quête:what if

If you can"t make an omelette without breaking some eggs, then you can"t make a debut album without making some mistakes. 20 years on, those mistakes play an integral part of what makes Is My Head Still On? a beautiful record. Loose, explorative, personal, embarrassing, true and all over the fucking place. I wouldn"t want to change a thing.

Courtesy Of Balance is the tasteful house label run by Brawther and it was back in 2019 in Lviv during an underground warehouse party that he first made contact with Laconica label founders Ocean and Sasha Pervukhin. They all hit it off and so were invited to showcase the deeper side of the house sounds of Western Ukraine, and the results make up this new EP with the artists taking one side each. Ocean T's opener is a psychedelic, trance-infused cosmic trip while 'What If' rides on crisp beats with some lush dubbed-out synths. On the flip, Pervukhin's 'I Hate This DJ' is balmy, heady deep house from up amongst the stars and 'TR 18 Blues' is a nice kinetic, lithe minimal house cut.

Big Crown Records is proud to present the reissue of one of Brooklyn’s most sought after “holy grail” soul records, YIA Talent Hunt Winners. Youth in Action, Inc. (YIA) was formed in 1963 when the Central Brooklyn Coordinating Council received a grant to develop a youth services program in the Bedford-Stuyvesant community. It was originally organized to identify and address the social problems that were leading to the high crime rate in Bed-Stuy. Recently the Smithsonian Museum of African American History released an archive of footage filmed by a community activist, which shows the real-world effects of the group’s efforts: young people engaged in sports, the arts, and other activities to better themselves and their world. The appearances by Jackie and Bobby Kennedy point to the group's relationship to the Great Society programs of President Lyndon B. Johnson. What there is no mention of in either the NMAAHC’s collection of YIA materials nor in the Brooklyn Public Library’s also extensive collection is this talent show and the record that came to be because of it.
Local vocal groups chose tunes to cover from the era (1964 - 1968) ranging from The Rascals to The Intruders, from The O’Jays to Billy Stewart. All of these groups were backed by a local act called The Thrillers Band. The winners of the talent contest were then invited into the studio to record their versions which would be pressed up on this record and given away to local radio and TV stations. The hope of the whole thing was that this would help the young groups get discovered by producers and record labels and start their professional music careers. The intro to the album is Reverend Horace Tyler congratulating the winners and asking them “to just remember, when you reach the top and become our big stars of tomorrow, don’t forget YIA”.
What this album may lack in fidelity and production it more than makes up for in charm. The engineers at the recording sessions pump in pre recorded applause and screaming to give the it the feel of the day of the contest while the young groups sing their hearts out, clearly giving their all. From today’s perspective, soul music fans will lose it over the choices of covers on this record and the killer, raw, innocent performances of them by these local Brooklyn groups. The Channels 4, Carla & The Carlettes, The United Souls, Sharon Seabrook & The Starlettes, and The Destinations all won that day and got to take place in this record. It makes you wonder, and even pine for the performances of the groups who didn’t make the cut, even if just to find out what tunes they covered, or better yet, were their original songs written by some of them for this contest?
It is with great pleasure that we make this available to the public again. This is a truly rare record, and an awesome piece of New York History.

Maggot Mass, the fifth full-length album by Pharmakon on Sacred Bones Records, marks the project's return after a five-year hiatus. This album signifies a departure from the original rules and structures established by Margaret Chardiet for Pharmakon, evolving into a new form. It retains the project's experimental roots in power electronics and noise while incorporating industrial and punk influences. The album stems from a profound disgust with humanity's dysfunctional relationship with the environment and other life forms. It explores the loneliness resulting from this broken bond and challenges us to acknowledge our personal and systemic responsibility. What peace can we make with privilege when the true cost of our comfort is not measured in dollars but in death? How can we reconcile with death when we impose the same hierarchical structures on it that we do in life? Is life worth living in the isolation of this self-imposed species loneliness? Humans often measure worth by accumulation _ money, assets, objects _ mistaking this for power and influence. Western heritage dictates a hierarchy, placing humans at the top, separate from the natural world. This delusion turns bodies into objects, land into property, and people into expendable tools. If our value were instead determined by our contribution to the ecosystem, who could claim that a human is more valuable than a maggot? Maggots recycle death into life, breaking down matter and nourishing new growth. They transform into flies, pollinating plants and sustaining the Earth's flora. In contrast, humans pollute rather than pollinate, with a select few profiting from exploitation at the expense of biodiversity and the well-being of many. In grappling with grief and loss on both personal and global scales, Margaret sought solace in the idea of rebirth through death, celebrating the beauty of regeneration through decay. However, she had to confront the stark reality of the disconnection from the earth under oppressive systems. Pharmakon is here imagining a path where the final act is to give back what was received from creation, offering our lives and deaths to sustain existence. once I slough off this human skin I will find my home and ancestral kin_ in the coffin-birth of my cadaver's ecosystem

Speckled Dragon Egg Color Vinyl. Being Dead knows how to make an entrance - within the first several seconds of EELS, the duo's new record, the bright, hard-strummed guitar line on "Godzilla Rises" conjures cinematic immediacy, a creature emerging from the depths of the ocean in campy, freaky stop motion, fittingly so. Being Dead's records are mosaics, technicolor incantations, each song its own self-contained little universe. And while the dreamlike EELS probes further into the depths of the duo Being Dead's psyche, it is, most importantly, in the year of our lord 2024, a 16-track record that is genuinely unpredictable from one track to the next: a joyous and unexpected trip helmed by two true-blue freak bitch besties holed up in a lil' house in the heart of Austin, Texas. They decamped to Los Angeles for two weeks to record with GRAMMY-winning producer John Congleton, writing songs for the record until days before they left. The radical shift in process was welcome - a good balance and a challenge, Congleton helping them find new ways to work and helping peel back the layers on the core of their songwriting. Being Dead has grown from a duo to a trio live, including bassist Ricky Motto (who is immortalized finally on record here, particularly in the giggles on "Rock n' Roll Hurts") The resulting EELS is a darker record, tapped more into the devilishness within, but it's also a more raucous, rougher ride sonically. There's heartbreak, excitement, enchantment, dancing - we move through it all at a high-octane pace. Falcon Bitch and Smoofy never want to do the same thing twice on any song, and they don't. From the pummeling garage rock distortion of "Firefighters" to "Dragons II," which appears in its demo form taped on a hand recorder, it's unexpected but intuitive, and, most importantly, singularly Being Dead. Like its animal namesake suggests, the songs on EELS are malleable, the record like slithering through murky waters or strange half dreams, mysterious and beautiful in how it moves, reflective in a wavering sheen. Dipping into each song feels like uncovering a new cavern, plunging into depths unknown but fully open to what will be revealed. On the album artwork, an illustration by the artist Julia Soboleva, there are some weird disparate spectral creatures, a stark glimmer against a cloudy darkness. It's a fitting encapsulation of Being Dead, exuding a welcoming, playful energy even if something foreboding lurks just beyond the pale - more out of frame that's left to uncover, no path unexplored, strange and beautiful in the light.

"A group of tried-and-true musicians got together and found the sort of camaraderie and kinship you typically only find once in a lifetime. They didn’t overthink it. They didn’t waste a second. They simply left their blood, sweat, and tears on tape—like they’ve always done. For as much as Better Lovers represents the union of former Every Time I Die members Jordan Buckley guitar,Steve Micciche [bass], and Clayton “Goose” Holyoak [drums] with The Dillinger Escape Plan and Killer Be Killed frontman Greg Puciato [vocals],and musician (Fit For An Autopsy/END) and GRAMMY® Award-winning producer, Will Putney [guitar], it really cements the bond of five friends around a shared vision. That vision is as uncompromising, unapologetic, and undeniable as anything they’ve individually done, yet it’s refined by experience and a commitment to a future together. They’re in it for the long haul... “To me, this band is refreshing,” exclaims Jordan. “Looking back, I’m so happy everything got me to where I am. The pandemic and the last few years made me hungrier and more grateful. This isn’t a hobby. This isn’t temporary. This is the next evolution for each of us. Greg and Will rejuvenated me and made me even more confident.



Now, everybody needs to know we’re a wild animal that just broke out of the zoo—there’s no trying to put it back in the cage.” “Better Lovers definitely feels like its own thing,” states Greg. “I’m in so many lanes right now, so it was important that one lane didn’t step on another. However, nothing I’m doing is this vicious. This is full-on scathing. It’s been really fun. I forgot how much I liked that.” As the story goes, Jordan ended up back in Buffalo, NY, jamming in a basement rehearsal spot with Steve and Goose during the winter of 2022. After working with Will on the last two Every Time I Die records, they shared a handful of early demos with him to produce. As the year progressed, Jordan caught Greg on the road with Jerry Cantrell in Las Vegas, mentioning the new music. Once ideas solidified, he shared them with the vocalist who replied at 3am one night in December. “The text said, ‘Let’s give these motherfuckers what they want’,”chuckles Jordan. “I went to bed smiling and laughing. There is no one like Greg on stage, off stage, or over text. Once I told Will, he was like, ‘Can I play?’ We said, ‘Of course!’ That’s how it was born.” “Once I pick up the scent, I’ll go for the kill,” smiles Greg. “We’ve all hung out, gotten to know each other, and it’s all fire now. Everyone has already been through shit. You know yourself better. Your ego isn’t as big as it used to be. You can share your opinions. It’s a cool dynamic.” Fittingly, they introduce this era with the single “30 Under 13.” A seasick guitar groove bleeds into an incisive riff punctuated by Greg’s vitriolic and venomous screams, “Hold onto me, try to let go of me, let go of what you’ll never be. ”This barrage unpredictably subsides on a haunting clean vocal, only to ramp back up into a pit-splitting thrash crescendo and rapid-fire solo played at warp speed. “We always try to up our game,” notes Jordan. “This is the next step for all of us. There’s just constant forward motion, and we don’t want to compromise that. We want to keep going. We’re doing a lot of shit we haven’t done before in Better Lovers. I’m not going to spoil it for you, but get ready.” “For some reason, this song got me,” recalls Greg. “Once that happens, you have the toe of the dinosaur skeleton in the dirt. You start brushing it away, and soon you have a fucking T-Rex.” The name might give you a hint of what’s coming—or it might not. So, what does the future hold for Better Lovers? Well, it’s entirely in their control. Expect a lot of touring. Expect more music. Expect these five guys to leave a trail of destruction in their wake—really would you want anything less? “We feel like we’re going to explode if we sit around any longer,” Jordan leaves off. “This is my life’s work. I learned all of my lessons, passed all of the tests, and took all of the right turns and the wrong turns. It turns out what I thought were wrong turns got me here, and that’s all that matters. I have no regrets. I know this is what I’m supposed to be doing.” “I just want you to view this on its own merits,” Greg concludes. “I hope it reaches some new people. For me, the enjoyment is making the music and putting it out. The second it’s released, I don’t look back. You drop the bomb and keep flying the plane. You don’t circle back to see how much destruction you cause. You keep moving, which is what we’re going to do.” "

Zimmerman conjures up a kind of Arcadian folk surrealism that is utterly his own.” MOJO "Startling collection of intimate, home-recorded songs from the cult singer-songwriter adored by David Bowie and Big Thief alike. I eulogised the “Arcadian folk surrealism” of his 1974 ‘Over Here In Europe’ but, if anything, this informal collection of intimate home-studiorecordings is even better. Recorded between 1973 and76 whilst living in Belgium this is the kind of assured, organic freewheeling folk music that has the mellow, introspective rough-edged feel of some lost private-press LP, the kind rightly revered by Endless Boogie’s Paul Majors as “real people” music. A true find.” Andrew Male MOJO magazine Never released before collection featuring Ian A Anderson & Maggie Holland recorded 73-77 is among Tucker’s finest - Free-ranging, Playful, Intimate - his Songpoet imagination unbound and in full bloom. Recorded between 1973-76 this is the first ever release for ‘I Wonder If I’ll Ever Come True’ a stunningly beautiful, homegrown collection by Songpoet Tucker Zimmerman and friends. The range and depth is astonishing. From the heady surreal journey of ‘It All Depends’ Upon the Pleasure Man’, to the uplifting Gene Clark-esque 'So It Goes’, to some of his most beautiful & touching love songs in ‘Let’s Start Over Again’ & ‘Song’. Only one song has seen the the light of day before now - ‘Taoist Tale’ from his 1984 album ‘Word Games’. This recording from a decade earlier loses no power in its folkier stripped down style driven by Tucker’s strong narrative.
While living in bucolic seclusion in Belgium with Marie-Claire, Tucker invited visiting musicians (Derroll Adams, Wizz Jones, Maggie Holland, Dave Evans, Ian Anderson) into his home studio to play and live tape whatever songs he had at hand. Maggie Holland and Ian A Anderson feature, while Tucker found a freeing simplicity in just guitar, ’70s organ, bass and piano. We are so grateful to Ian A Anderson, who carefully kept and curated these recordings from 50 years ago. “Every time I would leave, Tucker would hand me another tape full of songs”. Ian worked with Tucker and ourselves to present this wonderful album. The collection is among Tucker’s finest - free-ranging, playful, intimate - his Songpoet imagination unbound and in full bloom. The ethos, the playing, the freedom, feels like Ronnie Lane’s time in the Welsh Borders. Unhurried, liberated, down-home and cosmic. Extraordinary music made among friends.

The monolithically heavy, uniquely mercurial UK quartet Sugar Horse are proud to announce their new album Grand Scheme Of Things, to be released 4th October via Pelagic Records. Darting wildly between dark/light, pain/bliss and sacred/profane, the band originating from Bristol offers a different perspective on Post Metal! On Grand Scheme Of Things, Sugar Horse comment: "This album was intended to be a sideways step. A move away from the kind of thing that is expected of us_ if anything is at all. What I mean by that, is the songs are more direct. They take a much shorter amount of time to "get to the point". We also wanted to make this one noticeably "less Metal". While we love being a bit boneheaded and confrontational, we definitely wanted to explore the more melodic, song-based side of the band's sound. Normally you'd see shortened song structures and more singing and think "Oh these guys are going for gold_.they wanna get on the radio and make millions of bloodstained pounds." Well_you're very much entitled to think that if you wish, but it felt like more of a songwriting challenge than anything else to be honest. We've done the whole drawn out, endless Space Rock thing a good few times now and it would've been easy to rest on those laurels. Do something we're comfortable with. Alas, that is not really the point of this band. We'd much prefer to make it difficult and take the long route."

The monolithically heavy, uniquely mercurial UK quartet Sugar Horse are proud to announce their new album Grand Scheme Of Things, to be released 4th October via Pelagic Records. Darting wildly between dark/light, pain/bliss and sacred/profane, the band originating from Bristol offers a different perspective on Post Metal! On Grand Scheme Of Things, Sugar Horse comment: "This album was intended to be a sideways step. A move away from the kind of thing that is expected of us_ if anything is at all. What I mean by that, is the songs are more direct. They take a much shorter amount of time to "get to the point". We also wanted to make this one noticeably "less Metal". While we love being a bit boneheaded and confrontational, we definitely wanted to explore the more melodic, song-based side of the band's sound. Normally you'd see shortened song structures and more singing and think "Oh these guys are going for gold_.they wanna get on the radio and make millions of bloodstained pounds." Well_you're very much entitled to think that if you wish, but it felt like more of a songwriting challenge than anything else to be honest. We've done the whole drawn out, endless Space Rock thing a good few times now and it would've been easy to rest on those laurels. Do something we're comfortable with. Alas, that is not really the point of this band. We'd much prefer to make it difficult and take the long route."

Piano Bar is the sixth studio album by French pop and chanson singer Patricia Kaas. It is the first album on which Kaas sings partly in English. The album includes covers and interpretations of Jacques Brel, Yves Montand and Gilbert Bécaud. It became one of Kaas' most successful albums in Europe, selling over half a million copies. Piano Bar is a limited edition of 1000 numbered copies on turquoise coloured vinyl.

Amputechture Beneath the technical flash, the fury, the fearless creative brinkmanship of the first two Mars Volta albums lay a potent seam of the blues, an existential vexation that powered every twist and turn of Omar and Cedric’s imaginations. That mournful vibe would come to the surface of the group’s third full-length Amputechture, a simmering/blistering set that was unquestionably the group’s darkest yet. There was no overarching theme here, no interlinking concept binding the songs together, though Cedric concedes that, lyrically, the album was influenced “by a lot of stuff I was going through, a really bad break-up and a lot of other crazy stuff, and trying to put that feeling into the record.” But Amputechture – its name another of the late Jeremy Michael Ward’s invented words – was no downbeat bummer. Opener Vicarious Atonement might’ve been a deliciously gloomy, slow-burning thing, capturing Cedric in delirious duet with Omar’s swooning guitar lines, accompanied by squalling saxophone by Adrian Terrazas-Gonzales and dream-frequency fuckery by the group’s new sonic manipulator, former At The Drive- In member Paul Hinojos. But second track Tetragrammaton swiftly set pulses racing, an epic-in-miniature and containing more ideas within its 16 minutes than most bands manage over an entire career, its proggy, complex guitar figures tessellating in infinite configurations and converging as if conforming to mathematical formulae from another reality. The raw material Amputechture was hewn from started life on the road. Omar now travelled with his own mobile recording studio – a little Neve ten-channel tape recorder and an array of microphones – and was able to work on new ideas on tourbuses, in hotel rooms and during soundcheck (and, occasionally, after the show was done). After touring for Frances The Mute was complete, Omar relocated to Amsterdam, staying with his photographer friend Danielle Van Ark and her partner, Nils Post. It’s here that he demoed Amputechture, flying in engineer Jon DeBaun, drummer Jon Theodore and his brother, Chino, to work on these raw sketches. He later returned to Los Angeles, where the album was finally recorded. Omar ceded guitar duties to his dear friend and kindred spirit John Frusciante, instead assuming the role of musical director. “I wanted to hear the sound of the band,” he says. “I thought, I’ll be able to sit at the console, feel the air of the speakers moving, the unified sound of everything, and not feel distant from it. It was fun, but it was also challenging.” Part of Omar’s new method was to teach the musicians their parts only moments before the tapes rolled. “To keep things fresh, and to keep everyone on edge,” he says, before chuckling. “No, not on edge – on their toes. Amputechture would prove The Mars Volta’s most diverse set yet, drawing into the group’s tornado of influences moments of fiery jazz spirituality and esoteric folk introspection, finding space for passages of devastating subtlety and also their most fierce and full-on moments to date. The aforementioned Vicarious Atonement found its meditative mood echoed by Asilos Magdalena, an intimate, acoustic piece that invoked traditional Latin folk music, as Cedric sang in Spanish a sorrowful tale of a lost soul’s quest for sanctuary within a Magdalen Asylum, a refuge set up by the Catholic church for “fallen women”. The shadowy, sinister closer El Ciervo Vulnerado, meanwhile, tapped into the darker side of spiritual jazz to further explore the album’s themes of redemption and religious myth and magick. Elsewhere, the interplay between guitar and clarinet on Viscera Eyes created complex, unsettling counter-melodies, while the coiling, ornate Meccamputechture – Cedric’s wild fusion of sacred texts, occultism and dystopian science fiction – proved a great showcase for Ikey Owens’ swarming, infernal organ runs, in concert with Frusciante’s arcane guitar-play. But it was Day Of The Baphomets that would prove Amputechture’s most ambitious and most defining epic. Cedric’s lyrics tore into the hypocrisy of religious cant and myths of sin and punishment. “I wanted to make a song that was like the movie The Believers, where this cabal stole kids and did some occult shit with them,” he explains. “But I wanted it to be like, ‘What if the people you hire to do jobs you don’t wanna do rise up one day and then pull some shit like that?’ Like it was the guerrilla warfare, them taking over – wouldn’t that be some fucked up shit? And the music just lent itself to that – the big intro, the bass solo, and all of the ruckus that occurs.” That ruckus was some of the most thrilling Mars Volta music yet, as Omar directed his musicians to rumble through fiery modes of wild tribal groove, ransack-the-palaces riot- rock and supreme progressive experimentalism. Amputechture, then, is the sound of The Mars Volta in imperial mode: fearless, insatiable, unstoppable.

Official soundtrack to accompany Joker: Folie à Deux, one of the most anticipated films of a generation. Produced by Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Jason Ruder and executive produced by Todd Phillips, Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Randall Poster, & George Drakoulias. No tracklisting on launch.

Kindred spirits Passepartout Duo and Inoyama Land embody the essence of play - charting a new chapter and reinvigorating the environmental music and electronic landscape.

Passepartout Duo is formed of Nicoletta Favari (IT) and Christopher Salvito (IT/US), who since 2015 have been on a continuous journey travelling the world's corners, engaged in a creative process they term "slow music". Having been guests of many notable artist residencies and with live performances in cultural spaces and institutions, their evocative music escapes categorisation. With no fixed abode their musical pilgrimage brought them to Japan first in 2019, which prompted a deep connection to Kanky? Ongaku 'environmental music', a genre in which Inoyama Land is often associated with, soundtracking the duo's first immersive experience. In 2023 the duo revisited Japan and set out to reconnect in particular with the music of Inoyama Land, performed by Makoto Inoue and Yasushi Yamashita. The highly revered album 'Danzindan-Pojidon' (1983) produced by Haruomi Hosono amongst other well publicized and acclaimed reissues (Light in The Attic Records' Grammy-nominated compilation 'Kanky? Ongaku'), produced a global resurgence and admiration of the environmental music movement. Nicoletta took the lead to seek out Inoyama Land and in making contact successfully their intrigue and eagerness to meet was warmly reciprocated, and the group scheduled to meet in the form of a spontaneous improvisation session. "We're deeply concerned with what it means to be a duo, and what it means for people to connect through music."

