On their new album ‘II’, L.A. Takedown align the moody grandeur of a film score with the pure melodicism of pop. Led by Los Angeles-based composer / multi-instrumentalist Aaron M. Olson, the seven-piece band deliver a guitar-driven take on synth-pop that’s inspired its own genre.

‘II’ ultimately leaves it to the listener to dream up their own imaginary movie for each beautifully sprawling track to live in. At turns ethereal and frenzied, groove-heavy and narcotic, ‘II’ is lush with harmonized guitar leads and inspiration from the likes of King Crimson’s Robert Fripp, Japanese composer Tori Kudo and Nigerian musician King Sunny Adé, giving way to an intricately textured sound laced with jagged beats and serene washes of synth.

L.A. Witch have always exuded an aura of effortless cool, whether it manifested as the Americana noir and laconic back-to-basics rock n’ roll of their self-titled debut or the blistering austere adventurism of their sophomore album Play With Fire. The band—comprised of Sade Sanchez (guitar/vocals), Irita Pai (bass), and Ellie English (drums)—began as an informal affair, but the sultry and beguiling reverb-draped songs they created caught on with the public, moving the project beyond the insular space of the band’s friends and peers in Southern California into the broader world.

On their latest album, 'DOGGOD', the trio push their craft beyond their previous creative and geographical confines, opting to craft the material in Paris, recording the tracks at Motorbass Studio on the Rue de Martyrs. 'DOGGOD' explores broader swaths of sonic terrain, employs a greater arsenal of tones, and probes larger existential and cosmic themes, all while retaining the band’s signature sense of the forbidden, the forsaken, and the foreboding. 'DOGGOD' is a way of tackling the universal riddle tangled in the spiritual nature of love and devotion. “I feel like I’m some sort of servant or slave to love,” says Sanchez. “There’s a willingness to die for love in the process of serving it or suffering for it or in search of it... just in the way a loyal, devoted servant dog would.” The album title is a palindrome fusing together DOG and GOD—an exaltation of the submissive and a subversion of the divine. It’s a nod to the purity of dogs and an acknowledgement of their unconditional love and protective nature that’s at odds with the various pejoratives associated with the species. “There is this symbolic connection between women and dogs that expresses women’s subordinate position in society,” Sanchez explains. “And anything that embodies such divine characteristics never deserved to be a word used as an insult.”

These conflicted explorations of love and subservience manifest themselves in L.A. Witch’s fusion of their trademark smooth and smoky garage alchemy with a newfound utilization of post-punk’s disciplined reserve and icy instrumentation. Album opener 'Icicle' captures the band journeying out of the proto-punk, psychedelia, and gritty riffage of the ‘70s into the chorus-drenched guitars and forlorn minimalism of Joy Division and early The Cure. A parallel is drawn between romantic suicide and martyrdom that carries over into the second song, 'Kiss Me Deep'. Here Sanchez describes a love so pure that it transcends time and carries over into multiple lifetimes. It’s a song about passion delivered in the worldly and wounded stoicism of early goth pioneers. From there, the band segues into the lead single '777', a song about devotion to the point of death. A propulsive beat, a driving distorted riff, and Sanchez’s ethereal vocals come together to create a song that’s both dire in its fatalism and sensual in its faithful passion.

Across the entirety of 'DOGGOD', L.A. Witch never strays from their muse. On 'I Hunt You Pray', Pai lays down a hypnotic bass throb while English employs a cyclical krautrock groove and Sanchez paints a picture of an abandoned dog on the roadside, alone in the night, living as both the hunter and the hunted. On 'Eyes of Love', the band harnesses the meditative mid-tempo repetition, deconstructed chords, and esoteric ruminations on love, death, and spirituality that made Lungfish such a beloved entity. It reinforces the parallel between the unwavering love seen in the eyes of a dog and the self-sacrifice of a savior. On 'The Lines', the band takes the propulsive pulse of post-punk and adds an extra dose of chorus to the mix. “Chorus is a modern effect that comes from the idea of replicating the slight pitch discrepancies of a choir. There is a shimmering quality which ties us back into this spiritual godly feel,” Sanchez explains. Coupled with the addition of organ and applied to a brooding minor-key melody, the song simultaneously conjures both the holy and the sacrilegious. The title track 'DOGGOD' bears perhaps the strongest resemblance to the material found on the previous album Play With Fire, pitting lean and mean guitars against a scrappy rhythm section and dreamy vocals. But whereas their previous album was a rallying cry to carving one’s own path, 'DOGGOD' adheres to the album’s “til death do us part” theme, going so far as to describe a level of submission that crosses over into dangerous and unhealthy places, with Sanchez singing “hang me on a leash / ‘til I wait for my release.”

Ultimately, 'DOGGOD' is a perfect encapsulation of L.A. Witch’s approach. It’s simultaneously romantic and menacing, reverent and profane, a celebration and a lament. It finds the thread between the past and present, taking familiar sounds and revamping them for the modern age. But it also heralds a new era for the band, looking beyond the Kodachrome memories of midcentury America and digging deeper into the medieval and gothic energies of Paris and beyond, all while probing inward at a sullied heart.

TRACK LISTING

1. Icicle
2. Kiss Me Deep
3. 777
4. I Hunt You Pray
5. Eyes Of Love
6. The Lines
7. Lost At The Sea
8. DOGGOD
9. SOS

Where L.A. Witch's self-titled album oozed with vibe and atmosphere, with the whole mix draped in reverb, sonically placing the band in some distant realm, broadcast across some unknown chasm of time, Play With Fire comes crashing out of the gate with a bold, brash, in-your-face rocker “Fire Starter.” The authoritative opener is a deliberate mission statement.

“Play With Fire is a suggestion to make things happen,” says Sanchez. “Don’t fear mistakes or the future. Take a chance. Say and do what you really feel, even if nobody agrees with your ideas. These are feelings that have stopped me in the past. I want to inspire others to be freethinkers even if it causes a little burn.” And by that line of reasoning, “Fire Starter” becomes a call to action, an anthem against apathy. From there, the album segues into the similarly bodacious rocker “Motorcycle Boy” a feisty love song inspired by classic cinema outlaws like Mickey Rourke, Marlon Brando, and Steve McQueen. At track three, we hear L.A. Witch expand into new territories as “Dark Horse” unfurls a mixture of dustbowl folk, psychedelic breakdowns, and fire-and-brimstone organ lines. And from there, the band only gets more adventurous.

Play With Fire is a bold new journey that retains L.A. Witch’s siren-song mystique, nostalgic spirit, and contemporary cool. Despite the stylistic breadth of the record, there is a unifying timbre across the album’s nine tracks, as if the trio of young musicians is bound together as a collective of old souls tapping into the sounds of their previous youth.

TRACK LISTING

1. Fire Starter
2. Motorcycle Boy
3. Dark Horse
4. I Wanna Lose
5. Gen-Z
6. Sexorexia
7. Maybe The Weather
8. True Believers
9. Starred

Luminaries from rock's thriving post-punk, and hardcore scenes, guitarist Frank Iero (My Chemical Romance), guitarist Travis Stever (Coheed and Cambria), vocalist Anthony Green (Circa Survive), bassist Tim Payne (Thursday), and drummer Tucker Rule (Thursday/Yellowcard) have joined forces to create L.S. DUNES.

Unshackled from the expectations and aesthetics of their already successful careers, L.S. DUNES super-charge their heavy anthems with punk energy into a sound unlike anything that has come before it. From the gripping, theatrical opener "2022," and the crunchy, frenetic earworm "Like Forever," to the pummeling, expansive "Permanent Rebellion,” and the disarming album closer, "Sleep Cult," Past Lives is an electrifying and emotional ride.

Past Lives was produced by Will Yip (Turnstile, Circa Survive, Quicksand) and recorded at his Studio 4 Recording in Philadelphia, PA. Going deep on issues of fearlessness, dependency, nonconformity, and impermanence, writing for the album was a collaborative effort

TRACK LISTING

1. 2022 (4:30)
2. Antibodies (3:29)
3. Grey Veins (4:26)
4. Like Forever (3:20)
5. Blender (4:29)
6. Past Lives (4:10)
7. It Takes Time (3:26)
8. Bombsquad (3:51)
9. Permanant Rebellion (3:13)
10. Grifter (4:42)
11. Sleep Cult (3:45)

Lush pop, with strong orchestration and entrancing vocals. Includes contributions form members of Joan Of Arc and Pinetop 7.

A stellar combination of the talents of The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe, cinematic femme fatale Emmanuelle Seigner and ice-cool pop provocateurs The Limiñanas (Lionel and Marie Liminana), L’Epee transcend artistic and traditional borders.

“We are living in very culturally insular times, so it feels really good to be swimming against the tide,” says Anton of the band’s bi-lingual, cross-continental approach.“There’s something really positive about branching out, collaborating and taking risks.”

Far from being defeated by a world seemingly regressing into turmoil, L’ Epee’s strength comes from a long history of challenging the status quo. From Anton’s legendary battles with ‘The Man’ with The Brian Jonestown Massacre to Emmanuelle’s eclectic screen career to The Liminana’s community-minded ethos- setting up their own record shop, L.G.D.C, and promoting gigs by the cream of the world’s garage rock scene ( New Bomb Turks, Oblivians, Fleshtones, Revelators) - they share a fierce intelligence and an outsider aesthetic which, over the decades, has been sharpened to a razor’s edge. Fitting, then, that their name translates as The Sword.
“It came to me in a dream,” explains Anton. “I woke up and there it was, ‘The Sword’. Someone told me there had already been a band with that name so I flipped it into French. It suits the band because we’re united in a common cause.”

This pent-up creative energy has been channelled into their extraordinary debut album, Diabolique. Named in tribute to Mario Bava’s 1968 cult classic ‘Danger: Diabolik’, it’s a musical masterclass where elements of garage, ye-ye, sleaze rock, cult soundtracks, sci-fi, spaghetti westerns and girl-group pop noir are combined with the cut-and-thrust zeal of a band bursting with ideas and energy. All delivered by Emmanuelle in a sultry Gallic drawl which will send a frisson of recognition through anyone familiar with her iconic roles in, among many others, Frantic, Venus In Fur and Bitter Moon (all directed by her husband, Roman Polanski). “I’ve loved rock music since I was a kid,” she says, namechecking Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground and The Stooges as key influences. “I always wanted to be a musician, but it wasn’t so easy in France as I couldn’t meet the right people. Then I became a model and then very quickly after that I did Frantic and became an actress. It worked for me, but in my heart I always wanted to do music.”

Having asked close friend Bertrand Belin to provide lyrics for three further tracks (‘Grande', ‘On Dansait Avec Elle’ and ‘Lou’), the trio set to work at The Limiñanas’ studio in Cabestany, Southern France, in November 2017 -with Emmanuelle, ever the perfectionist, fine-tuning them the following February. Satisfied with the results, the trio flew to Berlin to hook up with Anton and (Liverpudlian engineer) Andrea Wright at his Cobra Studio in Berlin Utilising a treasure trove of vintage equipment (“I’ve got way more ‘60’s gear than The Beatles and The Stones had, I’m mad for that stuff”, explains the BJM man), Anton set to work, re-recording the drums with Marie and adding -and deleting- tracks so that the shifting layers of sound suited the mood of each individual track. “I’ve got plenty of other ways to express myself, so I really enjoyed taking a backseat, creatively,” he explains. “Lionel is such a great composer. There’s a very visual sense to his songs and I was very conscious of not stepping on his intentions too much. There were some really interesting sonic things I would add, like a track of the craziest feedback, to give a song a weird ambient quality. It’s the role that Brian Jones had in the Stones, or Warren (Ellis) has in Nick Cave’s band. Musically, they’re all over the map, but they make things happen.” “It was so inspiring to see Anton work,” says Emmanuelle of seeing him in action. “When we sent the songs to him they were good, but they were nothing like how it ended up. He’s so talented, like a genius. He made the whole thing darker, more interesting and more psychedelic.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: With some of the greatest and most unique voices in modern psychedelia coming together to record, the results were never going to be anything short of brilliant, and this heady lsyergic collection has exceeded that already. Hazy, all-encompassing and beautifully balanced, with drones and jams being brilliantly balanced with undeniable grooves and feel. A brilliant outing.

TRACK LISTING

1) Une Lune étrange
2) Lou
3) Dreams
4) La Brigade Des Maléfices
5) On Dansait Avec Elle
6) Ghost Rider
7) Grande
8) Springfield 61
9) Un Rituel Inhabituel
10) Last Picture Show

This is the debut single release from L’Epee, the band are Emmaunelle Seigner (Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle), Anton Newcombe (The Brian Jonestown Massacre) & Lionel & Marie Liminana (The Liminanas). Recorded in Cabestany (France) and Berlin at Anton’s Cobra Studio, this three track 12” single comes in deluxe packaging & precedes the full length album released in June this year. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: If you're a fan of BJM's psych swagger and The Limiñanas' French charm this summery, fuzzy stomper will be right up your street. Love it!

TRACK LISTING

A1) Dreams  
B1) Last Picture Show  
B2) Dreams (extended A-go-go)

Formed in Montreal in 1967, L'Infonie lasted until 1974 - seven years of pure mayem that gave birth to four long players as well as various multi-media shows built as way-out happenings. Lead by composer Walter Boudreau and poet / singer, Raoul Duguay, this very loose collective contained up to 33 artists from various backgrounds coming together as one big avant-garde adventure still unsurpassed in Québec. Eclectic music mixing free-jazz, rock, classical and experimental electronic music. If you like some of the wackiness of Tropicalia then you'll need to investigate this!

Psychedelic dub, Afro-Latin rhythms and cosmic grooves come together on La Chooma’s self-titled debut for Batov Records. Drawing on Moroccan Gnawa, Colombian cumbia, Afrobeat, Jamaica dub & roots, and cosmic jazz, the six-piece ensemble create deep, hypnotic music rooted in global traditions and shaped for contemporary dancefloors.

Having already captivated local audiences with their hypnotic, organic live performances, La Chooma – now a six-piece ensemble – have been steadily building an international following. Initial singles 'Magic Plant' and 'Huachuma' earned support from tastemakers including BBC Radio 6 Music’s Deb Grant and Tom Ravenscroft.

'Magic Plant' distills the band’s signature blend of hypnotic grooves, lush percussion and woozy synths, like Jimi Tenor lost in the Colombian Amazon. A dreamlike, dub-infused trip driven by organic rhythm and cosmic textures. 'Huachuma' picks up the thread, fusing Afrobeat percussion, swirling basslines and psychedelic flourishes into a hallucinogenic jam made for a tropical dancefloor.

'High Grow' conjures images of The X-Files set in Addis Ababa, with Ethio- jazz-style synths dancing and tripping across a relentless Mulatu-inspired bassline and Afrobeat drums, all drenched in foreboding dub delay. Perfect for dark, smoke-filled rooms in the small hours.

Like the lost child of Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids and The Comet Is Coming, 'Lonely' hits like a sledgehammer of cosmic synth funk and intense Afro- rock drums, riding an acoustic bassline that breaks into a frenetic solo after a minute. The drums constantly threaten to overwhelm, but open up for the spiraling synths to peak half way through the track. 'Cozumel' follows seamlessly, moving to a slightly slower groove built on a deep electric bassline and irresistible four-to-the-floor Afro-Latin rhythms. Synths rise in harmony with the haunting call of the hand-carved Egyptian kawala flute as the energy builds in the third minute before the tension finally releases. There’s something in the music’s spiritual core and soulful presence that recalls the groundbreaking work of Jamaican legends Count Ossie and Cedric Brooks, who fused jazz with Rastafari drumming.

La Chooma draw dotted lines across time and space, finding hidden connections and shared frequencies, pulling threads together into a sound that hypnotises the mind and moves the body.

TRACK LISTING

1. Magic Plant
2. High Glow
3. Huachuma
4. Praise
5. Rhinno Dance
6. Lonely
7. Cozumel
8. Gamal Gadol
9. Cookie Crumble Cumbia
10. Veggie Berber Boy

Welcome to the second instalment of the collaboration between The Reflex's Discodays label and Because Music in Paris, remixing gems from the Zagora catalogue.

Created in 1975 by producer Daniel Vangarde (father of Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter), the Zagora label created some of the most exciting disco music in France, ranging from cult underground artists Who’s Who and Starbow, to massive international hits by the Gibson Brothers, la Compagnie Créole and Black Blood.

On this 12’’, we’ve got two first time ever remixes from La Compagnie Creole, one of the most successful acts in France during the 80’s who expertly mixed tropical sounds from the West Indies with pop and disco to staggering record sales.

With tapes thought to be long lost, a chance find of stems from two of their songs not only makes this release possible, but also perfectly showcases two sides of the band with ‘Le Bal Masqué’ which was a huge hit commercially in 1984 and ‘La Nuit Des Requins’ which is probably their least known and most underground track, both masterminded by songwriters Daniel Vangarde and Jean Kluger.

