Gang voller Songs, bei denen jede Tür in einen neuen Raum führt - Räume, die oft auf unheimliche Weise vertraut wirken. Der gurgelnde Bass des Openers ,Advance" taucht auch in anderen Stücken wieder auf, etwa im gespenstischen ,Ovidian", benannt nach Ovids Metamorphosen, in dem Farrar über das Wunder der Veränderung sinniert - begleitet von fernen Glockenklängen. Instrumentalstücke wie ,Gravity Hill" - ein Flattern aus Synth-Brummen und statischem Rauschen - oder ,Frogs", mit Saiteninstrumenten und perkussivem Topfschlagen, wirken wie tranceartige Zwischenspiele und verstärken die Wirkung der Texte drumherum.,Exile" blickt zurück auf Verluste, die sich nicht mehr reparieren lassen: ,So much of your heart caught in my exile", singt Farrar mit sanfter Resignation - über einer einsamen Klaviermelodie und schlingernden Gitarrenakkorden. Es ist das strukturierteste Stück der Sammlung und erinnert daran, dass Farrar ein Gespür für melodische Linien besitzt.Das Album endet mit ,Traveling Light From Afar", deutlich schneller als alle vorherigen Songs. Hier, über einem stoischen Motorik-Beat, spricht Farrar das zentrale Thema des Projekts direkt an:,I've been so young in my old age / Selfish & self-pitying / But that's just narcissism - man."Genau dieser Balanceakt - zwischen schonungsloser Selbstbefragung und der Klarheit, die mit dem Älterwerden kommt - schafft Raum für Entwicklung. Farrar leert das Gebäude - Zeile für Zeile.

In 2000 Belgian singer and composer ZIPPORA surprised the international trance-scene with her debut-single LOTUS EATER. In was produced at the time by ILLUSION-DJ DJ Philip and BYTE inhouse-producer EDDY WEYNS. 25 years later it gets a massive remake by none the less than NICO PARISI (known as a resident-DJ in ATMOZ and producer/remixer of Nunca, Aqualords, Nico Parisi of course and the legendary track METRO).

fka boursin is a DJ and producer out of Bristol, UK.
Previously known as DJ Boursin, he is recognized for his deep, ambient-infused house music that explores political dimensions of clubs and identity politics.
Welcomed into the Scissor & Thread fold, fka boursin shares two cuts of deep and introspective
electronic music.
The original Listless Intertext is a hazy trip through ambient soundscapes, shuffling rhythms and half-caught conversations, drifting across a 12 minute run time that slowly evolves and shifts with time.
"Listless Intertext is a track centred around the "failed" employment of cheap vocoder software that attempted to process explicit words and phrases across 11 minutes." says fka boursin. "Instead, the vocoder output made any words indecipherable and I was left with thematic vagueness. The final text of the track is simply a submission to its own limitations with some french thrown in."
When label bosses Frank & Tony step up for their Housebeat Dub, they keep the essential mood but introduce a thick, fat groove that works just as well in conveying the mood.
"Our remix is a strictly dancefloor approach," says Frank, "an extended psychedelic beat rework perfect for late night, early morning vibes".

More than a decade after his last full album, Kim Hiorthøy returns with Ghost Note, released by the Belgian label Blickwinkel. Though his music has quietly existed in the background—shaping contemporary dance, film, and theatre—this album brings it into focus once more. Ghost Note is an exploration of sound on the edge of presence and absence, a fictional world that is both constructed and organic.

Using mostly digital technology, Hiorthøy created a set of instruments that are real—you can hear them, they have tone, timbre, and resonance—but also not. The percussion, for instance, sounds like cheap scrap metal drums. But are they real? Do they exist? Hiorthøy plays with perception, challenging what feels real and what feels like a memory. In doing so, Ghost Note becomes an invitation to embrace uncertainty and indefinability.

“It's a kind of foggy area between theatre and daily life. Ghost notes. I wanted to try to make music that existed in this in-between space. Electronic music that is acoustic, a kind of emotional music that also hides in abstraction (or the other way around), and to try to make tracks that were sort of falling apart as I was making them.” ­- Kim Hiorthøy

"In 1995 In The Red released the Cheater Slicks fourth full length album, Don’t Like You. The band, based in Boston at the time, travelled to New York to record at Jerry Teel’s Funhouse studio with Jon Spencer acting as producer. The result was a completely over the top noisefest that remains one of my favorite ITR releases to this day. Admittedly, Jon’s production was heavy-handed and extreme but, I thought it suited the band and this material well. "Prior to the recording the band demoed their material at a couple of different eight track studios in Boston. The demos showed that the band had enough material for an album that would be (in my opinion) their strongest to date. When the album was released it was very well received but there was a small number of people close to the band and myself who were critical of Jon’s production and preferred the straight forward recording of the demos. "With vinyl for Don’t Like You being out of print for decades I figured the album’s 30th anniversary was a good time for a re-release and to finally release the demos as well. I think both stand the test of time." – Larry Hardy

The Bar-Kays were originally formed in Memphis, Tennessee, 1966, as a sextet backing group for Stax Records. They had a promising career in front of them as a session band & recording outfit before the backbone of the group was killed, along with Otis Redding who had hired them as his backing band for a tour, in a plane crash. Only Ben Cauley survived the crash and went on to form what could be dubbed Bar-Kays Mark II. James Alexander (Bass) was also one of the original members but was not aboard the plane because of limited seats on Redding's plane. For Alexander and Cauley and new members Michael Toles, Willie Hall, Ronnie Gordon and Harvey Henderson, the track 'Sang & Dance' was one of the first tracks from the new group, cut in late 1969. They recorded steadily for Mercury records in the 70s & 80s, the two tracks on this 7” among their best loved and sought after. “Open Your Heart” only previously a 7” B-side in Spain

It’s been ten years since Drew Lustman aka FaltyDL last released on Planet Mu. In the meantime he's been running his own label Blueberry Records, been in-house producer for Mykki Blanco and has become a dad. The best things come out of play and it was Drew’s relationship with his young daughter that switched on this playful side of his music. The album in question, ‘Neurotica,’ expresses Drew’s fun in creating such energetic pieces people will want to move to. It's a dizzying sugar-rush at a high-speed bounce; the music is fresh and inviting and most important of all, joyful."Summer of ’24, we were in Catalonia. My girl, our young daughter, the old folks. Days by the village pool, afternoons on the dirtbike. At night, I made salads. Simple things. Good things. One afternoon, lying back, phone in hand, I saw a friend post a GRWM. The music behind it stopped me. A song grabbed hold. The track was ‘Secret’ by Mietze Conte, which is fast-paced euro-pop dance music, like soft fluffy gabber with childlike vocals. I hunted down the full version. Played it again. And again. Twenty times over the next few days. It unlocked something. The best music does that. Like the first time I heard Burial. Had to know what was happening under the surface. That time, it led to ‘Love Is A Liability’ in 2009. This time, it led to ‘Neurotica.’“ “I started to record, getting down fast, bright, sugar-rush sounds. 185 to 200 BPM. I wrote them quick—half a day per track. In between, I slowed things down. Gave space for breath. Mike Paradinas helped shape the album, his ear guiding the flow. I tested the tracks. Played them for kids barely out of diapers and grown folks who still move like they are. It worked, on all ages. I kept it simple. Only two rules: keep it moving and don’t look at my phone. Cut the vocals like I used to.” ‘Neurotica’ is FaltyDL with his mojo refreshed, a new life squared, do yourself a favour, crack a smile and feel the joy.

