Search:was that all it

“Underground” is a relative term. One could argue that all the ‘60s San Francisco psychedelic bands were underground, because the music they made was so far removed from the pop and rock sounds that came before them. But of all the bands in the scene, Lamb was perhaps the most underground of them all. It wasn’t just that their blend of rock, folk, classical, country, blues, and gospel was as hard to classify as any of the era. It was also their vibe. Along with classically trained guitarist and songwriting partner Bob Swanson, Barbara Mauritz’s versatile vocals paced material often imbued with a haunting, mystical aura. Yet they could also be earthy and rootsy, occasionally drifting into spacey psychedelia with hints of raga-rock. Released in the early ‘70s, Lamb’s first two albums, A Sign of Change and Cross Between, did indeed offer some of the most intriguing and eclectic music of any San Francisco rock band on the psychedelic scene. But Lamb’s history predated the release of those records by a good couple of years or so. So prolific were Mauritz and Swanson that quite a few of their original compositions didn’t make it onto their albums, though these were often on par with the songs that did find official release. Unlike many bands of the time who had a bounty of surplus quality tunes, Lamb often taped these in studios and studio-like rehearsal conditions, as well as making some professional tapes of their live performances. Fortunately, many of those tapes survive, including a good number of songs that didn’t find a place on their LPs, as well as substantially different versions of some that did. The best of these from the late 1960s find release for the first time on An Extension of Now: Unreleased Recordings 1968-1969. This collection not only rounds out our picture of one of San Francisco rock’s finest underappreciated acts, but also serves as a first-class document of Lamb as they made their transition from a more standard rock outfit to a group not easily comparable to any other in the region, or indeed any other anywhere. Our black vinyl and CD (with extra tracks, limited to 500) releases feature liner notes by Richie Unterberger drawn from an interview with Bob Swanson, who has also contributed photos and memorabilia from his private archive. Produced by noted Bay Area archivist Alec Palao…if you’re a fan of late-‘60s S.F. psych, you have to hear this!

The Scream, Siouxsie & the Banshees' first album, was released late enough in the punk era to bear some claim as the first post-punk album, with only a minor traces of 'punk' (one lingering early song, "Carcass" comes to mind) and enough hints of what had come even earlier, Andy MacKay-like saxophone flourishes - to feel utterly new. Not to mention the effort producer Steve Lillywhite must have put into the album, his first fully-credited major label production. Siouxsie was clearly the focus of the band, with her unique vocal style and lyrics, but the real star, we've always known, was John McKay, who wrote most of the album's music (as well as singles like "Hong Kong Garden"), creating a wholly new guitar sound - harsh and brittle, yet melodically intoxicating . . . best articulated by a somewhat confounded Steve Albini years later ". . . only now people are trying to copy it, and even now nobody understands how that guitar player got all that pointless noise to stick together as songs". McKay's influence lives on; many of the most influential guitarists of the past four decades credit him as a major influence - Geordie from Killing Joke, Jim Reid of The Jesus And Mary Chain, U2's The Edge, Thurston Moore, Johnny Marr and even the two guitarists - The Cure's Robert Smith and Magazine's John McGeoch - who followed him in The Banshees. McKay's burgeoning status as the anti-guitar hero was halted when he and Banshees drummer Kenny Morris - at odds with Siouxsie and bassist Steve Severin - fled the band just after the start of a tour supporting the group's second album, Join Hands. It was a weekly music paper scandal, later the subject of a BBC documentary, and Siouxsie's vitriol working its way into the lyrics of a later Banshees b-side, "Drop Dead / Celebration". Aside from a solitary single on Marc Riley's In Tape label nearly a decade later, no music was heard from McKay again. So it comes as a major surprise to learn of a pile of excellent recordings made in the years just after he left The Banshees, unheard by all but a very few, some of which feature drummer Kenny Morris, plus Mick Allen from Rema Rema, Matthew Seligman of the Soft Boys and longer-term collaborator Graham Dowdall and John's wife Linda . . . the latter three of whom now all sadly deceased. Sixes And Sevens is an historic lost album. Brazenly genius and bearing fair claim as the lost treasure of the post-punk era, the album collects eleven studio tracks, carefully mastered from original tapes. It's a masterpiece which best speaks for itself.

