Continuing their rich vein of form, Mannequin Records present a LP compilation of Michael Antener (Swamp Terrorist) early 80's minimal synth/industrial projects Nacht'raum (with Michael Stämpfli) and, as solo, Bande Berne Crematoire.
Heavily influenced by the works of SPK and Nocturnal Emissions, Michael Antener made his first recordings in the basement of his parents house in a small village nearby Bern, Utzensdorf. He started BBC in 1980, a hybrid of Neue Deutsch Welle and noise/experimental, making a household name in the international home recording scene of the time and participating to many tape compilations.
Teaming up with Michael Stämpfli as Nacht’raum, he self-released the untitled mini-lp in 1983. Coming out from the same town of Grauzone, the duo moved into the darkest minimal electronic sounds, choosing German as main language for the lyrics and a Roland Tr-808 as main drum machine, bringing the sound to a proto-electro dimension. Nacth’raum will be historically a real gem in the 80's Swiss underground electronic music, together with Mittageisen, Grauzone, Liliput, The Vyllies.
Michael, by the way, later teamed up with Ane Hebeisen and they went by the name of Swamp Terrorists, releasing seven albums and touring throughout the world until the end of the nineties. At the end of the nineties he sold all his instruments and became independent as a graphic artist. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Viva Espana
2. Tiere Schreit
3. Kranzo Roses
4. Rosa Bernet
5. Sahel Passe
6. Ich Muss
7. Maria Tanz - Maria Flieg
8. Consume
9. Menschwirtschaft
10. Ende
11. Plastiktraume
12. Nachstes Jahr 

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2019 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

To celebrate the 10th release on the mighty Canoe, Nyra hits us with a limited reissue of two of his heaviest hitters, alongside a brand new sample house smasher. The freshly wrought "Take Me To The Water" opens the set with disco bass, sweltering strings and hot horns (the sound design on that og snippet hinting at an African heritage perhaps) flipped into a filter heavy, sliced and diced house heater in time honoured Nyra fashion. Over on the flipside, the producer takes us back to CANOE006 for the acid fuelled "On & On", a disco tinged pounder alive with 303 bass and those hard AF drums, before closing the EP with "Love Safari", the killer filtered edit of Gepy & Gepy's "African Love Song" which made CANOE005 a £20 12". 

TRACK LISTING

A1. Take Me To The Water
B1. On And On
B2. Love Safari

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2020 RELEASE AVAILABLE ONLINE ONLY AS PART OF THE AUGUST 29TH DROP DAY AT 6PM.
LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

Red colour vinyl.Limited to 500 copies.A seminal work now available for the first time on vinyl! MOJO "Chamber pop pastoralists make great leap forward...Who knew that what the music of Steve Reich has been crying out for all these years is a Krautrock makeover?" North Sea Radio Orchestra; born in the alleys and lanes of the City of London, then spreading out across the metropolis, performing shows in churches, concert halls, galleries and festivals, two album releases with glowing reviews and several BBC6 sessions.This is their third album; 'I a moon'. Written throughout the Autumn and Winter of 2010/2011 by band leader and guitarist Craig Fortnam with a pencil and paper, guitar and piano and recorded 'at various locations in southern England on his laptop', 'I a moon' retains the unique NSRO line-up of strings, woodwind, percussion, guitars, keyboards and voices but with a darker, less pastoral sound, with synth and percussion taking a more prominent role than on their previous two albums.Another departure is a move away from using poetry to the more personal use of self-penned lyrics : 'I a moon, orbiting myself.Sometime gravity pulls me closeÖ.'. On this release, the influences apparent on the first two albums (Britten, Vaughan Williams, Reich, ISB, 70's prog) have been augmented by a distinct whiff of Krautrock (on the instrumental 'Berliner Luft') while the angular guitars of 'Ring Moonlets' show a debt to the dual guitar textures of Deerhoof.NSRO continue to blend their influences in a highly imaginative and unusual way, while all the time having an ear for the beautiful, be it in melody, texture or chord.North Sea Radio Orchestra - 'I a moon'; beautiful, redolent, ancient and modern, English and world, unique.

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2022 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

Newly recorded live session on coloured vinyl.

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2023 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY APRIL 22ND 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 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 24TH).

40th Anniversary celebration of the global hit '99 Luftballons'. Presented here as a 1LP picture disc with digitally remastered audio and photography by Jim Rakete.

In addition to 99 Luftballons, the EP includes the songs 'Nur geträumt', 'Leuchtturm', 'You Don't Know What Love Is' and 'Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime' - a duet with Kim Wilde.

TRACK LISTING

A1. 99 Luftballons
A2. Nur Geträumt
A3. Leuchtturm
B1. Anyplace, Anywhere, Anytime (feat. Kim Wilde)
B2. You Don't Know What Love Is

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2023 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY APRIL 22ND 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 8PM ON MONDAY APRIL 24TH).

The hugely successful soundtrack by Nino Rota conducted by Carmine Coppola in the 1977 recording with the Milan Philharmonia Orchestra on white vinyl, gatefold sleeve

While many know Bergman as one half of brother-sister duo Wild Belle, her forthcoming record is a cathartic collection rooted in the hopeful values and traditions of gospel that have helped her through the recent, tragic loss of her father.

On the signing of Natalie Bergman, Third Man Records co-founder Ben Swank adds, “Natalie has a unique vision and has approached this album with a reverence for the sacred and healing nature of the history of this music, but has managed to update it in a way that is distinctly her own. We're very excited to welcome her to the Third Man label and family.”

Alongside her brother Elliot, the island-influenced music Natalie Bergman made in Wild Belle has led to collaborations ranging from Major Lazer to Tom Tom Club, performances at Coachella and Lollapalooza, tours with Beck, Cage The Elephant, Toro y Moi and more.

Helmed by her heavenly voice, Bergman’s solo album is steeped in mystic melodies and time-bending tones of psychedelic rock and soul. Showcasing her multi-instrumental and creative versatility, songs will be accompanied by visuals that blend her own abstract artwork, self-designed wardrobe and beyond. Stay tuned.

RIYL: Wild Belle, Haley Heynderickx, Phoebe Bridgers, Mitski, Meiko, El Perro Del Mar, Sylvan Esso, Overcoats, Weyes Blood, Sharon Van Etten, Maggie Rogers, Angel Olsen.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Bergman's music clearly leans heavily on the vocal-dominant acoustic guitar ballads of the 60's and 70's, joined with gorgeous harmonised girl-group soul aesthetic. It's a wonderfully new take on the tried and tested mellow folk vibe, and Bergman's haunting vocals fit it perfectly.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE 1
1. Talk To The Lord
2. Shine Your Light On Me
3. I Will Praise You
4. I'm Going Home
5. Home At Last
6. You Make My World Go Round

SIDE 2
1. Paint The Rain
2. The Gallows
3. Your Love Is My Shelter
4. He Will Lift You Up Higher
5. Sweet Mary
6. Last Farewell

Dinked Edition Exclusive 7"
Side A
A. Paint The Rain (Pachy Remix)
Side B
B. Paint The Rain (Dub Instrumental)

The limited edition super-deluxe vinyl format is pressed onto 100% virgin vinyl in a custom Yellow-White-Clear March-Up color mix. The records is packaged in a full-color gatefold jacket, and includes a full-sized 28-page full-color diary, and an original hand-numbered animation print cell from the We The Animals film production. The soundtrack to the massively acclaimed, aware-winning motion picture, We The Animals. We The Animals has received near-unanimous acclaim (91% on Rotten Tomatoes), and the soundrack has been praised as an integral part of the film’s profound resonance. We The Animals is the award-winning new film from Jeremiah Zagar (In A Dream). Based on the best-selling novel by Justin Torres, We The Animals is Zagar’s first narrative feature.

It reunites Zagar with Nick Zammuto, the renowned composer and co-founder of beloved collage-pop pioneers, the Books. Inspired by the film’s setting in rural upstate New York – and influenced by the early ambient electronic music that galvanized the Books two decades ago – Zammuto pairs that earthen, wooded isolation with dynamic pulses of customized electronics and sparse, crystalline layers of melodic soft synths. The juxtaposition is arresting, and gives the soundtrack a unique heft befitting of its subject matter – and betraying of its minimal instrumentation. Beautifully edited and sequenced to act as both a companion to the film and a standalone album, We The Animals: An Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is as subtle as it is startling, and succeeds in making even the heaviest emotions feel momentarily weightless

TRACK LISTING

1. I’ll Fly Away (1:04)
2. We Wanted More (00:49)
3. We Wanted Less (01:11)
4. Just This (00:52)
5. Look At Me (01:17)
6. You Went So Far (00:26)
7. Under The Bed (01:48)
8. Paps Leaves (01:09)
9. The Kitchen (02:20)
10. Like A Bomb (00:31)
11. Stealing (02:01)
12. Dream Of Paps (01:44)
13. Haircut (02:04)
14. Tonight We’ll Go For A Ride (02:14)
15. You Were Supposed To Find Us (00:22)
16. Bad Bad Bad (00:56)
17. Wet Dream (00:45)
18. No More Crying (02:20)
19. Paps Dig A Grave (00:15)
20. It Was My Grave (03:36)
21. Bad Nightmare (00:48)
22. Winter (01:52)
23. Can I Come? (01:00)
24. Fly Away (05:29)
25. I’m Nobody’s Baby (01:15)
26. We The Animals (02:21)

Nicholas Allbrook is a Western Australian native and a highly-accomplished Australian songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Since the beginning of his artistic career in 2005, Allbrook has brought community and collaboration to the forefront of his artistic method.

Whether it was in the poignant lyricism of his solo musical endeavors (Ganough, Wallis and Fatuna/Wabi - Sabi) or in the production style of his band POND’s latest album ‘9’, Allbrook shows a deep understanding of the human experience and the importance of art in modern society. He has collaborated with Australian and international musicians alike, from King Krule to Cat Le Bon, Holy Fuck and Cuco.

Emotional, geological, psycho-geographical: this is the terrain of Manganese, Allbrook’s fourth album away from Pond life. A psyche-pop wonderland, Allbrook’s new solo album is the sound of a musician with a symphony in his back pocket, the Eighties history of Oz-rock in his rearview mirror and modern Australia in his sights.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A:
1. Commodore
2. Babbel
3. Manganese
4. Jackie.
SIDE B:
1. The Endless Jetty
2. Vale The Chord
3. Mazda
4. Round Round The Moon And All
5.The Night Before You Flew

Double Knot finds Naomi continuing to hone the winning combination of guitar and banjo she established on 2021’s Concession Stand Girl EP. For Double Knot though, Naomi wanted a fuller, more dynamic sound: more instruments, more harmonies, more layering, more, more, more. Inspired by the impressionistic melodies of Animal Collective and MGMT, Naomi peppers in computer-generated synths throughout the album, most notably on the song “Burn Out.” These electronic flourishes augment the more grounding string instruments, arriving somewhere more ethereal than Naomi’s earlier work while still maintaining her warm songwriting.

Naomi Alligator is fed up. She’s sick of trying to make relationships work that have already run their course, and tired of sitting in a wintry apartment waiting for her life to kick into gear. On her forthcoming album Double Knot via Carpark Records, the modern folk singer/songwriter from Virginia attempts to unwind her life from all that is holding her back. In a way, it’s a coming-of-age record about shedding what no longer serves you and, ultimately, finding something like deliverance.

On the opening track, “Seasick,” Naomi Alligator is already in the midst of a sort of awakening. Right off the bat, she sings, “I don’t know what’s happened to me / It’s like I turned 16 / It’s like I grew to be 6-feet tall.” This is the announcement of a wide-eyed artist coming out of hibernation and into their own. Still, Naomi’s vocals ache with guilt and longing, belying the track’s playful catchiness. Longing for what? Maybe attention from a crush, but mostly a sunnier place to call home.

Naomi Alligator began writing Double Knot while living in Philadelphia during the height of the pandemic and the deterioration of a longterm romance. “I scream: How’d the hell I end up here?
/ I’m 1-inch tall, it’s crystal clear,” she chants on “Neighborhood Freak,” returning to height and size as an emotional barometer. When asked though, Naomi rejects the notion that Double Knot is a breakup album, or autobiographical at all. Moreso, she says, it’s a personal reckoning in which, “the minute before you make a big decision, you tally up the reasons why you don’t want to do what you’re doing anymore.”

That desire to turn the page expands to the production of the album as well. Naomi Alligator generally houses her narratives in beds of minimal, home-tracked instrumentation—influenced by the stripped-down poeticism of Joan Baez and Liz Phair’s Girly-Sound tapes. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Seasick
2. Don't Get It
3. Amelia
4. Blue For You
5. Burnout
6. California Girl
7. Make Me Sick
8. Neighborhood Freak
9. Over
10. Golden Boy
11. What I Meant
12. My French Summer

‘It is tempting to think of Barrett’s sounds as living organisms, darting around in your peripheral vision.’ - The Sound Projector ‘Natasha Barrett is now one of the leading composers in the emerging field of 3D audio: using high-density loudspeaker arrays and cutting-edge recording and mixing procedures to create works full of ingenuity and drama.’ - The New York Times Persistence of Sound presents a new solo LP from one of the world’s leading voices in electroacoustic music.

Natasha Barrett is known internationally for her intense explorations of the movement of sounds through space. Whilst studying with Jonty Harrison at the University of Birmingham, Barrett worked with BEAST (Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre), which led to a doctoral composition degree supervised by composer Denis Smalley. Barrett has since established an international reputation as a composer of 3D audio and ambisonics.

She treats spatialisation as a musical parameter, and told the New York Times, “I’m really concerned with the idea of tangibility. Sound is invisible, but we can do things that make you want to reach out and touch it.” Barrett describes her inspiration as coming from the immediate sounding matter of the world around us, as well as the way it behaves. Barrett's works are performed and commissioned throughout the world, and have received a long list of prizes, including the Giga-Hertz Award and the Bourges International Electroacoustic Music Awards. Persistence of Sound was founded by composer Iain Chambers, of the musique concrète ensemble Langham Research Centre. Its releases span electroacoustic music, field recordings, and the unclassifiable music between these genres.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Growth [5:59]
A2. Speaking Spaces No. 1: Heterotopia - Part 1 [13:32]
B1. Speaking Spaces No. 1: Heterotopia - Part 2 [10:12]
B2. Urban Melt In Park Palais Meran [9:40]

A collector and DJ from Dallas, Texas, Chad "High-C" Burnett of Rehash Media, first exposed Bartell's "Top Going Down, Bottom Going Up" in the "Excavations" section of the Rehash web site in December of 2001. For all intents and purposes, the 45 had been unknown to collectors but caused a quite a stir while everyone who heard it searched for more copies. The 45 remained out of reach until February of 2004 when noted British collector/DJ Ian Wright turned up a copy and began to play the 45, giving it further exposure by way of a radio show featured on the deepfunk.org web site.

