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“If there is one thing you can always count on with Alex Lahey, it’s that the Melbourne-born indie singer-songwriter is going to provide fans with a hell of a good time.” – Billboard

Impressed Recordings is proud to present a world exclusive variant of Alex Lahey's original EP, 'B-Grade University'. In addition to the original EP, this repress includes brand new re-recordings of “You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me” and “Let’s Go Out,” alternate versions of “Wes Anderson” and “Let’s Go Out” taken from Lahey’s 2020 Between the Kitchen and the Living Room EP, plus a version of “You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me” recorded in 2017 live in-studio at triple j in Australia for their Like A Version series.

"I vividly remember writing this collection of songs in my childhood bedroom at my mum’s house next to a small window where I could catch glimpses of the ever expanding edges of the Melbourne city landscape in the years I lived there. I sold my trusty blue Toyota Corolla (aka the Corolls Royce) and gathered every single dollar I could from random day jobs to pay for studio time and will the project into existence.""

"I am not exaggerating when I say this EP completely changed my life. These songs found their place in the world in a way I could have never fathomed and have forged a life of their own over the last decade. They’ve taken me to corners of the world I could only have dreamed of seeing, let alone playing music in, given me the privilege of meeting so many people who have found their own stories in the songs and they have enabled me to keep making the next thing. I feel indebted to all of these songs and treat them with extra care and love whenever I play them live."

Starting with the sleeve, reminiscent of comic book style album covers from the 70’s and 80’s like The Upsetters “Return of the Super Ape” and Scientist’s “Scientist Encounters Pac Man”, you know this album is straddling the decades of ska, rocksteady, dub and reggae. King Zepha recorded vocals, sax, woodwinds, keyboards, guitar and percussion at his home studio, with his fellow touring band members adding “the stuff I can’t do particularly well” backing vocals, brass, double bass and drums

Der Begriff „Classic Rock“ existiert in den USA schon seit vielen Jahren, doch in Deutschland musste sich diese Bezeichnung nach und nach etablieren. Er umfasst das Spektrum zwischen AOR und Hardrock mit vielen Facetten. In diesem Vinylboxset findet man diese Bandbreite. Über MOLLY HATCHET muss man kaum Worte verlieren. Zusammen mit LYNYRD SKYNYRD zählt man zu den erfolgreichsten und wichtigsten Southern Rock Bands und ist auch heute noch aktiv.
RICK DERRINGER ist leider 2025 gestorben, hat uns aber nicht nur mit seiner ersten Band THE MCCOYS („Hang On Sloopy“) unsterbliche Musik geliefert, sondern vor allem als Solokünstler. Dieses Schaffen wird auf der LP „Beyond The Universe“ zusammengefasst. JOHNNY BLACK kommt eigentlich aus dem Punk, aber auch in diesem Segment gibt es Gruppen, die man anderweitig verorten kann. Seine von der Presse hochgelobte LP enthält einen zugänglichen Mix aus Classic Rock, Hardrock und 70s Rock – teilweise hitverdächtig. Etwas mehr Aufmerksamkeit muss man der Band FLOATING OPERA schenken, deren einzige LP einen anspruchsvollen Mix aus Classic Rock, Krautrock und Progrock aufweist. Das passte perfekt in die ausklingenden Siebziger und gerade beginnenden Achtziger. FLOATING OPERA ist die versteckte Geheimwaffe in diesem Boxset. Alle LPs wurden für Vinyl gemastert!

Within the broad church of metal and its many offshoots – rock, doom, stoner and all the rest – it remains a minor thrill to stumble across a group who seem to exist at a slight tangent to everything else. Crumbling Ghost is one such anomaly. Crumbling Ghost are not newcomers. They've been operating for some time, releasing records sporadically, Four' is in fact their fourth release. Along the way they've accumulated a fervent coterie of followers, not to mention the occasional nod of approval from tastemakers such as Stuart Maconie, Stewart Lee and Tom Ravenscroft. And though they've appeared at Roadburn, shared stages with Hawkwind and even Damo Suzuki, they remain (possibly by design) curiously under the radar.
The group's core idea is deceptively simple: traditional folk material refracted through the haze and heft of heavy, fuzzy stoner rock with a chunk of psyche and a smattering of doom. But crucially, this is done without the costumery and theatrical tics that often accompany such collisions. No mock pagan pageantry, no graveyard cosplay, no cartoon Satanism.
What Crumbling Ghost latch onto is not folk as a museum piece, but as a lived experience, the dramas rooted in the culture, stories, and daily lives of ordinary people, the folklore, the tales of love and death, murder and adultery, freedom and oppression. Singer Katie Harnett says. "Doting mothers, possessive, violent partners, vulnerable women, seasonal workers and Royal scandals this album is our representation of the trials and tribulations of human existence and universal experiences that still feel relevant today.

Guitarist John adds. "Themes of murder, betrayal, loss, jealousy, and love are found across the record. In particular, the songs of Martin Carthy have been a particular source of inspiration".
The result is a set of murder ballads, supernatural reckonings and cautionary tales, all wrapped in slabs of heavy, thumping fuzz and atmospheric sonics. Harnett's voice sits at the centre: unmistakably folk rooted, but shorn of prettification, melodic yet capable of real bite.

The album opener 'Bows Of London' is a murder ballad of sisterly hatred and grim sibling rivalry, centred on a haunted fiddle fashioned from a dead sister's bones. The loping relentless, hypnotic backing chillingly and perfectly accompanies the narrative. Of course, the story doesn't end well. 'Bill Norrie' follows, a hooky melody propelled by an insistent bassline and a haunting psych tinged haze punctured with sheets of noise.. The story of young Bill Norrie who sends a token to a married woman, whose jealous husband beheads him, without knowing he was his wife's son from an earlier affair. An instrumental palate cleanser arrives in the shape of 'Valtz Efter Tor Lohne' a Norwegian traditional the band jokingly describe as a "banger".
Then we have 'Lovely Joan' which offers a rare note of sly triumph: a quick witted woman outmanoeuvres a predatory nobleman, escaping with his ring and his horse. Muscular riffs give this tale of empowerment a welcome sense of teeth. 'Gower Wassail' is a traditional Welsh folk tune that captures the raucous spirit of communal ritual, noise making and drink fuelled hope for a good harvest. Captured perfectly here by CG complete with wah wah guitar and a drunken groove catching the song's celebratory chaos. Then we have a little gem in 'Last Of All Sleep' , an original band composition and a genuine highlight: a heavy lidded, shoegaze tinged folk reverie, equal parts distortion and delicacy. It's a drop-dead gorgeous shoegaze-tastic psychedelic grunge mini epic. The album closer 'The Unquiet Grave' is a very apt place to finish. It's about a young man whose constant grief at the death of his true love disturbs her eternal sleep so she cannot rest. Even though the playout on this track, complete with a demonic repeated riff and feedback feels suitably bleak, even this song allows a glimmer of release ... we think.
And there we have it, 7 songs, 7 worlds, all honed to perfection by producer Wayne Adams (Green Lung/Big Lad) that will reward every repeated listen.

Folk and metal/heavy rock do have a connection of course, just look at Green Lung and their 'folk horror' infused musical universe, but Crumbling Ghost are a very different beast.
'Four' amply and beautifully demonstrates that when it comes to 'folk horror' there's nothing quite as horrible as folk ... Here, the horror such as it is, and it must be said, the moments of light, comes not from theatrics, but from the songs themselves – which, after all, is where it's always lived.
Crumbling Ghost are John Mosley – Guitar / Donny Hopkins – Guitar / Ruth O’Loughlin – Bass / Katie Harnett – Vocals / Matthew Atkins- Drums.

Recorded April 17 and 18, 1993, at the Union Grove Baptist Church, Ozark, Alabama.