The Scream, Siouxsie & the Banshees' first album, was released late enough in the punk era to bear some claim as the first post-punk album, with only a minor traces of 'punk' (one lingering early song, "Carcass" comes to mind) and enough hints of what had come even earlier, Andy MacKay-like saxophone flourishes - to feel utterly new. Not to mention the effort producer Steve Lillywhite must have put into the album, his first fully-credited major label production.
Siouxsie was clearly the focus of the band, with her unique vocal style and lyrics, but the real star, we've always known, was John McKay, who wrote most of the album's music (as well as singles like "Hong Kong Garden"), creating a wholly new guitar sound - harsh and brittle, yet melodically intoxicating . . . best articulated by a somewhat confounded Steve Albini years later ". . . only now people are trying to copy it, and even now nobody understands how that guitar player got all that pointless noise to stick together as songs". McKay's influence lives on; many of the most influential guitarists of the past four decades credit him as a major influence - Geordie from Killing Joke, Jim Reid of The Jesus And Mary Chain, U2's The Edge, Thurston Moore, Johnny Marr and even the two guitarists - The Cure's Robert Smith and Magazine's John McGeoch - who followed him in The Banshees.
McKay's burgeoning status as the anti-guitar hero was halted when he and Banshees drummer Kenny Morris - at odds with Siouxsie and bassist Steve Severin - fled the band just after the start of a tour supporting the group's second album, Join Hands. It was a weekly music paper scandal, later the subject of a BBC documentary, and Siouxsie's vitriol working its way into the lyrics of a later Banshees b-side, "Drop Dead / Celebration". Aside from a solitary single on Marc Riley's In Tape label nearly a decade later, no music was heard from McKay again. So it comes as a major surprise to learn of a pile of excellent recordings made in the years just after he left The Banshees, unheard by all but a very few, some of which feature drummer Kenny Morris, plus Mick Allen from Rema Rema, Matthew Seligman of the Soft Boys and longer-term collaborator Graham Dowdall and John's wife Linda . . . the latter three of whom now all sadly deceased.
Sixes And Sevens is an historic lost album. Brazenly genius and bearing fair claim as the lost treasure of the post-punk era, the album collects eleven studio tracks, carefully mastered from original tapes. It's a masterpiece which best speaks for itself. John McKay will be made available for a limited number of interviews . . . and yes, there are surprises in store.

"My Last Star" began as a dream that Greg Lee of Hepcat had the week before his death in March of 2024. Greg dreamed of a Slackers song. The Slackers have completed this song, and now the world can hear this truly one of a kind collaboration. In Greg's dream, an old neighbor picked him up in a classic car, turned on the stereo, and played a Slackers song that - at the time - did not exist on our plane of reality. It sounds like the stuff of myth, but the song was so crystal clear in the dream that when he awoke around 2 or 3 in the morning, he immediately wrote down the lyrics he had heard, still humming the tune. "I hadn't seen Greg so excited about a new song in a very long time," says Lee's longtime partner, Mandie Becker. "I found the lyrics when I was organizing his things. I knew he had a voice recording on his phone, too. I decided the best situation was to offer it to The Slackers so we could all hear the song on the stereo from Greg's dream." "I was floored when I received Greg's vocal demo with the lyrics and I vowed to finish the song and make the dream a reality," says Slackers saxophonist Dave Hillyard. "I took the vocal demo to The Slackers, Vic Ruggiero harmonized it, and we wrote music around the words. With this song we came full circle. Greg had given us a gift and we needed to give it back to his family, friends, and musical community. We are the medium for his message." The longer history behind this collaboration is a story of decades of friendship, collaboration, artistry, and mutual respect between LA's Hepcat and NYC's The Slackers, who although from opposite coasts, have both been leading lights and creative forces in the underground ska scene since the early 1990s. Both Hepcat and The Slackers concerned themselves with timeless songwriting that paid homage to the longstanding roots of the music. It is an extraordinary final work envisioned by a beloved and thoughtful musician of the highest caliber and completed by longtime friends and collaborators he knew from the moment of inspiration were the ones that would play it. It is literally a dream come true. "My Last Star" is available as a 12" UV Printed Vinyl Single from Pirates Press Records, with art by The Slackers' in-house artist Catt Gould. The 12" also includes instrumental and dub versions of the song. As a matter of fact, snippets of Greg's original vocal demo from his phone are subtly mixed in toward the end of the instrumental version, underscoring his posthumous presence on the record. Greg's songwriting royalties, as well as a portion of the proceeds from the sales of "My Last Star," will be passed on to his four daughters.