Hailing from the small farming town of Ashburn, GA (population roughly 4400) noted as the "Peanut Capital of the World", young Nathan Bartell had grown up around music, playing trumpet in the school band and jazz band. After graduating from high school in 1962, Bartell moved to Atlanta where he found and enjoyed a thriving music and night club scene, catching then local acts such as Gladys Knight, The Tams, as well as the many touring acts that came through town and played clubs like The Palladium, The Pink Pussycat, The Casino and The Royal Peacock

The point at which the story truly begins to take shape was a fateful night in the summer of 1967 at a nightclub on Bankhead Highway near Northside Drive. The house band was doing its thing, but the crowd was thinking about Wilson Pickett's current hit "Funky Broadway" as they kept shouting for the band to perform the song. After some discussion amongst the band, a few of the musicians decided they knew the song well enough to give the people what they wanted, provided somebody knew the lyrics, as their singer did not. Bartell took the stage, and must have done the job right, as he continued performing with bands in clubs all over Atlanta such as The Oasis, and the most important of Atlanta nightclubs, The Royal Peacock.

By April of 1968, following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr, Bartell was married to a woman who also came from Ashburn. She didn't care much for Atlanta, so the couple moved back home to Ashburn. Music was still boiling in Bartell's blood, however, and it wasn't long before he began singing with a group called Eddie and the Cascades from just up the road in the (even smaller) town of Cordele. Eddie and the Cascades performed in clubs around South Georgia until the band broke up in 1972. Despite the length of the band's existence, sadly, the opportunity to record never presented itself.

Toward the end of Bartell's time with Eddie & the Cascades, he met Jesse Boone, whose musical legacy was already well underway. Boone brought Bartell into his studio with members of his own band, The Astros, to record his first Soul-Po-Tion single "Ooh Baby, I Love You", which was backed with "If I Could Win Your Love". According to Bartell, the single sold quite well regionally, and Hi Records approached Jesse Boone about releasing the single nationally. Boone declined the offer, hoping to draw more attention to his label and boost the momentum of his Soul-Po-Tion label. While sales were apparently good enough to attract a nationally distributed label, this one is quite possibly his most obscure 45.

Capitalizing on the regional success of "Ooh Baby I Love You", Bartell toured around the southeast, often with Jesse Boone & the Astros, playing dates in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Carolinas. Touring, as it can certainly do with young musicians, began to take a toll on Bartell's marriage, which was splitting up by the time he was ready to record his second single. Soul-Po-Tion label mate Freddie Wilson, following his own debut single "What Would It Be Like", had written a new song, which Jesse Boone listened to with Bartell in mind. "Top Going Up, Bottom Going Down" was a song that fit very well with what Bartell was feeling at the time, so Boone put him in the studio with Soul-Po-Tion's house band to record Wilson's composition. Where Freddie Wilson's style was very much from the mould of James Brown, Bartell gave it a more personal touch. That said, Bartell admits that the single's flip side "Johnny and John" was basically a blatant attempt to cash in on the success and sound of Johnnie Taylor, particularly through the use of reverb and echo effects.

Playing on the "Top Going Down…" session were O.C. Glaydens (a.k.a. A.C. Raven, a.k.a. O.C. the Wildman) on guitar, Johnny Badden on bass, Bruce Jones on saxophone, and a fella with the last name of Caldwell on drums. Nathan doesn't remember Mr. Caldwell's first name, but if he was Boone's first call drummer for Soul-Po-Tion recording sessions, then this is a man who clearly needs more attention. Even some of the less significant Soul-Po-Tion singles some top shelf drumming.

As Bartell remembers, the Freddie Wilson song was written specifically for Bartell to record. This indeed may be the case, but it is also possible that Freddie Wilson presented the demo to Boone for himself. What exactly happened next is something of a mystery. Either Boone specifically wanted the song to be recorded by Bartell, or Bartell's 45 came out before Wilson tried to do a polished version beyond his original rough demo recording. No matter how exactly the series of events transpired, Boone clearly did not want the two versions competing for sales against each other, much less on his own record label. Either theory is plausible. Regardless, Nathan Bartell's classic 45 emerged from the small label in Albany showing exponentially more style and musicianship than his debut.

Back to 1975 now…. While Bartell continued the southeastern club circuit, Jesse Boone was setting up a new record label, Albradella. The label kicked off with a couple of singles from Florida artist Chuck Roberson, but Bartell came back in 1976 with his new band, The Shandells, to record the "Moving On" single, with the b-side, "Sitting Alone". "Moving On" is a driving up-tempo funky soul dancer, with a deep ballad on the flip featuring Melvin Roberts on lead vocals. One more single was released on the Albradella label in 1979, "That's My Girl" parts 1 and 2 and "Someone Like You" b/w "Running Through the Night".

For a good part of the early 1980s, The Shandells worked both on their own, and backing other musicians on tour, such as Z.Z. Hill while he toured for his 1982 album "Down Home". The work with Z.Z. Hill put Bartell in touch with Tommy Cough of Malaco, who Bartell cites as an important mentor and influence in aspects of his career ever since. This influence has had no greater impact than in helping Bartell start up his own label, Eureka Records, an endeavor which he undertook in 1985 and continues to operate today.

Eureka was started when Bartell had approached Jesse Boone with the idea of recording in a new studio rather than Boone's own studio. Boone was not not keen on releasing recordings on his labels which were not produced in house, which is understandable when you own the studio and the label. So, Bartell and his band went to Sunbelt Sound Studios and began to record songs for an album which was to be titled "Let Me Love You". It seems that nine songs were cut in 1987 for this project. Unable to take them back to Albradella, Bartell started his own Eureka Records and published his songs under his own Co-Rey Music. Of the nine songs recorded, only four would actually see their eventual release on vinyl, as two 7" singles. But even with the Eureka label off the ground, Bartell did not sever his friendship or business ties with Jesse Boone.

By 1987, the Soul-Po-Tion and Albradella labels were both out of business, for the most part. Boone set up a new but short-lived venture called Vanity Records, which seems to have been for the express purpose of putting together one last project with Nathan Bartell. This is how Bartell's only R&B album was released. There was, however, one slight problem. Bartell's name is nowhere on it. Instead, Boone named the artist Timothy Gaye. The exact reason for this is still unknown though Bartell casually dismissed this decision as "one of Jesse's marketing ploys". The album is comprised of songs written by Boone, Roshell Anderson, Homer Chambers, a version of Eddie Floyd's "Knock On Wood" and a track written by Bartell's brother Keith, who also handles lead vocals on the song "Million Dollar Baby". The Jesse Boone-penned "If I Ever Fall In Love Again" b/w "Knock On Wood" was released as the only single from the album, which is slightly ironic since "Giving Good Loving" is easily the strongest track on the album.. One last single on the Vanity label followed the album, with Bartell (under his own name again) providing the song "Someone Like You" but sharing space with Chuck Roberson's "I Feel It Coming" on the flip side.

Bartell continued performing in night clubs, but not traveling as much, when a fateful turn ended his secular music career. Bartell went through a series of seemingly random religious encounters, the death of his 19 year old son who was coming home from his first year of college, and a collapsed lung. In 1991 Bartell was hospitalized with a recurrence of his lung ailment. While in the hospital, Bartell became born again and cites his acceptance of Jesus as what finally healed him for good. During this time, he also endured the death of his youngest son, who died at the age of 17. Bartell prayed to God that if he could make it through all of these events, he would never sing R&B music again. Music was still what Bartell wanted to do with his life, however, and formed a Gospel group called Nathan Bartell & Reality. Crossing the bridge between the traditional Gospel quartet style and a more contemporary sound, Reality has recorded three albums since 1995, and all on his own Eureka label and is still performing at Gospel events in Southern Georgia today.

TRACK LISTING

1. Top Going Down
2. I Feel It Coming
3. Sitting Alone
4. Jody & John
5. Someone Like You
6. Moving On
7. I Want Your Love
8. Mystery Lady
9. See Me Cry
10. Ooh Baby, I Love You
11. If I Could Win Your Love
12. If I Ever Fall In Love Again

DFA hit us up with  "Echo", the first album for the label from acclaimed Norwegian avant garde pop vocalist Nils Bech. A busy stage actor and singer already well known in his native Norway for three albums released on Oslo’s Fysisk Format, "Echo" marks a pivotal turning point for Bech and something of a radical sonic departure too. The keys to this change lie with Bech’s new collaborator, the young underground DJ, producer and beat maker Drippin’, known for his work with American rap artists such as LE1F and Cakes Da Killa. As a result, where his previous work was strange, ethereal and otherworldly - completely and utterly unique - ‘Echo’ throbs with a renewed sense of vigour and urgency, without losing any of the idiosyncratic beauty which marked Bech’s work before. 

TRACK LISTING

Waiting
Too Little Too Late
Glimpse Of Hope
Please Stay
Drip, Drip
Let Go
Echo
Jealousy
A Sudden Sickness

The roots of Naima Bock’s music are far reaching. Born in Glastonbury to a Brazilian father and a Greek mother, Naima spent her early childhood in Brazil before eventually returning to England and various homes in South-East London. This heritage combines with more recent pursuits in Naima’s music. From the Brazilian standards that the family listened to while driving to the beach, to the European folk traditions she tapped into on her own, and the pursuits that interest her today – studies in archaeology, work as a gardener, and walking the world’s great trails – Naima’s music draws from family, the earth and music handed down through generations.

Naima’s debut album Giant Palm is undoubtedly infused with the Brazilian music of her youth and regular family visits. She found inspiration in “the percussion, the melodies, chords - and particularly the poetic juxtaposition of tragedy and beauty held within the lyrics.” By the age of 15 Naima was embedded in the music scene of South-East London, eventually forming Goat Girl with school friends and touring the world. After six years playing bass in Goat Girl, Naima left the band to try something new. She set up a gardening company and started a degree at University College London in archeology because, as she jokes, “I liked being near the ground.” During this time she wrote music, played guitar, learned violin, worked with ever-shifting South-London collective Broadside Hacks, and met producer and arranger Joel Burton through Memorials of Distinction label head Josh Cohen. Joel’s burgeoning interest in Western classical music, global folk music, experience in large scale arrangement and orchestration informed the collaborative process that eventually culminated in Giant Palm.

Recorded with the help of over 30 musicians (including Josh Cohen on synth/electronics) by Dan Carey of Speedy Wunderground at his studio space in Streatham, South-East London, and engineered by Syd Kemp, the songs on Giant Palm represent a snapshot of a specific feeling, of brief moments in Naima’s life that make up a larger whole. The expansive yet delicate arrangements highlight Naima’s love for the collectivist values of traditional folk music, in which songs belong to everyone, and singing can take on countless forms without the need to exactly replicate something. “All the other representations that I’d had of singing felt so unattainable” she recalls. Giant Palm finds Naima bucking these expectations to let her unique voice and sense of communal creativity flourish. 

TRACK LISTING

Giant Palm
Toll
Every Morning
Dim Dum
Working
Natural
Campervan
Enter The House
Instrumental 
O Morro

Nicolas Bougaïeff presents his brand new album, ‘Begin Within’, released on Mute.

This is the first vocal-lead record from Nicolas and is inspired by self-transformation. It’s about honesty, instinct and lessons hard learned through intimate Berlin stories. Nicolas addresses these themes in form and content, explored with the use of his voice.

Much like his debut album, ‘The Upward Spiral’, ‘Begin Within’ continues to illustrate Bougaïeff’s approach to electronic music from a compositional lens, pushing boundaries of rhythm and genre.

TRACK LISTING

Every Day
Naked Eye
Outside In
Pain Goes Away
Begin Within
Designer Love
Inside Out
We Rejoice
Inner Pattern
Designer Love

Nepumuk / Knowsum glides onto the Growing Bin under his given name, living his best life in this lush loungecore fantasy. Eyebrow raised and hips unlocked, Nelson strolls through affluent funk, sun-blushed boogie and slacker soul to deliver a playful pop masterpiece. A Revered MC and renowned beat maker, his syrup-smooth vocals are just the cocktail cherry on top.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Passepartout
A2 Knalleffekt
A3 Schwimmen
A4 Das Koksquartett
A5 Assoziationsketten

B1 Schweben
B2 Appartement N°5
B3 Go?tterspeise
B4 Digitale Liebe
B5 Schadstoffe
B6 Platte

West Coast psychedelic folkie Nick Castro is currently making some of most dynamic and truly original sounds to emerge from the much-ballyhooed new folk movement. As 'freak-folk' and assorted hairy-fairy type labels grab the headlines in the underground, Castro strives for a solemn, serene sort of beauty, summoning utterly melodic incantations in song and sound. Gracefully immersing 60s / 70s British Isles acid balladry with Middle-Eastern traditional music and heady, pan-cultural communal jams, Castro succeeds in reaching otherworldly vistas and ocean-spanning folk transcendence. Following up 2005's lauded "Further From Grace", Castro unfurls his sprawling third album "Come Into Our House", easily his most far-reaching and deeply molecular outing yet. Previously backed by The Poison Tree, which included Josephine Foster and members of Espers, Nick Castro has assembled a new band of players under the moniker The Young Elders - a truly stellar cast of musicians whose combined resumes include folk and avant rock ensembles Current 93, In Gowan Ring, Damo Suzuki's Network and Cul de Sac. Effortlessly mating Bert Jansch-style folk song ("Winding Tree"), psychedelic folk rock ("One I Love"), Middle Eastern traditional music ("Attar") and Bay Area acid-raga ("Lay Down Your Arms") to a kind of organic studio Musique Concrete that Can forged on albums like "Tago Mago". The results are astonishing, challenging and utterly psychedelic. By reaching for the sky Castro achieves the heavens, and "Come Into Our House" is the evidence. A modern acid-folk masterwork.

‘Tender Prey’ is the fifth studio album from Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds and was released in September 1988. The album was recorded during several sessions over the course of four months in West Berlin and London and was produced by Flood.

The album opens with ‘The Mercy Seat’, which has been subsequently played at almost all of the band’s live performances since 1988 and was later covered by one of Cave’s biggest influences, Johnny Cash. ‘The Mercy Seat’ was released as a single in May 1988 as a precursor to the album and ‘Deanna’ was released shortly after the album hit the streets.

Cave later admitted that the album “was made at a difficult time in my life when things were spiralling out of control in a lot of areas.”

This CD and DVD version includes the original album in 5.1 surround sound, five bonus tracks and three videos.

TRACK LISTING

CD
The Mercy Seat
Up Jumped The Devil
Deanna
Watching Alice
Mercy
City Of Refuge
Slowly Goes The Night
Sunday’s Slave
Sugar Sugar Sugar
New Morning

DVD
Audio
Tender Prey (Dolby Digital Surround Sound / DTS Surround Sound / Stereo)
The Mercy Seat (Video Version)
Girl At The Bottom Of My Glass
The Mercy Seat (Acoustic Version)
City Of Refuge (Acoustic Version)
Deanna (Acoustic Version)
Video
Do You Love Me Like I Love You (Part 5: Tender Prey)
The Mercy Seat
Deanna

Released in 1990, ‘The Good Son’ is the sixth album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.

‘The Weeping Song’ and ‘The Ship Song’ have now become firm fan favourites. ‘Foi Na Cruz’ is based partly upon the traditional Brazilian Protestant hymn of the same title. The title translates roughly as ‘It Happened On The Cross’.

