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BACK CATALOGUE - J
An ever present in America's jazz and underground scenes for two decades now, the boundary pushing Joshua Abrams returns with the latest manifestation of his Natural Information Society, "Simultonality". Abrams' highly acclaimed compositions are a fascinating nexus of ideas from non-western traditional musics, minimalism and jazz designed to catalyze his musicians toward a single group-mind organism of sound. He is well-known for exploring new contexts for the guimbri, the three-stringed North African bass lute. Alongside his work with the Natural Information Society, Abrams has recorded with Town & Country, Bonnie "Prince" Billy, Matana Roberts and Tortoise, whose skittering grooves underpin the minimalist frenzy and gnawa melodies of this ecstatic offering. Falling somewhere between jazz, rock, raga and gnawa, "Simultonality" makes its home in that wondrous space between genres, now clear some space in your record collection.
Jelly Roll Soul cohort Jamie Alexander makes his production debut with the Scottish party crew’s second release. The aptly named "The Stutterer", opens proceedings, rocking a stunted, Pittman-like groove squashed under lo-fi drums and discordant, gremlin like acid lines. "The Growler" furrows a more subterranean path - all dark grubby beats, disembodied voices and a menacing and proper speaker-testing bass line. Closing track "The Dreamer" contrasts neatly, with a more wistful and err dreamy? vibe but still enough punch on that low end to keep yer dancefloor moving….Out there stuff from this promising talent of the burgeoning Scottish scene. TIP!
Joseph Allred fits the Guitar Soli realm perfectly, fully embodying the guitar loner typecast - he falls in line with Robbie Basho not only in his 12-string playing that has a leaning towards Eastern musical traditions and droning free form raga, but also in his educational background in philosophy and religious studies. Scissor Tail Editions decided to put out Fire An Earth after hearing only thirty seconds of the track “Leitmotif” - there’s a sincerity in Allred’s music and way of life that has been missing from the modern age for a long time.
Allred has been quietly releasing records for years, painstakingly designing and hand-printing most of the packaging, never promoting any of them. He hand-painted the covers for Fire and Earth and letterpressed the back covers of Dylan Golden Aycock’s latest. Now inhabiting land that’s been in his family for two hundred years, he says he’s trying to find a place in the family legacy. In Fire An Earth, there is a searching and spiritual quality to the music, and also integrity.
Allred has been quietly releasing records for years, painstakingly designing and hand-printing most of the packaging, never promoting any of them. He hand-painted the covers for Fire and Earth and letterpressed the back covers of Dylan Golden Aycock’s latest. Now inhabiting land that’s been in his family for two hundred years, he says he’s trying to find a place in the family legacy. In Fire An Earth, there is a searching and spiritual quality to the music, and also integrity.
James Allsopp leads on a third set of standards with the established rhythm section of Tim Giles, Riaan Vosloo & Ross Stanley. I’m A Fool To Love You is a sophisticated and elegant jazz which swoons from track to track to complete this beautiful album. The record was recorded direct to 2 track tape in a three hour session. It has been played by Jamie Cullum & Gilles Peterson on their radio shows and is adored by loyal fans. The song ‘I’m A Fool To Love You’ is a harmonised classical jazz sound which would be fitting to any soundtrack for a romantic love story.
James Allsopps’ Jazz albums are worthy of being placed next to the biggest Jazz artists in any Jazz collectors record space.
James Allsopps’ Jazz albums are worthy of being placed next to the biggest Jazz artists in any Jazz collectors record space.
STAFF COMMENTS
Millie says: Beautiful Jazz percussion's on this album are enough to make anyone swoon, traditional and simple. This album deserves to be shared and cared for.
This is the first release by Jesse Rose and Jamie Anderson on Gigolo Records. And what better way to debut for the label than with a new track based on four times Grammy nominee Steve 'Silk' Hurley's classic house hit "Jack Your Body". 20 years after the track originally scored US and UK number ones, Rose and Anderson pay respect to Silk with "Body Jackin'".
With six officially released albums, two more in the can, four probably-never-to-see-the-light-of-day records in his closet, a few live albums on the shelf and a Myspace song-a-day project, the quietly prolific Jason Anderson returns to K with "The Hopeful And The Unafraid". While he also played guitar in Mount Eerie, has drummed with Tilly And The Wall, and played piano with David Dondero, you've probably heard little about him. "The Hopeful.." was made at Soma Studios in Chicago, on a two-day tour break in January of 2006. Recorded in a matter of hours-tracking the vocals, guitars, and drums simultaneously-Jason's goal was to make an organic documentation of songs he'd been playing every night for half a decade. Thusly, all the vocal parts are first takes. There were some indulgences, though, as some guys who used to play in Magnolia Electric Co. came by to put down pedal steel and guitar leads. The album takes a stab at capturing some of the energy Jason loves putting into every show he plays, whether there are five or fifty people present.
Throughout years of traveling, John Andrews has documented his life with his home recordings. His first record, Bit By The Fang, found him living in the amish country of Lancaster, PA. On his latest record, Bad Posture, he waves farewell to Pennsylvania and greets the wooded hills of Barrington, NH. These songs were written slowly and quietly throughout the winter, usually late at night next to the wood stove. It was recorded in Andrews’ barn with the doors ajar, welcoming the springtime — inviting the outside noises in. You can hear the crickets chirping and the occasional truck driving by. The songs themselves lend their hand like slow backwoods Beatles demos covered in a thin blanket of tape hiss. Andrews’ band, The Yawns, has been crystallized with staples from the New England freak scene: Rachel Neveu and Lukas Goudreault (MMOSS / Soft Eyes) and Joey Schneider. The album was mixed with headphones at the foot of Emma Critchett’s grave, who lived in the Yawns’ house during the 1800s. The record is an ode to her and all who have lived there. It paints a picture of living in the “freecountry” on the precipice of a rapidly changing political climate.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd LP includes MP3 Download Code.
This debut album, by prodigious keys player, composer and producer Joe Armon-Jones, is buoyant, celebratory and welcoming. With a background in jazz, he draws from influences in dub, hip-hop and soul. Different traditions are infused and commingled together. Soulful brass arrangements are coloured with carefully-tuned atmospherics; individual flashes of brilliance are bound into the album’s bigger picture.
He’s part of London’s young, jazz-influenced music scene. Drawn from that same close-knit circle, the album features the likes of Moses Boyd, Nubya Garcia and Oscar Jerome. It’s playing with those – along with Ezra Collective, which he co-founded, and touring with the likes of Ata Kak and Pharoahe Monch – which has honed his playing and grown his ideas.
It’s made for a record with an unmistakable depth. He draws on deep musical understanding, making music which is warm and has a feeling of joy. A document of his vision for bringing together his different influences, it’s also a testament to hard-earned, head-turning musical virtuosity.
He’s part of London’s young, jazz-influenced music scene. Drawn from that same close-knit circle, the album features the likes of Moses Boyd, Nubya Garcia and Oscar Jerome. It’s playing with those – along with Ezra Collective, which he co-founded, and touring with the likes of Ata Kak and Pharoahe Monch – which has honed his playing and grown his ideas.
It’s made for a record with an unmistakable depth. He draws on deep musical understanding, making music which is warm and has a feeling of joy. A document of his vision for bringing together his different influences, it’s also a testament to hard-earned, head-turning musical virtuosity.
The ultimate funk record, Blackjack would be a suitable soundtrack to any large-scale crime defying motion picture, in particular this narrative to rob five of the largest casinos. First track, Blackjack featuring the spectacular Loleatta Holloway bringing up a storm with her roaringly powerful vocals. On the flipside, Las Vegas Strut is the background music you would want when attempting to rob a casino, and - strut!
STAFF COMMENTS
Millie says: Blasting out from the speakers is the exact sort of funk grooves I love to hear. Dreamy vocals paired with the sensational underlying rhythm is perfect. Pure blockbuster.
Juan Atkins and Moritz von Oswald - the two indispensable protagonists of the 'Electric Garden' - plug back into the wilderness.
‘Transport’ - the new full length effort of the Borderland collaborative project - brings together a new set of studio-refined sequences aimed at colonising some of the dark energy that pulsates through those areas that are thoroughly electrified, even if not ‘on the grid’.
The Detroit-Berlin axis triangulates to a third point which, like the atomic particle that lives in two places at once, flickers between a form of techno-charged ambience and a futuristic club-jazz which cannot be broken down into constitutive parts. Borderland remains caught in a state of enraptured stillness, invisibly moving between every imagined future for electronic sound making.
The result: a font from which springs serene and exhilarating musical ideas that vibrate with refined energy for sixty seconds in every minute.
Von Oswald, precursor of dub techno (Basic Channel, Chain Reaction, et al) and Atkins (widely credited as the originator of techno) join forces to demonstrate that the genre is not passé and can still surprise. Appropriate for both dancefloor and home listening. Those into dubby ambient and deep techno will not be disappointed as every track is standout material which should be added to any serious music collector.
‘Transport’ - the new full length effort of the Borderland collaborative project - brings together a new set of studio-refined sequences aimed at colonising some of the dark energy that pulsates through those areas that are thoroughly electrified, even if not ‘on the grid’.
The Detroit-Berlin axis triangulates to a third point which, like the atomic particle that lives in two places at once, flickers between a form of techno-charged ambience and a futuristic club-jazz which cannot be broken down into constitutive parts. Borderland remains caught in a state of enraptured stillness, invisibly moving between every imagined future for electronic sound making.
The result: a font from which springs serene and exhilarating musical ideas that vibrate with refined energy for sixty seconds in every minute.
STAFF COMMENTS
Sil says: Hypnotic, deep and mesmerizing. These three adjectives arguably define partially the form and function of minimal techno. This album is no dross as the genre has become. In contrast, Transport has been crafted by two well-seasoned techno maestros who bring their own influences to this masterpiece, a deeply satisfying convergence of Detroit and Berlin.Von Oswald, precursor of dub techno (Basic Channel, Chain Reaction, et al) and Atkins (widely credited as the originator of techno) join forces to demonstrate that the genre is not passé and can still surprise. Appropriate for both dancefloor and home listening. Those into dubby ambient and deep techno will not be disappointed as every track is standout material which should be added to any serious music collector.
After more than two decades of behind the scenes collaboration Juan Atkins & Moritz Von Oswald present 'Borderland' - their first album together using their own names - on Tresor Records.
The album - made up of eight tracks, which seamlessly blend the styles of both masters (although leaning further towards Von Oswald's dub-techno sound) - was recorded at the beginning of 2013 over various studio sessions in Berlin and is released as a series of three 12"s and a CD album.
The CD opens with 'Electric Garden (Deep Jazz In The Garden Mix)', which features German trumpet player Sebastian Studnitzky, whose muted, treated notes work perfectly with the loping dub-techno grooves. "Footprints" was the second work to be produced in the 'Borderland' studio sessions. It's a robust house groove reminiscent of earlier collaboration between both men such as the anthemic “Starlight” released on Metroplex 18 years ago, or Moritz' 'M' series. 'Treehouse' revisits classic house adding the ample proportions characteristic of the duo’s sound. "Mars Garden" returns to the "Electric Garden" theme with a high dose of ultra deep gritty spiralling kosmische dub-funk of 'Mars Garden'. 'Digital Forest' feels like a dystopian soundtrack to a drive through old Detroit slowly transforms into colossal dancefloor jam.
The album - made up of eight tracks, which seamlessly blend the styles of both masters (although leaning further towards Von Oswald's dub-techno sound) - was recorded at the beginning of 2013 over various studio sessions in Berlin and is released as a series of three 12"s and a CD album.
The CD opens with 'Electric Garden (Deep Jazz In The Garden Mix)', which features German trumpet player Sebastian Studnitzky, whose muted, treated notes work perfectly with the loping dub-techno grooves. "Footprints" was the second work to be produced in the 'Borderland' studio sessions. It's a robust house groove reminiscent of earlier collaboration between both men such as the anthemic “Starlight” released on Metroplex 18 years ago, or Moritz' 'M' series. 'Treehouse' revisits classic house adding the ample proportions characteristic of the duo’s sound. "Mars Garden" returns to the "Electric Garden" theme with a high dose of ultra deep gritty spiralling kosmische dub-funk of 'Mars Garden'. 'Digital Forest' feels like a dystopian soundtrack to a drive through old Detroit slowly transforms into colossal dancefloor jam.
Tresor deliver the definitive Juan Atkins Detroit techno / electro record label Metroplex, featuring compositions by Atkins under various psuedonyms; Cybotron, Model 500, 3mb, Infiniti etc. Featured here are ground-breaking early works such as "Alleys Of Your Mind", "Clear", "No UFO's", "The Chase", "The Passage" and "Off To Battle" - electronic compositions that will always be counted as foundation blocks for a music style that endures to the present day. Inspired by the European computer music of Kraftwerk and Depeche Mode, and the US P-Funk of Parliament / Funkadelic, Juan Atkins delivered a new sound that changed the face of electronic music forever.
Piccadilly customers should be well versed in Juan and Moritz's Borderland project by now - the two standard bearers of the techno legacy have been active at merging the sounds of Berlin and Detroit since the project's inception a few years ago (technically, the two have been building metaphorical sonic bridges across the Atlantic since '91, when Tresor flew Underground Resistance over and the rest they say is history). Anyway, "Angles" is the result of a new conversation between the founding fathers of techno. Two hi-spec versions form a new and novel version of their studio-refined sequences. Both parts of “Concave” are the ungraspable manifestation of the wild quietness in which the duo finds itself. Predicting at once, possible outcomes for the craft of electronic sound, while respecting their profound origins. Like focusing your attention on the colour turquoise - you can at once hear both the Detroit and Berlin ingredients - that flattened Berlin kick, nagging Detroit futurism, a driving, primordial energy. It's the result of nearly three decades of two musical cities, and their leading exponents cross-pollinating and hybridizing and for lovers of techno music, it's totally essential.
Closely following the release of the last "Borderland" single, the focus returns on "Transport", the last collaborative album by Juan Atkins and Moritz von Oswald.
Long time friend and studio partner of Moritz von Oswald, Carl Craig provides a new take on “Transport”. Extending and stripping the original sequence to its bone, the illustrious Planet E president and illustrious Detroit proponent also summons a stepping drum sequence and a swaying array of moving delays. This 12“ edit is cut on the A-side. The full version of Carl Craig’s remix clocks just above 20 minutes and is available digitally. Both are available to anyone who purchases the record, through the enclosed download card.
On the flip, DJ Deep & Roman Poncet rework Carl Craig’s remix, adding their signature grooves and myriad of tough drums, to full effect.
Long time friend and studio partner of Moritz von Oswald, Carl Craig provides a new take on “Transport”. Extending and stripping the original sequence to its bone, the illustrious Planet E president and illustrious Detroit proponent also summons a stepping drum sequence and a swaying array of moving delays. This 12“ edit is cut on the A-side. The full version of Carl Craig’s remix clocks just above 20 minutes and is available digitally. Both are available to anyone who purchases the record, through the enclosed download card.
On the flip, DJ Deep & Roman Poncet rework Carl Craig’s remix, adding their signature grooves and myriad of tough drums, to full effect.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Unfathomably futuristic and more techno than driving a Tesla car through Detroit with Kraftwerk in the passenger seat. Carl Craig remains a master!
Bailey is a prolific songwriter, having published over 300 songs, many of them classic soul tracks co-written with Ken Williams. More recently the title track from this 1974 LP was recently featured on Gilles Peterson's "Gilles Digs America" compilation. The original productions on the album (many home made on a basic tape machine), were enhanced with strings, rhythmic overdubs and other instruments to create one of the best soul albums of all time. Everything about this album oozes quality from the great songs, the arrangements and JR's soulful vocals - pure magic! After seven years of trying, Soul Brother have finally been able to license and reissue this classic album, which has been heavily in demand for many years with original copies fetching up to £200.
Kranky was a bit surprised earlier this year when Jessica Bailiff contacted them and asked they wanted to preview her new album for possible release. They had no idea she had even been working on an album, let alone had completed one, and they were rewarded with a listen to her most compelling album to date.
After being in Europe for 5 weeks as a touring member of Boduf Songs, Jessica Bailiff spent much of 2011, writing and recording At the Down-Turned Jagged Rim of the Sky in her spartan home studio. Sequestering herself through the hot summer months until finished, she then passed the tracks on to her friend Odd Nosdam for final mixing.