Spacey Jane are an Australian indie rock band formed in Fremantle in 2016. Following a year-long hiatus from live performances, Spacey Jane announced in January 2025 that their third studio album, If That Makes Sense, would be released in May. It was announced alongside the release of lead single "All the Noise". If That Makes Sense explores the difficulty and uncertainty that arises when articulating any feeling across the full spectrum of human emotion. Having total knowledge that nobody is able to truly comprehend the complexities that life has presented to you, but still trying to get the words out anyway. If That Makes Sense is an emotional flip book through time, a set of flashbacks and vignettes, an attempt to rearrange the disorder into something ordered. Where you are today is the result of all these fragments and experiences. -Caleb Harper

After "RUINER", "CLEAN" and "GOLD", Atlanta's noise juggernauts WHORES. return with fierce new album ,WAR". American Muscle to drown out the American Dream as it careens into the ditch_ "WAR" is a an album full of brazen rhythms, serpentine riffs, walls of feedback, and howls of contempt. It is an album that is as rowdy and boisterous as it is anxious and savage. "Helmet comparisons are understandable but Helmet wishes they sounded this authentic and convincing in 2024", Heavy Mag wrote in their rave review, and Rolling Stone included "WAR." in their 20 best metal records of 2024. "It pisses me off when people talk shit about us. They don't know the lengths I go through to keep this band going" says guitarist/vocalist Christian Lembach in an interview with New Noise Magazine on why it's taken eight years between albums. Personal issues, accidents and then the pandemic presented obstacles for the band. Lembach injured both of his knees and tore the meniscus in his right one, and he broke both elbows and his ribs in an accident at his day job. WHORES. have dealt with setbacks that would have killed other bands, but instead it's made them stronger. And Lembach's high standards haven't exactly accelerated the making of "WAR": "It takes a while because I need to make a record I can stand behind. I just don't want to put anything out to just do it. I never think the one I'm working on is a masterpiece. To me the masterpiece is the next one", he says. "Lyrics are the most important part to me. Not the riffs not the song structures but the actual words" Lembach elaborates. "I always have the title before I write the lyrics. All the lyrics and song titles fit thematically into the album title. In this case I did a lot of soul searching. I was trying to figure out what it takes to be happy. I had to confront the ugly parts of myself. The title isn't political, it's about conquering the ugly parts of yourself." "WAR" is a battering ram of a live band, slugging like a doomsday clock towards midnight. Originally self-relased in 2024, we are happy to finally release in Europe what we're sure will become a noise rock genre-classic. PRESS "time is just a construct and Whores. are forever" - Everything Is Noise " ein weiterer musikalischer Schlag in die Magengrube" - Visions 10/12 " Frontman Christian Lembach is not so much a singer as a verbal assailant a spitting cobra of a human who leaves you drenched in his venomous wordplay." - Heavy Mag FOR FANS OF CHAT PILE, HELMET, HIGH ON FIRE, KEN MODE, INTERCOURSE, UNSANE, NAILS