Cave later said, “I guess ‘The Good Son’ is some kind of reflection of the way I felt early on in Brazil. I was quite happy there. I was in love and the first year or two was good. The problem I found was... in order to survive you have to adopt their attitudes towards everything, which are kind of blinkered.”

TRACK LISTING

CD/LP
Foi Na Cruz
The Good Son
Sorrow’s Child
The Weeping Song
The Ship Song
The Hammer Song
Lament
The Witness Song
Lucy

DVD (With CD/DVD Version Only)
The Good Son (Dolby Digital Surround Sound / DTS Surround Sound / Stereo)
Additional Tracks (Dolby Digital Surround Sound / DTS Surround Sound / Stereo)
The Train Song
Cocks ‘N’ Asses
Helpless
Video:
Do You Love Me Like I Love
You (Part 6: The Good Son)
The Weeping Song
The Ship Song

Recorded on the Boatman's Call tour, this is a suberb live recording, catching them at their very best.

TRACK LISTING

1. Lime Tree Arbour (Live At The Royal Albert Hall)
2. Stranger Than Kindness (Live At The Royal Albert Hall)
3. Red Right Hand (Live At The Royal Albert Hall)
4. I Let Love In (Live At The Royal Albert Hall)
5. Brompton Oratory (Live At The Royal Albert Hall)
6. Henry Lee (Live At The Royal Albert Hall)
7. The Ship Song (Live At The Royal Albert Hall)
8. Where The Wild Roses Grow (Live At The Royal Albert Hall)
9. People Aint No Good (Live At The Royal Albert Hall)
10. Do You Love Me? (Live At The Royal Albert Hall)
11. Far From Me (Live At The Royal Albert Hall)
12. The Mercy Seat (Live At The Royal Albert Hall)

English guitarist and organist James Johnston joined The Bad Seeds for their thirteenth studio album ‘Abattoir Blues/The Lyre Of Orpheus’, which was released on September 20th 2004 by Mute Records, and produced by Nick Launay.

This masterful double album was produced by Nick Launay at Studio Ferber in Paris in March–April 2004 with Cave splitting drumming duties for the two parts, with Jim Sclavunos on ‘Abattoir Blues’ and Thomas Wydler on ‘Lyre Of Orpheus’.

The entire album was completed in twelve days, and notably, the last track on the album, ‘O Children’, was featured in the 2010 film ‘Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part One’. The song is also referenced as an achievement in Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7.

This edition, approved personally by Nick Cave, is finally available again on it’s original format.

TRACK LISTING

LP / CD Tracklisting:
Abbatoir Blues
Get Ready For Love
Cannibal’s Hymn
Hiding All Away
Messiah Ward
There She Goes, My Beautiful World
Nature Boy
Abattoir Blues
Let The Bells Ring
Fable Of The Brown Ape

The Lyre Of Orpheus
The Lyre Of Orpheus
Breathless
Babe, You Turn Me On
Easy Money
Supernaturally
Spell
Carry Me
O Children

DVD (With CD/DVD Version Only)
Audio (Dolby Digital Surround Sound / DTS Surround Sound / Stereo)
‘Abattoir Blues’
‘The Lyre Of Orpheus’
She’s Leaving You
Under This Moon
Hiding All Away (Live At Maida Vale)
There She Goes My Beautiful World (Live At Maida Vale) 
Video
Do You Love Me Like I Love You (Part 13)
Nature Boy
Breathless
Get Ready For Love (Live)

‘Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!’ is Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’ fourteenth studio album, and was recorded in June and July 2007 at The State of the Ark Studios in Richmond, Surrey, and mixed by Nick Launay at British Grove recording studios, in Chiswick, west London, and was released on March 3rd 2008.

It would also be the last album to feature founding member Mick Harvey, who left the Bad Seeds in 2009.

In several interviews Cave has stated that this album would "sound like Grinderman", his side project, who had released their debut album a year earlier. In line with this rough-and-ready approach, the album was recorded in about five days, an uncommonly short period for a full-length album.

Cave wrote on his inspiration for the album: "Ever since I can remember hearing the Lazarus story, when I was a kid, you know, back in church, I was disturbed and worried by it. Traumatised, actually. We are all, of course, in awe of the greatest of Christ's miracles—raising a man from the dead—but I couldn't help but wonder how Lazarus felt about it. As a child it gave me the creeps, to be honest. I've taken Lazarus and stuck him in New York City, in order to give the song, a hip, contemporary feel. I was also thinking about Harry Houdini who spent a lot of his life trying to debunk the spiritualists who were cashing in on the bereaved. He believed there was nothing going on beyond the grave. He was the second greatest escapologist, Harry was, Lazarus, of course, being the greatest. I wanted to create a kind of vehicle, a medium, for Houdini to speak to us if he so desires, you know, from beyond the grave."

Critical response to the album was overwhelmingly positive, with reviewers citing this as both a return to greatness and a new side of the band.

A review from NME described the record as a "gothic psycho-sexual apocalypse" and gave it 8/10, whilst Mojo magazine proclaimed it their album of 2008.

Vinyl transfer approval overseen by Mick Harvey during Summer 2014, cut at Abbey Road studios.

Vinyl is heavyweight 180 gram. Please note: this is a three-sided record.

This edition, approved personally by Nick Cave, is finally available again on it’s original format.

TRACK LISTING

Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Today’s Lesson
Moonland
Night Of The Lotus Eaters
Albert Goes West
We Call Upon The Author
Hold On To Yourself
Lies Down Here (& Be My Girl)
Jesus Of The Moon
Midnight Man
More News From Nowhere

Following the break up of Nick Cave’s former group The Birthday Party, Cave and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Mick Harvey put together a new band featuring Einsturzende Neubauten guitarist Blixa Bargeld, additional guitarist Hugo Race, and ex-Magazine bass player Barry Adamson.

The band entered the studio on September 20th 1983, and after some sessions, emerged as Nick Cave & The Cavemen, playing their first gig in Melbourne on New Year’s Eve 1983.

The name was short-lived, and was soon amended to Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, in reference to the final Birthday Party release, ‘The Bad Seed’ EP.

Most of ‘From Her To Eternity’ was recorded in London, with sessions split between The Garden studio in Shoreditch, and Trident, in Soho.

Cave later said, "Well, I guess we weren't kicking people in the teeth anymore. I mean, it just became different. I wanted it to be more lyrically orientated and getting Blixa Bargeld in the group made an incredible difference. He's a completely kind of atmospheric guitarist and incredibly economical and it gave me room to breathe”.

The album, produced by Mick Harvey and Flood, was released on 18th June 1984 on Mute Records, Cave’s label for more than the next 25 years.

It received great reviews upon its release and is recognised as one of the most timeless albums of the ‘80s.

Vinyl transfer approval overseen by Mick Harvey Summer 2014, cut at Abbey Road studios.

Vinyl is heavyweight 180 gram.

This edition, approved personally by Nick Cave, is finally available again on it’s original format.

TRACK LISTING

Avalanche
Cabin Fever!
Well Of Misery
From Her To Eternity
Saint Huck
Wings Off Flies
A Box For Black Paul

Kicking Against the Pricks is Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds' third album, released in 1986, and consists of cover versions. For this record the Bad Seeds line-up is Cave, new drummer Thomas Wydler, Mick Harvey, Blixa Bargeld and Barry Adamson. Cave would later downplay the importance of the record, but said it helped the band develop musically. Remarking on the song selection, Cave said, "They were all done for different reasons. Basically a list of songs were made and we tried to play them. We tried songs by all sorts of people that never got on the record. Some songs were tributes, like the Tom Jones song; other, we didn't think were ever done particularly well in the first place. Some had haunted my childhood, like "The Carnival Is Over". The strings were arranged by Mick Harvey and played by the Berliner Kaffeehausmusik Ensemble. "The Hammer Song" is an entirely different song than the track with the same title on the 1990 Bad Seeds album The Good Son. Vinyl is heavyweight 180 Gram.

Vinyl transfer approval overseen by Mick Harvey Summer 2014, cut at Abbey Road studios.

This edition, approved personally by Nick Cave, is finally available again on it's original format.

TRACK LISTING

1. Muddy Water
2. I'm Gonna Kill That Woman
3. Sleeping Annaleah
4. Long Black Veil
5. Hey Joe
6. Singer
7. All Tomorrow's Parties
8. By The Time I Get To Phoenix
9. Hammer Song
10. Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart
11. Jesus Met The Woman At The Well
12. Carnival Is Over

‘Let Love In’, the eighth studio album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, was originally released in 1994.

Their first full-length studio album in over two years, ‘Let Love In’ preserves the same line-up (Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Blixa Bargeld, Conway Savage, Martyn Casey and Thomas Wydler) as established on its two immediate predecessors: ‘Henry’s Dream’ (1992), the band’s troubled collaboration with producer David Briggs and ‘Live Seeds’ (1993), an interim concert compilation.

The novelty of recording in America with a ‘name’ producer now long behind them, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds returned to familiar turf, choosing to conduct both demo and album sessions in their accustomed habitats of the UK and Australia. In September 1993, recording proper for ‘Let Love In’ commenced at London’s Townhouse III Studios (formerly The Who’s Ramport studio, purpose-built for ‘Quadrophenia’) and the album was completed and mixed at Metropolis in Melbourne by the end of that same year.

Vinyl transfer approval overseen by Mick Harvey during Summer 2014 and cut at Abbey Road studios.

Heavyweight 180gram vinyl.

This edition, approved personally by Nick Cave, is finally available again on its original format.

Includes download code.

‘No More Shall We Part’ was released in April 2001 and was the eleventh studio record by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.

The album came after a 4-year gap from recording, following the much acclaimed ‘The Boatman’s Call’ album and was met with mostly positive reviews.

The album showcases the virtuoso talents of The Bad Seeds, with elaborate instrumental sections on nearly every track. Also, Cave’s lyrics are less obscure than usual and he sings in a wider vocal range than he had previously. Features backing vocals from Kate and Anna McGarrigle.

Vinyl transfer approval overseen by Mick Harvey during Summer 2014 and cut at Abbey Road studios.

Heavyweight 180gram vinyl.

This edition, approved personally by Nick Cave, is finally available again on its original format.

Includes download code.

TRACK LISTING

As I Sat Sadly By Her Side
And No More Shall We Part
Hallelujah
Love Letter
Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow
God Is In The House
Oh My Lord
Sweetheart Come
The Sorrowful Wife
We Came Along This Road
Gates To The Garden
Darker With The Day

‘Nocturama’ is the twelfth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, released in 2003.

To date, it is the last Bad Seeds album to feature founding member Blixa Bargeld.

This album reunited Nick Cave with Nick Launay, who had produced The Birthday Party’s groundbreaking ‘Junkyard’ 21 years earlier.

Featuring the singles ‘Bring It On’, ‘He Wants You’ and ‘Rock Of Gibraltar’, this album finds Cave moving away from ‘Murder Ballads’ and the gory fire and brimstone of yore, and exploring more personal themes.

More than twenty years into his career at this point, Nick Cave proved himself worthy of the comparisons made in the press on his behalf: now he could stand alongside the likes of Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Tom Waits, as a storyteller who could be unflinchingly honest in his work, whilst continuing to grow his fan base.

Vinyl transfer approval overseen by Mick Harvey during Summer 2014, cut at Abbey Road studios.

Vinyl is heavyweight 180 gram. Please note: this is a three-sided record.

This edition, approved personally by Nick Cave, is finally available again on it’s original format.

TRACK LISTING

Wonderful Life
He Wants You
Right Out Of Your Hand
Bring It On
Dead Man In My Bed
Still In Love
There Is A Town
Rock Of Gibraltar
She Passed By My Window
Babe, I’m On Fire

‘Tender Prey’ is the fifth studio album from Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds and was released on 19th September 1988. The album was produced by Flood and recorded during several sessions over the course of four months in West Berlin - where the band were based at the time - and London.

The album opens with ‘The Mercy Seat’, which has been subsequently played at almost all of the band’s live performances since 1988 and was later covered by one of Cave’s biggest influences, Johnny Cash. ‘The Mercy Seat’ was released as a single in May 1988 as a precursor to the album and ‘Deanna’ was released shortly after the album hit the streets.

Cave later admitted that the album “was made at a difficult time in my life when things were spiralling out of control in a lot of areas.”

Heavyweight 180g vinyl with digital download code.

Vinyl transfer approval overseen by Mick Harvey Summer 2014 and cut at Abbey Road studios.

This edition, approved personally by Nick Cave, is finally available again on its original format.

TRACK LISTING

The Mercy Seat
Up Jumped The Devil
Deanna
Watching Alice
Mercy
City Of Refuge
Slowly Goes The Night
Sunday’s Slave
Sugar Sugar Sugar
New Morning

‘The Firstborn Is Dead’, co-produced by Nick Cave, the Bad Seeds and Flood, is the second studio album released by Cave & The Bad Seeds, and was originally released on June 3rd 1985.

Cave explores his fascination with the American South, with references ranging from Elvis Presley to ‘Blind’ Lemon Jefferson.

Recorded in Berlin, Cave later said of this album, "Berlin gave us the freedom and encouragement to do whatever we wanted. We'd lived in London for three years and it seemed that if you stuck your head out of the box, people were pretty quick to knock it back in, particularly if you were Australian. When we came to Berlin it was the opposite. People saw us as some kind of force rather than a kind of wacky novelty act”.

The album's title is a reference to Jesse Garon Presley, the stillborn identical twin of Elvis Presley, and ‘Wanted Man’ was Cave’s own take on a song Bob Dylan wrote for Johnny Cash. Dylan gave his permission for the lyrics to be changed, with Cave’s interpretation referencing his friends.

Also features the apocalyptic classic ‘Tupelo’.

Vinyl transfer approval overseen by Mick Harvey during Summer 2014, cut at Abbey Road studios.

Vinyl is heavyweight 180 gram.

This edition, approved personally by Nick Cave, is finally available again on it’s original format.

TRACK LISTING

Tupelo
Say Goodbye To The Little Girl Tree
Train Long Suffering
Black Crow King
Knockin’ On Joe
Wanted Man
Blind Lemon Jefferson

With ‘Your Funeral… My Trial’ The Bad Seeds expanded their personnel by adding Thomas Wydler on drums, enabling Mick Harvey to display his considerable multi-instrumental talents.

This was the band’s fourth studio album and was released on November 3rd 1986, and was originally released as a double EP, with production duties handled by Flood and Tony Cohen.

Cave later remarked "That particular record, which is my favourite of the records we've done, is very special to me and a lot of amazing things happened, musically, in the studio”.

“There are some songs on that record that as far as I'm concerned are just about perfect as we can get really- songs like ‘The Carny’, ‘Your Funeral, My Trial’, and ‘Stranger Than Kindness’, I think are really quite brilliant“.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds appeared in Wim Wenders’ 1987 movie ‘Der Himmel Uber Berlin’ (aka ‘Wings Of Desire’) performing ‘The Carny’ and ‘From Her to Eternity’.

Vinyl transfer approval overseen by Mick Harvey during Summer 2014, cut at Abbey Road studios.