Radio Yugawara is a unique one-off transmission from a specific place and point in time, unlikely to ever occur again. The respective duo's approach can really be described as "tuning in", a tuning into each other, to themselves, and to the surrounding nature of Yugawara. Like waves that travel off-world, sounds travel through the universe and can be lost forever if we don't seek them out. In finding a harmonic affinity within their instruments and a spiritual kinship in their interwoven performance, Radio Yugawara at its core is an interpretation of feeling, of close human interaction and the true essence of discovery.

"The album is both a transmission from a location, but also a tuning into the surroundings and to each other. Music in this kind of ephemeral moment is much less about active creation and more about discovering something which is already there in the air."

‘Leon’ is the highly anticipated fourth album from Grammy Award-winning recording artist, songwriter, and producer Leon Bridges. With 13 tracks featuring Leon’s signature storytelling and a unique blend of organic genre alchemy, ‘Leon’ is his most poignant, powerful, and personal work to date. He takes fans on a trip through the heart of Ft. Worth he knows best, the things he holds dear, and the people and places that shaped him. Featuring production by Ian Fitchuk (Beyonce, Noah Kahan), Daniel Tashian (Kacey Musgraves), and Tyler Johnson (Harry Styles, Miley Cyrus), Leon describes the album as “somewhat of a self-portrait… I’m excited to share these stories about my home, about nostalgia, about my upbringing, about where I’m from, with all of you. I hope this music brings you back to your roots and your journey.”



Quote from Leon:
“‘Leon’ has been a long-time coming. I started writing pieces of it as far back as ‘Gold-Diggers Sound.’ They didn’t fit what I was trying to do with that album and I tried moving on. But I couldn’t shake them because they’re part of me. And, if I’m honest, also because I think this is some of my most excellent work yet.In many ways, Leon has been in the works since my childhood. This record is about simpler days. It’s about time spent in my beloved Fort Worth and the experiences that made me the man I am today. It’s soulful music in the truest sense - it’s imbued with my soul.I’m excited to share these stories about my home, about nostalgia, about my upbringing, about where I’m from, with all of you. I hope this music brings you back to your roots and your journey.”

‘What makes Sex Swing so powerful is that they transcend the limitations of rock music. Their sound is so full of possibilities, violence, sexuality, sacrifice, even religion. If there was a future to look forward to for heavy guitar music, this is it’ The Quietus The locals call it Sop Ruak – eighty thousand square miles of mountains and mystery and unholy medicine. “It really is an endless seam of activity,” Sex Swing frontman Dan Chandler explains of Golden Triangle – both the title of their new album and the region between Myanmar, Thailand and Laos that inspired it. To know this contradictory corner of the world is to understand fully why the cult-beloved noise-rock artisans turned to it when writing their hotly-anticipated third full-length. The real-life Golden Triangle is a groundswell of both natural wonder and drug production, and who combines beauty and narcotic brutality better than Sex Swing? For a decade now, this
collective of revered UK underground musicians, comprising members of Earth, Mugstar, The Keep and Jaaw, have been pulling audiences into drug- like slipstreams with their alchemy of pummelling rhythms, towering guitars, and unrelenting saxophone through which glimmers of light occasionally pierce through. No wonder their Golden Triangle is an album telling distortion-shrouded tales from one of the most storied, enigmatic places on the planet, with enough invention within to fill eighty thousand miles and more.
Where does this violent, hypnotic aural travelogue take you within the Sop Ruak? The seven tracks that make up The Golden Triangle see the band – completed by bassist Jason Stoll, drummer Stuart Bell, guitarist Jodie Cox, synthesist/guitarist Oli Knowles and saxophonist Colin Webster – adventure first to ‘The Confluence of the Ruak and Mekong Rivers,’ full of shimmering orchestration and feather-light ambience. Then come stops in ‘Myawaddy’, named after a small town embroiled in bloodshed on the border of Myanmar
and Thailand, and ‘Boten, Route 13’ – sparked by stories of a seemingly endless stretch of road from Laos into China. Before long, listeners are plunged into ‘Hpakant’, one of the album’s most invigorating and singular moments, lyrically inspired by a jade mine in Myanmar, where the spoils of forced labour are exchanged for prostitution and methanphetamine. The result is a mesmerising slow-burn of sax, snaking rhythms and sinister spoken word courtesy of the Scottish-born Bruce McClure, who “took the theme and turned it into a sci-fi story of exploitation and vice,” explains the frontman. It’s a track that, like the rest of Golden Triangle, underlines the evolution Sex Swing have undertaken since forming in 2014. From the raw and primitive sounds of the self-titled debut full-length, followed up by the coruscatingType II in 2020. Sex Swing’s third effort retains those early primitive elements and adds layers of structure and complexity. Golden Triangle initial formation was that of programmed beats and bedroom recordings shared electronically in the height of the pandemic. Those ideas were then completed during intensive writing sessions at a secluded farm in Oxfordshire.
Album credits consist of recording by Stanley Gravett at Holy Mountain Studios in Hackney, mixing by Wayne Adams at Bear Bites Horse, mastering from James Plotkin, and the continued aesthetic collaboration with artist Alex Bunn. Golden Triangle bristles with a rawness familiar to fans of the British sonic punishers, but adds new elements indicative of a group never resting on their laurels or sitting in one place. Why would they, after all? There’s an entire world of mountains and mystery and unholy medicine out there to be explored. The Golden Triangle, it seems, is just the beginning.

‘What makes Sex Swing so powerful is that they transcend the limitations of rock music. Their sound is so full of possibilities, violence, sexuality, sacrifice, even religion. If there was a future to look forward to for heavy guitar music, this is it’ The Quietus The locals call it Sop Ruak – eighty thousand square miles of mountains and mystery and unholy medicine. “It really is an endless seam of activity,” Sex Swing frontman Dan Chandler explains of Golden Triangle – both the title of their new album and the region between Myanmar, Thailand and Laos that inspired it. To know this contradictory corner of the world is to understand fully why the cult-beloved noise-rock artisans turned to it when writing their hotly-anticipated third full-length. The real-life Golden Triangle is a groundswell of both natural wonder and drug production, and who combines beauty and narcotic brutality better than Sex Swing? For a decade now, this
collective of revered UK underground musicians, comprising members of Earth, Mugstar, The Keep and Jaaw, have been pulling audiences into drug- like slipstreams with their alchemy of pummelling rhythms, towering guitars, and unrelenting saxophone through which glimmers of light occasionally pierce through. No wonder their Golden Triangle is an album telling distortion-shrouded tales from one of the most storied, enigmatic places on the planet, with enough invention within to fill eighty thousand miles and more.
Where does this violent, hypnotic aural travelogue take you within the Sop Ruak? The seven tracks that make up The Golden Triangle see the band – completed by bassist Jason Stoll, drummer Stuart Bell, guitarist Jodie Cox, synthesist/guitarist Oli Knowles and saxophonist Colin Webster – adventure first to ‘The Confluence of the Ruak and Mekong Rivers,’ full of shimmering orchestration and feather-light ambience. Then come stops in ‘Myawaddy’, named after a small town embroiled in bloodshed on the border of Myanmar
and Thailand, and ‘Boten, Route 13’ – sparked by stories of a seemingly endless stretch of road from Laos into China. Before long, listeners are plunged into ‘Hpakant’, one of the album’s most invigorating and singular moments, lyrically inspired by a jade mine in Myanmar, where the spoils of forced labour are exchanged for prostitution and methanphetamine. The result is a mesmerising slow-burn of sax, snaking rhythms and sinister spoken word courtesy of the Scottish-born Bruce McClure, who “took the theme and turned it into a sci-fi story of exploitation and vice,” explains the frontman. It’s a track that, like the rest of Golden Triangle, underlines the evolution Sex Swing have undertaken since forming in 2014. From the raw and primitive sounds of the self-titled debut full-length, followed up by the coruscatingType II in 2020. Sex Swing’s third effort retains those early primitive elements and adds layers of structure and complexity. Golden Triangle initial formation was that of programmed beats and bedroom recordings shared electronically in the height of the pandemic. Those ideas were then completed during intensive writing sessions at a secluded farm in Oxfordshire.
Album credits consist of recording by Stanley Gravett at Holy Mountain Studios in Hackney, mixing by Wayne Adams at Bear Bites Horse, mastering from James Plotkin, and the continued aesthetic collaboration with artist Alex Bunn. Golden Triangle bristles with a rawness familiar to fans of the British sonic punishers, but adds new elements indicative of a group never resting on their laurels or sitting in one place. Why would they, after all? There’s an entire world of mountains and mystery and unholy medicine out there to be explored. The Golden Triangle, it seems, is just the beginning.

Crypt of the Wizard is proud to present Necro Soft - Don't Test the Unmaker's Patience on vinyl and digital formats. What if the devil recorded a record? Would it scream for attention as loud as it could, with all knobs turned to 10? Would it be just another relentless wall of noise vying for your shortened attention, only to be forgotten while the next hot thing is being released, but this time, once again, promising a more raw and extreme experience than previously imagined? Seems unlikely. Satan is a subtle seducer. Luring and waiting are his tactics. His is the insidious rhythm that runs down your leg, causing your foot to tap while your lying lips are still saying, "This isn’t really my kind of thing." All sequins and satin, laughter and fun, while whispering in your ear about his plans for the final destruction of the infinite universe so quietly, you forget to stop enjoying yourself. Necro Soft’s debut LP Don't Test the Unmaker's Patience is crafted from this very notion. Rising from Copenhagen’s unrelentingly creative Mayhem scene with connections to bands such as Ryg Din Sidste Bøn and Gabestok, you already know you’re in for something special. With the devil at the helm and influenced as much by contemporary black metal as by the UK big beat scene of the 1990s, bands such as The Prodigy are seldom listed as having an impact on underground metal records, but here we are! A shimmering wash of drum machine rhythms and perpetual pop production designed to ensnare listeners with its irresistible beats while subtly corrupting their souls. Listening to Necro Soft is akin to entering some kind of damned Heavy Metal disco, high as a kite, and fixating on the glittering mirror ball in the ceiling before noticing that the floor is sticky with blood.

Crypt of the Wizard is proud to present Necro Soft - Don't Test the Unmaker's Patience on vinyl and digital formats. What if the devil recorded a record? Would it scream for attention as loud as it could, with all knobs turned to 10? Would it be just another relentless wall of noise vying for your shortened attention, only to be forgotten while the next hot thing is being released, but this time, once again, promising a more raw and extreme experience than previously imagined? Seems unlikely. Satan is a subtle seducer. Luring and waiting are his tactics. His is the insidious rhythm that runs down your leg, causing your foot to tap while your lying lips are still saying, "This isn’t really my kind of thing." All sequins and satin, laughter and fun, while whispering in your ear about his plans for the final destruction of the infinite universe so quietly, you forget to stop enjoying yourself. Necro Soft’s debut LP Don't Test the Unmaker's Patience is crafted from this very notion. Rising from Copenhagen’s unrelentingly creative Mayhem scene with connections to bands such as Ryg Din Sidste Bøn and Gabestok, you already know you’re in for something special. With the devil at the helm and influenced as much by contemporary black metal as by the UK big beat scene of the 1990s, bands such as The Prodigy are seldom listed as having an impact on underground metal records, but here we are! A shimmering wash of drum machine rhythms and perpetual pop production designed to ensnare listeners with its irresistible beats while subtly corrupting their souls. Listening to Necro Soft is akin to entering some kind of damned Heavy Metal disco, high as a kite, and fixating on the glittering mirror ball in the ceiling before noticing that the floor is sticky with blood.

CECILIA is a nomadic soul. Like in an existentialist epic that traverses different ages on a phantom thread of love, spirituality, desire and rage. She inhabits different bodies, inserts herself in a whole array of different characters. Some are fictional, some are as real as the artists that inspired her, and whose influence appears in CHOEUR under the guise of tiny fragments, direct quotes, dedications and spectral presences. Cecilia channels the poetry of different lives that might have been her own or might have only existed in dreams, and does so within a collection of songs that twist the path of traditional French and Italian songwriting into the inmost recesses of electronic mysticism. The composition of CHOEUR took place mostly around January 2023, a pretty precarious time in the artist life, and happened in a spontaneous and ritualistic manner that could appear as somewhat odd in the realm of electronic music production. Birthing out of ego-free solo jams in hyphened states of consciousness and audience-less performances, these moments of do-or-die energy intake served to funnel the wilderness of her emotions into extremely tight arrangements, ultimately allowing a dramaturgy of fierce and beautiful songs into existence. Striving for the sublime, CECILIA trained her whole body for a paradoxical procedure of disconnection and reconnection. A crucial pin in Melissa Gagné’s system of 7-year creative cycles, CHOEUR marks her debut on Haunter Record as much as the first step towards the possibility of a new artistic identity. A labour of love if there ever was one. CHOEUR is made of Awe, Chants and Ravishment, of Pain until Vision. CHOEUR prays Earth, Water, Stars, Sea. CHOEUR feels Spirits, Lightning, Thunder, Dawn, Dusk, Blood, Flowers. CHOEUR invokes a Return, to Grace. CHOEUR loves Mud and longs to Play. CHOEUR lives in a Dream created by a Dream. CHOEUR lives in a Body created by Love. CHOEUR is about a broken heart, open and ecstatic, about the beauty and the sadness that all is not what could be, about wandering and wondering why were the stars made so beautiful?

Sasu Ripatti presents the fourth volume in his "Dancefloor Classics" series with five 10" releases coming throughout 2023. Music for imaginary dancefloors, released on Ripatti's own label "Rajaton".

”Look up, into the light” she said, while the camera shutter clicked. ”Like this? Does it look holy?” His neck felt stiff. Her reply: ”Yes, just like that. What do you mean holy? Like religious? ”No, more like trying to look very far, somewhere beyond what we can see.” ”Okay, stand still, I’m going to come close to you now. The light hits your face great.” click, click, click.

He noticed her fingernails. They were not polished. Natural. Even somewhat rugged, as if something wore out the fingers slightly. What had these hands held besides the camera? What made the edges of her fingernails drift off?

He thought it’s weird to look straight into the camera. The photographer had closed her left eye, the one not looking into the lens. Then it opened, she looked up, perusing the surroundings, then she closed her eye again, then looked up, closed, looking up, very quickly. It all seemed very professional. Maybe she calculated the light, making sure it’s close to perfect. ”What will these photos look like?” – the thought popped into his head briefly. It was liberating to think it wouldn’t matter.

”What’s that song playing?” he asked. ”Wait a sec, Ol’ Dirty Bastard?” she replied. ”Oh yeah, right. But the sample?” ”Hey, could you look up again, like that. No, lower.”

New directions: ”Look out from the window, turn left.” ”My left or yours?” ”Yours, I always try to think from the direction of my model.” How professional! This is a good shoot, so natural. Should I worry about how the photos look like? No, I don’t want to. His thoughts bounced around. What would the story be like? It’s a big newspaper, everyone will read it. Maybe someone drinks coffee and eats a stroopwafel while they do it. Will they place the waffle on top of the mug for a brief while, so that it gets hot and the syrup melts a little? Then it feels wet, and you can bend the cookie.

She broke his train of thought off midway through: ”Now turn right, but look left, and slightly up, but don’t turn your face right.” ”Umm, like this? Sounds like a set of pilates instructions.” she laughed ”You do pilates?” ”Yeah, it’s hard sometimes. Have you tried?” ”No”, she said. ”I’m not good for sports that are done in groups.” ”Yeah, but in pilates you can just be inside your mind, drowning in your private thoughts.”

”What are you thinking in pilates?” she asked, taking more photos. ”Well, mostly just which way is right. And which left.” click, click.

Q&A with Sasu Ripatti:

1) Tell us something about the EP series ”Dancefloor Classics”, what’s the idea and what can we expect?

I’ve been slowly writing these sort of dance music pieces and finally curated them together for a conceptual release. I like to create music for a dancefloor that exists only in my imagination and doesn’t try to suck up to the standardized reality.

2) Your vinyl format is 10” which is quite special (as opposed to LP / 12”). Why did you choose it?

It’s my favourite format, absolutely. The size is perfect, and you can make it sound really good @ 45 rpm. And you still can make great artwork.

3) You seem interested in sampling/repurposing, what does it mean to you as an artist to approach something already existing from a new angle? How does the source material inform you about the approach to take?

I guess i could flip it around and just say I’ve outgrown synths or electronic sounds to a great extend, and having gotten rid off all my synths already good while ago I’ve used samples as my main source material a lot. It’s obvious on this series that i’ve sampled existing music, but I also sample instruments and things in the studio and resample my own library that I have built over the years, it’s quite large. To me the end result matters, not so much how I get there. Once I have something on my keyboard and play around, it’s all an instrument, though with sampling other music it becomes a really interesting and complex one as you’re possibly playing rhythm, but also harmonic content and maybe hooks or whatever, all at once.
I never sample premeditadedly, like listening to records and looking for that mindblowing 3 sec part. I just throw the cards in the air and see what lands where, just full intuition and hopefully zero mind involved, playing tons of stuff, trying things, just recording hours of stuff. Then comes the interesting part to listen to hours of mostly crazy stuff and finding that mindblowing 3 sec part.

4) What is your relationship with the dancefloor (conceptually and/or in experiences / as a performer)?

Very complicated. I have never really felt comfortable on a dancefloor but have always wanted to. There’s something in club music, in theory, that really speaks to me. It has never really materialized for me – speaking mainly from a performer’s point of view who goes to check on a dancefloor for a moment after a concert. I never have DJ’d or felt much interest towards it. But again, I love the idea and concept of DJing. As well as producing music for imaginary DJs. Lately, as in the past 10+ years, I haven’t even performed in any sort of club spaces. So my relationship to the dancefloor is quite removed and reduced, but there’s quite a bit of passion and interest left.

All tracks composed and produced by Sasu Ripatti.
Artwork & photography by Marc Hohmann.
Mastering by Stephan Mathieu for Schwebung Mastering.
Vinyl cut by SST Brueggemann.
Publishing by WARP Music Ltd.

Sasu Ripatti presents the fifth and last volume in his "Dancefloor Classics" series. Music for imaginary dancefloors, released on Ripatti's own label "Rajaton".

--

”Look up, into the light” she said, while the camera shutter clicked. ”Like this? Does it look holy?” His neck felt stiff. Her reply: ”Yes, just like that. What do you mean holy? Like religious? ”No, more like trying to look very far, somewhere beyond what we can see.” ”Okay, stand still, I’m going to come close to you now. The light hits your face great.” click, click, click.
He noticed her fingernails. They were not polished. Natural. Even somewhat rugged, as if something wore out the fingers slightly. What had these hands held besides the camera? What made the edges of her fingernails drift off?
He thought it’s weird to look straight into the camera. The photographer had closed her left eye, the one not looking into the lens. Then it opened, she looked up, perusing the surroundings, then she closed her eye again, then looked up, closed, looking up, very quickly. It all seemed very professional. Maybe she calculated the light, making sure it’s close to perfect. ”What will these photos look like?” – the thought popped into his head briefly. It was liberating to think it wouldn’t matter.
”What’s that song playing?” he asked. ”Wait a sec, Ol’ Dirty Bastard?” she replied. ”Oh yeah, right. But the sample?” ”Hey, could you look up again, like that. No, lower.”
New directions: ”Look out from the window, turn left.” ”My left or yours?” ”Yours, I always try to think from the direction of my model.” How professional! This is a good shoot, so natural. Should I worry about how the photos look like? No, I don’t want to. His thoughts bounced around. What would the story be like? It’s a big newspaper, everyone will read it. Maybe someone drinks coffee and eats a stroopwafel while they do it. Will they place the waffle on top of the mug for a brief while, so that it gets hot and the syrup melts a little? Then it feels wet, and you can bend the cookie.
She broke his train of thought off midway through: ”Now turn right, but look left, and slightly up, but don’t turn your face right.” ”Umm, like this? Sounds like a set of pilates instructions.” she laughed ”You do pilates?” ”Yeah, it’s hard sometimes. Have you tried?” ”No”, she said. ”I’m not good for sports that are done in groups.” ”Yeah, but in pilates you can just be inside your mind, drowning in your private thoughts.”
”What are you thinking in pilates?” she asked, taking more photos. ”Well, mostly just which way is right. And which left.” click, click.

Speckled Dragon Egg Color Vinyl. Being Dead knows how to make an entrance - within the first several seconds of EELS, the duo's new record, the bright, hard-strummed guitar line on "Godzilla Rises" conjures cinematic immediacy, a creature emerging from the depths of the ocean in campy, freaky stop motion, fittingly so. Being Dead's records are mosaics, technicolor incantations, each song its own self-contained little universe. And while the dreamlike EELS probes further into the depths of the duo Being Dead's psyche, it is, most importantly, in the year of our lord 2024, a 16-track record that is genuinely unpredictable from one track to the next: a joyous and unexpected trip helmed by two true-blue freak bitch besties holed up in a lil' house in the heart of Austin, Texas. They decamped to Los Angeles for two weeks to record with GRAMMY-winning producer John Congleton, writing songs for the record until days before they left. The radical shift in process was welcome - a good balance and a challenge, Congleton helping them find new ways to work and helping peel back the layers on the core of their songwriting. Being Dead has grown from a duo to a trio live, including bassist Ricky Motto (who is immortalized finally on record here, particularly in the giggles on "Rock n' Roll Hurts") The resulting EELS is a darker record, tapped more into the devilishness within, but it's also a more raucous, rougher ride sonically. There's heartbreak, excitement, enchantment, dancing - we move through it all at a high-octane pace. Falcon Bitch and Smoofy never want to do the same thing twice on any song, and they don't. From the pummeling garage rock distortion of "Firefighters" to "Dragons II," which appears in its demo form taped on a hand recorder, it's unexpected but intuitive, and, most importantly, singularly Being Dead. Like its animal namesake suggests, the songs on EELS are malleable, the record like slithering through murky waters or strange half dreams, mysterious and beautiful in how it moves, reflective in a wavering sheen. Dipping into each song feels like uncovering a new cavern, plunging into depths unknown but fully open to what will be revealed. On the album artwork, an illustration by the artist Julia Soboleva, there are some weird disparate spectral creatures, a stark glimmer against a cloudy darkness. It's a fitting encapsulation of Being Dead, exuding a welcoming, playful energy even if something foreboding lurks just beyond the pale - more out of frame that's left to uncover, no path unexplored, strange and beautiful in the light.