‘Le Bal Masqué’, now devoid of its cheesiest sections, puts the focus on that infectious groove adorned with percussions and electronics but with its singalong chorus intact and stronger than ever. A guaranteed tropical disco floor filler at 122bpm, regardless of your knowledge of the French language!

‘La Nuit Des Requins’, an ode to session musicians found regularly in Paris studios back in the day, gets a complete overhaul by putting the exhilarating drums and killer bass line of the original to the fore into a brand new 124bpm version that is destined to rock the most discerning dance floors the world over.

Released on 180g vinyl with custom artwork on card sleeve designed by Al Kent / Million Doller Disco. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Totally tropical disco tastes from the new school master slicer-dicer - The Reflex. Amazing source material, top drawer snips = pure satisfaction for the dancefloor.

TRACK LISTING

A. Le Bal Masqué (The Reflex Revision) 
B. La Nuit Des Requins (The Reflex Revision) 

During the sixties, especially the second half, Bobby Marín was an up-and-coming young Nuyorican who was responsible, along with his brother Richard, for producing, writing, or coordinating recordings by Louie Ramírez, Machito, The Nitty Gritty, Willie Rosario, Joe Cuba, Johnny Zamot, Kako and Azuquita, Charlie Palmieri, and others. Many of these artists were caught up in the ongoing boogaloo movement. So, it was not a surprise when Ismael Maisonave —an unsung hero of Latin music and owner of Mary Lou Records—approached Bobby with the idea of reissuing a Raphie Martínez album as a budget LP under a different name, resulting in “La Cucaracha Brass”.

The songs selected for this compilation represent a point in time when the world was getting ready for an incipient monster called salsa, which would take over for years to come. The LP includes descargas, guaguancós, guarachas, as well as the declining boogaloo.

It is a collection of recordings by different artists and was named Cucaracha Brass because at that time the group Tijuana Brass was very popular… Most of the songs were taken (six out of eight, presumably) from the LP Raphie Martínez and the National Combo 'Cool Man' (Mary Lou 1002). However, there are noticeable differences between the two albums. ‘Latin Power’ is an explosive instrumental guaracha and descarga, where the trumpet, congas, and timbales deliver powerful solos. ‘Takin’ Over’ — an instrumental boogaloo — appears as ‘We Are Taking Over’ on Raphie Martínez’s album (with a faster tempo and featuring a background voice). ‘Hey Mama,’ a boogaloo sung by Bobby Marín, is titled ‘Do It All Over’ on Martínez’s recording, featuring a different singer, different lyrics, and a different tempo.

As well as the edited versions of tracks taken from Martínez’s album, this album comprises songs taken from other Mary Lou Records releases such as Quique Rosa y La Sabrosa Orchestra (Mary Lou 1020).

TRACK LISTING

1. LATIN POWER
2. TAKIN' OVER
3. SOMETHING RIGHT
4. MUERTO DE RISA
5. PAPA NA’ MAS
6. MI GUAGUANCÓ
7. HEY, MAMA
8. LOST IN THE JUNGLE

La Dispute is an American post-hardcore band formed in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2004. The band consists of vocalist Jordan Dreyer, guitarist Chad Sterenberg, drummer Brad Vander Lugt, bassist Adam Vass, and guitarist Corey Stroffolino. Known for their intense and emotionally charged sound, La Dispute has released five studio albums to critical acclaim, including 'Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair' (2008), 'Wildlife' (2011), and 'Panorama' (2019). Their music often explores themes of loss, grief, and human relationships through a series of interconnected stories. La Dispute has developed a devoted fanbase and is known for their powerful, unforgettable live performances.

TRACK LISTING

1. Such Small Hands
2. Said The King To The River
3. New Storms For Older Lovers
4. Damaged Goods
5. Fall Down, Never Get Back Up Again
6. Bury Your Flame
7. Last Blues For Bloody Knuckles
8. The Castle Builders
9. Andria
10. Then Again, Maybe You Were Right
11. Sad Prayers For Guilty Bodies
12. The Last Lost Continent
13. Nobody, Not Even The Rain

La Dispute is an American post-hardcore band formed in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2004. The band consists of vocalist Jordan Dreyer, guitarist Chad Sterenberg, drummer Brad Vander Lugt, bassist Adam Vass, and guitarist Corey Stroolino. Known for their intense and emotionally charged sound, La Dispute has released ve studio albums to critical acclaim, including 'Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair' (2008), 'Wildlife' (2011), and 'Panorama' (2019). Their music often explores themes of loss, grief, and human relationships through a series of interconnected stories. La Dispute has developed a devoted fanbase and is known for their powerful, unforgettable live performances.

TRACK LISTING

1. A Departure
2. Harder Harmonies
3. St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church Blues
4. Edit Your Hometown
5. A Letter
6. Safer In The Forest/Love Song For Poor Michigan
7. The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit
8. A Poem
9. King Park
10. Edward Benz, 27 Times
11. I See Everything
12. A Broken Jar
13. All Our Bruised Bodies And The Whole Heart Shrinks
14. You And I In Unison

Ghetto Records was Joe Bataan’s way to get over on The Man and out of the hood, a bold move by an artist looking for independence and creative control in an industry that had exploited his talents and treated him like chattel. Hatched from desperation yet full of hope Ghetto Records came crashing down shortly after its inception. The seven albums in the Ghetto discography languished out of print. 'From Ear to Ear' (1971) by La Fantástica was one of them.

Orquesta La Fantástica was led by tenor saxophonist, vocalist, and composer Samuel "Sammy" León, who hailed from Brooklyn. His 11-piece orchestra of local musicians featured a rather unique sound, which combined piano and vibraphone with a brass section of two tenor saxophones and a pair of trumpets. They were signed to Ghetto Records by Bataan’s business partner George Febo after being blown away by both the band and the overwhelming reaction of the crowd at the Village Gate.

La Fantástica had all original tunes, with modern arrangements and a típico feel. Most importantly, they were fortunate to have vocalist Rafael "Ralphy" De Jesús, aka Chuleta and 'From Ear To Ear' greatly benefited from his contributions.

'From Ear To Ear' is composed exclusively of heavy-hitters, including the beguiling English-language psychedelic soul slow-burner ‘Latin Blues.’ ‘Con Quién Andas,’ a hot salsa banger beloved by DJs and collectors alike, features killer saxophone and trumpet riffs with an interplay worthy of Puente or Machito.

Though ‘Ya No Te Quiero’ and ‘Telegrama’ are breakup songs, they function as swinging dance floor ass-shakers with heavy percussion breaks and crazy horn riffs. The band's origins as an instrumental outfit are further displayed by a couple of vocal-free workouts that close out the album: ‘M&M,’ a guaguancó rumba jam session dedicated to the band's discoverer, Maisonave, and ‘Sassie,’ a Latin jazz suite that flies through a number of captivating sections with different rhythms, tempos, and arrangements.

One aspect of the release that has inspired discussion and conjecture is its psychedelic album art. It was designed by an employee at Sanabria's design studio, Charlie Rosario. They wanted something more colorful and hip that would grab the public's attention. Rosario’s surrealistic illustration, with its disembodied ears, rainbows and multi-colored female head floating amongst the clouds, was perfect!

Vampisoul are now reissuing 'From Ear to Ear' once again thanks to their collaboration with Now-Again Records and includes an insert with liner notes.

TRACK LISTING

1. Borinquen
2. Con Quien Andas
3. Latin Blues
4. Ya No Te Quiero
5. Negrita Mia
6. Telegrama
7. M & M
8. Sassie

All of us carry a piece of where we’re from with us, but these parcels of fallow land often in a uniquely mysterious way become the prey that nourishes our aspirations. Agnès Gayraud a refined thinker by day that transforms into la Féline at night left Tarbes many years ago in search of greener pastures. After making a name for herself with Adieu l’Enfance (2014), Triomphe (2017), and Vie Future (2019), the author and musician has evolved once again.

Her latest release Tarbes reinvents the circle of life and challenges our preconceived notions. She welcomes us to her hometown with sweet and clear melodies over the backdrop of an electronic hum, reminiscent of Mark Twain classic Tom Sawyer. Tarbes is no more than a listen away. Physically prevented from returning to her hometown by the viral threat we all know all too well, Agnès found her way back with a small Electone home organ. The constraints of off-peak hours that called for some DIY savvy, slowly but surely, roused her spirit. With a drum machine, a bass and a guitar, she succeeded in making the young girl inside her smile again. With 13 songs and just as many adventures Tarbes is a concept album that tells the story of a young woman’s formative years, as spent in her hometown. The returning hymn doesn’t only imprint nostalgia, it paints the full emotional portrait of a town. Because for Agnès, Tarbes is not just her theater, but her whole world, showing how fiercely protective she is of her hometown in the song Solazur. Under a magnifying glass of emotion, and with the sentimental testimony that is La Panthère des Pyrénées, the artiste shows us the skeletons in our own closets. Tarbes, more than a brief stopover in a rail journey to the coast, broaches issues that touch on abandonment, desertification, aging and redevelopment that many French towns and cities face today. Alexandre Guirkinger’s photographs serve as album art that illustrates this strangely unique singularity. While fine-tuning this collection of stories, in an oh-so-intimate album where solitude rips away the mask of confidence, Agnès found solace in uniting with other spirits.

For 3 songs Tarbes, Jeanne d’Albret and Fum, inspired by an Occitan poem of Louisa Paulin (1888-1944), she invited the young voices of Conservatoire Henri Duparc a building she knows intimately, despite never feeling allowed to enter as a child to breathe the energy of their adolescence into this record. She also collaborated with Lyon’s own François Virot to imbue his delicate rhythms into her work, as well as Belgian guitarist Mocke Depret. Lastly, La Féline entrusted the last production stages to her eternal partner in music, Xavier Thiry, with Stéphane “Alf” Briat on the mixing board. The final piece has a complex tranquility, surrounded by non-verbality, with Jeanne d’Albret, Louisa Paulin and the Pyrénées safeguarding Agnes’ secrets. With the calm reassurance of her metamorphoses, La Féline delivers a slice of silence to her town, serving as both her cradle and theater. Tarbes’ Théâtre des Nouveautés is where Agnès Gayraud, La Féline, has decided to present Tarbes to its residents on October 14, 2022. While “nouveautés” evokes newness, this theater is reminiscent of a future which is already outdated, where modernity is only vague and fictional, carrying reminders of French haute-kitsch accordionist Yvette Horner, whose parents were the caretakers of what was then called the Cani Eldorado a bastion of virtue through the 30s, with its lineup of Catholic films. However, by the 60s, it would have become a temple of pornographic cinema. Tarbes, “Les Nouveautés”, end card. In the mid 90s, then 16 years old, Agnès discovered the volatile dust and the ghosts of the past that were hidden in this apostate theater. This phantom bequeathed song the teenager with the gift of her undeniable talent at her first appearance on stage a high school performance of a guitar-laden ballad sung in Spanish, a language her Andalusian mother has infused her with. On October 14, 2022, Agnès returns to the stage, bass in hand and joined by François Virot (drums), Mocke Depret (guitar), Léa Moreau (keyboard) and the Conservatoire de Tarbes singers to perform the album in its entirety.

TRACK LISTING

1. Tarbes (Retourner À)
2. Une Ville Moyenne
3. Place De Verdun
4. Va Pas Sur Les Quais De L’Adour
5. Solazur
6. Je Dansais Allongée
7. Tout Doit Disparaitre
8. Jeanne D’Albret
9. Le Garçon Sur Le Toit
10. Dancing
11. Fum
12. La Panthère Des Pyrénées
13. La Route De Pau 

Three years of musical silence resulted from three years of pandemic, as she moved home to Sweden from Berlin, putting her Masters in Pharmaceutical Science to use as managing lead of 15-20 staff in Stockholm’s hospitals. A big life change, after a decade of her Power Plant label, in a career including Mixmag breakthrough artist, a Watergate compilation, an Essential Mix, Essential New Tune collab with Sasha ‘Förbindelse’, and gigs like Creamfields, Awakenings, Watergate Berlin, Printworks London, Sub Club and many more. But the enforced hiatus allowed time to reflect: ‘It got me thinking. What music do I want people to associate with me? I had a debut album ready in 2020, but I’ve always drawn inspiration not only from music, but changing elements in my life. It’s only now I feel I have the tracks ready for the world to hear.’

TRACK LISTING

1. Sannanita
2. Slowdive
3. Your Move
4. Plastic Miami
5. Chian
6. Free My Mind
7. Väsen
8. Stay With Me 
9. All I Ever Wanted 

‘Blood’ is an album that was inspired by Lianne’s family heritage, which is part Jamaican and part Greek. Once touring for her debut album came to a close, she headed to Jamaica with her mother for a holiday which evolved into an experience of self-discovery. Lianne enjoyed emotional reunions with long-lost relatives; embraced Kingston’s clubs; and even jammed in front of her family for the first time during a session with legendary dancehall / reggae producer Stephen McGregor. Discovering her heritage inspired Lianne to reflect on the connections between now and then, which in turn sparked the songs which would become her future. Simply, “everything seemed to have a lot more clarity, and I really wanted to speak about it.” Lyrically, the songs that feature on the album are almost all related to “the feeling of who you are and where you come from.” Sonically, ‘Blood’ is a collection that shakes, shimmies and swings with Jamaican grooves with Lianne taking inspiration from the nation’s love of grooves, rhythms and syncopation. In addition to Stephen McGregor, ‘Blood’ features a rich collection of collaborators. Produced by Adele / FKA twigs collaborator Paul Epworth and founded upon an instrumental recording by Ninja Tune trio The Invisible, the first single ‘Unstoppable’ is a song that Lianne wrote to help to repair a relationship that she had ended.

The sixteenth release in the LAMC 7” Series.

TRACK LISTING

A Side: La Luz – Believe My Eyes
B Side: Scully – Don’t Want That

THIS IS A BLACK FRIDAY 2025 EXCLUSIVE.

La Luz returns with 'Extra! Extra!' exclusively for Record Store Day Black Friday 2025! Picking up on the themes originally shared on their 2024 album 'News of the Universe', this limited EP showcases the band's agility with reworked versions of a selection of recent songs, offering new perspectives on already well-loved tunes.

"Extra! Extra! finds us unwinding and unravelling after a year on the road in support of News of the Universe,” explains Shana Cleveland, "our planetary love letter to the strangeness and beauty of life on Earth.”

"After running around the globe, playing these songs every night, we thought it would be fun to deconstruct and reinvent them together. We headed back to Tiny Telephone in Oakland for a few sweet sessions, this time with the line-up of Audrey Johnson and myself (both having recorded for the album), joined by touring members Lee Paige and Maryam Qudus, the latter having joined the live band after producing and engineering News of the Universe."

TRACK LISTING

1.News Of The Universe (Extra! Extra! Version)
2.Strange World (Extra! Extra! Version)
3.Good Luck With Your Secret (Extra! Extra! Version)
4.I'll Go With You (Extra! Extra! Version)
5.Poppies (Extra! Extra! Version)

Los Angeles has often been described as a “dream factory”--both a mecca where dreamers converge to pursue long-held aspirations, and a topography of hallucinogenic contradictions: enchanting tangerine sunsets diffused by smog, crystal-clutching spiritualists mingling with deep-pocketed narcissists, rows of scenic palms competing with garish billboards for commuters’ attention. It was against this backdrop that the four members of La Luz--singer/guitarist Shana Cleveland, drummer Marian Li Pino, keyboardist Alice Sandahl, and bassist Lena Simon—conceived of Floating Features, the band’s third studio album. For this, their most ambitious release yet, La Luz consulted landscapes both physical and psychological. References to dreams abound on Floating Features. “Loose Teeth” catalyzes nightmare fuel into a propulsive, intentionally-disorienting collision of honeyed harmonies and Takeshi Terauchi-esque jet-streams of distorted surf guitar. “Mean Dream” unsurprisingly mines dreamstate imagery, and the lyrics and melody for “Walking Into the Sun” actually came to Cleveland During a particularly-vivid night of deep sleep. Looming over the album’s Coterie of surreal figures (gargantuan cicadas, a monstrous “Creature,” The Sun King, aliens, the titular “Lonely Dozer”) is the magnificent “Greed Machine,” a skulking, insatiable engine of consumption-Nathanael West’s “business of dreams” fearsomely manifested. Only La Luz could conjure up Floating Features’ Leone-on-LSD vibes, and the album finds the L.A. band at the height of their powers--golden rebels in a golden dream.

TRACK LISTING

01. Floating Features 2:15
02. Cicada 3:13
03. Loose Teeth 2:49
04. Mean Dream 3:36
05. California Finally 3:23
06. The Creature 3:30
07. Golden One 4:16
08. Lonely Dozer 3:17
09. Greed Machine 4:21
10. Walking Into The Sun 2:47
11. Don’t Leave Me On The Earth 2:37

Seattle’s La Luz recorded their debut EP, Damp Face, in a small trailer on a hot August day. But barring the inevitable “no-AC-in-the-van” summer tour calamity, La Luz runs cool. Their brand of coolness isn’t about distance or affect; it’s a mood, and—sue me, but I’m about to totally rip off Zelda Fitzgerald: Something about this music vibrates to the dusky, dreamy smell of dying moons and shadows.

