Cerca:wil i am

Bite Down, the Merge Records debut of Rosali, finds acclaimed songwriter and guitarist Rosali Middleman in the midst of transition. Written after moving to North Carolina from her longtime home of Philadelphia, Bite Down is a searching, hungry record by an artist who is resolved to bite down on life, in all its horror and joy. She is joined here by Mowed Sound_David Nance (bass, guitar), James Schroeder (guitar, synth), Kevin Donahue (drums, percussion)_and in studio by Destroyer collaborator Ted Bois (keys). Bite Down is Rosali's second album working with Mowed Sound, and there is urgency and ambition in their collaboration_a band pushing each other not just to expand on what they've already done together, but to break through into altogether new territory. Among those joining Rosali and her band there is Dan Bejar of Destroyer, who waxes poetically on where she's been, where she's going, and how thrilling Bite Down is to experience: It's hard to talk about Rosali's music. Songs that reach outward like this, but then constantly disarm with their intimacy. What do you call such inner searching that is hellbent on rollicking? Songs that long for a sense of peace and songs that want romance, all on equal footing in the same plot of earth? Performed wild, but always centered around the incredible lyrical calm that is Rosali's voice. Bite Down makes me think about singers and bands that throw themselves hard into the storm, the way the Rosali quartet does. (Jim captures the tone of this perfectly, again!) The calm of her voice over top of the band's raging_it is the emblem of songs that live to put themselves in harm's way. But it's not harm. It's just that you have to play hard to get at these goods. The calm of Rosali's voice, the straight talk of her inner search vs. the wildness of the band, the sonic storm she rides in on. That's their sound. The Mowed Sound. It's hard to talk about these last couple Rosali albums without talking about them. They play free and wild and relentlessly melodious. They rip and create space and fill it up with what seems like reckless abandon, but listen carefully or listen for a while and you'll find them paying real close attention to each other and exactly what the song demands. Maybe Fairport did this, maybe VU. It's a strange telepathic brew. Breezier songs like "On Tonight" and "Rewind" sound like they've fought their way to get to that sense of ease. Maybe that's the Mowed Sound "sound"_hard-won ease. Then add to that Ted Bois' patented Rhodes sleaze (see sinuous title track "Bite Down") steering the record into late-night corners; the incredible "Hills on Fire" (maybe the centerpiece of the album), the guitar-ripping and the singing taking turns in reaching new levels of intimacy. It feels listened-in on, exposed and invented on the spot. It is also simply a staggeringly beautiful song. There are a few of those on the album. In contrast, "My Kind" is a raucous, hand-delivered classic; the band throws tables over. For the most part, this is a moodier record than No Medium. It has the same sound of "I've traveled through fire to deliver you these songs," but it is also quieter, more nocturnal. The quiet dread of staring down an open road, and the excitement of that. By the final track, "May It Be on Offer," it is the prayer uttered as you hand yourself over to the world.

Perc Trax hits 100 releases with Perc returning with his first album in seven years. 'The Cut Off' is Perc's fourth album following 'Wicker & Steel' (2011), 'The Power & The Glory' (2014) and Perc Trax's best ever selling release 'Bitter Music' (2017).

'The Cut Off' see's Perc deliver his most dance floor focused album to date, serving up enough energy to keep contemporary dance floors moving, whilst avoiding both the cliched 90's throwback hard techno formula that is dominant right now and the stuckist 'real techno' blueprints that are still endlessly regurgitated having been established over 30 years ago.

Across the album Perc's well established industrial credentials collide with giant sized synth riffs, driving acid lines (a first for a Perc album) and all manner of drones, choral performances, urban textures and even a dentist's drill (on 'Static'). Gliding arpeggios and slow moving melodic lines feature more on this album than ever before without dulling the sharp edges of Perc's music.

'The Cut Off' more than any previous Perc long player is an album that focuses on the club, the dancer and the dance floor. Yes, there are moments of respite between the classic Perc percussive workouts, but they are far outnumbered by the varied collection of club tracks that come at the listener from every angle.