Another record, another appearance from Kid Lib (& his many aliases) on Future Retro London... ????

As I said before on FR015, the Dub & Wheel stuff he makes is almost always making it into my selection for DJ sets, I honestly can't get enough of it. He had done this tune (originally titled Shaka Sound) in 2017 (I think?) but it was never fully finished on its own & I don't think there were any plans to finish it or release it. That didn't stop me from playing it in my sets of course haha

Eventually, I reached a point where I felt like I'd played it so much that I couldn't allow it to not come out, so I offered to finish the tune and then it could come out on Future Retro London & thankfully he allowed me to work on it and get it done.

In dub, they'll record many different versions/mixes of a tune with various differences in arrangement and sounds used & I felt it'd be cool to do that with this tune, with Mix One sounding more true to his original idea & Mix Two having a bit more variation in the bassline & drum patterns.

Anyway, big up to Kid Lib for letting me work on The Firmament & for letting me release it, hopefully there'll be more Dub & Wheel material from him in the future, I'm patiently waiting...

No one can help you build something beautiful quite like those who know you best. Alan Sparhawk knows this well. In his years in Low, he built decades of stirring music with his wife and lifelong creative partner Mimi Parker. In recent years, he has performed around Minnesota with his son Cyrus in DERECHO Rhythm Section, a funk band that also frequently features his daughter Hollis on vocals. There's an irreplaceable naturalism that comes with this kind of dynamic. Those who know you understand you. They love you. They want to help you bring your greatest passions to fruition. So it made sense that Sparhawk would turn to fellow Duluth musicians Trampled by Turtles to realize his latest record. As friends and mentees of Low's, taken under Sparhawk and Parker's wing from their earliest days as a bar band, Trampled by Turtles have performed with Sparhawk countless times over the years. The Duluth ties run deep: "There's a certain vibe that has to do with underdog syndrome, coming from a small town," Sparhawk muses. "Some of it is the weird grind and slackness that being at the mercy of Mother Nature puts in you. It humbles you." The two artists hold the kind of ironclad bond. Following Parker's passing in 2022, Trampled by Turtles invited Sparhawk to join them on tour to give him a space to be surrounded by friends. Occasionally, he would join them onstage. The outpouring of love was palpable every time they played together, a surge of warmth. When playing together is that powerful, why stop there? In winter, 2024, Sparhawk and Trampled by Turtles created With Trampled by Turtles, a record exactly as its name implies: Collective. Communal. Fraternal. Empathetic. A vessel for comfort, a reminder of the harmony that can exist when surrounded by those closest to you. Where White Roses, My God, Sparhawk's last album, plunged headfirst into electronica and radical vocal modulation, With Trampled by Turtles leans into the folk and bluegrass stylings of its backing band, Sparhawk's voice now completely unvarnished. With Trampled by Turtles is far more than just Alan Sparhawk and Trampled by Turtles. It's an affirmation of all the people who have been vital in Sparhawk's life and music, and an opportunity to hold each of their gifts into the light. It's producer Nat Harvie, who has been collaborating and performing with him for years. It's Sparhawk's daughter Hollis, who duets with her father on "Not Broken." And it's Mimi Parker, too: "Too High," "Princess Road Surgery," and "Not Broken" were all tracks she and Sparhawk had been working on in the last few years. These songs finally found a setting that stirringly commemorates them, bolstered by a full ensemble to make every note sing. Their presence is a kind of eternal connection to Parker, a way her musical grace will keep flourishing.

Death Is Not The End release a second part collecting pre-partition film music, compiled by Gary Sullivan of Bodega Pop.

As the 1940s began, South Asian cinema entered a transformative phase. Playback singing, still a new idea in the previous decade, quickly became standard practice. Actors no longer had to sing, and singers no longer had to act, opening the door to a wave of dedicated vocal talent that redefined the sound of the industry.

Voices like Noor Jehan, Shamshad Begum, and Suraiya rose to prominence, becoming household names across the subcontinent. Behind them, composers like Naushad, Anil Biswas, and Ghulam Haider were expanding the sonic palette of film music, blending ragas with Western orchestration, folk tunes with jazz-era instrumentation. Harmoniums, sarangis, violins, accordions, and clarinets filled out increasingly complex arrangements, while ghazals and qawwalis continued to influence mood and structure.

Although the post-Partition years are often considered to be Bollywood's "Golden Age," thanks to filmmakers like Raj Kapoor, Bimal Roy, and Guru Dutt, the music started its peak just before the divide. By 1947, Naushad and others were producing some of the most emotionally rich and musically intricate work in the industry's history, compositions that would prove challenging to surpass in the decades that followed.

Yet this high point came during a time of immense upheaval. The Second World War, the Bengal famine, and the crumbling of colonial rule all loomed large. Film songs often reflected the uncertainty, sometimes mournful, sometimes romantic, sometimes defiant. And when the Partition finally came, it fractured the world that had created this music. Artists became refugees, studios were split, and careers were thrown into flux. Noor Jehan, who would go on to become Pakistan's most iconic singer, recorded many of her most beloved songs in Bombay. Khursheed, another major star, faded from public life after migrating. K.L. Saigal, a towering figure of the 1930s and '40s, died in Lahore just months before the split.

This collection spans those final years before Partition, a time of creative flowering and looming catastrophe. Like Part 1, these songs were sourced from immigrant-run music shops in New York and New Jersey. They are fragments of a vanishing world, each one a snapshot of the art, longing, and resilience that defined this extraordinary era.

The quietest voices can be the most durable.

American Football’s original triumph, on their 1999 self-titled debut, was to reunite two shy siblings: emo and post-rock. It was a pioneering album where lyrical clarity was obscured and complicated by the stealth musical textures surrounding it.

Like Slint’s Spiderland, or Codeine’s The White Birch, even Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock, American Football asked far more questions than it cared to answer. But there wasn’t a band around anymore to explain it, anyway. The three young men who made the album – Mike Kinsella, Steve Holmes, and Steve Lamos – split up pretty much on its release.

Fifteen years later, American Football reunited (now as a four-piece, with the addition of Nate Kinsella). They played far larger shows than in their original incarnation and recorded their long-anticipated second album, 2016’s American Football (LP2). The release was widely praised, but the band members still felt like their best work was yet to come.

‘I feel like the second album was us figuring it out,’ says Nate. ‘For me, it wasn’t quite done. I knew there was still more.’