*Down-tuned, distorted bass guitar adds a new color to her palette, but familiar ones also come into play: fuzzed and delayed electric guitar, organ, piano, cello, and drums. Noisy pop-tinged love songs nestle slyly in a bed of off-kilter lullabies and dark, metallic waltzes.
No need to recycle descriptives like “lo-fi” or “hushed vocals” - these are spurious words. This is another intimate collection of songs recorded entirely by Jessica at home, in a room next to where she sleeps. If you listen carefully, you might hear her dreaming.
After being in Europe for 5 weeks as a touring member of Boduf Songs, Jessica Bailiff spent much of 2011, writing and recording At the Down-Turned Jagged Rim of the Sky in her spartan home studio. Sequestering herself through the hot summer months until finished, she then passed the tracks on to her friend Odd Nosdam for final mixing.
*Down-tuned, distorted bass guitar adds a new color to her palette, but familiar ones also come into play: fuzzed and delayed electric guitar, organ, piano, cello, and drums. Noisy pop-tinged love songs nestle slyly in a bed of off-kilter lullabies and dark, metallic waltzes.
No need to recycle descriptives like “lo-fi” or “hushed vocals” - these are spurious words. This is another intimate collection of songs recorded entirely by Jessica at home, in a room next to where she sleeps. If you listen carefully, you might hear her dreaming.
Memphis, TN-based songwriter Julien Baker is the latest addition to the Matador Records roster. The 21-year-old’s devastating and vulnerable debut album, ‘Sprained Ankle’, which was originally released in 2015, is now being made available again. A 7” single by Julien Baker is also being released at the same time.
For years, Baker and a group of close friends performed as the band Forrister (formerly The Star Killers) but when college took her four hours away, her need to continue creating found an outlet through solo work. The intent was never to make these songs her main focus, yet the process proved to be startlingly cathartic. As each song came into shape, it became more apparent that Baker had genuinely deep, surprisingly dark stories to tell from her thus far short life. Tales of her experiences are staggering and when set to her haunting guitar playing the results are gut wrenching and heartfelt, relatable yet very personal. There’s something wonderfully hypnotizing about Baker gently confessing her soul with such tremendous honesty.
“Richly poetic songs of trauma and redemption, moving from almost unbearable fragility to confessional strength.” - The New York Times
For years, Baker and a group of close friends performed as the band Forrister (formerly The Star Killers) but when college took her four hours away, her need to continue creating found an outlet through solo work. The intent was never to make these songs her main focus, yet the process proved to be startlingly cathartic. As each song came into shape, it became more apparent that Baker had genuinely deep, surprisingly dark stories to tell from her thus far short life. Tales of her experiences are staggering and when set to her haunting guitar playing the results are gut wrenching and heartfelt, relatable yet very personal. There’s something wonderfully hypnotizing about Baker gently confessing her soul with such tremendous honesty.
“Richly poetic songs of trauma and redemption, moving from almost unbearable fragility to confessional strength.” - The New York Times
STAFF COMMENTS
Sil says: Sounds that are as raw as they feel with lyrics that offer brutal emotional honesty. Depression, drugs and a deep end well of loneliness. A monster album filled with blues and sensibility.FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd LP Info: LP format includes bonus 7” featuring the previously unreleased ‘Funeral Pyre’. Only Baker can make a song with such a darkly macabre title so heartbreakingly gorgeous, with her signature hushed-yet-lofty vocals soaring over a quietly fingerpicked melody that crescendos into layered, almost-orchestral beauty. The B-side, ‘Distant Solar System’, is another unheard song from the ‘Sprained Ankle’ sessions.
Julien Baker releases her highly anticipated second album, ‘Turn Out The Lights’, via Matador Records.
‘Turn Out The Lights’ arrives nearly two years to the day after Baker’s debut album, ‘Sprained Ankle’, which was widely acclaimed by outlets including The New York Times, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Noisey, and MOJO, among others.
Recorded at the legendary Ardent Studios in Baker’s hometown of Memphis, TN, ‘Turn Out The Lights’ expands upon the sound and vision of ‘Sprained Ankle’ while retaining the haunting, confessional songwriting style for which she has become known. Throughout the album, Baker reflects on experiences of her own and those closest to her, exploring the internal conflicts that wrestle inside us all: how we deal and cope with our struggles and how it all impacts both ourselves and our relationships of all kinds. The result is a deeply empathetic album that embraces the greys and complex truths of humanity and mental health.
‘Turn Out The Lights’ was written and produced by Baker and mixed by Craig Silvey (The National, Arcade Fire, Florence & The Machine).
‘Turn Out The Lights’ arrives nearly two years to the day after Baker’s debut album, ‘Sprained Ankle’, which was widely acclaimed by outlets including The New York Times, Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Noisey, and MOJO, among others.
Recorded at the legendary Ardent Studios in Baker’s hometown of Memphis, TN, ‘Turn Out The Lights’ expands upon the sound and vision of ‘Sprained Ankle’ while retaining the haunting, confessional songwriting style for which she has become known. Throughout the album, Baker reflects on experiences of her own and those closest to her, exploring the internal conflicts that wrestle inside us all: how we deal and cope with our struggles and how it all impacts both ourselves and our relationships of all kinds. The result is a deeply empathetic album that embraces the greys and complex truths of humanity and mental health.
‘Turn Out The Lights’ was written and produced by Baker and mixed by Craig Silvey (The National, Arcade Fire, Florence & The Machine).
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: 'Sprained Ankle' went down a storm in here (was it really that long ago?) and I have no doubt this will surpass that. More heartfelt lyrics, cleverly constructed melodies and introspective moments, all wrapped in that warm veneer of Baker's spellbinding voice.FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Clear vinyl.
Reduced
After a clutch of killers for labels like Dolly, Supply & Argot, John Barera & Will Martin team up once again to smash out four powerful dancefloor heaters for NYC's esteemed Basement Floor. On "History Of Space" they take the synth presets from Mood II Swing, add a one-shot 'whoop' then lace noxious leads over the frenetic rhythm, conjuring up a slice of house music magic that few of their peers can come close to. "One Night" brings to mind classic Chez Damier - namely "The Choice" with its anthemic piano chords, old school house beat and warehouse filling hook. "Keep On" sees the pair explore deep dubby house for pitch black dancefloors with one red light. "Share Love" concludes with classic New York flavours, recalling the genius of Kerri Chandler or Joe Claussell with its organ-driven house vibrations. Ace EP, you need!
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Slamming dancefloor carnage from John Barera & Will Martin. Proper uplifting house music, just the way it should be - arms aloft and not a care in the world.
Known for releases on labels like Overall Music, Innercircle and Frole Records, Back To Basics regular Barnsley begins 2018 by returning to his Vessel Records imprint with 'Big Move EP'.
Consisting of two low-slung originals, the release also includes remixes from Bass Culture founder D'Julz and Cabinet Records bosses Cabdrivers.
A compelling groove lays the foundation of 'Time' whilst quivering synths operate throughout, leading into D'Julz's remix that twists the original into a moody roller with tightly executed 808s at its core.
‘Forgiveness' starts with clanking percussion as melodies add to the heightening atmosphere, while the Cabdrivers remix takes the key elements of the original and plays with the harmonies to make them coarser.
Consisting of two low-slung originals, the release also includes remixes from Bass Culture founder D'Julz and Cabinet Records bosses Cabdrivers.
A compelling groove lays the foundation of 'Time' whilst quivering synths operate throughout, leading into D'Julz's remix that twists the original into a moody roller with tightly executed 808s at its core.
‘Forgiveness' starts with clanking percussion as melodies add to the heightening atmosphere, while the Cabdrivers remix takes the key elements of the original and plays with the harmonies to make them coarser.
This 3CD set compiles the original soundtrack albums for Zulu and Four In The Morning, both composed and conducted by John Barry, together with other recordings he made for the Ember label.
Barry was one of the best known composers of film music in the world. His early career found him working as in-house arranger for EMI, leader of hit instrumental combo the John Barry Seven, and composer, arranger and conductor on the first UK soundtrack album (the Adam Faith vehicle Beat Girl). After Barry’s involvement as arranger on the first James Bond film Dr No in 1962, he was appointed as primary composer for the film franchise.
The BAFTA-nominated Zulu (1964) was directed by Cy Endfield. The film depicts the heroic defence of Rorke’s Drift mission station during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. Originally released in 1964, and here mastered from original stereo tapes, the album comprises soundtrack music (with two of the tracks incorporating narration by Richard Burton), followed by “A Selection of Zulu Stamps”, essentially southern African-influenced beat instrumentals, performed by the John Barry Seven.
Originally released in 1965, the soundtrack album to Anthony Simmons’ Four In The Morning comprises John Barry’s original haunting score, plus four excerpts of dialogue featuring Judi Dench, Ann Lynn, Norman Rodway, Brian Phelan and Joe Melia. The dialogue only exists in mono, so we have presented the entire album in mono, followed by the music-only tracks in stereo, again mastered from original tapes.
Both soundtrack albums were originally released on British independent label Ember, where John Barry was associate producer and head of A&R in the early sixties. A third disc spotlights other John Barry recordings for the label. These include two UK hit singles: the From Russia With Love theme (here also in an alternative version with organ) and the Barry-produced “Christine”, a satirical commentary on the Profumo affair, credited to the mysterious Miss X, as well as “Fancy Dance”, which served as the theme to the BBC’s twice-weekly soap The Newcomers from 1965 to 1967.
Barry was one of the best known composers of film music in the world. His early career found him working as in-house arranger for EMI, leader of hit instrumental combo the John Barry Seven, and composer, arranger and conductor on the first UK soundtrack album (the Adam Faith vehicle Beat Girl). After Barry’s involvement as arranger on the first James Bond film Dr No in 1962, he was appointed as primary composer for the film franchise.
The BAFTA-nominated Zulu (1964) was directed by Cy Endfield. The film depicts the heroic defence of Rorke’s Drift mission station during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. Originally released in 1964, and here mastered from original stereo tapes, the album comprises soundtrack music (with two of the tracks incorporating narration by Richard Burton), followed by “A Selection of Zulu Stamps”, essentially southern African-influenced beat instrumentals, performed by the John Barry Seven.
Originally released in 1965, the soundtrack album to Anthony Simmons’ Four In The Morning comprises John Barry’s original haunting score, plus four excerpts of dialogue featuring Judi Dench, Ann Lynn, Norman Rodway, Brian Phelan and Joe Melia. The dialogue only exists in mono, so we have presented the entire album in mono, followed by the music-only tracks in stereo, again mastered from original tapes.
Both soundtrack albums were originally released on British independent label Ember, where John Barry was associate producer and head of A&R in the early sixties. A third disc spotlights other John Barry recordings for the label. These include two UK hit singles: the From Russia With Love theme (here also in an alternative version with organ) and the Barry-produced “Christine”, a satirical commentary on the Profumo affair, credited to the mysterious Miss X, as well as “Fancy Dance”, which served as the theme to the BBC’s twice-weekly soap The Newcomers from 1965 to 1967.
Julianna Barwick’s revelatory third album, ‘Will’, is the Brooklyn experimental artist’s most surprising left turn to date. Conceived and self-produced over the past year in a variety of locations, the compelling ‘Will’ departs from the weighty lightness of 2013’s ‘Nepenthe’.
If ‘Nepenthe’ conjured images of gentle fog rolling over desolate mountains, then ‘Will’ is a late afternoon thunderstorm, a cathartic collision of sharp and soft textures that sounds ominous and restorative all at once.
‘Will’ comes after Barwick’s busiest period to date in her career following ‘Nepenthe’ - a spate of activity that included playing piano for Yoko Ono, performing at the 25th annual Tibet House Benefit Concert alongside such kindred spirits as The Flaming Lips and Philip Glass, releasing the ‘Rosabi’ EP and delivering a reimagining of Bach’s ‘Adagio’ from Concerto In D Minor.
Her life over the past several years has largely been lived in transit and as such the genesis of ‘Will’ was not beholden to location; Barwick reflects on this cycle of constant motion. “You’re constantly adjusting, assimilating, and finding yourself in life-changing situations.” That sense of forward propulsion is largely owed to ‘Will’s synth-heavy textures, an ingredient she was inspired to add to her vocal loop-heavy formula after demoing a new prototype analogue sequencer for Moog.
Another new wrinkle ‘Will’ introduces in Barwick’s sound: Mas Ysa’s Thomas Arsenault, who lends his richly complex vocals to ‘Same’ and ‘Someway’.
The beguiling, beautifully complicated ‘Will’ is the latest proof yet of Barwick’s irresistibly engaging talent as a composer and vocalist.
Julianna has recently collaborated with Moog and MoMa, lending her prestige as both a musician and artist as a whole.
Sil says: Loads of reverb and atmospheres emanating from all songs. Made mainly with a loop pedal, a piano and a synth. Simplicity that opens a lot of possibilities makes this album ultimately timeless.
If ‘Nepenthe’ conjured images of gentle fog rolling over desolate mountains, then ‘Will’ is a late afternoon thunderstorm, a cathartic collision of sharp and soft textures that sounds ominous and restorative all at once.
‘Will’ comes after Barwick’s busiest period to date in her career following ‘Nepenthe’ - a spate of activity that included playing piano for Yoko Ono, performing at the 25th annual Tibet House Benefit Concert alongside such kindred spirits as The Flaming Lips and Philip Glass, releasing the ‘Rosabi’ EP and delivering a reimagining of Bach’s ‘Adagio’ from Concerto In D Minor.
Her life over the past several years has largely been lived in transit and as such the genesis of ‘Will’ was not beholden to location; Barwick reflects on this cycle of constant motion. “You’re constantly adjusting, assimilating, and finding yourself in life-changing situations.” That sense of forward propulsion is largely owed to ‘Will’s synth-heavy textures, an ingredient she was inspired to add to her vocal loop-heavy formula after demoing a new prototype analogue sequencer for Moog.
Another new wrinkle ‘Will’ introduces in Barwick’s sound: Mas Ysa’s Thomas Arsenault, who lends his richly complex vocals to ‘Same’ and ‘Someway’.
The beguiling, beautifully complicated ‘Will’ is the latest proof yet of Barwick’s irresistibly engaging talent as a composer and vocalist.
Julianna has recently collaborated with Moog and MoMa, lending her prestige as both a musician and artist as a whole.
STAFF COMMENTS
Millie says: ‘Will’ is Julianna Barwick’s third album filled with ghostly, breath-taking compositions pieced together with delicate vocals. The haunting and fixating notions are developed from the ominous looping chords which are most prominent in the song Nebula; harrowing and captivating Barwick’s vocals are truly angelic. Many songs feature heavy and sharp synth-lines that blossom into a shadowy spiral of fragile reverb and eerie hymn-like echoes. The opening song ‘St. Apolonia’ has an incredibly calming presence and at times transcends into moments of inaudible whispering vocals, (inaudible meant of course in the most beautiful sense), it’s almost as the songs are so emotive that words are unnecessary and Julianna Barwick’s voice blends in with the magnificent soaring instrumental segments. ‘Will’ is a precious find and is full of conviction; an album to be cherished as one of the most sensitive and tender albums of the year.Sil says: Loads of reverb and atmospheres emanating from all songs. Made mainly with a loop pedal, a piano and a synth. Simplicity that opens a lot of possibilities makes this album ultimately timeless.
THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2016 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.
Limited to 150 copies for the UK. 2016 edition of the single that marked the return of Joe Bataan in 2004. A dancefloor favourite by the King of Latin Soul! Back in 2004, Vampisoul was extremely honoured to play a role in the return to recording of the legendary Joe Bataan, which fully materialized in the lauded 2005 album "Call My Name", written and produced by Daniel Colls. But first came out the preview 45 'Chick-A-Boom' / 'Cycles Of You', which quickly became a DJ favourite and guaranteed dancefloor filler, long out of print until now.
Limited to 150 copies for the UK. 2016 edition of the single that marked the return of Joe Bataan in 2004. A dancefloor favourite by the King of Latin Soul! Back in 2004, Vampisoul was extremely honoured to play a role in the return to recording of the legendary Joe Bataan, which fully materialized in the lauded 2005 album "Call My Name", written and produced by Daniel Colls. But first came out the preview 45 'Chick-A-Boom' / 'Cycles Of You', which quickly became a DJ favourite and guaranteed dancefloor filler, long out of print until now.