The Wiregrass Singers' Dewey Williams began learning the shape-note tradition in his childhood. He studied under Judge Jackson, who authored the landmark 1934 hymnbook The Colored Sacred Harp. In 1971, Williams formally organized The Wiregrass Sacred Harp Singers to preserve the music full-time. This unified troupe began touring nationally and leading workshops, which ultimately launched them onto stages at the Smithsonian and Newport folk festivals up until Williams' passing in 1995 when the group disbanded. The African-American Sacred Harp tradition in the Wiregrass region has steeply declined since the start of the 21st century, due to an aging generation of singers, and today it is largely sustained through archival preservation and occasional multi-book singing meetups.

This raw recording, made at the Union Grove Baptist Church, Ozark in mid-April 1993 finds the group singing from B. F. White’s The Sacred Harp (1844), which together with his brother-in-law William Walker’s Southern Harmony (1835) formed the musical backbone of generations of Southern music and Southern musical styles.

"On almost any Sunday between the months of March and October, the season most conducive to travel and outdoor dinner-on-the- grounds, Sacred Harp devotés join with fellow songsters at the County Line Church in Slocomb, or the Mount Sinai Church in Henry County, or the Union Grove Baptist Church in Dale County, or at any one of a dozen or so churches in the southeast Alabama counties of Barbour, Coffee, Dale, Geneva, Houston and Pike, to form the square and sing fa-sol-la. Approximately fifteen African-American Sacred Harp singings occur annually in the Wiregrass region of southeast Alabama. A singing tradition characteristically associated with white culture in the Deep South, southeast Alabama has enjoyed a vibrant African-American Sacred Harp tradition for well over a century.

On a day of a typical African-American Sacred Harp Singing, the participants arrive casually in the late morning, seat themselves in the square according to voice part, and begin to sing. A dinner break occurs in the early afternoon, and the singers enjoy a covered-dish "dinner-on-the-grounds" (or in the church basement) prepared by the women. The most intense and emotional singing typically occurs after the dinner break. Each singer takes a turn leading the song of his choice. He walks to the middle of the square, calls out the song's page number and waits for the designated tuner to key the song. Singers are discouraged by the other singers from repeating a song that has already been sung, or "used." This proscription is often dispensed with, however, if the singer is particularly young, particularly old, or if the song has special significance to the individual song leader (perhaps the favorite song of a recently deceased relative).

Every singer is given an opportunity to lead a song. Often, older or more infirm singers will request younger singers to lead their songs for them. The motions of the song leaders are highly stylistic and often emotional. Young children are taught in singing school to mark time with their right arm while holding the book in their left. Typically, a singer will stand in place at the center of the square while leading the singing of the notes. When he begins to lead the lyrics portion of the song, he will often begin to "walk time," rhythmically pacing from one side of the square to the other, being careful never to turn his back on the tenor section. This "walking time" is unique to the African-American tradition. As a singer grows more confident he develops his own distinctive leading style. During fuguing songs in particular, he may gesture to each section of the square as its part joins in. Skilled song leaders often elicit applause or other emotional responses from the group. Occasionally a singer may fall into a state of spiritual ecstasy and "get happy." The episode might include a personal testimonial followed by a repeat of the last verse or refrain from the previous song. The singings break up around 5 P.M."
—Henry Willett, 1997 credits

Phosphor returns with its fifth release and a new chapter for the label’s founders, Blue Vision. As their second EP on the imprint, Machines Will Transform Us (PHP005) confirms the project’s direction: a precise balance between club-driven tech house and more immersive, hypnotic electro textures.

Across the EP, Blue Vision asks a simple question: after spending our days connected to algorithms and modern machines, can repetitive rhythms and mechanical grooves on the dancefloor turn us into machines once again, or instead help us reconnect with ourselves?

Machines Will Transform Us (A1) opens the EP with a driving Italo bassline and tight, tech-driven drums. Melodic 80s synths contrast with sharper electro elements, gradually building tension before a final drop designed for peak-time impact. The track sets the tone for the release: machines transform us as much as we transform them.

Then comes Just a Game (A2), blending spacious 90s progressive and synthwave influences over a rock-solid club bassline and crisp drums. Playing with atmosphere and emotion, the track explores the feeling that we are never too far from a simulation, that maybe everything is just a game. Perfectly suited for introspective yet intense moments, it acts as an ideal bridge between harder tracks in a set.

On the flip side, I Love Acid (B1) is direct, hypnotic, and designed to lock the dancefloor into a steady flow. Stripped back to punchy drums and a raw acid line, it takes a minimal approach that works equally well in early hours or late-night sets. Behind the title lies the idea of acid as both machine energy and mental escape, where repetitive sequences blur the boundary between human emotion and mechanical movement.

As a final touch, Scan Your Brain (B2) shifts into deeper, more immersive territory. Analog pad textures create a drifting atmosphere over a hypnotic bassline and electro drums. With this closing track, Blue Vision answers their initial question by imagining the dancefloor as a space to disconnect from rigid thinking. The vocal serves as a reminder that the brain is constantly overloaded, and that dancing becomes a way to let go, reset, and reconnect.

Citizens anhaltende klangliche Weiterentwicklung und ihre konsequente Weigerung, jemals zweimal dasselbe Album zu machen, haben ihnen den Ruf eingebracht, eine der konstant fesselndsten Bands der modernen Rockmusik zu sein. Genau dieses kompromisslose Bekenntnis zu ihrem Handwerk führte zu ihrem neuen Album Halcyon Blues. Es ist eine dynamische und selbstbewusste Kulmination all dessen, was zuvor kam - und macht unmissverständlich klar: Bei aller klanglichen Rastlosigkeit wussten Citizen immer genau, wer sie sind.Von Beginn an war die Band - Sänger Mat Kerekes, Gitarrist Nick Hamm, Bassist Eric Hamm sowie die neueren Mitglieder Gitarrist Mason Mercer und Schlagzeuger Ben Russin - fest entschlossen, ihrer Kreativität kompromisslos zu folgen, wohin auch immer sie sie führen würde. Über die Jahre bewegten sie sich souverän durch rohen Emo, bedrohlichen Post-Hardcore, hymnischen Alternative Rock, garageartigen Indie-Pop und vieles mehr.Halcyon Blues vereint nun Elemente aus dem gesamten bisherigen Katalog der Band zu einem geschlossenen, unmittelbar befriedigenden Album, das einfach unverkennbar nach Citizen klingt. Während frühere Citizen-Alben oft wie direkte Reaktionen auf den jeweiligen Vorgänger wirkten, fühlt sich Halcyon Blues an, als würde die Band ihr gesamtes bisheriges Werk umarmen und geschlossen weitertragen.Aufgenommen von Kerekes in seinem Heimstudio in Toledo und anschließend von Tom Lorde-Alge (U2, Weezer, Blink-182) gemischt, greift das Album die Dringlichkeit und Wildheit der frühen Citizen-Veröffentlichungen auf und verbindet sie mit der epischen Weite und den unbestreitbaren Hooks ihres jüngeren Schaffens. Das Ergebnis sind große Rock-Songs mit entsprechend großen Emotionen. Doch auch die jugendliche Frustration der frühen Jahre ist gereift - ersetzt durch eine nuanciertere, wenn auch nicht weniger scharfzüngige erwachsene Perspektive.