Enter American Football (LP3). ‘We put a lot of time and a lot of energy into it,’ says Mike. ‘We were all thoughtful about what we wanted to put out there. Last time, it was figuring out how to use all of our different arms. This time, we were like – Ok we have these arms, let’s use them.’ The band used the same producer, Jason Cupp, and recorded the album at the same studio (Arc Studios in Omaha, Nebraska) as its predecessor – yet they approached it in a markedly different way. There was a determination to let the songs breathe, to trust in ideas finding their own pace. The final result is a definite, and deliberate, stretching of the band.

As a result, LP3 is less obviously tethered to the band’s past than the second album. An immediate contrast between LP3 and its two predecessors is its cover. The two previous albums featured the exterior and interior of a residence in the band’s original hometown of Urbana, Illinois (now attracting fans for pilgrimages and photo opportunities), by the photographer Chris Strong. But American Football knew that LP3 was an outside record. Instead of the familiar house, this time the cover photo (again by Strong) features open, rolling fields on Urbana’s borders. It is a sign of the album’s magnitude in sound, and of the band’s boldness in breaking away from home comforts.

American Football also joked that LP3’s genre was ‘post-house’, because of this very conscious visual break. But, in a strange way, there are links in LP3 with an actual post-house genre: shoegaze. The more exploratory members of the original British shoegaze scene were inspired by the dreamtime and circularity of house music (ambient house in particular), cherishing its sonic possibilities. That spirit drips into LP3, most obviously on ‘I Can’t Feel You’, a collaboration with Rachel Goswell of Slowdive.

The album also features Hayley Williams from Paramore on the album’s catchiest moment, ‘Uncomfortably Numb’, and Elizabeth Powell, of the Québécoise act Land Of Talk. Mike wrote lyrics in French especially for her.

LP3 is contemplative, rich, expressive, yet with a queasy undercurrent. It is heavy with expectancy, revealing its ideas slowly, eliciting the hidden stories people carry around with them. ‘I feel like my lyric writing has changed a lot over the years,’ says Mike. ‘The goal is to be conversational, maybe to state something giant and heavy, but in a very plain way. But, definitely in this record, I keep things a little more vague.’ As on the first album, the lyrics on LP3 may seem confessional and concentrated, but the more you scrutinize them, the further their meaning slinks away. Or, as Mike tellingly sings on ‘I Can’t Feel You”: I’m fluent in subtlety.

‘Somewhere along the way we moved from being a reunion band to just being a band,’ says Steve Holmes. American Football is now a bona fide ongoing focus, and they are making some of the best music of their lives. American Football (LP3) stands with two other rare reunion successes – Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine’s mbv – as a fine example of how a band refinding one another can augment, rather than taint, their legacy.

‘I think that there are those albums, or the music that you heard when you were younger, and they imprint on you,’ says Nate. ‘And no matter where you go, or what you do they’re always there.’ He is talking of Steve Reich – an early and ongoing influence on American Football – but he might as well be reflecting what is said of his own band, and the ardent following they inspire. American Football stands as an enduring symbol of elusive emotional landscapes, where introspection can be as dramatic as confrontation

Banana Stand vinyl. I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone is Wednesday's second fulllength album & first as a full band. The Asheville, NC quintet (guitarist/ vocalist Karly Hartzman, lead guitarist Daniel Gorham, pedal steel guitarist Xandy Chelmis, bassist Margo Schultz & drummer Alan Miller) maximizes the dark dissonance of a three guitar attack to highlight the emotionality of Hartzman's bell-clear vocals & wisps of half-recalled memories & literary references that make up her lyrics. I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone's eight songs meld elements of shoegaze, grunge, indie pop & southern American culture into a uniquely personal style of modern rock music that resonates with power & tenderness. The ever-darkening & deepening of Wednesdays' sound on I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone owes a debt of influence to The Swirlies, Arthur Russell, Red House Painters, Tenniscoats, Ana Roxanne, Acetone, & their continued collaboration with MJ Lenderman (who lends backing vocals to the songs "Billboard" & "November"). I Was Trying to Describe You to Someone was recorded at Hartzman's home with engineering assistance from her roommate Colin Miller. The depth & clarity of the recordings balance the distorted volume of Wednesday's live performances with the intimacy of Hartzman's voice. Her words hold the center of the chaos, unobscured by the power of the band. Hartzman describes her lyrics as "attempts to access old personal memories & do them justice through prose, with inspiration from the writings of Richard Brautigan, Flannery O'Connor, David Berman & Tom Robbins, & movies like Steel Magnolias."

Mutant is proud to present Academy Award®-winning composer Michael Giacchino’s latest installment of his Exotic Themes for the Silver Screen series - Featuring more iconic scores from Giacchino’s career that have been exclusively rearranged and re-recorded for this series in the retro lounge style of the 1950s.

Volume 2 spans the period of 2012 to 2022 and features not only his work with Marvel Studios (including their iconic Marvel Studios Fanfare, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange and more!) but also more career defining music for Disney • Pixar (Inside Out, Coco and Lightyear) as well as smaller, cult classics like John Carter, and Tomorrowland, more personal films such as Jojo Rabbit and The Book of Henry. He has taken these iconic themes and transformed them into soothing, beautiful 60’s lounge-inspired reworks.

Other highlights include ‘The Batman Suite’, taken from Matt Reeves' 2022 blockbuster The Batman, ‘Jyn Erso’s Theme’ from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, as well as themes for War For The Planet Of The Apes, Jurassic World and two selections taken from his directorial debut Werewolf By Night

"We are thrilled to continue exploring Michael’s storied career with this incredible collection of some of his most beloved themes reworked for warm summer nights with a cocktail (or mocktail) in hand," says Mutant co-founder Spencer Hickman. "Michael is a rare composer who is comfortable with superheroes, horror, action, or intimate drama. He always manages to create incredibly beautiful earworms that have been further highlighted by these stripped-back downtempo versions of his award-winning themes.’

Featuring liner notes by Charles Phoenix, artwork by Luke Insect, and pressed on limited edition color vinyl (also available on CD)
“So much was rooted in the big orchestral sound, so it was really about scaling it back. The real trick is figuring out the little fun hooks and things you can add along the way. There were no rules; I was up for anything. It was a way to re-engage with the material and be creative in a new way.”

Exotic Themes for the Silver Screen – Volume 1 includes an array of reinterpreted pieces from Michael Giacchino’s career. Highlights include ‘Primordial Forest’ from the 1997 video game The Lost World: Jurassic Park, ‘Life and Death’ from Lost, the theme from Ratatouille, ‘Roar!’ from Cloverfield, ‘Enterprising Young Men’ from Star Trek (2009), ‘A Man, A Plan, A Code, Dubai’ from Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and a Super 8 suite.

Featuring package design by Luke Insect, and liner notes by Charles Phoenix.

2025 Repress

Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues is Tommy Guerrero's sublime debut. Of this beloved masterpiece, the legendary skater himself says: "my 1st album. It was never meant to be released. I was just recording for the fun of it.. still my fave. Oh so naive..." And you know what? It's definitely Be With's fave too. An astonishingly great record. A chill, blissful, deeply moving album, it was rightly garlanded as an instant classic.