A brilliant Latin-soul / boogaloo album from Joe Bataan, and the biggest selling Latin LP of 1968, so it obviously needs checking out. There are some real winners here, including "It's A Good Feeling (Riot)", "What Good is A Castle" and the classic "Ordinary Guy".
FORMAT INFORMATION
LP Info: US import reissue with authentic replica artwork.
Official R&S reissue of the 1990 12" that launched a million copycat producers. But none could replicate the incredible bass signal that New York's Joey Beltram created on "Energy Flash". One of the first techno classics to come from outside of the Detroit-Chicago axis, such was the demand for "Energy Flash" that it was quickly licensed to Derrick May's Transmat imprint.
John Beltran continues his relationship with Delsin Records with the release of a new ambient album, 'Espais'. Beltran has long been a master of his art, turning out seminal LPs and EPs on labels like Peacefrog, Millions of Moments and Text Records. 'Espais' is an absorbing soundtrack featuring 17 pieces of immersive, sonically lush and rich music. As he has throughout his career, Beltran makes use of modern techniques and classical composition to craft a wide range of blissfully soul soothing moods and supple, subtle grooves.
Tracks like "Espais" are uplifting and heavenly with their sombre chords, "Přestávka" is angelic and crystal clear, where "Ruimten" is rather more meaning and forbidding. Its textures are frazzled and almost industrial. Elsewhere efforts like "Dream Tangle" blend synthetic machine made sounds with more organic strings and the results are truly moving throughout. Unfolding like a proper journey with a carefully threaded narrative, this album is yet another testament to Beltran’s ability to sculpt sound in intricate and compelling ways.
Tracks like "Espais" are uplifting and heavenly with their sombre chords, "Přestávka" is angelic and crystal clear, where "Ruimten" is rather more meaning and forbidding. Its textures are frazzled and almost industrial. Elsewhere efforts like "Dream Tangle" blend synthetic machine made sounds with more organic strings and the results are truly moving throughout. Unfolding like a proper journey with a carefully threaded narrative, this album is yet another testament to Beltran’s ability to sculpt sound in intricate and compelling ways.
Another fantastic compilation from Sunkissed featuring six incredible Afro Latin flavoured Balearic rarities from 70s / 80s Brazilian singer / songwriter Jorge Ben. A stunning selection of hard to find tracks that all found favour both on Italy’s Afro-funky Cosmic scene and on the dancefloors of Ibiza and beyond. Standouts include the floor friendly ‘Ponta De Lanca Africano (Umbabarauma)’ and ‘Energia Bom Bom’ as well as the brilliant ‘Falcao’ only ever available before as an in-demand limited 1983 seven inch but all the cuts are essential and a great way to collect some of the best work by such a wonderful artist. Top stuff!
One of Brazil’s greatest songwriters, Jorge Ben rarely dwelled on any particular musical style, even the ones he helped create. By the mid 1970s, Ben had already innovated several groundbreaking new twists on the classic samba sound, in the process creating many tunes that became epoch-defining hits for South America’s biggest country — not to mention the world at large. For 1977’s Tropical, he made the controversial decision to rework an album’s worth of his most beloved songs in the new, disco and funk influenced Afro-Samba style he was exploring at the time. As a result, classics like “Chove Chuva,” “Taj Mahal” and “Mas Que Nada” get polished updates, alongside deeper rarities like “Georgia” and “Jesus de Praga,” making Tropical a sensual, sultry counterpoint to other Jorge Ben collections.
Double A-side from J. Bernardt, the alias of Jinte Deprez, co-frontman of hugely successful Belgian indie-rock outfit Balthzar.
Displaying an altogether different sound from Balthazar, both tracks are taken from J. Bernardt’s debut album ‘Running Days’.
‘On Fire’ is the opening track of ‘Running Days’ and is a subtle statement of intent, with warm piano chords, persistent guitar hook and gospel infused harmonies.
‘Wicked Streets’ brims with jazzy mellifluous horns.
Displaying an altogether different sound from Balthazar, both tracks are taken from J. Bernardt’s debut album ‘Running Days’.
‘On Fire’ is the opening track of ‘Running Days’ and is a subtle statement of intent, with warm piano chords, persistent guitar hook and gospel infused harmonies.
‘Wicked Streets’ brims with jazzy mellifluous horns.
What do you get when Jello Biafra and three of the Zen Guerillas attack two songs for a Reverend Horton Heat compilation? You get this aural ass-kicking of a 7-inch! The A-side is their scathing take on the classic rockabilly tune, "Jezebel," while the B-side is their version of the Rev's awesome tune "Speed Demon"! The cover art is hand-picked by Jello, and if you think the topless blonde with the dog is striking, wait 'til you see the other side.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd 7" Info: Limited to 2000 worldwide so get in quick!!!!!!
Like WW I had its WW II and the Gulf War had its Iraqi Freedom, you can't expect an event of epic proportions to end without proper follow-through: hence, Alternative Tentacles presents the first and second installment from Jello Biafra With The Melvins ! Never Breathe What You Can't See (2004) fed the world, in alternating fistfuls, the Melvins' sonic brutality and Biafra's erudite lyrical jesting, and the world cried for more. Sieg Howdy features songs recorded during the Never BreatheŠ sessions, as well as remixes by Al Jourgensen (Ministry, Lard), Dalek and Dale Crover (Melvins). And you know that Biafra, the consummate record collector, would not even think of releasing another record unless it's good enough to stand on its own! It doesn't matter if you missed the boat the first time or if you couldn't get enough, the dominion of Jello Biafra With The Melvins is far from over: be prepared yet again to let the most twisted minds in rock detonate your mind.
"It's the ritual element of it. It's running your finger down the side of the record, trying to open the plastic wrap, and then pulling it out, seeing if there is an inner sleeve, hoping for a gatefold. Nowadays, you just walk over to your computer, you click three times, and you have 140,000 songs at your fingertips. Vinyl was just a different kind of thing - and it still is." - Lars Ulrich, Metallica
In 2015, vinyl sales in the US increased by 30% - a raise for the tenth year in succession - and 1.29 million vinyl albums were sold in the UK in 2014, the first time the million mark has been surpassed since 1996. Vinyl, once thought to be a dying market, is now facing a major revival.
Pop culture writer and historian Jennifer Otter Bickerdike interviews some of our most iconic artists, including hip-hop stars, Indie legends, DJs, producers, album cover designers, photographers, label founders and record store owners. Each superstar and superfan talks about their own experiences of vinyl and what it means to them, and the importance of its re-emergence - seemingly against all odds - as a physical format in the era of the digital economy.
Why Vinyl Matters is part history, part future forecasting, part nostalgia and all celebration. A collection of more than 25 interviews, all illustrated with photos, sidebars, quotes, album covers, outtakes and much more. This is the book for anyone who has ever gone to the store and bought music on vinyl.
Includes interviews with: Fat Boy Slim; Tim Burgess (Charlatans); Henry Rollins (musician, actor, writer, comedian); Gaz Coombes (Supergrass); Lars Ulrich (Metallica); Maxi Jazz (Faithless); Rob da Bank (DJ and founder of Bestival); Clint Boone (Inspiral Carpets); Mike Ness (Social Distortion); Chief Xcel (Blackalicious); Cut Chemist (Jurassic 5); Fab 5 Freddy (hip hop pioneer, visual artist); Fat Mike (NOFX); Julia Ruzicka (Future of the Left); Steve Hackett (Genesis); Nick Hornby.
In 2015, vinyl sales in the US increased by 30% - a raise for the tenth year in succession - and 1.29 million vinyl albums were sold in the UK in 2014, the first time the million mark has been surpassed since 1996. Vinyl, once thought to be a dying market, is now facing a major revival.
Pop culture writer and historian Jennifer Otter Bickerdike interviews some of our most iconic artists, including hip-hop stars, Indie legends, DJs, producers, album cover designers, photographers, label founders and record store owners. Each superstar and superfan talks about their own experiences of vinyl and what it means to them, and the importance of its re-emergence - seemingly against all odds - as a physical format in the era of the digital economy.
Why Vinyl Matters is part history, part future forecasting, part nostalgia and all celebration. A collection of more than 25 interviews, all illustrated with photos, sidebars, quotes, album covers, outtakes and much more. This is the book for anyone who has ever gone to the store and bought music on vinyl.
Includes interviews with: Fat Boy Slim; Tim Burgess (Charlatans); Henry Rollins (musician, actor, writer, comedian); Gaz Coombes (Supergrass); Lars Ulrich (Metallica); Maxi Jazz (Faithless); Rob da Bank (DJ and founder of Bestival); Clint Boone (Inspiral Carpets); Mike Ness (Social Distortion); Chief Xcel (Blackalicious); Cut Chemist (Jurassic 5); Fab 5 Freddy (hip hop pioneer, visual artist); Fat Mike (NOFX); Julia Ruzicka (Future of the Left); Steve Hackett (Genesis); Nick Hornby.
THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.
The latest signing to The Leaf Label is multi-talented Seattle-based composer/arranger/producer Jherek Bischoff
His first release for the label will be this strictly limited edition 7” single for RECORD STORE DAY
‘Eyes’ is a collaboration with ex-Talking Head and international treasure David Byrne
There will be just 500 of these singles released in Europe by Leaf.
The two songs are a taster for Jherek's forthcoming album Composed, out in late May
‘Young And Lovely’ features the talents of Parenthetical Girls’ Zac Pennington and acclaimed French vocalist Soko
The individually hand-numbered 7” is packaged in a full-colour die-cut sleeve
The songs will ONLY be available in this format until the release of the album
The latest signing to The Leaf Label is multi-talented Seattle-based composer/arranger/producer Jherek Bischoff
His first release for the label will be this strictly limited edition 7” single for RECORD STORE DAY
‘Eyes’ is a collaboration with ex-Talking Head and international treasure David Byrne
There will be just 500 of these singles released in Europe by Leaf.
The two songs are a taster for Jherek's forthcoming album Composed, out in late May
‘Young And Lovely’ features the talents of Parenthetical Girls’ Zac Pennington and acclaimed French vocalist Soko
The individually hand-numbered 7” is packaged in a full-colour die-cut sleeve
The songs will ONLY be available in this format until the release of the album
In celebration of the centenary of Louis Feuillade’s Fantômas silent film series, James Blackshaw was invited by Yann Tiersen to perform a live score to the fifth and final film, Le Faux Magistrat, at the beautiful and prestigious surroundings of the Théâtre de Châtelet, Paris on October 31st 2013.Fantômas – a master of disguise and symbol of terror – is one of the most popular characters in French crime fiction, as well as a favourite with the avant-garde, particularly the surrealists.Tim Hecker, Amiina, Yann Tiersen and Loney Dear also performed during the event (which was broadcast live on the European ARTE channel) each bringing their own unique sonic perspective to the other installments in the series.Written during the course of a few months, Blackshaw drew influences from French impressionist composers, Brazillian guitar music, musique concrete and the works of other film composer such as David Shire and Pino Donaggio, to create a noirish score that is in turns sinister, quietly profound and thrilling.Personally invited by James Blackshaw, experimental musicians Duane Pitre and Simon Scott (also of Slowdive) contributed drums, electronics, synth, bowed guitar, bass and more to Blackshaw’s nylon string guitar and grand piano, with multi-instrumentalist Charlotte Glasson adding violin, vibraphone and several wind instruments to the 75 minute long work.
The past couple of years have seen creative explosions and new generations coming through in both dancefloor electronics and heartfelt, introspective singer-songwriting, but self evidently they’ve remained mutually exclusive genre islands. Until now. With a uniquely emotional electronic production style every bit as deeply personal and impassioned as his voice or songwriting, James Blake is sketching out his own place in the musical universe.
When a teenage James first visited the pivotal London dubstep night FWD>> in 2007, he’d already been to drum ’n’ bass nights with schoolfriends, but the music and atmosphere there were unlike anything he’d experienced. This was what James had been waiting for – he just hadn’t realised. This midnight epiphany in Plastic People’s Shoreditch cellar led, in a few short years, to the James Blake of 2010, a surefooted 22-year-old composer whose extraordinary tracks are not so much breaking down existing musical barriers as leaping over them and creating an entirely new kind of pop that belies its author’s tender age.
Although loosely tethered to the cutting edge of contemporary electronics, James’s songs possess uncommon grace and soulfulness. Whether intended for the FWD>> dancefloor or, like new single "Limit to Your Love", destined to melt hearts and prick ears, his music is characterised by a playful and arresting honesty, a human touch that, despite his status as a hugely in-demand DJ, naturally aligns him with contemporary artists such as Bon Iver or Laura Marling or the xx.
Yet more than this, it is the shock of the new in James’s music that’s causing real commotion: the sounds, that voice, the silence, the rhythm (or lack of it), the waiting, the tension. You have to know the rules in order to break them with such conviction, and by daring to be different, James stands head and shoulders above his peers. No doubt, you’ll remember where you were when you heard tracks like "Limit to Your Love" or "I Never Learnt to Share" for the first time.
When a teenage James first visited the pivotal London dubstep night FWD>> in 2007, he’d already been to drum ’n’ bass nights with schoolfriends, but the music and atmosphere there were unlike anything he’d experienced. This was what James had been waiting for – he just hadn’t realised. This midnight epiphany in Plastic People’s Shoreditch cellar led, in a few short years, to the James Blake of 2010, a surefooted 22-year-old composer whose extraordinary tracks are not so much breaking down existing musical barriers as leaping over them and creating an entirely new kind of pop that belies its author’s tender age.
Although loosely tethered to the cutting edge of contemporary electronics, James’s songs possess uncommon grace and soulfulness. Whether intended for the FWD>> dancefloor or, like new single "Limit to Your Love", destined to melt hearts and prick ears, his music is characterised by a playful and arresting honesty, a human touch that, despite his status as a hugely in-demand DJ, naturally aligns him with contemporary artists such as Bon Iver or Laura Marling or the xx.
Yet more than this, it is the shock of the new in James’s music that’s causing real commotion: the sounds, that voice, the silence, the rhythm (or lack of it), the waiting, the tension. You have to know the rules in order to break them with such conviction, and by daring to be different, James stands head and shoulders above his peers. No doubt, you’ll remember where you were when you heard tracks like "Limit to Your Love" or "I Never Learnt to Share" for the first time.
FORMAT INFORMATION
2xLP Info: LIMITED deluxe double 180g vinyl pressing in gatefold sleeve with full colour inner sleeves.
Two years after his self-titled debut album took UK bass culture down previously unimagined roads of introspection, James Blake returns with the epic ‘Overgrown’, an incredible album that sees James growing as a singer and songwriter while at the same time returning to the brain melting electronic perfection of his early releases on Hemlock and Hessle, moving way beyond any post-dubstep pigeonholes to include stunning reinterpretations of both hip-hop and house.
In retrospect ‘James Blake’ can now be viewed as another stepping stone on Blake’s musical evolutionary journey which started with ‘Air & Lack Thereof’ back in 2009. Always travelling a different path to his peers, James is as much a singer-songwriter as he is a bass music producer. On ‘Overgrown’ his latest transitional shift has been made, the layers stripped back to reveal a selection of stark, beautiful and emotive songs, all with James’ heart-wrenching vocals at their centre, set in a simple framework of subtle electronic sounds and beats.
Title track ‘Overgrown’ sets the scene, offering a Nick Drake style ballad reborn as a spiritually uplifting electronic soul masterpiece. ‘I Am Sold’ recalls the sparse beatbox melancholia of Portishead, while ‘Life Round Here’ also has a certain Bristolian downbeat feel, opening with almost baroque-like keyboard motifs and rimshots and slowly building with electronic noise. RZA adds a rap to ‘Take A Fall For Me’, a bold fusion of hip hop beats and folktronica. ‘Retrograde’ has been used as the album’s teaser track, and you can see why; an amazing song in the style of ‘Limit To Your Love’, with a dense cascade of pitch-shifting synths. Piano / vocal piece ‘DLM’ sees Blake dispensing with the electronic production altogether, an interlude before the dull heartbeat thud, scattering snares and rave airhorns of ‘Digital Lion’ (think Portishead’s ‘Machine Gun’). The differing opening dynamics of ‘Voyeur’ – part love song, part sub bass rumble - evolve into a proper dancefloor track with 4/4 beats, cowbells and synth drones. Set against a ticking rhythm and mechanical scrape, Blake’s vocal soars skyward on the beautiful ‘To The Last’, while the album closes with ‘Our Love Comes Back’, a devastatingly simple ending.