Citizens anhaltende klangliche Weiterentwicklung und ihre konsequente Weigerung, jemals zweimal dasselbe Album zu machen, haben ihnen den Ruf eingebracht, eine der konstant fesselndsten Bands der modernen Rockmusik zu sein. Genau dieses kompromisslose Bekenntnis zu ihrem Handwerk führte zu ihrem neuen Album Halcyon Blues. Es ist eine dynamische und selbstbewusste Kulmination all dessen, was zuvor kam - und macht unmissverständlich klar: Bei aller klanglichen Rastlosigkeit wussten Citizen immer genau, wer sie sind.Von Beginn an war die Band - Sänger Mat Kerekes, Gitarrist Nick Hamm, Bassist Eric Hamm sowie die neueren Mitglieder Gitarrist Mason Mercer und Schlagzeuger Ben Russin - fest entschlossen, ihrer Kreativität kompromisslos zu folgen, wohin auch immer sie sie führen würde. Über die Jahre bewegten sie sich souverän durch rohen Emo, bedrohlichen Post-Hardcore, hymnischen Alternative Rock, garageartigen Indie-Pop und vieles mehr.Halcyon Blues vereint nun Elemente aus dem gesamten bisherigen Katalog der Band zu einem geschlossenen, unmittelbar befriedigenden Album, das einfach unverkennbar nach Citizen klingt. Während frühere Citizen-Alben oft wie direkte Reaktionen auf den jeweiligen Vorgänger wirkten, fühlt sich Halcyon Blues an, als würde die Band ihr gesamtes bisheriges Werk umarmen und geschlossen weitertragen.Aufgenommen von Kerekes in seinem Heimstudio in Toledo und anschließend von Tom Lorde-Alge (U2, Weezer, Blink-182) gemischt, greift das Album die Dringlichkeit und Wildheit der frühen Citizen-Veröffentlichungen auf und verbindet sie mit der epischen Weite und den unbestreitbaren Hooks ihres jüngeren Schaffens. Das Ergebnis sind große Rock-Songs mit entsprechend großen Emotionen. Doch auch die jugendliche Frustration der frühen Jahre ist gereift - ersetzt durch eine nuanciertere, wenn auch nicht weniger scharfzüngige erwachsene Perspektive.

Featuring iconic tracks such as All The Lovers and Get Outta My Way, Kylie’s eleventh studio album saw her work with the likes of Stuart Price, Calvin Harris, Jake Shears and more to produce an album full of dance-pop gold.

Citizens anhaltende klangliche Weiterentwicklung und ihre konsequente Weigerung, jemals zweimal dasselbe Album zu machen, haben ihnen den Ruf eingebracht, eine der konstant fesselndsten Bands der modernen Rockmusik zu sein. Genau dieses kompromisslose Bekenntnis zu ihrem Handwerk führte zu ihrem neuen Album Halcyon Blues. Es ist eine dynamische und selbstbewusste Kulmination all dessen, was zuvor kam - und macht unmissverständlich klar: Bei aller klanglichen Rastlosigkeit wussten Citizen immer genau, wer sie sind.Von Beginn an war die Band - Sänger Mat Kerekes, Gitarrist Nick Hamm, Bassist Eric Hamm sowie die neueren Mitglieder Gitarrist Mason Mercer und Schlagzeuger Ben Russin - fest entschlossen, ihrer Kreativität kompromisslos zu folgen, wohin auch immer sie sie führen würde. Über die Jahre bewegten sie sich souverän durch rohen Emo, bedrohlichen Post-Hardcore, hymnischen Alternative Rock, garageartigen Indie-Pop und vieles mehr.Halcyon Blues vereint nun Elemente aus dem gesamten bisherigen Katalog der Band zu einem geschlossenen, unmittelbar befriedigenden Album, das einfach unverkennbar nach Citizen klingt. Während frühere Citizen-Alben oft wie direkte Reaktionen auf den jeweiligen Vorgänger wirkten, fühlt sich Halcyon Blues an, als würde die Band ihr gesamtes bisheriges Werk umarmen und geschlossen weitertragen.Aufgenommen von Kerekes in seinem Heimstudio in Toledo und anschließend von Tom Lorde-Alge (U2, Weezer, Blink-182) gemischt, greift das Album die Dringlichkeit und Wildheit der frühen Citizen-Veröffentlichungen auf und verbindet sie mit der epischen Weite und den unbestreitbaren Hooks ihres jüngeren Schaffens. Das Ergebnis sind große Rock-Songs mit entsprechend großen Emotionen. Doch auch die jugendliche Frustration der frühen Jahre ist gereift - ersetzt durch eine nuanciertere, wenn auch nicht weniger scharfzüngige erwachsene Perspektive.

Longform: Across two decades, the California-born hardcore outfit CEREMONY has earned its standing as one of punk’s most adaptable and unflinching bands, always ready to meet the moment without surrendering its principles. True to form, CEREMONY's seventh album, Tell Me Your Dream pushes the group’s punk-forged intensity all the way to the fore, capturing the quintet at its most expressive, expansive, and timely. “We’re living in an era of mass uncertainty,” says CEREMONY vocalist Ross Farrar. “In punk, I don’t see how you can’t respond. It’s taken over our lives in so many different ways — economically, politically, spiritually. We want people to wake up and get into what’s happening.”  Ferociously alert, Tell Me Your Dream reunites CEREMONY — Farrar, guitarist-keyboardist Anthony Anzaldo, guitarist Andy Nelson, bassist Justin Davis and drummer Jake Casarotti — with producer John Reis for ten songs of searing breadth. That means everything from bristling hardcore to moody post-punk — all while taking fundamental inspiration from Discharge, Crass, and other anarcho-punk troupes that first helped certain members of CEREMONY find their own political voices back when they were teenagers. The result is a culmination of the band’s 21 years together, if not some kind of riddle: CEREMONY knows how to make a return-to-form sound like evolution — and vice versa.

Reissue. This is MEPHISTOFELES at their druggiest best - you can practically hear the sizzle of something brown cooking on its grooves - and thankfully, they've kept their doom locked in the garage. Mephistofeles continue to maximize the ROCK aspect of their sound over the doom here, with their swagger truly something to behold as those solos just soar downward into the abyss and the rhythm section push and pull right behind. If anything, Violent Theatre is a sterling example of true ensemble playing. Mephistofeles are nothing if not dependable, but just check out the 14-minute epic "Communion of the Vile" for the band really going for it. No other words needed: MEPHISTOFELES are cult for a reason, and Violent Theatre simply proves it further.

Reissue. Violet vinyl, limited to 350 copies. This is MEPHISTOFELES at their druggiest best - you can practically hear the sizzle of something brown cooking on its grooves - and thankfully, they've kept their doom locked in the garage. Mephistofeles continue to maximize the ROCK aspect of their sound over the doom here, with their swagger truly something to behold as those solos just soar downward into the abyss and the rhythm section push and pull right behind. If anything, Violent Theatre is a sterling example of true ensemble playing. Mephistofeles are nothing if not dependable, but just check out the 14-minute epic "Communion of the Vile" for the band really going for it. No other words needed: MEPHISTOFELES are cult for a reason, and Violent Theatre simply proves it further.

‘THE GREATEST ROCKSTEADY ALBUM OF THE MILLENNIUM’ NARC - MAY 2022
4/5 REVIEW IN MOJO: “ONE OF THE MOST THRILLING ROCKSTEADY ALBUMS TO HAVE BEEN MADE SINCE THE GENRE EMERGED IN THE LATE 60's”

8/10 REVIEW IN UNCUT + TRACK ON COVERMOUNT: “A STUDIO-ONE INDEBTED, VINTAGE-SOUNDING STUNNER.”

The Frightnrs escort Daptone into the world of long-playing reggae with both the sweetest and the roughest record of the decade. This record will long be treasured by lovers of reggae, lovers of soul and lovers of love...

Crafted under the meticulous eye of black-belt reggae mastermind/producer Victor Axelrod (AKA Ticklah), Nothing More to Say is a rocksteady masterpiece the likes of which has not reared it’s head since the golden era of Studio One. However, you’ll find no imitation here - none of the faux-jamaican cliches of lesser reggae bands. Like all things Daptone, this record is above all soulful and honest.

With the exception of two soul covers (both from the Daptone catalog: Bob & Gene’s "Gotta Find a Way” and Saun and Starr’s “Gonna Make Time”,) the record is populated by original compositions of the highest order.

They are simply great songs, and though their treatment here is masterful, each one of them has the melodic and lyrical substance to hold it’s own in any genre. “Till Then” invokes the coquettish hyper-rhymes of top-form Smokey Robinson, while “Hey Brother” sounds like it fell off the desk of Gamble and Huff, and “Purple” defies any comparison at all.