Vinyl is heavyweight 180 gram.

This edition, approved personally by Nick Cave, is finally available again on it’s original format.

TRACK LISTING

Sad Waters
The Carny
Your Funeral My Trial
Stranger Than Kindness
Jacks Shadow
Hard On For Love
She Fell Away
Long Time Man

B-Side & Rarities Part I contains material from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ 30-plus year career. This collection features 56 tracks including rarities, out-takes, covers & B-sides from 1988-2005 across 3 volumes, compiled by Mick Harvey.

TRACK LISTING

PART I CD1

1. Deanna (Acoustic Version)
2. The Mercy Seat (Acoustic Version)
3. City Of Refuge (Acoustic Version)
4. The Moon Is In The Gutter
5. The Six Strings That Drew Blood
6. Rye Whiskey
7. Running Scared
8. Black Betty
9. Scum
10. The Girl At The Bottom Of My Glass
11. The Train Song
12. Cocks 'n' Asses
13. Blue Bird
14. Helpless
15. God's Hotel
16. (I'll Love You) Till The End Of The World
17. Cassiel's Song
18. Tower Of Song
19. What Can I Give You?

PART I CD2

1. What A Wonderful World
2. Rainy Night In Soho
3. Lucy (Version #2)
4. Jack The Ripper (Acoustic Version)
5. Sail Away
6. There's No Night Out In The Jail
7. That's What Jazz Is To Me
8. The Willow Garden
9. The Ballad Of Robert Moore And Betty Coltrane
10. King Kong Kitchee Kitchee Ki-Mi-O
11. Knoxville Girl
12. Where The Wild Roses Grow (Original Guide Vocal Version)
13. O'Malley's Bar Pt. 1
14. O'Malley's Bar Pt. 2
15. O'Malley's Bar Pt. 3
16. Time Jesum Transeuntum Et Non Riverentum
17. O'Malley's Bar Reprise
18. Red Right Hand (Scream 3 Version)


PART I CD3

1. Little Empty Boat
2. Right Now I'm A-Roaming
3. Come Into My Sleep
4. Black Hair Band Version
5. Babe, I Got You Bad
6. Sheep May Safely Graze
7. Opium Tea
8. Grief Came Riding
9. Bless His Ever Loving Heart
10. Good Good Day
11. Little Janey's Gone
12. I Feel So Good
13. Shoot Me Down
14. Swing Low
15. Little Ghost Song
16. Everything Must Converge
17. Nocturama
18. She's Leaving You
19. Under This Moon

Following on from the successful ‘An Idiot Prayer’ live album and livestream event released this year, Nick Cave Productions & BMG announce B-Sides And Rarities Part I & II.

B-Sides And Rarities Part I & II contains material from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ 30-plus year career. This collection features 83 tracks across 7 x 180g LPs housed in a deluxe case bound slipcase with foiling, featuring exclusive photographs and sleeve notes written by Sean O’Hagan (The Guardian & The Observer).

This is the first time Part I, compiled by Mick Harvey and originally released in 2005, has been made available on vinyl. It comprises 56 tracks including rarities, out-takes, covers & B-sides from 1988-2005.

Part II, compiled by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis and features 27 tracks from Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! in 2006 to 2019’s Ghosteen. Including 19 rare and unreleased tracks including first recordings of ‘Skeleton Tree’, ‘Girl in Amber’, ‘Bright Horses’ and ‘Waiting for You’.

TRACK LISTING

PART I LP1
A1. Deanna (Acoustic Version)
A2. The Mercy Seat (Acoustic Version)
A3. City Of Refuge (Acoustic Version)
A4. The Moon Is In The Gutter
A5. The Six Strings That Drew Blood
A6. Rye Whiskey
A7. Running Scared
B1. Black Betty
B2. Scum
B3. The Girl At The Bottom Of My Glass
B4. The Train Song
B5. Cocks 'n' Asses
B6. Blue Bird

PART I LP2
A1. Helpless
A2. God's Hotel
A3. (I'll Love You) Till The End Of The World
A4. Cassiel's Song
A5. Tower Of Song
A6. Rye Whiskey
B1. What Can I Give You?
B2. What A Wonderful World
B3. Rainy Night In Soho
B4. Lucy (Version #2)
B5. Jack The Ripper (Acoustic Version)

PART I LP3
A1. The Ballad Of Robert Moore And Betty Coltrane
A2. The Willow Garden
A3. King Kong Kitchee Kitchee Ki-Mi-O
A4. Knoxville Girl
A5. There's No Night Out In The Jail
A6. That's What Jazz Is To Me
B1. Where The Wild Roses Grow
B2. O'Malley's Bar Pt. 1
B3. O'Malley's Bar Pt. 2
B4. O'Malley's Bar Pt. 3
B5. O'Malley's Bar Reprise

PART I LP4
A1. Red Right Hand
A2. Time Jesum Transeuntum Et Non Riverentum
A3. Little Empty Boat
A4. Right Now I'm A-Roaming
B1. Come Into My Sleep
B2. Black Hair
B3. Babe, I Got You Bad
B4. Sheep May Safely Graze
B5. Opium Tea

PART I LP5
A1. Grief Came Riding
A2. Bless His Ever Loving Heart
A3. Good Good Day
A4. Little Janey's Gone
A5. I Feel So Good
A6. Shoot Me Down
B1. Swing Low
B2. Little Ghost Song
B3. Everything Must Converge
B4. Nocturama
B5. She's Leaving You
B6. Under This Moon

PART II LP6
A1. Hey Little Firing Squad
A2. Fleeting Love
A3. Accidents Will Happen
A4. Free To Walk (With Debbie Harry)
A5. Avalanche*
A6. Vortex *
B1. Needle Boy
B2. Lightning Bolts
B3. Animal X
B4. Give Us A Kiss
B5. Push The Sky Away
(Live With The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra)*

PART II LP7
A1. First Skeleton Tree*
A2. King Sized Nick Cave Blues*
A3. Opium Eyes*
A4. Big Dream (With Sky)*
A5. Instrumental #33*
A6. Hell Villanelle*
A7. Euthanasia*
A8. Life Per Se*
B1. Steve McQueen*
B2. First Bright Horses*
B3. First Girl In Amber*
B4. Glacier*
B5. Heart That Kills You*
B6. First Waiting For You*
B7. Sudden Song*
B8. Earthlings*

B-Side And Rarities Part II was compiled by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis and features 27 tracks from “Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!” in 2006 to 2019s “Ghosteen”. Also features 19 rare and unreleased tracks including first recordings of ‘Skeleton Tree’, ‘Girl in Amber’, ‘Bright Horses’ and ‘Waiting for You’.

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Cave and Ellis, what a winning combo! Nick Cave remains one of the greatest talents working in music today, and this offers a fascinating insight into the killer tunes they decided not to release along with some fantastic tracks that were only deemed worthy of B-Side status.

TRACK LISTING

PART II LP1 & CD1

1. A1. Hey Little Firing Squad
2. A2. Fleeting Love
3. A3. Accidents Will Happen
4. A4. Free To Walk (With Debbie Harry)
5. A5. Avalanche*
6. A6. Vortex *

7. B1. Needle Boy
8. B2. Lightning Bolts
9. B3. Animal X
10. B4. Give Us A Kiss
11. B5. Push The Sky Away
(Live With The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra)*

PART II LP2 & CD2

1. A1. First Skeleton Tree*
2. A2. King Sized Nick Cave Blues*
3. A3. Opium Eyes*
4. A4. Big Dream (With Sky)*
5. A5. Instrumental #33*
6. A6. Hell Villanelle*
7. A7. Euthanasia*
8. A8. Life Per Se*

9. B1. Steve McQueen*
10. B2. First Bright Horses*
11. B3. First Girl In Amber*
12. B4. Glacier*
13. B5. Heart That Kills You*
14. B6. First Waiting For You*
15. B7. Sudden Song*
16. B8. Earthlings*

*previously Unreleased

‘Henry’s Dream’, the seventh album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, was released in April 1992. It remains a big favourite amongst Bad Seeds fans and is notable for Neil Young producer David Briggs’ ‘live-in-the-studio’ method. Cave and Mick Harvey re-mixed the album and it has a vague concept, with song narratives overlapping and / or sharing characters.

‘When I First Came To Town’ is based partly on Karen Dalton’s recording of the traditional song ‘Katy Cruel’.

Cave later claimed the songs were heavily influenced by street beggars he saw in Brazil. “They’d get their acoustic guitars with one or two strings and bang away and make a racket that had no sense whatsoever. It was very violent and seemed to come straight out of the heart. Very unmusical.”

TRACK LISTING

Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry
I Had A Dream, Joe
Straight To You
Brother, My Cup Is Empty
Christina The Astonishing
When I First Came To Town
John Finn’s Wife
Loom Of The Land
Jack The Ripper

• Lovely Creatures is the most comprehensive overview of the recorded work of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds to date. Spanning thirty years of music from their debut album From Her To Eternity through to Push The Sky Away their 15th studio album, the collection navigates one of the most exhilarating, idiosyncratic and inventive bodies of work created in contemporary music.

• Included are long-standing live favourites “Stagger Lee” and “The Mercy Seat”, their hit single from 1995 “Where The Wild Roses Grow” through to recent fan favourites “Jubilee Street” and “We No Who U R”. There are songs that newcomers may only know from their appearance on film and television soundtracks, notably “O Children” (Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Pt. I) and the ubiquitous “Red Right Hand”, most recently familiar to fans of the series Peaky Blinders.

• The album was compiled by Nick Cave and founding member Mick Harvey, with help from the current Bad Seeds. 

Lovely Creatures is available in four formats, all featuring personal and rare photographs of the band: Standard CD, Triple LP, Deluxe 3CD with DVD and the Super Deluxe Limited Edition package. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: Nick Cave has been one of the most influential and distinctive songwriter / performers of the last 30 odd years. With such a brilliant and varied catalogue spanning 15 LPs, I'd find it virtually impossible to select a mere 21 'best of' tracks, but Nick and ex Bad Seed Mick Harvey have managed it, and that's what you get here on the vinyl and standard CD editions of this release. The deluxe expands futher and is spread across 3CDs and a live/interview DVD.

TRACK LISTING

2CD Tracklist:
CD1
1. Loverman
2. Tupelo
3. Deanna
4. From Her To Eternity
5. The Weeping Song
6. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
7. People Ain't No Good
8. Higgs Boson Blues
9. Straight To You
10. Where The Wild Roses Grow

CD2
1. Into My Arms
2. Love Letter
3. Red Right Hand
4. The Mercy Seat
5. O Children
6. The Ship Song
7. Stranger Than Kindness
8. Jubilee Street
9. Nature Boy
10. We No Who U R
11. Stagger Lee

Vinyl Tracklist:
Side A
1. Loverman
2. Tupelo
3. Deanna
4. From Her To Eternity

Side B
1. The Weeping Song
2. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
3. People Ain't No Good

Side C
1. Higgs Boson Blues
2. Straight To You
3. Where The Wild Rose Grow

Side D
1. Into My Arms
2. Love Letter
3. Red Right Hand
4. The Mercy Seat

Side E
1. O Children
2. The Ship Song
3. Stranger Than Kindness

Side F
1. Jubilee Street
2. Nature Boy
3. We No Who U R
4. Stagger Lee

Deluxe 3CD + DVD Tracklist:
CD1: 1984 -1993
1. From Her To Eternity
2. In The Ghetto
3. Tupelo
4. I'm Gonna Kill That Woman
5. The Carny
6. Sad Waters
7. Stranger Than Kindness
8. Scum
9. The Mercy Seat
10. Deanna
11. Up Jumped The Devil
12. The Weeping Song
13. The Ship Song
14. Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry
15. Straight To You

CD2: 1994 – 2003
1. Do You Love Me?
2. Nobody's Baby Now
3. Loverman
4. Red Right Hand
5. Stagger Lee
6. Where The Wild Roses Grow
7. Into My Arms
8. People Ain't No Good
9. Brompton Oratory
10. (Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For?
11. Come Into My Sleep
12. Love Letter
13. God Is In The House
14. He Wants You
15. Shoot Me Down

CD3: 2004 – 2013
1. Hiding All Away
2. There She Goes, My Beautiful World
3. Nature Boy
4. Breathless
5. Babe, You Turn Me On
6. O Children
7. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
8. Night Of The Lotus Eaters
9. We Call Upon The Author
10. Jesus Of The Moon
11. More News From Nowhere
12. We No Who U R
13. Jubilee Street
14. Higgs Boson Blues
15. Push The Sky Away

DVD
1. Interview, ‘Kippevel’, Netherlands, 1988
2. Night Of The Lotus Eaters, Docks De Suds, Marseilles, France 2008
3. Red Right Hand, Glastonbury Festival, UK, 1988
4. The Weeping Song, ‘Boxed Set’, Glasgow STV Studios, UK, 2001
5. Interview, New York, USA, 2013
6. Higgs Boson Blues, La Fabrique Studios, France 2012
7. Interview, ‘Stranger In A Strange Land’ Documentary, Berlin, Germany, 1987
8. From Her To Eternity, Perkins Palace, Pasadena, USA, 1984
9. Love Letter, ABC Studios, Australia, 2001
10. Interview, ‘Bish’s Biz’, Australia, 2013
11. Do You Love Me? ‘Boxed Set’, Glasgow STV Studios, UK, 2001
12. Interview, ‘Boxed Set’, Glasgow STV Studios, UK, 2001
13. Into My Arms, INmusic Festival, Zagreb, Croatia, 2008
14. We Call Upon The Author, B1 Maximum Club, Moscow, Russia, 2009
15. Interview, Ein Abend In Wien, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 1991
16. The Mercy Seat, Bizarre Festival, Germany, 1996
17. Interview, Columbus, Ohio, USA, 1984
18. God Is In The House, ‘Later With Jools Holland’, London, 2001
19. Interview, ’Bish’s Biz’, Australia, 2013
20. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, Globe Annexet, Stockholm, Sweden, 2008
21. Brompton Oratory, ‘MTV Live N Loud’, 1997
22. I’m Gonna Kill That Woman, Posthof, Linz, Austria, 1986
23. Jubilee Street, The Fonda Theatre, LA, USA, 2013
24. The Ship Song, Live At Paradiso DVD, Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1992
25. Interview, Lollapalooza, USA, 1994
26. Loverman, Bizarre Festival, Germany, 1996
27. Interview, Australia, 1988
28. In The Ghetto, Exit, Chicago, USA, 1984
29. Hiding All Away, ‘The Abattoir Blues Tour DVD’, Brixton Academy, London, UK, 2004
30. Interview, Australia, 1992
31. Where The Wild Roses Grow, ‘MTV Most Wanted’, London, UK, 1995
32. Deanna, St Luke’s, London, UK, 2008
33. O Children, Le Trianon, Paris, France, 2013
34. Interview, Festival Crazy Rock, Chile, 1996
35. Stagger Lee, The White Room, London, UK, 1996
36. Interview, Austin City Limits, Austin, Texas, USA, 2014
37. Interview, Australia, 1995
38. Push The Sky Away, The Fonda Theatre, LA, USA, 2013
39. There She Goes, My Beautiful World, ‘The Abattoir Blues Tour DVD’, Brixton Academy,
London, UK, 2004

Approx. Running Time 2hrs 5mins

‘Murder Ballads’ is the ninth studio album by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, released in 1996. As the title suggests, the album consists of new and traditional murder ballads, a genre of songs that relays the details of crimes of passion.