Garnering equally enthusiastic reviews across the blogosphere and print media alike, ‘Overgrown’ is a work of immense talent that will leave breathless with both its scope and simplicity, and have you already salivating at the thought of Blake’s future inventions.
In retrospect ‘James Blake’ can now be viewed as another stepping stone on Blake’s musical evolutionary journey which started with ‘Air & Lack Thereof’ back in 2009. Always travelling a different path to his peers, James is as much a singer-songwriter as he is a bass music producer. On ‘Overgrown’ his latest transitional shift has been made, the layers stripped back to reveal a selection of stark, beautiful and emotive songs, all with James’ heart-wrenching vocals at their centre, set in a simple framework of subtle electronic sounds and beats.
Title track ‘Overgrown’ sets the scene, offering a Nick Drake style ballad reborn as a spiritually uplifting electronic soul masterpiece. ‘I Am Sold’ recalls the sparse beatbox melancholia of Portishead, while ‘Life Round Here’ also has a certain Bristolian downbeat feel, opening with almost baroque-like keyboard motifs and rimshots and slowly building with electronic noise. RZA adds a rap to ‘Take A Fall For Me’, a bold fusion of hip hop beats and folktronica. ‘Retrograde’ has been used as the album’s teaser track, and you can see why; an amazing song in the style of ‘Limit To Your Love’, with a dense cascade of pitch-shifting synths. Piano / vocal piece ‘DLM’ sees Blake dispensing with the electronic production altogether, an interlude before the dull heartbeat thud, scattering snares and rave airhorns of ‘Digital Lion’ (think Portishead’s ‘Machine Gun’). The differing opening dynamics of ‘Voyeur’ – part love song, part sub bass rumble - evolve into a proper dancefloor track with 4/4 beats, cowbells and synth drones. Set against a ticking rhythm and mechanical scrape, Blake’s vocal soars skyward on the beautiful ‘To The Last’, while the album closes with ‘Our Love Comes Back’, a devastatingly simple ending.
Garnering equally enthusiastic reviews across the blogosphere and print media alike, ‘Overgrown’ is a work of immense talent that will leave breathless with both its scope and simplicity, and have you already salivating at the thought of Blake’s future inventions.
Fresh from bringing the sad to Beyonce's 'Lemonade' long player and Frank Ocean's soon-come sophomore outing, James Blake returns as a solo artist with his third full length album. Not so solo though as 'The Colour In Anything' features a number of collaborations as well, with Ocean, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Connan Mockasin and Rick Rubin all playing a part in the album's evolution.
However, like the grey skies on the album's sleeve (illustrated by another famous Blake, Sir Quentin), the singer-songwriter / producer still seems to be situated under his own personal rain cloud, providing us with 17 tracks and 76 minuted of heartfelt melancholia. Blake's deep, sparse, spacious electronica provides the perfect backdrop for his lyrical repetition and sorrowful vocals. At times moving further towards an alt-R&B sound, his plaintive solo vocal and piano songs have a meditative, almost gospel-tinted edge to them. A cathartic meditation on loss of love and relationship breakdown, but with deceptive strength at its core, Blake's songs see 'The Colour In Anything', as long as that colour is blue.
However, like the grey skies on the album's sleeve (illustrated by another famous Blake, Sir Quentin), the singer-songwriter / producer still seems to be situated under his own personal rain cloud, providing us with 17 tracks and 76 minuted of heartfelt melancholia. Blake's deep, sparse, spacious electronica provides the perfect backdrop for his lyrical repetition and sorrowful vocals. At times moving further towards an alt-R&B sound, his plaintive solo vocal and piano songs have a meditative, almost gospel-tinted edge to them. A cathartic meditation on loss of love and relationship breakdown, but with deceptive strength at its core, Blake's songs see 'The Colour In Anything', as long as that colour is blue.
Jahdan Blakkamoore is a Brooklyn local hero. Beloved for his charismatic stage presence, pointed lyrics, and powerful voice, Jahdan brings the perspective of Rasta sufferation to the streets of New York in the post-9/11 landscape. Born in Guyana, after crossing into the US alone and undocumented at the ripe age of 8, he quickly began to absorb the swirl of music that thumps out of car trunks and crackles across the pirate airwaves of the borough of Kings. Making his first impact with NYC's golden-era street rap legends Boot Camp Click, Jahdan has been bridging the gap between hip hop, dancehall and roots reggae ever since. This CD / EP finds Jahdan touching down on deep dub-inflected Cumbia beats from Buenos Aires by Chancha Vía Circuito, synthetic dancehall from Vienna's Stereotyp, plus three riddims from lifelong Manhattan boy Shadetek which both reflect and bend the UK dubstep sound. The set includes vocal and dub versions.
John Blum was born in New York City, April 15, 1968 and has been a mainstay of the free-jazz community there for over 15 years. While in Europe in 1992, he recorded with Clarinetist Tony Scott's Trio which included Antonio Grippi on Alto Sax. Upon returning to New York City, Blum became a member of the Improvisers Collective (1993-1995) and also initiated projects as a soloist and a group leader. By early 1998 he joined together with Antonio Grippi on Saxophone, William Parker on Bass, and Denis Charles on Drums to form The 'Astrogeny Quartet'. A CD of this group was released on Eremite records in 2005. In 2001 Blum recorded a solo piano CD for Drimala Records entitled "Naked Mirror", and was also featured on Butch Morris' "Conduction 117" released on JumpArts Records. In 2003, Blum recorded with Sabir Mateen on Tenor Sax in Sunny Murray's Trio and is featured on Murray's CD "Perles Noires Volume 2" on Eremite Records. He joined the Steve Swell Quintet in 2005 and a CD was released on NotTwo Records of their 2006 NYC Vision Festival performance. In addition to this Trio recorded in 2008, Blum also recorded a solo CD "Who Begat Eye" to be released on Konnex Records in 2009.
You could be forgiven for thinking Basso‘s been hitting the plant food of late. Last time out we took a trip with Trance, and now our esoteric expert nods his head, rolls his shoulders and drops a h-h-h-house record on our unexpecting asses. That‘s right folks, roll up the rug, push the sofa back and enjoy some ‚Personal Growth‘ from James Booth.
Operating a million miles away from the kick and hiss of the trendy lo-fi folks, the Berlin based producer favours subtle rhythms, delicate textures and tender melodies - turning out a string of sophisticated dance floor winners for 100% Silk, Church and No Bad Days. Now he brings his organic house stylings to the Growing Bin with a fresh five-tracker packed with all the warmth of a Tempelhof picnic on a balmy July afternoon.
Emerging from the watery depths of the Drexciyan ocean, opener "Mood" strides calmly through the morning dew, stretching those loose limbs and seeking out Hardcastle‘s rainforest. Drifting freely through immersive, aquatic pads and soft focus melodies, the track takes in a little R&R before snapping electro percussion, cascading synthlines and a rolling rhythm up the intensity. The deepness continues on the A2 as "Dream Precipitation" offers a medicated vision of Debussy doing P-Bar while Lynch rolls the cameras. Syncopated hi-hats, jazzy keys and star-gazing sine waves wrap themselves around your cerebellum, expanding your mind as a steady kick moves your body into the pleasure zone. Booth takes a Derren Brown tip on the flip, imbuing "You" with the kind of mesmeric rhythm that can make the staunchest wallflower pull a Pink Panther on a packed dance floor. The exotic tumble of woody percussion and hissing castanets keep up a fascinating rhythm, driving the titular mantra and snaking synth melody through bursts of slapped bass and subtle 4/4. "Dhoop Stick" stays on board with the boogie hypnotism, weaving its way through celestial melodies, squelching bass and toasty Rhodes before "The Chorus" brings down the curtain with wailing FM vox, military snares and the dreamy synth pop charm of a lost Sheffield classic. Warm, woody and entirely organic, this is the birth of Green House...you heard it here first!
Operating a million miles away from the kick and hiss of the trendy lo-fi folks, the Berlin based producer favours subtle rhythms, delicate textures and tender melodies - turning out a string of sophisticated dance floor winners for 100% Silk, Church and No Bad Days. Now he brings his organic house stylings to the Growing Bin with a fresh five-tracker packed with all the warmth of a Tempelhof picnic on a balmy July afternoon.
Emerging from the watery depths of the Drexciyan ocean, opener "Mood" strides calmly through the morning dew, stretching those loose limbs and seeking out Hardcastle‘s rainforest. Drifting freely through immersive, aquatic pads and soft focus melodies, the track takes in a little R&R before snapping electro percussion, cascading synthlines and a rolling rhythm up the intensity. The deepness continues on the A2 as "Dream Precipitation" offers a medicated vision of Debussy doing P-Bar while Lynch rolls the cameras. Syncopated hi-hats, jazzy keys and star-gazing sine waves wrap themselves around your cerebellum, expanding your mind as a steady kick moves your body into the pleasure zone. Booth takes a Derren Brown tip on the flip, imbuing "You" with the kind of mesmeric rhythm that can make the staunchest wallflower pull a Pink Panther on a packed dance floor. The exotic tumble of woody percussion and hissing castanets keep up a fascinating rhythm, driving the titular mantra and snaking synth melody through bursts of slapped bass and subtle 4/4. "Dhoop Stick" stays on board with the boogie hypnotism, weaving its way through celestial melodies, squelching bass and toasty Rhodes before "The Chorus" brings down the curtain with wailing FM vox, military snares and the dreamy synth pop charm of a lost Sheffield classic. Warm, woody and entirely organic, this is the birth of Green House...you heard it here first!
Next up for Church is Berlin via Manchester based James Booth. One of the early pioneers of that 100% Silky, synthetic house sound circa 2011; taking cues from Legowelt and other hardware veterans and adding a dreamy, metropolitan vibe. "Silver Blaze" kicks things off with a serene hue, a simple chord progression elevating plenty of synthy goodness as Booth's drum machines purr away in the background. "Soup" opens the floodgates of glacial backwash, glistening sonics raining down an icy slope peppered with percussion artefacts and reflecting crystals. "Vanish" ups the energy for a late night club excursion with tough kicks and massaging licks, Booth's hypnotic flow in full effect has he soundtrack's some deep space exploration. Finally, "Why Would You Not" concludes with a great piece of post-peak relaxation, a gentle 4/4 holding us tight as we drift off into cosmic abandon. Great stuff as always from this staple of the hardware scene.
Joe Boots & The Fabulous Winds With Floyd Syandifer Orch.
Rock And Roll Radio / That's Tough
Celestial
Reissue of the original Celestial label release. "Rock And Roll Radio" is fab and tasteful strollin’ R&B mid-pacer from Seattle-based Joe Boots. Apparently Mr. Boot downed a full bottle of whiskey during the recording. Glug, glug, glug... On the flip we have the rollin' "That's Tough".
STAFF COMMENTS
Philippa says: Feelgood strollin’ R&B killers!FORMAT INFORMATION
7" Info: Limited dinked reissue with replica US label artwork. 500 copies only.
Despite his success over the years, Johnny Borrell’s appetite remains undiminished. On this new release, the world-travelled Borrell and his band draw from a musical palette of rich colour. Their generous brush strokes sweep new life into the blues / rock genre, filling it with flamenco flourishes and all manner of world influences.
This release is the fourth in a series of totally valve mastered recordings featuring Gearbox’s vintage Decca valve mixer in association with their Haeco Scully lathe with Westrex RA1700 series amps, Westrex 3DIIA cutting head and Telefunken U73B tube limiter.
This release is the fourth in a series of totally valve mastered recordings featuring Gearbox’s vintage Decca valve mixer in association with their Haeco Scully lathe with Westrex RA1700 series amps, Westrex 3DIIA cutting head and Telefunken U73B tube limiter.
Reduced
Jagger Botchway is most famous for his work with the Hedzoleh Soundz and Hugh Masekela. Jagger was also the driving force behind the highly sought-after Ghanaian afro-funk masterpiece 'Moving World' by the Kelenkye Band. Deano Sounds, along with Voodoo Funk’s Frank Gossner, teamed up to release the Kelenkye Band’s later material, 'Jungle Funk', back in 2012.
Jagger went back into the studio with a group of musicians he had played with from various points in his career to record an album of unique soca and highlife sounds. What was put down on tape was a heavy mix of percussion, striking highlife guitar lines and futuristic synth stabs with soaring African voices.
Deano Sounds and Jagger rescued the original multi-track DAT tapes that were hiding in obscurity in Ghana. Cultures of Soul invited a host of today’s best remixers to give them the freedom to create their own interpretations of the material. These producers include Berlin’s Africaine 808, Manchester’s Ruf Dug, Switzerland’s Alma Negra and New York’s Names You Can Trust.
Jagger went back into the studio with a group of musicians he had played with from various points in his career to record an album of unique soca and highlife sounds. What was put down on tape was a heavy mix of percussion, striking highlife guitar lines and futuristic synth stabs with soaring African voices.
Deano Sounds and Jagger rescued the original multi-track DAT tapes that were hiding in obscurity in Ghana. Cultures of Soul invited a host of today’s best remixers to give them the freedom to create their own interpretations of the material. These producers include Berlin’s Africaine 808, Manchester’s Ruf Dug, Switzerland’s Alma Negra and New York’s Names You Can Trust.
Reduced
Jagger Botchway is most famous for his work with the Hedzoleh Soundz and Hugh Masekela. Jagger was also the driving force behind the highly sought-after Ghanaian afro-funk masterpiece 'Moving World' by the Kelenkye Band. Deano Sounds, along with Voodoo Funk’s Frank Gossner, teamed up to release the Kelenkye Band’s later material, 'Jungle Funk', back in 2012.
Jagger went back into the studio with a group of musicians he had played with from various points in his career to record an album of unique soca and highlife sounds. What was put down on tape was a heavy mix of percussion, striking highlife guitar lines and futuristic synth stabs with soaring African voices.
Deano Sounds and Jagger rescued the original multi-track DAT tapes that were hiding in obscurity in Ghana. Cultures of Soul invited a host of today’s best remixers to give them the freedom to create their own interpretations of the material. These producers include Berlin’s Africaine 808, Manchester’s Ruf Dug, Switzerland’s Alma Negra and New York’s Names You Can Trust.
Jagger went back into the studio with a group of musicians he had played with from various points in his career to record an album of unique soca and highlife sounds. What was put down on tape was a heavy mix of percussion, striking highlife guitar lines and futuristic synth stabs with soaring African voices.
Deano Sounds and Jagger rescued the original multi-track DAT tapes that were hiding in obscurity in Ghana. Cultures of Soul invited a host of today’s best remixers to give them the freedom to create their own interpretations of the material. These producers include Berlin’s Africaine 808, Manchester’s Ruf Dug, Switzerland’s Alma Negra and New York’s Names You Can Trust.
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Sydney upstart Jonathan Boulet gives you his new single, 'This Song Is Called Ragged', from the forthcoming album 'We Keep The Beat, Found The Sound, See The Need, Start The Heart'.
A swirling, percussive uprising of the most positive kind, 'This Song Is Called Ragged' is released as a double A-side 7” picture disc b/w 'Trounce' on Modular Recordings.
A swirling, percussive uprising of the most positive kind, 'This Song Is Called Ragged' is released as a double A-side 7” picture disc b/w 'Trounce' on Modular Recordings.
STAFF COMMENTS
Laura says: An uplifting, heady rush of calypso beats, tribal chants and pop hooks. If this doesn't will the sun to come out in our rainy city, nothing will! While ‘Trounce’ on the flip is a pummelling tribal beat that suddenly explodes into a thunderous collision of drums and guitars. Ace!
We Keep The Beat… is a soaring burst of melody and harmony, built on the blocks of primal, incessant rhythm. It features choruses of chanting choirs, speedball drum lines and junkyards of melodic percussion. It’s a dense, cathartic record of unbridled energy and heavy pop.
On another level it’s collective music. It’s a call to arms for those who are not just listening, but actually hearing it, and it’s best listened to in group situations - the more the merrier.
On another level it’s collective music. It’s a call to arms for those who are not just listening, but actually hearing it, and it’s best listened to in group situations - the more the merrier.