Tahiti 80, the cult French group, is back with a tenth album entitled Hello Hello.

Since their formation in Rouen in the 90s, Tahiti 80 have built a substantial discography, collaborating with artists such as Cornelius, Tore Johansson, Adam Schlesinger and Richard Swift. The indie pop quintet offers us today twelve irresistible and captivating songs on a solar tenth album. With its welcoming title, Hello Hello presents itself as a desire to merge the spontaneity of live performances with the chemistry of a band working in the studio. Xavier Boyer, lead singer and songwriter, explains: “We felt a slight frustration with our previous album, Here With You, released in 2022. The pandemic had forced us to record separately at home. When we realized our new demos were going in this live direction, we looked for the perfect place to capture that spirit."

It is at the Paraphernalia studio, located in the French countryside, that the members of Tahiti 80, including in addition to the singer, Pedro Resende, Médéric Gontier, Raphaël Léger and Hadrien Grange, perfected their musical interactions for ten days during the summer 2023. Integrated very early in the process, Stéphane Laporte, aka Domotic, brought his distinctive experimental touch to the arrangements and production. The vocals and additional synthesizers were then finalized between Paris, Rouen and Montpellier in the fall

The twelve songs that make up Hello Hello form a homogeneous suite, highlighting the creativity, diversity and maturity of a group which has just celebrated twenty-five years of career. Opening the album, “Every Little Thing” subtly mixes shoegaze guitars and synth pop. It’s also one of the rare Tahiti 80 tracks that keeps the same chords from start to finish. The singer confides: “It was an exercise in minimalism, with the constraint of finding varied vocal melodies revolving around the same chords. Singing the line ‘I Love Every Little Thing About Us’ made me realize that it could also be about us as a group.” The title song also plays the simplicity card with Boyer’s unique timbre, complemented by a drum machine passed through a tape echo and a catchy recorder theme – proof that years of practice of this instrument in French schools was not in vain!

The other distinctive trend is Brazilian: “Lose My Head”, “Soft Echo” or “Poison Flower” each display tropicalist attributes: swaying rhythms, rounded bass, soft guitars, all enhanced by a reverberated sound treatment. “From Caetano Veloso to Tim Bernardes, there is a unique way,” notes the vocalist, “of linking rhythm and melody that has always inspired us.”

However, the Tahiti 80 touch is not being put aside. “About Us”, sung by guitarist Médéric Gontier who can also be heard on “1+1” and “Anyway”, marks a return to the roots of indie pop. An impression confirmed by the hit “Vertigo” and its signature all in major sevenths supported by the elastic groove of bassist Pedro Resende. The song which sounds like a quick return trip between late 70s California and Tokyo City Pop, will find its place after “Crush!” and “Heartbeat” in the Rouennais’ songbook. Xavier Boyer concludes: “ if we manage to surprise ourselves, it will also work for the listener. but when you reach the tenth album, you must also manage to renew ourselves without denying ourselves what we did previously.”

With their innovative and unique approach to indie pop, their timeless melodies and their sophisticated productions, Tahiti 80 has never ceased to resonate with fans around the world. Their latest collection, Hello Hello, should easily consolidate their status as a singular group and esteemed personalities on the international music scene.

From the perspective of people who categorize music by genres and types, Evan Shornstein, better-known under his production moniker Photay, has created lots of different kinds of sounds over the past decade. There’s the Hudson Valley-raised, Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist composer’s quasi-IDM and electronic almost-pop tracks with the occasional vocal; the improvised organic and and experimental music sessions he participates in alongside new age giants, Laraaji and Carlos Niño; the diaspora electronic folk-jazz he makes with veteran musicians from all over the globe; and the disco and house adjacent records he tag-team DJs with Brooklyn producer Cesar Toribio and engineer Phil Moffa (who also masters all of Photay’s records — and those of dance-music dons around the world). But if you’ve listened closely to Shornstein’s prodigious output, you know that separating and classifying the work is actually contrary to the energy of Photay music. That what on-the-surface may lazily appear as differences, is actually brought together by a shared sonic warmth, a hardware pastoralism at play. Whatever category he engages, Photay makes outdoor music under the spell of the elements, for the purpose of different human movements — some physical, some spiritual, some emotional, some philosophica.

Mutant, in partnership with Hollywood Records and 20th Century Studios are proud to present the premiere physical release of John Paesano's score to Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.



Paying homage to Jerry Goldsmith's iconic original Planet of the Apes score, while embarking on a wholly original sonic journey into this unexplored era of the series chronology. Paesano has crafted an incredible musical odyssey, full of wonder and powerful emotional passages.



Paesano has been quietly producing some of the best genre scores of the last decade. His music for the Daredevil TV series, Marvel's Spider-Man video games and The Maze Runner trilogy if films have all led to this in some way. With Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, he has crafted a beautiful and sweeping score for a massive dystopian world inhabited with nuanced and delicate characters. And he does so while respecting the source material and the legacy of the franchises that loom large. It's a tightrope that Paesano deftly walks with well-earned confidence.

Today, Los Diablos Rojos are known around the world for a unique tropical sound that has transcended passing fashions and managed to hold its own in an era marked by transience and oblivion. Over the years, they have become the forerunners of a trend that has been developing for half a century and is gaining more and more praise and recognition. They have become a musical reference for other contemporary tropical music bands that have found in Los Diablos Rojos, above all, an example of creativity and resilience.

The Peruvian cumbia band Los Diablos Rojos was born within the quincha and adobe walls of Cañete Chico with a proposal very different from what all the musicians of the time were working on: an instrumental tropical music style of their own. Even Enrique Delgado (Los Destellos), Beto Cuesta (Los Ecos) and Berardo Hernandez (Manzanita y su Conjunto), who all found a source of income in música criolla, did not limit themselves to working for hire. They were all crossing the same bridge, the bridge of tropical music. Above all, the sense of renewal was the incentive for this bet. If they wanted to change the paradigm, they would not do it by copying styles they had already heard many times before.

JD McPherson has created something unique and amazing with his latest album, Nite Owls. His first album release since 2018’s critically acclaimed Christmas classic, SOCKS. Over the past 5+ years, McPherson has stayed consistently busy writing new songs while at the same time touring with Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. Being a touring musician offers the chance to see the sights, tour the town and pick up some inspiration from the local record shop. With Nite Owls, JD wanted to try something new and different. He wanted to take the inspiration from multiple decades and styles and incorporate them into his own sound. “The initial idea for the record was: It’s like if The late-60s Ventures were the session band on the first New Order record.” Says, McPherson. Idea achieved. Nite Owls delivers the signature sounds of vintage garage-rock while also seamlessly bridging the sounds of Bowie and Alan Vega. Songs such as “Sunshine Getaway”, “The Rock and Roll Girls” and “I Can’t Go Anywhere with You” sound like Chuck Berry is jamming with Buddy Holly. While song’s like, “Nite Owls” and “Don’t Travel Through the Night Alone” give a nod to the Factory sound from the UK. The throwback sound of the lone instrumental track “The Phantom Lover of New Rochelle” would make Dick Dale ride and Link Wray rumble. With Nite Owls, McPherson takes inspiration from multiple genres of the past and combines them together to evolve a sound that is all his own.

Confirmed feature article in Electronic Sound Magazine and other media. “There’s A Rhinoceros In The Mega Church” is their debut LP released on Sound Records. U.S.E. (also often expressed as Unicorn Ship Explosion, but feel free to interpret this yourself), are unfortunately two boys known to their mums as Rob & Sash. Since we last saw Rob he has been working really hard as a multi-instrumentalist. He’s almost mastered the drums (he’s even been to jazz school), and he’s near to the final chapter of piano lessons. He’s really talented. He has his own music studio where he produces & writes music for the likes of, The Staves, Holysseus Fly & other fantastic acts that are well worth a listen if you have the time. Sash (or Sasha) is a great guy. Everyone loves working with him. He’s an average musician with big ideas, which is why he uses modular synths. He has written much music for many artists you’ve probably not heard of and has collaborated with some musicians you’ve definitely heard of. He sometimes works as a sound designer for some fashion brands you can’t afford, but you wouldn’t want to wear them anyway (so don’t feel bad for not being successful enough to spend £400 on a t-shirt). Sometimes a really cool woman called, Agnieszka Szczotka, collaborates with these two loveable boys. She is a performance artist of great skill. She studied art at the Royal Academy and chose to abandon her supreme painting and sculpture skills to dedicate her life to confrontational live performance art. Big respect. Together they are Unicorn Ship Explosion (not yet known as U.S.E. as it hasn’t caught on yet). It’s a creative attempt to be in the present and not overwork music as is often the norm these days.As a result an exciting new genre is emerging from this album. The genre hasn’t a name yet, but what is certain is that A.I. can’t recreate it, and wouldn’t want to either. Let’s be human together and accept and appreciate we can’t always be great. Enjoy the good moments with the bad. And together, yes together, you the reader and us(e) your new best friends, shall show A.I. that humanity is beautiful.

3 years in the making and dynamic young ELECTRO SWING producer, New Zealand's ODD CHAP, finally presents his COLLABORATIONS album, available for the first time on Limited Edition green vinyl!

A 10 track album featuring an incredible selection of special guest vocalists including Little Violet, Elle & The Pocket Belles and Loredana Grimaudo (as well as one bonus track with Glenn Miller). What could have become an omni-shambles in less skilled hands has instead become a showcase for the distinctive and immediately recognisable production style of ODD CHAP.

This is the debut hardcore breakbeat album from Z-NEO. It has shown worldwide following and been super popular with the rave fans of old and new. These works showcase Z-NEO’s first vinyl release for Rave Radio Records.

The EP features 4 brand new breakbeat hardcore tracks. Each track is beautifully produced to great precision that doesn’t lose it’s authentic rave sound. Z-NEO has captured the early 90’s feeling fusing both light and dark riffs and patterns that both take you on a journey and make you stand still to full attention.

If you love The Prodigy, Altern 8, Slipmatt and underground breakbeat hardcore then you will 100% love this EP.

"They are the Finnish / Dutch / British troupe NIGHTWISH – one of the most fascinating rock bands of the last decades, whose enigmatic paths have proceeded from acoustic passages to symphonic heavy metal and from catchy folk to progressive majesty. If there is one trait the band has year after year, it might be this: expect something familiar but also expect the unexpected. NIGHTWISH has indeed broken all kinds of boundaries – never deliberately, but perfectly naturally.
Now guess what? NIGHTWISH's new studio album ""Yesterwynde"" – the band's tenth overall – is no exception to the rule. But it is more...

“""Yesterwynde"" took more time to make than any previous NIGHTWISH album”, nods keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, who once again envisioned most of the material. ""The new album was intensively worked on for 3,5 years. My ambition and piety really skyrocketed, and I just couldn't let go of the creative process – and didn't want to. Along the way, ""Yesterwynde"" became both an exhilarating obsession and a comforting haven for me. All aspects of the making – compositions, lyrics, arrangements, cover art, videos, mixing and so on – were given more attention than ever before.""
The result? There's a fascinating, but inexplicable feeling that NIGHTWISH has once again been able to find unprecedented nuances, spices and perspectives in their new works – exactly: after a career of nine classic albums. """"Yesterwynde"" is an experience that takes time to digest. The gravid ingredients of the songs are easily recognizable, but beneath the surface lies a large number of intriguing details and features"", Holopainen describes.

""It's interesting – but not surprising – that ""Yesterwynde"" has attracted quite a variety of opinions. Some have stated that it is the most 'band' record to date. For some it appears to be the heaviest and most ominous NIGHTWISH release. It has also been called our most progressive album. And the list goes on.""
And what does Tuomas think of it himself?
""To me, ""Yesterwynde"" sounds, tastes and feels strongly like the true essence of NIGHTWISH – enriched with new moods and flavors.""

The lyrics of ""Yesterwynde"" deal with large-sized universal themes: memories, mortality, humanism, time and much more. ""The new album is the conclusion of the trilogy – textually it follows in the footsteps of its predecessors ""Endless Forms Most Beautiful"" and ""Human. :II: Nature."""", Holopainen says. ""At the same time, ""Yesterwynde"" is the band's most lyrically driven album: our music has never been so 'married' to the lyrics. So here's a tip: if something in the composition puzzles you, the words might clear it up.""
""For me, one of the key lines is 'we are because of a million loves' – taken from the song ""Perfume of the Timeless"". Each of us is part of an unbroken chain that stretches back billions of years. If even one of your ancestors had died too young – mauled by a cave bear, for example – during this incredibly long period of time, you would never have been born. In other words: our existence is such an unfathomable privilege!”

What does the term 'yesterwynde' mean?
""It describes a feeling that cannot be found in any human language. That's why we had to invent a whole new word. The album is supposed to open that feeling to the listener.""
Without taking anything away from the solid delivery of guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, drummer Kai Hahto, bassist Jukka Koskinen and multi-instrumentalist/singer Troy Donockley, it might be worth highlighting one fact: the performance of the eloquent storyteller Floor Jansen is once again unparalleled. It is simply breathtaking how the singer is able to make songs fly with her performance. ""Floor's second child was born just over a month ago, and we hadn't rehearsed together at all... So it was a little nerve-wracking to go to Floor's home studio for vocal recordings. Well, what happened? We had booked twelve working days and after six days everything was completed in style. Floor's preparedness for the sessions was something extreme!""

After the recordings and mixing process, there was one more working phase. Mastering. Could you possibly guess that no shortcuts were taken at this point either?
""The album was mastered seven times until we reached the finish line – one hundred percent satisfied!"", states Tuomas. ""When the record was eventually finished, a three-year, extremely inspiring adventure had come to an end. I felt very, very happy.""
NIGHTWISH's next steps are clear. And they are not the most common ones.
""NIGHTWISH will not go on a world tour this time. This was a decision made for personal reasons. But don't worry... Our contract with Nuclear Blast Records includes several albums, and there's plenty of motivation to create new music!""
May the dream continue...
"

"They are the Finnish / Dutch / British troupe NIGHTWISH – one of the most fascinating rock bands of the last decades, whose enigmatic paths have proceeded from acoustic passages to symphonic heavy metal and from catchy folk to progressive majesty. If there is one trait the band has year after year, it might be this: expect something familiar but also expect the unexpected. NIGHTWISH has indeed broken all kinds of boundaries – never deliberately, but perfectly naturally.
Now guess what? NIGHTWISH's new studio album ""Yesterwynde"" – the band's tenth overall – is no exception to the rule. But it is more...

“""Yesterwynde"" took more time to make than any previous NIGHTWISH album”, nods keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen, who once again envisioned most of the material. ""The new album was intensively worked on for 3,5 years. My ambition and piety really skyrocketed, and I just couldn't let go of the creative process – and didn't want to. Along the way, ""Yesterwynde"" became both an exhilarating obsession and a comforting haven for me. All aspects of the making – compositions, lyrics, arrangements, cover art, videos, mixing and so on – were given more attention than ever before.""
The result? There's a fascinating, but inexplicable feeling that NIGHTWISH has once again been able to find unprecedented nuances, spices and perspectives in their new works – exactly: after a career of nine classic albums. """"Yesterwynde"" is an experience that takes time to digest. The gravid ingredients of the songs are easily recognizable, but beneath the surface lies a large number of intriguing details and features"", Holopainen describes.

""It's interesting – but not surprising – that ""Yesterwynde"" has attracted quite a variety of opinions. Some have stated that it is the most 'band' record to date. For some it appears to be the heaviest and most ominous NIGHTWISH release. It has also been called our most progressive album. And the list goes on.""
And what does Tuomas think of it himself?
""To me, ""Yesterwynde"" sounds, tastes and feels strongly like the true essence of NIGHTWISH – enriched with new moods and flavors.""

The lyrics of ""Yesterwynde"" deal with large-sized universal themes: memories, mortality, humanism, time and much more. ""The new album is the conclusion of the trilogy – textually it follows in the footsteps of its predecessors ""Endless Forms Most Beautiful"" and ""Human. :II: Nature."""", Holopainen says. ""At the same time, ""Yesterwynde"" is the band's most lyrically driven album: our music has never been so 'married' to the lyrics. So here's a tip: if something in the composition puzzles you, the words might clear it up.""
""For me, one of the key lines is 'we are because of a million loves' – taken from the song ""Perfume of the Timeless"". Each of us is part of an unbroken chain that stretches back billions of years. If even one of your ancestors had died too young – mauled by a cave bear, for example – during this incredibly long period of time, you would never have been born. In other words: our existence is such an unfathomable privilege!”

What does the term 'yesterwynde' mean?
""It describes a feeling that cannot be found in any human language. That's why we had to invent a whole new word. The album is supposed to open that feeling to the listener.""
Without taking anything away from the solid delivery of guitarist Emppu Vuorinen, drummer Kai Hahto, bassist Jukka Koskinen and multi-instrumentalist/singer Troy Donockley, it might be worth highlighting one fact: the performance of the eloquent storyteller Floor Jansen is once again unparalleled. It is simply breathtaking how the singer is able to make songs fly with her performance. ""Floor's second child was born just over a month ago, and we hadn't rehearsed together at all... So it was a little nerve-wracking to go to Floor's home studio for vocal recordings. Well, what happened? We had booked twelve working days and after six days everything was completed in style. Floor's preparedness for the sessions was something extreme!""

After the recordings and mixing process, there was one more working phase. Mastering. Could you possibly guess that no shortcuts were taken at this point either?
""The album was mastered seven times until we reached the finish line – one hundred percent satisfied!"", states Tuomas. ""When the record was eventually finished, a three-year, extremely inspiring adventure had come to an end. I felt very, very happy.""
NIGHTWISH's next steps are clear. And they are not the most common ones.
""NIGHTWISH will not go on a world tour this time. This was a decision made for personal reasons. But don't worry... Our contract with Nuclear Blast Records includes several albums, and there's plenty of motivation to create new music!""
May the dream continue...
"

'In `All This and So Much More' Tasha is an artist flung open. For Tasha, the last few years have been propulsive, dynamic, bursting at the seams. They've included painful encounters with grief; a sudden break up; new flirtation; new hair; the glitter of world travel and not least, a role in Tony-nominated Broadway musical `Illinoise' which adapts Sufjan Steven's `Illinois' for the stage. If `Tell Me What You Miss The Most' was an introspective meditation on love with a few moments of glancing toward what's next, `All this and So Much More' is Tasha turned outward, flourishing, telling us what it's like to take life by the chin and look it in the eye. Take, for example "Eric Song." This was the first song to be written on the album, penned while Tasha grappled with the sudden, tragic death of Eric Littman, the co-producer of her last album. Though the instrumentation is a familiar 3/4 guitar strum, lulling us into a comforting waltz, Tasha's voice is breathy with grief, adding depth and dimension to the hushed sound. "No, I'm not alone after all / You must be near / Facing this soaring sprawl," she sings, transforming the experience of loss into a talisman of love and courage meant to help usher in a new self. Said a different way, `All This and So Much More' is a full-throated ode to all of the ups and downs of becoming. In the opening track, "Pretend," when Tasha sings about "feelings outgrowing this little life," we get the sense, both lyrically and sonically, of someone in the throes of growth. This is an album crafted with a big, ambitious sound (in part, thanks to the production of Gregory Uhlmann)_cinematic droning, orchestral woodwinds, dazzling arrays of jangling guitar, all lining up to capture a sweeping moment in Tasha's life. Written over the course of 2022 and 2023, right on the cusp of Tasha being cast in Illinoise, the songs in this album invoke friendship, heart ache, flirtation, doubt. From the social anxiety of "Party" ("Do they think I'm funny? / Did they like my jokes last night?") to the questing for meaning in "So Much More," Tasha brings us along on a journey of finding out that the person you wanted to be was inside of yourself, just waiting to bloom all along. She sums it up neatly in her final track, "Love's Changing," charging us with a brilliant, sweeping vision of the future, singing: "Suddenly the world is bigger than it ever felt before / Feel the weight of my future sinking in / See the joy I'm running toward." In `All This and So Much More,' Tasha asks us to consider abundance in its truest form. Our lives, a deluge of possible experience if only we will surrender to it, all the way from the citric ache of heartbreak to the chest bloom of new adventure.