‘Where The Wild Roses Grow’ was a hit single and received two ARIA Awards and guest musicians on the album include Kylie Minogue, PJ Harvey and Shane MacGowan.

It was the band’s biggest commercial success to date, most likely helped by the unexpected repeated airplay of the ‘Where The Wild Roses Grow’ video on MTV, who even nominated Cave for their Best Male Artist award of that year, though this nomination was later withdrawn at Cave’s request.

‘Murder Ballads’ received almost unanimous critical praise with Rolling Stone awarding it 4 Stars and Entertainment Weekly rating the album very highly as well. Q magazine had this to say: “...Musically, The Bad Seeds touch on tinkling cabaret jazz, country-paced morbidity and every morose station between” while it ranked Number 7 in the NME's 1996 Critics’ Poll.

TRACK LISTING

LP / CD
Song Of Joy
Stagger Lee
Henry Lee
Lovely Creature
Where The Wild Roses Grow
The Curse Of Millhaven
The Kindness Of Strangers
Crow Jane
O’Malley’s Bar
Death Is Not The End

DVD (with CD/DVD Version Only)
Audio
Murder Ballads (5.1 & Stereo)
The Ballad Of Robert Moore
And Betty Coltrane
The Willow Garden
King Kong Kitchee Kitchee
Ki-Mi-O
Knoxville Girl
Video
Do You Love Me Like I Love You (Part 9: Murder Ballads)
Stagger Lee
Where The Wild Roses Grow
Henry Lee

Visually unique, One More Time With Feeling is a stark, fragile and raw documentary. Shot in 3D, colour and black & white, the film probes the deeply personal circumstances surrounding the making of Skeleton Tree (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds 16th studio album) and features interviews and live performances by the band in the studio, along with interjected voice-over commentary by Nick Cave.

Originally conceived as a one-night-only global screening event to take place in 950 cinemas across 30 countries simultaneously on 8th September 2016, One More Time With Feeling extended its initial run over several days as cinemas sold out around the world. Due to overwhelming demand, this extraordinary film has returned to the big screen for its final run and is playing currently in cinemas worldwide.

Includes 3 exclusive short films from Andrew Dominik.

"Film of The Year" - MOJO

"Extraordinary" - **** Evening Standard

"A deeply personal film" - ***** Time Out

"An undeniably moving contemplation of shattering loss…a tremendously moving collage." - **** The Guardian

In 2022, Nick Cave and Warren Ellis returned to their native Australia for 16 shows, taking their acclaimed 2021 album ‘Carnage’ on the road, along with songs from the Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds catalogue. Three performances at the Sydney Opera House on December 16th, 17th and 18th were the climactic shows of an emotional trip, captured for a luminous new live album, ‘Australian Carnage - Live At The Sydney Opera House’.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Bright Horses (Live At The Sydney Opera House)
2. Carnage (Live At The Sydney Opera House)
3. White Elephant (Live At The Sydney Opera House)
4. Leviathan (Live At The Sydney Opera House)

SIDE B
1. Ghosteen (Live At The Sydney Opera House)
2. Waiting For You (Live At The Sydney Opera House)
3. Breathless (Live At The Sydney Opera House)
4. Balcony Man (Live At The Sydney Opera House)

Blonde boldly reimagines the life of one of Hollywood's most enduring icons, Marilyn Monroe. From her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, Blonde blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore the widening split between her public and private selves. The film also stars Bobby Cannavale, Adrien Brody, Julianne Nicholson, Xavier Samuel and Evan Williams.

Cave and Ellis reflect on the making of the score: “Working with Andrew Dominik is always a challenging, but ultimately mind-blowing experience. Creating the score for this terrifying and complex reimagining of the Marilyn Monroe story was no different and, as always, it was a complete privilege to work with him. The darkest of films with a gorgeous spiritual score.”

TRACK LISTING

Shard
Gemini
Abortion
Glass Sliver
Gemini Acoustic
Goddess Of Love On A Subway Grating
Strawberry
Bright Horses (Instrumental)
Peroxide
I Love Love Love You All
Wig
Nembutal
Pearly

Carnage is a new album by Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, recorded over a period of weeks during lockdown.

Although the pair have composed & recorded many soundtracks together, and Ellis is a long-term member of The Bad Seeds, this is the first time they have released an entire album of songs as a duo.

Cave describes the album as "a brutal but very beautiful record nested in a communal catastrophe."

"Making Carnage was an accelerated process of intense creativity," says Ellis, "the eight songs were there in one form or another within the first two and a half days."

Cave & Ellis' sonic and lyrical adventurism continues apace on Carnage, an album that emerged almost by accident out of the downtime created by the long, anxious, global emergency.

Carnage is a record for these uncertain times - one shot through with moments of distilled beauty and that resonates with an almost defiant sense of hope.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Ellis and Cave go together like chips and gravy, there's no doubting that, but until now, they've not done a full album together that isn't a soundtrack. Now here we get the unmatched songwriting capability of both parties fully focused on an album in which they're allowed free reign and it's BEAUTIFUL. Cinematic in parts, but imbued with the melodic sensibilities that are generally missing from soundtrack work. A brilliant document of two of the greatest musicians in the business, and together, a force that simply can't be bettered.

TRACK LISTING

Hand Of God
Old Time
Carnage
White Elephant
Albuquerque
Lavender Fields
Shattered Ground
Balcony Man

Originally available as a digital-only release, Invada Records and Lakeshore Records present the original score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis to the film La Panthère Des Neiges (AKA The Velvet Queen).

The soundtrack is one of Ellis and Cave’s most heartfelt and haunting film projects. 

High up on the Tibetan plateau. Amongst unexplored and inaccessible valleys lies one of the last sanctuaries of the wild world, where rare and undiscovered fauna lives. Vincent Munier, one of the world’s most renowned wildlife photographers takes the adventurer and novelist Sylvain Tesson (In the Forest of Siberia) with him on his latest mission. For several weeks, they’ll explore these valleys searching for unique animals and try to spot the snow leopard, one of the rarest and most difficult big cats to approach.

Ellis explains how Cave and himself came to be involved : “There is something about the heart of this film that draws you in. I realised after a day, that I wanted to do whatever it took to compose an entire original score. The film deserved to have its own musical voice. I booked five days and asked Nick if he could come in for a day to write a theme song and play some piano. He saw the film and stayed for four days. In the end we made what I think is one of the most beautiful films we have ever worked on. One of my favourite experiences ever working on a project. The stars are the animals in all their wild glory, as we have never seen them before, and man in reverence and wonder.”

TRACK LISTING

L'attaque Des Loups
Les Cerfs
Antilope
La Bête
Les Yaks
Des Affûts Elliptiques
Les Nomades
La Grotte
Les Princes
La Neige Tombe
Les Ours
Un Être Vous Obsède
L’apparition/We Are Not Alone

BMG are set to release an exclusive version of the acclaimed soundtrack “THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD” available on vinyl for the very first time.

Re-mastered and available on limited edition whiskey coloured vinyl with a gatefold sleeve.

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, of the internationally celebrated bands Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, The Dirty Three and Grinderman, have composed, played and produced a compelling and intense soundtrack for director Andrew Dominik's savage tale of the true West. The new score captures perfectly the charismatic and unpredictable nature of its central protagonist. Like the film, Cave and Ellis' music cuts through the mythic figure of Jesse James to reveal the complex, contradictory man beneath. Daring and passionately delivered, Cave and Ellis' beautiful soundtrack retains its captivating power even without the benefit of Dominik's images 

A powerful western drama set in the savage Eden of 1880s Australia; "The Proposition" is an elemental story of family conflict and primal violence, destructive love and divided loyalties. Featuring an international superstar cast including Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Emily Watson and Danny Huston, it is directed by John Hillcoat from a specially commissioned script by the globally acclaimed singer-songwriter Nick Cave. 'Because of Nick's narrative songwriting, the characters are so vivid,' says Hillcoat. 'I knew something really good would come out of it.' Cave has also composed the film's soundtrack in conjunction with Warren Ellis, his longtime Bad Seeds collaborator and multi-instrumentalist frontman of The Dirty Three. Incorporating soft chamber pieces, ghostly moodscapes and whispered laments, these 16 tracks are as starkly beautiful as the landscape of the film. Story and music are closely intertwined.

TRACK LISTING

1. Happy Land
2. The Proposition #1
3. Road To Banyon
4. Down To The Valley
5. Moan Thing
6. The Rider #1
7. Martha’s Dream
8. Gun Thing
9. Queenie’s Suite
10. The Rider #2
11. The Proposition #2
12. Sad Violin Thing
13. The Rider #3
14. The Proposition #3
15. The Rider Song
16. Clean Hands, Dirty Hands

Originally released in January 2010, Mute / BMG are set to release an exclusive version of the acclaimed soundtrack ‘THE ROAD’ available on vinyl for the very first time.

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Cormac McCarthy (author of ‘No Country For Old Men’) ’The Road’ is an epic post-apocalyptic tale of survival of a father and his young son journeying across a barren America destroyed by a mysterious cataclysm, The Road boldly imagines a future in which men are pushed to the worst and the best that they are capable of….

Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, of the internationally celebrated bands Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, The Dirty Three and Grinderman, have created an evocative score featuring violin and piano with beautiful fleeting melodies and eerie sound loops filled with terror and suspense. Cave and Ellis have previously scored John Hillcoat's critically acclaimed 2005 Australian 'Western', The Proposition’ and Andrew Dominik’s 2007 savage tale of the true west ‘The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford’, both reissued on Colour LP by Mute/BMG in the last year.

‘War Machine’ is a new Netflix film, directed by David Michôd and starring Brad Pitt and Tilda Swinton among many others.

Military snares set a sharp cadence beneath the score’s eerie synths and strings, instantly reminiscent of ‘Skeleton Tree’ by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and the beautiful ‘Hell Or High Water’ score.

“Together we made a score that was both light and dark, propulsive and meditative at the same time. We developed a kind of ‘spiritual electronics’ that captured both the melancholy and the terrible absurdity of the Afghan war,” Cave and Ellis said in a press release. “It was a great pleasure to work with David Michôd, who is not only an extraordinary filmmaker but a musician too. Our favorite score!”

TRACK LISTING

Ah America
Humble Man
The Bubble
The Civilian Executive
In Liebe Dein (Roedelius)
Badi Basim
Kamee (Roedelius)
The Moon Landing
Our Noise
Fabelwein (Roedelius)
Jeanie
NY Snow Globe (Rachel’s)
Thousands Of Parades, All Over America
Marjah
Staunen Im Fjord (Roedelius)
The Hand Of Helping
Be Lovely
A Page In The History Books
War Machine

Faith, Hope and Carnage is a book about Nick Cave's inner life.

Created from over forty hours of intimate conversations with Sean O'Hagan, it is a profoundly thoughtful exploration, in Cave's own words, of what really drives his life and creativity.

The book examines questions of faith, art, music, freedom, grief and love. It draws candidly on Cave's life, from his early childhood to the present day, his loves, his work ethic and his dramatic transformation in recent years. From a place of considered reflection, Faith, Hope and Carnage offers ladders of hope and inspiration from a true creative visionary.

Ghosteen is the seventeenth studio album from Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, following 2016’s Skeleton Tree, and will be released via Ghosteen Ltd. The album was recorded in 2018 and early 2019 at Woodshed in Malibu, Nightbird in Los Angeles, Retreat in Brighton and Candybomber in Berlin. It was mixed by Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Lance Powell and Andrew Dominik at Conway in Los Angeles.

"The songs on the first album are the children. The songs on the second album are their parents. Ghosteen is migrating spirit." - Nick Cave.

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Spread across two albums, "The songs on the first album are the children. The songs on the second album are their parents. Ghosteen is migrating spirit." Nick Cave, ‘Ghosteen is a deeply introspective and at times an emotionally devastating listen exploring his personal grief following the death of his son. A melancholic yet beautiful masterpiece.

TRACK LISTING

Disc 1:
1. The Spinning Song
2. Bright Horses
3. Waiting For You
4. Night Raid
5. Sun Forest
6. Galleon Ship
7. Ghosteen Speaks
8. Leviathan

Disc 2:
1. Ghosteen
2. Fireflies
3. Hollywood

‘Live from KCRW' is a live radio session recorded in Los Angeles in April 2013 & is the fourth official live album in the band's history.

It features a stripped-down line-up performing classic Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds material alongside four songs from their recent global hit album ‘Push the Sky Away’.

‘Live from KCRW’ album line-up:
Nick Cave: Piano, vocals
Warren Ellis: Tenor guitar, violin, piano, loops, backing vocals
Martyn Casey: Bass
Jim Sclavunos: Percussion, drums, backing vocals
Barry Adamson: Organ, backing vocals

TRACK LISTING

Higgs Boson Blues
Far From Me
Stranger Than Kindness
The Mercy Seat
And No More Shall We Part
Wide Lovely Eyes
Mermaids
People Ain't No Good
Push The Sky Away
Jack The Ripper

Vinyl Bonus Tracks:
Into My Arms
God Is In The House

At the heart of 'Push the Sky Away' is a naturalism and warmth that makes it the most subtly beautiful of all the Bad Seeds albums. The contemporary settings of myths, and the cultural references that have time-stamped Nick's songs of the twenty-first century mist lightly through details drawn from the life he observed around his seaside home, through the tall windows on the album's mysterious and ambiguous cover. The songs on this album took form in a modest notebook with shellac covers over the course of almost a year. The notebook is a treasured analogue artefact but the internet is equally important to Nick: Googling curiosities, being entranced by exotic Wikipedia entries "whether they're true or not". These songs convey how on the internet profoundly significant events, momentary fads and mystically-tinged absurdities sit side-by-side and question how we might recognise and assign weight to what's genuinely important.

The album has a clarity and sweet strangeness that's built upon the refusal to accept limitations, whether they be the traditional uses and sounds of musical instruments, lyric styles, or diminished spiritual horizons. It's not always apparent what instruments the band is playing: they may be traditional musical instruments but other sounds are clearly generated by objects unrelated to musical instruments. What's being created is a collective musical language that's rich and complex.

"Well, if I were to use that threadbare metaphor of albums being like children, then Push The Sky Away is the ghost-baby in the incubator and Warren's loops are its tiny, trembling heart-beat." Nick Cave

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Mellow, introspective and moody, 'Push The Sky Away' sees Nick Cave hit top form. Ably backed by the subtly brilliant Bad Seeds, this will go down as one of the standouts in the burgeoning cannon of classic Cave albums.