After "RUINER", "CLEAN" and "GOLD", Atlanta's noise juggernauts WHORES. return with fierce new album ,WAR". American Muscle to drown out the American Dream as it careens into the ditch_ "WAR" is a an album full of brazen rhythms, serpentine riffs, walls of feedback, and howls of contempt. It is an album that is as rowdy and boisterous as it is anxious and savage. "Helmet comparisons are understandable but Helmet wishes they sounded this authentic and convincing in 2024", Heavy Mag wrote in their rave review, and Rolling Stone included "WAR." in their 20 best metal records of 2024. "It pisses me off when people talk shit about us. They don't know the lengths I go through to keep this band going" says guitarist/vocalist Christian Lembach in an interview with New Noise Magazine on why it's taken eight years between albums. Personal issues, accidents and then the pandemic presented obstacles for the band. Lembach injured both of his knees and tore the meniscus in his right one, and he broke both elbows and his ribs in an accident at his day job. WHORES. have dealt with setbacks that would have killed other bands, but instead it's made them stronger. And Lembach's high standards haven't exactly accelerated the making of "WAR": "It takes a while because I need to make a record I can stand behind. I just don't want to put anything out to just do it. I never think the one I'm working on is a masterpiece. To me the masterpiece is the next one", he says. "Lyrics are the most important part to me. Not the riffs not the song structures but the actual words" Lembach elaborates. "I always have the title before I write the lyrics. All the lyrics and song titles fit thematically into the album title. In this case I did a lot of soul searching. I was trying to figure out what it takes to be happy. I had to confront the ugly parts of myself. The title isn't political, it's about conquering the ugly parts of yourself." "WAR" is a battering ram of a live band, slugging like a doomsday clock towards midnight. Originally self-relased in 2024, we are happy to finally release in Europe what we're sure will become a noise rock genre-classic. PRESS "time is just a construct and Whores. are forever" - Everything Is Noise " ein weiterer musikalischer Schlag in die Magengrube" - Visions 10/12 " Frontman Christian Lembach is not so much a singer as a verbal assailant a spitting cobra of a human who leaves you drenched in his venomous wordplay." - Heavy Mag FOR FANS OF CHAT PILE, HELMET, HIGH ON FIRE, KEN MODE, INTERCOURSE, UNSANE, NAILS

Bob Moog’s invention of the analog Moog synthesizer ignited an explosion of creativity across the music spectrum. On the classical side, there was Isao Tomita and Wendy Carlos; on the more avant-garde side, such artists as Mort Garson and Craig Leon used the new technology to explore the limits of sound production while rockers like Keith Emerson incorporated the technology into their music. And, of course, there was also a silly pop side to the synth mania, or “moogsploitation” as some wags put it; albums by The Moog Machine, The Happy Moog, and other similarly-entitled acts provide good examples of that. But the one man straddling all these camps was Gershon Kingsley. Kingsley studied with John Cage before making a pair of groundbreaking albums with fellow electronic music pioneer Jean-Jacques Perry (their “Baroque Hoedown” was the theme for the Main Street Electrical Parade attractions in Walt Disney theme parks). Kingsley then embarked on a solo career and scored an instant hit with this album, 1968’s Music to Moog By, and its signature track, “Pop Corn.” “Popcorn” (one word) became an international smash for Hot Butter four years later, but Music to Moog By also caught consumer ears with its blend of originals, classical, and especially versions of Beatles tunes (though you will have to excuse the egregious misspelling of “Paperback Writer” as “Paperback Rider”)! Ever in pursuit of pop music’s most eccentric manifestations, we at Real Gone are proud to reissue Music to Moog By for the first time in the U.S., complete with the 8-page “The Book of Moog” that was inside some original copies. Strawberry with black swirl pressing limited to 900 copies!

Full throttle from Vancouver, BC to wherever the open road takes them The Vicious Cycles are BACK with their new LP Get Wrecked on Pirates Press Records! Before you even get the shrink wrap off the gatefold jacket, you can guess what kind of party you're in for. "Our pal Shakey Deal is the cover model," says Cycles head honcho Billy Bones. "A tuff looking scrub on a minibike says a lot about who we are." And who is that exactly? "We play garage/punk rock and roll songs about motorcycles. We like to have a good time." The promise of debauchery carries over into song titles like "Naked On a Beach," and "On Fire in the Hot Tub." As rip-roaring, danceable party music goes, it's second to none, and rest assured there's plenty of bike enthusiast inside baseball, but the lyrics often go deeper than a superficial glance might indicate. For example, the lead single, "Hold On Tight," is about, as Billy puts it, "the physical feeling of riding with your favorite person on the back of your motorcycle - easily one of the best feelings a human can have." So, a classic biker anthem? "But also," he's quick to add, "a metaphor for life and relationships. We're gonna make it." Waxing philosophical with motorcycles as allegory over chrome-plated punk rock 'n roll? That's The Vicious Cycles' songwriting in a nutshell. Another album highlight, "Daddy Was a Gambler" references Billy's father - an ex-preacher who regularly hauled his kids to Circus Circus in his '57 Chevy - and his mother, a nurse and, as Billy puts it, "as close to an actual saint as anyone in the world. The song is an appreciation for the two of them, and how their differences made me who I am." "Naked On A Beach" sounds like a party, but Billy explains it's "a critique of capitalism and the tiny lives we're expected - and sometimes content - to live." Even the title track, "Get Wrecked," is more than just a statement of defiance; it's a message to Billy's son about dealing with the conformist naysayers of the world. Longtime fans & newcomers alike will be stoked for the straightaways, but stick around for the twists and turns, just like any good ride. The band brings in pals on strings & saxophone for a 60s Wall of Sound-inspired production on "Black Boots, Black Leather Jacket," and try their hands at their first murder ballad on "Pretty Hands." There's an instrumental tune ("Blowing Smoke") and hell, there's even a deep cut cover of "Trouble Again" - originally performed by Stewart Copeland of The Police - which only the biggest nerds of a certain age will recall as the theme song to the 80s Star Wars animated series Droids! In the end, no matter the detours, the band - along with Jesse Gander (Territories, Comeback Kid), & Mariessa McLeod at Rain City Recorders - kept their eyes on the prize: sing-along choruses, handclaps, and short songs that get the job done and don't overstay their welcome. "I didn't want us to write a record that you could dance to." quips Billy. "I wanted us to write a record that you couldn't not dance to."