A laidback, fusionistic ride replete with loopy drum tracks underpinning Tommy's trademark reflective guitar stylings, Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues remains powerfully evergreen. Originally released in 1997, there's elements of jazz, trip hop, rock and downtempo groove. All shot through with a heavy dose of soul. Thirteen tracks of lo-fi (mostly) instrumental freshness fused with Cuban, Latin and blues, it's a must for fans of Money Mark, J Dilla, RJD2, DJ Shadow and Pete Rock. As ever with Tommy's records, the title sums up the music contained within most aptly. And writing about his songs, his vibes, is one of the trickier things to do, it has to be said. It's just all gorgeous!

A total vibe throughout, to blast Loose Grooves & Bastard Blues is a majestic experience, one that suits a start-to-finish listen and renders the picking out of highlights totally redundant. Featuring nagging, deeply melodic guitar lines - both electric and acoustic - over simple rhythms with such sumptuous elegance, the hypnotic playing against unrushed percussion releases a crystal clear stream of healing frequencies. It's ust divine. This album laid the blueprint from which Tommy Guerrero would subsequently explore further on A Little Bit of Somethin' and Soul Food Taquiera.

Meticulously remastered and cut by both Simon Francis and Cicely Balston respectively, it has been pressed to the highest possibly quality at Record Industry in Holland. The original and iconic sleeve, designed by Natas Kaupas, has been restored here at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

Minor Slip ist das Felte-Debüt von Shaki Tavi, dem Hauptprojekt des aus Oklahoma stammenden und in LA lebenden DIY-Aktivisten Leon Manson und einer Gruppe von Freunden und Mitstreitern. Durch die schichtweisen Böen von verwaschenen Gitarren und übersteuerten Drums tauchen trügerisch schöne Pop-Hooks auf, die durch Mansons verwitterten, harmonischen Bariton und sein Händchen für einfallsreiche Strukturen beleuchtet werden. Als er die Ursprünge des Albums auf eine Phase des Burnouts und der Desillusionierung zurückführt, erinnert er sich: "Ich fing an, mich einfach mit ein paar minimalen Effekten und Geräten hinzusetzen, Riffs zu spielen und mich zu fragen, `Was, wenn es Spaß machen könnte? Was, wenn es für mich sein könnte?'" Das Ergebnis ist kraftvoll, verletzlich, eingängig und ungewöhnlich authentisch, eine Eruption kreativer Kraft des Kindes von Rockmusikern, dessen Leidenschaft und Antrieb als Außenseiter in einer Kleinstadt entstanden, und gestärkt inmitten der Künstlichkeit und der Selbstverteidigungsrealität von LA. Die Leadsingle "Breaker" kombiniert einen Midtempo-Breakbeat mit prismatischen Gitarren und entspanntem Gesang in einer Kreuzung von Genres, die Mansons Jahre in verschiedenen Bands und Szenen zu einer aufrichtigen, kompromisslosen Vision verdichtet. Auf "Foam" schweben Schädelrassel-Riffs und eine heulende Gitarrenhook über Big Beat-Drums und beschwören gleichermaßen arenagroße Erhabenheit und schrilles Schwanken herauf. Die Fülle und der Ehrgeiz in Mansons Arrangements entwickelten sich im Laufe von einigen Jahren des Schreibens, Überarbeitens, und Aufnehmens. Er erinnert sich: "Nach einigen überraschenden Rückmeldungen auf ein paar Bedroom-Demos holte ich meine Bandkollegen ins Studio, um ausgefeiltere Versionen zu machen; diese zweite Phase beinhaltete eine vertraute Art von existenziellem Abdriften und Zweifeln, aber die Lösung war die gleiche wie immer: es einfach halten, Sachen machen, die ich mag, und von dort aus gehen." Trotz seiner einzigartigen Vision ist Manson der Gemeinschaft sehr verbunden; er hat jahrelang bei der kreativen Non-Profit-Organisation Non Plus Ultra in LA gearbeitet, und obwohl er das enorme Ausmaß der Kunstszene an der Westküste anerkennt, merkt er an: "Das Gute an dieser Stadt ist, dass die kreative Energie unübertroffen ist, wenn man in der Lage ist, die Segel zu setzen und sie zu nutzen." Manson fasst die emotionale Investition in seine Arbeit wie folgt zusammen: "Diese Platte fühlte sich manchmal wie eine Last, manchmal wie eine Rettungsinsel an; es war ein Prozess, in dem man alles, was passiert, willkommen heißt, auch wenn es kleine Ausrutscher gibt."

Mrs. Piss is a new collaboration between Chelsea Wolfe and Jess Gowrie . Drawing on their collective rock, metal, and industrial influences, the project began while the two were touring around together during Wolfe's Hiss Spun album in 2017. The result is their debut album Self-Surgery, which was recorded at The Dock Studio in Sacramento, CA and in Wolfe's home studio, The Canyon. These songs feel more urgent and visceral than anything either of them has created before: heaviness spurred on by punk spirit. Chelsea Wolfe (vocals, guitar): "Working on this project brought Jess and I so much closer as songwriters and production partners, after reuniting as friends and bandmates. It was freeing and fun to channel some wild energies that I don't typically put into my own music. We tried not to overthink the songs as we were writing them, but at the same time we did consciously put a lot into crafting them into our own weird sonic vision. This project was a chance for us to do things our own way, on our own terms, and we plan to invite more womxn musicians along for future Mrs. Piss recordings." CW Jess Gowrie (drums, guitar, bass, programming): "To me, Mrs. Piss represents a musical chemistry cut short long ago that now gets a second chance. Creating with Chelsea has always been very liberating for me, and we both push each other to try new things: anything and everything. Both of us have grown so much as writers and musicians since our first band together (Red Host), and with the journeys we had to take separately to get there, we both have so much more to say; so much more pain and anger to express. That said, we also had a lot of fun doing it, not to mention how freeing it is to not give a f-k and to just create." JG "Doomy chugs, ethereal vocals and massive distortion sounds are the order of the day, summoning the menacing timbres that fueled Wolfe's Abyss and Hiss Spun records" GUITAR WORLD "a grungy, sludgy new project that defies expectations" REVOLVER "Together, they make a grandly grungy noise - something bigger and more anthemic than what we're used to hearing from Wolfe" STEREOGUM "urgent and abrasive" CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND " thundering tracks that sound as if they had diliberately set about to destroy a roomful of amplifiers" BLACKBOOK