From the first cracking snares of “All My Tears” through the final pulsing echoes of “Dispute,” the murderous rhythms of Rich Terrana (drums,) and brothers Preet and Chuck Patel (bass and piano, respectively) can be heard chunking mercilessly towards oblivion as Dan Klein pours his endearing poetry over the top like some
otherworldy falsetto potion.

Anne has a passion for writing in alternative open tunings and her eclectic musical influences span blues, jazz, folk and country. Her new album Cigarettes and Smokescreens showcases her talent for storytelling. When not playing sold- out stages across the UK, you can find Anne in a field in the middle of nowhere with her two retired horses. This special album is now available as a vinyl LP pressed at Seabass Vinyl in Scotland, following an initial CD only release.

Anne Gair has toured extensively across the UK. She has played iconic venues including The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, King Tuts Wah Wah, The 100 Club and The Voodoo Rooms. She has played festivals including Belladrum and Celtic Connections. "Anne has got the most stunning voice, It's very Joni Mitchell- esque. (Her music) is beautiful storytelling and gorgeous melodies." -- Anna Foster - BBC Radio "A voice that just soothes your soul" - Rambling Folk "(Anne's) voice is beautiful, just gorgeous" - Nerina Pallot

As We Once Were is the third studio album from twice Welsh Music Prize nominated artist and producer The Anchoress (aka Catherine Anne Davies) - This new record is the long-awaited follow-up to the UK Top 40 album The Art Of Losing and features an all-star cast of guest vocalist, including Mercury Music Prize nominees Hannah Peel and Welsh-Cornish musician Gwenno, long-time collaborator James Dean Bradfield from Manic Street Preachers also contributes vocals and electric guitar on 'Throw Over Your Man' - a song inspired by the love letters between literary legends Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville West - and newcomer Eaves Wilder (Secretly Canadian) duets on 'Damsels' The Art Of Losing received wall-to-wall critical plaudits upon its release in 2021 and scooped up a raft of Album of The Year nods from The Sunday Times, to Prog, to the Mail on Sunday. With Sir Elton John naming it "one of my favourite records of the year" and Caitlin Moran calling it "the inadvertent, beautiful and truthful soundtrack to this moment", it went on to sell over 10,000 physical copies via the power of word of mouth.

As We Once Were is the third studio album from twice Welsh Music Prize nominated artist and producer The Anchoress (aka Catherine Anne Davies) - This new record is the long-awaited follow-up to the UK Top 40 album The Art Of Losing and features an all-star cast of guest vocalist, including Mercury Music Prize nominees Hannah Peel and Welsh-Cornish musician Gwenno, long-time collaborator James Dean Bradfield from Manic Street Preachers also contributes vocals and electric guitar on 'Throw Over Your Man' - a song inspired by the love letters between literary legends Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville West - and newcomer Eaves Wilder (Secretly Canadian) duets on 'Damsels' The Art Of Losing received wall-to-wall critical plaudits upon its release in 2021 and scooped up a raft of Album of The Year nods from The Sunday Times, to Prog, to the Mail on Sunday. With Sir Elton John naming it "one of my favourite records of the year" and Caitlin Moran calling it "the inadvertent, beautiful and truthful soundtrack to this moment", it went on to sell over 10,000 physical copies via the power of word of mouth.

As We Once Were is the third studio album from twice Welsh Music Prize nominated artist and producer The Anchoress (aka Catherine Anne Davies) - This new record is the long-awaited follow-up to the UK Top 40 album The Art Of Losing and features an all-star cast of guest vocalist, including Mercury Music Prize nominees Hannah Peel and Welsh-Cornish musician Gwenno, long-time collaborator James Dean Bradfield from Manic Street Preachers also contributes vocals and electric guitar on 'Throw Over Your Man' - a song inspired by the love letters between literary legends Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville West - and newcomer Eaves Wilder (Secretly Canadian) duets on 'Damsels' The Art Of Losing received wall-to-wall critical plaudits upon its release in 2021 and scooped up a raft of Album of The Year nods from The Sunday Times, to Prog, to the Mail on Sunday. With Sir Elton John naming it "one of my favourite records of the year" and Caitlin Moran calling it "the inadvertent, beautiful and truthful soundtrack to this moment", it went on to sell over 10,000 physical copies via the power of word of mouth.

Beefheart & McQuinn is the new project from UK artist Moby Beefheart aka William Murray (formerly of UK outfit Fur) and Melbourne / Naarm musician Winter McQuinn (Sunfruits, jade imagine). Coming together after a chanced coffee meetup, the musical connection between the two artists is palpable. Sharing a love for the folk and rock sounds of yesteryear without pastiche obsession, Beefheart & McQuinn make contemporary psychedelic folk / soft rock, a rich sonic tapestry of vocal harmony blends and deft musicianship / production.

Midtown Downtime is a debut album which explores the tensions of time and productivity in late-stage capitalism. The album is a collection of 10 songs that explore the genres of contemporary psychedelic folk / soft rock, with stacked harmonies over syncopated guitars and occasional synth / drum outbursts.

The album has a sound that is familiar yet unique, harkening to both Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young and Luke Temple/Carol King. Lyrically the album covers a lot of ground with songs about the squeeze of capitalism coupled with the feeling of isolation and anxiety that the modern world’s political landscape can engender, alongside songs of love, friendship and nostalgia.

There’s a high energy feeling that runs through the 27-minute album's core, an energy that goes hand in hand with the modern era's ever-changing focus & diminishing attention spans, the record asks you to sit down and listen to it all in one go.

2026 Repress

Future Sounds Of Jazz Vol. 14 - Compiled By Permanent Vacation Benjamin Fröhlich & Tom Bioly!

28 Tracks By Move D, Roman Flügel, Slowdive, Isolée, Cobblestone Jazz, Luke Abbott, Remixes By Avalon Emerson, Russ Gabriel, Kassem Mosse, I:cube A.m.o. Including 3 Exclusive And Previously Unreleased

Wow, A New Chapter Of This Legendary Series. This And The Very First Time It's Not Compiled By Michael Reinboth, Rather By Benjamin Fröhlich And Tom Bioly, The Founders And Masterminds Behind Permanent Vacation.

Why Simply Because They Both Are Very Close Friends Of The Compost Famlee, With An Amazing Musical And Dj-like Tastefulness, With The Knowledge-based Trust Of Music In The Vein Of Vibrant, Jazzy Electronica Hybrids. And They Are From Compost Records' Hometown Munich, Too.

Maybe Volume 14 Differs Slightly To What The Previous 13 Brought Up Music-wise, But That's The Score, Idea And Open Mindedness Of This Series, As It Was By The Compilers, And Last But Not Least A Great Time For A Change, Too. So We Welcome This, We Very Much Appreciate And Like Their Selection. We Are Sure, This Will Convince You.

28 Tracks, 3 Exclusive Tracks. Enjoy!

The Exciting Package Comes As 2-cd / 4-lp Vinyl
Cd 1 Is Bit More Clubby, Cd 2 Is Bit More Sublime Downbeat/electronica Or Relaxed Feel, Well Both Are True Listening Pleasure Anyway.

Several Magazines Voted Fsoj As One Of The Best Compilation Series Of All Time. With This Series, Starting In 1995, The Term Future Jazz Became A Genre Landmark.

Skyjack — the borderless five piece band spread across South Africa and Switzerland — announce their fourth studio album, Let The Sky Open Under Your Feet, out 3rd July.

Recorded in December 2025 at a secluded studio outside Stellenbosch, South Africa, the album captures the vibrant live energy of the band at its most expansive — drawing together free improvisation, South African jazz traditions, chamber music, kinetic groove, and ecstatic collective interplay into a singular body of work.

“This record is a very articulate representation of our sound, having grown deep roots into the earth with high branches reaching upward and outward”, says bassist Shane Cooper. “My desire is always to create sonic universes that can envelope the listener.”