Jean-Paul Bourelly is widely regarded as one of the most gifted electric guitarists in Europe today. On the evidence of "Trance Atlantic" it's easy to see why. Along with drummer Dennis Chambers and sax player Vincent Henry he rips into a set of high eneregy jazz fusion tracks that bite and never let go.
I Am Kloot’s songwriter and frontman, John Bramwell, has announced the release of his first studio solo album “Leave Alone The Empty Spaces” The record is a stunning showcase of John’s skillful, widely acclaimed songwriting and his unique voice.
It’s the first completely new collection of songs by John as a solo artist since he started his adventures away from I Am Kloot. “Leave Alone The Empty Spaces” has been inspired by John’s travels around the UK and Europe performing more than 300, intimate solo gigs.
Travelling in his VW Campervan with his dog Henry, the experience allowed John to explore parts of the country hitherto unknown, develop his solo sound and ideas, and meet an awful lot of interesting people...
The album is inspired by the spirit of liberty, independence, adventure and solitude that John has enjoyed on the road, as well as the diverse emotions that escape and travel can bring about - from sadness to exhilaration.
It’s about rediscovering the romance, intimacy and magic of the live music experience, one to one with the audience.
It’s the first completely new collection of songs by John as a solo artist since he started his adventures away from I Am Kloot. “Leave Alone The Empty Spaces” has been inspired by John’s travels around the UK and Europe performing more than 300, intimate solo gigs.
Travelling in his VW Campervan with his dog Henry, the experience allowed John to explore parts of the country hitherto unknown, develop his solo sound and ideas, and meet an awful lot of interesting people...
The album is inspired by the spirit of liberty, independence, adventure and solitude that John has enjoyed on the road, as well as the diverse emotions that escape and travel can bring about - from sadness to exhilaration.
It’s about rediscovering the romance, intimacy and magic of the live music experience, one to one with the audience.
John Brenton aka Metrotone, Landshipping, Ojn, Tonfedd Oren & Southville Enraptured proudly releases a “best-of” collection comprising radio-friendly tracks from five related projects that Bristol-based John Brenton co wrote and developed as well as his solo work.This is a collection of lesser known tracks that have nevertheless been fiercely loved over the past twenty years, and supported loyally by a number of radio shows including John Peel and Steve Lamacq.Originally released on small labels, usually on vinyl with typical pressings of less than a thousand, sometimes with mail-order only distribution, the tracks are notable for the disproportionate amount of radio play garnered over the years.
This compilation makes many of these tracks available on CD and download for the first time.Highlights include Metrotone's “Kiss Me Awake”, which led to the well-received Peel Session in 1998, and Landshipping's “Penguin New Writing”, which was a collaboration with Isan. More recent work under the name Tonfedd Oren, got air-play on Jen Long’s Radio One show, as well as elicited praise from Welsh language media, Tonfedd Oren being Welsh for, ‘Orange wave length’.
Many DJs gave air-play to one or more of these tracks, but special thanks are due to: the Late and greatly missed John Peel, Steve Lamacq, and Jen & Ally on BBC Radio 1, Thierry Nollet on Contrast Internationale, Harald Are Lund on NRK Petre, Jalal on Popscene Radio Bremen, Duyster on Studio Brussel, Paul Baskerville on NDR4, Adam Walton on BBC Radio Wales, Planet Claire on Aligré FM, Huw Stephens on C2 BBC Radio Cymru, Cam O'r Tywyllwch on Radio Cardiff and Resonance FM, John Cavanagh on Radio Six International, Gideon Coe on 6music and BBC Radio Bristol Introducing.
This compilation makes many of these tracks available on CD and download for the first time.Highlights include Metrotone's “Kiss Me Awake”, which led to the well-received Peel Session in 1998, and Landshipping's “Penguin New Writing”, which was a collaboration with Isan. More recent work under the name Tonfedd Oren, got air-play on Jen Long’s Radio One show, as well as elicited praise from Welsh language media, Tonfedd Oren being Welsh for, ‘Orange wave length’.
Many DJs gave air-play to one or more of these tracks, but special thanks are due to: the Late and greatly missed John Peel, Steve Lamacq, and Jen & Ally on BBC Radio 1, Thierry Nollet on Contrast Internationale, Harald Are Lund on NRK Petre, Jalal on Popscene Radio Bremen, Duyster on Studio Brussel, Paul Baskerville on NDR4, Adam Walton on BBC Radio Wales, Planet Claire on Aligré FM, Huw Stephens on C2 BBC Radio Cymru, Cam O'r Tywyllwch on Radio Cardiff and Resonance FM, John Cavanagh on Radio Six International, Gideon Coe on 6music and BBC Radio Bristol Introducing.
Fire Soundtracks and Lakeshore Records release Jon Brion’s acclaimed score ‘Lady Bird’ for the first time on vinyl on February 23rd 2018. Jon Brion’s previous films include the Grammy nominated ‘Magnolia’, ‘Punch-Drunk Love’, ‘Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind’ and ‘I Heart Huckabees’. Known for his songwriting with The Grays and Jellyfish, Jon Brion has also produced records for Kanye West, Fiona Apple, Rufus Wainwright, Robyn Hitchcock, Sky Ferreira and is a well-known collaborator with Evan Dando and Elliot Smith. Winner of Best Director from the National Board Of Review, actor-turned-director Greta Gerwig’s incredible directorial debut ‘Lady Bird’ is one of this year’s most acclaimed films.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Indies Exclusive LP Info: Limited white vinyl.
Jon brooks' new album has finally arrived. Autres Directions comes hot on the heels of Brooks' recent collaboration with Ed & Edd of The Friendly Fires (who also produced a stunning compilation plucked from the Chapell AV library archives recently called 'Glistens', for which Brooks wrote the linear notes). It also follows 2015's '52' under his own name and the haunting synthy epic 'From Out Here' in 2014. Not to mention running the Cafe Kaput label and giving the mastering touch to my personal favourite album last year (and the shop's number 4) 'Stasis' by Pye Corner Audio.
So, busy then? It would appear so, but fortunately it doesn't come across in the music. As with all of his work (in whatever guise it may take), the music is meticulously crafted, brilliantly evocative and thoroughly beautiful.
The wonky clicking percussives of 'Se Reveiller' spring forth from a trademark static drone and pastoral melodic turn, blooming into a woozy swirling synth loop. 'Le Chateau' comes in where the previous left off, offering the same sort of hazy lilt but this time bolstered with swelling pads resonating around the stereo field and a swooning LFO-warped filter sweep lending variety and inconsistencies to the slowly building euphoric shimmer. These first two pieces act as an acclimatising influence, readying the ears for the graceful journey that is to come. PN_17 takes things further towards the retro-futuristic dystopian realms always present in his works, dampening the unease with airy field recording of bird chirps, balancing the organic relief expertly with the cavernous inorganic swells of static sines and grounded electric hums.
The eponymous track is as much a continuation of this theme as it is a thematic repeater, giving new outlooks on previously established territories and giving them scope to bloom into new realms. Led by a brilliantly satisfying looping bass riff, forging it's way forwards despite the ambient scree blocking the path. There is an urgency to the (completely beatless) rhythm here that incrementally but imperceptibly builds before quickly fading away into the distance.
Move further along and Lanverec is a gothic sidestep, trading in the same ambient flourishes but led by chillingly forlorn organ swells and whole-body washes of aquatic delay and plate 'verb.
As impressive and immersive as anything i've heard, this collection is a testament to Brooks' skill as a sound designer and songwriter. It is at once bold and chilling, forges memories and dreams carved out of the juxtaposition of unease, and the comfort of symbiotic communication. Autres Directions is a thing of wonder, and yet more evidence that Jon Brooks is indeed one of the greatest composers out there today.
Ltd LP includes MP3 Download Code.
So, busy then? It would appear so, but fortunately it doesn't come across in the music. As with all of his work (in whatever guise it may take), the music is meticulously crafted, brilliantly evocative and thoroughly beautiful.
The wonky clicking percussives of 'Se Reveiller' spring forth from a trademark static drone and pastoral melodic turn, blooming into a woozy swirling synth loop. 'Le Chateau' comes in where the previous left off, offering the same sort of hazy lilt but this time bolstered with swelling pads resonating around the stereo field and a swooning LFO-warped filter sweep lending variety and inconsistencies to the slowly building euphoric shimmer. These first two pieces act as an acclimatising influence, readying the ears for the graceful journey that is to come. PN_17 takes things further towards the retro-futuristic dystopian realms always present in his works, dampening the unease with airy field recording of bird chirps, balancing the organic relief expertly with the cavernous inorganic swells of static sines and grounded electric hums.
The eponymous track is as much a continuation of this theme as it is a thematic repeater, giving new outlooks on previously established territories and giving them scope to bloom into new realms. Led by a brilliantly satisfying looping bass riff, forging it's way forwards despite the ambient scree blocking the path. There is an urgency to the (completely beatless) rhythm here that incrementally but imperceptibly builds before quickly fading away into the distance.
Move further along and Lanverec is a gothic sidestep, trading in the same ambient flourishes but led by chillingly forlorn organ swells and whole-body washes of aquatic delay and plate 'verb.
As impressive and immersive as anything i've heard, this collection is a testament to Brooks' skill as a sound designer and songwriter. It is at once bold and chilling, forges memories and dreams carved out of the juxtaposition of unease, and the comfort of symbiotic communication. Autres Directions is a thing of wonder, and yet more evidence that Jon Brooks is indeed one of the greatest composers out there today.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Get in there quick for this one folks, it's a very limited and intensely brilliant sidestep for Brooks, but shining with everything you'd expect from him, and more. Can't recommend this one enough.FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd LP Info: Orange Vinyl, Limited repress!Ltd LP includes MP3 Download Code.
THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2014 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.
TWO TRACK 7” RECORD STORE DAY ONLY SINGLE
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES WORLDWIDE.
EXCLUSIVE TO INTERNATIONAL RECORD STORE DAY
ESOTERIC ANTENNA is pleased to announce the release of an official Record Store Day limited edition Seven-inch single by the legendary JACK BRUCE. A supremely talented instrumentalist and vocalist, eminently respected by his peers, Jack’s pioneering bass playing style has influenced successive generations of bassists, including such luminaries as Paul McCartney, Jaco Pastorius and Sting, alongside more contemporary musicians such as Flea of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. He is also the possessor of one of the most powerful voices in modern music and a composer of some of the most original and influential music of the past forty-five years. As a songwriter he has written some of popular music’s enduring classics such as ‘Sunshine of Your Love’, ‘White Room’, ‘I Feel Free’ and ‘Theme from an Imaginary Western’.
‘Fields of Forever’ and ‘Drone’ are taken from his stunning new album,“Silver Rails”, his first studio in ten years, recorded at the world famous Abbey Road studios.
This release is strictly limited to 500 units, has been newly re-mastered from the original master tapes and fully restores the original release artwork.
QTY FOR UK: 240
TWO TRACK 7” RECORD STORE DAY ONLY SINGLE
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES WORLDWIDE.
EXCLUSIVE TO INTERNATIONAL RECORD STORE DAY
ESOTERIC ANTENNA is pleased to announce the release of an official Record Store Day limited edition Seven-inch single by the legendary JACK BRUCE. A supremely talented instrumentalist and vocalist, eminently respected by his peers, Jack’s pioneering bass playing style has influenced successive generations of bassists, including such luminaries as Paul McCartney, Jaco Pastorius and Sting, alongside more contemporary musicians such as Flea of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. He is also the possessor of one of the most powerful voices in modern music and a composer of some of the most original and influential music of the past forty-five years. As a songwriter he has written some of popular music’s enduring classics such as ‘Sunshine of Your Love’, ‘White Room’, ‘I Feel Free’ and ‘Theme from an Imaginary Western’.
‘Fields of Forever’ and ‘Drone’ are taken from his stunning new album,“Silver Rails”, his first studio in ten years, recorded at the world famous Abbey Road studios.
This release is strictly limited to 500 units, has been newly re-mastered from the original master tapes and fully restores the original release artwork.
QTY FOR UK: 240
"Grace" is the only complete studio album by Jeff Buckley, originally released on August 23, 1994. After the death of Jeff Buckley in 1997, the album grew to be one of the most important album's of the 90s. The album was produced by Andy Wallace who had mixed Nirvana's album "Nevermind".
In addition to seven original songs, the album included three covers: "Lilac Wine", based on the version by Nina Simone, "Corpus Christi Carol", from Benjamin Britten's A Boy Was Born and "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen. Jeff recorded the album with bassist Mick Grondahl, drummer Matt Johnson and guitarist Michael Tighe.
In addition to seven original songs, the album included three covers: "Lilac Wine", based on the version by Nina Simone, "Corpus Christi Carol", from Benjamin Britten's A Boy Was Born and "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen. Jeff recorded the album with bassist Mick Grondahl, drummer Matt Johnson and guitarist Michael Tighe.
For his proposed second album, Jeff Buckley recorded an album's worth of material with producer Tom Verlaine. Deciding that the sound wasn't quite right, the perfectionist Buckley, moved to Memphis to record the album all over again. But then disaster stuck, and Buckley died in a freak accident, disappearing under the waves of the Mississippi River, and the album was never finished. His mother and his record label decided to round up the existing tracks he had been working on, including the Verlaine sessions, and released them as this two CD set, "Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk". It is a poignant and fitting epitaph for an unfulfilled talent.
Recently discovered in the vaults – 10 previously unreleased and virtually unheard studio recordings.
Including covers of Bob Dylan, Sly & The Family Stone, The Smiths, Led Zeppelin, Bukka White and Jevetta Steele, in addition to the first ever studio recording of his signature song ‘Grace’ and ‘Dream Of You And I’, an unheard original recording which informs the deeply intimate and profoundly personal mood of the album. These recordings represent the breadth of Buckley’s influences and talent for interpretation.
Recorded prior to the sessions which would become his seminal debut album ‘Grace’, these tracks offer a unique insight in to the creative process of a developing genius and inimitable immerging talent.
The Columbia/Legacy release of Jeff Buckley's You and I has been overseen by the artist's mother, Mary Guibert.
Including covers of Bob Dylan, Sly & The Family Stone, The Smiths, Led Zeppelin, Bukka White and Jevetta Steele, in addition to the first ever studio recording of his signature song ‘Grace’ and ‘Dream Of You And I’, an unheard original recording which informs the deeply intimate and profoundly personal mood of the album. These recordings represent the breadth of Buckley’s influences and talent for interpretation.
Recorded prior to the sessions which would become his seminal debut album ‘Grace’, these tracks offer a unique insight in to the creative process of a developing genius and inimitable immerging talent.
The Columbia/Legacy release of Jeff Buckley's You and I has been overseen by the artist's mother, Mary Guibert.
FORMAT INFORMATION
2xLtd LP Info: Double 180 gram vinyl.Columbia finally get around to giving the EP (long only available on import) the deluxe 'Legacy Edition' treatment. Expanding the original four tracks over a boggling two discs, this album was actually taken from a number of performances over a few months. Embryonic "Grace" originals sit alongside an array of covers that run the gamut of musical eclecticism; Bob Dylan, Nina Simone, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Led Zeppelin. One wonders how he managed to have such a wonderful voice, broad musical tastes and the ability to reinvent them so uniquely, AND to be able to do it all with just a voice and guitar. An essential testament to one of the most talented artists in the history of popular music.
Jake wrote all eleven songs, played most of the instruments, and produced most of the album (Jacknife Lee produced 3 tracks). The results are simply staggering. Following the incredible success of his first two albums, the double platinum 2012 debut ‘Jake Bugg’ and the top five 2013 follow-up ‘Shangri La’, this new disc firmly establishes Jake as one of Britain’s most exciting talents.
Recorded in London, Los Angeles and Nottingham, highlights are many and include the moving ‘Love Hope And Misery’ driven by a huge chorus, the stomping ‘Bitter Salt’, the soulful ‘Never Wanna Dance’ and the defining title track.
Recorded in London, Los Angeles and Nottingham, highlights are many and include the moving ‘Love Hope And Misery’ driven by a huge chorus, the stomping ‘Bitter Salt’, the soulful ‘Never Wanna Dance’ and the defining title track.
Jake Bugg is back with his brand new record 'Shangri La', following his debut “Jake Bugg” and coming just over a year since that record went straight to Number 1 and sending him into the record books as the youngest solo male to debut at the top of the charts with their first release. It’s fast-approaching sales of one million worldwide and cemented him as one of the most exciting new talents to emerge in recent years. Now hooked up with legendary producer Rubin, he is set to scale new heights. His new album is a much more fully-formed piece of work than its predecessor and is a stand out release of this or any year.