In Spanish, La Luz means “light” and that’s the perfect thing to evoke when your songs give the illusion of veering in the opposite direction. But lift out most any lyric—which is a good excuse to give a closer listen to the delicate, four-part harmonies that are fast becoming the band’s signature—and you’ll find that the aches and pains of love and loss, of living in a world where no foothold is ever a promise—all this is delivered with a nuanced dose of perfectly timed exhilaration, like the whole thing might just be worth it in the end.

Last spring, La Luz returned to that steamy trailer park to record It’s Alive – the much-anticipated follow up to Damp Face – with their friend and engineer Johnny Goss. From the first get-psyched drum roll and eerie chords of “Sure As Spring”, the dinged-up pop gem that opens the album, the rest moves like a slow drive on a dangerous road, slinking and bending as the terrain shifts. On “What Good Am I?”, the lead vocals, and the swirl of harmonies that surround it, recall the Spartan haze of Mazzy Star’s misty-eyed super hit. Smack in the middle is the title track. “It’s Alive” is a jangly rocker with a spooky refrain, oodles of ooohs, and a marauding narrative that nails down the misty logic of the rest of the album. Two instrumentals, “Sunstroke” and “Phantom Feelings”, showcase the band’s beach jam surf chops, and fall perfectly between the chilled out heartache that surrounds them.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sure As Spring
2. All The Time
3. Morning High
4. What Good Am I?
5. Sunstroke
6. It?s Alive
7. Big Big Blood
8. Call Me In The Day
9. Pink Slime
10. Phantom Feelings
11. You Can Never Know

On their self-titled fourth album, La Luz launch themselves into a new realm of emotional intimacy for a collection of songs steeped in the mysteries of the natural world and the magic of human chemistry that has found manifestation in the musical ESP between guitarist and songwriter Shana Cleveland, bassist Lena Simon, and keyboardist Alice Sandahl. To help shape La Luz, the band found a kindred spirit in producer Adrian Younge. Though primarily known for his work with hip-hop, soul, and jazz acts, Younge saw in La Luz a shared vision that transcended genre.

“We both create music with the same attitude, and that’s what I love about them,” he says. “They are never afraid to be risky and their style is captivating. It was an honor to work with them.” The result is an album that is both the most naturalistic and psychedelic of the band’s career. All the elements of classic La Luz are still present—the lush harmonies, the impeccable musicianship, the gorgeous melodies—but it’s a richer, earthier iteration, replete with inorganic sounds that mimic the surreality of nature—the humming of invisible bugs, the atmospheric sizzle of a hot day. After spending the last few years living in rural northern California, Cleveland’s lyrics have become more grounded, less interested in traveling to other dimensions than in peeking behind the curtain of this one. With sounds ranging from ghostly electric guitar shimmers, charging fuzz-guitar rock, soulful organ-driven dream-funk, galactic synths, and breezy ‘70s folk-pop, La Luz is an album that celebrates love- of music, of friendship, of life in all its forms. - Mariana Timony. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's a beautiful new LP from Shana Cleveland's La Luz, swimming in nostalgic 70's psychedelia, with wandering percussion and soaring vocal melodies, bringing to mind the Beatles circa Sgt. Pep or acid folk of the late 60's but with a keenly realised modern production sensibility. Superb.

TRACK LISTING

1. In The Country
2. The Pines
3. Watching Cartoons
4. Oh, Blue
5. Goodbye Ghost
6. Yuba Rot
7. Metal Man
8. Lazy Eyes And Dune
9. Down The Street
10. I Won't Hesitate
11. Here On Earth
12. Spider House

In Spanish, La Luz means “light” and that’s the perfect thing to evoke when your songs give the illusion of veering in the opposite direction. But lift out most any lyric—which is a good excuse to give a closer listen to the delicate, four-part harmonies that are fast becoming the band’s signature—and you’ll find that the aches and pains of love and loss, of living in a world where no foothold is ever a promise—all this is delivered with a nuanced dose of perfectly timed exhilaration, like the whole thing might just be worth it in the end.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sure As Spring
2. All The Time
3. Morning High
4. What Good Am I?
5. Sunstroke 6. It’s Alive
7. Big Big Blood
8. Call Me In The Day
9. Pink Slime
10. Phantom Feelings
11.You Can Never Know

“I was in a dream, but now I can see that change is the only law.”

With a credo adapted from science fiction author Octavia E. Butler, an album title from a collection of metaphysical poetry, and an expansion in consciousness brought on by personal crisis, guitarist and songwriter Shana Cleveland learns to embrace a changing world with unconditional love on 'News of the Universe', the new full-length from California rock band La Luz.

'News of the Universe' is a record born of calamity, a work of dark, beautiful psychedelia reflecting Cleveland’s experience of having her world blown apart by a breast cancer diagnosis just two years after the birth of her son. It’s also a portrait of a band in flux, marking the first appearance for drummer Audrey Johnson and the final ones from longtime members bassist Lena Simon and keyboardist Alice Sandahl, whose contributions add a bittersweet edge to a record that is both elegy for an old world and cosmic road map to a strange new one.

But is there any band in the world more suited to capturing the chaos of change in all its messy beauty than La Luz? Formed by Cleveland in 2012, La Luz is beloved for their ability to balance bedlam and bliss, each new record another fine-tuning of the band’s mix of swaggering riffs with angelic vocals borrowed from doo-wop and folk; a band so reliably great that it makes the huge step forward in confidence and sheer musicality that is 'News of the Universe' all the more formidable. Cleveland, also a writer and painter, has developed into a truly original songwriter with her own canon of haunted psychedelia. Yet if Cleveland has spent years writing songs about ghosts, what lurks in the shadows of 'News of the Universe' is nothing less than death itself. “There are moments on this album that sound to me like the last frantic confession before an asteroid destroys the earth,” says Cleveland.

The powerful sense of openness that permeates 'News of the Universe' is at least partially due to the fact that it is a record made entirely by women—from the performing, writing, and producing all the way through to the recording, engineering, and mastering. Working with producer Maryam Qudos (Spacemoth), the all-female environment allowed Cleveland to feel safe tapping into difficult places and expressing hard emotions women are socialized to suppress.

Unashamedly vulnerable, unabashedly feminine, and undeniably triumphant, 'News of the Universe' is another knockout record from a band so reliably great that it has perhaps led people to overlook how pioneering La Luz really are: women of color in indie music forging their own path by following their own artistic star into galaxies beyond current musical trends, always led by an earnest belief in the cosmic power of love and a great riff. Never is that more true than on 'News of the Universe', which might be La Luz’s most brutal record to date but also their most blissful.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: La Luz have always crafted a beautifully heady noise, somewhere between the rich psychedelic freakouts of the 60's and 70's and airy modern indie music, but it's on 'News Of The Universe' that their tendency towards more frenetic wall-of-sound synths and slowly blooming atmospheres becomes more clear, with moments of divine peace interrupted with bold swathes of activity.

TRACK LISTING

1. Reaching Up To The Sun
2. Strange World
3. Dandelions
4. Poppies
5. Good Luck With Your Secret
6. Always In Love
7. Close Your Eyes
8. I'll Go With You
9. Blue Moth Cloud Shadow
10. News Of The Universe
11. Moon In Reverse
12. Blue Jay

Seattle "surf noir" band La Luz returns with the anticipated follow-up to their breakout 2013 debut album It's Alive. Recorded in a makeshift surf shop studio with producer Ty Segall, Weirdo Shrine is a noisier, more energized effort.

For most, a brush with death would be cause for retreat, reflection, and reluctance, but Seattle band La Luz found something different in it: resilience. Having survived a high-speed highway collision shortly after releasing their 2013 debut LP It’s Alive, La Luz, despite lasting trauma, returned to touring with a frequency and tirelessness that put their peers to shame. When it came time to record Weirdo Shrine, the goal was to capture the band’s restless live energy and commit it to tape.

In early 2015, Cleveland and Co. adjourned to a surf shop in San Dimas, California where, with the help of producer/engineer Ty Segall, they realized this vision. Tracking most of the album live in shared quarters, La Luz chose to leave in any happy accidents and spur-of-the-moment flourishes that occurred while recording. The resulting album is a natural evolution of the band’s self-styled “surf noir” sound—a rawer, turbo-charged sequel that charts themes of loneliness, infatuation, obsession and death across eleven tracks, from the opening credits siren song of “Sleep Till They Die” to the widescreen, receding-skyline send-off of “Oranges” and its bittersweet epilogue, “True Love Knows.”

TRACK LISTING

01. Sleep Till They Die
02. You Disappear
03. With Davey
04. Don't Wanna Be Anywhere
05. I Can't Speak
06. Hey Papi
07. I Wanna Be Alone (With You)
08. I'll Be True
09. Black Hole, Weirdo Shrine
10. Oranges
11. True Love Knows

"The year was 1996 (a guess really), when I had LA MACHINE play in our Olneyville warehouse space. It was the first time I danced in front of other people. (I was later told I was really good). I think maybe it was the first time I can recall where I stood in front of something I would consider modern psychedelic music. Not a rehash of some ghost from the past but something new to me.

We had a plethora of hardcore, improv, and noise bands in New England... but this... this was something different. It was churning and it had a haunting floor-scraping ass on it. It had hints of nausea and a cyclic simplicity that to this day I still love and listen to often. Loudly, stoned, driving through the desert, laughing. They played and my friends skated the quarter pipe my flate mate had built...it was my first successful party and I thank La Machine for it.

RICK PELLTIER and JOHN LOPER have compiled these tunes for us to release post-mortem, but who knows...maybe they will come back to haunt a warehouse near you...OoOoOoOH. Every song reminds me of when I was younger, stronger, and faster. But now I know enough to realize how lucky I actually was to have this stuff around me. And now you can too. Enjoy." -John Dwyer (4.30.13).

Lovingly remastered from the original cassette with new original art by WILLIAM KEIHN.

La Mambanegra (The Black Mamba) is a powerful latin music orchestra. Its venom is made of 70s NYC Salsa and elements of Jamaican and Colombian music, Funk and Hip Hop. Made up of some of Colombia's finest players, La Mambanegra are the advance guard for the rebirth of Salsa, twisting the genre into the 21st Century. Inspired by the story of an anonymous and mythical hero of the Barrio Obrero, a popular neighborhood of Cali, who had a series of fantastic adventures in California, La Habana and New York, this band brings a new concept of Salsa and Latin Music to the world. But, La Mambanegra are more than just salsa. Indeed, their leader Jacobo Vélez prefers to believe that they inhabit a genre all of their own. He calls it 'break-salsa', on account of the band's easy assimilation of hip-hop, ragga and knife-sharp funk. Hailing from the Colombian salsa capital of Cali, this nine-piece have been grooving hard for four years now, their polyrhythmic, horn-heavy and thoroughly modern sound quickly earning them a devoted following across South America and beyond. Their full-throttle live shows overflowing with the absolute commitment of each band member. In Vélez, they have an exuberant, passionate leader for whom the music is an essential life force. "Salsa is sweat, sex, liquour and Pielroja cigarettes," he announces. "It's the gasoline that turns my heart on."

Originally released in 1974 on Shandar, Dream House 78’17” is the second full-length album by La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela. This first-time US edition reproduces the original gatefold sleeve with beautiful calligraphy by Zazeela and liner notes by Young and French musicologist Daniel Caux.

Side one was recorded at a private concert (on the date and time indicated by the title) and features Young and Zazeela’s voices against a sine wave drone with Jon Hassell on trumpet and Garrett List on trombone. This work is a section of the longer composition Map of 49’s Dream the Two Systems of Eleven Sets of Galactic Intervals Ornamental Lightyears Tracery (begun in 1966 as a sub-section of The Tortoise, His Dreams and Journeys, which was begun in 1964 with Young’s group The Theatre of Eternal Music). The piece evolves with the oscillator changing pitch and dictating an ornate pattern over the course of the performance. Side two is an example of one of the sets of frequencies sustained in the Dream House, the composite sound environments conceived by Young and Zazeela. The composer suggests listening while seated—to experience how the sound interacts with the room and other perceptions of its arrangement—as well as while walking.

As Young states, “The frequency ratios are monitored continuously as lissajous patterns on the oscilloscopes and, in spite of the great stability of the oscillators, the phase relationships of the sine waves gradually drift which causes their amplitudes to add and subtract algebraically. Not only does the sound become a bit louder and softer, but at very loud levels, one actually begins to have a sensation that parts of the body are somehow locked in sync with the sine waves and slowly drifting with them in space and time.”

The London-based psych-folk husband-and-wife duo La Nouvelle Musique released their self-titled debut album earlier in 2025 on Friends Of The Fish/Fruits de Mer Records, after releasing a 7-song EP last year. Singer and pianist Joanna Beck is a composer and performance artist who creates electroacoustic music and sonic art, and has scored theater and film productions. Guitarist Ian de Sylva played in the indie rock band Silver in the 1990s and has recorded as a solo artist. As La Nouvelle Musique, the duo creates psychedelic, cinematic music influenced by British folk.

In line with their preference for incorporating cinematic elements into their music, they chose to record 'Walking In The Air' from the soundtrack of the British animated film The Snowman for their Christmas single. Composer Howard Blake wrote the song, which was originally recorded for the film by Peter Auty and turned into a Top 5 hit in 1985 by another boy chorister, Aled Jones. The song became a British Christmas classic and has been included on many Christmas albums.

Accompanied by acoustic guitar and subtle electronics, Joanna sings the song beautifully. Angelic harmonies and whistling make the song sound even more delicate. In the original song on the B-side, the atmospheric piano ballad 'Face Of A Saint', Joanna showcases the full extent of her vocal range, harmonizing with herself. The song's imaginative lyrics paint a picture of traveling through wintry scenery where gray skies and darkness are illuminated by a light "brighter than we'll ever know". Musically and lyrically, 'Face Of A Saint' complements 'Walking In The Air,' as both songs touch on similar themes and evoke the cozy warmth of a fire on a chilly Christmas night. Releasedas part of the Snowflakes Christmas Singles Club, the single comes packaged in stylish artwork and is pressed on limited-edition white bio vinyl.

TRACK LISTING

1. Walking In The Air
2. Face Of A Saint

GENE arrives five years after the iconoclast variously known as Sam Eastgate, Sam Dust and LA Priest thrilled the world with the cosmic pop of his debut album Inji, his first LP for Domino and his first solo output following the disbanding of former outfit, Late Of The Pier. GENE also follows the 2016 project Soft Hair in which Sam teamed up with Connan Mockasin for an instant cult-classic album.

GENE, the album, is named after a brand-new analogue drum machine Sam dreamt up and built alone. Working in isolation for more than two years in California, Wales and England’s south coast, soldering iron in hand, Sam developed the inners of GENE using dozens of electrical circuits he made up himself. The creation came after a search for an alternative to the structure and rigor of standard drum machines. Its unique rhythmic patterns are the focal point for the album, which is coloured by lush, pastoral tones, paired with the influence of his environmental changes.

The product of clear-eyed focus, the record offers a one-way ticket into a dimension entirely of Sam’s own making.

GENE is the most complete realisation of his vision yet. These songs are on a quest for meaning, exploring the limits of their maker’s abilities.

Coaxed into life with the juicy groove of “Beginning”, the record struts and sparkles through “Rubber Sky” and “What Moves” towards the melancholic interlude of “Sudden Thing” and the gigantic noise of centerpiece “Monochrome”, taking a sharp turn in the final third towards something darker and more mystical.

GENE was produced alongside London based artist, producer, DJ and founder of Phantasy records, Erol Alkan.

TRACK LISTING

Beginning
Rubber Sky
What Moves
Peace Lily
Open My Eyes
Sudden Thing
Monochrome
What Do You See
Kissing Of The Weeds
Black Smoke
Ain’t No Love Affair

Fase Luna is the ocean-inspired, wobbly-pop filled third album, by LA Priest, aka Sam Eastgate – due for release May 5th via Domino. Following 2020’s GENE, named after a modular drum machine that Sam designed using 150 electrical circuits he’d built himself, Fase Luna strips things back to little more than Sam and his guitar: nine sunshine-streaked tracks of pure bliss.

Recording in Mexico and the rainforests of Costa Rica, Fase Luna draws inspiration from each area’s mythical history and ancient connections to the ocean, drawing heavily on both to pack Fase Luna with stories of spirits and imaginations of life on the ocean bed. Raw and unfiltered, Fase Luna offers a one-way ticket to another world.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: 'Fase Luna' brilliant walks the path of Demarco-inspired woozy pop, with tape warble and shimmering affected guitar lines warping around each-other. It's brilliantly loose, perfectly laid back and results in an otherworldly experience all round. Lovely stuff.