The album’s title comes from a line in a poem by the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi, reflecting the music’s balance between groundedness and transcendence. Here, Skyjack move fluidly between meditative improvisation and lush orchestration across twelve tracks of free-spirited, cosmic journeying. Inspired both by the cultural traditions and natural environments of South Africa, Let The Sky Open Under Your Feet is a testament to the band’s intuitive connection and innate musical curiosity.

It arrives just over a year after Light Cycle (2024), a short gap that reflects the momentum built on tour. After exchanging sketches remotely across two continents, the band reunited in Johannesburg in late 2025, workshopped the new material onstage across South Africa, and then headed directly into the studio, where much of the album was recorded live in first takes — preserving the looseness and unpredictability central to Skyjack’s sound.

Comprised of Kyle Shepherd (piano), Shane Cooper (bass), Jonno Sweetman (drums), Andreas Tschopp (trombone), and Marc Stucki (saxophones), Skyjack first formed in Cape Town in 2013 during a fertile moment in South African jazz, as a new generation of musicians pushed against rigid genre definitions and opened the music outward toward broader sonic possibilities. Over the past decade, the band has built a singular sound drawing equally on South African groove traditions and European improvisation.

Individually, the members move between jazz, electronic music, film scoring, rock, hip-hop and experimental composition, with collaborations spanning artists including William Parker, Lionel Loueke, Zim Ngqawana, Ben LaMar Gay, Jorge Rossy, Shabaka Hutchings, William Kentridge, Makaya McCraven and Sylvie Courvoisier.

Since their self-titled debut in 2015, followed by The Hunter (2019) and Light Cycle (2024), the group has developed a reputation for immersive live performances and music that continuously reshapes itself in motion — rooted in what they describe as “warm menacing African grooves,” while refusing fixed stylistic borders.

Frenchman Franck Roger is as consistent as any of the deep house greats we have all loved and appreciated for many years. He returns to Seasons Limited with another EP of perfectly timeless sounds to back that up. Opening up this latest gem is 'Don't Make Me Wait', which is shimmering and candlelit, with wispy pads and aching vocal cries occasionally bursting out of the mix. 'The Number Track' has a more pronounced groove with lumpy kicks and this time neon chords bubble through nicely for zoned-out late-night hypnosis. 'Fast Lane' closes with a more insular and dark feel that takes you back to the early days of Chicago house with a devastating synth conveying great loneliness

Lonely Man's Dream marks a milestone for Forager Records: our tenth release, and perhaps our most personal. More than a compilation, it is a self-portrait. A reflection of the musical obsessions, late-night discoveries, and restless digging that have defined this label from our first record to this latest one.

Spanning the dreamy psychedelic folk of the 1970s to the cool shimmer of 1980s synth pop, Lonely Man's Dream traces a decade of curatorial wandering. Eleven artists. Eleven songs. Each one rare, obscure, or otherwise lost to the margins of music history. Among them, two tracks surface here for the very first time: “Never Say Goodbye” by Cocktails and Dreams, a synth pop transmission from Norway, luminous and weightless as the skies on the cover. “True Love” by Keith Jones, a drum machine backed demo that pulses with a late night intimacy.

What unites these songs across genre and era is the same quality we have always chased; a transporting ache, the sound of someone searching, or the feeling of a memory you can't quite place. Like every record before it, this one asks nothing of you but your full attention and an open ear.

Ten releases in, we are still looking for the same thing we started with. We hope you feel it too.

* Featuring a selection of songs sourced from rare records of the 70s & 80s reissued for the first time.
* Includes 2 unreleased songs from the 80s
* Original artwork by Eric Thompson
* Very limited initial first pressing

The second album from Chicago based Brigette Calls Me Baby firmly establishes them as a band to watch. It's fair to say that they are a band that takes a lot of influence from 1980s UK indie in general and The Smiths in particular. Opening track 'There's Always' finds vocalist Wes Leavins channelling Morrissey's finer moments; and in particular those moments when Morrissey was in thrall to the crooners of the 1950s. This is particularly poignant in relation to the themes that run through the album, most notably the idea that certain moments in your history shape your very being for the rest of your life. Clearly hearing certain records has shaped Brigette Calls Me Baby as much as those all important life-change moments. That's not to say this a band that isn't ploughing its own furrow, songs like "Slumber Party" with its relentless bassline and dance influenced drums show a band that can mix its influences are create something unique. "I Can Take The Sun Out Of The Sky' might have those darkened crooning tones from Leavins, but they can't keep a lid on the sheer positivity that his band is generating, it has the feel of a real summer anthem.

There's a tendency in metal to mistake aggression for honesty, volume for depth. To confuse the performance of darkness with its actual weight. Hidden Fires Burn Hottest, the new album from San Francisco-based post-black metal band Bosse-de-Nage, sidesteps this entirely. It’s the group’s most fully realized work yet, precisely because it refuses to be pinned down.

Bosse-de-Nage have been working with The Flenser for over fifteen years. They were one of the first bands the label ever partnered with and have the longest active relationship in the label's history. But unlike most bands who build momentum through constant touring and visibility, Bosse-de-Nage has largely existed apart from the music world's usual machinery. They've evolved on their own terms, in relative isolation, allowing the work to develop without outside pressure or influence. What began rooted in black metal anonymity has mutated into something that actively defies categorization. The aggression is still there, but it's no longer the point. Hidden Fires Burn Hottest finds the band treating emotions like physical objects, feelings with spatial properties. “No Such Place"" describes a space that can't exist but does anyway, somewhere between thought and location. ""Immortality Project"" examines infinite possibility not as promise but as problem, endless options collapsing under their own weight. These songs don't use metaphor to describe emotion. They make emotion into something you could theoretically touch.
Tracked by Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Oathbreaker) at Atomic Garden East and mixed and mastered by Richard Chowenhill of Agriculture, Hidden Fires Burn Hottest was years in development, with some tracks beginning in 2018.

The long writing process offered time that most records don't get. Time to live with ideas, revise endlessly, to let structures settle. For the first time, lyricist Bryan Manning wrote everything in advance, creating a surplus to pull from rather than working under deadline pressure. The difference shows.
Coming off Further Still, an album built on constraint and economy, Bosse-de-Nage sought the opposite: sprawl, strangeness, fewer rules. Space for ideas to develop without rushing them. Dynamics that move through quiet as much as noise. Presence earned through atmosphere instead of volume. The record even includes ""Mementos,"" which might be considered the first love song the band has ever written.

Nothing here coheres into a theme. These are pieces pulled from low moments and private feelings made public through sound. The band has never been interested in positivity, in music that resolves cleanly or offers comfort. But bleakness doesn't mean humorlessness. There's something darkly funny running through much of it, even when it shouldn't be.
Hidden Fires Burn Hottest doesn't explain itself. It just insists: what you feel is as real as what you can see."

In a world currently defined by unrest, uncertainty, and cultural fracture, acclaimed saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Isaiah Collier returns with Joy, a 5-track EP that reframes one of humanity’s most nuanced emotions both as a devotional grounding and political act.

Collier’s deeply personal compositions present joy as an act that isn’t rooted in escapism or abstraction, but rather, as something hard-won rooted in lived experience, shaped by transformation, and sustained through connection. Throughout the album’s five compositions, Collier positions joy as a guiding light during challenging times, an expression of challenging yourself to utilize your gifts, an affirmation of love and discovery, and as an affirmative source of reassurance.

“We are in a paradoxical time, where so much is being revealed to us,” Collier shares. “Everything feels political from every scope… our collective hearts feel the heaviness in the air. Yet I say to you all—don’t despair. For right now, the most political thing we can do is share joy.”

That ethos is made clear in the opening title track and lead single “Joy.” A pulsing rhythmic motif anchors the melody with a sense of both searching and certainty. Collier conceived the piece around 3 years ago reflecting on a time where many people in his life were experiencing loss of family and friends and experiencing profound life transitions. “Everything just felt like it was falling apart with no aim in sight,” he reflects. “Yet, there is a light at the end of it all.”