'In `All This and So Much More' Tasha is an artist flung open. For Tasha, the last few years have been propulsive, dynamic, bursting at the seams. They've included painful encounters with grief; a sudden break up; new flirtation; new hair; the glitter of world travel and not least, a role in Tony-nominated Broadway musical `Illinoise' which adapts Sufjan Steven's `Illinois' for the stage. If `Tell Me What You Miss The Most' was an introspective meditation on love with a few moments of glancing toward what's next, `All this and So Much More' is Tasha turned outward, flourishing, telling us what it's like to take life by the chin and look it in the eye. Take, for example "Eric Song." This was the first song to be written on the album, penned while Tasha grappled with the sudden, tragic death of Eric Littman, the co-producer of her last album. Though the instrumentation is a familiar 3/4 guitar strum, lulling us into a comforting waltz, Tasha's voice is breathy with grief, adding depth and dimension to the hushed sound. "No, I'm not alone after all / You must be near / Facing this soaring sprawl," she sings, transforming the experience of loss into a talisman of love and courage meant to help usher in a new self. Said a different way, `All This and So Much More' is a full-throated ode to all of the ups and downs of becoming. In the opening track, "Pretend," when Tasha sings about "feelings outgrowing this little life," we get the sense, both lyrically and sonically, of someone in the throes of growth. This is an album crafted with a big, ambitious sound (in part, thanks to the production of Gregory Uhlmann)_cinematic droning, orchestral woodwinds, dazzling arrays of jangling guitar, all lining up to capture a sweeping moment in Tasha's life. Written over the course of 2022 and 2023, right on the cusp of Tasha being cast in Illinoise, the songs in this album invoke friendship, heart ache, flirtation, doubt. From the social anxiety of "Party" ("Do they think I'm funny? / Did they like my jokes last night?") to the questing for meaning in "So Much More," Tasha brings us along on a journey of finding out that the person you wanted to be was inside of yourself, just waiting to bloom all along. She sums it up neatly in her final track, "Love's Changing," charging us with a brilliant, sweeping vision of the future, singing: "Suddenly the world is bigger than it ever felt before / Feel the weight of my future sinking in / See the joy I'm running toward." In `All This and So Much More,' Tasha asks us to consider abundance in its truest form. Our lives, a deluge of possible experience if only we will surrender to it, all the way from the citric ache of heartbreak to the chest bloom of new adventure.

"Here is what 2014 felt like: The cold, rushed walk from the Montrose Avenue L to the downstairs entrance of 20 Meadow Street, an address you could never quite remember. The careful steep climb to the top of the nondescript building, where Titus Andronicus’s Patrick Stickles was waiting to take your balled-up cash and stamp the inside of your wrist. Standing beneath that jagged cardboard punk bunting, draped with tangled twinkle lights, while Joe Galarraga, frontman of Big Ups, slowly, menacingly, wound a microphone cable around his fist. Then a barbed F-sharp sprang forward from Amar Lal’s guitar, shaking the entirety of Shea Stadium to life.

For much of that time period, ten years now behind us, it would be easy to say, man, you just had to be there. You had to be there when Death By Audio closed. You had to be there when the Apple store opened on Bedford Ave. If you weren’t there when a small, specific subculture of New York City took over its abandoned lofts and grimy basements and squatted itself into community, that’s okay — it might be too clunky and myopic to explain now. Released in January 2014 to Dead Labour in the US and Tough Love Records in the UK, Eighteen Hours of Static stands even now as a triumphant representation of what Big Ups did so well over the course of their nine-year run as a band. Now, with the re-release of Big Ups’ killer debut full-length, those who didn’t get to experience all this the first time around will get a shot at living as if it’s the glory days again."

What an unbelievable record. From the wild cover to the iconic breakbeats, Roots from Ian Carr’s Nucleus is one of the dopest albums we know. This is seriously thick, funky-prog jazz-rock heaven. Originally released on Vertigo in 1973, other than a couple of versions at the time for other territories, Roots was never re-pressed since so it’s gone on to become another one of those impossible to find records.

Maybe it was a little too out there for the time, but it’s aged very, very well indeed and this Be With re-issue, re-mastered from the original analogue tapes, shows off just why this deserves to be back in press.

Genius trumpeter and visionary composer Ian Carr was one of the most respected British musicians of his era. He was a true pioneer and saw the potential in fusing the worlds of jazz with rock, just as Miles Davis and The Tony Williams Lifetime did in the US. In late 1969, following the demise of the Rendell-Carr quintet, and tiring of British jazz, Carr assembled the legendary Nucleus. Regarding music as a continuous process, Nucleus refused to “recognise rigid boundaries” and worked on delivering what they saw as a “total musical experience”. We can get behind that.

Under bandleader Carr, Nucleus existed as a fluid line-up of inventive, skilled musicians. This constant evolution and revolution was all part of the continuous musical exploration and discovery that took jazz to new levels.

Working together with producer Fritz Fryer and engineer Roger Wake, the seven compositions by Carr, Brian Smith and Dave MacRae that make up Roots flirt with perfection, and Nucleus at that time made up of the cream of 1970s UK jazz with Brian Smith on tenor saxophones and flutes, Dave MacRae on piano and electric piano, Jocelyn Pitchen on guitar, Roger Sutton on bass, both Clive Thacker and Aureo De Souza on drums and percussion, Joy Yates delivering the vocals and of course Carr on trumpet.

The spellbinding title track immediately renders the album indispensable. Riding the illest of loping breakbeats, “Roots” is low-slung, doped-out heist-funk. An absolute monster. If it sounds familiar then that’s likely down to it being sampled by Madlib for Lootpack and Quasimoto’s “Loop Digga”, as well as by a whole host of beat manipulators. “Roots” conjures prime instrumental hip-hop / beat music, only 20 years ahead of its time. Truly, these are the roots. Through sinuous bass, twinkling keys and a hypnotic guitar riff, a smoky brass motif weaves its way into a gloriously deep haze around Carr’s solos. “Roots” is over 9 minutes long, but there’s not a single wasted second, not surprising given that this is a condensed version of an originally 40 minute long commissioned composition.

The soothing vocal fusion delight of “Images” follows. Meticulously constructed, with gorgeous flute work from Brian Smith, with Joy Yates’ silky vocals and Dave MacRae’s Rhodes never sounding better. The cool, driving “Caliban” closes out the first side. Originally the third movement in a four part commission to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday it stands up on its own, all robust rhythms and blended brass. Keyboard colour and Carr’s trumpet are splashed across the funk drums and basslines (and there’s even some bamboo flute). This really is fusion: the elements of jazz and rock coming together in beautifully synthesis.

Side two opens in riotous fashion with the short, thrilling samba of “Wapatiti”. Next up, “Capricorn” forms a smoothed-out, jazzy constellation. Mellow and dreamy, its twinkling percussion and languid horns slowly build the vibe before head-nod drums and a killer bassline enter the fray. With a distinct heaviness that Black Sabbath would’ve envied, “Odokamona” is a venomous slice of riff-soaked jazz metal (yes, you read that right), elevated by Carr’s wah-wah horns.

The album closes with MacRae’s exceptionally cosmic “Southern Roots and Celebration”. Very much in conversation with Weather Report, it opens as a languorous, spiritual jazz of chiming keys and serene guitar that turns slowly, gorgeously into a mid-paced, brass-laced banger. It’s another sure-fire party starter and the sound of the band having a righteous blast, building an ecstatic chaos that ends with Yates screaming.

And of course we need to talk about Keith Davis’ cover for Roots. Perhaps the coolest record cover of all time? Certainly one of the most bonkers. Just your run-of-the-mill high-gloss, acid-tinged airbrush dystopian/utopian living-room party scene. Consider this your chemical flashback trigger warning.

Front-and-centre the hip-to-death green robot holds court with their giant ball of yellow barbwire wool, hooked up to… something(?) being teased out from under the stairs (probably best not to ask). A thoroughly zoned-out, long-legged Pop Art party-goer lounges half-plugged in to the painting behind her as a pair of legs flail into shot from the the top of the stairs opposite. We won’t even begin to guess what the chap’s up to in the middle, but the view out of the windows is rather nice, and someone’s already got the hoover out ready to tidy up. All of the Nucleus sleeves are something special, but this particular one? Crikey.

This Be With edition of Roots has been re-mastered from the original Vertigo master tapes, Simon Francis’ mastering working together with Pete Norman’s cut to weave their usual magic with these wonderful recordings. The crazy cover has been restored at Be With HQ as the finishing touch to this long overdue re-issue.

Aesthetically, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat hates to tread water. At the same time, the Baltimore-based two-piece of vocalist Ed Schrader and bassist Devlin Rice won’t force their songs to fit a preconceived style. “The next album’s always gotta be different from the last one. We’re different people from record to record. So, writing authentically to ourselves will always bring our work to a place that we haven’t been to yet,” Rice said. Schrader added, “We’re terrified of turning into AC/DC. We never want to be married to one scene or time or sound. We want to be the Boba Fett of bands! Constantly altering the way in which we make records has been pretty key in that process.”
For Orchestra Hits, the band’s latest, that alteration was welcoming longtime musical comrade Dylan Going into the fold as a co-writer and co-producer. A songwriter in his own right, a guitar sideman for ESMB on their last two tours, and a collaborator with Rice in the noise riffage band Mandate, Going had both a unique vision and an intimate familiarity with the ESMB vibe.
“Dylan came to every show we’ve ever played in New York—no matter how weird it was,” Schrader said. “He’d be standing there ready to move an amp or feed us barbecued cactus after the gig and toss on some Golden Girls so we could decompress. It felt like family as soon as we began working, but I honestly had no idea how damn good he was at tossing out these hooks.”
According to Schrader, the songs “just poured out of us” over the course of a highly caffeinated three-day weekend in a tiny room in Devlin’s house while his cat, Sandy Goose, screamed continually. “It was like three kids hiding from the world to get into some lovely mischief,” they said. The lack of external pressure in the process gives Orchestra Hits an almost paradoxical vibe. For all of the album’s layers, that mix live and sequenced instruments, it never loses the raw energy of a small handful of friends in the same room plugging in, cranking up, and playing until they pass out.
Lyrically, the album finds Schrader, now 45, meditating on experiences in their youth to make sense of the present moment. “We are not into the garden,” Schrader wails on the relentless “Roman Candle,” a song about the sad debacle of Woodstock ’99, and a direct response to Joni Mitchell’s “Woodstock,” a utopian ode to hippie idealism. A 19-year-old Schrader, having snuck into Woodstock ’99 through a hole in the fence, was there the night members of the crowd used candles intended for a vigil for victims of the Columbine High School massacre to set fires all over the grounds. Even before the fires, Schrader remembered feeling disconnected from the music, the nostalgic cash grab, and the meatheads in the crowd. After watching a press tower collapse, they boarded a random shuttle bus and were dropped off near a Denny’s. “It was a far cry from the Garden of Eden,” Schrader said. “That experience defined what I didn’t want to be a part of, and yet America is more like Woodstock ’99 than ever.”
With percolating synthesizer arpeggios, and climbing bass grooves, “IDKS” is the album’s dance-floor slapper. “’IDKS’ is a funny one,” Schrader said. “We already had a pretty satisfying suite of songs when Dylan was packing up to head back to New York, but he missed the train because of a freak snowstorm. Realizing he’d be stuck in town another day, he says to me, ‘Here’s this other weird thing I have.’ It was ‘IDKS.’ The hooks were so good I felt like Homer Simpson at a free donut convention. I just dove right in, and we cranked that baby out in like 20 minutes.”
Lyrically, “IDKS” is a letter from the true self to public-facing self. “It’s an angry song,” Schrader said. “Because the public-facing self is always looking for an easy escape, but it forces the true self into a cage. I honestly thought my lyrics were corny and was about to change them, but Dylan was digging it just the way it was. So that’s what you hear.”
With the soaring “Daylight Commander,” the band went against all of their musty-basement-bred instincts. “I went full High School Musical with the vocals,” Schrader said. “At first it felt almost embarrassing, but I remember reading somewhere that Bowie recommended always floating a little bit above your comfort zone, and that’s what we did here.” The song is part exercise in absurdity and part pop Trojan horse. “If ever we had a ‘Shiny Happy People’ moment, I guess this is it,” Schrader said.

We can't hide the fact that we're a Manchester label with some very strong feelings for the Red side of the city. Regardless of your tribal affiliation - whether you have one or not - Edric Connor's "Manchester United Calypso" is an undisputedly joyous, soulful classic. Like the bunch of bouncing Busby Babes the song sought to raise up, it's remarkable, stylish and profoundly memorable; and its magical legacy has only grown in the 70 years since it first surfaced.




A testament to its enduring brilliance, "Manchester United Calypso" is heard to this day on the terraces of Old Trafford and beyond. However, it's impossible to find a copy of the original 78rpm shellac release or, indeed, the 45rpm vinyl. So, we're delighted to reissue this unforgettable anthem - with Lord Kitchener's equally dazzling "Manchester Football Double" on the B-Side - and make it available on 7" vinyl to United fans of any vintage; as well as fans of vintage calypso fire! Featuring typically striking, specially commissioned artwork from the legendary Stan Chow, this record is a collectors item for the ages.


"Manchester,
Manchester United
A bunch of bouncing "Busby Babes",

They deserve to be knighted

If ever they're playing in your town,

You must get to that football ground

Take a lesson come to see,

Football taught by Matt Busby

Manchester,

Manchester United"



Whether you have United in your heart or not, "Manchester United Calypso" is a record that, like the best football teams in Old Trafford's history, swaggers with an addictive beauty that's impossible to ignore.
It's impossible to discuss the significance of the calypso without remembering what ultimately ripped through the heart of this most beloved youthful side.
Eight of the Babes who were celebrated in the Calypso tragically lost their lives on 6th February 1958 in the Munich air disaster.
Like the players and the club itself, the United calypso radiates a special type of magic and speaks to the spirit of United:
the demand to be fearless, unrelenting, creative and obliged to entertain the viewing public.



The Calypso was written by Eric Watterson and Ken Jones and sung by Edric Connor, who moved to England from Trinidad in 1944.
Connor is considered a pioneer, popularising calypso music, becoming the first black actor to perform with the Royal Shakespeare Company, setting up the Afro-Asian Caribbean Agency to represent Black and minority artists with his wife, Pearl and establishing a theatre workshop.
“I would think coming to this country right after the war, as Edric did, and getting into BBC radio, and moving among the people, he did a great deal of good for our own community,” Pearl once revealed.
He saw himself as a self-appointed ambassador for his country, Trinidad. We were very nationalistic back then. We believed we had a country worthy of recognition”.



The B-Side is another doozy.
Swoon along to Lord Kitchener's fantastically woozy "Manchester Football Double" - a fitting ode to the city where you'll "find football's headquarters".


Then and, after the 2024 FA Cup Final, now.

Simon Francis remastered the original audio for both tracks and Cicely Balston's precise cut for Alchemy at AIR Studios ensures this 7" well and truly soars.

The immaculate Record Industry pressing will ensure this sought-after gem finds a home in many more collections, from Manchester to Malta, Mumbai to Malaysia.

Sunset Rubdown are set to release their fourth studio album_the first in fifteen years!_Always Happy To Explode.Twenty years ago Spencer Krug began using the name Sunset Rubdown for his solo bedroom recordings, experiments too low-fi and odd for what was then a blossoming Wolf Parade, but by 2005 Sunset Rubdown had evolved into a full band, with Michael Doerksen, Jordan Robson-Cramer, and Camilla Wynne joining Krug on stage and in the studio. The band recorded their third critically-acclaimed album, Dragon Slayer, in Chicago in 2008, then went on to play their last show in Tokyo in 2009, with the implicit knowledge it was their last. They broke up quietly, their certitude that they'd never reunite growing as the years rolled on. Then one night more than a dozen years after their final show Krug had a dream (he really did) that the band reunited, and the first thing he did upon awakening was email the band to see if the dream might be made real. The answer was a resounding yes, and soon enough Sunset Rubdown was onstage again. The first show in fourteen years was in Montreal, where they had formed so long ago. The tour was a success, most crucially in terms of having fun, the main condition of their continued pursuits. This fun was thanks in no small part to their blithesome new member, bassist Nicholas Merz. And thus they decided to make a new album together. The record is composed of nine songs cherry-picked from demos that Krug has been posting to his Patreon page over recent years, with the songs in many cases being pared down from their previous incarnations, yet no less lush. Being a band is no easy feat, perhaps especially as members age and spread across the continent, but it certainly is a privilege. With Always Happy to Explode, Sunset Rubdown have made something that captures their gratitude and the energy of their joyous (and sometimes difficult) reunion.

The unconscious and unknown must be really nice places. In any case, if you take the second album of Menelaos Tomasides under his given name as travelogue. A trip into dreamlike territory, yet concrete enough, a journey without target yet looking forward and looking back into familiar places, „dreamhike“ both continues and departs from the style Menelaos has found earlier, in “When the Moon Comes Through”, or his more conceptual-intentional “31 Minuten” works. As the album title - which roughly translates to “dream hiking” but also hints on “walkabout” and “songlines” – suggests, we are rambling between the real and the imaginary. From the bucolic border triangle of Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands to the buzzing streets of the capital of Cyprus, where Menelaos has lived for many years, the tracks are about real places, about real experiences and emotions yet interwoven with a dreamlike fabric. Something that is just not tangible, yet substantial and palpable. Something concrete that manifests in the genuine and special sound design of this records - basically all of Menelaos’ works - his really special treatment of dynamics and loudness. It is one of the very few records where the established language of music making, specifically Techno, House, Dub, and early 2000’ Electronica, the clicks, thumps and plops from an earlier age of electronic music, transmogrify into slow movements of something new. Something that is gentle and truly personal, looking inwards. There are four-to-the-floor beats, there is wobbly bass, and dubby chords, even sublimated clarion calls. There is an immense energy in these tracks, the sheer materiality of low frequencies of a massive sound system manifested in a tiny room. Yet it is without any aggression, stripped bare of sonic pressure. It is quiet music no matter how high you turn up the volume. A rare treat, that requires exceptional skills and exceptional restraint and control on the technical side of music making. Probably it is a result of Menelaos specific combination of instinctual, intuitive approach to making music, which meets a genuine love for sound in seemingly endless loops of refinement that can lead to such a result as „dreamhike“. The elegant floating balance of control and playful experimentation manifests for example in a track that continues the ongoing collaboration with seasoned Cologne improviser Achim Fink on bass trumpet. Not only in this respect, the album can be described as a product of openness. It comes from a lot of taking in the world, of travel, of places and people met, of friendship and conversation (not necessarily with words). The deep trip of “dreamhike” further manifests Menelaos as one of the truly independent voices of electronic Cologne and beyond. Somewhat alike in character and attitude probably to what late Pete Namlook has established for Frankfurt with his label Fax +49-69/450464 (though ultimately warmer and much less uncanny) Menelaos has found his very own sound and vision. Music that answers to no one but speaks to everyone. Uncompromising yet gentle to the core: kind sounds from a kind spirit, arguably the most extraordinary and valuable quality music can have these days.

Born in Aldershot on 11 September 1947, Catley's family moved to the Tile Cross area of Birmingham when he was young. He went on to attend the nearby Central Grammar School for Boys (Birmingham) and left to start an apprenticeship at the GPO before deciding on a musical career shortly after meeting similarly minded individuals at college. Whilst at college he joined several bands, such as The Smokestacks (Jeff Clark-guitar, Ron Savage-guitar, Derek Danks-bass & Brian Worrell-drums, Life and Clearwater). His first professional band was when he joined local outfit The Capitol Systems. The initial line-up was Bob Catley (vocals) Paul Sargent (guitar) Paul Whitehouse (bass), Dave Bailey (keyboards) and Bob Moore (drums). Shortly afterward they changed their name to Paradox, inspired by a science-fiction novel. A one-off deal was arranged with Mercury after Paradox had come to the attention of Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt. The tracks were "Ever Since I Can Remember", backed with "Goodbye Mary". In addition, they recorded "Mary Colinto" and "Somebody Save Me". All of these songs were written by Dave Morgan. Paradox played festivals in the Netherlands and Italy before splitting up upon their return to the UK in 1970. Formed in 1972, Magnum throughout the next 16 years consisted mainly of Bob Catley on vocals and Tony Clarkin on guitar. Magnum began as the house band at Birmingham's famous Rum Runner night club (later the home of Duran Duran). They began to develop their own style by playing Clarkin's songs at a residency at The Railway Inn, in Birmingham's Curzon Street, in 1976. Joining Clarkin and Catley were drummer Kex Gorin and bassist Dave Morgan (later a member of ELO). Their most notable success during these early years was the Jeff Glixman produced Chase The Dragon (1982) which reached No. 17 in the UK, and included several songs that would be mainstays of the band's live set, notably ‘Soldier of the Line’, ‘Sacred Hour’ and ‘The Spirit’. Their breakthrough album came in 1985 with On a Storyteller's Night which featured the single ‘Just Like an Arrow’. This success continued in the following years with the Roger Taylor (Queen) produced Vigilante in 1986, the top 5 album Wings of Heaven in 1988, and the Keith Olsen produced Goodnight L.A. reaching No. 9 in the UK album charts in 1990. Subsequently, Clarkin decided to maintain a tighter control, and after their initial mainstream success, the band lost their major label backing and returned to a more personal level of production. This finally found the band splitting and the formation of Hard Rain in 1995, which saw Clarkin pursue a more Pop orientated direction with a band that included Sue McCloskey on lead vocals. This new direction didn’t sit well with Catley, and after a headline performance at The Gods in the late 90s, a conversation with Bruce Mee of Now & Then Records saw Catley agree with a decision which eventually led to his debut solo album, ‘The Tower’. This release was completely written by Gary Hughes of Ten, with the writing completely decided to be in the vein of classic Magnum. The album itself was recorded by various members of Ten, including the amazing Vinny Burns (Dare) on guitar. On release, the many positive reviews concluded that the release of ‘The Tower’ had succeeded beyond its wildest imagination…..and Bob Catley’s solo career had been launched with amazing success!! With a lyrical intricacy and majestic pomp, songs like ‘Far Away, ‘Fear of the Dark, ‘Madrigal’ and ‘Deep Winter’ take you back to that glorious period of Magnum between ‘Chase The Dragon’ and ‘Wings Of Heaven’ whilst hard melodic rockers such as ‘Scream’, ‘Dreams’ and title track ‘The Tower’ show just what Magnum would have sounded like if they’d gone a little bit harder. Another absolutely brilliant album that totally deserves to be filed alongside those mid-period Magnum classics.