Following a trio of quick sell out, limited lathe cut 45 to kick off 2025, Feral Child now embark on a stash of more widely available full lengths (from the likes of Lake Ruth, The Jonny Halifax Invocation and Polypores amongst others). First up is a wonderful follow up to 2023’s “Refrains” 10” EP from Swedish band TAPE. “Refrains” figured in 2 or 3 notable UK stores’ end of year polls, noticeably Monorail in Glasgow where Stephen Pastel gave it a top 3 for 2023 nomination. “Preludes” is -if anything- even more majestic and acts as a superb follow up. The record is released 11th April on Feral Child as one time pressing 10” vinyl only release, featuring beautiful artwork once more from Peter Liversidge and the calligraphic hand of Klas Augustsson. The return of Swedish trio Tape has been reassuringly slow motion. They’ve always moved at their own pace, these three peripatetic musicians – brothers Andreas and Johan Berthling, and companion Tomas Hallonsten – though it’s been over a decade since their last full-length, 2014’s Casino. Not a disappearing act, rather a break for consideration, time to explore other avenues of creativity, perhaps… But their reappearance, with the Refrains 10”, was one of 2023’s most encouraging moments; doubly so, as it was proof they’d not lost their way, at all, in the intervening nine years. The Tape modus operandi is one of deceptive simplicity and artful innocence. On Preludes, a typically right, one-word Tape title, this means five wordless songs that move between fully fleshed out, lovingly tended folk threnodies – the beautiful opener, “Lights Out”, that spins webs via simple, hypnotically repeating guitar – and textural conceits that hover, appealingly, in a kind of no-place. “Naukluft Plateau” is lovingly dappled, with ruminative piano adrift on a cascading tonal waterfall. Then, feather-fall strums of guitar meet huffing harmonium and electronic scrum on the brief “Golden Gain”. Is there a more perfect song title for Tape than “Tangential Thoughts”? It sums up the way their music, nimble and dainty but also carefully tended, lends itself to the reverie, the meander, the anfractuous. The madeleine-like power of this song’s two-chord figure allows the music to take flight: rustling organ, oscillating cymbal, droplets of percussion, a spinney of sound. And Preludes slips away “On The Accordeon Bus”: there’s something lovely about the way that title collapses transit, articulation and bellows, reflected in the see-sawing sway and glitch-like rivulets of sound that course through the song. So, Preludes, then – alive to the moment, both gentle and sturdy. A copse of tone, and a most gorgeous wool-gathering.

Illusive Bristolian producer Claude Cooper returns with ‘Friendly Sounds Vol 1’; part psychedelic trip, part romping beat tape, part party. The album was inspired by the vinyl discoveries made from Cooper’s months of digging and cataloguing the bulging inventory of Bedminster’s Friendly Records record shop. Cooper fed these myriad captured sounds through the studio and then, blurring the lines between sampling and performance, arranged and embellished them with keyboards, drum machines, bass guitar and more, also co-opting BEAK> bassist Billy Fuller and esteemed composer Ben Salisbury to contribute.