As he played the chords with a sense of urgency, he could feel the vibration of yellow in the piece. That initial triplet motif serves as the guiding light on the piano and the only word Collier could hear was Joy. In addition to Collier at the helm singing and playing piano and tenor sax on the track, it features an expansive 11-piece ensemble with a full horn and string section allowing Collier’s propensity for composition and arrangement to shine with an eclectic sonic palette.

“Landscape of Dreams” finds Collier serendipitously leaning into utilizing his gifts as a multi-instrumentalist. While he had a sketch of the piece going into the studio, a traffic delay caused musicians to be late arriving at the studio. Never one to waste time in the studio environment, Collier stepped into new creative territory and took up the challenge of executing playing all instruments himself as an act of trust and experimentation. “I’ve never done this before, and so it was a leap of faith for me,” he asserts. “I always dream of doing stuff like this, and being part of the small percentage of people who can do it like Prince, Steve Lacy, Frank Zappa, and Stevie Wonder. The end result finds Collier immersed in a hypnotic soundscape playing layered flutes, drums, Metatron, Wurlitzer, and auxiliary percussion.

Another layer of joy is revealed in “Where I’m Loved” that serves as a love letter and leaning into the process of stepping into the willingness to explore life and love with a partner. On the intimate meditation of vulnerability and connection, Collier's vocal prowess is on full display, exerting effortless falsetto reminiscent of D’Angelo over soulful Wurlitzer and guitar as he crosses over into more R&B-inspired realms. “I believe everyone deserves this feeling or to honor the memories of it. Furthermore, I believe you should also go where you’re celebrated and not tolerated.”

“When the Dust Settles” captures the electricity of live collaboration and Collier further steps out of being confined to any specific genre. He had just gotten a microKORG keyboard from co-producer Sonny Daze and was exploring the vast array of sounds on the instrument. Collier plays synth bass on the microKORG joined by the electrifying improvisation of Cole Runge on guitar and the combustible rhythm of his brother Jeremiah Collier on drums with additional post-production work from Sonny Daze.

The album’s final track “God’s By Your Side” reflects on perseverance and artistic legacy, directly inspired from the passing of D’Angelo, whose life’s work was a huge part of Collier’s childhood growing up in the late 90s and early 00s. With gospel flavor and direct influence both from D’Angelo’s vocal and instrumental arrangements, the track speaks to resilience and persistence in the face of obstacles—an affirmation of source and reassurance. “And what’s better than having God by your side, right?” asserts Collier.

Joy is a through-and-through expression of the arc of joy in its truest form. Joy transcends fleeting happiness and is conscious gratitude shaped by taking chances, leaning into your gifts, fostering community, and lived experiences.

“Joy is partially happiness,” Collier explains. “But to me it means happily being grateful for family, friends, lovers, teachers, and good times. These are the things that anchor us.”

The release of Joy comes off the heels of significant momentum for Collier, whose work continues to garner accolades and resonate across cultural spheres. He was featured on the cover of DownBeat’s April 2025 issue, where he was named “The Next Sax Giant,” and profiled on NPR’s Jazz Night in America for his ambitious 13-movement interdisciplinary suite The Story of 400 Years, that traces 400 years of Black American History. He released two full-length albums in 2024 with The World Is on Fire highlighted in The New York Times’ Fall Arts Preview and The Almighty named among the publication’s Best Jazz Albums of the year.

Beyond performance and recoding, Collier’s influence is recognized in broader cultural and intellectual spaces as he was the recipient of the Jazz Journalists Association’s 2025 Up and Coming Artist of the Year Award, the 2024 Chicagoan of the Year in Jazz, and was named a Steve Jobs Archive Fellow joining an elite cohort of the next generation of artistic visionaries through a yearlong program.

In addition to the release of Joy, Collier is touring his “Collier Plays Coltrane” program throughout 2026 in honor of John Coltrane’s centennial. Rather than presenting Coltrane’s expansive catalog as repertory, Collier approaches this music as something living, reshaping it in real-time with a sense of space and improvisational dialog reflecting both reverence to the past and present times.

First Word Records proudly bring you the sophomore EP from Ruby Wood - ‘No Rain, No Flowers’.

Ruby is a singer / songwriter hailing from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire in the UK. Her soulful yet distinctive voice has enabled her to front numerous projects over the years; perhaps best known as lead vocalist of the critically acclaimed Submotion Orchestra, since 2009.

Her first solo EP ‘Sincerely’ dropped back in 2023, and received love from the likes of Jamie Cullum, Craig Charles, Jyoty, Huey Morgan, Wordplay & saw Ruby named Mi-Soul Radio's 'One to Watch'.

The follow-up EP ‘No Rain, No Flowers’ is a personal tale of growth through adversity. Reflecting on long-term love, fleeting intimacy, grief, and the relationships that shape us. Rather than offering answers, the 8-track EP sits with life as it is. Imperfect, cyclical and shared. The title speaks to the belief that difficult experiences are not separate from growth, but essential to it.

Musically, the project encompasses contemporary flavours within the realms of r&b, soul and hip hop. It features an impressive collective of vocal collaboraters; Illa J, Devin Tracy, Abnormal Sleepz & PRIDO. Each bring their own distinct perspective, whilst complimenting the EP’s introspective tone; favouring warmth, restraint & lyrical authenticity. All are backed by a smooth sonic backdrop of beautifully rich instrumentation, produced primarily by Rob Mitchell of Abstract Orchestra.

Ruby has performed live shows with Nightmares on Wax & Abstract Orchestra as well as with r&b legend Bryson Tiller at his sell-out UK gigs, including Wembley Arena & Manchester Apollo. This is additionally to touring with Bonobo & Nubiyan Twist, and collaborating with the likes of Krept & Konan, Alfa Mist, GLXY and Roska, to name a few.

The diversity of her career, ranging from the intimate to the large-scale performances, gives Ruby a unique balance of vulnerability and musical depth, prioritising authenticity over spectacle. As a solo artist, her work is rooted in honest lived experiences, leading to a focus on songs that resonate long after first listen.

This EP offers a reflection of where Ruby is at now, informed by where she’s been before. It’s a project that embraces imperfection, recognising that those experiences that challenge us the most, shape us the deepest.

John Edwards’ early releases, mainly at Aware Records under the tutelage of Floyd Smith, thrilled soul lovers with his consummate vocals and impressed the multi-million selling Spinners enough to hire him to replace their revered vocalist Philippe Wynne.
Edwards’ first Aware hits, such as ‘Stop This Merry-Go-Round’ and ‘Careful Man’, led to his eponymous debut LP. As the label’s major male artist, the company followed up by recording a second album and were probably anticipating a further hit. But Aware collapsed thanks to the label owner’s criminal activities, putting paid to that proposed disc.
When the master tapes were uncovered in the ’90s, the tracks were issued on the 1996 Kent CD ‘Careful Man’ and handful of singles were issued to great acclaim.
At last, we have collected the tracks on vinyl and the beauty of ‘Tin Man’, ‘How Can I Go On Without You’ and ‘Cold Hearted Woman’ can be enjoyed as they were originally intended. Modern soul fans will be able to sleep easily again.

Soul Music legend Candi Staton returns to her down-home Alabama roots on her 32nd album, Back to My Roots. The twelve-track Americana set features an array of Staton-penned originals and some well-chosen covers.

"These songs represent my roots," Staton adds as she reflects on her many trials and triumphs. "Even the new songs on some level represent something I've experienced and that's what real soul music is about." Back to My Roots was produced by Staton with her second eldest son, Marcus Williams, a professional drummer who has toured with the likes of Peabo Bryson, Isaac Hayes, and Tyler Perry. They brought in Mark Nevers of Lambchop fame, who produced three of Staton’s prior Americana albums for Honest Jon’s and Thirty Tigers, to sweeten certain tracks. “Some of the first songs I ever heard were songs like `Peace in the Valley’ and `It’s Gonna Rain,’” says Staton. “The new songs or cover songs are tracks that remind me of that era when I was growing up as a child and evolving as a young woman. That’s why I named the album Back to My Roots because I’m going back to the roots that made me who I am.”