"Do you dream too?" Tomemitsu"s Martin Roark asks on his sophomore album with Friends of Friends Music. The question is also what stemmed from the album title, "Dream 2", a shorthand written in the lyrics. "Dream 2" is quite possibly Tomemitsu"s dreamiest LP, if not his most diverse. It is brimming with both new territory and nods to his past. This record reveals a more buoyant side to accompany his traditionally spaced out productions.

Jeffrey Lewis’s 2015 masterpiece ‘Manhattan’ in random-colour reground vinyl. “Lewis’s catchiest and finest album” - (Grade: A) Vice. Blang Records are thrilled to announce they’ll be bringing the wild streets of Manhattan to the UK and Europe this autumn with the vinyl re-release of Jeffrey Lewis’s 2015 masterpiece ‘Manhattan’. The LP sold out of its first pressing and has been impossible to buy anywhere for years…until now. Out on exclusive Random Mix Colour Reground EcoVinyl in record shops from 20th September. Blang Records and Jeffrey Lewis have history: before Blang was a label, it started life as a live night at the 12 Bar Club in Denmark Street, hosting many a set of the NY Antifolk artists over on UK shores, including Jeffrey Lewis. Now 20+ years since Jeffrey first played Blang, it feels fitting that tour support comes from UK antifolk linchpins, Blang Records mainstay, and arguably one of the UKs most criminally underrated bands, David Cronenberg’s Wife (“A mix of 80’s fall and the Velvet Underground” - NME). Native New Yorker Jeffrey Lewis is a comic book writer/artist and a musician. A cult hero birthed from the now infamous antifolk movement that sprung up on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in the 90s, Jeffrey has released dozens of albums showcasing his unique blend of bleakly witty observations, scratchy, lo-fi punk and croaky folk/anti-folk, all firmly rooted in a strong DIY sensibility. Jeffrey and his band have toured the world multiple times over, released albums on Rough Trade, Moshi Moshi and Don GIovanni Records, and have been featured by NPR, The History Channel, The NY Times and more. ‘Manhattan’ was mixed by John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr., Phosphorescent, War On Drugs) and recorded by Brian Speaker at SpeakerSonic Studios NY, produced by Brian Speaker and Jeffrey Lewis. “We’ve been fans of Jeffrey Lewis since seeing him at the Sidewalk Cafe in 2001, so we’re really really pleased to be really-re-releasing the excellent album ‘Manhattan’ just in time for his September UK Tour. This all started when Jeffrey asked for help looking after his merch after his UK tour finished last year and we said we’d help him press some records in Europe from a UK address as the postage costs from the US were way too much. This ultimately led to us re-releasing his classic album (and respectful nod to Lou Reed's New York) ‘Manhattan’. It's beyond a dream come true. Blang is the home of fantastic lyricists and that's exactly what Jeffrey is - this is a perfect fit.” - Blang Records. “Jeffrey Lewis is an amazing musician, and if you don’t know his songs you probably have a hole in your heart that can only be filled by his words… I did!” – Regina Spektor. “Jeffrey is the best pure songwriter I know of… ‘Sad Screaming Old Man’… is one of my favourite songs ever written.” – David Berman, Silver Jews. Tour Dates: Jeffrey Lewis & The Voltage, w/ support from David Cronenberg’s Wife - Aug 29th Hertford – Corn Exchange, 30th Coventry – The Tin Music & Arts, Sept 1st Stockton-on-Tees – Georgian Theatre, 2nd York – The Crescent, 3rd Stirling, Scotland – The Tolbooth, 4th Birkenhead – Future Yard, 5th !SOLD OUT! – Halifax – The Grayston Unity, 6th Norwich – Norwich Arts Centre, 7th Northampton – The Black Prince, 8th Carmarthen – CWRW, 9th Nottingham – The Old Cold Store, 10th Southampton – The Joiners Arms, 11th Hastings – The Pig // Jeffrey Lewis solo: 12th London – West Hampstead Arts Center, 13th London – West Hampstead Arts Center

Tip!

Polido has been fantasizing with the idea of free music throughout his artistic career. Free from restraints, logos, musical genres, but also from this modern obsession with narratives, plans, business plans, algorithms and bubble wrapped ideas for comfort of those of you that can’t breathe without everything making sense.
“Hearing Smoke” has nothing of that. It has been four years since Holuzam released the double album “A Casa e os Cães / Sabor a Terra” and for four years I have been daydreaming about what would come next. This is it, eleven new pieces about the future of the future of music. It is the result of years of study, research and sound consolidation. Sound as matter, mutating, transforming, absorbing all around, a shapeshifting entity connecting with the principles of freedom.

"Polido has been researching Portuguese contemporary composition, its very own sounds and ideas. Its origins, the web of repression, tension and censorship before the April 25th revolution in 1974; secondly, as an afterthought, freedom, equality and a unique sense of community and belonging screaming through the music. He absorbed those states of mind and made an album that listens to the current world and presents globalization as a mental trap.
If the music that inspired him somehow comes from a post-colonial world, “Hearing Smoke” questions how we can create something new in this permanent state of cultural colonization, where new trends or forms of music only thrive if they are accepted by the dominant cultures. The physical world has been transformed, but ideas like “world music” or “ghetto music” still show that dominance, the Strange can only be accepted if it incorporates the rules and codes of that dominant force. What I am saying is that it is hard for Portuguese musicians to present themselves as original. They will never have that credit unless the music relates to something that exists in another

realm. Never for their benefit, but for the power of association. I may sound arrogant here, but Polido is unique, original, one of a kind (all those words, all those redundant synonyms). I knew it four years ago when I got lost in the way “A Casa e os Cães” is assembled and how he makes something memorable out of the most commonplace conversations. “Hearing Smoke” continues the flow and puts us in the centre of these ever evolving masses of sound.
Somehow his music finds you, it starts speaking with you until it asks you to be a part of it. Polido’s beats and harmonics are combined in such a tender way that you mellow out while listening to these beats - thinking of the brilliant “Saque”. Even when he exposes you to something more harsh - “Canto D’Amorte” or the closing moments of the last track “Custa A Crer” - there’s still a cradle effect.
But what keeps me returning to this album is how it seems to transform in my ears. Not every time I listen to it, but while I am listening to it. The sound seems to move, embracing me and controlling my inner thoughts. These start to move along at the same pace, with the same feeling of cloudiness. Nothing new here, the thing is how it feels different from time to time, how the music, because of something that changes or moves, comes as a catharsis/revelation. It drives me nuts how the beats come and go in tracks like “Fogo Firme (Encomendação)” or “The More I Think, The Less I Can Speak“, leaving everything suspended and, simultaneously, relieved. When dramatic - ”Prova De Existência“ - it is sad af and gorgeously epic.

Trap, bass music, dubstep, ambient, hauntology and contemporary music flow side by side here, no pushing around, free of interpretation, and you are free to feel or listen to whatever you want in “Hearing Smoke”. That’s free music for you. Not a hard concept, something for you to enjoy, feel, reflect about. This is what the future will sound like."

André Santos // Holuzam

Futurismo proudly present a celebration of the Paisley Underground scene with TWISTED DREAM MACHINE The Paisley Underground / California’s Psychedelic Renaissance: 1982-1986, the next volume in their Altered Vision compilation series.

This collection draws from the neo psychedelic movement that took hold in California during the early to mid 80’s, one that melded the psychedelia, country, garage rock, avant-garde and pop of the 60’s with the DIY ethos of the then burgeoning punk scene, a hypnotic amalgamation of sound that came in staunch contrast to the blown out sonic excesses of the time.

Twisted Dream Machine takes you on a trip from the city to the desert, as the kaleidoscope of noise drifts from the The Dream Syndicate’s Velvet Underground inspired take on Crazy Horse and The Three O’Clock’s chiming baroque powerpop, to Rain Parade’s dreamy Beatlesesque melodies and the Bangles hook-laden Love inspired pop. Also featured are the wondrous sounds of Green On Red, The Long Ryder’s, Game Theory, True West, Thin White Rope and others highly worth your attention. If you are not familiar with some of the bands here, you will surely question how that is possible. The Paisley Underground, if anything, encapsulated a certain musical mindset, an outlook where the past and the future would collide in the moment. This thread would bond the bands, yet each honed it’s own sound in a twisted incarnation of the seeds planted two decades earlier. Whilst the ‘scene’ did remain contained, its influence did in fact spread throughout mainstream culture as the Bangles stuck a chord into the heart of MTV, whilst Prince took inspiration from the movement in his own songwriting and the naming of Paisley Park, as well as signing The Three O’Clock to his label and writing one of the Bangles biggest hits.

As you listen to the tracks on Twisted Dream Machine you will be reminded that there is still music left to discover and inspire, this compilation is aimed to hopefully delight longtime fans, as well as ignite a passion for those new to the bands. The Paisley Underground was the sound of neo psychedelic rock, it was subterranean pop...in

the classic sense, it was alternative rock before the term existed, a distillation of the fundamentals present at the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll, with a twist. The bands of the Paisley Underground may have been writing out of their own time, but as you listen to them in today’s context these songs should be heard as landmarks, rather than throwbacks. After all, nothing this good should stay underground. This 2xLP comes on limited edition coloured vinyl, it is housed in a gloss laminated outer sleeve with colour inner sleeves and contains a large fold-out poster with unseen photos and liner notes by Lisa Fancher of Frontier. Also available on CD with Gloss laminated Sleeve and Fold Out Poster.

Satan’s history is storied, their albums and incendiary live shows, iconic. The Newcastle, England-bred lineup may quip that their career has been “44 years of prolonged mayhem with a 20-year lunch break”—forming in 1980, eventually pausing before reuniting in 2011—but circa 2024 finds the band thriving, writing, recording, and touring at the top of their game. Proof positive is their seventh studio album, and third for Metal Blade, Songs in Crimson. If 2022’s Earth Infernal album was brutal, up-tempo and with loud guitars, guitarist Russ Tippins calls Songs in Crimson “concise. It’s more to the point and gets there quicker. One of the reasons behind the title Songs in Crimson is that this record is very ‘song’ focused. There’s more punch this time around. Each chorus speaks for itself.” An eminently relatable song is “Era (The Day Will Come).” “There is nobody on this planet who is not familiar with the feeling of loss. When you get to the age we are at in this band, it becomes a weekly occurrence. If there is a message in the lyrics, it is pretty much ‘do not take anything for granted.’ Especially people. You just don’t know what is around the corner that you can’t see coming.” Satan’s chemistry, honed by years of collaboration, brotherhood and love, is unbreakable. “We played at a metal festival where the headlining band had zero original members,” Tippins says. “I cannot get my head around that, though I admire their bravery. We are the genuine article.” To be clear: “We did not reunite just to trade on past glory,” he concludes. “If you want nostalgia, this is not the band for you. We look only ahead and always will.”

Satan’s history is storied, their albums and incendiary live shows, iconic. The Newcastle, England-bred lineup may quip that their career has been “44 years of prolonged mayhem with a 20-year lunch break”—forming in 1980, eventually pausing before reuniting in 2011—but circa 2024 finds the band thriving, writing, recording, and touring at the top of their game. Proof positive is their seventh studio album, and third for Metal Blade, Songs in Crimson. If 2022’s Earth Infernal album was brutal, up-tempo and with loud guitars, guitarist Russ Tippins calls Songs in Crimson “concise. It’s more to the point and gets there quicker. One of the reasons behind the title Songs in Crimson is that this record is very ‘song’ focused. There’s more punch this time around. Each chorus speaks for itself.” An eminently relatable song is “Era (The Day Will Come).” “There is nobody on this planet who is not familiar with the feeling of loss. When you get to the age we are at in this band, it becomes a weekly occurrence. If there is a message in the lyrics, it is pretty much ‘do not take anything for granted.’ Especially people. You just don’t know what is around the corner that you can’t see coming.” Satan’s chemistry, honed by years of collaboration, brotherhood and love, is unbreakable. “We played at a metal festival where the headlining band had zero original members,” Tippins says. “I cannot get my head around that, though I admire their bravery. We are the genuine article.” To be clear: “We did not reunite just to trade on past glory,” he concludes. “If you want nostalgia, this is not the band for you. We look only ahead and always will.”

Balancing glitch-pop and contemporary piano, the Belgian pianist explores the edges of her voice, language and twisted electronica



The Belgian pianist and producer maya dhondt releases a new album titled 'wow, x', marking her debut solo album under her own name. Navigating between bedroom glitch-pop and contemporary piano, she presents sounds of alienating beauty.



The album ‘wow, x’ will be released on September 13 on vinyl and all digital platforms via VIERNULVIER Records.



“I find beauty in the uncomfortable and disorienting" - maya dhont



The first single, 'desire,' is a mutated synth-pop track that gets under the skin. The song centralizes longing for something you don't know (yet). Perhaps it's the smell of damp earth, which can be both pleasant and unsettling? The single is now available on all streaming platforms and comes with a schizophrenic video by Sakis Brönnimann.



The first release show is scheduled for Saturday, October 5, at De Koer, Ghent.

More shows will be announced soon.



A postmodern cramp, that's how one could describe the music of pianist and producer maya dhondt. Her music is an intuitive and a never ending exploration that has the potential to be and become a multitude of things at once.



On her first solo album under her own name, 'wow, x,' she presents 10 varied tracks in which she creates equally idiosyncratic sound worlds. She takes the liberty to endlessly experiment with vocals, piano, and a mix of distorted lo-fi electronic sounds with an open mind. The result is sometimes synthetic and weird, sometimes compellingly beautiful, and always captivating, drawing you into its underlying melody. These intelligently crafted productions are connected by a penchant for alienating beauty: like a warm, but damp cave where it’s pleasant to linger just a little longer. Her original sound moves within a sonic spectrum reminiscent of contemporary artists such as Lolina, Astrid Sonne, claire rousay, aya or Carla Dal Forno.



"What I create never stands alone, it can be many things at once"



If the world were a sculpture garden, maya dhondt eagerly picks from it to draw inspiration from both visual and literary passages as well as personal experiences. Her highly personal bedroom productions are grounded firmly in the world due to philosophical references and politically charged messages. And the world she lives in is being questioned on 'wow, x', as the title refers to "What Or Why?". This is evident in the single 'desire': "What is the thing that matters / to exist / or to know you’re existing?" What does one choose in life: to live in the moment or to live to remember that moment?



In the lyrics on 'wow, x', maya dhondt plays - at times childishly - with language and its boundaries. On 'tip toe tip,' banal wordplay leads to an unexpected confession, and the seemingly simple phrases in 'untitled' conceal hidden life lessons. dhondt's world of words is multilayered and multilingual: Dutch ('kleine cijfers, groot verlies'), English ('desire'), and French ('untitled') are at her disposal. And on the fierce track that is 'minimalinvasiv,' not only she turns to hardstyle, but also to German - a language dear to her due to her Swiss heritage.

"Kal Marks have never made a record as personal as Wasteland Baby. Though Carl Shane, the band’s vocalist-guitarist, has made a career off of exploring blunt, uncomfortable truths through song, with Wasteland Baby, he steered Kal Marks toward something utterly new. Shane looked inward to stare down a fear that had long plagued him: What would it look like to have a child in a world that looks like this? “The album was driven by the fears I’m having about being a father,” says Shane. “The initial spark was this fear, and I thought that maybe if I could express it, I could overcome it.”

What started out with this simple premise slowly grew into a sprawling, borderline-concept record. It’s no surprise, then, that Kal Marks went deeper and darker than ever before when writing Wasteland Baby. Though, in order to reach that final product, it required the band—bassist-vocalist John Russell, drummer Adam Berkowitz, and guitarist-vocalist Christina Puerto, who is also Shane’s partner—to interrogate every decision they made with exacting detail. ”We were really all on the same page in that we wanted to make something really, really special and that was going to require us putting a lot of ego aside and just trying to serve the songs as best as possible.”

“In an ideal world, Kal Marks will go on forever. But it may be the end of a chapter for a while. I don’t want it to be the end, but there was an element running through the album that maybe could be the end,” says Shane. No matter what the future holds, Wasteland Baby is an emphatic reminder to brush off the things that keep you from truly living and venture into the unknown."

"With their third full-length, Washington, D.C.’s Bad Moves have expanded their founding artistic identity — a candy-coated guitar-pop shell surrounding a bitter lyrical core — by refracting their ideas through a new set of musical forms that weaponize repetition. On the new Wearing Out the Refrain, recorded once again with producer Joe Reinhart (Hop Along, Algernon Cadwallader), Bad Moves propose that the flip side of the delirious harmony of the basement show singalong is the volatile, accusatory antiphony of a community divided by strain, shouting the same desperate hook back and forth at one another.

Bad Moves’ tag-team vocals, which forgo centering anyone one member, also let the traditionally confessional “I” become the “we” of a community, or generation. Witness the ambitious climate change metaphor of “Eviction Party,” which understands the union of sugary pop and genuine angst embodied by 1960s girl-group songcraft, and uses it to expand a personal story to planetary scale. “It’s my eviction, I’ll cry if I want to” Bad Moves shouts, channeling the dawning millennial midlife crisis. The personal may be political, but what if both feel weighed down and trapped in circular, inescapable ruts?"

Blood Smoke Vinyl. The Instrumental version of the underground classic El Michels Affair & Black Thought collaborative album Glorious Game When Leon Michels and El Michels Affair released their ­rst record, Sounding Out The City, in 2005, it was hard to guess what was next for Michels and his then-introduced, now-patented "cinematic soul" sound. Now, four EMA studio albums and scores of tribute and remix projects later_all while producing for some of the biggest names in the industry_Michels has trademarked his sound, with each project taking audiences somewhere new and pushing the boundaries of what he is known for. The man is a river, not a lake and this time he takes his golden touch into the realm of hip-hop laying down a musical bed for one of the greatest to ever rhyme into a microphone: Black Thought of The Roots crew. Releasing on Big Crown Records, the LP is called Glorious Game and it is a remarkable debut partnership in more ways than one. Michels provides his bottom-heavy, soul-tinged production for Black Thought who gives us some of the more personal and transparent verses we've ever heard from him. Michels and Black Thought have been in each other's orbit for a while now. The two ­rst met in the 2000s when Thought was ­rst getting familiar with the contemporary soul scene. "Out of that whole world, Menahan Street Band was probably my favorite," recalling the funk and soul group Michels was a founding member of back in 2007. Fast forward a few years and musicians from that collective_Dave Guy on trumpet and Ian Hendrickson-Smith on sax _are now full time players with The Roots. This connection eventually led Leon and Thought to doing a few fundraising events around NYC and Philly together. "Before long, Black Thought was coming around the studio and would jam with us from time to time," Michels explains. "Then, fast forward to 2020 and COVID lockdowns, he just hit me up out of the blue, wanting me to send him stuff to write to. We both were looking to stay busy." Being that Black Thought is the co-founder and emcee for, hands down, the best live-band group in hip-hop. Michels took a decidedly different approach to this project and instead of sending recorded tracks of live compositions, he pulled out the sampler and sampled himself and some records from his collection. "I'm a big fan of soul music," as if Michels has to remind us. "And part of hip-hop's appeal to me has always been the sample-based production" For Glorious Game, Michels would make wholly composed and recorded soul songs in his studio, sample himself, then chop and/or loop up his sounds and create instrumentals for Black Thought. On some tracks he took a more traditional hip-hop approach, starting from samples of other people's music but then adding live instrumentation on top. But for the most

In their musical journey spanning 15 years, Jungle by Night always knew their music isn't about individual talent, but in the blend of all elements its members bring to the table. This realization birthed the theme of their seventh album, “Synergy”. With the mantra "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" echoing in their minds, Jungle by Night embarked on a mission to make an album that is recorded right in the moment, and as live as possible, to capture the energy between musicians. And to take it a step further, they threw open the doors of their studio in Amsterdam and invited some of Holland’s most prolific vocalists such as: Spinvis, Sef, Merol, Pitou, and Meral Polat. Each vocalist brought their unique style to the mix, infusing the tracks with depth and emotion. Recorded in their beloved studio in Amsterdam Noord, "Synergy" captures the essence of Jungle by Night's creative spirit. Here, imperfection is embraced, and spontaneity reigns supreme. It's about capturing the energy of the moment, where music comes alive in all its vibrant glory. So, dive into the world of "Synergy" and experience the crazy world Jungle by Night, and friends. It's more than just an album – it's a testament to the beauty of coming together and creating something greater than the sum of its parts. Jungle by Night are seven Dutch guys who together form a live act to be reckoned with. This Amsterdam band consists of a lot of synths, drums, bass, guitar and percussion enhanced by a trumpet and trombone. From more brass-heavy earlier albums to a stronger focus on the electronic groove on their latest, they bravely go where no band has gone before and now find themselves in the goldilocks zone between analogue dance music, nu-disco, Krautrock, 70’s funk and 80’s electro. The transfer to a more electronically driven sound might have been a small step for this merry band of highly skilled musicians, but it became a giant leap for the people on the dance floor. Their radiant and energetic live shows have become the must-see festival act that festivalgoers all over Europe include as a staple in their concert schedule. They know this won’t be a show, it’ll be a downright party. It’s like that tree in the forest. Was it really a festival if you didn’t see Jungle by Night? What constitutes this ever-present attraction is the highly danceable and addicting build up of their set, in which they take their audience by the hand and lead them into the groove. What happens when you come out on the other side? Depends. Just know you won’t be the same.