With most of the tracks in and out within 90 seconds, the album is best enjoyed as a continuous course. Play side A, play the B, then flip it back and listen all over again. Stand out moments include tremulous cut ‘n’ paste jam ‘Jackie’, the moody string-laden ‘Rainbow Eternity’, funky sitar workout ‘Nerd Nork’, and atmospheric closer ‘Take Flight’. Sharing a similarly broad and experimental sound palette as the likes The Avalanches, Madlib, The Go Team, and Edan; ‘Friendly Sounds Vol 1’ is the soundtrack to a wild joyride down South Bristol’s North Street, foot on the gas, hand on the horn, LPs spilling from the boot.

Cooper’s irrepressible debut album ‘Myriad Sounds' (Jan ‘22) caught the attention of the UK's press and radio alike. Mojo's four star review described it as “Bristol’s beat scene backdrops late night jams”, Uncut enjoyed the "rugged psych-funk romp" and Louder than War declared "it’s vital and vibrant and exactly what we need to kick start the year”. Bonus round 'More Myriad Sounds' (Apr ‘23) added Brooklyn vocalist Brain Fog to the melange with a bounty of pyretic vocal performances. DJ Mag called it “A fierce, kaleidoscopic trip” while Bandcamp Daily said “This album of cross-genre influences is as likely to get it included in any number of best-of columns, with the theme of serious fun as their common element”. Called a "mysterious Bristol breaks scientist" by Lauren Laverne, BBC radio DJs including Cerys Matthews, Gideon Coe, Huw Stephens, Jamie Cullum, Stuart Maconie, and Tom Ravenscroft have rinsed Cooper’s tracks, with Huey Morgan inviting Cooper to contribute a Block Party Mix for his show.



‘Stay A While’, the first showing of Cooper’s new shop sampling stunners, was released on 7” in January ‘24. Lush string flourishes sliced with 6Ts girl-group vocals and rollicking piano chords resulted in a dreamy, end of night, lights up anthem in-the-making that The Arts Desk called “A horn-fired, beatsy, chop-around that recalls The Avalanches”. Releasing the album is Friendly Records, the best little record shop in Bristol and now a burgeoning record label. Opened by Tom Friend on North Street in 2016, it’s gone on to become a hub of the local musical community. As well as Claude Cooper, the label has released LPs by Alison Cotton, Floating World Pictures, Christian Madden & The Enemy Chorus, Nick Craft, as well as handling the War Child series of 7”s with BEAK>, Idles, J Dilla, PJ Harvey, Portishead, and Sleaford Mods + Hot Chip.



Claude Cooper will DJ at the one-day Friendly Festival on 10th May in aid of War Child, which will feature Sleaford Mods, Katy J Pearson, The 45s, Zalizo and DJ sets by Ishmael Ensemble, Heavenly Jukebox and Friendly Records DJs.

I’m Sad as Hell and I’m Not Going to Fake It Anymore is the best, sharpest, briefest, and fourth record from Paper Castles, the band fronted by Jericho, Vermont’s Paddy Reagan. In one way, it’s a simple and modest collection of nine fuzzy guitar-led pop songs. The title, a play on the iconic scene from Network (written by Paddy Chayefsky), can be clocked as nothing more than that at first glance, playful. But like the music behind it, Reagan thinks you can sit with the title if you want.

I'm Sad as Hell... was tracked by Benny Yurco (Michael Nau, Lily Seabird, Robber Robber) in a little over eight hours across two days, a testament to the quartet’s perfection of these songs on stage, and to Yurco’s comfortable Little Jamaica Recordings in Burlington.

Tompkins and Mangan lock into a wonderful foundation for Kitz’s lolling guitar lines on “Clean + Organized,” while on “Avalon,” the band sings harmony for the most ironic line in the waltz (“We don’t really want company”) before their instruments explode into technicolor. “Lying Here” showcases PC deftly navigating washed out verses and tight knit, twangy choruses, all in a tidy, under-three minute package.

Lyrically, Reagan is at his finest: playful and savage, biting and beautiful. Double entendres and clever wordplay abound—a line like “it's not the ideals but the high heels that’ll make you a man” from “Modern Myth” will make you wish John Prine was still around to hear it. On “Name Changer,” when Reagan sings “I’ll never change my name again / Got a real good handle and I don’t want to give it in,” what kind of “handle” is he referring to? I’d like to think Elvis Costello would smile at most lines in the Attractions rave-up “Content Creator.”