‘Inji’ is the debut solo album by Sam Dust, AKA LA Priest.

Across its 10 audaciously imaginative tracks, ‘Inji’ reasserts Dust as a truly idiosyncratic voice in British music, applying the same frantically eclectic, mischievous and willfully absurd spirit of his previous band, the beloved Late Of The Pier, to ever more nuanced and affecting songwriting and composition.

From the obscene space-age stadium rock guitar solo of ‘Oino’, the maddeningly catchy digi-dub single that Dust leaked sample-by-sample on a suitably enigmatic website at the turn of the year, to ‘Learning To Love’, the record’s gargantuan, eight minute long prog-house centrepiece and ‘Occasion’, a melting Martian Prince come-on, ‘Inji’ confounds and delights in equal measure and at every turn.

TRACK LISTING

Occasion
Lady’s In Trouble With
The Law
Gene Washes With New
Arm
Oino
Party Zute / Learning To Love
Lorry Park
Night Train
Fabby
A Good Sign
Mountain

Paris punk-jazz duo La Récré is back to complete their trilogy of EPs. After 10 and 12 inches, Forever Pavot and Cédric Laban are now invading the grooves of a brand new 7 inch record. This double-single includes their fantastic trip to the moon 'La Lune' previously released on BMM Records' 'Groove Dingueries' compilation, and a brand new track diving into abyssal depths at a speed of 137 BPM.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Massive tip for jazz aheads who like to ahead of the curve. La Récré nod to both the London and Los Angeles scenes with a double header of jazz spender perfectly showing off their ambition and style.

TRACK LISTING

A.137
B. La Lune

La Revolución de Emiliano Zapata was the Mexican psychedelic rock band that achieved the most commercial success internationally in the early 70s.

Their self-titled and much sought-after debut LP (1971) is considered one of the best acid rock albums in Mexico, recorded under the influence of groups like Creedence Clearwater Revival or The Who but also adding their own style featuring an original and stunning guitar sound.

Remastered from the original tapes.

Part synth-pop classic, part future pop blueprint, the unforgettably catchy "I'm Not Your Toy" is set to be La Roux's next instant classic and is as sure to take up residence in your brain as its predecessors. With her own sci-fi disco ice queen style cut from the same iconic androgynous mould as Grace Jones and Annie Lennox and looking as otherworldly as Tilda Swinton in an electro remake of the Man Who Fell To Earth, La Roux has ripped up the 2009 pop star rule book, already becoming an accidental fashion heroine, a pop star as beloved of fashion journalists as much as radio DJs. Both 12" and CD single features remixes come from Data (big main room electrohouse smasher) and Jack Beats (another of their monster fidget jackers).

Originally released in very limited quantities on vinyl in 2009, the album, La Roux, contains the UK No. 1 single Bulletproof as well as Top 3 smash In For The Kill. La Roux was shortlisted for the 2009 Mercury Prize and won Best Electronic/Dance Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2011.

La Roux was a refreshing addition to the world of pop. Brixton-born Elly Jackson was inspired more by the music of Nick Drake and Neil Young than synth pop, and when Ben Langmaid first heard her, she was playing her songs on an acoustic guitar. Together, they updated the template for the synth duo, Langmaid resolutely in the background, while Jackson became the face and mouthpiece for the group.

Their debut single, Quicksand, was released on Kitsune Records in December 2008, and soon after Polydor signed them, and amid a flurry of press attention, In For The Kill came out in March 2009, rising to No. 2 in the UK. In June that year, Bulletproof topped the charts, paving the way for the album, which was received warmly in the UK and made huge inroads into the US charts.

Jackson’s androgyny and the duo’s musical style evoked the 80s, yet this was no mere pastiche. The songs had heart and soul and were delivered with matchless panache. “People don’t just want R&B girls thrusting their groins at them,” she told The Guardian. “It gave me hope. People bought the record even though it was fronted by this odd boy-looking ginger girl.”

La Roux is presented with scrupulous attention to the detail of the original UK first pressing and available in audiophile 180gm vinyl. Whether replacing a much-loved original copy, or adding to a collection afresh, this is a superior way to enjoy such enduring and influential music.

TRACK LISTING

1. In For The Kill
2. Tigerlily
3. Quicksand
4. Bulletproof
5. Colourless Colour
6. I'm Not Your Toy
7. Cover My Eyes
8. As If By Magic
9. Fascination
10. Reflections Are Protection
11. Armour Love
12. Growing Pains

Love her or hate her, you can't deny that La Roux has come up with some super-catchy electro-pop tunes this year. "Quicksand" is another one that's sure to make a run up the charts. With snapping 80s electro-dance beats, a dirty bassline and a big hooky chorus, this has 'hit' written all over it.

Grammy-winning and BRIT and Mercury-Prize-nominated artist La Roux returns with her first new album since 2014’s ‘Trouble In Paradise’ is released on her own label Supercolour Records. From the cover to the contents, this is unequivocally the album Elly Jackson always wanted to make, a claim that with some artists might ring alarm bells, but in this instance simply means that ‘Supervision’ sounds precisely, unmistakably, gloriously like La Roux. So, if you're looking for shimmering synths, bubblegum flavours, effortlessly cool vocals and exceptional pop songwriting, this is your new jam.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Huge, bold synths and 80's tinged percussion lay the foundations for this, the latest outing from La Roux. The brilliantly written and confident pop aesthetic ensures that La Roux feels just as essential on your home stereo as it does in the club, and as a main constituent of a good Lasagne.

TRACK LISTING

21st Century
Do You Feel
Automatic Driver
International Woman Of Leisure
Everything I Live For
Otherside
He Rides
Gullible Fool

L.A. Salami is back after releasing two EPs in 2019/20 with his third album ‘The Cause of Doubt & a Reason to Have Faith’. This isn’t the music of a virtuoso: it’s explorative, daring, meditative and sometimes wild. For the first time, Lookman has embraced the world of multi-tracking, though the record still retains a raw energy and an integrity. Lookman has translated a whole album of raw emotion and philosophical musings for your delectation. As a testament to a unique and thrilling talent, this record is a beacon of hope in troubled times and L.A. Salami’s most complete vision so far. In short: We need this record right now. L.A. Salami will be embarking on a 6 date German tour in August. Previously championed by QC rising star, Sunday Times Culture, Brooklyn Vegan etc.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Cause Of Doubt & A Reason To Have Faith
2. When You Play God (The 2018 Copyright Blues)
3. Thinking Of Emiley
4. Dear Jessica Rabbit
5. Things Ain't Changed
6. The Cage
7. The Talis-Man On The Age Of Glass (Redux)

La Securite (Montreal/Tiohtia:ke) is a collective whose art punk is equal parts: jumpy beats, off-kilter arrangements and minimalistic melodic hooks; run through an insomniac filter, the result of excessive exposure to the city's neon lights.

The music is all about living dangerously, perfectly agreeable to being blasted onto dancefloors; while the lyrics share the ethos of the Riot Grrrl movement, and celebrate the autonomization of women, friends (mean and nice) as well as benevolence.

Since coming together in the Spring of 2022, they have been invited to perform noteworthy events such as SXSW, End of the Road, The Great Escape, and Reeperbahn, also touring alongside The Go! Team (2024) and The Rapture (2025). Following the release of Polaris Music Prize 2024 long-listed debut 'Stay Safe!'--as well as its joyous offspring 'Stay Safe! REMIXED'-- with Mothland, the five- piece offered singles 'Detour' and 'Ketchup', setting the stage for a new influx of D.I.Y. sonic gems, this time also teaming up with Simon Raymonde's seminal British imprint: Bella Union.

Hence, the motley bunch continues to meander the fringes of punk, new wave and krautrock, mischievously flouting stylistic form every chance they get by way of sophomore long- player 'Bingo!'

TRACK LISTING

1. Snack City
2. Deny
3. Detour
4. Power Snoozer
5. Princesse
6. Bingo
7. Chill Pill
8. Trixie
9. Nah Nah
10. Ketchup

As La Sera, Katy Goodman turned an aching heart into two marvelous, alluring yet bittersweet break-up albums (2011’s self-titled debut and 2012’s Sees the Light). On her latest, though, the former Vivian Girl is through crying.

Hour of the Dawn sees Goodman waking up, throwing open the bedroom windows and welcoming the day.

"I wanted the new La Sera record to sound like Lesley Gore fronting Black Flag," Goodman says. "I didn't want it to be another record of me sad, alone in my room. I wanted to have fun playing music and writing songs with a band." To back her nimble basslines and enchanting vocals, Goodman assembled a new band helmed by guitarist Todd Wisenbaker.

"We started playing faster, louder and more aggressively," Goodman says. "I wanted to get that energy onto the album."

The forceful new La Sera line-up set about fleshing out Goodman’s melodies and lyrics into strapping rock anthems, debuting them to enthusiastic crowds on tour, and refining them with a newfound obsession to detail.

After a year of perfecting their new material, La Sera was ready to commit it to tape. In the summer of 2013, the group decamped to a sweltering studio in East Los Angeles with engineer Joel Jerome and banged out the ten songs that would become Hour of the Dawn—an album that never walks, but runs, a collision of unleashed punk and ‘80s power-pop.

"We wanted to make a classic American record," Wisenbaker says. "The album was inspired by a lot of bands: The Pretenders, Minor Threat, X, The Smiths, The Cars and more."

The sound that emerged from these disparate influences combined hardcore energy with tuneful harmony, as exemplified by opening track “Losing to the Dark.” Title track "Hour of the Dawn," meanwhile, rides a steady groove towards a long horizon of sunrise. It’s the record's thematic center: a final wave goodbye to a messy past and the beginning of a new day. In a burst of bright, immediate and jangly Smiths-inspired pop, "Fall in Place" captures La Sera at an emotional and musical crossroads.

Hour of the Dawn, as its title suggests, heralds the beginning of a radiant and energetic new chapter in La Sera’s evolution—the summit of Goodman’s steady ascent to rock and roll queendom.

Features A4 insert - 12" containing remixes by BXP, Big Hands, Elena Colombi and Front du Cadeaux.

Unveiling the upcoming release – a captivating remix of La Serpiente's "You Are Dreaming!” Immerse yourself in the sonic journey as BXP delivers a psychedelic rework with its unique loop and arrangement style. Front de Cadeaux explores downtempo techno, Big Hands introduces trippy polyrhythms, Elena Colombi contributes an energetic uptempo track, and (exclusively for digital download) enjoy a 15-minute mind-blowing remix by Wang Inc. Together, these remixers redefine musical boundaries, promising a dynamic and eclectic experience. Get ready for a transcendent odyssey through diverse sounds and styles. This record has been realized with the contribution of the Bologna Unesco City of Music and Comune di Bologna.

Artist Bio:

Marco Segato is a sonic explorer, producer and live performer currently based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He's the co-founder of Rete Neurale Milano E.S.T. - an event born in the infamous Milanese multi-cultural space Macao - and curator of the mix series Empty Signal Transmission. He was a Red Bull Music Academy alumnus in 2016 Montréal (Canada) and graduated in Audio Production at SAE Institute Milan in 2017. During the last few years, Marco released his music under three different monikers: La Serpiente, MS, and Narvalos (a duo project with Alessio Costantino aka Askmeaboutdogs). Across these projects, his sound maintains a sense of mysticism brewing with eerie tension, influenced and incorporating sounds of broken beats, post-industrial experimentations, and ritualistic elements to conjure psychic immersion. He produces and performs live sets with analog and digital hardware, with a sonic outcome that always saturates the mind with extra-musical ideas. Marco has released on labels such as Brokntoys, XCPT Music, Random Numbers, Sons of Traders, Communion Records, Dionysian Mysteries, Vastechoses, etc... as well as on many solidarity compilations like Перамен! A Compilation for Belarus, Despertar: Chile, SONIC RESISTANCE. A Compilation For Rojava. Recently, he has started a journey of sharing his extensive music selection with his monthly residency “Searching for the Sublime” at Tbilisi’s Mutant Radio.

TRACK LISTING

You Are Dreaming!
You Are Dreaming! (Front De Cadeaux Remix)
You Are Dreaming! (BXP Remix)
You Are Dreaming! (Big Hands Remix)
You Are Dreaming! (Elena Colombi Remix)

Octo Octa adds the melancholy to LA Vampires infinite fadness on "Freedom 2K", their reachin’ / preachin’ 50/50 collaboration on 100% Silk. Here La Vamps has traded her cheap'n’chic booty-budget grooves for sleek'n’chic haunted house. With lyrical references to Minnie Riperton, Arthur Russell, and Evelyn 'Champagne' King, vocalist Amanda Brown reappropriates realms of romance, skewing them into fresh sonic moods. Her wash'n'rinse sing / speak is backed by Nick Malkin’s keys-like-skippin’-stones, Britt Brown’s Tex-Mix dub-bumps, and Brian Foote’s sense and sexpertise, which are all just spit and shine for Octo Octa’s moonlit piano naïve melodies. Gloss and glow design by aesthetic-elevator Bobby Houlihan, with silver and pink toned drop-of-androgeny photography by Ashley Anthony, will push your candy buttons. "Freedom 2K" provides dance-or-be-danced-on anthems for the 21st Century, with a diagonal devotion to our generation’s gay nineties. 'We were living in a fantasy' - George Michael, "Freedom 90".

TRACK LISTING

A1. His Love
A2. Wherever, Boy
A3. Found You
B1. Freedom 2K
B2. Unity
B3. Freedom 2K (Malvoeaux Mix)

"La Yegros is at the helm of no ordinary revolution. Like Che Guevara, her domination plot extends well beyond Argentinian borders. But hers is a revolution that's feminine, joyous and tropical. It's a revolution you can dance to." - Time Out

La Yegros releases her debut album, 'Viene De Mi' on ZZK Records. The first female signing to the renowned ZZK label she is seen as the first lady of cumbia in a typically male dominated scene. A graduate of the Music Conservatory of Morón, she first tasted the spotlight in 1998 as part De La Guarda, performing in front of a 15,000 strong crowd. It was here she also met Gaby Kerpel (better known as King Coya), the highly acclaimed composer of the music for the De La Guarda and Fuerza Bruta shows and the producer of her debut album Viene De Mi. Fusing the traditional, festive chamamé music from her father's Misiones province in the north east jungles of Argentina, the Colombian cumbia that her mother introduced her to and the influences of her own upbringing in Buenos Aires, her music has already piqued the attention of MTV Iggy, NPR, and The Fader. On Viene De Mi Kerpel adds to it his own dark, electronic twist on Andean folkloric rhythms. Under the ZZK banner she has toured the world, playing festivals like Central Park's Summerstage and the Roskilde festival in Denmark and will return to Europe this spring.

TRACK LISTING

Viene De Mi
Trocintro
Trocitos De Madera
Cariño 
Iluminada Feat El Gato Muñoz
Vagar
El Bendito
Ya No Llores Feat Miss Bolivia
Solo
Que Me Hizo Mal

The mythology that has grown around The La’s has made them one of the most enigmatic bands of the last few decades. The story began in a hard hit Liverpool in 1984, when Mike Badger teamed up with local lad Lee Mavers to write and sing their way out of the rut the city was in. Over the next two years they co-wrote material inspired by their love of 'roots' music such as: Bo Diddley, raw 1950s Rockabilly, Captain Beefheart and the punk bands they had both seen in local club Eric's a few years before. Early reviews called them ‘Surreal Rock ‘n’ Roll’ (Melody Maker) or 'Tom Waits could have dreamt up The La's 'Sweet 35' (NME) These earliest La's recordings that now appear here on limited edition vinyl are raw & spirited, defining a unique, creative time in the band’s history and firmly point the way to future success. 'Had The La's been able to accommodate Badger and Mavers could world domination have been far away?'MOJO (Sleeve notes include an exclusive interview with co-founder Mike Badger)

TRACK LISTING

1 Breakloose
2 My Girl Sits Like A Reindeer
3 Sweet 35
4 Open Your Heart
5 Trees And Plants
6 Red Deer Stalk
7 Painting Side 2
8 Get Down Over
9 What Do You Do?
10 Money In Your Talk
11 Space Rocketry
12 Dovecot Dub
13 You Blue
14 Moonlight 

The La’s are one of the most enigmatic bands of the last few decades releasing only a handful of singles and one 'official' critically acclaimed album (which was disowned by the band itself!). Lee Mavers (singer/songwriter) has stated repeatedly, that the closest he came to capturing his perfect vision was with the original recordings- which now appear here on limited vinyl with an undisputed spirit and freshness that could never be recaptured.

With so much mythologising around the bands early recordings, and their eventual disappearance, Viper are proud to present the songs which appeared thirty years ago on The first La's album, only as nature intendedauthentic, endearing and quite simply magical. Amongst many highlights is the first ever recording of There She Goes, 'Live'- now correctly considered to be a standard. Noel Gallagher famously stated that :'Oasis wanted to finish off what the La's had started' It's fair to say it's right here where Brit Pop started.