Collaborations include Sissel Wincent, a regular collaborator with Peder Mannerfelt. Perc remixed Peder & Sissel's 'Sissel &Bass' track to great effect in 2019 and now Sissel returns the favour appearing on 'Static', the album's only full vocal track. Also collaborating with Perc is EAS, one of America's fastest rising techno artists who delivers the raw acid lines that power album highlight 'Cold Snap'. Finally London based metal vocalist Leandro Bastos adds his abrasive vocal tones to 'Imperial Leather', the first single to be taken from 'The Cut Off'.

The 'Cut Off' was recorded in Perc's own studio and mixed by Perc at Map Studios in London. The album was mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios. Album design was handled by Lucas Grassmay, who previously worked on I Hate Models' debut album on Perc Trax in 2019. The album will be supported a run of dates around the world where Perc will be performing a special live set based around the album as well as his infamous DJ sets.

For Forever folds time and space. While the sounds and stories will be recognizable to fans, they arrive with considerable bruises incurred on the journey from Set Free until now.

For those unfamiliar with The American Analog Set, this should be a simultaneously dark and vibrant introduction. Troubled lyrics permeate throughout, and the accompanying sounds are occasionally damaged and snarling. Not all things languid and dreamlike from past records have been abandoned or forgotten, but the dreams represented here are darker.

While the previous eras of the band are referenced, they are carried forward and incorporated without a hint of patronizing nostalgia. For Forever is a document of a group that acknowledges their past while they advance into new territories and evolve.

This release is entirely new material and is not connected to the forthcoming Numero reissues of the band's first three records.

Recorded on
10th March 1980 (Tracks 1, 3, 8, 9, 10)
16th March 1980 (Tracks 1, 2)
1st April 1980 (Tracks 2, 4, 5, 7, 9)

Produced: B.C. Gilbert : G. Lewis

Engineer: Eric Radcliffe.
Asst. Engineer: John Fryer
Recorded at Blackwing Studio

B.C. Gilbert: Voices, Guitars, Bass, Percussion, Tapes, Drums
G. Lewis: Voices, Guitars, Bass, Percussion, Tapes, Synthesiser
A.M.C.: Voice: Cruel When Complete

Floating-point re-master by Russell Haswell, August 2011
Cut at Dubplates & Mastering by Rashad Becker, August 2011

New artwork and layout: Dave Coppenhall

With the demise of the group Wire in 1980, founder members Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis joined forces to create Dome. With the assistance of engineer Eric Radcliffe and his Blackwing Studio Dome took the ethic of "using the studio as a compositional tool" and recorded and released three Dome albums on their own label in the space of 12 months: DOME (July 1980), DOME 2 (October 1980) and DOME 3 (October 1981). A final fourth album, WILL YOU SPEAK THIS WORD: DOME IV was released on the Norwegian Uniton label in May 1983.

These albums represent some of the most beautifuly stark and above all timeless exercises in studio experimentation from early 1980s alternative music scene.

Previously issued in the out of print DOME 1-4+5 box set in 2011. Now available as standalone LP with download card.

The Wandering Hearts sind eine britische Americana-Band, die für ihre bezaubernden Harmonien und ihr zu Herzen gehendes Songwriting bekannt ist, das von Bands wie Simon & Garfunkel, Fleetwood Mac, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young und First Aid Kit beeinflusst wurde. Ihre beiden Alben "Wild Silence" (2018) und "The Wandering Hearts" (2021) wurden von der Kritik gelobt und erreichten Platz 1 der UK Americana Charts sowie über 16 Millionen Streams in Großbritannien und den USA. Beide Alben wurden bei den UK Americana Awards für das „UK Album of the Year“ nominiert. Auf ihrem dritten Album beschreibt das Trio - Tara Wilcox Gesang, A.J. Dean [Gesang, Akustikgitarre] und Francesca "Chess" Whiffin [Gesang, Mandoline] in elf Tracks eine Zeit des Wachstums und der Veränderung. "Mother" wurde in der Spätphase der Pandemie im Hinterzimmer eines ihrer Häuser in einem ziemlich abgelegenen Teil der ländlichen Grafschaft Durham geschrieben und aufgenommen, mit einem alten Klavier und einigen guten Mikrofonen, Verstärkern und einer Fülle von Instrumenten. Während dieser Zeit des Schreibens des Albums, der Aufnahmen und der Tourneen, waren Tara und Chess beide schwanger und wurden zum ersten Mal Mutter. „Mother“ wurde so etwas wie eine Analogie für das Album und The Wandering Hearts erforschen diese mütterliche Transformation.