Neon Pink Vinyl. For their tenth LP in a career spanning more than two decades, Tulsa's Unwed Sailor deliver their heaviest riffs, loudest squalls, and most deeply textured arrangements yet. Cruel Entertainment is a catalogue of contrasts - dissonance and harmony, hardcore crunch and post-rock grandeur, complexity and catchiness - that adds a vibrant new dimension to the second phase of their discography, spanning thus far from 2019's landmark Heavy Age up to the "vivid, starry-eyed psychedelia" (AllMusic) of 2024's Underwater Over There. Opener and lead single, "Rock Candy", roars in with a gale of feedback, pounding drums, and nimble bass, until a latticework of howling guitars ushers us into a more goth-tinged space. It's a characteristically intricate, energetic composition that flows with remarkable ease between its parts, and wastes not a moment of its three minutes. "Monster Collecting" brings a rare combination of melancholic and driving energy, reminiscent of avowed heroes New Order, but ups the ante with a tight, fastpaced rhythm section and litany of guitar lines, until opening up into a cascade of reverberating textures and tenuous sweetness. According to Ford, the title Cruel Entertainment refers to "the hardships of being an artist and musician in the crowded, imbalanced world of social media and streaming," where the completion of a new work demands that the creator also be a promoter, content strategist, and agent, among many other intensifying challenges. Pointedly drawing inspiration from noisier, rowdier bands - including Fugazi, Quicksand, and Cherubs - here they seek a much-needed catharsis in the ongoing fight to keep the creative soul intact. Second side standout, "Monty Donahue", typifies this form of release, as massive, mid-tempo percussion leads a fluid low end theme - inspired by the dual bass assault of Dianogah - and Swatzell's chords burst into shimmering nebulas across a labyrinthine arrangement that's equally loud and beautiful. Title track, "Cruel Entertainment", is a mosaic of sound for which Ford's bass provides the mortar: taut drums list between the channels, washes of guitar stretch to the horizon, and metallic heaviness punctuates the drift. There is a confident immensity here, proving that, although Unwed Sailor have witnessed a wild amount of changes in the music industry, their knack for creating complex, vital, and masterfully produced work remains untouched.

Tone Def were one of the original batch of artists to sign to Moving Shadow back in 1991, who brought there early demos into the studio with label head honcho Rob Playford, releasing 4 records on the label between 91-92. At the same time Rog from the band was also building speakers and installing club and free party sound systems. His skills were unchallenged and he soon went on to be one of the top speaker/system makers in the UK, if not the world with his company Void Acoustics.

But not all the band’s music from back then ended up on Moving Shadow … some of it was lost to ¼” tape and forgotten about until 2019 when Vinyl Fanatiks reached out to the band, being that we are all Bournemouth based. Rog dug out the tapes and went through them, finding many tracks which have been released on Vinyl Fanatiks and sister label Acid Boom.

This is the final chapter of the lost tapes – two tracks written in 1992, finally getting a release after 31 years!

Big Love for Big Music!

Blue Sky Vinyl. Teethe is a band from Texas. The members of Teethe met while attending the University of North Texas in Denton, TX, a small college town outside of Dallas with a fertile music scene. Before forming Teethe, its core members Boone Patrello, Grahm Robinson, Madeline Dowd, and Jordan Garrett all played in various other groups in Denton, releasing music under different pseudonyms. Patrello released solo music via his Dead Sullivan moniker, while Robinson released under MAH KEE OH. Patrello and Robinson linked up with Dowd to record an album for her project, Crisman, in 2019. They all eventually moved in together, leading the group to start recording more as a whole unit, and subsequently Teethe was born.Made over the course of 2020, Teethe's eponymous debut album is a collection of songs pieced together over time - a sonic collage of fragmented recordings and half finished tracks made whole in the midst of isolation. Initially self-released in November of 2020 with little fanfare, the album's warm, lo-fi aesthetic and slow, calming songs spread by word of mouth. Roughly one year later, at the top of 2022, the band returned with "Tag", a new single that caught the attention of slowcore fans and garnered shout outs from unlikely celebrities. Tours soon followed with Charlie Martin of Hovvdy, Momma, Milly, Waveform, and They Are Gutting A Body of Water. The band continued to record their own music, releasing another single, "Lucky," in the fall of 2022, and most recently partnered with Saddle Creek for their 7-inch series to release their newest single, "Moon," in October of 2023. Now spread between Dallas and Austin, the Texas band has recently signed with Winspear and will be re-issuing their self-titled debut LP this winter, along with a pressing of "Tag," "Lucky," and never before released b-side "Thanks" on 7-inch vinyl.