(Sleeve notes include an exclusive interview with La's guitarist Paul Hemmings)

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1) Son Of A Gun
2) I Can't Sleep
3) Timeless Melody
4) Liberty Ship
5) There She Goes ‘Live’
6) Doledrum
7) Feelin'

Side 2
1) Way Out
2) IOU
3) Freedom Song
4) Failure
5) Looking Glass
6) Come In Come Out
7) Callin’ All

This is the first time these session recordings, from between 1987 and 1990, have been made officially available, and given that Lee Mavers turned up, played on them, allowed them to be broadcast and didn't go round telling everyone not to listen to their radios, we can assume that the mystical Scouser was actually happy with these versions! He's only done one LP so you may aswell bag this too, because, well: it's brilliant! Ironically, the only duffer is a rather clangy, rigid "There She Goes", but everything else probably surpasses the album versions. You also get the superb "Calling All", a huge song which was going to give the debut album its title, until it was mysteriously dropped at the eleventh hour. Basically, if you love The La's then you need this CD. Is right!

Since 2008, Lab Coast has been delivering hazy bursts of hook-laden guitar pop via a string of critically acclaimed, award-winning albums, EPs, and singles. From their basement studio in Calgary, Alberta, the song writing team of singer David Laing & multi-instrumentalist Chris Dadge (Chad VanGaalen, Bug Incision, Samantha Savage Smith) carve out detailed analogue productions; these recordings draw from the wealth of instruments that friends leave at the Lab Coast practice space, and the ever-evolving recording techniques that they've been honing since day one. Their home-brewed recordings sit in the tradition of DIY-recorders such as Strapping Fieldhands, early Guided By Voices, and R. Stevie Moore, while the songs themselves recall the likes of Teenage Fanclub, Tom Petty, and The La's.

Onstage, these richly textured pieces are ably brought to life by Sammie Smith (aka Samantha Savage Smith), Henry Hsieh (Cold Water, Crack Cloud), and Darrell Hartsook (Prenup, Sissys).

Lab Coast is a collection of songs cherry-picked from the band’s extensive back catalogue by Faux Discx overseer Dan Reeves and the band themselves, compiled in to one succinct album. It acts as an introduction to a highly prolific band and as a showcase for their refined ability to consistently knock clever, catchy pop songs out of the park.

TRACK LISTING

1.For Now
2.Really Realize
3.Bored Again
4.As Usual
5.Away From Here
6.Helen Bach
7.Better Than Me
8.Recognize I’m Wrong
9.Remember The Moon Jr
10.The Pointe Of It All
11.Guessing Anyhow
12.Dislocated
13.Walking On Ayr
14.Winter Balls

Yazmin Lacey returns with 'Teal Dreams' - her soulful, fearless second album, rich with real-life storytelling and sonic flair.

Following the breakout success of her debut album 'Voice Notes', praised by Billboard, Fader and Pitchfork (who likened her to Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill), Yazmin’s star continues to rise. Last year saw her headline London’s Village Underground and KOKO, as well as perform with Ezra Collective on Strictly Come Dancing and Radio 1’s Live Lounge, the unforgettable voice behind firm festival favourite 'God Gave Me Feet for Dancing'.

With 'Teal Dreams', she builds on her signature sound blending soul, ska, lover’s rock and indie into a vivid, emotionally sharp record shaped by real life, late-night reflections, and a last-minute trip to Thailand.

Collaborating with some of the best in class Miles Clinton James (Little Simz ‘Lotus’), Barney Lister, Matt Maltese and more, Yazmin has expanded and elevated her sound on this album. 'Teal Dreams' is a bold, honest evolution, and proof that Yazmin Lacey is only just getting started. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Teal Dreams
2. Two Steps
3. Wallpaper
4. Love Is Like The Ghetto
5. Worlds Apart
6. Rear View
7. Grace (Reflective Dub)
8. No Promises
9. Wild Things
10. Ain’t I Good For You
11. Crutch
12. Ribbons
13. Water
14. Longest Way Around

Born and raised in Manor Park, East London, she relocated to Nottingham whilst working for a children's charity and initially only considered making music as a way of having fun with friends. However, a chance encounter lead to her earning a place on Future Bubblers - Gilles Peterson's development programme devoted to discovering and nurturing fresh UK talent - and enthused by the experience, Lacey recorded some songs in her living room, then in 2017 self-released her debut EP, 'Black Moon'. The more polished 'When The Sun Dips 90 Degrees' EP followed in 2018, and then 'Morning Matters' EP in 2020 – the EP's title track has clocked up over 14 million plays on Spotify and also saw Yazmin make her COLORS debut performing 'On Your Own'.

TRACK LISTING

Flylo Tweet
Bad Company
Late Night People
Fools Gold
Where Did You Go?
Sign & Signal
From A Lover
Eye To Eye
Pieces
Pass It Back
Tomorrows Child
Match In My Pocket
Legacy
Sea Glass

Yazmin Lacey emerged onto the new jazz scene with her beautiful sound, her new release When the Sun Dips 90 Degrees is on First Word Records.The EP follows on from her two recent singles, '90 Degrees' and 'Something My Heart Trusts', both of which are included here, along with three previously unreleased tracks, 'Heaven', 'Body Needs Healing' and 'Burn & Rise'. This set illustrates again Yazmin's candid songwriting delivered in her uniquely laidback soulful style, whilst a glorious fusion of neo-soul and jazz performed by Pete Beardsworth and her trusty band rides throughout. Initially a Brownswood 'Future Bubbler' graduate, Yazmin self-released her debut EP, 'Black Moon', last year. This lead to a Maida Vale session late 2017 with Jordan Rakei, Moses Boyd, Oscar Jerome and now label-mates, Children of Zeus. She kicked off the year with a performance at the Worldwide Awards with Skinny Pelembe, and has recently done shows with artists such as Ezra Collective, Tall Black Guy and Fatima. Yazmin has a UK tour scheduled for later in the year, as well as several festival appearances across Europe locked in. There's a lot more to come from this Notts-based Londoner yet. In Yazmin's words: "'90 Degrees' is about that time of the day / night when there's a shift in pace and energy. When you decide to lock off from the 'outside' world and create your own atmosphere, take some time to give thanks for what's breathing love into your life and smoke off the fuckeries. Everyone needs a little routine for self preservation."

STAFF COMMENTS

Millie says: Beautifully warm vocals layered on top of relaxed neo-soul vibes and jazz elements has created this perfect sound that I’ve fallen in love with.

TRACK LISTING

1.  90 Degrees
2.  Something My Heart Trusts
3.  Burn & Rise
4.  Heaven
5.  Body Needs Healing 

Here to dazzle you by the power of the disco ball, Lack of Afro is your friendly neighbourhood ‘Love Dealer’. Two years on from the funk & soul rebirth of ‘Square One’, powered by the ubiquitous ‘Loving Arms’ featuring Greg Blackman, Lack of Afro aka Adam Gibbons is now close to two decades deep in the game with soundtrack credits galore and online streams doing calculator-busting numbers. With extensive touring taking ‘Love Dealer’ up and down the country this Autumn, Gibbons’ ninth studio album is all for "the thrill of seeing people on a dancefloor, all collectively locked into a track that you've produced - there’s nothing like it!”.

‘Love Dealer’ is the authentic modern disco experience, packing a stacked sole’s worth of club beats full of stardusted sing-alongs, style-outs and French touch-style cool. Despite being “written during one of the longest winters in living memory”, ‘Love Dealer’, featuring some co-production from fellow South Coast dancefloor scholar Flevans (and influenced by producer du jour Barry Can’t Swim), exudes warmth and will make you sweat when its highs take effect.

Entering the scene with the radiance of ‘Make It Shine’ featuring Greg Blackman, washing over the airwaves of BBC 6 Music and Radio 2 and taking up a 10-week residency on the Jazz FM playlist, Gibbons and his crack line-up of discotheque players are your go-to team when you can’t wait for the weekend to begin, as subtle as they are straight down to business. ‘Love Dealer’ offers you nothing but the best in sparkling string symphonies, the hippest guitar licks, samples of those invited beyond the velvet rope and struts soaked in night fever.

Double A-side ‘Walls Start Rockin’ and ‘Heart & Soul’ guide the album’s glamour-and-groove, while ‘Love Saves The Day’ and ‘Plain to See’ dramatically take to the podium in a shimmer of pure peak 70s theatre. ‘Keeping Me Strong’ is the synergy of disco chic and the sound of a global advertising tie-in with Dyson, ahead of Gibbons taking a slightly Moroder/Cerrone-ish detour on ‘Idolising People Like Madlib’. “'Love Dealer' is aimed unequivocally at the dancefloor" says Adam. "As an artist, I wanted to push myself in a slightly new direction - more into the land of disco and a four to the floor sound. 'Love Dealer' is quintessentially an upbeat record, full of joy, optimism and hope for the future”. Seek your inner ‘Love Dealer’, kink your ‘fro and let your funk flag fly.

TRACK LISTING

1. Keeping Me Strong
2. Need You Back
3. Where's Your Soul At?
4. Walls Start Rockin'
5. Make It Shine (feat. Greg Blackman)
6. Love Saves The Day
7. You Sexy Thing (Skit)
8. Can I Dance With You?
9. Heart & Soul
10. Plain To See
11. Idolising People Like Madlib
12. It's Not Happening (Skit)
13. Everybody 14.
14 Your Love (feat. Jonah Hitchens) 

Following two years battling addiction and a marriage breakdown, Lack of Afro returns firing on all cylinders with his eighth studio album, Square One, via his own label Bastion Music Group. Finding inspiration in his recent trip to the US to produce at the legendary FAME Studios at Muscle Shoals (and with his first US tour on the horizon), this is an album full of hope, optimism and good times.

With a career spanning over 17 years now, one that seen his music appear on films and TV shows around the world and rack up millions of streams online, Adam, like so many, had to go back to Square One, overcoming numerous challenges and setbacks. And in doing so he had delivered his most accomplished album yet and is ready to hit the road with his band. With a renewed sense of inspiration and energy in his craft, and he is determined to keep the funk alive and kicking.

TRACK LISTING

1 Enter The Ring (feat. DJ Yoda)
2 Let It All Out (feat Wax & Herbal T)
3 All Night (feat. Jack Tyson-Charles)
4 Loving Arms (feat. Greg Blackman)
5 Least Favourite Wonder (feat. Dare Club)
6 Wide Open
7 Amigos (feat. Too Many T's)
8 Looking At The Love (feat. Greg Blackman)
9 Automatic Lovin' (feat. HOLMES)
10 Not For You (feat. Alyssa Marie & Jack Tyson-Charles)
11 Browsing YouTube
12 Go Free 

Punk pioneers Crass continue their vinyl reissue series ‘2 by 2 And Back Again’ with reissues from Lack of Knowledge and Sleeping Dogs. Lack of Knowledge formed in 1978 and explored the intersection of punk and new wave, withbrooding synth and an angular, melancholy edge. Their greyscale, gothic delivery recalls the likes of The Damned and Joy Division, but they found a home in the capital’s thriving anarcho-punk scene, seemingly more in-keeping with their work ethic. They consistently and defiantly subverted expectations, taking what a band seeking commercial success would do, and at each turn doing the opposite. Unpretentious, and embodying the very essence of DIY value, they have since become something of a cult hit, with their original 1984 Crass Records release now a bona fide collector’s item.

TRACK LISTING

We’re Looking For People
Another Sunset
Girl In A Mask
Radioactive Man

Of all the new generation of B-more inspired producers, labels and DJs, Aaron LaCrate and production partner Debonair Samir are by far the most sought after. Here they follow-up LaCrate's trend-setting "B-more Gutter Music" mix from 2006. This release brings us the next level of Baltimore exclusives that have been burning up dancefloors worldwide, mixing future classics with club favourites and brand new bangers. Includes the highly sought after E-40 "U & Dat" remix featuring Juelz Santana that so many kids have been digging for, plus "Supahead" with Amanda Blank and nine others of the most in-demand and authentic tracks of the Baltimore Club genre designed to blow the dust outta your ears.

Following the worldwide success of Steve Lacy’s critically acclaimed album Gemini Rights, this collection is now available on vinyl. The album features Steve’s chart topping global hit, Bad Habit.

Steve Lacy is a Grammy nominated singer-songwriter, producer, and musician who was born and raised in Compton, California. Steve was introduced to the music industry initially in 2015 as a member (guitarist) of R&B group, The Internet.

His previous solo work includes his debut EP, Steve Lacy’s Demo (Feb 2017), his debut album, Apollo XXI (May 2019), and The Lo-Fis (December 2020). Steve has production, writing and feature credits with artists like Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, Tyler, Mac Miller, The Internet, Thundercat, GoldLink, Solange, YG, Vampire Weekend, and Kali Uchis to name a few.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE 1
Static
Helmet
Mercury
Buttons
Bad Habit
SIDE 2
2gether (Enterlude) Steve Lacy & Matt Martians
Cody Freestyle
Amber
Sunshine
Give You The World

Mike Ladd challenges listeners preconceptions with this venture into black jazz on Thirtsy Ear, taking his hip hop origins and flushing them down the toilet of history, moving rapidly through a theoretical musical journey of ethnology.

After months of anticipation, Lady Blackbird’s already critically acclaimed debut album, Black Acid Soul which was recorded in legendary Studio B (Prince’s room) in Sunset Sound and produced by Grammy-nominated Chris Seefried has now been released via Foundation Music/BMG.

To celebrate the release, Lady Blackbird recorded a live version of her latest single ‘It’ll Never Happen Again’ at the iconic Capitol ‘A’ studio in LA. The song is a gentle, yet powerful, reinvention of another poignant obscurity written by Tim Hardin and which first appeared on the folk singer’s seminal 1966 debut.

With a voice that has stopped critics in their tracks, Lady Blackbird is a revelatory new talent with music that transcends the jazz scene through which the LA-based artist is rooted. Reflecting influences as varied as Billie Holiday, Gladys Knight, Tina Turner and Chaka Khan, with critics drawing comparisons to Adele, Amy and Celeste, Lady Blackbird’s distinct and beguiling talent is not one to be missed.

TRACK LISTING

Blackbird
It's Not That Easy
Fix It
Ruler Of My Heart
Nobody's Sweetheart
Collage
Five Feet Tall
Lost And Looking
It'll Never Happen Again
Beware The Stranger
Black Acid Soul

Set for release on 28th October, the deluxe edition of Lady Blackbird’s debut album ‘Black Acid Soul’ comes with a staggering 11 additional songs, encompassing brand new material such as stunning single ‘Feel It Comin’ and remixes commissioned by the likes of electronic, jazz, funk luminaries Emma-Jean Thackray, Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy and Greg Foat.

Originally released in 2021, ‘Black Acid Soul’ received enormous critical acclaim; The Sunday Times named her their Breaking Act, stating that she “brings a singing voice of extraordinary nuance and immaculate phrasing to a selection of covers/reworkings and pindrop originals” in a 4* review. The Guardian awarded the album a 5* review, remarking that Blackbird “finds her calling with an extraordinary collection of songs and performances that burn deep into you”.

TRACK LISTING

CD Tracklist:
CD 1
1. Blackbird
2. It's Not That Easy
3. Fix It
4. Ruler Of My Heart
5. Nobody’s Sweetheart
6. Collage
7. Five Feet Tall
8. Lost And Looking
9. It’ll Never Happen Again
10. Beware The Stranger
11. Black Acid Soul
CD 2
1. Did Somebody Make A Fool Out Of You
2. I Am What I Am
3. Woman (Single Version)
4. Feel It Comin (Single Version)
5. Baby I Just Don't
6. Beware The Stranger (Chris Seefried Remix) (Edit)
7. Collage (Greg Foat Remix)
8. Blackbird (Emma-Jean Thackray Remix)
9. Lost And Looking (Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy Cosmodelica Remix)
10. Collage (Bruise Remix) (Edit)
11. Beware The Stranger (Gil Cang Tuff Scout Remix)

LP Tracklist:
SIDE A
1. Blackbird
2. It's Not That Easy
3. Fix It
4. Ruler Of My Heart
5. Nobody’s Sweetheart
SIDE B
1. Collage
2. Five Feet Tall
3. Lost And Looking
4. It’ll Never Happen Again
5. Beware The Stranger
6. Black Acid Soul
SIDE C
1. Did Somebody Make A Fool Out Of You
2. I Am What I Am
3. Woman
4. Feel It Comin
5. Baby I Just Don't
SIDE D
1. Beware The Stranger (Chris Seefried Remix)
2. Collage (Greg Foat Remix)
3. Blackbird (Emma-Jean Thackray Remix)
4. Lost And Looking (Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy Cosmodelica Remix)
5. Collage (Bruise Remix)

Collaborating once again with Black Acid Soul producer Chris Seefried, the pair produce a second album that not only embodies the freewheeling, emotive Lady Blackbird sound, but that also taps into deeply vulnerable lyrics that recount the singer’s challenging ascent to musical stardom.