The Jesus Lizard sind zurück mit 'Rack', ihrem ersten Album seit 1998. Das Album enthält 11 Tracks mit flottem Gitarrenrock, wie man ihn nicht mehr gehört hat seit... seit The Jesus Lizard das letzte Mal eine Bühne in deiner Stadt erobert haben. The Jesus Lizard - Sänger David Yow, Gitarrist Duane Denison, Bassist David Wm. Sims und Schlagzeuger Mac McNeilly - sind zurück mit einem Album, das vor der Art von Verrücktheit nur so strotzt, die nötig ist, um die heutige AOR-Mittelmäßigkeit und den piss-perfekten Pop-Schwachsinn gleichermaßen zu besiegen.

Seit ihrer Gründung 1987 in Chicago haben The Jesus Lizard Zuhörer auf der ganzen Welt begeistert. Die tadellose, raketenartige Rhythmussektion von Sims und McNeilly war die perfekte Basis für Denisons zackiges, aber dennoch sauberes Riffing und Yows launischen Gesang, der sich als panischer Bürger, Realitätsflüchtling oder verletzter Meeressäuger manifestierte. Auf das Debütalbum folgten sechs weitere Studioalben, zwei Live-Aufnahmen sowie zwei Singles und EPs.

Auf 'Rack' kehren The Jesus Lizard neu formiert, erfrischt und voller Elan zurück. Keine lauen, faden Tracks, die zeigen, wie sie als Songwriter 'gereift' sind. Keine albernen Ausflüge in unnötige Genreübungen.

The Jesus Lizard. Sie sind vielleicht nicht mehr jung, aber sie werden nie, nie alt.

The Jesus Lizard sind zurück mit 'Rack', ihrem ersten Album seit 1998. Das Album enthält 11 Tracks mit flottem Gitarrenrock, wie man ihn nicht mehr gehört hat seit... seit The Jesus Lizard das letzte Mal eine Bühne in deiner Stadt erobert haben. The Jesus Lizard - Sänger David Yow, Gitarrist Duane Denison, Bassist David Wm. Sims und Schlagzeuger Mac McNeilly - sind zurück mit einem Album, das vor der Art von Verrücktheit nur so strotzt, die nötig ist, um die heutige AOR-Mittelmäßigkeit und den piss-perfekten Pop-Schwachsinn gleichermaßen zu besiegen.

Seit ihrer Gründung 1987 in Chicago haben The Jesus Lizard Zuhörer auf der ganzen Welt begeistert. Die tadellose, raketenartige Rhythmussektion von Sims und McNeilly war die perfekte Basis für Denisons zackiges, aber dennoch sauberes Riffing und Yows launischen Gesang, der sich als panischer Bürger, Realitätsflüchtling oder verletzter Meeressäuger manifestierte. Auf das Debütalbum folgten sechs weitere Studioalben, zwei Live-Aufnahmen sowie zwei Singles und EPs.

Auf 'Rack' kehren The Jesus Lizard neu formiert, erfrischt und voller Elan zurück. Keine lauen, faden Tracks, die zeigen, wie sie als Songwriter 'gereift' sind. Keine albernen Ausflüge in unnötige Genreübungen.

The Jesus Lizard. Sie sind vielleicht nicht mehr jung, aber sie werden nie, nie alt.

The new album from the original founding member of Kool & the Gang -- 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees! Drummer George “Funky” Brown, along with Robert “Kool” Bell on bass, his brother Ronald Bell on tenor and lead vocalist James "J.T." Taylor, was one of the main songwriters in their pop/R&B band Kool & The Gang, whose classic hits like “Jungle Boogie,” “Hollywood Swinging,” “Celebration,” “Get Down on It” and “Joanna” made for a novel and immensely successful pop-funk groove in the 1970s and ‘80s. Such songs have been featured in films (“Jungle Boogie” was in Pulp Fiction while “Summer Madness” appeared in Rocky) and have been sampled countless times by artists including DJ Kool, Mase, Too Short, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Boogie Down Productions, Brand Nubian, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, N.W.A., Kris Kross and Jermaine Dupri. Aside from being crowned 2024 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees, Brown, with Kool & the Gang, has been inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame--and there’s a street in Jersey City named in the band's honor. The Grammy-winning group has received the Soul Train Legend Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Even though it came out on a major label, this record sells for hundreds of dollars if you can find it at all (we know…we paid for a copy), and it’s no wonder… it’s the perfect blend of raw R&B passion and smooth, sophisticated soul production. First, the passion part… Willie Tee was a New Orleans pianist and singer best known for recording a series of burnin’ 45s (some cut for Harold Battiste’s short-lived AFO label) during the ‘60s. I’m Only a Man was Willie’s album debut, cut for Capitol in 1970, and he brought the same deep-seated intensity to the record that he did his singles. The difference was, for I’m Only a Man, Willie’s warm, raspy voice was lovingly bathed in spectacular arrangements by H. B. Barnum and produced by the great David Axelrod. Strings, brass, xylophone, bluesy guitar licks, and a funky rhythm section are all percolating inside this record’s grooves, with a daring choice of material that ranges from Cannonball Adderley’s “Walk Tall” to the Bacharach-David nugget “Reach Out for Me” to the self-penned highlights “Mirror” and “Bring On the Heartaches” to the album closer “People” from Funny Girl. Capitol wasn’t known for breaking soul acts at the time, which may explain why this record remains a cult classic; we’re happy to give it the exposure it deserves, with a purple vinyl pressing limited to 1000 copies.

Admittedly, I'm not a great salesperson when it comes to running our little label. I do my best not to give into hyperbole or build something up too intensely if someone has not heard a new artist yet. I prefer to simply present the music and let the listener decide how they feel about it. However, we live in an age when the "story" put together by publicists, labels, and managers are often the driving force of an artist's ascension into the zeitgeist. And for me, that's always felt rather artificial, even when the narrative is genuine. But every once in a while, a project comes along that takes on a life of its own. And I can say without a doubt that the growth of Pale Jay's reach since we first started working with him has little to do with conjured narratives or clever marketing, but more to do with how the music makes the listener feel. It's that simple. In fact, Jay is so enigmatic and without a narrative that the mere absence of a story has become the story. Who is he? Where is he from? What's next? Some questions are better left unanswered in my opinion, my friend. Including the question, "Why does this music make me feel so much?" You're better off just sitting back, disconnecting, and letting Low End Love Songs by Pale Jay wrap you up. Enjoy and spread the good word. - Terry Cole

"Low End Love Songs", more so than previous releases, is a diary in form of song. I knew I just had to wait for the songs to be ready to be picked, like ripe fruit from a tree. Each tune encapsulates a distinct moment in my life, with music serving as my means of processing complex and sometimes conflicting emotions. In this album, I depart from loop-based song structures towards more intricate and lush compositions. Latin influences permeate the music, adding new layers of rhythms and textures to my soul-music roots. - Pale Jay

Rain and experimental music have had an interesting connection for decades. Under the umbrella of American film music promotion, Hanns Eisler was already looking for "Vierzehn Arten, den Regen zu beschreiben” (fourteen ways to describe the rain) in 1941. A good 20 years later, The Cascades interpreted the periodicity of rain as a rhythm of mourning. For the Beatles ("If the rain falls, they run and hide their heads"), the precipitation inspired the band to use backward running tapes. However, it seems that there has always been a lot of rainfall in popular music. In the early seventies, David Toop and Paul Burwell even had a band project with the great name Rain In The Face...

That was a long time ago and today, rain, which in the age of climate catastrophe mainly occurs as heavy rain or an enervating endless loop, has lost a great deal of its inspiring quality. Perhaps as a reminder of the musical quality of rain, but knowing full well that it can only be enjoyed in theory, Razen call their new album "Rain Without Rain". In the music of the Brussels collective led by the two multi-instrumentalists Brecht Ameel and Kim Delcour, it certainly pours down on the roofs. In fact, the album opens with the sound of pouring rain before we hear the sequence of an oscillator played through a guitar amp on the first track „Lazy, Lazy Eye“.

The album is the captivating result of an one-night mobile studio field recording in an abandoned pedestrian tunnel in the centre of Düsseldorf, and it is finding beauty with brutal(ist) means: recorder, oscillator, guitar amp and reverberation, two musicians and four microphones, early electronics versus Early Music. “Suicide meet Hildegard von Bingen”, as Stefan Schneider, who recorded the session, admits. “Ghostly occurrences”, he adds.

Brecht Ameel states: “We do put a lot of weight and care on acoustics. On some of our recordings, the room acts as another band member, or as the main ‘mixing board’. Most of the albums we have recorded so far are not mixed in the traditional sense: they are simply „captured”, and we let the room decide what is left on the tapes. The studio recordings, then, give us the possibility of bringing other elements to the fore; precision of interplay, or tiny variations in breathing.”

The group Razen exists since 2010 and has since released numerous records on labels such as KRAAK, Marionette and Hands In The Dark. "Rain Without Rain" is their debut on the Düsseldorf label TAL. If there has been an increased international interest in experimental music from Belgium in recent years, this is not least due to musician collectives such as Razen. In terms of its electro-folkloristic intensity and instrumentation, Razen's music is quite unique worldwide. What does Razen actually mean? “We took the word from a poem by Paul Van Ostaijen, not specifically because of its meaning but because of the way it looked on paper”, Ameel explains. “But the meaning goes in the direction of ‘thundering / raging / speeding’ … although we prefer playing with a strong notion of restraint, building our world from (and with) silence.”

Olaf Karnik, Köln 2024

Coming out on September 6th on Sharptone Records, Sundiver is Boston Manor’s fifth album and one that represents a glimmering dawn for the Blackpool five-piece. Grown from a seedbed of optimism and sobriety, the LP celebrates new beginnings, second chances and rebirth. With two members recently stepping into fatherhood, hope is baked into every note. “Datura came out of these really dark few years over the hangover of the pandemic,” Henry reflects. “I'd been struggling a lot with drinking and not taking care of myself and bad mental health and stuff. We wanted Sundiver to be the next morning of the following day.” He explains that it feels good this time round to write through the lens of positivity. “The themes began to emerge, of rebirth, spring, dawn, sunshine and then other elements just started to fit into that.” It was during the making of Sundiver that Henry found out he was going to be a dad. This album is a significant one for the band. Originally coming out of the emo and pop punk scene, they’ve explored sonics and genres throughout their career, taken risks and achieved more than they could ever had dreamed of. They’ve grown up as Boston Manor – their lives and the world changing around them. They’re now taking stock, at a crossroads of the band they were and the band they could be.
While writing the album, they revisited the bands that shaped them in the late 90s and early 00s. “I was listening to the music I loved when I was a teenager and I just thought, why don't we make music like our favourite bands?”, guitarist Mike Cuniff remembers with a smile. “So we brought our interests to the table that way. Y2K kind of vibe. There are elements of Deftones, there are elements of Portishead in there, some Garbage, The Cardigans.” He laughs and adds NSYNC to the list of inspirations. From this cocktail of classics comes a dynamic and ambitious record, rich with depth, groove and more hooks than Peter Pan’s nightmares. Lyrics that foxtrot from parallel universes to personal growth, vivid dreamscapes to raw grief. Individually they’re single strokes full of meaning and magic. Together they’re a landscape.
Container (out Feb 15th) is the first single and it’s them at their best – impassioned and infectious. “This song is about the stagnancy of life creeping up on you & how that can bring about change.,” Henry explains, citing Ocean Song by US band Daughters as an inspiration.

The concept of the butterfly effect is present on Sundiver – how small actions can lead to big changes. This is no clearer than on their second single, Sliding Doors (out April 5th). It has the golden sound of late 90s Lollapalooza rock – think Smashing Pumpkins - rebooted with crisp 2024 production and a potent heaviness. In the lyrics Henry wonders, what if?, pondering on what could be. The idea that there are infinite versions of you whose lives splinter off in different directions at every decision you make. That there’s another you out there somewhere right now reading this sentence, and another me writing it. “So much is down to chance and circumstance,” Henry says. “You might catch that train and your life totally changes. Or you might miss it and things stay the way they are.”
Heat Me Up (out May 30th) is defiant and victorious, the audio equivalent of quitting your shit job and driving into the hot summer sun with a head full of dreams. “The lyrics are about love and gratitude,” Henry shares. “Another theme on the record is just appreciating what you have. It’s about not taking for granted the things that you've been afforded.”
There was some natural magic in the creation of Sundiver. They worked with their usual producer, Larry Hibbitt, and engineer, Alex O’Donovan, but instead of recording in London again they ended up in the green pastures of Welwyn Garden City. “Because Larry lives out in the countryside now, it was a way different environment and way different experience recording this time,” Mike remembers. “That contributed a lot to the brighter sound of the record.” The daily barbecues they had during their recording sessions imbued the process with harmony – five old friends spending quality time together and making quality music.
However, the album is by no means one-note. Birthing this new world they’ve created wasn’t without it’s pain, and that can be heard in the heavier moments on Sundiver. What Is Taken Will Never Be Lost is the most-stripped back on the album, a slow rock number seasoned with the downtempo Portishead influence. The heartfelt lyrics are Henry’s way of processing the loss of his grandfather, who died in a hospice last year(?). “It was just fucking horrible. It was always cold when I went there and they were always trying to get rid of me. The song title, What Was Taken Can Ever Be Lost, is the idea of his memory fading at the time because of dementia.” Henry goes onto explain that shoeboxes of photographs, diaries and a legacy is what he’s left behind. “He lived a really rich life and it has really impacted me and my father. His legacy is etched into the fabric of history in a very small way.” This song continues the connection between his grandfather and the band, as his painted face is emblazoned on the cover of the very first Boston Manor EP, Driftwood. As well as emotionally heavy themes, there’s heaviness in the music of Sundiver too. The closing song, Oil In My Blood, descends into an intense shoegaze outro with Debbie Gough from Heriot screaming hellfire. It’s in moments like this that the band show us aggression and fury can be as much a part of positive change as quiet introspection. The last lyrics of the song, “It resets and starts again,” leaves us in contemplation as the final chord rings out.
Touring the US, Europe and Japan over the years makes for an impressive CV, but if you know anything about Boston Manor you’ll know that they’re all about their hometown. Their choice to work with Blackpool-based photographer Nick Barkworth is testament to that. They’ve been working with him since the pandemic. “He captures Blackpool in a light that really reflects the weirdness and quirkiness of the town,” Henry says.” He's got a really good way of presenting that.” For the Sundiver cover, Nick photographed a 30ft tall abstract glass sculpture made by the local artist John Ditchfield. A striking and bewitching monolith that’s familiar to them but unusual to most people. “It has such kind of a gravity and power to it,” Henry describes the sculpture which stands in a field just outside of the seaside town. “It reminds me of either an explosion or a star or a supernova. To me it represents new life, power and radiance.” Boston Manor have got a knack for that - connecting the otherworldly and the everyday, the stars and the streets.
They’re a band known for using their music to make bigger statements about society. This time round they’re harnessing the uplifting power of music, and the communion it creates, as an antidote to the daily doom and isolation. “It seems like absolute chaos out there at the moment,” Henry says. “You’ve got Gaza and Israel, you've got Russia, you've got the fact that 40% of the world is going to have an election this year and increasingly most governments are leaning very far to the Right. The internet is dividing everybody, people are getting poorer and more desperate. It's really, really scary.” They considered trying to tackle the weight of it all in their music. “We could’ve written Welcome to the Neighbourhood on steroids, where it's just absolute darkness and misery”. He’s referring to their 2018 concept album that deals with class, inequality and the bleaker side of Blackpool. “But I think it's really important to write something that people can be immersed in and find some sort of solace in. Somewhere they can escape to from the modern day pressures and everything that’s going on. We’re all in this together.”

A new album by Medway's premier alt-folk outfit The Singing Loins! Yes indeed. We caught up with Rob Shepherd to find out more about their brilliant new LP Twelve_ Q: "The new album is called Twelve. Could you settle an office debate - is it your 12th album or have you called it that because it has twelve songs on it? (We thought Here On Earth was your 12th but not according to Discogs. Also, our ability to count accurately has diminished over the years!)" A: "A bit of both. Course, there's the 12 songs, but then, depending on how you count, it's also our 12th album (from 91-98, there's the 1st 4 LPs that Damaged Goods collected together on The Complete & Utter - that's a comp though, so we can't count that eh - then there's At The Bridge with Billy, so that's 5_..we can skip Alive In Dunkerque as well cos it's a live album....then there was 2004-13 where we made four more with you, then in 2019 we got back together and made 13 Moon Songs From Merry Hell, released on the Vacilando 68 label...so that's 10_and then we did another record with Billy, The Fighting Temeraire_ so yeah, that makes this one number 12)." Q: "The album has features newly recorded versions of several Loins classics. Was it a difficult decision deciding which back catalogue songs to record?" A: "No, pretty easy - it's basically the 12 songs we enjoy playing the most with the current lineup. Saying that, it's been a bit of a meandering road getting to this point. Since Brod passed away, Arf & me have done few nights of Loins songs - and it's felt good - celebrating the songs we all wrote together - so that started the selection process. Oli, Arf's lad, joined us on percussion and then Rich, who Billy had introduced to us, joined on violin - then Chris came along to play the drums, so Oli switched to guitar - and through all that we were refining the set of songs, and we got a point where we felt that, yeah, we've sort of worked out how to do this (you know, respecting and celebrating our past, without coming on like a tribute band to ourselves), so it made sense to make the album - just to reflect where we'd arrived at....so we went into Jim's Ranscombe Studios and bashed them all out live in a couple of hours....no overdubs, no fussing over mistakes....just sing and play the songs as if it was a gig." Q: "It's been 33 years since the debut Loins' LP - How does it feel to be the elder statemen of Kent's alt-folk scene?" A: "Ha ha, are we? We don't know any other folk bands, alt or not, so it doesn't feel as though we're qualified to be the statesmen of anything! Elder, certainly, but statesmen? Nope." Q: "There's been plenty of gigs recently with more to come around the album's release, including some European dates. For people who've not seen you before what can they expect from a Loins gig?" A: "Yeah, as I said, now that we've worked out how to do this, and as we're having so much fun with it, we thought we'd get out & about. We're off to Serbia immediately after the album's release, so that'll be an adventure - Serbia was always special for us (Aleks, the promotor, took us out there to play seven or eight times in all) and we've stayed in touch over the years, so it'll be lovely to see everyone out there again. As for what can anyone expect when they see us? "Riotous fun filled joy" I've just been told, but best let everyone else be the judge of that!" Q: "The Singing Loins wouldn't have existed of course if it wasn't for Chris Broderick. Chris sadly passed in 2022. What would he have thought about the fact you're carrying on with the band and recording new music?" A: "Yeah_ he'd be happy. In the week before he passed away, he asked Arf & me over, basically to say goodbye and tie up any loose ends. And he told Arf that we should carry the Loins on. So yeah, I think he'd be pleased and proud that we're keeping the songs, and his words, alive."

On August 16, Toronto-based musician and producer David Psutka aka ACT! (fka Egyptrixx / Anamai / Ceramic TL) will release his latest project ‘Face to Face, Day by Day’ for his own Halocline Trance imprint.

This is is Psutka’s third album proper as ACT! following the release of the “sonic mixtape” ‘Universalist’ in 2018 and the augmented reality soundtrack ‘Grey Matter AR’ in 2021; a series of Snapchat filters created by artist Karen Vanderborght and soundtracked by ACT! which explored the poetic and existential potential of AR and social media.

“Aesthetic accidents in the periphery of the ‘work’ can be the message. In 2018, at an Egyptrixx concert at Bagni Misteriosi de Teatro Franco Parenti - a gorgeous, sprawling outdoor pool theatre in Milan - I had a clarifying moment. Gigs around then had mostly been in pummelling, dark music venues, so I wasn't prepared for this expansive space (and the thoughtful work of the organisers who had layered sheets of plastic film on the pool to parallel eco-materialist themes from a previous album). It was the midday soundcheck that struck me most - brittle digital sounds from the set echoed off the colonial Milanese facades and ricocheted down the Via Carlo Botta, pinging off buildings in the distance and clashing with the noise of traffic, tourists and whatever else. It was a strange, collisionist moment, and a reminder that my essential approach to music is, above all, a preoccupation with the materiality of sound. 

Everything on Face to Face, Day by Day began as an improvisation. Openness to accidents and the emotional complexity that comes from centering them in composition has become important to my work, and helps the music go beyond the possibility of what is playable, imaginable. I also wanted to channel adventurous solo pop records of the 1970’s and 80’s, like Yasuaki Shimizu, Jon + Vangelis and Stevie Wonder. These came from an interesting era in commercial music as studio production techniques became increasingly formalised as compositional devices, like AMS RMX16 percussion sounds and early digital stereo effects. 

Like many musicians, I’ve been travelling and performing less since the pandemic and as a result, have wanted studio sessions to feel more collaborative and improvisational. There were great writing and recording sessions for this album. Vox, synth, sax and guitar jams - much of what ended up on the record isn’t edited much, if at all. I jammed a sm57 into Colin Fisher’s sax bell and created feedback loops using various preamps and distortion units. The clunky sounds were sampled and used as percussion elements. I also had a great synth jam session with Jeremy Greenspan at Barton Building Studio in Hamilton, which was recorded by filmmaker Liz Adler. 

I’ve had a few months to sit with this album and see clear throughlines connecting it to previous projects. There are aspects of the experiential and structuralist sound design ideas from the EGYPTRIXX records; and also some arrangement tricks borrowed from ANAMAI - specifically, the use of interruptionist sound events. Perhaps most of all, it feels connected to the Ceramic TL + Ipek Gorgun record ‘Perfect Lung’ and its splattered take on musical complexity. “ (David Psutka)

In addition to ACT!, Psutka has released music with numerous projects including Anamai, Egyptrixx and Ceramic TL, he has collaborated widely with artists such as Junior Boys, Ipek Gorgun, and Kuedo as well as Jessy Lanza (2016) and an official remix for Massive Attack’s ‘Hymn of the Big Wheel (2012). The contributions on this album, from Robin Dann and Ben Gunning, reflect the deeply collaborative nature of the Halocline Trance label and the Toronto creative scene more broadly.