Zuerst war da Howlin 'Wolf, dann Jimi Hendrix, jetzt hat die Welt Lord Bishop!" - und dieser legt mit "Tear Down The Empire" sein bislang bestes Werk vor. Für die Produktion hat sich Lord Bishop Rocks gleich zwei schwergewichtige Stromgitarrenexperten ins Boot geholt: Gemeinsam mit dem Godfather of Grunge Jack Endino (Nirvana, Soundgarden u.a.) und dem deutschen Producer-Geheimtipp Andy Schmidt (u.a. Disillusion) ist ein Album entstanden, das den Blues-, Punk- und Hardrock- Spirit der amerikanisch-deutschen Band in einen zeitlosen, rohen und energiegeladenen Sound übersetzt, vor dem Frontmann Lord Bishops sprühendes Charisma so gut zur Geltung kommt, wie noch nie zuvor. In knapp drei Jahrzehnten mit tausenden Performances rund um den Globus ist Lord Bishop Rocks zu einer Institution geworden. In den Adern des 2 Meter Riesen aus der Bronx fließt purer Rock'n'Roll. Genau wie sein Äußeres ist Lord Bishops Auftritt auf der Bühne groß, kraftvoll, unnachahmlich, entschlossen und einfach unvergesslich. "Wow, it was like watching Jimi Hendrix on steroids. Great and powerful live show and a one of kind performer" (Lemmy Kilmister / Motörhead); "Blues is his soul, and I heard the ghosts of Howlin Wolf when he sang. Lord Bishop is an authentic bloke" (Eric Burdon / The Animals);"If James Brown and Jimi Hendrix had a love child, he would be Lord Bishop. Truly outstanding, great songs, cool guitar and funky riffs. It was a pleasure to have him support my tour" (Ian Paice / Schlagzeuger von Deep Purple). Seine Karriere begann Lord Bishop mit einem Umzug ins wilde Nachwende- Ostdeutschland. Straight ahead aus der amerikanischen Heimat ins Ungewisse, das Durchbeißen gegen alle widrigen Umstände war ihm ohnehin buchstäblich in die Wiege gelegt. In Dresden begann er seine musikalische Mission, den handgemachten Rock um die Welt und ins nächste Jahrtausend zu tragen.

Beim Hören von "Decrepit Flesh Relic", dem ersten Album von Civerous, bekam man man das Gefühl, dass es einen ersticken würde und dass man sich unter den knochenbrechenden Todeshymnen in Todesangst verstrickt. Mit dem überragenden neuen Album "Maze Envy" entlässt LA's kreativstes Death/Doom-Ensemble ein neues, aber nicht weniger brutales Feuerwerk aus eindringlichem Horror und morbidem Wehklagen auf die Menschheit los!

Wo Death / Doom oft in sicheren und abenteuerlichen Gefilden des engen Fokus verbleibt, präsentiert "Maze Envy" eine weitreichendere Bandbreite an Ambitionen - ungewöhnliche Technik, progressive Atmosphären, Streicherverzierungen und chaotischer Mystizismus strahlt ein violettes Licht des Aufstiegs der Seele aus den schwarzen Ozeanen des Grauens aus, die Civerous bewohnen. Kettenschleppendes Gejammer, geschwärzte Blasts und die wilde Grausamkeit von Lord Fouls höllischen Vokalexorzismen verleihen "Maze Envy" eine höllische Erhabenheit auf seinen unzähligen Pfaden in die Vergessenheit.