In taking charge of her own life and her own sound, Lady Blackbird walks a new path, making each note on Slang Spirituals a step in a radically different direction. Across 11 tracks Lady Blackbird puts her sweeping, cinematic vocal power to use on everything from the soulful orchestral fanfares of ‘Let Not (Your Heart Be Troubled)’ to the finger-picking folk storytelling of ‘Man On A Boat’, euphoric gospel empowerment of ‘Like A Woman’ and the seven-minute psychedelic soul instrumental of ‘When The Game Is Played On You’.

TRACK LISTING

Let Not (Your Heart Be Troubled)
Like A Woman
Reborn
Man On A Boat
When The Game Is Played On You
The City
Matter Of Time
If I Told You
No One Can Love (Like You Do)
Someday We'll Be Free
Whatever His Name

Lady Gaga releases her highly anticipated sixth studio album Chromatica via Interscope Records. The album is executive produced by BloodPop® and Lady Gaga. The album comes on the heels of Friday’s release of the high-energy pop smash Stupid Love, which debuted at #1 on iTunes in 58 countries.

Blending the eclectic energy that first captivated her fans with a bold, fearless artistic vision, 'MAYHEM' marks a triumphant return to Gaga’s pop roots. The album explores themes of chaos and transformation, celebrating music’s power to unite, provoke, and heal.

“The album started as me facing my fear of returning to the pop music my earliest fans loved,” said Gaga. Far from a nostalgic throwback, 'MAYHEM' reinvents her early sound with a kaleidoscopic approach that draws from her expansive musical library while embracing a fresh and fearless artistic perspective. Gaga describes the creative process as “reassembling a shattered mirror: even if you can’t put the pieces back together perfectly, you can create something beautiful and whole in its own new way.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Disease
2. Abracadabra
3. Garden Of Eden
4. Perfect Celebrity
5. Vanish Into You
6. Killah Ft. Gesaffelstein
7. Zombieboy
8. LoveDrug
9. How Bad Do U Want Me
10. Don’t Call Tonight
11. Shadow Of A Man
12. The Beast
13. Blade Of Grass
14. Die With A Smile With Bruno Mars

6 face-melting gurners for the 21st Century’s, wilted and jilted generation.

Glasgow’s Lady Neptune follows her New Gorbals Gabber cassette E.P. with her debut vinyl release NOZ. Over the course of 23 bloody fisted minutes, Lady Neptune’s – aka Moema Meade - hyper destructed take on Gabber and Happy Hardcore breaks down the genre tropes before rebuilding them as a new pop music. If 2020’s New Gorbals Gabber showed an artist building their own language from fragments of different genres, 2022’s NOZ goes harder into the cyberpunk-ass future and takes no prisoners.

Recorded and mixed at Glasgow’s legendary Green Door Studios and mastered by Rashad Becker, here Lady Neptune evolves into a monster. With the classic weapons of Dutch Gabber – distorted 909 kick drums, bursts of noise and world-eating Rave-O Matic hoovering synth riffs, Lady Neptune’s 6 tracks constantly threaten to careen off the speaker into the sweatiest, most gibbering, messy corners of the club. The two years since her debut has seen Meade destroying festival dancefloors, training for the full assault that is NOZ. Live performances have seen foam guns, tequila pistols, neon stage dancers and a full, maxed-out orgy of fast-as-hell BPM, rave music burning up the cones. The experience reaps rewards from the outset on recorded form here.

APOCOLYPS begins with monstrous vocals and the all-consuming kick, pulled back and taut for launch. The arsenal builds; warbling synths and high-pitched synth-strings before dropping into Bald Terror-sized hoovers and stuttering 4/4s. It quickly bleeds into MASTERER, with a looped, pitched up vocal intersecting with the synth riff. The aesthetics might be Happy Hardcore but the dynamic feels like a synthetic, evil Nu Metal-influenced Industrial music. Constantly evolving and twisting with its own natural drama, the drop at 2:15 is pure ecstatic release. fusing Meade’s inclination for pop hooks with the first out-and-out 180BPM (ish, who’s counting?) anthemic melter of the E.P., TELL ME has THE big catchy chorus, used sparingly and sung by Meade with angelic devilishness, coming at you in waves of XTC. It’s a repeater.

It’s then massive fists in the air for the ruthless Side B opener WIT. In the Welsh-Brazilian artist’s adopted home of Glasgow it translates directly as WHAT!? Itt makes sense. g. Sharp, weaponised, rhythmic punishment abounds before OH responds. Pitched up vocals and another mid-frequency synth hook wipes the slate clean. Like the best Gabber, the tension and release dynamic is used to full effect by Meade, with the thunderous low end kick - expertly tweaked in the mastering by Rashad Becker – slipping into the ghostly cavern. Industrialized 4/4 and noise-snares propel onwards to be utterly squashed by that bloody synth, stinging and horribly brilliant. Proving her genius for a ridiculous A-N-T-H-E-M, TIME 2 MAKE U FEEL GOOD closes the 23 minutes of ragged, drugged glory with a festival-slamming chorus built from the wreckage. It’s a song that does that thing we all know and love but can’t put our finger on. Sad, happy, tragedy, ecstasy, joy, horror...There’s big, minor chord changes (yes there’s some CHORDS on this slammer), the kick is submerged in layers of pads and Meade’s actual secret weapon: her vocal and knack for writing a chorus line. In the listener’s mind it’s over before it’s begun, a track destined for the big rewind.

Released on the weekend Lady Neptune debuts at legendary Bang Face festival, NOZ is a breathless, E-number riddled eternal ecstasy.

TRACK LISTING

1. Apocolyps
2. Masterer
3. Time 2 Make U Feel Good
4. Wit
5. Oh
6. Tell Me

Lady Wray treats us to an unstoppable two-sider while she and Grammy-nominated producer Leon Michels (Clairo / El Michels Affair) put the finishing touches on her forthcoming album. The A side “Be A Witness” showcases one of the new directions Lady Wray is taking her sound. Nicole's vocals soar over bottom heavy drum machine and Nick Movshon's funky basslines making this a proper mid-tempo dance floor filler. Lady Wray sings about a love destined to happen, celebrates the joys that come with it, and spreads the good vibes to everyone in earshot. The B side “Best For Us” is a gorgeous tune about love, commitment, intention, and overcoming the tough times. Synths and background vocals float over Homer Steinweiss' signature in-the-pocket drums creating the perfect backdrop for Cole's world-renowned voice. This one will be an instant two-step classic.

Big Crown Records is proud to present Piece of Me, the sophomore full length offering from Lady Wray. This is something of a homecoming for Nicole. Where her 2016 solo debut Queen Alone leaned more towards Soul and R&B with tinges of hip-hop, this record changes the mixture. It's still R&B with the textures of analog Soul, but there is a heavy Hip Hop infl­uence that brings the sum of Nicole's career together in a new sound that will de‑ne her future.

Boom-bap drums and chunky bass lines are front-and-center creating a perfect head-nodding backdrop for Lady Wray to take on the good, the bad, the difficult, and the joyful on her most personal collection of songs to date. The title track, "Piece of Me," which has already become a classic since it's 2019 release is about the people in your life who need more than you are willing to give. This tune and the B side of the 7” “Come On In” were the first songs put to tape for this album and they were recorded with Nicole sitting in a chair 8 months pregnant with her daughter. Her voice is so powerful, so raw, so thorough on these initial songs—it's wild to think that they were recorded this way. And even wilder to know that she knocked them all out in one take. Long time collaborator and producer Leon Michels keeps the musical backing restrained and expertly executed, setting up Lady Wray for the full spotlight and setting the tone for the rest of the album.

While the upbeat energies of “Under The Sun” and “Through It All” are sure to become hits that reconnect Lady Wray with her 90s R&B fanbase, “Where Were You” offers a behind the scenes look at what those days of stardom in her youth were really like. Nicole takes on the racial tension in America with her poetic and powerful “Beauty In The Fire” and leans heavy into her faith and church upbringing on the showstopper, “Thank You”. She gushes about the profound love she’s come to know for her daughter on “Melody” and celebrates life’s ups and downs on “Joy & Pain”. In 2021 it is rare to hear a varied yet cohesive album with no “skippers”, but that is what you have here in spades. The tried and true chemistry between Lady Wray and Leon Michels has undeniably found a higher level and this album stands as a testament to conviction and dedication for all of us to enjoy and be inspired by.

With this in mind, when talking about this record, for Lady Wray, it's about a larger purpose. "My goal is always to help and to heal people with singing," she explains. "Part of that is to try and bring back real music, real singing, so people can feel something again." Now, she's not dissing anyone here, to be clear. It's just that Lady Wray cannot sing without tapping into something deeper, searching for that shared compassion between all of us. Perhaps it comes from her church upbringing, or maybe from her years of trials and tribulations in the music industry. Either way, Lady Wray is looking to bring that "Good Sound" back and the good feelings that come with it. She calls it "those inner hands," and she always means to stir them up, grabbing your attention from within.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A:
1. I Do
2. Through It All
3. Piece Of Me
4. Come On In
5. Under The Sun
6. Where Were You

SIDE B:
1. Beauty In The Fire
2. Games People Play
3. Melody
4. Thank You
5. Joy & Pain
6. Storms

Lady Wray makes her highly anticipated return with Cover Girl, her third album on Big Crown Records. The album opener “My Best Step” says it all, “my next step is my best step”, and indeed she is taking her artistry to a new high and making the best music of her life. The celebratory Cover Girl takes listeners on a free-spirited joyride glittered with ‘60s and '70s-inspired soul and disco, ‘90s hip-hop and R&B, and perhaps the most defining element, gospel. Following the healing journey that was 2022’s Piece of Me, Nicole has performed on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, NPR’s Tiny Desk, and toured the world. After this period of growth, Lady Wray is now ready to let her hair down and embrace all of what life has to offer. Reunited with producer Leon Michels (Norah Jones / Clairo / El Michels Affair) for the record, the outcome is effortless and undeniable, a reflection of their longtime collaboration that extends over a decade.

“I've gravitated more towards love and self-care with this album. Piece of Me was realizing that I was going to be a mother, and all those feelings were on my heart,” Lady Wray says. “Now I'm able to sit back and be a real boss. I got my career, my motherhood, and my marriage by the horns. I've grown into this more self-aware and beautiful flower for Cover Girl.” With an almighty voice, soul-stirring lyrics, and a magnetic personality, the singer-songwriter reflects her appreciation for her family, her faith, and her renewed love for herself—all of which drive her new record.

Lady Wray was born to sing, sharing her soul and her life with us through her music. She has amassed a diehard worldwide fanbase with her relatable messages and incomparable voice. Whether singing of her struggles or strengths, there’s a comfort that comes from the way she makes us know we are not alone in any of it. Nicole Wray is inspiring and uplifting.

Having been through a lot, she’s taken all of it and made herself a better person and a better artist. “You need to rule your own world. Don't let anybody get in your way. You rock with your dreams until the wheels fall off,” Lady Wray says. “That's what I've been doing with my career since 1998. I know who I am and what I bring to the table. It's been a heck of a journey, and I feel so happy to be making the best music of my life.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. My Best Step
2. Be A Witness
3. Where Could I Be
4. Hard Times
5. Best For Us
6. Cover Girl

Side B
1. You’re Gonna Win
2. Time
3. What It Means
4. Higher
5. Calm

Ladyfuzz were fully formed in London in early 2005 when Austrian front woman Liz Neumayr was joined by guitarist Matt Lord and drummer Ben Esser. "Bouncy Ball" is a taste of what to expect from their forthcoming debut album "Kerfuffle".

Re-release of their long-deleted debut single.

'Ladyhawke' is the debut studio album by New Zealand singer-songwriter Pip Brown, originally released in 2008. The album is rooted in synth-pop and new wave, drawing clear influence from 1980s electronic pop through its use of synthesizers, programmed drums, and guitar-driven arrangements.

This reissue faithfully replicates the original 13 track UK version with its gatefold sleeve and lyric booklet, and is pressed on 180g vinyl

TRACK LISTING

1. Magic
2. Manipulating Woman
3. My Delirium
4. Better Than Sunday
5. Another Runaway
6. Love Don't Live Here
7. Back Of The Van
8. Paris Is Burning
9. Professional Suicide
10. Dusk Till Dawn
11. Oh My
12. Crazy World
13. Morning Dreams

Brighton quartet ladylike sign to cult label Heist or Hit (Her’s, Westside Cowboy) and announce their debut EP 'It’s A Pleasure Of Mine, to Know You’re Fine'.

The EP delicately treads the tightrope between folk and post-rock - evidence of the particular kind of quiet the four-piece inhabit: Natural, controlled, and brimming with a subtle euphoria, it speaks to renewal, growth and repair. The quartet — Georgia Butler (vocals, guitar), Spencer Withey (vocals, guitar, synth), James Ely (drums), and Archie Sagers (six-string bass) serve their folk rare: raw and pastoral, but with a side of textural, atmospheric builds directly wired into the tensions of the modern world. It’s a formula that has gained them slots at Green Man; Left Of The Dial; The Great Escape; and Dot To Dot, plus support slots with Ugly, Mary in the Junkyard and Lime Garden.

After soft-launching the idea of starting a project together at End of the Road, the band’s initial practices took place in a recital room on a brutalist university campus. A setting that, on the surface, is wildly at odds with the rural authenticity of their sound. Pause and look, however, and the campus may have seeped its way into the architectural structures of their songs, with an emphasis on functionality, honesty, and the incorporation of rougher textures and exposed materials. The alchemy lies in the band’s ability to marry those spaces, and when raw elements meet modernity, they absolutely soar.

The band’s forthcoming debut EP was recorded with producer Ali Chant (Aldous Harding, Perfume Genius, PJ Harvey). It captures the quiet urgency that has always been ladylike’s hallmark. Across four tracks, they explore cycles renewal, and the beauty of persistence, finding poetry in English idioms and the banality of the mundane.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Burning Heather
2. Rome (in Progress)
3. Mountains
4. Burning Heather (continued)

Side B
1. Fresh Linen
2. Sour Carol, I

Whether they were singing hymns or secular songs, Ladysmith Black Mombazo always raised their voices in glorious harmony. They are the unmatched masters of South African a cappella and this release documents their vocal prowess. This album is comprised of their very best performances from over a long and prestigious and celebrated career. It covers from when they burst onto the scene when they participated with Paul Simon on his hugely successful "Graceland" album and launched their years of worldwide touring to appearances on venues like Saturday Night Live, and providing music for movies with major stars like Michael Jackson and Dolly Parton. Their unparalleled artistry won them great fame and five Grammy awards. They also always found time to lend their voices in Support of South Africa's Struggles away from apartheid rule.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Izithembiso Zenkosi
A2. Kubi Ukungalaleli
A3. Uphi Umhlobo
A4. Yimani
A5. Silgugu Isiphambano
A6. Limnandi Izulu
B1. Ayanqikaza Amagwala
B2. That's Why I Choose You
B3. Isimanga Salomhlaba
B4. Ungikhumbule
B5. Amafutha Esibane
B6. Udla Nge'nduku Zabanye

The iconic and influential electronic pop group Ladytron returns with a new album 'Paradises' - their first since 2023's critically acclaimed 'Time's Arrow'.

Spanning dance and indie movements since their formation in Liverpool at the end of the last millennium, Ladytron have earned a unique position by carving out new sonic and conceptual space, and refusing to abide by formula or trend. In the early 2000s, the fiercely individual group were placed at the forefront of the so-called electro-clash scene (which now enjoys another revival), but with time, they came to appreciate the pop cultural moment that they had reluctantly become part of.

The new album follows a period of renewed cultural presence for the band. Their 2002 single 'Seventeen' unexpectedly went viral on TikTok, introducing Ladytron's sound to a new generation and amassing hundreds of thousands of fan- made clips. Their legacy was further acknowledged recently with 'Destroy Everything You Touch', one of their most celebrated tracks, featured in the GRAMMY- nominated original Motion Picture Soundtrack of cult movie Saltburn, reaffirming Ladytron's enduring appeal.

TRACK LISTING

1. I Believe In You
2. In Blood
3. Kingdom Undersea
4. I See Red
5. A Death In London
6. Secret Dreams Of Thieves
7. Sing
8. Free, Free
9. Metaphysica
10. Caught In The Blink Of An Eye
11. Evergreen
12. Ordinary Love
13. We Wrote Our Names In The Dust
14. Heatwaves
15. Solid Light
16. For A Life In London

Originally released in 2002 by Emperor Norton Records and re-released by Nettwerk in 2011, Liverpool electropoppers Ladytron's second studio album "Light & Magic" was written and co-produced in Los Angeles by the band & Mickey Petralia and featured the underground hits "Seventeen", "Blue Jeans" and "Evil"

TRACK LISTING

Seventeen
Flicking Your Switch
Fire
Turn It On
Blue Jeans
Cracked LCD
Black Plastic
Evil
Startup Chime
Nu Horizons
Cease2exist
Re:agents
Light & Magic
The Reason

Described at the time by Pitchfork as "the most urgent and immediate of their career", it contains notable singles "Sugar", "International Dateline" and "Destroy Everything You Touch".