Many of Psutka’s releases have received critical acclaim from media outlets such as Pitchfork, Exclaim, The Quietus and Resident Advisor. As a live performer, he has toured extensively including performing at Sonar Festival, Roskilde, Mutek, MOMA PS1 Warm-UP and CTM Festival. He’s also presented sound installations at various institutions such as Galeria Civica Commune di Modena, and Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO).

In 2015, Psutka launched Halocline Trance as a home for his various sound projects, events and collaborations. Now a creative collective and label, it has grown to include a diverse array of artists including Casey MQ, Xuan Ye, Myst Milano, Colin Fisher and others. The label is described as “genre-agnostic” and conceptually open, supporting work across a wide spectrum of creative fields including soundtrack recording, AR design and traditional artist albums. Their impeccable roster also includes, theorist/improviser Eldritch Priest, and AR/VR artist Karen Vanderborght. In recent years, Halocline Trance has established itself as a platform that facilitates many of Canada’s most exciting creative music projects. Many of the releases have received critical acclaim from outlets including Pitchfork, Exclaim, Bandcamp and Resident Advisor.

Cardinal Fuzz and Feeding Tube Records are proud to present to you the 2nd LP from TOMOYUKI TRIO (Tomoyuki Aoki, Mike Vest & Dave Sneddon) following their debut LP ‘Mars’ on the esteemed Riot Season Record Label. Tomoyuki Aoki is the founding member and lead guitarist of the legendary Tokyo Psych Monsters UP-TIGHT. Of all the Japanese psych-rock groups that emerged in the late nineties and early noughties, Up-Tight are the most reverent, the most directly plugged into the source, from their name (Velvet Underground) with knowing referential song titles like “Sweet Sister” to their extended heavy, dark black clad acid fried one chord psych melters -- we're talking bands like Fushitsusha, White Heaven, Kousokuya, Shizuka, and the grandaddies of 'em all, the deservedly-legendary, Les Rallizes Denudes. Shitsuren If anything has got an even heavier, dronier edge than what we heard on the last one. Super fuzzed guitars, sad ballads, grinding distorto epics and numbed, narcotic rhythms. This is one to play at maximum volume so that you can soak up its molten magik as over 2 sides of Shitsuren’s grueling guitar hypnotics you uncover the darker side of the ensembles personality to find them digging deep to drag the audience with them into the shadows of stoner psyche. If you can picture Okhami No Jikan, Asahito Nanjo. Musica Transonic & Toho Sara then you’re close to the outrageous levels of psychedelic excess captured here, a riotous concoction of ferociously brooding, locked down heavy bearing intensity of fierce/brutal speaker battering in the red levels.

Hello 24! Nice to have you here. 23 is so yesterday, so over the top, really. Well, we’ve been dancing the following dances recently. What about you?

What lasts a long time usually turns out well. Having admired TEE MANGO from afar for many years, our A&R Michael Mayer took heart and invited him to this year’s TOTAL. “So In Love” is in the best tradition of the KOMPAKT minimal funk of the early years. We are delighted to have this lovely Englishman on board!

REINHARD VOIGT has always placed great emphasis on loving animals. On the track with the unsurprising title “Der, der mit dem Gummiball sang (Orange)”, he lets whole hordes of different four-legged friends and poultry on the microphone. Hopefully the stench will dissipate from the studio.

When Rhenish cheerfulness meets holiday anticipation, the result is something like this Hawaiian shirt turned music called “Chee-Caruso” by JÜRGEN PAAPE. No animals were tortured for this piece either, even if it sounds like it.

We stay in the realm of fauna and turn our attention to London’s award-winning pedigree dog REX THE DOG. “Laika” is a heart-warming ode to the mongrel dog of the same name, who was the first living creature to make it from the streets of Moscow into space. She would have loved that bleep.

A little-known fact about MICHAEL MAYER is that he is one of the fastest crossword puzzle foxes on the left bank of the Rhine, always in relentless rivalry with Wolfgang Voigt, who thinks he is even faster. The big battle is yet to come. Uninvited guest with five letters? “Urian”.

As an integral part of the family, JONATHAN KASPAR is of course not to be missed. “Are You” celebrates the kind of early morning rapture that is commonplace at his new DJ venue, the brand new Cologne superclub FI. Everything is so colourful here.

SASCHA FUNKE takes a bow to one of the greats of German showbiz with the trippy electro smasher “The Heck”. Born – like DJ Koze and Barnt – in Flensburg, died in Berlin in 2018 and wore glasses. More will not be revealed.

More emotion, more love, more sing-along factor? Si, claro! ARGIA’s “Love Keeps You Running” masterfully combines groove and pop – a blend that sounds very familiar to us. She may be at home in Madrid, but there’s Cologne DNA in her somewhere. We’re sure of it.

Let’s meet the legends, the veterans! JÖRG BURGER is still in a psychedelic mood in 2024. That suits him, that’s where he needs to be, that’s where we want him to be. A parallel universe is conceivable in which such music is affectionately called Goa.

Before going to bed, the WASSERMANN reads us a fairy tale from the Arabian Nights. At the same time, we focus on a point between everything, but really everything, and absolute, stark naked nothingness. 3, 2, 1… Let go.

Hallo 24! Schön, dass du da bist. 23 ist ja sowas von gestern, geht gar nicht, echt. Also, bei uns tanzt man neuerdings die folgenden Tänze. Und bei Euch?

Was lange währt, wird meist gut. Schon seit vielen Jahren aus der Ferne TEE MANGO bewundernd, hat sich unser A&R Michael Mayer ein Herz gefasst und ihn zur diesjährigen TOTAL eingeladen. “So In Love” steht in bester Tradition des kompaktschen Minimal Funk der frühen Jahre. Wir freuen uns, den quirligen Engländer an Bord zu haben!

Tierliebe wird im Hause REINHARD VOIGT schon immer groß geschrieben. Auf dem Stück mit dem nicht weiter verwunderlichen Titel “Der, der mit dem Gummiball sang (Orange)” lässt er gleich ganze Horden verschiedenster Vierbeiner und Federvieh ans Mikro. Hoffentlich zieht der Gestank wieder aus dem Studio ab.

Wenn rheinischer Frohsinn auf Urlaubsvorfreude trifft, dann kommt so etwas wie dieses Musik gewordene Hawaiihemd namens “Chee-Caruso” von JÜRGEN PAAPE heraus. Auch für diesen Beitrag wurden garantiert keine Tiere gequält, auch wenn es allenthalben so klingt.

Wir bleiben im Reich der Fauna und wenden uns London’s preisgekröntem Rassehund REX THE DOG zu. “Laika” ist eine herzerwärmende Ode an die gleichnamige Mischlingshündin, die es von den Strassen Moskaus als erstes Lebewesen ins All geschafft hat. Den Bleep hätte sie bestimmt gemocht.

Eine wenig bekannte Tatsache über MICHAEL MAYER ist, dass er zu den schnellsten Kreuzworträtsel-Füchsen links des Rheins zählt, stets in unbarmherziger Rivalität zu Wolfgang Voigt, der sich für noch schneller hält. Der große Battle steht noch aus. Ungebetener Gast mit fünf Buchstaben? “Urian”.

Als fester Bestandteil der Familie darf natürlich auch JONATHAN KASPAR nicht fehlen. “Are You” zelebriert frühmorgendliche Entrückungszustände, wie sie in seiner neuen DJ-Wirkungsstätte, dem nigelnagelneuen Kölner Superclub FI Gang und Gäbe sind. Alles so schön bunt hier.

SASCHA FUNKE verneigt sich mit dem trippy Electrosmasher “The Heck” vor einem der ganz Großen des deutschen Showbiz. Geboren – wie DJ Koze und Barnt – in Flensburg, gestorben 2018 in Berlin, Brillenträger. Mehr wird nicht verraten.

Mehr Gefühl, mehr Liebe, mehr Mitsing-Faktor? Si, claro! ARGIA’s “Love Keeps You Running” vereint meisterlich Groove und Pop – eine Melange, die uns durchaus bekannt vorkommt. Sie mag zwar in Madrid zuhause sein, aber irgendwo steckt in ihr eine Kölsche. Da sind wir uns sicher.

Auf zu den Legenden, den Urgesteinen! JÖRG BURGER zeigt sich auch in 2024 in einem psychedelischen Mood. Das steht ihm, da muss er hin, da wollen wir ihn haben. Es ist ein Paralleluniversum denkbar, in dem solche Musik liebevoll Goa genannt wird.

Der WASSERMANN liest uns vor dem Schlafengehen noch ein Märchen aus Tausendundeine Nacht vor. Wir fokussieren uns gleichzeitig auf einen Punkt zwischen allem, aber auch wirklich allem und dem absoluten, splitterfasernackten Nichts. 3, 2, 1… Loslassen

Ever wondered what music would sound like if it was ripped from the space directly preceding sleep? The tracks within this album are your gateway to discovery. These recordings, which were laid down especially for the USA radio stations WFMU and WGXC, will melt your speakers and your mind. Released on the ever excellent Feeding Tube Records (USA) & Cardinal Fuzz (UK). BHAJAN BHOY (aka Ajay Saggar) symbolises boundless creative freedom in all the music he has produced to date. This LP is no exception to that rule….in fact, this album showcases an even wider spectrum of sounds and ideas than could ever be imagined. From heavy lysergic guitar excursions, to dub inflected guitar pedal pop, to nu-age minimalism, to electronic experimentalism….all the terms and descriptions in the world don’t do justice to the originality that lies within. When USA radio station WFMU asked Ajay to contribute tracks to a session for the show “Feelings” (co-hosted by Michele and Creamo Coyl), he turned in 5 tracks that received tremendous feedback from around the world on the station’s live chatline when broadcast. In addition, a session for WGXC further showcased the songwriting talent of Ajay. The ensuing 3 week tour of the USA cemented BHAJAN BHOY’s status as one of the most innovative musicians around. This LP marks another giant leap forward in BHAJAN BHOY’s musical development. He’s brimming with ideas and the imagination runs wild. This music is for the listeners who want to follow a path of discovery and be mesmerised and blown away by what they hear. Be sure to be one of the listening party. Presented in a high gloss outer sleeve with 2 sided insert.

’The Blues’ was B.B. King’s second Crown LP drawn from his RPM singles recorded between 1951-1958. This album traces his early development into a world class artist. ‘The Blues’ used a single hit tune (in this case “When My Heart Beats Like a Hammer,” a Top Ten R&B chart entry in 1954) to help sell a package of lesser-known material, but thankfully the label also picked some great tunes that hardly sound like filler, even if they didn’t make the charts. King’s songwriting was already stellar, with “I Want to Get Married,” “Don’t You Want a Man Like Me,” and “Ruby Lee” demonstrating his way with a melody and a lyrical conceit. ‘The Blues’ demonstrates he was already near the top of his class. The LP is extended with 2 bonus tracks.

Admittedly, I'm not a great salesperson when it comes to running our little label. I do my best not to give into hyperbole or build something up too intensely if someone has not heard a new artist yet. I prefer to simply present the music and let the listener decide how they feel about it. However, we live in an age when the "story" put together by publicists, labels, and managers are often the driving force of an artist's ascension into the zeitgeist. And for me, that's always felt rather artificial, even when the narrative is genuine. But every once in a while, a project comes along that takes on a life of its own. And I can say without a doubt that the growth of Pale Jay's reach since we first started working with him has little to do with conjured narratives or clever marketing, but more to do with how the music makes the listener feel. It's that simple. In fact, Jay is so enigmatic and without a narrative that the mere absence of a story has become the story. Who is he? Where is he from? What's next? Some questions are better left unanswered in my opinion, my friend. Including the question, "Why does this music make me feel so much?" You're better off just sitting back, disconnecting, and letting Low End Love Songs by Pale Jay wrap you up. Enjoy and spread the good word. - Terry Cole

"Low End Love Songs", more so than previous releases, is a diary in form of song. I knew I just had to wait for the songs to be ready to be picked, like ripe fruit from a tree. Each tune encapsulates a distinct moment in my life, with music serving as my means of processing complex and sometimes conflicting emotions. In this album, I depart from loop-based song structures towards more intricate and lush compositions. Latin influences permeate the music, adding new layers of rhythms and textures to my soul-music roots. - Pale Jay

New one-off pressing coloured vinyl 18th anniversary edition of the long-out-of-print Studio One Soul 2, the long-awaited second volume of one of the largest selling Soul Jazz Records’ Studio One collections.

Studio One Soul 2 takes us deep into Jamaica’s long-standing fascination with American Soul and Funk music.

Featuring a host of seminal Reggae artists who all first established their careers at Studio One before finding worldwide success. Featured artists include Horace Andy, The Heptones, Cornell Campbell, Ken Boothe, Jackie Mittoo, Jacob Miller and many more A-Class Studio One legends interpreting both classic and littleknown American Soul and Funk tunes by the likes of Curtis Mayfield, Bill Withers, The Five Stairsteps, Marvin Gaye, The Stylistics, Lee Dorsey, Al Green, Syl Johnson and more.

Curtis Mayfield is without a doubt the main soul influence for many reggae groups in the 1960s and 70s. Cornell Campbell’s ‘Ten to One’ featured here is a stunning recut of the original Studio One single by The Mad Lads who first covered this Curtis-penned hit for the Impressions. Another great Curtis Mayfield production, The Five Stairsteps and Cubie’s ‘Don’t Change’, is interpreted by Studio One soul man Winston Francis. Similarly, Devon Russell’s superb ‘Make Me Believe in You’ is, if anything, superior to Curtis Mayfield’s ground-breaking original.

While American Soul and Funk remain a constant source of inspiration on this album, classic DJs such as Prince Jazzbo and Little Joe also used these rhythms to ride vocal toasts over to serious effect. This selection features a mixture of classics, super-rare and unreleased tracks from Studio One all lovingly digitally re-mastered for this release. The vinyl edition also comes on super-loud double vinyl housed in gatefold sleeve and with download code. The new CD edition comes as digipack plus booklet. Another essential Studio One release.

[c] Change (In the House of Flies) [Acoustic]










[n] Be Quiet and Drive (Far Away) [Acoustic]

"King Yellowman is the 1984 Columbia Records debut album by Yellowman. The artist, whose real name is Winston Foster, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall artist who first became popular in Jamaica in the 80s. After he rose to prominence in his home country, he released this record under the Columbia label. Yellowman is considered to be one of the pioneers in reggae and hugely contributed to Jamaican musical culture and the internationalization of reggae. King Yellowman is available as a 40th anniversary edition of 1000 numbered copies on yellow coloured vinyl."

Carving an unlikely and elaborate niche in the stoney academic landscape
which she once shared with the likes of Phill Niblock, John Cage and Sorel
Hayes, the excitable proto-punk poèmes sonores of the linguistic loose
cannon known as Beth Anderson first rolled through New York in the mid-
1970s (from Kentucky via San Francisco) like a jumbled tumbleweed of lost
Letterism, face paint and threadbare drummy funk to astonish gallery floors,
lecture theatres and loft apartment stages.
One thousand leagues under the radar of the commercial music industry,
with a sense of humour that elevated way above her highbrow peer group,
the music of Beth Anderson has successfully evaded the pressing plant for
most of her creative career, and not unlike fellow New York gallery actionist
Suzanne Ciani, it has taken decades to successfully collect and contextualise
these early recordings - expanding her elusive discography beyond the rare
and mysterious solo single entry in the process.
When uttered amongst the type of vinyl vampires that haplessly gravitate
between both art school vintage vanity pressings and family funded plunder
funk, there’s an outside chance that the name Beth Anderson might muster
some vague recognition on account of her one and only solo wax sojourn
into the expansive DIY market. In 1980 the 45rpm single, ‘I Can’t Stand It’,
combusted into the consciousness of adventurous participants with its deep
rhythmic backbeat (courtesy of future Sonic Youth / Dinosaur Jr producer
Wharton Tiers, member of the new wave band Theoretical Girls), climaxing
with two colourful and commanding linguistic tantrums before disappearing in
a puff of smoke leaving would-be fans dumbstruck without so much as a
label name or distribution contact to explain what they had just heard.
For those who have spent the subsequent years on the edge of that same
seat, it might come as some comfort knowing that somewhere out there,
there is also a contrasting world of gallery patrons and experimental sound
poetry enthusiasts that similarly didn’t know that their regular performance
poet Beth Anderson even made the ambitious pop record. For the uninitiated,
the enigmatic Beth Anderson has straddled both sides of the art / rock fence
placed between two equally niche pastures.
Hopefully this first ever vinyl compendium will succeed in joining the dots,
loops, yelps, squeaks, beats and repeats. Let us follow Beth’s lineage, along
her magnetic tape highways crossing multiple boundaries in a hope to bridge
unlikely anti-genres like ‘yoga punk’, ‘ramble rap’, ‘combustion pop’ and
‘formroom funk’… all of which were officially neatly bracketed under the
curious Text-Sound movement where Beth garnered utmost respect as a key
practitioner.

The impact, influence, and importance of Run-D.M.C.'s self-titled debut – the album that invented hardcore hip-hop and bridged rap, rock, and funk in then-unparalleled ways – cannot be measured. The first full-length record released by Profile Records, the 1984 set permanently changed the sound of music, broadcast streetwise wisdom to every corner of the country, and made the notion of a one-man band a distinct reality. Bolstered by an incendiary blend of staccato deliveries, stark beats, aggressive exchanges, evocative hooks, and socially conscious messages, Run-D.M.C. still hits listeners in the jaw with the same intensity it did nearly 40 years ago when it could be heard booming from ghetto blasters carried around city blocks nationwide.

Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed on MoFi SuperVinyl, and strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's 180g SuperVinyl 33RPM LP is the definitive-sounding version of the groundbreaking work cited by Rolling Stone as the 378th Greatest Album of All Time. This reissue also represents the first time this gold-certified effort has been presented in audiophile quality. Benefitting from the ultra-low noise floor, superb groove definition, and dead-quiet surfaces of SuperVinyl, Run-D.M.C. now plays with a clarity, immediacy, punchiness, and directness worthy of the artistry, urgency, and intellect of the trio's material.

The brilliance of Russell Simmons and Larry Smith's production comes into view as if the music is being broadcast on a giant system in a small club — only more focused, lively, and unlimited. Free of dynamic constraints and fatiguing harshness, this LP invites you to turn up the volume and experience the raw, rough, invigorating songs that changed the look, sound, and feel of hip-hop overnight. Think the trio’s sparse framework of drum machines, tag-team rhymes, keyboard accents, and turntable scratches is stuck in the mid-80s? Spin MoFi’s SuperVinyl LP and gain new appreciation for the music, messages, and production on display on Run-D.M.C.

Recorded in the wake of two successful and pioneering singles, both included on the album, Run-D.M.C. effectively took a sheet of coarse-grit sandpaper to the polish, sheen, and linear presentation of all the hip-hop that preceded it. Stripped to bare-bones foundations, the songs grab your attention and shake you by the collar with a combination of industrial-leaning rhythms, staggered deliveries, dance drama, and hard, minimalist percussion. Then there are the lyrics.

The LP broadcasts a smart mix of boots-on-the-ground reports, uplifting advice, and then-nascent b-boy culture. In one fell swoop, its narratives and music rendered the scene’s proclivity toward glamor and softness passé. Run-D.M.C.’s tough, cool-minded fashion sense showed the trio walked its talk and gave fans — particularly those living in long-ignored urban areas — heroes which with they could identify. Kangol hats, black jeans, leather jackets, Adidas sneaks, and gold chains were the new currency.

In every regard, Run-D.M.C. signifies the birth of modern hip-hop. Never more obviously than on the groundbreaking “Rock Box,” where rap and rock were first fused. As the first hip-hop video to receive regular rotation on MTV, the track eviscerated racial and social boundaries, awakened musicians and listeners to new possibilities, and redefined both popular music and, ultimately, popular culture. As the Roots’ Questlove has stated, it “ knocked down many obstacles, enabling hip-hop to become the new gospel."

Such teaching includes the real-world scripture of “Hard Times,” utopian hopefulness of “Wake Up,” and observational truths of “It’s Like That.” Released as the group’s debut single well before its eponymous album, the latter tune established themes and outlooks Run-D.M.C. would embrace during its career. Namely, the keen awareness of various prejudices, economic ills, and disruptive violence as well as the knowledge that education, self-motivation, and hard work were the ways to escape disadvantages and disillusionment.

Inspired and inspirational, the song reflects the spirit and shrewdness that courses throughout Run-D.M.C. That includes a detailed account of the trio’s not-so secret weapon (“Jam-Master Jay”), purpose statement (“Hollis Crew (Krush-Groove 2)”), and a revolutionary hybrid autobiographical narrative-dis track (“Sucker M.C.’s (Krush-Groove 1)”) widely regarded as one of the best hip-hop songs ever created. The same can be said for every moment on Run-D.M.C.

MoFi SuperVinyl
Developed by NEOTECH and RTI, MoFi SuperVinyl is the most exacting-to-specification vinyl compound ever devised. Analog lovers have never seen (or heard) anything like it. Extraordinarily expensive and extremely painstaking to produce, the special proprietary compound addresses two specific areas of improvement: noise floor reduction and enhanced groove definition. The vinyl composition features a new carbonless dye (hold the disc up to the light and see) and produces the world's quietest surfaces. This high-definition formula also allows for the creation of cleaner grooves that are virtually indistinguishable from the original lacquer. MoFi SuperVinyl provides the closest approximation of what the label's engineers hear in the mastering lab.