Beim Hören von "Decrepit Flesh Relic", dem ersten Album von Civerous, bekam man man das Gefühl, dass es einen ersticken würde und dass man sich unter den knochenbrechenden Todeshymnen in Todesangst verstrickt. Mit dem überragenden neuen Album "Maze Envy" entlässt LA's kreativstes Death/Doom-Ensemble ein neues, aber nicht weniger brutales Feuerwerk aus eindringlichem Horror und morbidem Wehklagen auf die Menschheit los!

Wo Death / Doom oft in sicheren und abenteuerlichen Gefilden des engen Fokus verbleibt, präsentiert "Maze Envy" eine weitreichendere Bandbreite an Ambitionen - ungewöhnliche Technik, progressive Atmosphären, Streicherverzierungen und chaotischer Mystizismus strahlt ein violettes Licht des Aufstiegs der Seele aus den schwarzen Ozeanen des Grauens aus, die Civerous bewohnen. Kettenschleppendes Gejammer, geschwärzte Blasts und die wilde Grausamkeit von Lord Fouls höllischen Vokalexorzismen verleihen "Maze Envy" eine höllische Erhabenheit auf seinen unzähligen Pfaden in die Vergessenheit.

"Jolifanto" takes its name from the first verse of "Karawane", a seminal Dadaist phonetic poem by Hugo Ball. When Ball first recited it in 1916 at the Cabaret Voltaire, both the author and the audience embraced a trance that left Ball exhausted, requiring assistance off the stage as the audience claimed the spotlight.

Over a century later, by a series of fortuitous events, "Jolifanto" is also the title of an album featuring two powerful musical entities. Artists stemming from diverse backgrounds converge with a shared experimental spirit, curiosity and passion for exploration in their music.

"Jolifanto" is an unexpected explosion propelled by (poly)rhythm, expanding into seemingly distant territories under the influence of flamenco. The Dadaist spirit permeates the work, where a constant tension between the improvised and the meticulously planned is evident. ZA! and Perrate together form an organism traveling from the roots to the rave, with nothing sounding out of place because the place is yet to be defined.

Perrate witnessed ZA!'s concert in a festival he attended as part of the audience. The Catalans surprised him with a proposal that he found radical and unclassifiable. Later, after being invited to prepare a collaboration for the Música y Museos season in Seville, Perrate decided to move off the beaten path, approaching ZA!, who quickly embraced the proposal. Exchanges of ideas and audio tracks ensued in a short time and they quickly  found out that they were in the same wavelength. A week before the concert, they met in the same physical space for the first time, dedicating a couple of days to composition and preparing the gig at La Mina Studios in Seville. The concert took place, hailed as "the best concert most attendees had experienced in a long time", as reported by the Diario de Sevilla. That energy needed to be captured, and so it was, at the Happy Place studio in Seville, where the album was recorded between March 6th and 9th, 2023.

The Catalan duo ZA!, "the duo that mash up terrace-chant mayhem with... everything else" (The Wire #384), has operated independently and self-managed since their inception in 2004. They overlap genres and amalgamate sounds that move, with intensity, between wild jazz, post-rock and avant-garde electronics, among other influences. In their acclaimed latest work, they have revived the Phoenician language, exploring Mediterranean sounds alongside MegaCobla and Tarta Relena.

Perrate, active since the late 90s, explores the outer edges of flamenco without forsaking its profound essence rooted in lineage and tradition, evident in every note of his voice. His latest work, "Tres golpes" (Lovemonk/El Volcán, 2022), named flamenco album of the year by Babelia/El País, and one of the albums of the year for BBC3's Late Junction, reflects an innate curiosity, possibly the seed of all the fortuitous events leading to this album.

The encounter between Perrate and ZA! is the result of serendipitous events interwoven with the narrative of artists dedicated to experimentation and radicalism in all its forms.