LADYTRON - Helen Marnie, Mira Aroyo, Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu - formed in 1999 and sparked an entire movement in music pop culture powered by vintage synths and electro-rock engines.

TRACK LISTING

High Rise
Destroy Everything You Touch
International Dateline
Soft Power
CMYK
AMTV
Sugar
Fighting In Built Up Areas
The Last One Standing
Weekend
Beauty*2
Whitelightgenerator
All The Way...

The third 12” on Laen Disc from Farren Laen. "A Crossing Road" opens in stylish manner - cascading acid fragments drizzled across a introspective soundbed whilst a ring modulated synth note rattles around in the mix. Reminds me a little bit of Swayzak or Recloose. Moody, red lit, electronic soul. "In Betweens" continues with expansive pads sweeping in over fluttery hi-hat patters and rising bass plumes. Finally "Distrubance" sounds like a lost B-12 number with its vintage drum machines rhythms, heavenly high register synth licks and bubbling acid bassline. Very nice very suave! 

Hand stamped & numbered in NYC. 150 copies.

Early support from: Kornel Kovacs, Mr. Beatnick, Move D, Gene Tellem, Frits Wentink, Nathan Micay, Massimiliano Pagliara, Johannes Albert, & more

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Farren Laen's infrequent but considered series drops its third volume in as many years. They might not come around very often, but for lovers of sincere, pure and deep-as-you-like house music, Laen Disc's are completely essential.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Farren Laen - A Crossing Road
B1. Farren Laen - In Betweens
B2.. Farren Laen - Disturbance

"a flash of sunlight, and down the slope... the redwoods soar all around... we're working on many levels here"

The fourth 12” on Laen Disc from Farren Laen. Hand stamped & numbered in NYC. 150 copies.

He tends to do one a year, but boy are they worth it! Fathoms deep textures, infectious rhythms, real deep house finesse throughout. Mixed and pressed beautifully onto black vinyl.... for the heads as the say! 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Farren Laen decided his machines need a workout, so he switched them on and conjured up these three slice of effortless, unforced, deep house majesty which ooze style and sophistication. Love his understated but, ultimately, timeless approach.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Three In The Paint
B1. We’re Working On Many Levels
B2. Lamp Walk

After crisscrossing the nation for the last half-decade looking for a home, Pokey LaFarge found himself in Mid-Coast Maine. Upon arriving, the Illinois- born singer/ songwriter/ actor pursued a major life change, working 12-hour days on a local farm--a turn of events that catalyzed an extraordinary burst of creativity and redefined his sense of purpose as an artist. Rhumba Country was initially shaped from material that emerged while LaFarge was deep in work on the farm. "I'd be pushing a plow or scattering seeds, and the songs would just come to me," he recalls. "It was tremendously inspirational and made me realize that apart from singing, farming is perhaps the oldest human art form." While farming, LaFarge began dreaming up a kaleidoscopic sound informed by his love of music from far- ranging eras and corners of the globe, including mambo, tropicalia, rocksteady, and mid-century American rock-and-roll. "The songs that naturally come to me are upbeat and make you wanna dance or at least bop your head--they're all very colorful," says LaFarge. "I used to think of my music in dark blue, but now I see it in technicolor." Co- produced along with Chris Seefried and Elliot Bergman and recorded in L.A., the resulting Rhumba Country is an invitation to come together to celebrate life and love.

TRACK LISTING

One You, One Me
For A Night
Run Run Run
Like A Sailor
Sister Andre
So Long Chicago
It's Not Over
Home Home Home
Made To Be Loved
You Make My Garden Grow

This was a single from June which initially was not offered to stores. 'Easy Meat' the title track taken from LaFaro's second album signals a departure in both musical and thematic territory. Recalling early Morphine, Ministry and NIN the stoner-swagger of the first album has been supplanted by droning riffology and bluesy nuance. Similarly, Johnny Black's lyrics have zoomed into examine other people's lives in even creepier and more exacting detail; as his songwriting matures so too does his ability to single out life's undesirables and our innermost, darkest thoughts. At 2'17" the track transforms into what fans love LaFaro for, a killer breakdown with outrageously exuberant John Stainer influenced drum-fills, from this point out the track is a master-class into how to bring it to the front three rows. Even those sitting comfortably at home with earbuds and tea will want to take their tops off and shake a fist at someone.

Crushingly recorded by the band's now regular producer (a Bangor man simply known as 'Marty') this new set of songs have all the urgency and precision of LaFaro live. In keeping with the album's theme of using Northern Irish colloquialism-as song title LaFaro's B-side to this single is entitled 'Wee Buns' and is well worth the purchase price alone. Recalling Jesus Lizard, Shellac, Helmet (with whom the band have toured Europe) and NI heroes Therapy? LaFaro have character, chops and emotion oozing through every seedy riff 'I love to write about life's dark little secrets - the things we all know happen but never get discussed'.

TRACK LISTING

1. Easy Meat
2. Wee Buns

Lafawndah’s first release on Warp takes influences from wide-ranging genres such as zouk, kizoma, salsa, cumbia, dubstep and grime, creating an exciting sampler of what’s to come next from this defiant and inspired artist.

“Out of this world music… the perfect expression of our globalised culture” - The Guardian · Lafawndah is somewhat of a global citizen, having lived in Paris, Tehran, New York and Mexico City and coming from an Egyptian / Iranian / English heritage.

Listening to her music, a fusion of regional subgenres from different corners of the world, she has evidently a certain porosity when it comes to digesting sound, taking snippets of different influences as souvenirs to use in her own work. · The songs on ‘Tan’ are at the same time relaxed and playful, bold and confrontational. The combination between strong narrative, clarity of expression and seamless transmutation is reminiscent of early Björk, Missy Elliott and Grace Jones.

Co-produced by L-Vis 1990 and ADR. Executively produced by Lafawndah.

For fans of Kelela, Leila, Muslimgauze, Mira Calix.

TRACK LISTING

Town Crier
Ally
Tan
Crumb

This is the debut release from Laguna Seca, a new project from Porto based Mike Jefford. It foreshadows a new body of work, steeped in 70s nostalgia, refracted though sounds that could belong to krautrock, disco, electronica, noisy alt rock and everything in between. Mike has previously recorded as Positive Centre releasing textural, experimental techno on such labels as Stroboscopic Artefacts, SNTS and Leyla. (seek out if you you’re a fan of Vatican Shadow or the ghostlier wing of Black Dog)

After mastering his forthcoming 2026 debut album ‘O Tempo’, Mike Jefford caught a second wind of inspiration. In just seven frantic days he recorded the heap of tracks that formed the basis of 'Live from Müsli Mountain’. It soon became clear that these tracks foreshadowed the album perfectly and the EP was born.

Named after the California raceway, this project fuses 1970s recording techniques, modern electronics and psychedelic retrofuturism, it’s a pyramid of sonic adventure that will be explored deeper on the album next year.

TRACK LISTING

1. Bookends
2. Hougen
3. The Dark Star 
4. Retribution VHS 
5. Eggnogg 
6. Death Race

I Love You Like A Brother is the highly anticipated album from Melbourne’s Alex Lahey. An infectious debut that shines with a rare confidence, I Love You Like A Brother is a riotous record, packed with relatable fuzzpop gems. 

After finishing school, Lahey initially went to university to study jazz saxophone, but unimpressed with “learning music in such a regimented way” she switched to an arts degree. While studying, Alex cut her teeth as a member of cult party collective Animaux, which allowed her restlessly rebellious streak to flourish. Alex began to form the blueprint for her own solo material by writing songs inspired by the two people she considers the greatest songwriters of all time, Dolly Parton and Bruce Springsteen, whilst retaining the punk spirit of her first musical outing. These songs found themselves on her first solo EP, the acclaimed B-Grade University.

The EP included the single. ‘You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me’; a mainstay on Australian radio, landing on triple j’s prestigious Hottest 100 of 2016. The song’s universal tale of rejection took Lahey global - its message, she says, is the flipside of the usual break-up scenario: “Yeah, you’re right. It’s not me. It IS you”. This no-shit-taken attitude forms the backbone of I Love You Like A Brother as evidenced by the uproarious opening track ‘Every Day’s The Weekend’.

Throughout the records’ ten songs, Alex’s lyrics deftly move between wry, often hilarious witticism to heartbreaking poignancy. For every uplifting anthem, such as ‘I Love You Like A Brother’ and the unruly ‘Perth Traumatic Stress Disorder’, there’s painfully relatable tracks like ‘Backpack’ and ‘Awkward Exchange’. Despite the instant pop chops of I Love You Like A Brother, there’s introspection, self-doubt and sense of working out the complexities of growing up in this limbo period between youth and adulthood.

The themes of Alex Lahey’s album might be universal, but it’s the unique approach she takes unpacking them that’s earned her millions of Spotify streams, buzz-worthy showcases at SXSW and festival sets alongside the likes of Flume, The Kills, At The Drive-In and James Blake as well as guesting on tours with Tegan & Sara and Blondie.

TRACK LISTING

1 Every Day's The Weekend
2 I Love You Like A Brother
3 Perth Traumatic Stress Disorder
4 I Haven't Been Taking Care Of Myself
5 Backpack
6 Awkward Exchange
7 I Want U
8 Lotto In Reverse
9 Let's Call It A Day
10 There's No Money

Love Record Stores Edition available from 9am on Saturday June 20th.
Limited to one per person.

On her sophomore LP, The Best of Luck Club, 26-year-old Melbourne, Australia native Alex Lahey navigates the pangs of generational ennui with the pint half-full and a spot cleared on the bar stool next to her. Self-doubt, burn out, break-ups, mental health, moving in with her girlfriend, vibrators: The Best of Luck Club showcases the universal language of Lahey’s sharp songwriting, her propensity for taking the minute details of the personal and flipping it public through anthemic pop-punk. Lahey’s 2017 debut I Love You Like a Brother encases Lahey’s knack for writing a killer hook and her acute sense of humor delivered via a slacker-rock package and, in a way, The Best of Luck Club picks up where that record left off.

Lahey co-produced the album alongside acclaimed engineer and producer Catherine Marks (Local Natives, Wolf Alice, Manchester Orchestra), and dives headfirst into a broader spectrum of both emotion and sound through polished, arena pop-punk in the vein of Paramore with the introspective sheen of Alvvays or Tegan & Sara. Here, Lahey documents the highest highs and the lowest lows of her life to date. After a whirlwind of global touring in support of breakout debut I Love You Like a Brother, Lahey wrote the bulk of her follow-up in Nashville during 12-hour days of songwriting. There, she found the inspiration for The Best of Luck Clubís concept: the dive bar scene and its genuine energy.”Whether you’ve had the best day of your life or the worst day of your life, you can just sit up at the bar and turn to the person next to you - who has no idea who you are - and have a chat. And the response that you generally get at the end of the conversation is, "Best of luck", so The Best Of Luck Club is that place.

TRACK LISTING

1. I Don’t Get Invited To Parties Anymore
2. Am I Doing It Right
3. Interior Demeanour
4. Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself
5. Unspoken History
6. Misery Guts
7. Isabella
8. I Need To Move On
9. Black RM’s
10. I Want To Live With You

Nico Lahs makes a triumphant comeback on Local Talk with a new release.

Those who favour the slower and more gritty house are in luck. Signals In Outer Space is yet another testament of Nico Lahs' ability to make house that doesn't belong to one style but rather cross several different ones with creativity and confidence.

Speaking of not belonging to one style, Marcellus Pittman delivers a remix that is unique and true to his sound.

Together Nico Lahs and Marcellus create a house 12" that is 100% Local Talk.

TRACK LISTING

A. Signals From Outer Space
A. Cruisin'
B. Cruisin' (marcellus Pittman Remix)

R&S' dreamy sibling, Apollo (often found in her bedroom watching vapourwave videos on youtube - ed) introduces the spaced out soul and future boogie from Lahun, who was last spotted remixing Lakker’s "Milch". The romantic types will appreciate the slow tug of "Slow Love". With Sarah Garvey on vocal duties the track constantly pulls on your sleeve, beckoning you into its loving gaze with hues of red, purple and green. "Mystic Jam Hands" has that celestial dreaminess we usually associate with Dam Funk. Infact, this is as good if not better than the LA new boogie poster boy! An absolutely breathtaking slow jam, laid back as you like and with delicious piano licks, spine-tickling chord progression and one of the tastiest B-line / xylophone combos you're ever likely to hear. Worth the entrance fee alone! "Slow Love" gets an instrumental outing, which seems to bring to focus its darker, shadow-sculling underbelly. "Siriusly" opens the B-side with percolated wood blocks, astonishing synthesizer parts and neck snapping snare hits. It's long arrangement giving birth to many different themes before reaching its logical conclusion. It's worth noting here that Lahun's productions seem to exist on a plane which time forgot, and have an air of the everlasting about them; allowing the listener to dip into the stream whenever he or she pleases. "Nana Chan" concludes proceedings with more suspended strings, rampant percussion rhythms and a wavy, disorientating aesthetic. Totally out there and sounding all the better for it! Welcome the future with a loving hand, Lahun is by our side. Recommended.

TRACK LISTING

1. Slow Love
2. Mystic Jam Hands
3. Slow Love (Instrumental)
4. Siriusly
5. Nana Chan

THIS IS A BLACK FRIDAY 2024 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON FRIDAY NOVEMBER 29TH ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 8AM ON SATURDAY NOVEMBER 30TH).

Never previously released on vinyl, now remastered and pressed on stone coloured vinyl, especially for Record Store Day Black Friday 2024.

TRACK LISTING

Krvava Gruda - Plodna Zemlja
Krst
Life Is Life
Leben-Tod
Transnational
Krvoprelitje (Ti, Ki Izzivaš)

“Silence is worse; all truths that are kept silent become poisonous.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Laibach announce the release of a brand new album, Also Sprach Zarathustra.

The music for the album was originally created for a theatrical production of Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Also Sprach Zarathustra) based on Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical novel of the same name, which premiered in March 2016. Also Sprach Zarathustra is an update of the music Laibach created for the play, directed by Matjaž Berger for the Anton Podbevšek Theatre (APT) in Novo Mesto, Slovenia.

35 years on from their genesis in the then-Yugoslavian industrial town Trbovlje, Laibach are still the most internationally acclaimed band to have come out of the former Communist countries of Eastern and Central Europe. Founded in the death year of the country’s founding father Tito, and rising to fame as Yugoslavia steered towards self-destruction, Laibach can make you think, dance and march to the same music.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Unearthly drones, crisp glassine clicks and haunting ambience, gothic electronics and foreboding vocal abstractions make this yet another next-level dark ambient / classical / drone outing from one of the frontrunners of the scene. Superbly intimidating but brilliantly conceived and executed.

Following the release of the Love Is Still Alive EP, the legendary Slovenian group Laibach presents their brand new album and soundtrack for IRON SKY : THE COMING RACE.

The Coming Race (dir. Timo Vuorensola, 2019), was the follow-up to the film Iron Sky (2012) in which Nazis plot to take over the world after lying dormant in a secret military base on the dark side of the moon. Laibach were commissioned to compose the music for the Finnish dark comedy, which achieved cult-status and raised more than $1 million via crowdfunding, with their original soundtrack being widely acclaimed.

The Coming Race see’s humanity trying to survive on the former Nazi moon base, but as supplies are running low, a small band of survivor’s journey to the hollow Earth's core where a power is buried that could save or destroy mankind. Along the way they must fight an ancient shape-shifting reptilian race to save humanity.

This soundtrack is as epic and cinematic as the first, providing a musical journey of orchestral scores with bonus songs featured on the CD and download, including the track ‘The Coming Race’ that adds Slovenian Grammy winner Amaya’s powerful vocals into the Laibach mix.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Title Sequence
A2 Neomenia Moon Base
A3 Moonquake
A4 The Jobsists
A5 Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish
A6 Renate And Obi
A7 Vestal Celestial Amelia
A8 Moon Führer Is Back
A9 Vril-ya
A10 Back To Earth / Crash Landing
A11 Hollow Earth
A12 3310 Blue R7309170
A13 The Promised Land
A14 The City Of Agartha, Pt. 1
A15 The Vril Banquet Hall, Pt. 1

B1 The Vril Banquet Hall, Pt. 2
B2 The City Of Agartha, Pt. 2
B3 First Among Steves
B4 Malcolm Fights Raptors
B5 The Gate To The Holy Grail
B6 Malcolm Fights Vril Jobs And Vril Hitler
B7 The Triceratops Chariot Race
B8 Escape From Earth
B9 Sieg Heil, Mutterfückers!
B10 Zeit Zum Töten
B11 Renate Dies
B12 Escape From The Moon / IExcommunicating Wolfgang

Laibach and A/POLITICAL present 'Alamut' - a brand-new album of original symphonic work based on the novel of the same name.