CATCHY, MESMERIZINGLY BEAUTIFUL, DREAMY CHAMBER POP WITH A FOLKY TWIST

Music can have a multitude of emotional impacts and can create inner worlds out of voices, sounds, and moods.
If you open heart and ear to the mesmerizing, hauntingly beautiful soundscapes of AURI, you might find a beacon of light inside a sonic realm untouched by today’s often scary, grim realities; a dreamscape that can be profoundly uplifting.
On their third studio album, III - Candles & Beginnings’ the stars have aligned yet again. Propelled by the unique and celestial voice of Johanna Kurkela, the magical textures of Nightwish mastermind Tuomas Holopainen and the almost unlimited musical palette of Nigtwish multi-instrumentalist Troy Donockley, Auri have presented a world to be unlocked with the senses, blending folk, progressive and symphonic elements, world music, pop and avantgarde.
Right after completing Nightwish’s 2024 monument Yesterwynde, the songwriting for the third chapter in Auri’s musical adventures started in 2023, with Troy writing in Yorkshire and Tuomas and Johanna working their creative magic in Kitee, Finland. By Autumn 2024, a 10-song demo was complete, setting the stage for what would become another breathtaking Auri journey. The band and their trusted engineer Tero “Teecee” Kinnunen took the mixing process to sunny Spain, letting the Andalucian vibes infuse the music whereas in March 2025 mastering was wrapped up by Tim Oliver at the legendary Real World Studios - a ground-breaking recording complex started by Peter Gabriel in 1989.
The album is a tapestry of emotions - each song a world of its own, touching on childhood memories, vivid life experiences, and even a nod to one of the group’s most beloved places on Earth - The Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge, a historic spot nestled in the North York Moors and one of the most remote pubs you will ever find.
Visually, the cover artwork by Pete Voutilainen, layout and watercolors by Mikko Pankasalo plus calligraphy by Johanna Kurkela provide wonderful illustrations perfectly capturing Auri’s unique musical visions.
With guest musicians like Frank Van Essen (strings), Jonas Pap (cello), Juho Kanervo (basses), and the incredible drumming and percussion courtesy of Nightwish’s Kai Hahto, Auri III - Candles & Beginnings is as lush as it is atmospheric and provides astonishing dynamics.
Having been a studio endeavor in the past, Auri is finally going on tour with their first-ever live European trek kicking off in August 2025, followed by summer festivals in 2026, allowing you to hear, see and feel songs from their previous two albums, as well as brand new pieces from III - Candles & Beginnings.

Musique de Niche Vol.1 barked for a Vol.2. The second opus of any relevant trilogy (did I just spoil a Vol.3?) undergoes always the hardest trial by fire: but the bois, Pierre Marty and Admo, once again delivered these flavors you didnt know your collection was missing.

Same city, different district and new inspirations: following the world premiere in Berlin of their Liveset, they hit the home studio, refining the last bits of this new EP and giving it a new twist while still echoing the first volume.

Tech-house yes, but is it really ?

Indecisiveness feels like we could've said maybe yes but no but...
Well: Alpyren did the quite impressive feat of pressing this feeling on a record - that's A1. The haunting voice sample is this sassy inner self trying to tell you whats up. At least, you're not alone: the quirky bleeps and the punchy bassline are there lending you a hand to make that surely bad decision.

By flipping the record or the usb, you get to the two tracks where they let their new inspirations hit the speakers.

B1 is out before GTA VI, but it could've been in the soundtrack if the game was actually happening between Los Santos and Marseille.G-funk with the Alpyren touch: for the floor, a tune that will make you sway. Broken beats, almost broken legs.

B2 is the freaky one of the bunch: starts with the gloomy sound signature of the duo, but we're back with more 80's inspirations.Darker synth pop with a twist: you end up following the kick with the head bobbing in sync, while all the FX sounds bring to the track this extra spice.

It's 5pm here at the Ordinateuf HQ and we've just finished listening to the latest masters of the new E.P by Alpyren 'Musique de Niche vol2'. Before we're back to more phone calls, we'd like to thank all the friends that bought the first volume: the support has been quite amazing so far.

Enjoy this new one - its got our paw of approval.

New colour on Enter Shikari’s 2023 number 1 album.

Enter Shikari are a rock band from St Albans, UK. In 2020, they released their sixth album - Nothing Is True & Everything Is Possible - which also gave them their sixth album to debut in the UK Album Chart top 5. Frequently collecting Best Live Artist awards, Enter Shikari’s seventeen-year career thus far has seen them rise from teenagers touring the UK grassroots venues, to festival main stages and arena headliners worldwide.

It was in the Spring of 2022 that the band descended to the coastal town of Chichester, and a delipidated farmhouse, to rebuild their studio setup and capture their renewed momentum on record. Using only solar power to track the album–in what Reynolds says was to “bring back some sense of naivety” – the life-giving properties and Technicolor palate of A Kiss For The Whole World were made real. Reynolds continues: “Back to basics. This band - my best friends - bundled into an old farmhouse, miles away from anywhere. Off-grid, and ready to rediscover ourselves. This album is powered by the sun, the most powerful object in our solar system. And I think you can tell. It’s a collection of songs that represent an explosive reconnection with what Enter Shikari is. The beginning of our second act”.

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead (also known as Trail Of Dead) is an American alternative rock band best known for their wild, energetic live shows. The chief members of the band are Jason Reece and Conrad Keely, who alternate between drumming, guitar and lead vocals, both on recordings and live shows. Their eighth studio album Lost Songs was originally released in 2012 and its lyrics are themed around war, tyranny and apathy, no unfamiliar grounds for the band. It features 12 tracks and four additional bonus tracks; “Skywhaling”, “Mountain Battle Song”, “Verschollene Songs” and “Idols Of Perversity”. Just like several predecessors, the album was produced by Chris “Frenchie” Smith, who worked with Meat Puppets, Jet and The Dandy Warhols amongst others. Lost Songs is available as a limited edition of 500 numbered copies on crystal clear vinyl and includes a 4-page booklet.

Linda Smith and The Smashing Times are the best of friends. They are both currently based in Baltimore, USA. This split 7” EP celebrates that friendship with two new tracks by each act; united by DIY spirit, a bedroom-pop sensibility and now a puddle of black vinyl.

Songwriter Linda Smith has a gentle but unconventional experimental style that continues to evolve as she adds new entries to her storied catalogue. Smith’s pioneering work with four-track production in the '80s found her at the beginning of a home-recording movement that would set the pace for the decades of indie rock that followed. During this most active period, Smith's music was limited mostly to obscure cassette and 7" releases. This trailblazing time was recently revisited on Captured Tracks’ compilation ‘Till Another Time: 1988-1996’. Shortly after Smith’s retrospective, she teamed up with like-mind and collaborator Nancy Andrews to release an album of beguiling pop entitled ‘A Passing Cloud’ (2023). The duo performed songs from that record at Upset The Rhythm’s 20th anniversary party at Café OTO that same year. 2024 saw further reissues of Smith’s music including Nothing Else Matters (1995) and I So Liked Spring (1996).

The Smashing Times are a premier East Coast Pop Experimental Group. They have also gleefully performed in London for Upset The Rhythm twice in quick succession. Known for their dogtooth style, waggish mod attitude and tumbledown sound, The Smashing Times have holes in their socks and sit idly between The Kinks and Tori Kudo. Their previous albums on K Records, Perennial and Meritorio are a cherished commodity steeped in Paisley psyche and slapdash panache.