Die berüchtigten Metal Piraten von ALESTORM sind zu neuen Schandtaten bereit und veröffentlichen ihre neuen EP Voyage of the Dead Marauder am
22. März 2023 über Napalm Records. Die EP ist der Nachfolger ihres siebten Studioalbum Seventh Run of a Seventh Rum, das ausgerechnet auf #7 der
deutschen Albumcharts landete. Einmal mehr arbeiteten ALESTORM mit dem Produzenten Lasse Lammert (LSD-Studios) zusammen, der die EP nicht
nur produzierte, sondern auch für Recording, Mixing und Mastering zuständig war und für seine Arbeit mit Genregrößen wie Gloryhammer und Wind
Rose bekannt ist.
Die EP startet mit dem epischen Titeltrack „Voyage of the Dead Marauder“ - einer packenden Hymne mit einem Auftritt des allzeit beliebten Gastes
Patty Gurdy, die dem Track mit ihrer Drehleier und ihrem fesselnden Gesang einen besonderen Kick verleiht. Die Crew segelt weiter und liefert mit
„Uzbekistan“ einen klassischen Piraten Metal ALESTORM-Track, der eine wilde, synthie-geladene Party-Passage mit intensiven Screams entfesselt.
„The Last Saskatchewan Pirate“ verwandelt mit seiner fröhlichen Flötenmelodie jede gesellige Runde in einen randvollen Piratenpub, bevor „Sea
Shanty 2“ als instrumentales Zwischenspiel eine Verschnaufpause bietet. Aber keine Sorge – Fans, die sich nach den ausgelassenen Partyhymnen der
Band sehnen, werden nicht enttäuscht, da der Abschlusstrack „Cock“ mit seinem derben Text das Niveau in gewohnte Gefilde einpendelt. Also
kommt an Bord, ihr Landratten, und begebt euch mit eurer Lieblingspiratencrew auf dieses feuchtfröhliche Abenteuer!

Heavy Power Metal in Reinform - die Rückkehr des mächtigen HAMMER KING HAMMER KING sind zurück! Einmal mehr verneigt sich das Quartett um den ehemaligen Ross The Boss-Sänger Titan Fox zu Ehren des mächtigen Hamme King und veröffentlicht am 22. März 2024 das brandneue, sechstes Studioalbum König und Kaiser via Napalm Records. Über insgesamt zehn Tracks hinweg liefert die royale Power Metal-Macht ein bombastisches Hitfeuerwerk, das der Nackenmuskulatur keine Pause gönnt.

Das vierte Album des amerikanischen Singer-Songwriters und Produzenten Sam Evian erscheint im Frühjahr. Zusammen mit seinen engsten Freunden
und Kollaborateuren (darunter Liam Kazar, Sean Mullins, El Kempner von Palehound und Adrianne Lenker von Big Thief) wurde das Album in den
frühen Wintermonaten des Jahres 2023 über einen Zeitraum von 10 Tagen in seinem idyllischen Flying Cloud Recording Studio in den Catskills
Mountains live aufgenommen.
Das Ergebnis ist Evians bisher bestes Album: eine kathartische Rockplatte, die Power-Pop, schillernde Gitarren, raue Psychedelik und Sams
mittlerweile gefragte Grooves miteinander verbindet. Die Musik ist sowohl frisch als auch vertraut, klanglich inspiriert von seiner Vorliebe für die
Produktion der frühen 70er Jahre und kreativ angetrieben von dem freigeistigen Prozess, der in der Beatles-Dokumentation Get Back dargestellt wird,
sowie von seinem Drang, loszulassen.

LA/Joshua Tree based Sugar Candy Mountain deliver carefully built psychedelic odes in the style of Jacco Gardner and Tame Impala. Their breakout album 666 feels like something unearthed from a box of records found in your dad's garage, glowing wistfully with vintage inspired tones, rambling organs, fuzzed out guitars, shimmering keys and sprawling drums. Ash Reiter's woolly voice croons with the icy warmth of Francoise Hardy, while Will Halsey's tender Lennon-esque vocals uncoil with easy languor. Recorded with Jason Quever of Papercuts, the bands sophomore album sits comfortably between 60's Laurel Canyon bliss and more modern production of Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips/Tame Impala). 666 is the band's first record after deciding to retire Ash Reiter's eponymous solo project to focus solely on Sugar Candy Mountain. With this shift Ash became more heavily invested in writing for the project. On 666 the band moves away from the grandiose production of their previous album, Mystic Hits, on which some songs featured over two hundred instrument tracks. The majority of basic tracking was done on Jason Quever's 16 track Ampex tape machine through a Neve console, and completed at the bands home studio. Under Quever's guiding hand, production on 666 is significantly simplified, favoring featuring strong melodies over the wildly playful orchestrations of Mystic Hits. Quever is also significantly featured on the record as a player, with his influence distinctly coloring the album.