On top of the success of his debut, Jake has toured with Noel Gallagher and Snow Patrol in the US. He is currently nominated for two Q Awards (Best New Act, Best Solo Act) and the Barclaycard Mercury Prize. These nominations follow similar nods at this year’s Brit and NME Awards. He drew one of the biggest crowds of the weekend at Glastonbury, as well as at Reading/Leeds Festival, T In The Park and Summer Sonic in Japan. He returned to Nottingham to headline Splendour this summer, a triumphant homecoming show in front of 17,000 adoring fans.
On top of the success of his debut, Jake has toured with Noel Gallagher and Snow Patrol in the US. He is currently nominated for two Q Awards (Best New Act, Best Solo Act) and the Barclaycard Mercury Prize. These nominations follow similar nods at this year’s Brit and NME Awards. He drew one of the biggest crowds of the weekend at Glastonbury, as well as at Reading/Leeds Festival, T In The Park and Summer Sonic in Japan. He returned to Nottingham to headline Splendour this summer, a triumphant homecoming show in front of 17,000 adoring fans.
Jake Bugg releases his stunning new album ‘Hearts That Strain’, recorded in Nashville, September 1st on Virgin EMI. The first taste of which is the breezy single ‘How Soon The Dawn’, a collaboration with Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys), video out 04.08.17. Working with Grammy Award winning producer David Ferguson and Matt Sweeney, Jake recorded the album in Nashville with some of the best players in the history of popular music. As part of American Sound Studio’s legendary house band The Memphis Boys, Gene Chrisman and Bobby Woods provided the chops on such pivotal records as Dusty In Memphis, In The Ghetto, Suspicious Minds and Dark End Of The Street, cutting their teeth in sessions with Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin and Dionne Warwick.
FORMAT INFORMATION
LP includes MP3 Download Code.
Sometimes it can take years to find your calling. Not so, for wanderer Julie Byrne; whose power of lyrical expression and melodic nous seems inborn. But often, what comes naturally demonstrates against speed. Julie’s second album Not Even Happiness has taken time to evolve, but as it spans recollections of bustling roadside diners, the stars over the high desert, the aching weariness of change, the wildflowers on the coast of California and the irresolvable mysteries of love. Her new album archives a vivid world that would've otherwise been lost to the road and in doing so, Byrne exhibits her extraordinarily innate musicality.
In fact, some of the album’s songs took two years of fine tuning to get where they needed to be. And if you were to ask her why the follow up to 2014's Rooms With Walls And Windows has taken so long, you’d only be greeted with a bemused smile as though it's the strangest question she's ever been asked; “Writing comes from a natural process of change and growth. It took me up to this point to have the capacity to express my experience of the time in my life that these songs came from.”
Having counted Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Northampton, Massachusetts, Chicago, Illinois, Seattle, New Orleans as her home in recent years. For now, Julie has settled in New York City where she moonlights as a seasonal urban park ranger in Manhattan. Whether witnessing the Pacific Northwest for the first time (‘Melting Grid’), the morning sky in Colorado after staying up through the night at a house party in the mountains of Boulder (‘Natural Blue’), recording the passage of freight trains on the outskirts of Buffalo, New York ('Interlude'), or a journey fragrant with rose water; reading Frank O’Hara aloud from the passengers seat during a drive through the desert of Utah into the rainforest of Washington State (‘All The Land Glimmered Beneath’), Not Even Happiness is Julie’s beguilingly ode to the fringes of life.
Self-taught on the guitar after picking it up when her father became ill and could no longer play the instrument himself, Julie readily admits she can’t read music and doesn't even listen to it all that much - the first vinyl she owned was indeed, her own. Recorded with producer Eric Littmann (Phantom Posse), Julie laid down the new album in her childhood home in western New York state and offers an altogether bigger picture to its predecessor through a wider, yet subtle, exploration of instruments and atmospherics, Not Even Happiness reveals an artist who has grown in confidence over time.
Byrne's debut album was released back in January 2014 on Chicago based DIY label Orindal after initially being as two separate cassettes releases. Rooms With Walls and Windows went onto become a true modern-day word of mouth success story (it would have to be for an artist who shuns all forms of social media) and ended the year being voted number 7 in Mojo magazine's best albums of the year, with the Huffington Post calling it "2014's Great American Album". A collection of hushed intimate front porch psych-folk songs, that unknowingly recalled the greats, but felt very much for our time. It saw her travel to Europe over two summers playing the Green Man festival and End Of The Road, as well as lesser trodden tour paths around Europe.
Julie Byrne will take the songs from Not Even Happiness (the first release on a new record label Basin Rock, based in the Lancashire / Yorkshire border town of Todmorden) on the road throughout 2017.
The back panel is uncoated/matt varnish - 300 gsm card and 180g vinyl.
Digital Download included.
In fact, some of the album’s songs took two years of fine tuning to get where they needed to be. And if you were to ask her why the follow up to 2014's Rooms With Walls And Windows has taken so long, you’d only be greeted with a bemused smile as though it's the strangest question she's ever been asked; “Writing comes from a natural process of change and growth. It took me up to this point to have the capacity to express my experience of the time in my life that these songs came from.”
Having counted Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Northampton, Massachusetts, Chicago, Illinois, Seattle, New Orleans as her home in recent years. For now, Julie has settled in New York City where she moonlights as a seasonal urban park ranger in Manhattan. Whether witnessing the Pacific Northwest for the first time (‘Melting Grid’), the morning sky in Colorado after staying up through the night at a house party in the mountains of Boulder (‘Natural Blue’), recording the passage of freight trains on the outskirts of Buffalo, New York ('Interlude'), or a journey fragrant with rose water; reading Frank O’Hara aloud from the passengers seat during a drive through the desert of Utah into the rainforest of Washington State (‘All The Land Glimmered Beneath’), Not Even Happiness is Julie’s beguilingly ode to the fringes of life.
Self-taught on the guitar after picking it up when her father became ill and could no longer play the instrument himself, Julie readily admits she can’t read music and doesn't even listen to it all that much - the first vinyl she owned was indeed, her own. Recorded with producer Eric Littmann (Phantom Posse), Julie laid down the new album in her childhood home in western New York state and offers an altogether bigger picture to its predecessor through a wider, yet subtle, exploration of instruments and atmospherics, Not Even Happiness reveals an artist who has grown in confidence over time.
Byrne's debut album was released back in January 2014 on Chicago based DIY label Orindal after initially being as two separate cassettes releases. Rooms With Walls and Windows went onto become a true modern-day word of mouth success story (it would have to be for an artist who shuns all forms of social media) and ended the year being voted number 7 in Mojo magazine's best albums of the year, with the Huffington Post calling it "2014's Great American Album". A collection of hushed intimate front porch psych-folk songs, that unknowingly recalled the greats, but felt very much for our time. It saw her travel to Europe over two summers playing the Green Man festival and End Of The Road, as well as lesser trodden tour paths around Europe.
Julie Byrne will take the songs from Not Even Happiness (the first release on a new record label Basin Rock, based in the Lancashire / Yorkshire border town of Todmorden) on the road throughout 2017.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Lightly strummed and impeccably arranged folk guitars meet with swaying and mournful vocals all purposefully and beautifully delivered as a shining example of minimal affectations with maximum results.FORMAT INFORMATION
LP Info: LP jacket is gloss laminate with front & back folds on the outside.The back panel is uncoated/matt varnish - 300 gsm card and 180g vinyl.
Digital Download included.
Rooms With Walls and Windows was the debut album by Seattle-by-way-of-Chicago-by-way-of-Buffalo singer, songwriter & guitarist Julie Byrne. Blending psychedelic and traditional folk elements, Julie Byrne creates a highly personal and quietly mystical world that echoes the early work of Leonard Cohen & Vashti Bunyan.
Rooms With Walls and Windows' twelve tracks were collected from two limited edition cassette releases, recorded between 2011 & 2012 by Jake Acosta in Chicago, Illinois. Each song was recorded live, with Julie accompanying herself on fingerpicked acoustic guitar. Rooms With Walls and Windows was lovingly remastered by Owen Ashworth & Matthew Barnhart.
Julie Byrne released her second album Not Even Happiness in January to mass acclaim and will take the songs from her two albums on the road throughout the whole 2017.
Rooms With Walls and Windows' twelve tracks were collected from two limited edition cassette releases, recorded between 2011 & 2012 by Jake Acosta in Chicago, Illinois. Each song was recorded live, with Julie accompanying herself on fingerpicked acoustic guitar. Rooms With Walls and Windows was lovingly remastered by Owen Ashworth & Matthew Barnhart.
Julie Byrne released her second album Not Even Happiness in January to mass acclaim and will take the songs from her two albums on the road throughout the whole 2017.
French stalwarts Favorite take another chip off the old wishlist block here with an official re-ish of the hard-to-find "Sunshine" by Junior Byron. Originally released on Canada's Formula Records in 1981, this modern soul/disco masterpiece has become a total scarcity on the second hand scene so this freshly pressed version is a welcome sight. Based in Canada, Junior Byron had quite a short career as a singer and recorded only a few singles and this stunning album between 1981 and 1985. Produced by André Perry and Joe La Greca, two famous names in the Canadian music scene, "Sunshine" is not just a one track album, but a complete whole piece of music, including some brilliants highlights such as “Inch by Inch”, “Galaxy” or “Sunshine”, which are today must-haves in many DJ’s lists. . In order to insure the best sound quality, the original tracklist has been dispatched on a double vinyl version, which should please all DJs and music collectors.
Although John Cage occasionally worked in large, sophisticated studios - for example, when he composed Fontana Mix in 1958 - his approach to electronic and tape music was often uncomplicated, makeshift, and pragmatic, employing simple tabletop devices: tape machines, phonograph cartridges, contact microphones, portable radios, etc. He developed a soundworld that was utterly new, radical and demanding. It heralded the age of the loudspeaker, mass communication and Marshall McLuhan's 'global village.' The hiss, crackle and hum of electronic circuits, and the disembodied sounds, snatched by radio from the ether, spoke of the 20th century. Langham Research Centre works within the tradition firmly established by Cage, using resources that would have been available to him. For the realisation of Cartridge Music, moving iron phonograph pickups were sourced and restored. These have a knurled screw designed to hold a steel phonograph needle and, in the piece, other objects are inserted and amplified: pieces of wire, toothpicks, paperclips, etc. The realisation of Fontana Mix includes the individual mono tracks from Cage's original tapes created in 1958. These are played using open-reel tape machines. These practices ensure we work within the limitations that Cage experienced and enable us to get close to the soundworld he inhabited. (Robert Worby, LRC)
John Cage, David Tudor & Christian Wolff
San Francisco Museum Of Art, January 16th, 1965
Modern Silence
Recorded live by KPFA Radio in the halls of the sculpture court of the San Francisco Museum of Art on January 16, 1965, the day of 39th birthday of fellow pianist and longtime associate David Tudor, this historic concert with John Cage opens with a duet for Cymbal with contact microphones agitated by a wide gamut of objects and concludes with Variations IV in which loudspeakers outside the performance space interacted with speakers next to the audience. First release on vinyl for a very important piece in the history of minimalist music.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd LP Info: Limited edition 180 gram 2LP.
'I believe the use of noise to make music will continue and increase until we reach a music produced through the aid of electrical instruments which will make available for musical purposes any and all sounds that can be heard.' - John Cage 1937. Although John Cage occasionally worked in large, sophisticated studios - for example, when he composed Fontana Mix in 1958 - his approach to electronic and tape music was often uncomplicated, makeshift, and pragmatic, employing simple tabletop devices: tape machines, phonograph cartridges, contact microphones, record players, portable radios, etc. He developed a soundworld that was utterly new, radical and demanding. It heralded the age of the loudspeaker, mass communication and Marshall McLuhan's 'global village.' The hiss, crackle and hum of electronic circuits, and the disembodied sounds, snatched by radio from the ether, spoke of the 20th century.
Langham Research Centre works within the tradition firmly established by Cage, using resources that would have been available to him. For the realisation of Cartridge Music, moving iron phonograph pickups were sourced and restored. These have a knurled screw designed to hold a steel phonograph needle and, in the piece, other objects are inserted and amplified: pieces of wire, toothpicks, paperclips, etc. The realisation of Fontana Mix includes the individual mono tracks from Cage's original tapes created in 1958. These are played using open-reel tape machines. These practices ensure we work within the limitations that Cage experienced and enable us to get close to the soundworld he inhabited. (Robert Worby, LRC).
Langham Research Centre works within the tradition firmly established by Cage, using resources that would have been available to him. For the realisation of Cartridge Music, moving iron phonograph pickups were sourced and restored. These have a knurled screw designed to hold a steel phonograph needle and, in the piece, other objects are inserted and amplified: pieces of wire, toothpicks, paperclips, etc. The realisation of Fontana Mix includes the individual mono tracks from Cage's original tapes created in 1958. These are played using open-reel tape machines. These practices ensure we work within the limitations that Cage experienced and enable us to get close to the soundworld he inhabited. (Robert Worby, LRC).
This unique collaboration was originally released in 1971 and saw Cale (fresh from his ground-breaking work as a member of the Velvet Underground and now finding his feet as a solo artist) and Riley (noted for his highly influential works “In C” and “A Rainbow in Curved Air”) create a work of atmosphere and uniqueness. All instrumental, with the exception of the song “The Soul of Patrick Lee”, “Church of Anthrax” was the perfect melding of the experimental genius of two unique musicians. Hard to catagorise, the album was recorded a year prior to its release by Columbia in February 1971 and actually preceded Cale’s first solo album.
‘Music For A New Society’ is a fully re-mastered album of the long out of print 1982 classic album with three previously unreleased bonus tracks from the original multi-track recordings Library Of Force, Chinese Envoy and Thoughtless Kind ..
The ‘Music For A New Society’ heavyweight vinyl format comes with a download card which includes the three unreleased bonus tracks.
The ‘Music For A New Society’ heavyweight vinyl format comes with a download card which includes the three unreleased bonus tracks.
Reduced
Domino Records reissue John Cale’s classic live album ‘Fragments Of A Rainy Season’, featuring his revered interpretation of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’ amongst many solo versions from his enduring catalogue and previously unreleased outtakes.
‘Fragments Of A Rainy Season’ was the first live John Cale album to feature him performing solo and ‘unplugged’ - before that term became a mid 1990s buzzword.
In contrast to the jaundiced punk truculence of ‘Sabotage/Live’ (1979) or ‘Even Cowgirls Get The Blues’ (1986), ‘Fragments Of A Rainy Season’ gives us Cale at his most melodic and moving, a mellowed and certainly a soberer man in a Yamamoto jacket and a lopsided haircut running through a selection of his prettiest songs. It’s a Cale many love deeply, a man alone at a concert-hall Steinway revisiting the pop-rock of ‘Paris 1919’ and ‘A Child’s Christmas In Wales’, as wistful and whimsical as any 70s singer songwriter holding court at LA’s Troubadour club. It’s the Cale who disavowed the spiky nihilism and decadence of the Velvets, inspired instead by melodicism of Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson (to whom he’d paid haunting homage on ‘Slow Dazzle’s brilliant Beach Boys pastiche ‘Mr. Wilson’). It’s the Cale who improbably took a staff job at Warner-Reprise in LA and - for an all-too-brief moment - became part of the Burbank producers’ mafia alongside Lenny Waronker and his laidback chums. (Lest we forget, 1973’s ‘Paris 1919’ featured members of Little Feat and The Crusaders among the backing musicians.)
Cale being Cale, ‘Fragments Of A Rainy Season’ isn’t all rueful tenderness. The deceptively jaunty ‘Darling I Need You’ is flippantly introduced as a song about “religious awakening in the southern part of the United States,” while Elvis’ ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ is no less gothic in the solo version here than it is in the Grand Guignol horror show of the original on ‘Slow Dazzle’. ‘Guts’ is as close as Cale ever came to Lou Reed at his most withering.
It’s easy to forget that - years before Jeff Buckley and The X-Factor - he was the first artist to recognize the hymnal majesty of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’, or that it was his original 1991 reading of the song that popped up on the soundtrack of ‘Shrek’.
2xCD Info: Includes eight previously unreleased tracks from the original touring period.