Special fifth anniversary repress of 2020 debut album by bdrmm. Named after a postcode in their native Hull, the HU5 Edition comes pressed on blackand amber vinyl, features alternate artwork and a printed lyric insert. The almost self-titled Bedroom was hailed by The Guardian as a lockdown classic on its original release and ended up in Rough Trade's top ten albums of the year. The 10-track album was recorded in 2019 at The Nave studio in Leeds by Alex Greaves (Working Mens Club, Bo Ningen) and mastered in Brooklyn by Heba Kadry (Slowdive, Beach House). It's a hugely accomplished debut and a real step up both sonically and lyrically from their early singles and EPs. Musically, there are nods to The Cure's Disintegration, Deerhunter and DIIV, while the band reference RIDE and Radiohead. There are also echoes of krautrock and post-punk, from The Chameleons to Protomartyr, plus the proto shoegaze of the Pale Saints' The Comforts Of Madness, not least in the cross fading of some tracks, meaning the album is an almost seamless listen. "A modern day shoegaze classic" - NME "The general roller coaster of being twenty-somethings in post-Brexit England who find themselves awash with a shimmering soundscape that recalls Oshinera DIIV, Deerhunter's Microcastle, or even The Cure at their most ambiently grandiose" - Under The Radar "Assured and brilliant" - The Line Of Best Fit

Sunshine and Balance Beams, das neunte Album von Pile, ist eine Sisyphus-Parabel über Arbeit und Leben. Um es zu schreiben, begab sich Sänger Rick Maguire an ,einen dunklen Ort" und rang mit dem Konzept, dass es keine Erleuchtung und kein Ende des Leidens gibt. Maguire erforscht den Workaholismus, den Mythos der Leistungsgesellschaft und die Akzeptanz der Sterblichkeit - und das alles in einer teuflischen Allegorie, in der es darum geht, durch einen schattigen Wald zu stapfen und dem ungewissen Traum einer hellen Lichtung entgegenzugehen. Pile ringt mit existenziellen und sozialen Widersprüchen, indem er klangliche Zwischenräume heraufbeschwört. Die Musik existiert irgendwo im temporären Gleichgewicht von Licht und Schatten, Chaos und Ordnung. Heiße, regenähnliche Gitarren, sich verschiebende Drums, die gewundene Wege in Klang und Tempo ebnen, unheimliche Synthesizer und wässrige Streicher fügen sich zu einem Panorama aus lauter und leiser Dynamik zusammen, das der Emotionalität der donnernden Auftritte der Band entspricht. Die Gruppe bevorzugte auch freilaufende Darbietungen, die das Erzählen von Geschichten belebten, während sie eine Streichergruppe (Geigen, Bratsche, Cello) engagierte, um glühende, durchkomponierte Arrangements zu spielen, die von der Cellistin Eden Rayz und Pile mitgeschrieben wurden. Sie ließen sich von Kino- und Opernpartituren von Chopin, Bernard Herrmann und Ralph Vaughan Williams inspirieren, was Sunshine einen überlebensgroßen Sound verleiht, der Piles blitzschnelle Umsetzungen einiger ihrer bisher zugänglichsten Songtexte noch verstärkt. Die Aufnahme ist ein deutlicher Sprung im Produktionswert und stellt Maguires Gesang auf neue und aufregende Weise in den Mittelpunkt. Pile reiste nach Pawtucket, RI, um zwei Wochen lang bei Machines with Magnets mit der langjährigen Tontechnikerin Miranda Serra (Kal Marks, Kira McSpice) aufzunehmen. Das Album wurde von Seth Manchester (Lightning Bolt, Mdou Moctar) gemischt und von Matt Colton (Aphex Twin, Swans, Muse) gemastert. Sunshine and Balance Beams ist das erste Album von Pile für das Chicagoer Label Sooper Records.

Sunshine and Balance Beams, das neunte Album von Pile, ist eine Sisyphus-Parabel über Arbeit und Leben. Um es zu schreiben, begab sich Sänger Rick Maguire an ,einen dunklen Ort" und rang mit dem Konzept, dass es keine Erleuchtung und kein Ende des Leidens gibt. Maguire erforscht den Workaholismus, den Mythos der Leistungsgesellschaft und die Akzeptanz der Sterblichkeit - und das alles in einer teuflischen Allegorie, in der es darum geht, durch einen schattigen Wald zu stapfen und dem ungewissen Traum einer hellen Lichtung entgegenzugehen. Pile ringt mit existenziellen und sozialen Widersprüchen, indem er klangliche Zwischenräume heraufbeschwört. Die Musik existiert irgendwo im temporären Gleichgewicht von Licht und Schatten, Chaos und Ordnung. Heiße, regenähnliche Gitarren, sich verschiebende Drums, die gewundene Wege in Klang und Tempo ebnen, unheimliche Synthesizer und wässrige Streicher fügen sich zu einem Panorama aus lauter und leiser Dynamik zusammen, das der Emotionalität der donnernden Auftritte der Band entspricht. Die Gruppe bevorzugte auch freilaufende Darbietungen, die das Erzählen von Geschichten belebten, während sie eine Streichergruppe (Geigen, Bratsche, Cello) engagierte, um glühende, durchkomponierte Arrangements zu spielen, die von der Cellistin Eden Rayz und Pile mitgeschrieben wurden. Sie ließen sich von Kino- und Opernpartituren von Chopin, Bernard Herrmann und Ralph Vaughan Williams inspirieren, was Sunshine einen überlebensgroßen Sound verleiht, der Piles blitzschnelle Umsetzungen einiger ihrer bisher zugänglichsten Songtexte noch verstärkt. Die Aufnahme ist ein deutlicher Sprung im Produktionswert und stellt Maguires Gesang auf neue und aufregende Weise in den Mittelpunkt. Pile reiste nach Pawtucket, RI, um zwei Wochen lang bei Machines with Magnets mit der langjährigen Tontechnikerin Miranda Serra (Kal Marks, Kira McSpice) aufzunehmen. Das Album wurde von Seth Manchester (Lightning Bolt, Mdou Moctar) gemischt und von Matt Colton (Aphex Twin, Swans, Muse) gemastert. Sunshine and Balance Beams ist das erste Album von Pile für das Chicagoer Label Sooper Records.