A forgotten tale, long buried beneath the snows of time, is about to be retold. “Midvintersagor” (‘Midwinter Sagas’) is the first music ever composed by Örnatorpet, a landmark in both personal and artistic discovery. Originally self-released in a small cassette run, this unaltered reissue allows listeners to experience the album exactly as it was conceived – pure, unrefined, and brimming with the wonder of creation.

At its core, “Midvintersagor” is a soundtrack to an unwritten legend. Each track weaves a narrative steeped in medieval fantasy, channelling the essence of forgotten folklore and the grandeur of winter’s stillness. Inspired by the interludes and atmospheric passages of 90s black metal, Örnatorpet sought to craft an instrumental world as evocative as the landscapes of his native Sweden.

Since its inception in 2018, Örnatorpet has become one of the foremost torchbearers of dungeon synth. With no formal musical training, he followed only instinct and inspiration, carving out a path that has since led him to the forefront of the genre. “Midvintersagor” is where that journey began – an unpolished gem gleaming with the spirit of discovery, now unearthed for a new audience to behold.

Calling Mattheis a pillar of Nous'klaer Audio would be an understatement. Founded in 2013, the label was at the time solely created to put out Mattheis' Isms EP. Now, twelve years on, we present his latest album: Waiting for the Silhouette. The forty minute LP full of dreamy techno bliss explorations starts out, and is glued throughout, with ethereal modulating synths. Dreamscapes fuse into scattered drums and shifting patterns briefly usher in changing phases. It's in these moments when the unworldly contours take form and are built upon by other emerging elements. Waiting for the silhouette is a record about things coming to life, outlines that start to appear and shapes evoking memories that could as well be premonitions. Minimalism and maximalism become indistinguishable on this album, through the trip in between. Artwork by Frederic Dumoulin. The record is cut inside-out and comes with a downloadcard.

Eduardo Mateo & Fernando Cabrera come together to offer a cycle of live music, where both authors interpret their creations in a special way. They achieve remakes of songs that from this encounter become anthems of Uruguayan music such as "Por ejemplo", an essential piece of Uruguayan music of all times. Recorded live and released in 1987 in Montevideo, Uruguay. This album is the most professional record of the duo that Eduardo Mateo and Fernando Cabrera formed for a period of a few months. These two great composers, performers and arrangers from different generations, premiered with the duo several beautiful new songs, in addition to concocting together renewed versions of some of the classic tunes from each one's repertoire. It is an intimate and acoustic work. Fernando Cabrera's guitar appears many times backed by the tasty and peculiar percussion of Eduardo Mateo, and there are also grooves with precious arrangements of two guitars. The duo of Mateo and Cabrera was a milestone for the careers of both.

Touches of hard rock, blues, and county -- handled in Richard Soutar's idiosyncratic way. Richard Soutar was one of the earliest artists on the east coast to write, record, press and publish his own albums. In 1976, he self-released a trippy DIY gem of a record called "Lavender Daydreams, "followed by "Episodes" in 1979. Both albums eventually saw reissue by Void Records -- who have now released Soutar's latest recordings in a band setting, Satori Circus. Stated influences on the new album include the Doors and Mississippi John Hurt... and maybe much more accurately, an Adyashanti lecture: "All the crazy scenes you go through like a madman running in circles and suddenly seeing it clearly because you're in this very quiet sacred moment that descends unexpectedly on you. Some people call it Grace, others samadhi, others Satori," as Soutar explains.

"This album is all about the vertigo of growing up," says Jack, who makes his Dualtone Records debut with the sophomore release JVC. "It's about re-defining and re-understanding yourself." JVC was born during a period of anxiety, self-examination, and newfound freedom. The album features a re-imagined version of breakthrough single "Rattlesnake," this time as a duet with artist Zach Bryan. The track's introspective lyrics and atmospheric acoustics earned Jack a spot on Spotify's 2024 Best New Artist list with tastemaker playlist "juniper." JVC is a sharply-written record that measures the long, winding road from past to present.