More about the world has changed than not in the decade since dance production dyad Frank & Tony released their last full-length record, 2014’s You Go Girl. Despite, or perhaps in spite of, this shifting landscape, house music has managed to stay fundamentally reliable (either a bug or its greatest feature, depending on who you ask). Where previously, Frank & Tony have been celebrated for their contemplative, studious approach to the genre, with 2024’s Ethos, the Brooklyn/Biarritz-based duo return amidst metastatic cultural upheaval to prove out those scholarly credentials — with an album that serves to remind listeners why dancefloors and liberatory politics consistently share the language of movements and revolutions.
Undoubtedly, Ethos is tremendously influenced by the multitude of projects originating from, and supported by, the duo and their label in the decade since You Go Girl– releasing records from a vast diversity of artists (including Nadia Khan, Gry, Villete, Darand Land, Alex Albrecht, DJ Sprinkles and CCL), and Harris becoming curatorial voice of Brooklyn’s premiere venue for audiophiles, Public Records, where he continues to amplify work across a global diaspora (and where the duo maintain a residency of wide praise).

It is this bright energy and focus on the necessity of community and relationships that animates the aptly-titled Ethos. If past Frank & Tony releases have been lauded as ‘a coloring book in which someone has exclusively drawn inside the lines… with extreme precision,’ Ethos deviates by inviting friends in for a game of exquisite corpse. From singer and pianist Eliana Glass, whose androgynous, double-reeded voice freestyles across album opener Olympia, to distinct track features from fellow house masterminds DaRand Land, DJ Aakmael and Lawrence over half of the album’s nine tracks highlight artists in the larger Scissor & Thread circle.

Eddie Harris was an American jazz musician, best known for playing tenor saxophone and for introducing the electrically amplified saxophone. During his career he recorded over 50 albums, mixing jazz with funk which resulted in Grammy Award nominations for two of his albums. The 1983 People Get Funny... recording contains the title track "People Get Funny When They Get a Little Money" and "La Carnival", which are sublime examples of his jazz-funk style accompanied by vocals and scatting. "Silver Plated" and the other tracks are more in the jazz-hard-bop style. Featured on the album are drummer Carl Burnett, electric pianist William S. Henderson III and bass-player Larry Gales.

SAICOBAB channels the vital energy of living music traditions through ecstatic performance. NRTYA, Sanskrit for "dance", explores the shared roots of Japanese and Indian spiritual practices in a tangible, intoxicating form. YoshimiO"s experiments in this field are well documented and legendary from her work in OOIOO to her work in the Boredoms. Multi-instrumentalist Yoshida Daikiti reveals the human hand that shapes living traditions, as much through his fluid playing as his own collection of handmade instruments, while percussionist and multi-instrumentalist Motoyuki "Hama" Hamamoto embodies the metaphysical power of rhythm. YoshimiO"s wild vocal acrobatics and inimitable range shift from hypnotic chants to ethereal atmospherics and darting melodies, ducking and weaving around Daikiti"s serpentine sitar figures and basslines. Hama"s solid rhythmic architectures and deft polyrhythms are here enhanced by additional drums from Taketawa Yo2ro, slipping from subtle pulses to thundering grooves that drive the music. SAICOBAB"s music exudes a true reverence for living musical traditions while remaining unbound by orthodoxy. The electrifying energy of the quartet"s performance is palpable in every track, eliminating established hierarchies with performer and listener alike entwined in the same cosmic dance.