Staton received the Americana Music Association UK’s highest honour, the International Lifetime Achievement Award, at the UK Americana Music Awards ceremony at Hackney Church in London last year for her southern soul work that stretches from her 1969 Muscle Shoals hits to her more recent collaborations with the likes of Americana kings Jason Isbell and John Paul White.
The album opens with a mid-tempo Bonnie Raitt-styled contemporary blues “I Missed the Target Again” that finds Harry Connick Jr.’s longtime guitarist Jonathan DuBose Jr. (aka the Prophesying Guitarist) showing off his skills that set the tone for the song and the album.

Staton’s older sister, Maggie Staton Peebles (who alongside Staton was a member of the Jewel Gospel Trio in the 1950s), joins her for two duets. The first, “It’s Gonna Rain,” features just a drum, steel guitar and vocals. “My mother used to sing that song to us all the time when I was a child,” Staton recalls. “It’s a really soulful kind of song I wanted to revisit.” They then take turns leading Thomas Dorsey 1939 gem “There Will Be Peace in the Valley” that Elvis Presley popularized in the 1950s.

“Hang on in There” is a new, mid-tempo song that has an old school gospel flavour and features vocals from veteran bluesman, Larry McCray.
While in Europe in 2023 for her farewell concert tour that took her to the Glastonbury Festival and Love Supreme, Staton and her British band, PUSH, went into a London studio to record a new version of The Rolling Stones’ 1972 gem, “Shine A Light.” “I love the way that came out,” Staton says. “We put a big choir on it and put our own twist on it.”
From there, Staton revives another Thomas Dorsey classic, “The Lord Will Make a Way Somehow,” with a bluesy vibe. When Al Green started recording gospel in the early 1980s, he re-introduced this song into the culture.

“God’s Gonna Use Me Anyway” is a new mid-tempo blues with subtle Caribbean influences.

The mood takes a turn on “1963.” It’s a poignant, spoken-word reflection on September 15, 1963, when four black girls were killed in the Birmingham Church bombing. “I was in the city that day and I remember the chaos and horror after the bombing,” Staton recalls. “Just thinking of how racism and hatred caused those men to kill those girls was so emotional for me that I could only do it in one take.”

It's a perfect segue into "Reach Down and Touch Heaven," a haunting, plea for divine intervention into the affairs of mankind. "That's straight Baptist," she says. "I used to be a church pianist back in the 1960s. I've never played piano on one of my records before so that's a unique song for me because I’m finally playing on one of my records. The message of that song is about the homeless. It came to me when a homeless person on the street asked me for $5. When God touches your heart to help somebody else that’s heaven to God’s hears. So, when we reach into our purse or wallet to help someone, we’re touching heaven."

Staton offers love as an antidote to hate on the bouncy, Motown-styled, “Love Breakthrough.”

Her publicist brought Aaron Frazer & the Flying Stars of Brooklyn NY’s 2017 cut “My God Has a Telephone” to Staton’s attention. She shifts the track from a retro 1960s groove to more of a 1980s Malaco Records arrangement, a subtle but distinct variation. Staton brought in her longtime friend and STAX Records legend, William Bell (“I Forgot to Be Your Lover” and “Trying to Love Two”), to add raspy seasoning to the track.

The album closes with the wistful, “In God’s Hands We Rest Untroubled,” that was originally written and recorded by the late country star, Lari White, who died in 2017 at the age of 52. “Lari sent me that song to consider at least ten years ago and I always loved it,” Staton says. “The record label didn’t want it on the album or something, so I just held it.”
Staton says, “I grew up hearing a lot of these old songs when they were new songs. I toured with the Jewel Gospel Trio in the 1950s and we got to know people like Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cooke and others who sang these types of songs. So, I’m sort of paying tribute to them and the influence they had on me by refreshing these songs and making new songs in the old style.”’

Somewhere in the Wind is the third record that Loren Connors and I have made together. Of the three, it’s the first that consists exclusively of electric guitar duos and it’s the first that was recorded live. To me it feels very much like a live record; this music happened in crowded rooms in Brooklyn on two dates in 2025 and there’s an urgency to connect with others and a pleasure in doing so that can be heard on both of these tracks. On the first of our duo records (Arborvitae, 2003) I primarily play piano, and on the second (Evening Air, 2024) we switch off on piano and guitar. Both of those albums bespeak the privacy of the recording studio, where time is suspended and one can explore the quietest of sounds. By contrast, Somewhere in the Wind is the noisiest, most raucous and most free of our duo records. It’s the sound of us taking it to the stage.

I became a fan of Loren’s playing from the moment that I first heard it, after happening upon a beat-up copy of In Pittsburgh circa 1992 in a used bin in the Dr. Wax record store in Chicago where my then-bandmate Bundy K. Brown worked. Everyone has taken a chance on a record because it looked interesting and wouldn’t set you back too much. In that regard In Pittsburgh was the find of a lifetime. I had just switched from playing in a postpunk power trio (Bastro) to making mostly drummerless respect-your-neighbors music (Gastr del Sol), and Loren’s pacing and touch and his lovely, unaffected compositions had me from the first listen. Not long after that, Jim O’Rourke and I reissued In Pittsburgh on our Dexter’s Cigar label, and I fondly remember first meeting Loren in New York’s Grand Central Station—so glamorous for this country mouse—and taking the train upstate with him where he shared a bill with Gastr del Sol. During soundcheck, Jim, Loren, and I played together for a bit and Loren’s approach to the instrument was something that one could instantly sink into, the kind of situation where there are no mistakes. I still feel that when we play together.

David Grubbs

Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science ― Matthew Stevens, Aaron Parks, and Morgan Guerin ― delivers their sophomore project, Trip the Night Fantastic, on Candid Records. GRAMMY® nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for their 2019 release, Waiting Game, this acclaimed collective returns ― boasting an illustrious roll call of emcees, spoken word artists, and instrumentalists ― this time exploring systemic and contemporary themes that demand our attention, call us to action, and add stunning breadth to the time-honored tradition of amalgamating art and activism. Women’s empowerment, climate change, immigration, gender justice, body autonomy, community building, and animal rights are all elucidated with a freshness, depth, and creative brilliance that can only be birthed from someone whose creative core is rooted in empathy and humanity.

Featured throughout this new recording are vocalists Ledisi, Arooj Aftab, Michael Mayo, Miki Howard, Fatoumata Diawara, Debo Ray, Christie Dashiell, Lizz Wright, Vuyo Sotashe, Safa, Imani Rousselle, and Ian Michael; instrumentalists Brandee Younger, Marc Ribot, Larry Goldings, Rashaan Carter, Simon Moullier, Riley G, and Brenda Navarrete; emcees Nappy Nina, Kokayi, Kassa Overall, and Khemist; and spoken word artists J. Ivy, Aja Monet, Tarriona ‘Tank’ Ball, and Moor Mother.

Back on Swamp Green coloured vinyl! The album that broke Teenage Bottlerocket to the punk rock masses, They Came From The Shadows burst onto the scene in 2009, like a runaway train on greased rails. Featured in Alternative Press as a "Band You Need To Know," the album became a punk rock classic, with hits like "Skate or Die" and "Bigger Than Kiss." The most rocking thing to come out of Wyoming since, well... ever, Teenage Bottlerocket have taken pleasure in showing everyone just how potent and exhilarating that fresh, gimmick-free punk rock can be. On their debut Fat Wreck Chords release (third full-length), They Came From the Shadows is comprised of 14 straight forward punk rock gems, laced with the unforgettable melodies that have become the calling card of TBR. In the tradition of the Ramones (leather jackets and all), TBR brought an unrelenting barrage of fast-paced anthems that will no doubt serve as the soundtrack for a generation. Produced by Jason Livermore at the Blasting Room (Rise Against, Descendents) Features hit singles "Skate Or Die" (bands #1 song) and "Bigger Than Kiss" For fans of Ramones, Screeching Weasel, Descendents, The Queers, The Lillingtons

Umfangreiches neues Livealbum der kalifornischen Pop-Punk-Helden The Story So Far, aufgenommen in Boston und Los Angeles während ihrer jüngsten Headliner-Tour 2024 durch die USA. Auf ihrem eigenen Indielabel, Oak Grove Records.