‘Fragments Of A Rainy Season’ was the first live John Cale album to feature him performing solo and ‘unplugged’ - before that term became a mid 1990s buzzword.
In contrast to the jaundiced punk truculence of ‘Sabotage/Live’ (1979) or ‘Even Cowgirls Get The Blues’ (1986), ‘Fragments Of A Rainy Season’ gives us Cale at his most melodic and moving, a mellowed and certainly a soberer man in a Yamamoto jacket and a lopsided haircut running through a selection of his prettiest songs. It’s a Cale many love deeply, a man alone at a concert-hall Steinway revisiting the pop-rock of ‘Paris 1919’ and ‘A Child’s Christmas In Wales’, as wistful and whimsical as any 70s singer songwriter holding court at LA’s Troubadour club. It’s the Cale who disavowed the spiky nihilism and decadence of the Velvets, inspired instead by melodicism of Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson (to whom he’d paid haunting homage on ‘Slow Dazzle’s brilliant Beach Boys pastiche ‘Mr. Wilson’). It’s the Cale who improbably took a staff job at Warner-Reprise in LA and - for an all-too-brief moment - became part of the Burbank producers’ mafia alongside Lenny Waronker and his laidback chums. (Lest we forget, 1973’s ‘Paris 1919’ featured members of Little Feat and The Crusaders among the backing musicians.)
Cale being Cale, ‘Fragments Of A Rainy Season’ isn’t all rueful tenderness. The deceptively jaunty ‘Darling I Need You’ is flippantly introduced as a song about “religious awakening in the southern part of the United States,” while Elvis’ ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ is no less gothic in the solo version here than it is in the Grand Guignol horror show of the original on ‘Slow Dazzle’. ‘Guts’ is as close as Cale ever came to Lou Reed at his most withering.
It’s easy to forget that - years before Jeff Buckley and The X-Factor - he was the first artist to recognize the hymnal majesty of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’, or that it was his original 1991 reading of the song that popped up on the soundtrack of ‘Shrek’.
FORMAT INFORMATION
3xIndies Exclusive LP Info: Exclusive 3LP format is available to independent retailers and includes eight previously unreleased tracks from the original touring period plus digital download code of all content.2xCD Info: Includes eight previously unreleased tracks from the original touring period.
These pieces derive their origin from reel to reel Recordings made in the 1960's on the Lower East Side in New York's bohemian artist communes. The 43 minute title track is heavily influenced by Terry Riley's solo organ improvisational minimalism (Cale and Riley would later collaborate on "Church of Anthrax"). The eleven minute "Summer Heat" is an opressive guitar track and the final track is pure electronic sound.
Ten years after his first single appeared on the legendary Warp Records, John Callaghan's long-awaited debut album is released by Uncharted Audio. Describing himself as an 'unusual songwriter/performer of thoughtful and spiky electronica from Birmingham', he created a stir with "I'm Not Comfortable Inside My Mind" and "You've Got Your Memories, I've Got My Dreams" – two super-collectable vinyl-only releases on Warp. His remarkable live show has graced many a stage across a variety of Europe's more open-minded venues. The album's themes include the human body, our relationship with it and with our clothing – not surprising since he counts nude modelling among his professions. John describes the album as 'my own soundtrack for my life' – the tracks span a period from 1994-2007. Musically it's unlike anything else: a riff played on a fork is pitch-shifted into a gorgeous melody, a buzzing fly is transformed into a throbbing bassline and all manner of vocal chopping and tomfoolery provide the perfect foil.
A timely repress of the 1973 score to this British cult biker classic AKA The Death Wheelers. Originally first issued in 2003 by Jonny Trunk, this jazz rock soundtrack masterpiece has become a valuable LP, people paying up to £80 on the second hand market.
Here it rides again, with music direct from John Cameron’s master tapes, with new reversed black, red and white artwork to differentiate it from the first press of 14 years ago. Hell yeah!
This is a true cult classic – with zombie bikers, George Sanders (his last film before he killed himself out of boredom), Beryl Reid, Joe Columbo furniture, a frog, brutalist architecture, stone circles, Triumph motorbikes, Nicky Henson, teen gangs, The Living Dead, The M3 motorway, all with music by a British jazz outfit headed up by one of the great progressive jazz / library composers of them all – John Cameron.
Here it rides again, with music direct from John Cameron’s master tapes, with new reversed black, red and white artwork to differentiate it from the first press of 14 years ago. Hell yeah!
This is a true cult classic – with zombie bikers, George Sanders (his last film before he killed himself out of boredom), Beryl Reid, Joe Columbo furniture, a frog, brutalist architecture, stone circles, Triumph motorbikes, Nicky Henson, teen gangs, The Living Dead, The M3 motorway, all with music by a British jazz outfit headed up by one of the great progressive jazz / library composers of them all – John Cameron.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd LP Info: Full colour sleeve – and black reversal of the original white sleeve. Looks way, way cool.
A master of romantic abstraction, Jefre Cantu–Ledesma is not new to the scene. In fact, he's been releasing a steady stream of music for nearly twenty years. With the brilliant album A Year With 13 Moons, however, the ever–prolific Ledesma appears to be hitting a new high. Or low, depending on how you like to see things.
Using a friend's reel to reel tape player, Cantu employed electric guitar, modular synthesizer, drum machine and concrète sounds from his surroundings at the Headlands, recorded while walking to the studio, cooking in the kitchen, talking with friends, the ocean, films he was watching, driving in a car. Everything was record stereo to tape.
The result is gorgeous, haunting and sprawling. A companion to his last full length LP, Love is A Stream, (Type, 2010), 13 Moons, is a dense, swirling mass.
Using a friend's reel to reel tape player, Cantu employed electric guitar, modular synthesizer, drum machine and concrète sounds from his surroundings at the Headlands, recorded while walking to the studio, cooking in the kitchen, talking with friends, the ocean, films he was watching, driving in a car. Everything was record stereo to tape.
The result is gorgeous, haunting and sprawling. A companion to his last full length LP, Love is A Stream, (Type, 2010), 13 Moons, is a dense, swirling mass.
On the Echoing Green is an elegant work of lush, shimmering sound, rendered with a singular touch by eternal electric romantic Jefre Cantu-Ledesma. In contrast to the haze and hermetic process of previous albums, Green was conceived as a deliberate experiment in clarity and collaboration: “I was interested in trying to bring out more overt pop elements, to let them come to the front and be present. I also have more trust now in letting things happen – trusting other people’s musicianship, and being open to people’s ideas. Eventually, things emerge.” What emerged from this bond are eight rapturous and richly melodic slow dives of swirling guitar, bass, synthesizer, piano, and drum machines, dramatically accented in places by heavenly arcs of voice courtesy of Argentinian singer-songwriter Sobrenadar. Cantu-Ledesma encouraged chemistry and intuition in the studio by beginning the album without any demos for reference; he and his collaborators pursued patterns and hypnotic textures across long-form improvisations until gradually songs began to take shape. This is music of growth and grandeur, of ascent and exploration, played with purpose and passion by a craftsman in tune with the beauty of sound and the harmony of light. In his words: “[This album] feels like spring – things coming alive, blooming, emerging from winter.”
Essex-born, Liverpool-based songwriter James Canty returns with a new five track EP.
EP title track 'Love' is packed with harpsichords, synthesisers and electronic flourishes, coming across like some amazing future-retro psych-folk experiment. The collection of tracks follows two years on the road across Europe for Canty, with the five songs written and recorded in the home studio of producer and Obscenic Records chief Joe Wills.
EP title track 'Love' is packed with harpsichords, synthesisers and electronic flourishes, coming across like some amazing future-retro psych-folk experiment. The collection of tracks follows two years on the road across Europe for Canty, with the five songs written and recorded in the home studio of producer and Obscenic Records chief Joe Wills.
"This 6 song symphony of sound juxtaposed with chaos and long stills of almost nothing starts the only way I’d expect it to. The first track “Ballast” comes in with murderous hits, cracks, and drills. It’s hard to put into words exactly what you are listening to. And, that’s what I love about Mr. Cary’s tracks. But, somehow Jeff has forged a signature sound. I have been listening to noise for awhile now. I haven’t hear anything quite like it.
[3:30] as a full body of work is not just a digitally distorted camero with the gas pedal to the floor going through a time warp. It is dynamic and almost peaceful at times. With tracks like “Phosphor” and “Node” where you find yourself lost in an ambient sound scape of breathed gesters and things off in the distance. I admire Jeff’s way of knowing when to hold back or be minimal in his approach while yet still having some sort of rage you can’t quite pinpoint but you know it’s there and you can feel it and it’s about to burst and you like it.
I have seen Jeff live countless times. I got a chance to see him at one of his most recent performances at Club K where he performed a few of these new tracks live. Being a drummer for over 15 years I tend to latch onto the rhythm of any song I hear. Even in noise I somehow subconsciously makeup a beat I bop my head up and down to. I noticed that I didn’t have to magically make an esoteric drum section for Jeff’s performance. It was already there. Tracks like “1001″ make you feel as a drummer or drum machine is being forced through a grinder with a distortion pedal in the chain.
It’s a very purifying experience listening to Jeff Carey‘s works on [3:30]. It’s not for everyone.. But, it sure is hell for noise enthusiasts like me. But, hey.. If you’ve never listened to a “noise” artist before or haven’t gotten down with that scene. Try it out. You might just like this one." - Gutter Magazine.
[3:30] as a full body of work is not just a digitally distorted camero with the gas pedal to the floor going through a time warp. It is dynamic and almost peaceful at times. With tracks like “Phosphor” and “Node” where you find yourself lost in an ambient sound scape of breathed gesters and things off in the distance. I admire Jeff’s way of knowing when to hold back or be minimal in his approach while yet still having some sort of rage you can’t quite pinpoint but you know it’s there and you can feel it and it’s about to burst and you like it.
I have seen Jeff live countless times. I got a chance to see him at one of his most recent performances at Club K where he performed a few of these new tracks live. Being a drummer for over 15 years I tend to latch onto the rhythm of any song I hear. Even in noise I somehow subconsciously makeup a beat I bop my head up and down to. I noticed that I didn’t have to magically make an esoteric drum section for Jeff’s performance. It was already there. Tracks like “1001″ make you feel as a drummer or drum machine is being forced through a grinder with a distortion pedal in the chain.
It’s a very purifying experience listening to Jeff Carey‘s works on [3:30]. It’s not for everyone.. But, it sure is hell for noise enthusiasts like me. But, hey.. If you’ve never listened to a “noise” artist before or haven’t gotten down with that scene. Try it out. You might just like this one." - Gutter Magazine.
Reduced
In celebration of its 35th anniversay, MONDO is pleased to present the original soundtrack to John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN. This release features the most comprehensive version of the soundtrack, never before released on vinyl, cut at 45RPM for the best possible sound quality.
FORMAT INFORMATION
2xLtd LP Info: Was £31.99. 180 gram 2xLP in a deluxe gatefold sleeve. One-time pressing on black vinyl and randomly-inserted orange vinyl.
John Carpenter, the legendary director and composer behind Halloween, Escape From New York, They Live, Assault on Precinct 13 and many more announces his debut solo album ‘Lost Themes’ on Sacred Bones Records.
John Carpenter has been responsible for much of the horror genre’s most striking soundtrack work in the fifteen movies he’s both directed and scored. The themes that drive them can be stripped to a few coldly repeating notes, take on the electrifying thunder of a rock concert, or submerge themselves into exotic, unholy miasmas. It’s work that instantly floods his fans’ musical memory with imagery of a menacing shape stalking a babysitter, a relentless wall of ghost-filled fog, lightning-fisted kung fufighters, or a mirror holding the gateway to hell. Lost Themes asks Carpenter’s acolytes to visualize their own nightmares.
“Lost Themes was all about having fun,” Carpenter says. “It can be both great and bad to score over images, which is what I’m used to. Here there were no pressures. No actors asking me what they’re supposed to do. No crew waiting. No cutting room to go to. No release pending. It’s just fun. And I couldn’t have a better set-up at my house, where I depended on (collaborators) Cody (Carpenter, of the band Ludrium) and Daniel (Davies, who scored I, Frankenstein) to bring me ideas as we began improvising. The plan was to make my music more complete and fuller, because we had unlimited tracks. I wasn’t dealing with just analogue anymore. It’s a brand new world. And there was nothing in any of our heads when we started other than to make it moody.”
As is Carpenter’s style, repetition is the key to the thundering power of these tracks, their energy swirling with shredding chords, soaring organs, unnerving pianos and captivating percussion. Singularly titled to inspire dread with such names as “Vortex,” “Dominion,” “Abyss,” and “Purgatory,” but all linked into a unified whole, Lost Themes has a mesmerizing power. Horror fans will be reminded of Carpenter’s past works, as well as ancestors like Mike Oldfeld’s Tubular Bells and the raging guitars and chiming percussion of Goblin’s Suspiria. “’Both classical music and rock and roll are part of my musical language, which is riff-driven,” Carpenter explains. “So if you listen carefully, I’m sure you can hear some echoes from my past. But I’m sure that’s true of any composer. You just bring your music along with you.”
John Carpenter has been responsible for much of the horror genre’s most striking soundtrack work in the fifteen movies he’s both directed and scored. The themes that drive them can be stripped to a few coldly repeating notes, take on the electrifying thunder of a rock concert, or submerge themselves into exotic, unholy miasmas. It’s work that instantly floods his fans’ musical memory with imagery of a menacing shape stalking a babysitter, a relentless wall of ghost-filled fog, lightning-fisted kung fufighters, or a mirror holding the gateway to hell. Lost Themes asks Carpenter’s acolytes to visualize their own nightmares.
“Lost Themes was all about having fun,” Carpenter says. “It can be both great and bad to score over images, which is what I’m used to. Here there were no pressures. No actors asking me what they’re supposed to do. No crew waiting. No cutting room to go to. No release pending. It’s just fun. And I couldn’t have a better set-up at my house, where I depended on (collaborators) Cody (Carpenter, of the band Ludrium) and Daniel (Davies, who scored I, Frankenstein) to bring me ideas as we began improvising. The plan was to make my music more complete and fuller, because we had unlimited tracks. I wasn’t dealing with just analogue anymore. It’s a brand new world. And there was nothing in any of our heads when we started other than to make it moody.”
As is Carpenter’s style, repetition is the key to the thundering power of these tracks, their energy swirling with shredding chords, soaring organs, unnerving pianos and captivating percussion. Singularly titled to inspire dread with such names as “Vortex,” “Dominion,” “Abyss,” and “Purgatory,” but all linked into a unified whole, Lost Themes has a mesmerizing power. Horror fans will be reminded of Carpenter’s past works, as well as ancestors like Mike Oldfeld’s Tubular Bells and the raging guitars and chiming percussion of Goblin’s Suspiria. “’Both classical music and rock and roll are part of my musical language, which is riff-driven,” Carpenter explains. “So if you listen carefully, I’m sure you can hear some echoes from my past. But I’m sure that’s true of any composer. You just bring your music along with you.”
FORMAT INFORMATION
LP includes MP3 Download Code.
On Halloween 2014, the director and composer John Carpenter introduced the world to the next phase of his career with “Vortex,” the first single from Lost Themes, his first-ever solo record. In the months that followed, Lost Themes rightfully returned Carpenter to the forefront of the discussion of music and film’s crucial intersection. Carpenter’s foundational primacy and lasting influence on genre score work was both rediscovered and reaffirmed. So widespread was the acclaim for Lost Themes, that the composer was moved to embark on something he had never before entertained – playing his music live in front of an audience.
2016 will host the first ever John Carpenter tour and in true Carpenter spirit, a sequel to Lost Themes: Lost Themes II. The follow-up brings quite a few noticeable changes to the process, which result in an even more cohesive record. Lost Themes’ cowriters Cody Carpenter (John’s son) and Daniel Davies (John’s godson) both returned. Cody was recently also heard as a composer for Showtime’s Masters of Horror series (Cigarette Burns and Pro-Life), and NBC’s Zoo. Davies was a composer for NBC’s Zoo, as well as the motion picture Condemned.
All three brought in sketches and worked together in the same city, a luxury they weren’t afforded on the first Lost Themes. The result was a more focused effort, one that was completed on a compressed schedule — not unlike Carpenter’s classic, notoriously low-budget early films. The musical world of Lost Themes II is also a wider one than that of its predecessor. More electric and acoustic guitar help flesh out the songs, still driven by Carpenter’s trademark minimal synth.