TRACK LISTING

1. We No Who U R
2. Wide Lovely Eyes
3. Water's Edge
4. Jubilee Street
5. Mermaids
6. We Real Cool
7. Finishing Jubilee Street
8. Higgs Boson Blues
9. Push The Sky Away

Skeleton Tree began its journey in late 2014 at Retreat Studios, Brighton, with further sessions at La Frette Studios, France in autumn 2015. The album was mixed at AIR Studios, London in early 2016.

The songs from the album are featured in the film One More Time With Feeling, directed by Andrew Dominik (Chopper, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Killing Them Softly). The film was comissioned by Nick Cave and is to be the only public statement to accompany the albums’ release.

Given event's in his personal life prior to the release of the album, it's understandable that this album is sombre affair. Although accompanied by a film, it is an album in its own right, rather than a soundtrack. Having said that, the orchestration which forms the backdrop to Nick's rich, half spoken - half sung narratives, has a similar cinematic feel to the haunting, atmospheric film scores that Nick and Bad Seed Warren Ellis excel at.

It’s probably not going to be your choice of listening prior to a night out on the town, but if it’s darkness you’re after, no one does that better than Nick.

A beautiful, moving album.

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: Given events in his personal life prior its release, it's understandable that this album is a sombre affair. Although accompanied by a film, it is an album in its own right, rather than a soundtrack. Having said that, the orchestration which forms the backdrop to Nick's rich, half spoken - half sung narratives, has a similar cinematic feel to the haunting, atmospheric film scores that Nick and Bad Seed Warren Ellis excel at. No one does darkness better than Mr Cave.

TRACK LISTING

1. Jesus Alone
2. Rings Of Saturn
3. Girl In Amber
4. Magneto
5. Anthrocene
6. I Need You
7. Distant Sky
8. Skeleton Tree

‘The Boatman’s Call’ is the tenth studio album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, originally released in 1997.

The album is entirely piano-based and remains one of the most critically acclaimed releases of Nick Cave’s career.

Musically, the album’s tone is considered sombre and minimalist and marks a major departure. Moving away from full band arrangements and character-based narratives, the album’s music and lyrics move towards the more intimate sound of Cave’s solo voice accompanied by piano or a few other instruments.

TRACK LISTING

LP / CD
Into My Arms
Lime Tree Arbour
People Ain’t No Good
There Is A Kingdom
(Are You) The One That I’ve Been Waiting For?
Where Do We Go Now But Nowhere?
West Country Girl
Black Hair
Idiot Prayer
Far From Me
Green Eyes

DVD (With CD/DVD Version Only)
Audio
The Boatman’s Call (5.1 & Stereo)
Little Empty Boat
Right Now I’m A-Roaming
Black Hair (Band Version)
Come Into My Sleep
Babe, I Got You Bad
Videos
Do You Love Me Like I Love You (Part 10: The Boatman’s Call)
Into My Arms
(Are You) The One That I’ve Been Waiting For?

In June 2020, mid lockdown, Nick Cave performed a live set in the vast grandeur of in the West Hall of London's Alexandra Palace. The performance, featuring just Nick at the piano, was filmed and streamed in July and was a beautifully sombre affair that sat perfectly with the mood and uncertainty of the time. 

In recent years Nick has performed several solo shows with just a piano, covering material spanning his entire career, but whether it is the shadow cast by the global pandemic or the majestic splendour of the location, this songs here seem somehow more poignant than ever. Although recorded in such a vast space it is the intimacy of the performance that makes it such a compelling listen. Wonderful.

The Telegraph ****
"Cave's solo live stream could be the most the beautiful and sombre performance he's ever given"

The Guardian ****
"Cave’s performance in an empty hall, with just piano and voice, seems to try and ward off the terrifying silence of the Covid-19 age”

Evening Standard ****
"Gravitas echoes beautifully in the void of an empty Alexandra Palace"

The Independent ****
"‘Idiot Prayer’ performance is stately and beautiful”

The Arts Desk ****
"The dramatic minimalism of this setting is perfect for an expressive face, and such powerfully emotional songs”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There is absolutely no stopping Nick Cave. Even a global pandemic can't halt his transformative live show, and the bleak solemnity of one man and a piano only serves to exacerbate the intoxicating experience.

TRACK LISTING

Spinning Song
Jubilee Street
Far From Me
Idiot Prayer
Sad Waters
He Wants You
Brompton Oratory
Higgs Boson Blues
Palaces Of Montezuma
Stranger Than Kindness
Into My Arms
Girl In Amber
The Ship Song
Man In The Moon
Nobody's Baby Now
Papa Won't Leave You, Henry
Black Hair
(Are You) The One That I’ve Been Waiting For?
Galleon Ship
Waiting For You
The Mercy Street
Euthanasia

‘While in lockdown I wrote a number of psalms, or small, sacred songs—one a day for a week.

The seven psalms are presented as one long meditation—on faith, rage, love, grief, mercy, sex and praise. A veiled, contemplative offering borne of an uncertain time. I hope you like it.’

Nick Cave.

The complete lyrics from cultural icon and bestselling author Nick Cave, spanning his entire career to date, with a new foreword by Andrew O'HaganFrom Nick Cave's writing for The Birthday Party, through highly acclaimed albums like Murder Ballads, Henry's Dream, DIG, LAZARUS, DIG!!! and Ghosteen, this is a must-have book for all fans of the dark, the beautiful and the defiant - for all fans of the songs of Nick Cave. 'The greatest living songwriter' NME'A glowing wire, a mainline to meaning ad feeling and art' New Yorker'Nick Cave is a true lyrical master. He can conjure empathy and hope out of thin air, light out of darkness' Cillian Murphy'His lyrics - so rich in the toils of love, so committed to memory and everlasting presence - are the best-made of his generation' Andrew O'Hagan'A poetic craftsman' Will Self'Alternative rock legend' Billboard'Cave's genius rings loud and clear' Evening StandardCover art by Aleksandra Waliszewska

The Sick Bag Song chronicles Cave's 22-city journey around North America in 2014. Racked by romantic longing and exhaustion, Cave teases out the significant moments - the people, the books and the music - that have influenced and inspired him, and drops them into his sick bag. The book began its life scribbled onto airline sick bags and later evolves into a restless contemporary epic, exploring love, loss, inspiration and memory.

An album of covers by the likes of Leadbelly, Jim Webb, Alex Harvey, Gene Pitney, Tim Rose and the Velvet Underground amongst others, all reworked and reconstructed with expert menacing detail by the Bad Seeds who combine superbly with Cave's excellent vocal performance. The major shock here is how well this collection of songs works as an album!!!

This is one of the first four albums in a series that will see the band's entire album catalogue digitally remastered and remixed for the first time since their original release.
All 14 albums will be available as remastered CD and as a deluxe Collectors Edition which will feature the remastered album plus a DVD with the entire album in 5.1 surround sound, a specially commissioned short film made by acclaimed UK artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard plus the b-sides from the singles and exclusive sleeve notes.

Recorded at various concerts throughout Europe and Australia in 1992 and 1993. All of the classics are featured here, "Deanna", "The Ship Song", "Papa Won't Leave You Henry", "Tupelo", "Jack The Ripper", "From Her To Eternity" and many more. But none of those tracks eclipse the live energy of the utterly superb "The Mercy Seat". 13 tracks that showcase the genius and power of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds in the live setting.

‘No More Shall We Part’ is the eleventh studio album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, originally released in 2001.

It came after a four year break from recording following the critically acclaimed ‘The Boatman’s Call’ and the massive selling 1998 Best Of.

The album showcases the virtuoso talents of the Bad Seeds, with elaborate instrumental sections on nearly every track.

This CD and DVD version includes the original album in 5.1 surround sound, 7 bonus tracks and 4 bonus videos.

TRACK LISTING

CD:
1. As I Sat Sadly By Her Side (2011 - Remaster)
2. And No More Shall We Part (2011 - Remaster)
3. Hallelujah (2011 - Remaster)
4. Love Letter (2011 - Remaster)
5. Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow (2011 - Remaster)
6. God Is In The House (2011 - Remaster)
7. Oh My Lord (2011 - Remaster)
8. Sweetheart Come (2011 - Remaster)
9. The Sorrowful Wife (2011 - Remaster)
10. We Came Along This Road (2011 - Remaster)
11. Gates To The Garden (2011 - Remaster)
12. Darker With The Day (2011 - Remaster)

DVD:
1. As I Sat Sadly By Her Side (2011 - Remaster)
2. And No More Shall We Part (2011 - Remaster)
3. Hallelujah (2011 - Remaster)
4. Love Letter (2011 - Remaster)
5. Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow (2011 - Remaster)
6. God Is In The House (2011 - Remaster)
7. Oh My Lord (2011 - Remaster)
8. Sweetheart Come (2011 - Remaster)
9. The Sorrowful Wife (2011 - Remaster)
10. We Came Along This Road (2011 - Remaster)
11. Gates To The Garden (2011 - Remaster)
12. Darker With The Day (2011 - Remaster)
13. Good Good Day (2011 - Remaster)
14. Little Janey's Gone (2011 - Remaster)
15. Grief Came Riding (2011 - Remaster)
16. Bless His Ever Loving Heart (2011 - Remaster)
17. Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow (Westside Session) (2011 - Remaster)
18. We Came Along This Road (Westside Session) (2011 - Remaster)
19. God Is In The House (Westside Session) (2011 - Remaster)
20. And No More Shall We Part (Westside Session) (2011 - Remaster)
21. Do You Love Me Like I Love You (Part 11 : No More Shall We Part)
22. As I Sat Sadly By Her Side (2011 - Remaster)
23. Love Letter (2011 - Remaster)
24. Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow (2011 - Remaster)
25. As I Sat Sadly By Her Side (2011 - Remaster)
26. And No More Shall We Part (2011 - Remaster)
27. Hallelujah (2011 - Remaster)
28. Love Letter (2011 - Remaster)
29. Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow (2011 - Remaster)
30. God Is In The House (2011 - Remaster)
31. Oh My Lord (2011 - Remaster)
32. Sweetheart Come (2011 - Remaster)
33. The Sorrowful Wife (2011 - Remaster)
34. We Came Along This Road (2011 - Remaster)
35. Gates To The Garden (2011 - Remaster)
36. Darker With The Day (2011 - Remaster)
37. Good Good Day (2011 - Remaster)
38. Little Janey's Gone (2011 - Remaster)
39. Grief Came Riding (2011 - Remaster)
40. Bless His Ever Loving Heart (2011 - Remaster)
41. Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow (Westside Session) (2011 - Remaster)
42. We Came Along This Road (Westside Session) (2011 - Remaster)
43. God Is In The House (Westside Session) (2011 - Remaster)
44. And No More Shall We Part (Westside Session) (2011 - Remaster)
45. Do You Love Me Like I Love You (Part 11 : No More Shall We Part) (2011 - Remaster)
46. As I Sat Sadly By Her Side (2011 - Remaster)
47. Love Letter (2011 - Remaster)
48. Fifteen Feet Of Pure White Snow (2011 - Remaster)

‘Nocturama’ is the twelfth studio album by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, released in 2003.

To date, it is the last Bad Seeds album to feature founding member Blixa Bargeld.

This album reunited Nick Cave with Nick Launay, who had produced The Birthday Party’s groundbreaking ‘Junkyard’ album 21 years earlier.

Featuring the singles ‘Bring It On’, ‘He Wants You’ and ‘Rock Of Gibraltar’, this album finds Cave moving away from ‘Murder Ballads’ and the gory fire and brimstone of yore and exploring more personal themes.

More than twenty years into his career at this point, Nick Cave proved himself worthy of the comparisons made in the press on his behalf: now he could stand alongside the likes of Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Tom Waits as a storyteller who could be unflinchingly honest in his work, whilst continuing to grow his fanbase.

This CD and DVD version includes the original album in 5.1 surround sound plus 7 bonus tracks and 4 bonus videos.

TRACK LISTING

CD
Wonderful Life
He Wants You
Right Out Of Your Hand
Bring It On
Dead Man In My Bed
Still In Love
There Is A Town
Rock Of Gibraltar
She Passed By My Window
Babe, I’m On Fire

DVD
Audio
Nocturama (in 5.1 & Stereo)
Shoot Me Down
Swing Low
Little Ghost Song
Everything Must Converge
Nocturama
Video
Do You Love Me Like I Love You (Part 12)
Babe I’m On Fire (15 Min Version)
Bring It On

A retrospective, rather than a single compilation, this spans 13 years and 10 albums from the debut "From Her To Eternity" to "The Boatman's Call". 16 tracks in total featuring the duets with Kylie and PJ Harvey, "Where The Wild Roses Grow" and "Henry Lee", the album favourites "The Carney" and "From Her To Eternity" and classic singles such as "The Mercy Seat", "(Are You) The One That I've Been Waiting For?" and "Straight To You".

‘The Firstborn Is Dead’, co-produced by Nick Cave, The Bad Seeds and Flood, is the second studio album released by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds and was originally released on June 3rd 1985.

Cave explores his fascination with the American South, with references ranging from Elvis Presley to ‘Blind’ Lemon Jefferson.

Recorded in Berlin, Cave later said of this album: “Berlin gave us the freedom and encouragement to do whatever we wanted. We’d lived in London for three years and it seemed that if you stuck your head out of the box, people were pretty quick to knock it back in, particularly if you were Australian. When we came to Berlin it was the opposite. People saw us as some kind of force rather than a kind of wacky novelty act.”

The album’s title is a reference to Jesse Garon Presley, the stillborn identical twin of Elvis Presley, and ‘Wanted Man’ was Cave’s own take on a song Bob Dylan wrote for Johnny Cash. Dylan gave his permission for the lyrics to be changed, with Cave’s interpretation referencing his friends.

Also features the apocalyptic classic ‘Tupelo’.

This CD and DVD version includes the original album in 5.1 surround sound, one bonus track and three bonus videos.

TRACK LISTING

CD
Tupelo
Say Goodbye To The
Little Girl Tree
Train Long-Suffering
Black Crow King
Knockin’ On Joe
Wanted Man
Blind Lemon Jefferson

DVD
Audio:
The Firstborn Is Dead
(5.1 Surround Sound)
The Six Strings That
Drew Blood
Video:
Do You Love Me Like I
Love You (Part 2: The
Firstborn Is Dead)
Tupelo
Wanted Man

With ‘Your Funeral… My Trial’ The Bad Seeds expanded their personnel by adding Thomas Wydler on drums, enabling Mick Harvey to display his considerable multi-instrumental talents. This was the band’s fourth studio album and was released on November 3rd 1986 and was originally released as a double EP, with production duties handled by Flood and Tony Cohen.

Cave later remarked: “That particular record, which is my favourite of the records we’ve done, is very special to me and a lot of amazing things happened, musically, in the studio. There are some songs on that record that as far as I’m concerned are just about perfect as we can get really - songs like ‘The Carny’, ‘Your Funeral My Trial’, and ‘Stranger Than Kindness’, I think are really quite brilliant.”

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds appeared in Wim Wenders’ 1987 movie ‘Wings Of Desire’ performing ‘The Carny’ and ‘From Her To Eternity’.

This CD and DVD version includes the original album in 5.1 surround sound, a bonus track and a bonus video.