The album was recorded by Laibach and the musicians who performed 'Alamut' live at a former Crusader castle in Ljubljana in 2022. The musicians involved include the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra, the Human-Voice Ensemble vocal group from Tehran, the Gallina Women’s Choir, and AccordiOna, a women’s accordion orchestra backed by additional accordion players, conducted by Iranian conductor Navid Goharib.

'Alamut' is an original symphonic work by Laibach based on a famous story from eleventh-century Persia, as told by the Slovene writer Vladimir Bartol in his novel of the same title published in 1938. The central character is Hassan-i Sabbāh, the charismatic religious and political leader of the Nizari Ismailis and the founder of a mysterious military formation known as the Assassins, whose name is still feared and respected today. Hassan-i Sabbāh is a self-proclaimed prophet who leads a holy war against the Seljuk Empire from his eyrie – the castle of Alamut. Alamut looked at mechanisms of propaganda at the time when Bartol, a Slovenian author, witnessed the rise of Fascism in Trieste, Italy, where he lived.

In Laibach’s 'Alamut', the ideas of radical nihilism interweave with the classical Persian poetry of Omar Khayyam, the sensual verses of Mahsati Ganjavi blend with minimalist orchestral colours derived from Iranian tradition. Hassan-i Sabbāh’s propaganda mechanisms are echoed in the industrial principle of the workings of the orchestra and Laibach’s unique sound. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Overture
2. Secret Gardens
3. Fedayeen
4. Transition
5. Meditation I
6. War
7. Doors Of Perception
8. Metaverse
9. Meditation II & Epilogue

To mark the 40th anniversary of their debut album, Laibach and Mute present the Laibach 40 vinyl and CD box sets. Originally released in 1985 without the band’s name – banned at the time in Slovenia and Yugoslavia – and with Tito’s speeches censored by a shrill bleep, this legendary debut now appears in a fully remastered facsimile edition, bearing its originally intended name for the first time: Nebo žari / The Sky is Glowing.

The box set also includes historic recordings from Laibach’s early years. Ljubljana – Zagreb – Beograd (2025 Remaster) captures their first concerts across Yugoslavia in 1982, including tracks from early rehearsals held in a practice space wedged between a mortuary, dissection room, and madhouse. M.B. December 21, 1984 (2025 Remaster) documents a legendary semi-legal Ljubljana concert, appearing on vinyl for the first time. We Forge the Future (Live at the Cukrarna Gallery 2025) presents a unique recent performance with historical members, recreating the infamous 1983 Zagreb Biennale concert, exclusive to this box set.

Housed in a specially designed box that enhances the original sleeve, the collection also features a booklet with archival photographs and brand-new, exclusively commissioned essays, and a DVD film, Laibach: Music is the Art of Time, documenting the debut album with an 8-page booklet and subtitles in six languages [DE, EN, ES, FR, JP, SL].

With Laibach 40, Mute celebrates the uncompromising beginnings of one of Europe’s most enigmatic, provocative and influential music adventure through time and space.

The legendary Slovenian group’s first original studio album since 2014's 'Spectre', 'MUSICK' - intensely pop, yet intensely Laibach.

This record simultaneously celebrates and critiques the current era of warped reality and AI imitation. The title reflects a duality: an oversaturation, being "sick of music" in an age where over 100,000 new tracks, many AI-generated, are uploaded daily, making us question reality; and a "pathological devotion" that continues to drive the band.

The maximalist creation process in their Ljubljana studio involved analogue synths, toys, computers with sound apps, and collaborators like Donna Marina Mårtensson and Richard X. They drew influences from K-pop, J-pop, and '90s Eurodance, yet maintained that their "primary influence and reference point remained Laibach itself."

TRACK LISTING

1. Musick (feat. Wiyaala)
2. Fluid Emancipation
3. Singularity (feat. Donna Marina Mårtensson)
4. Resistencia (feat. Gregor Strasbergar)
5. Love Machine (feat. Senidah)
6. Luigi Mangione
7. Keep It Reel (feat. Manca Trampuš)
8. Yes Maybe No (feat. Donna Marina Mårtensson)
9. Allgorhythm (feat. Wiyaala)
10. Das Göttliche Kind

Laibach’s classic album from 1987, 'Opus Dei', has been remastered and redesigned.

The album that first brought Laibach to a mass consumption audience, with their unique interpretations of Opus' ‘Live is Life’ and Queen’s ‘One Vision’, and heavy rotation on MTV’s alternative shows and ITV’s The Chart Show. Produced by Rico Conning, it stands as a defining statement of intent and prophecy that the band continues to uphold nearly 40 years later.

The album, remastered from the original tapes, includes an extensive 16-page booklet with new text by Alexi Munroe and photos from the time. The album cover artwork has also had a distinctive redesign that draws on the original and pushes it forward.

The CD box set includes an additional CD of 16 live tracks from the Opus Dei touring that happened between 1987 and 1989.

The original vinyl edition has been unavailable for over 20 years.

TRACK LISTING

LP Tracklist:
1. Leben Heißt Leben (Opus Dei)
2. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision)
3. Leben-Tod
4. F.I.A.T. (Let It Be)
5. Opus Dei (Life Is Life)
6. Trans-national
7. How The West Was Won
8. The Great Seal

CD Tracklist:

CD1:
1. Leben Heißt Leben (Opus Dei)
2. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision)
3. Leben-Tod
4. F.I.A.T. (Let It Be)
5. Trans-national
6. How The West Was Won
7. Opus Dei (Life Is Life)
8. The Great Seal
9. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision) [Eine Richtung Und Ein Volk Version]
10. Leben Heißt Leben (Opus Dei) [Marche Funèbre Version]
11. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision) [3. Oktober – Kraftbach – Version]

CD2:
1. Leben Heißt Leben (Opus Dei) [Live From London, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 1987]
2. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision) [Live From Somewhere In Europe/US, 1987-1989]
3. Leben-Tod (Live From Somewhere In Europe/US, 1987-1989)
4. F.I.A.T. (Let It Be) [Live From Paris, Espace Ornano, 1992]
5. Trans-national (Live From Somewhere In Europe/US, 1987-1989)
6. How The West Was Won (Live From Somewhere In Europe/US, 1987-1989)
7. Opus Dei (Life Is Life) [Live From Somewhere In Europe/US, 1987-1989]
8. Leben Heißt Leben (Opus Dei) [Live From Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987]
9. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision) [Live From Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987]
10. Leben-Tod (Live From Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987)
11. How The West Was Won (Live From Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987)
12. Geburt Einer Nation (Vienna, Messepalast, Kaiser Franz Josef Reitschule, 1988)
13. Leben-Tod (Live From San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989)
14. Trans-national (Live From San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989)
15. How The West Was Won (Live From San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989)
16. Opus Dei (Life Is Life) [Live From San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989]

Slovenian collective Laibach revisit their 1987 masterpiece, 'Opus Dei', with brand-new interpretations by the group, along with remixes from the record’s original producer and mixer, Rico Conning.

'Opus Dei' (translation: God’s Work) was the band’s first album for Mute, garnering acclaim and shining a worldwide spotlight on the unique Slovenian collective. This led to the album being listed in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die (edited by Robert Dimery), where it was called “…a masterpiece of its genre.”

'Opus Dei Revisited' presents two distinct new versions of the work, an approach in keeping with the original album, where they reimagined Opus’s ‘Live Is Life’ (as ‘Opus Dei’) and Queen’s ‘One Vision’ (‘Geburt einer Nation’), two key highlights of the album.

The first disc is a reworking by Laibach themselves, initially crafted and then refined for their current Opus Dei Revisited Tour. Never a band to take an easy route to any destination, the challenge to re-evaluate, reinterpret, and rebuild the tracks was an artistic imperative. The band was so pleased with the results that they entered the studio immediately after Phase 1 of the Opus Dei Revisited Tour was completed to capture these new versions.

For the second disc, they invited Rico Conning (Wire, Pere Ubu, Swans, Front 242, William Orbit) to also revisit the material. Conning was given an open brief to explore new territories with the original master tapes. The results emphasise and eviscerate in equal measure, bringing wide-ranging new perspectives and a strident aural attitude.

TRACK LISTING

1. Leben Heißt Leben (Opus Dei Revisited 2024)
2. Geburt Einer Nation (Opus Dei Revisited 2024)
3. Leben-Tod (Opus Dei Revisited 2024)
4. F.I.A.T. (Opus Dei Revisited 2024)
5. Transnational (Opus Dei Revisited 2024)
6. How The West Was Won (Opus Dei Revisited 2024)
7. The Great Seal (Opus Dei Revisited 2024)
8. Opus Dei (Opus Dei Revisited 2024)
9. Leben Heißt Leben (Rico Conning's Inner Ear RMX 2024)
10. Geburt Einer Nation (Rico Conning's Inner Ear RMX 2024)
11. Leben-Tod (Rico Conning's Inner Ear RMX 2024)
12. F.I.A.T. (Rico Conning's Inner Ear RMX 2024)
13. Opus Dei (Rico Conning's Inner Ear RMX 2024)
14. Transnational (Rico Conning's Inner Ear RMX 2024)
15. How The West Was Won (Rico Conning's Inner Ear RMX 2024)
16. The Great Seal (Rico Conning's Inner Ear RMX 2024)

Legendary Slovenian group Laibach return with their new EP LOVE IS STILL ALIVE, via Mute.

The EP is a 40 minute country, dance and electronic masterpiece, featuring different versions of the song Love Is Still Alive. The original song is taken from Laibach’s soundtrack for the sci-fi action film Iron Sky: The Coming Race, and centres around Milan Fras’ unmistakable gravely vocal over an old time country western accompaniment, a musical curveball from a career that defies genres. The Coming Race is the sequel to Iron Sky, which Laibach were commissioned to compose the score for in 2012. The Finnish dark comedy achieved cult-status and raised more than $1 million via crowdfunding. This release follows a series of important theatrical performances and releases from Laibach, and supports their Coming Race tour dates (2022/2023).

TRACK LISTING

1. Love Is Still Alive I (Moon, Euphoria)
2. Love Is Still Alive II (Venus, Libidine)
3. Love Is Still Alive III (Mercury, Dopamine)
4. Love Is Still Alive IV (Neptune, Oxytocin)
5. Love Is Still Alive V (Uranus, Prolactin)
6. Love Is Still Alive VI (Saturn, Insomnia)
7. Love Is Still Alive VII (Jupiter, Tristitia)
8. Love Is Still Alive Viii (Mars, Dysphoria)

‘Spectre’ follows the band’s widely acclaimed conceptual album ‘Volk’ (2006), where Laibach interpreted national anthems of historically imperialistic nations, and the release of the side projects ‘Laibachkunstderfuge’ (2008) and ‘Iron Sky: The Original Film Soundtrack’ (2012).

Laibach have once again ‘re-invented’ themselves into a newly born, yet polished and solid, formation. And, as is now customary, Laibach call into question all the rigid and cemented interpretations (and prejudices) about themselves, about their music, intentions, philosophy and ideology. Laibach are masters of escape, true escape artists. And yet, despite everything, ‘Spectre’ resonates as a real and full-blooded Laibachian work and nothing else.

With ‘Spectre’ Laibach have created a big, important, and almost dangerous step forward; it seems that this time it has fatally crossed the Rubicon. On this album the group - which has never defined itself politically, but has, nevertheless, constantly analysed politics through its work - comes across as politically engaged as never before. ‘Spectre’ literally sounds like a political manifesto in poetic form. Titles and lyrics couldn’t be more direct. With these lyrics and songs, Laibach, who have always given a controversial impression - or an impression of controversy - especially in terms of its political orientation, is now very clearly taking a position on the political spectrum and probably irreversibly abolishing its own (to some extent quite comfortable) political ‘freedom’ and neutrality.

The album opens with ‘The Whistleblowers’, a contagiously optimistic piece of classic ‘militant and symphonic’ Laibach, sounding like the sequel to Lieutenant F J Ricketts’ 1914 ‘Colonel Bogey March’. ‘No History’ knows no mercy, and leaves no doubt: Laibach require uncompromising action, they demand bravery and boldness and seek heroes “who will be the creed of a new political faith”. And, in one of the verses of this song, listeners can find a mini ‘manifesto’ about the album itself, its sonic expression, and the position of the group in relation to its own history.

In amongst these rallying calls from the band sits a rare Laibach love song: ‘We Are Millions And Millions Are One’ deals with love in today’s impossible times, times which are dangerously close to the fictional reality of classic anti-utopian novels such as Yevgeny Zamyatin’s ‘We’, Laibach’s inspiration for this song.

Ending the album is the elegant utopian song ‘Koran’, a track that shows the possibility of a better and fairer world - on Earth or in the hereafter. Consequently, the album ends with the (in)complete, open, unfinished sound of a piano key.

Laibach present their brand new album WIR SIND DAS VOLK (Ein Musical aus Deutschland). This album consists of the music from the band’s political theatre production Wir Sind das Volk (We are the People), which premiered at HAU (Berlin) in 2020. The piece was based on the writings of Heiner Müller (1929-1995), who was observed as one of the most significant German-language playwrights and poets since Bertolt Brecht.

The artwork for the new album is by the acclaimed Austrian-Irish visual artist, Gottfried Helnwein, known for his narrative reflecting upon historical and political issues. The cover features his work Epiphany I: Adoration of the Magi, which reflects upon childhood and National Socialism.

TRACK LISTING

VINYL TRACKLIST
A1 Philoktet
A2 Der Vater
A3 Medea Material
B1 Ich Bin Der Engel Der Verzweiflung
B2 Flieger, Grüß Mir Die Sonne
C1 Ordnung Und Disziplin (Müller Versus Brecht)
C2 Lessing Oder Das Ende Der Aufklärung
C3 Traumwald
D1 Im Herbst 197.. Starb… (instrumental)
D2 Ich Will Ein Deutscher Sein
D3 Ich War Die Wunde

CD TRACKLIST
1 Philoktet
2 Der Vater
3 Medea Material
4 Ich Bin Der Engel Der Verzweiflung
5 Flieger, Grüß Mir Die Sonne
6 Ordnung Und Disziplin (Müller Versus Brecht)
7 Lessing Oder Das Ende Der Aufklärung
8 Traumwald
9 Im Herbst 197.. Starb… (instrumental)
10 Ich Will Ein Deutscher Sein
11 Ich War Die Wunde
12 Das Lied Vom Einsamen Mädchen (live)
13 Im Herbst 197.. Starb… (live)
14 Wir Sind Das Volk Nur Durch Die Liebe (Abschlussrede Von Peter Mlakar, Live)

Laish, from Brighton, are piloted by the mesmeric Danny Green, a master of captivating confessionals and a thoroughly engaging front man. His glorious voice ranges from the angelic, to a plaintiveness echoing Robert Wyatt, to deeper Kurt Wagner-esque tones. New album, Time Elastic, brims with ultra-cool, classic songwriting and bestows a superbly developed and playful record, full of surprises. A bold step forward, presenting a songwriter at the height of his powers.

Chicago’s Magic Touch label gets the Numero Group treatment. Available for the first time ever on 7”, Boogie Holy-Grail “Too Far Gone” has been “Too Hard To Find” on the second hand market since first introduced to the masses via the legendary cratesmith Mark Grusane of Mr. Peabody Records. Rare Groove Windy City Disco at its finest sliced, diced and remastered for maximum dancefloor potential. 

LAKE are an experimental-pop ensemble centered around the songwriting partnership of wife/husband duo Ashley Eriksson and Elijah Moore. LAKE's musical kindling is unusual for a band whose genesis was rooted in the punk and indie community - before signing to legendary K Records (for their 2nd album Oh,The Places We'll Go, 2008) Calvin Johnson apparently couldn't believe a band from the Olympia underground would be so keen on reinterpreting the music of mainstream pop acts from a bygone era. LAKE has since converted him, and many more, to a re-sensitized appreciation of big musical ideas, which are non-cynical, joyous, inviting.

Another indie-Balearic crossover album from Sweden's Service imprint, this is  lushly produced, blissful pop, all shoegazer meloncholy but with an MOR sheen. Studio dude D.Lissvik has mixed up a sound that's tuneful like Crepes, but with a gently grooving bottom end : streamlined rhythms (shades of St. Etienne) and wistful, lovelorn melodies create a cozy, hypnotic quality that pulls you in. There's some fantastic songwriting here, (similar to those other Scando masters Radio Dept. and Magnet)  but a more recent comparison would be with a softer, slightly adrift  Empire Of The Sun, or on the dancier numbers maybe Pheonix's first album.  For me though, this goes right back (via The Field Mice, of all people!?)  to 4AD and late 80s UK shoegazing. Combining that with such a gorgeous, smooth production is a winning combination. Recommended.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Dream-pop goes (fantasy) mainstream! Anyone remember The Frazier Chorus?!