Keep your eyes peeled for John and his co-writers to hit the road next year performing both lost and newly found themes, in addition to retrospective work from Mr. Carpenter’s multi-generational career. Long live the Horror Master.
2016 will host the first ever John Carpenter tour and in true Carpenter spirit, a sequel to Lost Themes: Lost Themes II. The follow-up brings quite a few noticeable changes to the process, which result in an even more cohesive record. Lost Themes’ cowriters Cody Carpenter (John’s son) and Daniel Davies (John’s godson) both returned. Cody was recently also heard as a composer for Showtime’s Masters of Horror series (Cigarette Burns and Pro-Life), and NBC’s Zoo. Davies was a composer for NBC’s Zoo, as well as the motion picture Condemned.
All three brought in sketches and worked together in the same city, a luxury they weren’t afforded on the first Lost Themes. The result was a more focused effort, one that was completed on a compressed schedule — not unlike Carpenter’s classic, notoriously low-budget early films. The musical world of Lost Themes II is also a wider one than that of its predecessor. More electric and acoustic guitar help flesh out the songs, still driven by Carpenter’s trademark minimal synth.
Keep your eyes peeled for John and his co-writers to hit the road next year performing both lost and newly found themes, in addition to retrospective work from Mr. Carpenter’s multi-generational career. Long live the Horror Master.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Master of Kosmische synth-workouts and general synth-based sountracking legend John Carpenter returns here with the second instalment of his surprising 'not a soundtrack' offering from last year. More twinkling synths, motorik pulses and cavern-soaked reverbed drums. Though soundtracks have always been Carpenters raison d'etre, this outstanding expansion on his lost themes selections just goes to show that Carpenter is indeed the king of the cosmic.FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd LP Info: Super limited purple & white swirl vinyl! Includes a download code which also includes a bonus track.
John Carpenter is a legend. As the director and composer behind dozens of classic movies, Carpenter has established a reputation as one of the greatest filmmakers in the history of modern cinema, as well as one of its most influential musicians. The minimal, synthesizer-driven themes to films like Halloween, Escape From New York, and Assault on Precinct 13 are as indelible as their images, and their timelessness was evident as Carpenter performed them live in a string of internationally sold-out concert dates in 2016. Anthology: Movie Themes 1974-1998 collects 13 classic themes from Carpenter’s illustrious career together on one volume for the first time. Each theme has been newly recorded with the same collaborators that Carpenter worked with on his hit Lost Themes studio albums: his son, Cody Carpenter, and godson, Daniel Davies.
Anthology is a near-comprehensive survey of John Carpenter’s greatest themes, from his very first movie, the no-budget sci-fi film Dark Star, to 1998’s supernatu¬ral Western, Vampires. Those sit alongside the driving, Led Zeppelin-influenced Assault on Precinct 13 theme, Halloween’s iconic 5/4 piano riff, and the eerie synth work of The Fog. Carpenter and his band also cover Ennio Morricone’s bleak, minimalist theme for The Thing.
We also get vital new recordings of the themes to ’80s classics and fan favorites Big Trouble in Little China, Escape From New York, Christine, and They Live, along with the romantic Starman, which earned Jeff Bridges his first Oscar nomination as a lead actor. The collection is rounded out by the menacing, heavy themes to Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness, the latter a Metallica-inspired riff originally played for the film by Kinks guitarist Dave Davies, and now played by his son Daniel.
Anthology is a near-comprehensive survey of John Carpenter’s greatest themes, from his very first movie, the no-budget sci-fi film Dark Star, to 1998’s supernatu¬ral Western, Vampires. Those sit alongside the driving, Led Zeppelin-influenced Assault on Precinct 13 theme, Halloween’s iconic 5/4 piano riff, and the eerie synth work of The Fog. Carpenter and his band also cover Ennio Morricone’s bleak, minimalist theme for The Thing.
We also get vital new recordings of the themes to ’80s classics and fan favorites Big Trouble in Little China, Escape From New York, Christine, and They Live, along with the romantic Starman, which earned Jeff Bridges his first Oscar nomination as a lead actor. The collection is rounded out by the menacing, heavy themes to Prince of Darkness and In the Mouth of Madness, the latter a Metallica-inspired riff originally played for the film by Kinks guitarist Dave Davies, and now played by his son Daniel.
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: I don't think many people could argue that John Carpenter isn't one of the most respected and prolific figures in soundtrackery, and this should prove it. Some of the most recognisable themes in all the land. Awesome.FORMAT INFORMATION
LP includes MP3 Download Code.
John Carpenter has inspired countless musicians since his earliest minimal, synth-based film scores. The themes to his features like Assault on Precinct 13, Halloween, and Escape from New York have remained instantly recognizable since he penned them nearly four decades ago. In February 2015, Sacred Bones released his first solo record of non-soundtrack music, Lost Themes, to overwhelming critical success. The Horror Master proved that not only could he perfectly score his own films - he could also score the movies in your mind.
Eight pivotal contemporary electronic artists were moved to reshape the original songs on Lost Themes in tribute to one the genre's great pioneers. Several of the remixes were released as part of the digital deluxe edition of the album, but Lost Themes Remixed marks the first time any of the tracks have been on vinyl.
Eight pivotal contemporary electronic artists were moved to reshape the original songs on Lost Themes in tribute to one the genre's great pioneers. Several of the remixes were released as part of the digital deluxe edition of the album, but Lost Themes Remixed marks the first time any of the tracks have been on vinyl.
FORMAT INFORMATION
LP Info: Standard black vinyl edition.
- The most comprehensive vinyl edition of the original motion picture soundtrack for John Carpenter’s first feature film, Dark Star (1974).
- For the fans of John Carpenter, sci-fi movie soundtracks, electronic experimentations, and strange vinyl releases. Also, for surfers.
- Includes the sought-after "When Twilight Falls on NGC 891" by Martin Segundo & the Scintilla Strings, for the first time ever on a John Carpenter-related release.
- Limited Edition LP + Colour Vinyl 7”
WRWTFWW Records is ecstatic to bring back the original motion picture soundtrack for John Carpenter’s Dark Star (1974) with added bonuses that are sure to satisfy all cult sci-fi soundtrack completists of the galaxy (and beyond).
This limited edition double combo comes with a LP and a 7". The former is a remastered version of the original motion picture soundtrack consisting of incidental music, sound effects, John Carpenter’s synth experimentations, dialogue excerpts, and vintage interferences extracted directly from the film roll.
The 7" is red with a yellow label circled in black (in pure beachball alien fashion) and contains "Ode to a Bell Jar" remade by loyal Carpenter collaborator Alan Howarth (Escape from New York, Christine, Big Trouble in Little China, They Live…), the fan favorite "Benson Arizona" remade by Dominik Hauser, the very sought-after "When Twilight Falls on NGC 891" by Martin Segundo & the Scintilla Strings (in the real world *James Clarke’s Spring Bossa), as well as endless loops of sound effects from the movie to turn your house into your very own scout ship. Oh and there is a very secret hidden bonus track too!
It all comes in slick thermostellar triggering packaging with a brand new artwork and invisible hyperdrive electronics - the best way to relive the Dark Star adventure and celebrate John Carpenter’s first directorial feature film released in 1974 and co-written by (and starring!) all around legend Dan O’Bannon (Alien, Lifeforce, The Return of the Living Dead). Let there be light!
- For the fans of John Carpenter, sci-fi movie soundtracks, electronic experimentations, and strange vinyl releases. Also, for surfers.
- Includes the sought-after "When Twilight Falls on NGC 891" by Martin Segundo & the Scintilla Strings, for the first time ever on a John Carpenter-related release.
- Limited Edition LP + Colour Vinyl 7”
WRWTFWW Records is ecstatic to bring back the original motion picture soundtrack for John Carpenter’s Dark Star (1974) with added bonuses that are sure to satisfy all cult sci-fi soundtrack completists of the galaxy (and beyond).
This limited edition double combo comes with a LP and a 7". The former is a remastered version of the original motion picture soundtrack consisting of incidental music, sound effects, John Carpenter’s synth experimentations, dialogue excerpts, and vintage interferences extracted directly from the film roll.
The 7" is red with a yellow label circled in black (in pure beachball alien fashion) and contains "Ode to a Bell Jar" remade by loyal Carpenter collaborator Alan Howarth (Escape from New York, Christine, Big Trouble in Little China, They Live…), the fan favorite "Benson Arizona" remade by Dominik Hauser, the very sought-after "When Twilight Falls on NGC 891" by Martin Segundo & the Scintilla Strings (in the real world *James Clarke’s Spring Bossa), as well as endless loops of sound effects from the movie to turn your house into your very own scout ship. Oh and there is a very secret hidden bonus track too!
It all comes in slick thermostellar triggering packaging with a brand new artwork and invisible hyperdrive electronics - the best way to relive the Dark Star adventure and celebrate John Carpenter’s first directorial feature film released in 1974 and co-written by (and starring!) all around legend Dan O’Bannon (Alien, Lifeforce, The Return of the Living Dead). Let there be light!
Justin Carter never expected to be known as a DJ. Before the Mister Saturday Night resident had ever put a record on a turntable, his voice and pen were his outlets. As he's gone down the path of the dance, his singing and writing have ticked along quietly in the background, a secret to most. "Know It All," his first record, and the lead single from The Leaves Fall, his debut LP due on Mister Saturday Night Records on January 27, brings that secret into the light. Justin's vocals on "Know It All" are intimate but pointed, with hints of Arthur Russell and John Martyn.
The foundation of the song is a pizzicato cello part from Archie Pelago's Greg Heffernan; reggae-tinted organ hiccups from Jason Lindner, the keyboardist on Bowie's final album, Blackstar, fill the space between. It all hangs together in a subtle mix by Benjamin Tierney, who also worked his magic on Kamasi Washington's The Epic.The song is presented on the seven-inch in two versions. On the A side is the single, with a ghost-ly finish in which the instruments melt away around the vocals. On the B side, the cello stays solid to the end.
The foundation of the song is a pizzicato cello part from Archie Pelago's Greg Heffernan; reggae-tinted organ hiccups from Jason Lindner, the keyboardist on Bowie's final album, Blackstar, fill the space between. It all hangs together in a subtle mix by Benjamin Tierney, who also worked his magic on Kamasi Washington's The Epic.The song is presented on the seven-inch in two versions. On the A side is the single, with a ghost-ly finish in which the instruments melt away around the vocals. On the B side, the cello stays solid to the end.
A delicate collection of songs for meditation on spiritual struggle, The Leaves Fall is a window into the parallel reality of Justin Carter. Centered on his intimate vocals, pointed with hints of Arthur Russell and John Martyn; the eight tracks are buttressed by warm acoustic guitars, vibraphones, organs and flourished with modern production. They are familiar but distant, like ghosts living in the present. Carter grew up in a country house in rural North Carolina, a place with a pecan tree and abandoned train tracks in the front yard. On long car rides from home to his dadʼs work as a school teacher, his ears were filled with the prog of Yes, the vocals of Al Jarreau and the complexity of Christopher Parkeningʼs take on Bach. It was his father, who himself has moonlighted as a guitar player and songwriter for nearly 50 years, that taught Carter to sing and play in his early teens.
The Leaves Fall was written on and off over the course of about five years, a secret to most. Carter is more familiar, alongside Eamon Harkin, as co-founder of popular New York parties Mister Saturday Night and Mister Sunday, and their label offshoot, Mister Saturday Night Records. As the Mister thrived, his songwriting continued to tick along in the background, days and weeks stolen here and there to write and record in various locations – from remote studios in the Catskills to basements in Venice Beach.
The album features Jason Lindner, pianist on Bowie's final masterpiece, Blackstar; cello from Archie Pelago's Greg Heffernan; and programming by LIES Records and The Trilogy Tapes producer Marcos Cabral. It was mixed by Benjamin Tierney, who also worked his magic on Kamasi Washington's The Epic. It finds its context in the world of Planetarium, a new listening session established by Carter and his Mister Saturday Night DJ partner, Eamon Harkin, where live music is mixed amongst hours of records to create an immersive, communal listening experience focused on quality hi-fi sound in non-traditional spaces; the album will presented in this manner when toured.
“Nothing makes me happier than to see people letting go. My ambition in all my creative work is to make moments where that can happen. As a DJ, I use othersʼ music to create those moments, but itʼs always been in me to make my own music for that purpose. After twenty-five years of writing music for myself, it makes me really happy to have something to share with others.” - Justin Carter
The Leaves Fall was written on and off over the course of about five years, a secret to most. Carter is more familiar, alongside Eamon Harkin, as co-founder of popular New York parties Mister Saturday Night and Mister Sunday, and their label offshoot, Mister Saturday Night Records. As the Mister thrived, his songwriting continued to tick along in the background, days and weeks stolen here and there to write and record in various locations – from remote studios in the Catskills to basements in Venice Beach.
The album features Jason Lindner, pianist on Bowie's final masterpiece, Blackstar; cello from Archie Pelago's Greg Heffernan; and programming by LIES Records and The Trilogy Tapes producer Marcos Cabral. It was mixed by Benjamin Tierney, who also worked his magic on Kamasi Washington's The Epic. It finds its context in the world of Planetarium, a new listening session established by Carter and his Mister Saturday Night DJ partner, Eamon Harkin, where live music is mixed amongst hours of records to create an immersive, communal listening experience focused on quality hi-fi sound in non-traditional spaces; the album will presented in this manner when toured.
“Nothing makes me happier than to see people letting go. My ambition in all my creative work is to make moments where that can happen. As a DJ, I use othersʼ music to create those moments, but itʼs always been in me to make my own music for that purpose. After twenty-five years of writing music for myself, it makes me really happy to have something to share with others.” - Justin Carter
Written and recorded over the past year, the album features Casablancas and Voidz band members Jeramy Gritter and Amir Yaghmai (Salt & Pepper) – guitar, Jeff Kite – keyboards, Jake Bercovici – bass, Alex Carapetis – drums and was produced by Shawn Everett.
The album incorporates world underground music from the 70s and 80s, hardcore/punk and modern harmony, using modern and analog recording and sampling techniques.
Of the album's title Casablancas says, "Tyranny has come in many forms throughout history. Now, the good of business is put above anything else, as corporations have become the new ruling body. Most decisions seem to be made like ones of a medieval king: whatever makes profit while ignoring and repressing the truth about whatever suffering it may cause (like pop music, for that matter)."
The album incorporates world underground music from the 70s and 80s, hardcore/punk and modern harmony, using modern and analog recording and sampling techniques.
Of the album's title Casablancas says, "Tyranny has come in many forms throughout history. Now, the good of business is put above anything else, as corporations have become the new ruling body. Most decisions seem to be made like ones of a medieval king: whatever makes profit while ignoring and repressing the truth about whatever suffering it may cause (like pop music, for that matter)."
The third, and to my mind the best of the American Recordings releases. I don't think there's a bad track on this at all, and some of the cover-versions are just awesome. Includes covers of Nick Cave's "Mercy Seat", Will Oldham's "I See A Darkness"(with vocals from Will Oldham), Neil Diamond's "Solitary Man" and "One" by U2.
Arguably the best of the American Recordings series.
Once again Cash worked with Tom Petty on a couple of tracks including the Neil Diamond-penned "Solitary Man".
The album also includes stunning covers of Bonnie Prince Billy, Nick Cave and U2.
Once again Cash worked with Tom Petty on a couple of tracks including the Neil Diamond-penned "Solitary Man".
The album also includes stunning covers of Bonnie Prince Billy, Nick Cave and U2.
STAFF COMMENTS
Laura says: The Rick Rubin produced American Recordings totally rejuvenated Cash's career, and they're all great. This one just edges it for me with amazing covers of Bonnie Prince Billy, Nick Cave and (suprisingly) U2.FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd LP Info: Available on 180g vinyl in the UK for the first time.
In the months leading up to his passing on September 12, 2003, Johnny Cash had been recording new material with producer Rick Rubin. "American V: A Hundred Highways", is the result from those sessions including the last song Cash ever wrote, "Like the 309". Rick Rubin sums up the album, 'these songs are Johnny's final statement. They are the truest reflection of the music that was central to his life at the time. This is the music that Johnny wanted us to hear.' - Rick Rubin
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