TRACK LISTING

CD
Sad Waters
The Carny
Your Funeral My Trial
Stranger Than Kindness
Jack’s Shadow
Hard On For Love
She Fell Away
Long Time Man

DVD
Audio:
Your Funeral... My Trial (5.1 Surround Sound)
Scum
Video:
Do You Love Me Like I Love You

Neneh Cherry releases her first solo album in 16 years - a collaboration with RocketNumberNine, produced by Four Tet, and featuring a guest appearance by Robyn. The 10-track album, recorded and mixed over a five-day period is, out on Smalltown Supersound. It follows 2012’s 'The Cherry Thing', a collaborative record with free jazz, noise collective The Thing, which featured new versions of songs by The Stooges, MF Doom, Ornette Coleman, amongst others.

While her energy and demeanor may not have changed since the days of Rip Rig + Panic, musically, 'Blank Project' is a departure from anything Neneh has previously done, initially written as a means of working through personal tragedy. What stands out upon first listen is the album’s sparseness: loose drums and a few synthesizers are the only accompaniment to Neneh’s wildly poetic, sometimes-spoken, sometimes-screeching, soul-flooded and raw vocals. The space created by this minimal aesthetic leaves room for occasional pistes and flurries of rapid, yet throbbing and thunderous instrumentation. Featuring combined elements of beat poetry, avant-electronica and beautiful vocal melodies, it’s a record that uses simple ideas to create something entirely original. And despite the personal struggles Neneh was working through in writing this new material, the songs are far from introverted.

With 'Blank Project', Neneh continues to arrive at moments in musical history when there is an opportunity to subvert ideas of popular culture. She is subverting once again, only this time, although this record is musically bold, Neneh sees the stasis she’s challenging isn’t musical or societal, but her own.

STAFF COMMENTS

Philippa says: Neneh Cherry follows her collaboration with Nordic free jazz noise collective the Thing with the intense electro-percussive album ‘Blank Project’, first unveiled at the Manchester International Festival. The guttural analogue synths and pummelled kit drumming of power duo RocketNumberNine (brothers Ben and Tom Page) provide the backing for Cherry’s distinctive emotionally vulnerable soul-flooded vocals, while Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden proves to be the perfect producer for the project, stripping tracks back to their essential elements. The first solo record Cherry has made since the death of her mother, ‘Blank Project’ is stark, bracing, brooding and reflective. There is anger and sadness here, but this isn’t a sad record. This is a life-affirming angry howl at the world, a cathartic blast of intensity that leaps from the speakers. In an era of often soulless synthetic emoting, it’s good to have some raw emotion back with us. Raw like, er, Cherry!

TRACK LISTING

1. Across The Water
2. Blank Project
3. Naked
4. Spit Three Times
5. Weightless
6. Cynical
7. 422
8. Out Of The Black (Feat Robyn)
9. Dossier
10. Everything

Neneh’s new record pointedly asks the question; how do we conduct ourselves in extraordinary times? In an era where the signal-to-noise ratio is more uneven than ever, what are the measures we must take to retain and remember our own personhood? It searches for answers, patiently and with great care, and with a fearlessness to acknowledge that sometimes the answers don't even exist. It’s a record that’s equal parts angry, thoughtful, melancholy, and emboldening, as Cherry and her collaborators continue to expand her ever-widening sonic palette to craft truly singular and potent music.

Work on Broken Politics began as touring wound down behind Cherry's previous full-length, 2014's Blank Project, and she felt a drive to continue creating after collaborating on that record with Kieran Hebden (Four Tet). "That last album was much angrier and forceful, whereas this one is quieter and more reflective," she states. "I haven't always been so good at getting things out so quickly, and it still took a while—but that's okay."

Cherry, writing partner Cameron McVey, and Hebden decamped to Woodstock, New York for a week-long recording session at the Creative Music Studio, a recording space founded by jazz pianist Karl Berger—who, in a stroke of providence, was a band member of Neneh's stepfather and Don Cherry as well as being friends with her mother Moki. "Being in a studio with them was like being in a familiar space. It was easy to reach into myself for the feelings I needed to be in tune with a song—and at night, Cameron and I would have dinner with Ingrid and Karl and they'd tell stories about my father. There were deep threads."

"It was one of the best writing periods I've had in a really long time," Cherry continues while discussing the creative process behind Broken Politics. "I got out of the waiting room and into the inner sanctum.”

"I'm very shy about taking on big themes with the airs that I've got a solution—who has the fucking solutions?" Cherry admits while talking about the album's title. "I like writing from a personal perspective, and the time we live in is so much about finding your own voice. People have been left feeling misheard, misunderstood, and disillusioned. What the fuck can I do? Maybe politics starts in your bedroom, or your house—a form of activism, and a responsibility. The album is about all of those things: feeling broken, disappointed, and sad, but having perseverance. It's a fight against the extinction of free thought and spirit."

"I have a name. You have a name. We're not just these faceless mounds you can put in the ground," Cherry proclaims when talking about her worldly vision that seeped into Broken Politics. "We're human beings with lives and stories." Art can often remind us of how it feels to live in the moment, and it can also be instructive in helping understand how to preserve that moment. Broken Politics finds Cherry at her most generous and benevolent towards a world that is often anything but. She puts it best in the chorus of LP track "Fallen Leaves," in her own defiant way: "Just because I'm down/ Don't step all over me.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Neneh Cherry's unmistakable vocal style and soulful leanings are harnessed here by the dreamy, otherworldly percussion and electronic momentum of Kieran Hebden (Four Tet) on production duties. His impeccable ear for sonic space only accentuates her flawless songwriting skills, making for a brilliantly listenable and absorbing outing.

TRACK LISTING

Fallen Leaves
Kong
Poem Daddy
Synchronised Devotion
Deep Vein Thrombosis
Faster Than The Truth
Natural Skin Deep
Shot Gun Shack
Black Monday
Cheap Breakfast Special
Slow Release
Soldier

Departing from rap and dance, Cherry’s third album ‘Man’, released in 1996, instead can be described as a collection of alternative rock anthems. The Swedish singer released the duet ‘7 Seconds’ with Youssou N’Dour, which topped the charts internationally. This release comes as a limited edition 140-gram Yellow vinyl.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Woman
Feel It
Hornbeam
Trouble Man
Golden Ring
Side B
7 Seconds
Kootchi
Beastiality
Carry Me
Together Now
Everything

Another insane and fuzzy Italian Library killer from 1971 - Nello Ciangherotti aka Nenty & Silvano Chimenti "SONORITA' NEL LAVORO", originally out of the vaults of Globe Records. A top-notch set of sleazy Psych, dope Progressive riffs and Experimental Rock themed music produced to score some obscure documentaries about world of work.

Mad section of evil Psychedelic guitars and fuzzy Wah Wah by the great guitarist Silvano Chimenti (the man behind 'Droga' and further Library grails) and studio arrangements by maestro and orchestra director Nello Ciangherotti. Stunning edgy vibes with loads of hand-made sonorities that recall sounds of industry, mechanical instruments and smoking chimneys for a dope Psychedelic winner. Limited to 300 copies only!

Ned Collette moved to Berlin from his native Melbourne two years ago. A well known and respected singer-songwriter in his own country and in underground circles worldwide, he has toured Europe previously with the likes of Joanna Newsom, Akron/Family, Bill Callahan and Nina Nastasia. His early musical output was based mostly in experimental music, before he gravitated towards more traditional song structures.

His new album "2" (his fourth album but his first outside of Australia) will be released in August. It is a mix of experimental pop songwriting, musique concrete and dark folky soundscapes. His current solo shows are performed with voice, nylon string guitar and samples. While comparisons have been made to everything from Leonard Cohen to Ghostface Killah, Collette remains tricky to define but instantly identifiable.

TRACK LISTING

1. IL Futuro Fantastico
2. Stampy
3. The Hedonist
4. How To Change A City
5. The Decision
6. Long You Lie
7. Happy Heart
8. For Roberto
9. What Lights Have You Seen?

"Devil's Music" and more! EM Records presents the re-release of Nicolas Collins' live radio sampling masterpiece, originally released on vinyl in 1986, served up in all its stuttering glory, a time capsule of the mid-80s New York City airwaves. Acclaimed by Philip Sherburne as 'an early template for techno', the album has a feel somewhat akin to scratching turntablist madness, a block-rocking party put through a blender and reassembled by body-popping demons. Nicolas Collins is a hugely influential in contemporary electronic music, having performed world wide for many years, collaborating with Christian Marclay, Elliot Sharp, David Shea, David Tudor and John Zorn, composing, recording, modifying circuits and inventing instruments,and spreading the good word through his writing and teaching. The pieces released here are only part of his ongoing, multifaceted and truly experimental activities.

This is the second 12" EP featuring reinterpretations of tracks taken from the brilliant Nicola Conte & Gianluca Petrella's jazz dance album "People Need People" released in 2021. The song "Inner Light" gets here a further interpretation by the great Anthony Nicholson, one of the most respected producers and key characters in the tribal / afrocentric house scene, while DJ Spinna has put his artistry on "New World Shuffle" for an uplifting result: Bridgette Amofah's original vocals shine over a sunny house groove full of keys and moog lushy layers, in a distinctive 'Spinna feel'. Coming next: new versions of "People Need People" songs made by Tall Black Guy, Andrés and Fred P.! Stay tuned!!!

STAFF COMMENTS

Millie says: The second instalment of remixes from People Need People and this doesn't disappoint, high energy electronica nu-jazz with a housey vibe. Very very into this.

TRACK LISTING

1. New World Shuffle (DJ Spinna Galactic Soul Remix) [feat. Bridgette Amofah]
2. Inner Light (Anthony Nicholson Miquifaye Remix) [feat. Raashan Ahmad]

Renowned Italian spiritual jazz master, DJ, producer, guitarist, and bandleader Nicola Conte proudly presents his new album Umoja via London based label Far Out Recordings.

A joyous exultation across ten tracks, Umoja taps into the abundant well of knowledge Conte has amassed over his career as connoisseuring compiler and archivist of deep jazz, latin, afrofuturist, bossa-nova and soul music from around the world

Expressing unity, oneness and harmony in Swahili, Umoja coalesces universal feelings through the multifaceted global music Conte has spent his life studying and researching.

Having released music with Blue Note, Impulse! and Schema records, Nicola Conte's relationship with Far Out began over a shared love of hard-edged bossanova and swinging samba-jazz. Between 2009-2013 Nicola Conte compiled five volumes of forgotten 60s Brazilian music for his Viagem series. He then released his critically acclaimed Natural album: a collaboration with vocalist Steffania Dippiero, featuring jazz standards alongside covers of lesser known Brazilian gems.

The music of Umoja draws on the deep-dug 70's independent spiritual and free jazz sounds, private-press soul records, and African and Afro Caribbean rhythms in Conte's collection. But he equally recognises his debt to many of the decade's more celebrated musical icons, such as North American cosmic jazz masters Lonnie Liston Smith and Gary Bartz, and Afrobeat originators Fela Kuti and Tony Allen.

Since founding the Bari-based bohemian cultural movement and club night Fez at the dawn of the nineties, Conte has proven to be a pillar of the contemporary, international soul-jazz scene. Composed alongside his long time friend, guitarist Alberto Parmegiani, Conte brings together a dazzling host of guests from around the world, including award winning British vocalist Zara Mcfarlane, acclaimed Finnish saxophonist Timo Lassy, french vibes player Simon Mullier, US vocalist Myles Sanko, rising South African drummer Fernando Damon, former Roy Hargrove bassist Ameen Saleem and Serbian flute sensation Milena Jancuric.

Proudly revivalist, Umoja was recorded direct to analog tape, with just two takes for each track.

TRACK LISTING

1. Freedom & Progress
2. Arise
2.1. Soul Of The People
2.2. Heritage
2.3. Flying Circles
2.1. Umoja Unity
2.2. Life Forces
2.2.1. Dance Of Love & Peace Part 1
2.2.2. Dance Of Love & Peace Part 2

Caught somewhere between the rain-drenched streets of Manchester and the sun-beaten deserts of America lies Nev Cottee’s third album Broken Flowers. A deeply cinematic, string-soaked album rich in atmosphere and brooding ambience. Its origins however, began in India, with Cottee trying to leave rainy-city heartbreak behind.

“I hate the English winter. Really can't stand the grey days. So I shipped out to India in January 2016. I found a place and set up a simple studio to demo out there”. Rising at dawn each day the ideas began to flow and quickly enough 20 new songs began to take shape, “Maybe the new surroundings helped - getting out of my comfort zone, getting away from all the shit one accumulates at home".

The songs, even in sparse demo form, captured the plaintive tone of Cottee’s vocals slowly unfurling in emotional waves - the gentleness reminiscent of Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce but with the rich warm resonance of Lee Hazelwood. Cottee then took the songs to Wales to work with previous collaborator and producer Mason Neely (Lambchop/Edwyn Collins). Neely brought in some classical musicians, “cut away the flab” and pushed the songs to their extremes - the producer's intuitions and abilities clearly trusted by Cottee, “On the album notes it says 'Mason: Sounds' and that's him in a nutshell. He brings so much to the table and gives the album it's sonic identity - I can't give him a bigger compliment than that.”

Whilst the finished album hums with quiet beauty - dense swirls of ambience hanging in the air as elevating strings cascade through - there’s also a darkness, “Although I recorded during the day this is a night time record. It’s dark and introspective. I find that juxtaposition hugely creative. The night in India can be quite a foreboding place. Me and a mate would make late night excursions inland - into the heart of darkness. Not quite Apocalypse Now but enough to take you out of any semblance of comfort. We saw some strange things, weird village ceremonies, people biting snakes' heads off... the songs represent a physical and mental journey.” 

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: Mojo have likened Nev to a bedroom Ry Cooder, and you can see what they mean on this album. The songs have a sparse, atmospheric, desert soundtrack feel, albeit drenched in rainy city melancholy. Lovely stuff.

TRACK LISTING

1. Asunder
2. Open Eyes
3. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
4. Be On Your Way
5. Nobody's Fool
6. Tired Of Love
7. When The Night Comes
8. The House Where I Live
9. City Lights 

A rich musical journey comprising eleven songs, Madrid channels the chaotic charms of the Spanish capital where Nev has recently relocated.

"I love the way life works here. It's organised chaos. Walking the neighbourhoods of Lavapiez and La Latina you begin to see how everything is perfectly balanced...how to eat, how to party and then how to relax! It's perfection. When it all gets too much I run away to the English countryside"

Side A cut 'The Ring' calls to mind Cowboy In Sweden era Hazlewood while that Mustang bass, scratchy guitars and cool 60's drum fills invoke Serge and Vannier for ' Silver Screen' and title track 'Madrid'. Scott 4 is obviously a touchstone and Nev has never been one to hide his reverence for one of the greatest albums of all time. Seven minute wonder 'Under The Skin' channels Walker's brooding lyrical majesty while long time collaborator and producer Mason Neely brings Phil Spector madness to a disorientating string arrangement. Violas, cellos and violins swoop and merge in a hallucinatory finale to side A.