The very first Buchla synthesiser performance by revolutionary composer Suzanne Ciani finally makes its fifty year journey from its switch-on New York art gallery to its long deserved and discerning global phonographic audience.

With this previously unheard vinyl pressing, Finders Keepers Records are proud to present an archival project of ‘art music’ that not only redefines musical history but lays genuine claim to the overused buzzwords such as pioneering, maverick, experimental, groundbreaking and esoteric, while questioning social politics and the evolution of music technology as we have come to understand it. To describe Italian-American composer Suzanne Ciani’s resurrected Buchla concert records as genuine gamechangers would be a gross understatement. These records represent a musical revolution, an artistic revelation, a scientific benchmark and a trophy in the cabinet of counterculture creativity. This sonic installation album, alongside her recently liberated WBAI/Phill Niblock 1975 sessions (FKR082), are triumphant yardsticks in the synthesiser space race and the untold story of the first woman on the proverbial musical moon. While pondering the early accolades attached to these golden era New York recordings it’s daunting to learn that these records were in fact not even records at all.

What exists on this disc now was a manifesto and a one-time gateway to a new world, which somehow was only partially pushed ajar. Captured here is a genuine live act exploring new territories with a fully performable music instrument. If the unfamiliar, modernistic, melodic pulses, tones and harmonics found on these 1970’s artistic gallery collaborations/ live presentations (then soon to be followed by academic grant applications and educational demonstrations) had been placed in a phonographic context alongside the widely marketed work of Morton Subotnick, Walter Carlos or Tomita, then the name Suzanne Ciani and her infectious influence would have already radically changed the shape, sound and gender of our record.

With the light of Buchla and Ciani’s initial flame Finders Keepers continues the journey through the vaults of this increasingly celebrated music legacy, illuminating these ‘non-records’ that evaded the limelight for almost half a century. You can’t write history when you are too busy making it. With fresh ink in the bottomless well, let’s start at the beginning. Again

Having established himself as one of the most energetic and exciting Jazz musicians within the already thriving worldwide scene, New Zealand born, London based Drummer & Producer Myele Manzanza has made a major impact upon the global music landscape.

 A founding member of Electric Wire Hustle, Myele has released five solo albums, and racked up tours and collaborations with Jordan Rakei, Theo Parrish, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Recloose and Amp Fiddler amongst others . Myele has developed a strong live presence in his new London base; his quartet has shared stages with the likes of Hiatus Kaiyote, The Bad Plus, Alfa Mist, and drawing packed houses to top venues such as The Jazz Café and Ronnie Scott’s. Last year, the first two instalments of his 'Crisis & Opportunity’ record series saw him garner praise from Mary Anne Hobbs, Cerys Matthews, Jamie Cullum, Huey Morgan, The Guardian, Complex, Jazz FM, Lefto, Worldwide FM, Jazzwise and more.

Following the release of his last offering, a chance conversation between Myele and a young Barista at a local coffee shop occurred - their topic (centred around the trials and tribulations of following your musical passions) sent Myele down a spiralling path of internal reflection, spawning a new lease of creative energy and examination of new ways to approach his craft. The third addition to the heralded series, ‘Crisis & Opportunity Vol.3 - Unfold’ sees Myele change his approach from drummer / improviser, altering his sonic output to a more electronic dance music output, opting for a more producer / beatmaker focussed role. Sharing production duties with Lewis Moody (Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange) and taking a more producer / beatmaker focussed role. His initial instinct was to create music that could be played in a club, but also incorporate elements music of the Jazz and technical musicianship he’s renown for.

Articulating his thoughts on the record’s genesis, Myele explains: ‘‘As the process developed, I was also drawing a lot of inspiration from vocal driven soul, RnB and songwriter-driven music to a point where I had lit a new creative fire. Reconsidering the direction of the album, I was left with the creative question “What broader ranges of emotion might my music be able to access, and what kinds of art could be made possible if I were to open up my music to hold space for singers and for stories?”

First single ‘Silencing The Sun’ features the vocal talents of fast-rising fellow Kiwi artist Wallace, whose spectral tones glide gracefully over the pulsating rhythm section and twinkling keys. On second single ’Therapy’ UK Soul royalty Omar weaves his trademark magic over a solid 4/4 beat, soulful key stabs and lush synths, bottling lightning into dancefloor alchemy. Final single ‘Unfold’ sees Rachel Fraser deliver a delicate and introspective vocal performance over stripped back instrumentation as cold, angular electronics juxtapose the warmth of piano keys and sweeping strings. With a wealth of additional incredible talent (such as China Moses and Rosie Frater Taylor) enlisted to further compliment the record’s grainy synth textures, emotive chord changes, driving low end sonics and expressive percussion, the scene is set for a beautiful, shifting and engaging listening experience.

It’s abundantly clear from the first bars of their 5th studio album Through Other Reflection, that this is, and could only ever be, The Soundcarriers. From the enchanting vocal duets of folk-bidden Chanteuses Leonore Wheatley and Dorian Conway; to the precise bass lines of Paul Isherwood and the limber, jazz-cool, Hal Blaine-esque drums of his his co-songwriter Adam Cann; from the fairy-like flutes, 60s-garage guitars and organ sounds pilfered from the archives of exotica - listening to the Soundcarriers resembles a rediscovery of all the most prized, esoteric corners of the 1960s, all bundled up, warped and refracted through the quartet’s astutely modern cultural lens. Channelling Tropicalia, Middle Eastern psychedelic Jazz/Funk, The French Library sounds of Nino Nardini, and a whole host of lavish obscurites beside, Through Other Reflection delivers another sonic adventure from one of the most unique and distinctive voices of British Psychedelia. After an 8 year wait for their album 4 - 2022’s Wilds - it thankfully didn’t take so long for the follow-up this time round. In many ways, this feels like a companion to Wilds; recording again at their Nottingham warehouse studio, Through Other Reflection retains that same organic glow, all the passions and imperfections of a tightly clipped unit jamming out these living, breathing pop-art nuggets as if straight onto the acetate.”We wanted to keep an air of spontaneity with this album and not get too bogged with the recording process”, explains Cann, “It was more a case of getting the songs as tightly written and arranged as possible first so we could get them down quickly in the studio. It always takes longer than you think” Less packed with strident pop hooks as its predecessor however, the music of Through… has been given extra licence to breathe, stretch out, and wander more uncharted terrains. While gleaming psych-pop of tracks like ‘The City Was’, or ‘Already Over’ confidently carry on from where they left off, from the album’s 2nd track ‘Always’, the trip becomes a little less predictable. Starting out as a smoky Procol Harum-meets-French-Psych organ ballad, the music drifts, as if of its own accord into an eerie, garage trance that lingers, cycles, and hypnotises, growing ever stranger, reaching ever-further away from its point of conception. And almost every track on Through Other Reflections holds that outer-body moment, where the band fix themselves on a limber, lysergic groove, lose all grip on time and reality, and melt themselves away into a liquid state of blind euphoria. There are sequences on this record that feel more like rituals than songs, built upon a single hypnotic rhythm which, like the centre of a vortex, pulling everything under its beatific command. Take the finale to ‘What We Found’ for instance, sounding like a ghostly march across the psychedelic moors, or ‘Feel The Way’, where a single athletic drum-loop rises and rises, growing ever more urgent and suspenseful underneath its frantic harpsichords and rasping flutes. Full of such rich stylisms as these, The Soundcarriers showcase themselves as abstract storytellers par excellence by virtue of their textures and arrangements alone. Resembling Romantic composer Maurice Ravel, but if he had just a four-piece rock band at his disposal, Through Other Reflects is rich with detail; there’s shakers, rattles, clarinets, booming drums; there’s synthesiser swarms, chiming xylophones, vintage organs and experimental Cluster & Eno-esque ambiences. Within all this nuance the music flows like some undisclosed narrative swathed in a magnetic secrecy. “It almost comes across like a story in some ways”, says Cann of the album, “the music is quite sectional with elements of exotica and cinematic type layers, it's a good balance of grooves, tunes and weirdness”. No more is this “epic cinematic feel” heard more proudly than on short instrumental ‘Sonya’s Lament” - its innate, hauntological atmospheres befitting a Peter Strickland soundtrack, or the classics of Lex Baxter, the so-called ‘Founder of Exotica’ himself. On the other hand, providing a greasier undercurrent to all these bucolic sounds is a leaning towards a more “direct” lyricism referencing more “external concerns. Laying down the first tracks for the album in the wintry gloom of pre-lockdown 2020, and drawing inspiration from time spent in Berlin, Through Other Reflections returns to some of the post-apocalyptic futurism explored in 2014’s Entropicalia - a loose concept album inspired by J.G Ballard’s The Drowned World. “The songs explore a disillusionment with the way things are going particularly after 40 years of neoliberalism”, says Cann, “They follow that folk-song tradition of wanting to escape to an imagined time, but here it’s more urban than pastoral. The first couple of ideas I came up with when doing some music in Berlin and had some time to wander aimlessly. And think the atmosphere seeped in, particularly on The City Was and Already Over. He continues, “One aspect of the title, ‘Through Other Reflections’ is about synthesis and layers of influence. How things can be filtered through other things and change the perspective. This is something you get in cities as well.” Though, as with everything The Soundcarriers make, “It can mean anything. It also just sounds kind of cool.”

It’s abundantly clear from the first bars of their 5th studio album Through Other Reflection, that this is, and could only ever be, The Soundcarriers. From the enchanting vocal duets of folk-bidden Chanteuses Leonore Wheatley and Dorian Conway; to the precise bass lines of Paul Isherwood and the limber, jazz-cool, Hal Blaine-esque drums of his his co-songwriter Adam Cann; from the fairy-like flutes, 60s-garage guitars and organ sounds pilfered from the archives of exotica - listening to the Soundcarriers resembles a rediscovery of all the most prized, esoteric corners of the 1960s, all bundled up, warped and refracted through the quartet’s astutely modern cultural lens. Channelling Tropicalia, Middle Eastern psychedelic Jazz/Funk, The French Library sounds of Nino Nardini, and a whole host of lavish obscurites beside, Through Other Reflection delivers another sonic adventure from one of the most unique and distinctive voices of British Psychedelia. After an 8 year wait for their album 4 - 2022’s Wilds - it thankfully didn’t take so long for the follow-up this time round. In many ways, this feels like a companion to Wilds; recording again at their Nottingham warehouse studio, Through Other Reflection retains that same organic glow, all the passions and imperfections of a tightly clipped unit jamming out these living, breathing pop-art nuggets as if straight onto the acetate.”We wanted to keep an air of spontaneity with this album and not get too bogged with the recording process”, explains Cann, “It was more a case of getting the songs as tightly written and arranged as possible first so we could get them down quickly in the studio. It always takes longer than you think” Less packed with strident pop hooks as its predecessor however, the music of Through… has been given extra licence to breathe, stretch out, and wander more uncharted terrains. While gleaming psych-pop of tracks like ‘The City Was’, or ‘Already Over’ confidently carry on from where they left off, from the album’s 2nd track ‘Always’, the trip becomes a little less predictable. Starting out as a smoky Procol Harum-meets-French-Psych organ ballad, the music drifts, as if of its own accord into an eerie, garage trance that lingers, cycles, and hypnotises, growing ever stranger, reaching ever-further away from its point of conception. And almost every track on Through Other Reflections holds that outer-body moment, where the band fix themselves on a limber, lysergic groove, lose all grip on time and reality, and melt themselves away into a liquid state of blind euphoria. There are sequences on this record that feel more like rituals than songs, built upon a single hypnotic rhythm which, like the centre of a vortex, pulling everything under its beatific command. Take the finale to ‘What We Found’ for instance, sounding like a ghostly march across the psychedelic moors, or ‘Feel The Way’, where a single athletic drum-loop rises and rises, growing ever more urgent and suspenseful underneath its frantic harpsichords and rasping flutes. Full of such rich stylisms as these, The Soundcarriers showcase themselves as abstract storytellers par excellence by virtue of their textures and arrangements alone. Resembling Romantic composer Maurice Ravel, but if he had just a four-piece rock band at his disposal, Through Other Reflects is rich with detail; there’s shakers, rattles, clarinets, booming drums; there’s synthesiser swarms, chiming xylophones, vintage organs and experimental Cluster & Eno-esque ambiences. Within all this nuance the music flows like some undisclosed narrative swathed in a magnetic secrecy. “It almost comes across like a story in some ways”, says Cann of the album, “the music is quite sectional with elements of exotica and cinematic type layers, it's a good balance of grooves, tunes and weirdness”. No more is this “epic cinematic feel” heard more proudly than on short instrumental ‘Sonya’s Lament” - its innate, hauntological atmospheres befitting a Peter Strickland soundtrack, or the classics of Lex Baxter, the so-called ‘Founder of Exotica’ himself. On the other hand, providing a greasier undercurrent to all these bucolic sounds is a leaning towards a more “direct” lyricism referencing more “external concerns. Laying down the first tracks for the album in the wintry gloom of pre-lockdown 2020, and drawing inspiration from time spent in Berlin, Through Other Reflections returns to some of the post-apocalyptic futurism explored in 2014’s Entropicalia - a loose concept album inspired by J.G Ballard’s The Drowned World. “The songs explore a disillusionment with the way things are going particularly after 40 years of neoliberalism”, says Cann, “They follow that folk-song tradition of wanting to escape to an imagined time, but here it’s more urban than pastoral. The first couple of ideas I came up with when doing some music in Berlin and had some time to wander aimlessly. And think the atmosphere seeped in, particularly on The City Was and Already Over. He continues, “One aspect of the title, ‘Through Other Reflections’ is about synthesis and layers of influence. How things can be filtered through other things and change the perspective. This is something you get in cities as well.” Though, as with everything The Soundcarriers make, “It can mean anything. It also just sounds kind of cool.”

More than two years after the release of 'Impressões de Outra Ilha', Discrepant's head honcho returns home under his birth name with the appropriately titled 'Exotic Immensity'. Conjured from the seeds of an exhibition of dioramas at Le Bon Accueil in Rennes, this double LP feels quietly epic in scope, a sprawling travelogue through imagined scenarios and what if possibilities. Discarding the more rough around the edges collages of previous works under a myriad of aliases - Discogs it, if you will -, Cardoso's approach here is more meticulously composed, with seamless transitions within his own personal soundworld giving way to this hallucinated landscape of field recordings, subtle electronic tweaks, cascading patterns, queasy ambiences and kösmiche-like synth harmonies.

Perfectly embodied in Evan Crankshaw's cut up poem, filled with occult and sci-fi references such as Agrippa's Book of the Occult, William Blake's Book of Urizen, Dr. Moreau or 50's pop-science books, the music on 'Exotic Immensity' transverses time and cartography in a deeply personal matter, from the cricket-like textures and reverse loops of 'Réplica(s)' until the closing moments with the touching chord progression and mangled voices of 'Pó Nuno'. In-between, the foghorn meets bass clarinet melody of 'Ossos' recalls the unassuming but essential harmonic patterns of Laurence Crane, surrounded by an almost percussive sheet of field recordings that drift into the gliding synth tones of 'Desumanização (I & II)' until tape orchestral swells carry us into the aether. 'Aquário Novo Mundo' brims in an undisplaced cartography, from electronic marimba stabs to synth choirs, the call of the loom to labyrinthine keyboard harmonies and underwater radiance. Are we still here? Somewhere? The muffled looped rhythmic sequence of 'Imagem/Miragem', cut by the glow of cascading synths doesn't offer a reply. Nor does it need to.

'Exotic Immensity' exists on the perpetual outside. Blessed be Cardoso for showing us a way in.

"Even God Has A Sense Of Humor" is the long-awaited follow up album to Maxo's critically acclaimed 2019 release Lil Big Man. Across the 14-tracks, Even God Has A Sense Of Humor pays tribute to the mercurial nature of life and includes features from Liv.e, keiyaA, LastNameDavid, and Melanie Charles along with the previously released singles "Free!," produced by Dev Morrison and "48," produced by Madlib and featuring Pink Siifu. The FADER recently sat down with Maxo to discuss the album, which they described as having "a defiant glow, like a bronze statue still standing after an intense tornado."

Born Maxamillian Allen, Even God Has A Sense Of Humor finds Maxo earnest, full-hearted, and lyrically agile. His delivery punches as he poetically unpacks the trials and blessings that have marked the last three years since Lil Big Man, his stirring and meditative debut album. “Life is always gonna be life-ing,” Maxo says, speaking to the spiritual lessons that inspired this new project and an album process that has revealed to him the many ways in which he’s divinely protected.

The album’s striking cover features three casted sculptures of Maxo by legendary NYC-based artist artist John Ahearn, photographed by the rapper’s friend Steven Traylor. The image both preceded the music and set the tone for the record’s overall aura. Experiencing the casting process—which required long periods of stillness for form, and breathwork to avoid claustrophobia—became a metaphor about ego death for Maxo. “I had to go to a space where I was just not there,” he says. As the molding was poured over his body and the voices of those in the room became distant, Maxo’s inner world came into focus. “By the time it hardened, it seemed like the sculpture had risen to be 20 feet above where it was first— almost like it grew tall,” he explains. EGHASOH, in its aural ebbs and flows, honest questioning, profound revelations, and elegant verse, is Maxo standing spiritually tall following a period of challenges with family and friends.

Maxo’s writing process has always been rooted in imagery, observation, and capturing moments. Growing up in Southern California, Maxo spent a lot of time combing through old family photo albums, some of whose contents have become the artwork for prior releases. But his fascination with visual memento is less about nostalgia or remembering, and more about exploring concepts of growth, healing, and cycles. His artistry is intentional and deeply sensitive: “If I’m not feeling it, I’m not gonna record.” While his past records openly grappled with emotional turbulence, anger and depression, EGHASOH is Maxo’s acceptance stage: “I can't really judge nothing. I can't sit up and be mad at shit because everything is, everything is kind of coexisting,” he says.

Musically, EGHASOH is an impressive evolution from Maxo’s earlier, unornamented lo-fi projects. With an emphasis on jazzy instrumentalism and soothing, intricate vocals from both the artist and featured chanteueses Liv.e, Melanie Charles, and keiyaA, EGHASOH is a welcome and beautifully complex sonic effort. Its contributors include a range of musicians: Pink Siifu, LastNameDavid, Madlib, GrayMatter, Karriem Riggins, Beat Butcha, Lance Skiiiwalker, and more. The album was executive produced by Mount Kimbie’s Dom Maker.

“Nobody talks about the fact that we’re changing as we get older... Everybody just acts like you supposed to know,” Maxo says on album standout, “Face of Stone”. It's moody bassline meets a cinematic accordion melody that paradoxically both broods and uplifts—a fitting production choice that mirrors the song’s story. “I’m seeing how this world is chipping you and withering your bones,” Maxo says. “I’m talking about myself, talking about my bro. But it’s never nothing you gonna do that’s a one stop shop in this life. You gotta keep staying diligent and consistent.” For Maxo, Even God Has a Sense of Humor is nothing more than another moment on the timeline of his offerings of self-expression as an artist—one whose sole intention is to, in his words, develop as a human being and heal.

repress !

If one band could be cited for the emergence of Ska music, that band would be the Skatalites.

Formed around June 1965 and built around the many musicians that had honed their craft at the Alpha Boys School in Kingston, Jamaica. The early line up consisted of Don Drummond (Trombone), Roland Alphonso (Tenor Saxophone), Tommy McCook (Tenor Saxophone), Johnny ’Dizzy’ Moore (Trumpet), Lester Sterling (Alto Saxophone), Jerome ’Jah Jerry’ Hines (Guitar), Jackie Mittoo (Piano), Llyod Brevett (Bass) and Llyod Knibbs (Drums).

Named originally The Satellites after the big news of the day, the Soviet space satellite. They became The Skatalites when band member Tommy McCook introduced a play on the characteristic ‘Ska’ sound, made by the guitar when following the’ after beat’ of the music.The group had already cut its musical teeth by playing under various guises around the Jamaican island in numerous ‘hotel bands’. When the big Sound System operators Sir Coxsane Dodd, Duke Reid and King Edwards needed new material to play out with and their usual source of the material, American R & B records were drying up. They turned to this pool of musicians to back up their main singers of the day. Delroy Wilson, Alton Ellis and Lord Creator to name but a few. Also to cut the many instrumental tracks they needed usually under the tutor ledge of Don Drummond, official band leader and main musical director. Their knowledge of the old mento tunes and an understanding of Jazz and R&B music somehow blended to make this musical sound that was to dominate the island from the early 60’s up until around 1966 when the sound would slow down to what we now know as Rocksteady.

The time span of the Skatalites career considering their output of litually 100’s of sides of music, was a relatively short one of just over two years. We have delved into the vaults of Wirl Records and have selected some tunes that show the dexterity of the band and what great sounds this group of musicians were capable of producing and the high quality they maintained. They recorded before they were named as a collective The Skatalites, when personal and financial problems became an issue the band split into two halves. Jackie Mittoo and Roland Alfonso going on to form The Soul Brothers band for Coxsone Dodd. Tommy McCook moving over to work with Duke Reid as musical director. Sadly, Don Drummond suffering for years from depression would see his career cut short ending in Belle Vue hospital in 1969.

But while together they cut some of the finest Ska Sounds to be found on record. We hope you enjoy this set as much as we have in putting it together.
So, stand Up, Listen Hard and do the Ska……

Sounds of Grieving is seven songs reimagined and remixed over 12" vinyl and a cd pressing. Written, performed, recorded, and mixed by fleshwater. Vinyl comes packaged in a single LP jacket with UV spot varnish and embossing, as well as an 18"x24" poster. All vinyl copies ship in a poly bag with vinyl outside of the jacket to prevent damage.