Sunshine and Balance Beams, das neunte Album von Pile, ist eine Sisyphus-Parabel über Arbeit und Leben. Um es zu schreiben, begab sich Sänger Rick Maguire an ,einen dunklen Ort" und rang mit dem Konzept, dass es keine Erleuchtung und kein Ende des Leidens gibt. Maguire erforscht den Workaholismus, den Mythos der Leistungsgesellschaft und die Akzeptanz der Sterblichkeit - und das alles in einer teuflischen Allegorie, in der es darum geht, durch einen schattigen Wald zu stapfen und dem ungewissen Traum einer hellen Lichtung entgegenzugehen. Pile ringt mit existenziellen und sozialen Widersprüchen, indem er klangliche Zwischenräume heraufbeschwört. Die Musik existiert irgendwo im temporären Gleichgewicht von Licht und Schatten, Chaos und Ordnung. Heiße, regenähnliche Gitarren, sich verschiebende Drums, die gewundene Wege in Klang und Tempo ebnen, unheimliche Synthesizer und wässrige Streicher fügen sich zu einem Panorama aus lauter und leiser Dynamik zusammen, das der Emotionalität der donnernden Auftritte der Band entspricht. Die Gruppe bevorzugte auch freilaufende Darbietungen, die das Erzählen von Geschichten belebten, während sie eine Streichergruppe (Geigen, Bratsche, Cello) engagierte, um glühende, durchkomponierte Arrangements zu spielen, die von der Cellistin Eden Rayz und Pile mitgeschrieben wurden. Sie ließen sich von Kino- und Opernpartituren von Chopin, Bernard Herrmann und Ralph Vaughan Williams inspirieren, was Sunshine einen überlebensgroßen Sound verleiht, der Piles blitzschnelle Umsetzungen einiger ihrer bisher zugänglichsten Songtexte noch verstärkt. Die Aufnahme ist ein deutlicher Sprung im Produktionswert und stellt Maguires Gesang auf neue und aufregende Weise in den Mittelpunkt. Pile reiste nach Pawtucket, RI, um zwei Wochen lang bei Machines with Magnets mit der langjährigen Tontechnikerin Miranda Serra (Kal Marks, Kira McSpice) aufzunehmen. Das Album wurde von Seth Manchester (Lightning Bolt, Mdou Moctar) gemischt und von Matt Colton (Aphex Twin, Swans, Muse) gemastert. Sunshine and Balance Beams ist das erste Album von Pile für das Chicagoer Label Sooper Records.

Reissue des legendären Debütalbums "The Silicon Dawn" des US-Produzenten und heutigen Wahlberliners Dan Curtin, das 1994 auf Peacefrog erschien. In bester Detroit-Manier schaffte es Curtin, Melodien und harmonische Ebenen über komplexe Percussion zu legen, was damals auf innovative Art und Weise die gängige Techno-Norm sprengte. Für das FACT Magazin Grund genug, das Album heute in der Rubrik "The greatest techno albums you've never heard" zu führen.

A reissue on black vinyl of the cult 1982 soundtrack to Tron by legendary electronic pioneer and composer Wendy Carlos (The Shining, Clockwork Orange). The music, which was the first collaboration between Carlos and her partner Annemarie Franklin, featured a mix of an analogue Moog synthesizer and GDS digital synthesizer, along with non-electronic pieces performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Two additional musical tracks (“1990’s Theme” and “Only Solutions“) were provided by the American band Journey. This is the first reissue of the black 18 track 1 LP vinyl. 2022 will mark the 40th anniversary of the Tron Franchise. The original film tells the story of computer engineer Kevin Flynn who finds out that an executive at his company, has been stealing his work. Flynn tries to hack into the system but instead is transported into the digital world of The Grid , where he has to battle Sark, and the imposing Master Control Program. Helped by Tron (a security program) and Yori , Flynn becomes a freedom fighter for the oppressed programs of the grid. The soundtrack perfectly captures the geometrically intense landscapes of cyberspace and the virtual gladiatorial computer game.

Making Room for Light, Mae Powells Debütalbum für Karma Chief Records, ist wie ein Lagerfeuer im Morgengrauen, wenn die Feuerstelle vom ersten Aufbruch des Tages abgelöst wird. Glut, Asche und Rauch der Erinnerung weichen dem Duft von frisch gebrühtem Kaffee und einem Frühstück aus gusseisernen Pfannen. Powells jazzige Stimme umhüllt die Kopfhörer mit einem hauchzarten Schleier, während schimmernde Akkorde und Klänge die aufkommende Wärme ausstrahlen. Der Klang ist ein Traum, der vollständig dem Morgen weicht, geteilt mit Freunden und Liebenden, die sowohl abwesend als auch anwesend sind. Powells zweites Album, das sie in einer Übergangsphase ihres Lebens geschrieben hat, präsentiert die Singer-Songwriterin sowohl als Heilerin als auch als Geheilte, geerdet durch ihre Verbindung zur Natur und zum Klang, immer auf der Suche nach Räumen, um sich als Künstlerin zu entfalten und zu wachsen. Das Album wurde von David Parry, dem Multi-Instrumentalisten von Loving, produziert und im Risque Disque Studio vor der Küste von Vancouver Island aufgenommen. Making Room for Light ist ebenso sehr ein Albumtitel wie Mae Powells künstlerisches Manifest. Begleiten Sie Mae Powell zum Campingplatz am Bach, tauchen Sie Ihre Zehen in das warme Wasser und genießen Sie den Nachhall dieses Sommeralbums.

Making Room for Light, Mae Powells Debütalbum für Karma Chief Records, ist wie ein Lagerfeuer im Morgengrauen, wenn die Feuerstelle vom ersten Aufbruch des Tages abgelöst wird. Glut, Asche und Rauch der Erinnerung weichen dem Duft von frisch gebrühtem Kaffee und einem Frühstück aus gusseisernen Pfannen. Powells jazzige Stimme umhüllt die Kopfhörer mit einem hauchzarten Schleier, während schimmernde Akkorde und Klänge die aufkommende Wärme ausstrahlen. Der Klang ist ein Traum, der vollständig dem Morgen weicht, geteilt mit Freunden und Liebenden, die sowohl abwesend als auch anwesend sind. Powells zweites Album, das sie in einer Übergangsphase ihres Lebens geschrieben hat, präsentiert die Singer-Songwriterin sowohl als Heilerin als auch als Geheilte, geerdet durch ihre Verbindung zur Natur und zum Klang, immer auf der Suche nach Räumen, um sich als Künstlerin zu entfalten und zu wachsen. Das Album wurde von David Parry, dem Multi-Instrumentalisten von Loving, produziert und im Risque Disque Studio vor der Küste von Vancouver Island aufgenommen. Making Room for Light ist ebenso sehr ein Albumtitel wie Mae Powells künstlerisches Manifest. Begleiten Sie Mae Powell zum Campingplatz am Bach, tauchen Sie Ihre Zehen in das warme Wasser und genießen Sie den Nachhall dieses Sommeralbums.