In our 20th celebration year we welcome back Loz Goddard! It’s been quite a while since we last saw him on our label. With his standout debut collab release with Harry Wolfman in 2016 he has developed a unique mix of electronica, deep soundscapes and lush organic Deep House on labels such as “Oath”, “Razor N Tape”, “Church”, “Outplay” and “Apparel Music”. Now he finally returns with a mini album that features beautiful crafted ambient and electronica cuts paired with three upbeat tracks that will for sure shake the dance floors in and outdoors this summer! Enjoy!

In his own words, here are some insights on the influences and production process of these six pieces:

The release is named after a night in the White Hotel in Salford watching Skee Mask. At the time I had a bunch of unfinished ambient ideas as a result of making “Balloon Tree Road” (out on Oath). There were a lot of ideas I still loved that didn’t get finished for that release, so I set about finishing them late 2022 & early 2023 with the view to releasing an EP or ‘mini album’ that was again angled a bit more towards home-listening.

The more upbeat tracks are newer jams that I created in 2023. I wanted to include a few club-ready tracks on the record as well, so the release appeals to DJ’s as well as home listeners. I approached the production much like my past two records on Oath, with lots of live drum elements, some sampling and a mixing approach which keeps everything sound warm and organic. It’s rough round the edges - as has been the case with my productions of late - and offers a nice contrast to my DJ sets and radio shows at the moment, in which I am playing mostly Deep/Progressive House, Breaks & Techno. There’s some influence on the title track from the Deep & Lo-Fi House sound of artists like Baltra & Mall Grab, and I have taken influence from all the breaks I’ve been playing in DJ sets for ‘How’s This for a Vague Song Title’.

All tracks mastered by Salz Mastering in Cologne. Photography & Art by Break 3000.

In 2014, Wye Oak released Shriek, their fourth album. It was a necessary departure for Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack, who found themselves on uncertain ground after two years of constant touring for 2011's Civilian, living on opposite ends of the country and trying to revitalize their creative partnership. Wasner set aside her guitar for a bass. Stack took on the band's upper register, playing syncopated, meditative keyboard parts that interacted with Wasner's voice, which was newly freed from its call-and-response relationship to the guitar_what had been, until then, a signature of Wye Oak's sound. "This idea and the ensuing creative reworking of our band did what it was meant to do," Wasner writes in 2024. "It ended a long, painful period of creative stagnancy and reconnected me with the joy of making music." During that period, Wasner and Stack were introduced to William Brittelle, the Brooklyn-based composer whose 2019 LP Spiritual America featured Wye Oak, the Metropolis Ensemble, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. His orchestral reimaginings of five songs from Shriek (Shriek: Variations, if you will) are the centerpiece of this package, which serves not only to mark the tenth anniversary of a great album, but to demonstrate the richness of Wye Oak's compositions. Stack says of Shriek: Variations: "It's like looking at the songs in a funhouse mirror. The songs on Shriek can be stripped down or embellished_this is maximal embellishment. William took the album and blew it to smithereens, looking at it in a weird, prismatic way." Through Brittelle, Wasner and Stack found themselves at the intersection of classical, experimental, and pop music. Further collaborations, like the Brooklyn Youth Chorus- featuring No Horizon and Paul and Michi Wiancko's string arrangements on "My Signal" from The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs, followed, as this connection fundamentally changed the way Wye Oak approached making records, incorporating an entirely new palette of sound into their work. That shift began here. Shriek: Variations may feel like a startling take on the material, something like light bursting into a room through drawn curtains, but Brittelle's arrangements are largely original to his first collaborations with Wye Oak a decade ago, suggesting that his maximalist arrangements have lived comfortably within the framework of Shriek the whole time, waiting for the right moment to emerge. It's a fitting reintroduction to the album, which upon its initial release was pigeonholed into the easy one-note talking point of being the "no-guitar" record. But even so, as that happened, Shriek quietly started to become a staple among Wye Oak's core fans. Here, with help from Brittelle's expansive compositions, the release draws attention back to the songwriting_how, regardless of the instrumentation, Wasner and Stack's uncanny musicwriting partnership at the core is what makes both Shriek and Wye Oak excellent. Joined by the Metropolis Ensemble, Paul Wiancko, and Lizzie Burns, Wye Oak turn songs like "Logic of Color" inside out, reaching towards a kind of pastoral bombast, Brittelle's aesthetic with Wasner and Stack as an anchor. In fact, "Logic of Color" in this iteration takes that "no-guitar" script and flips it, with Wasner playing the synthesizer ostinato on acoustic guitar at its center. If Shriek is a record that charts the depths of solemnity and inner space, its Variations, roiling in a sea of winds, brass, and strings, recolors that space and complicates it, a gorgeous, unexpected response to the original's siren call.