Summer doesn't announce itself. It creeps in through cracked windows and lingers on skin long after the sun sets. It asks nothing of you but surrender. The South London DJ and producer, born Wilf Auty, raised in the fields of Devon before migrating to the city's sprawl, has crafted four tracks that move like heat haze off tarmac: shimmering, hypnotic, impossible to rush. This is house music stripped of its impatience. Rolling rhythms push forward with the inevitability of tide. Driving basslines push through the mix like warm air through an open car window. Something that feels like the longest day of the year. That moment when you realise the light's been golden for hours and nobody's checked the time. Wigs' sets at Meanwhile have become the stuff of whispered recommendation: progressive, modern, emotionally intelligent selections that build through patience rather than force. This EP is the studio distillation of that philosophy. Four tracks. No filler. Each one: unfurling. The reward comes for those who wait. The groove reveals itself in layers. The pulse becomes a feeling you can't quite name but recognise immediately, that elastic stretch of a summer evening when time loses its edges.

Mr Bongo presents a reissue of the 1619 Bad Ass Band’s self-titled album, originally released in 1976 on the ultra-rare tax-scam imprint TSG Records. Formed by Khalid Abdul Shalid, the record was the only album released by the group, and has since become a mythical, highly sought-after prize for collectors and DJs, ranking among the most coveted albums on the 1970s rare soul scene.

This New Jersey soul-funk gem captures the raw energy of mid-‘70s underground funk and soul. Its journey began in relative obscurity having been released on TSG, one of several US “tax-scam” labels operating at the time. These labels exploited loopholes in the tax system by inflating production costs to create write-offs against their tax bills, meaning commercial success was never the objective. Records were often pressed in extremely limited quantities, with little to no promotion or distribution and in many cases, artists were unaware their music had even been released. While this led to the 1619 Bad Ass Band’s album slipping into obscurity upon release, it later cemented its status as a holy grail for diggers and DJs. Unfortunately, like many releases of its kind, it also meant the band never received the recognition they deserved at the time.

Musically, the album is a unique listen with a varied palette that will appeal to fans of a broad range of tastes. From the luscious, dreamy ballad ‘Rain’, which will melt even the stoniest of hearts, to the raw, drum-heavy funk of ‘Love To Love’, it showcases the group’s depth and versatility. Highlights include the string-laden, floaty stepper ‘Just From You’, and ‘Nothing Can Stop My Loving You’, with its spacey synth lines, which will be a joy for modern soul fans. Elsewhere, ‘Step Out’ opens with a heavy drum break (later sampled on Latyrx’s ‘Interlude’ from their 1997 debut) before unfolding into a brilliant male-female vocal exchange.

Every track on here is a winner and it’s criminal that the band never received the publicity or credit they deserved when it was first released. Alongside the TSG Records release in 1976, the album was later released again in 1978 with alternate cover art on another tax-scam label, Graham International. Both versions have since become highly collectable and over time, the album has steadily gained the recognition it always deserved. This reissue by Mr Bongo offers a wider audience the chance to experience a truly special record, one that stands as a testament to the overlooked brilliance of the era’s underground soul and funk scene.

Originally released in 1987, this album featured the Cramps live on 30 August 1986 at the Galaxy Club, Auckland, New Zealand.
The album catches the lightning-in-a-bottle live magic of Lux Interior (vocals), Poison Ivy (guitar), Candy Del Mar (bass) and Nick Knox (drums).
Ace first reissued the 11-track album in 2013 on our Big Beat imprint on red vinyl. We now put that version back into the market.

When ELEH's debut "Floating Frequencies/Intuitive Synthesis I" was originally released it was praised as a powerful piece of new electronic minimalism. Twenty years later the artist's legacy has grown while ELEH continues to hypnotize new listeners with time stopping music. Critics, fans and neurologists have praised the music of ELEH as aiding attention and focus while seeming to slow time. Eleh's slow change drones are a state of flow hypnotizing listeners into meditative focus.

From the original packaging, "Pure Sound. Pure Volume. Pure Analog. Dedicated To La Monte Young"

ELEH began in 1999 as an exploration of analog synthesis, emphasizing low frequency difference tones and other resonant acoustic phenomena. ELEH highlights the physical presence of sound as it has been inspired by the physical world. There is also something ‘cathedral-like’ and cosmos-inducing in the sound constructed by ELEH.

This audiophile quality presentation of ELEH's debut album was mastered by Tom Eaton at Sounds And Substance and manufactured at Optimal in Germany for the lowest possible noise floor and the highest analog resolution. Packaged using a 5th color metallic shimmer ink on solid black board stock.

"Nuances of sound turn symphonic." New York Times

“ELEH’s sounds move by stealth and are sculpted from the world rather than from ego. Eleh is not a personality; Eleh is an idea about sound. ELEH forces you to contemplate the cosmos and your place in it. “ Gramophone

"ELEH demonstrates how a single amplified gesture delivered just so can reveal the inner workings of an entire cosmos." Tony Herrington/Wire

“Floating Frequencies/Intuitive Synthesis more than lives up to the mythic status that ELEH has ascended to. “ Brainwashed

"ELEH's music electrifies whatever space it engages. With the flip of a switch, it exposes the ways in which all space is, potentially, electric." ~ Frieze

The Alan Parsons Project"s critically acclaimed, multi-million selling album "I Robot" (1977), is reissued in this 2LP 180gm heavyweight, 45 RPM Audiophile edition. Expertly cut by Miles Showell at Abbey Road Studios, November 2024 on a customised Neumann VMS 80 lathe at half speed using high-resolution archive transfers that were made from Eric Woolfson"s rarely played mint condition duplicate masters. The album was a worldwide hit selling in excess of two million copies, achieving platinum and gold status in numerous countries including the USA, Germany, Australia and Canada.

Anfang der 1970er Jahre legte die Band aus Hilden und Düsseldorf ihren Namen Q 66 ab und trat seitdem als Cobraa auf. Ein Demo-Tape der Band fand Gefallen bei den Talentscouts der Kölner Plattenfirma EMI Electrola, die ihr daraufhin einen Plattenvertrag anbot. Bereits 1973 erschien die Single "Ride a Pony" und 1974 wurde das Album "Cobraa" veröffentlicht. Die LP erhielt in den bekannten Musikzeitschriften sehr gute Kritiken und sogar das Teenager-Blatt BRAVO fand lobende Worte. Vor allem die mehrstimmigen Vocals, die eingängigen Melodien und die variantenreichen Arrangements - nicht nur Schlagzeug, Bass und Gitarren, sondern auch Querflöte, Mundharmonika und Streicher - gefielen den Kritikern. Die Bandmitglieder zeigten sich jedoch enttäuscht über die Zusammenarbeit mit ihrer Plattenfirma und schrieben dem Boss der EMI einen Brief, in dem sie sich über die mangelnde Unterstützung und die lustlose Kooperation beschwerten. Nach einem klärenden Gespräch in der Chefetage einigte man sich darauf, mit "Take A Look At Love" eine weitere Single zu veröffentlichen. Weitere Zugeständnisse wollte die Plattenfirma jedoch nicht machen, sodass es bei nur einer LP-Veröffentlichung blieb. Über 50 Jahre später hat dieses Cobraa-Album unter den Progressive-Rock- und Krautrock-Fans Kultstatus. Nun erscheint es als Rerelease auf Vinyl sowie erstmals auf CD und digital, inklusive der Single "Ride A Pony" / "The End Of A Day" aus dem Jahr 1973.