Making Room for Light, Mae Powells Debütalbum für Karma Chief Records, ist wie ein Lagerfeuer im Morgengrauen, wenn die Feuerstelle vom ersten Aufbruch des Tages abgelöst wird. Glut, Asche und Rauch der Erinnerung weichen dem Duft von frisch gebrühtem Kaffee und einem Frühstück aus gusseisernen Pfannen. Powells jazzige Stimme umhüllt die Kopfhörer mit einem hauchzarten Schleier, während schimmernde Akkorde und Klänge die aufkommende Wärme ausstrahlen. Der Klang ist ein Traum, der vollständig dem Morgen weicht, geteilt mit Freunden und Liebenden, die sowohl abwesend als auch anwesend sind. Powells zweites Album, das sie in einer Übergangsphase ihres Lebens geschrieben hat, präsentiert die Singer-Songwriterin sowohl als Heilerin als auch als Geheilte, geerdet durch ihre Verbindung zur Natur und zum Klang, immer auf der Suche nach Räumen, um sich als Künstlerin zu entfalten und zu wachsen. Das Album wurde von David Parry, dem Multi-Instrumentalisten von Loving, produziert und im Risque Disque Studio vor der Küste von Vancouver Island aufgenommen. Making Room for Light ist ebenso sehr ein Albumtitel wie Mae Powells künstlerisches Manifest. Begleiten Sie Mae Powell zum Campingplatz am Bach, tauchen Sie Ihre Zehen in das warme Wasser und genießen Sie den Nachhall dieses Sommeralbums.

Cleaning Out The Empty Administration Building ist Ross Farrars neuestes Werk aus rohem, gesprochenem Wort und experimentellem Sounddesign, hier präsentiert unter dem Namen R.J.F.. Der Frontmann der amerikanischen Bands Ceremony und SPICE begann dieses Soloprojekt zunächst als persönliche Herausforderung: Songs von Grund auf selbst zu schreiben, sich mit Instrumenten vertraut zu machen und dabei zugleich sein Unterbewusstsein freizulegen. Dabei ging es weniger um musikalische Virtuosität als um Verletzlichkeit - darum, etwas Ehrliches aus einem ungeschützten, unbearbeiteten, unpolierten Moment zu ziehen, kompromisslos amateurhaft und rein.Diese Sammlung zeigt Farrar im offenen, poetischen Dialog: mit Drumloops und gefundenen Klängen, durchbrochen von Gitarren, Bass und Tasteninstrumenten. Nach über zwanzig Jahren in der vertrauten wie chaotischen Welt von Band-Kollaborationen, legt Farrar all das ab - als Experiment. Das Ergebnis ist unverwechselbar und bewegend.Farrars Punk-Pathos ist in Spuren vorhanden, doch seine deutlichsten Einflüsse stammen von repetitiven Musikformen: Drone, No-Wave, Avant-Jazz und darüber hinaus. Seine nüchternen Texte erinnern an Lou Reed, Rowland S. Howard und andere große Exzentriker. Farrars Texte kreisen um Liebe, Sucht, Vaterschaft und das Leben in der heutigen Welt. ,Ich wollte Bilder schaffen, die die Menschen klar vor sich sehen können", sagt er. Farrar unterrichtete früher Schreiben und Literatur - und wendet hier ein einfaches Prinzip an, das er auch seinen Schülern mitgab: Nicht zu viel nachdenken. ,Ich habe mir einfach gesagt: Diese Songs sollen Spaß machen. Sie sollen nicht stressig sein. Zwei, drei Takes aufnehmen und dann gut ist. Nicht über jedes Geräusch den Kopf zerbrechen. Mach einfach das, was natürlich aus dir herauskommt - und wenn es sich gut anfühlt, dann nimm es."Aus hunderten freier Songs, die Farrar in den letzten Jahren mit geliehenem Equipment aufgenommen hat, kristallisierte sich dieses Album langsam heraus. ,Es kam einfach immer wieder."Der Ton von Cleaning scheint die Zeit zu verbiegen, versetzt die Hörer in eine Art Gang voller Songs, bei denen jede Tür in einen neuen Raum führt - Räume, die oft auf unheimliche Weise vertraut wirken. Der gurgelnde Bass des Openers ,Advance" taucht auch in anderen Stücken wieder auf, etwa im gespenstischen ,Ovidian", benannt nach Ovids Metamorphosen, in dem Farrar über das Wunder der Veränderung sinniert - begleitet von fernen Glockenklängen. Instrumentalstücke wie ,Gravity Hill" - ein Flattern aus Synth-Brummen und statischem Rauschen - oder ,Frogs", mit Saiteninstrumenten und perkussivem Topfschlagen, wirken wie tranceartige Zwischenspiele und verstärken die Wirkung der Texte drumherum.,Exile" blickt zurück auf Verluste, die sich nicht mehr reparieren lassen: ,So much of your heart caught in my exile", singt Farrar mit sanfter Resignation - über einer einsamen Klaviermelodie und schlingernden Gitarrenakkorden. Es ist das strukturierteste Stück der Sammlung und erinnert daran, dass Farrar ein Gespür für melodische Linien besitzt.Das Album endet mit ,Traveling Light From Afar", deutlich schneller als alle vorherigen Songs. Hier, über einem stoischen Motorik-Beat, spricht Farrar das zentrale Thema des Projekts direkt an:,I've been so young in my old age / Selfish & self-pitying / But that's just narcissism - man."Genau dieser Balanceakt - zwischen schonungsloser Selbstbefragung und der Klarheit, die mit dem Älterwerden kommt - schafft Raum für Entwicklung. Farrar leert das Gebäude - Zeile für Zeile.

Eine Band, die so laut spielte, dass ihre gesamte Fangemeinde taub wurde und nie wieder über sie sprach. Super Static Fever wurde 1993 im Vorort von San Jose, Kalifornien, gegründet und spielte in den kurzen zwei Jahren ihres Bestehens nur eine Handvoll Gigs, bei denen sie die Zuschauer mit einer Tinnitus verursachenden Wah-Wah-Wand aus Marshall-gestapelter Verzerrung bestraften. Ihr Sound war eine Mischung aus Melvins-esque Sludge, dem melodischen Crunch von Swervedriver und der Vorliebe von Black Flag für Lautstärke, wie man sie aus der Stereoanlage eines 1985er Ford Econoline hört. Unvollendete Bänder von zwei ohrenbetäubenden Sessions sind alles, was die folgenden 25 Jahre seit ihrer gleichgültigen Auflösung überlebt hat, gemischt von dem anspruchsvollen Steve Albini als einzige Bedingung der Band für die Wiederveröffentlichung. Die Verpackung riecht nach der computerverkrüppelten D.I.Y.-Ästhetik der 90er Jahre, mit VHS Unschärfe und undurchsichtigem weißem Raster auf Spanplatten. Eine Platte, die es gerade noch so gibt und wahrscheinlich auch nicht geben sollte.

Dieses schwarze 2LP-Vinyl-Set enthält David Grays mehrfach mit Platin ausgezeichnetes Album ,White Ladder" mit einem aktualisierten Master aus dem Jahr 2020. ,White Ladder" brachte die zeitlosen Hits ,This Year's Love", ,Babylon" und ,Sail Away" hervor und ist einer der größten und herzerwärmendsten Erfolge in der Musikgeschichte, der durch Mundpropaganda entstanden ist. ,Was mit White Ladder passiert ist, war mehr als nur Musik. Es war eine Art Herz-und-Seele-Moment der totalen Hingabe für alle Beteiligten, für mich und das Publikum. Das war es. Besser geht es nicht." - David Gray