The Left Side is the latest body of work from the Iggy Pop-endorsed teens since the release of their acclaimed second EP We Aren’t Getting Out But Tonight We Might in summer 2022. With Saul at the creative helm, The Left Side is a mature and cerebral body of work with Saul once again writing and producing the entire EP (with co-production by Ali Chant (Yard Act, Katy J Pearson, Dry Cleaning) on ‘Conman’ and ‘ITSA’). Written in Saul’s bedroom, the EP is a retrospective insight into the young band’s journey so far as they tie up their teenage years.

A coming of age saga, the EP acts as a vehicle for Saul to dive into the psyche behind emotional evolution, and to unpack the complexities of maturity and the ability to say goodbye to the past. These themes present themselves not only in the songs, but right down to the title of the EP itself - which refers to the fact that the left side of the brain is responsible for comprehension.

Summarising the EP, Saul says: “It’s the closest we have been to knowing what picture we want to paint. It’s another window into the musical space we wish to explore, yet I think we’re closer to having our sound. I think the project signifies the end of a section in our lives, moving out from the haze of the moment and reflecting on our teenage years and all its chaos with more understanding.”

L’objectif have drawn instant acclaim across their two EPs to date with support coming from key tastemakers at 6 Music (where previous single ‘Feeling Down’ was daytime playlisted after being premiered by the station’s Steve Lamacq) such as Amy Lamé, Tom Robinson, and of course Iggy Pop, BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders (who made the band his Next Wave featured artist and featured

‘Burn Me Out’ and ‘Do It Again’ as Daily Delivery) and Gemma Bradley, Radio X’s John Kennedy, Apple Music 1’s Matt Wilkinson, and Australian national broadcaster triple j. The effervescent young band have already received ‘ones to watch’ tips from national media outlets NME (First On), The Line Of Best Fit (On The Rise), The Observer (One to watch), The Sunday Times Culture (Breaking Act), and more.

Close Talker ist eine Indie-Rockband aus Saskatoon, Kanada. Die Band tourt durch Nordamerika und Europa und gewinnt die Aufmerksamkeit und Lob von namhaften Stimmen wie NPR, Billboard, Clash, Spin, Q Magazine und Consequence of Sound.

Nach der erfolgreichen Kampagne zu ihrem aktuellen Album 'How Do We Stay Here?' beenden sie ihre Tournee 2019 mit einem atemberaubenden Auftritt im Broadway Theater in Saskatoon, begleitet von einem klassischen Streicherensemble - eines ihrer langjährigen Ziele als Band. Der Kreis um 'How Do We Stay Here?' wird wunderschön geschlossen, als Close Talker bei den Saskatchewan Music Awards 2020 als Alternative Artist of the Year ausgezeichnet werden.

Was 2012 als Leidenschaft dreier Freunde beginnt, ist nach nunmehr einem Jahrzehnt integraler Bestandteil von allem, was die drei Mitglieder Will, Matthew und Chris tun. Close Talker ist der Gegensatz 'nurture vs. nature' in Echtzeit und zieht sich tief hinein in das tägliche Leben der heute Dreißigjährigen. In den kanadischen Prärien, einem Ort, an dem sich Veränderungen nur langsam vollziehen und die Nostalgie stark ist, verhandeln Close Talker diese Gegensätze auf ihrem neuen Album 'The Sprawl', das im März 2013 erscheinen wird.