Side B includes the 60's pop of 'A Million Years', a string quartet ode to the mysterious Angela' and 'Johnny Ray'- a driving Morricone tale of a 'Leather clad stranger/God's lonely man/A modern day Lone
Ranger The album begins and ends on a reflective note as instrumental 'Maps To The Stars' guides the listener into Madrid's kaleidoscopic world while the Waits-like lullaby 'All's Well That Ends Well'bookends the journey
with soft piano and cello tones. Spending time in M(adrid we encounter a lust for life's undeniable, intangible magic.

TRACK LISTING

1. Maps To The Stars
2. Renunciate
3. Silver Screen
4. The Ring
5. Under The Skin
6. Madrid
7. Johnny Ray
8. A Million Years
9. Angela
10. Lost Love
11. All's Well That Ends Well

Noah Creshevsky is a Julliard-educated composer who was also director of the Center for Computer Music. "The Tape Music Of Noah Creshevsky" is a collection of eight pieces recorded between 1971 to 1992, taken from several different albums he recorded and released in this period. The tracks were mainly made using tape collage, featuring a combination of instrumental (with occasional disco or rock moments), vocal, and concrete sounds. There's even a track ("In Other Words") that mixes a low electronic drone with the voice of John Cage.

The esteemed Nick Jonah Davis, back with his 2nd album proper on the wonderful Thread Recordings (the people who brought you DBH's amazing "Mood" LP from last year and also the C Joynes / Davis split from earlier this year). Title track, "House Of Dragons" gets us underway with a purposeful five-fingered battle cry, Davis wielding his medieval sounding axe in rich open-tuning as an intriguing and highly expressive opening track rings from the gallows. Running effortlessly into the frenetic finger picked passages of "Pili Pala', you'd be forgiven to thinking you'd run into some Caravaggio scene, surrounded by chiming lutes and ancient princesses as the theme continues into "Howie Heads For The Hills". "Double Peace" stops us dead in our tracks with cerebral tickling harmonics and deep undertones, it's languid, patient and deliberate notes ringing on as if they'd existed since the dawn of time itself. The wonderfully named "Zanzibar Chai" takes the album into the eastern scales smoothly and still keeping cohesive to the full picture. "The Stansville Strut" sees Davis visit some buck stomping blues, albeit peppered with his own idiosyncratic licks and picks while "Farewell Sad Flower" begins to bring the album to a logical conclusion with its serene and melancholic sequences closing off this emotionally dramatic and stimulating story. Finally, "The Illumination Of Nelson Fortune" trails out in a blaze of glory; deep mystical didgeridoo accompanying desert fried slide guitar and an attack of choppy acoustic goodness. Sealing off a damn near perfect long player for anyone with a penchant for the acoustic guitar. If you like DBH, John Fahey, Bert Jansch or Scott Walker then this album is for you! Highly recommended.

TRACK LISTING

House Of Dragons
Pila Pala
Howie Heads For The Hills
Double Peace
Zanzibar Chai
The Peace Of Running Water
The Stansville Strut
When THe Fhish Fly And The Seas Run Dry
Farewell Sad Flower
The Illumination Of Nelson Fortune

Collaborating once again with legendary producer Rick Rubin (Johnny Cash, Tom Petty), "Home Before Dark" is a vivid 12 track masterclass in compelling songwriting and the follow up to 2005's highly acclaimed "12 Songs". "Home Before Dark" features twelve original songs written by Neil Diamond and was recorded in Los Angeles with guitarist Mike Campbell and keyboardist Benmont Tench (from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers), along with bassist/acoustic guitarist Smokey Hormel and guitarist Matt Sweeney. Highlights on the album are many, including the stunning lead single "Pretty Amazing Grace" and a striking duet with the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines on "Another Day (That Time Forgot)".

Nahawa Doumbia is one of Mali's defining vocalists of the last four decades. Her work journeys through progressive stages of musical evolution and sonic vogues, making it hard to summarize or even comprehend. She's played a part in popular music since the late '70s, as her version of Wassoulou music developed from vocals-and-guitar duo into full-scale touring bands packing a bombastic, electrified punch. As Doumbia puts it, "My music has changed multiple times to this day. The more I progressed in my musical career, the more instruments I have had accompany my songs." Awesome Tapes From Africa now releases Doumbia's debut recording “La Grande Cantatrice Malienne Vol 1”, building on the success of the label's first-ever reissue back in 2011, Doumbia's “La Grande Cantatrice Malienne Vol 3”.
This seminal classic, which is still sought-after in Mali today, is finally be available for the first time internationally with remastered audio on LP, CD, Tape and Digital formats. The recording looks back to the beginning of Doumbia's long career, when she was performing in a simple voice and acoustic guitar format. This was before she added bass and drums, and finally the electric guitar and synths for which she became known more recently. Released in 1981 by the excellent Cote d'Ivoire-based AS Records, the singer was barely 20 years old when it was recorded. She was accompanied by her future husband N'Gou Bagayoko on acoustic guitar, whose style echoes the nimble runs of traditional kamele n'goni players. The stark simplicity of this highly intimate recording-the audible room acoustics, the occasionally in-the-red vocals-do not obscure the mature strength of her voice.
On “Vol 1” Doumbia performs her songs with the tenacity and hunger of a young artist on the cusp. "When I think about it, first, I am reminded of how long ago it was. It's one of the albums that I love most because it reminds me of my youth. I was so young and my voice was light and joyful. I still listen to some of those songs today. I am really proud of that first album because that's where it all began. It shows me how far I've come in my personal and artistic life; it gives me the courage I need to keep going forward, and makes me appreciate all the years of dedication and hard work I put into my musical career." These early songs are rhythmically built around Bagayoko's sensitive guitar, as his fingers brush the fretboard and gently outline the melodies. Although this record predates the singer's use of percussion, the driving skeletal didadi rhythm is apparent in the songs. Later albums like Vol 3 further prioritize her hometown didadi beat and the result made her famous.

TRACK LISTING

01. Kourouni 07:34
02. Tou Dibile 02:32
03. Tjefouroule 04:46
04. Djankonia 08:09
05. Nianimanjougou 04:49
06. Sokono Woulouni 04:52

Nahawa Doumbia’s new album Kanawa concisely captures this current moment in Malian history. The singer, whose storied career spans more than four decades, reflects on the immigration crisis from the Malian perspective in the title of her new album Kanawa. Across eight songs recorded in Bamako with a band including traditional and modern instruments, Doumbia merges her early work that relied on a spare expression of her trademark didadi rhythm with the bombastic range of contemporary Malian pop. The beautifully complex musical accompaniment that results is courtesy of the large ensemble she pulled together with producer and arranger (and day one collaborator) N’gou Bagayoko.

The band features two highly expressive Malian string instruments, the ngoni and the slightly smaller kamalé ngoni, as well as a variety of percussion, drum programming, karignan (a metal scraper) and acoustic and electric guitars. Doumbia’s daughter, a celebrated singer with her own group and busy concert schedule, Doussou Bagayoko sings on “Adjorobena,” a song about patience, tolerance and living in peace. Doumbia weaves together a roadmap of her psyche when it comes to the good and bad life has to offer. She talks about marriage and women leaving home to join another through the metaphor of a tree in the garden; she includes gunshot samples in the song “Foliwilen” to honor the bravery of hunters, soldiers and other courageous people; she uses a bird in “Djougoh” to talk about lazy people; and, in “Ndiagneko” she advises people to ignore critics, just do you. Mali has gone through an intense period of regional strife and terrorist incidents over the last ten years and Doumbia roots the album in tragic local concerns with deep global implications. “The meaning of Kanawa is so simple. We see our children trying to cross the ocean all the time. I said that many of our children die in the ocean and some of them die while crossing the Sahara.

But I ask them why do they leave their country? They said that they leave because of the family situation or problems like poverty and unemployment. I ask them to stay and work in their country. I call on the UN and African leaders so that we can coordinate our efforts to find a solution, to create jobs for them so that young people stop leaving. That’s why I chose it as the title of my album so that everybody can learn from it and also so that there is a reduction in the number of people emigrating. So that some will hear the message and stay home and grow the land. Leaving is not the only solution. My message is to help the youth find jobs.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: The ever-reliable and constantly working Awesome Tapes From Africa defy cross-national travel restrictions and beam to our willing ears the warm and invigorating sounds of Mali.

TRACK LISTING

Blonda Yirini
Didadi
Ndiagneko
Djougoh
Hine 
Kanawa
Adjorobena 
Foliwilen

The follow up to "Five Leaves Left" saw a departure from that albums' pastoralism to a more urban milieu, albeit a idealised romantic one depicted in "At The Chime Of A City Clock". Accordingly the music has a slightly more urgent feel with a greater use of drums and electric guitar. One thing it does share with its' predecessor is a stunning collection of songs, written, played and sung to perfection. A classic of its', or any other, genre.

TRACK LISTING

Introduction 1:33
Hazey Jane II 3:41
At The Chime Of A City Clock 4:42
One Of These Things First 4:46
Hazey Jane I 4:24
Bryter Layter 3:16
Fly 2:56
Poor Boy 6:30
Northern Sky 3:42
Sunday 3:39

This 1970 debut is surely one of the most accomplished in pop history, marking the young singer songwriter out as more than another folkie. Jazzy instrumentation and sweeping string arrangements give the record a sumptuous feel that is undermined by the brooding melancholy of "Fruit Tree", "Way To Blue" and the haunting, magisterial "River Man". A classic that has reached such disparate souls as Elliott Smith, Paul Weller, Terry Callier and Gilles Peterson.

TRACK LISTING

Time Has Told Me 3:56
River Man 4:28
Three Hours 6:01
Day Is Done 2:22
Way To Blue 3:05
'Cello Song 3:58
The Thoughts Of Mary Jane 3:12
Man In A Shed 3:49
Fruit Tree 4:42
Saturday Sun 4:00

USM and Island Records now complete the Back To Black Nick Drake vinyl reissues set with this lovingly represented new press of his debut album.

Originally released in 1969 'Five Leaves Left' was largely overlooked by critics and music fans at the time - a fate that was to befall his subsequent two studio albums. Unfortunately, Nick Drake didn't live to see his reputation as one of the finest singersongwriters Britain has ever produced develop. Nevertheless, 'Five Leaves Left' is now widely regarded as one of the most significant debut albums of all time.

TRACK LISTING

1. Time Has Told Me
2. River Man
3. Three Hours
4. Way To Blue
5. Day Is Done
6.  ' Cello Song
7. Thoughts Of Mary Jane
8. Man In A Shed
9. Fruit Tree
10. Saturday Sun

His third and final studio album is a fittingly stark and sombre collection of songs, featuring just guitar and voice (bar a piano on one track). Shorn of the usual lavish arrangements, the songs lose none of their lustre, instead the songs themselves are pushed to the fore. A magnificent swansong.

TRACK LISTING

Pink Moon
Place To Be
Road
Which Will
Horn
Things Behind The Sun
Know
Parasite
Free Ride
Harvest Breed
From The Morning

About time Ebbot and I have finally been able to make an album that is largely an extension of all the time we have spent together and all the concerts we have done. You could say it's a kind of fusion of the two of us in music form. A key ingredient was that Reine Fiske (Dungen) wanted to be part of this musical adventure and record with us. His tone and spontaneous playing were absolutely crucial in making this album. Also at the heart of this album, and which made our recording sessions so edgy and good, were the beautiful poppy bass playing by Marcus Holmberg (Komeda), the dynamic and responsive drumming by Nicklas Korsell and the funky piano playing by Daniel Kurba. And finally, working as both a musician and sound engineer, Ponus Torstensson, aka Tentakel, played a vital role in creating the psychedelic sound on the album.

TRACK LISTING

Line 1
Me And My Mojo
Travel In Time
Line 2
New Orleans (Taking Back)
Straight For Fun
Family
Line 3
Brave New World
Line 4
Under The Moon

For the very first 7’’ of the label, La Freak reissue this very sought after disco gem recorded in Quebec by the one and only Nina Dunn. With her riotous voice (she was vocalist for legends like Zachary Richards), "If You Want Me Love (Do It)" has a serious fire in its belly, as orchestral strings and frenetic bass work beautifully in tandem with the in-the-pocket drummer; who keeps it tidy throughout. 

"Stay and Dance" is a clavinet, strings and horns guided masterclass, that has soul oozing out of every orifice and an arrangement to die for.

TRACK LISTING

A. If You Want My Love (Do It)
B. Stay And Dance

A step back from her usual angry noisecore outings for a more sedate LP - maybe she has got a boyfriend...

“The album is titled ‘Movements’ because it has changes in feeling and energy throughout. When I was first putting songs together for the album I had a lot of sad songs and I felt like an important part of me was missing from it. So I later added some songs to express that happy and fun side of myself. It makes a lot of sense to me, because emotions are not consistent, to at least have one album that goes through those movements, and I choose this to be that album.

I also went back to my roots a little during the pandemic and decided I really missed gymnastics – my childhood obsession. So I spent a lot of time stretching and exercising, hoping to go back to it once things were safe again. As it happened I took up dancing instead for something new, but that also influenced the title as I was working on the album throughout the pandemic.

I learnt so much making this album because it was the first time I wrote all of the arrangements myself, demoed out in full before entering the studio. It was a challenge I set myself and I also learnt a lot more about recording and mixing through this process – something I want to do more of as I continue writing. Another goal I set myself was to be able to write piano songs with vocals which I’d never done before, so there are quite a few of those on this album.

I recorded the album in Hastings with producer Martin Ruffin who I also worked with on my previous releases. It was mixed by Martin Ruffin and mastered by Aneek Thapar.” – Natalie Evans

TRACK LISTING

1.Driving Home Late
2. Between The Ground And Sky
3. Movie
4. Pencil Drawn
5. Interlude (Back Of My Mind)
6. Colours Fade
7. Sun Song
8. Under The Moon
9. When You Leave
10. To Go On
11. Five Positives
12. Guest Room

"Hard Islands" showcases a tougher, more grown-up sound than Nathan Fake's hugely successful "Drowning In A Sea Of Love" debut, as the producer continues to mature in perfect step with Britain's youthful new wave of danceable electronica. The album edges towards the tougher end of electronica occupied by Warp and Rephlex stalwarts Clark and Aphex Twin, where spine-tingling melody meets Fake's acute awareness of what works on the dancefloor.

Nathan Fake has grown from his beginnings as an undeniably skilled, but relatively inoffensive purveyor of twee IDM (see the cutesy electronic rhythms and circuit-bent melodies of 'Drowning In A Sea Of Love') into a powerhouse of challenging electronics and innovative melodic constructions.

The brash and stomping 'Feelings 1' could easily be stretched into a 6-minute long OPN track from his early catalog, but retains its impact and drive in part due to it's brevity, letting up after only a couple short minutes with a thematic segue into the thumping title track. Utilising his tried-and-tested technique of a filtered-out beginning into a revisitation of that theme, but injected with fiery percussion and swooning synthplay, Fake constructs a towering wall of chaotic arps and fizzling saturation, underpinned by distorted kick drums and dusty pads.

'HoursDaysMonthsSeasons' is much more along the lines of Border Community heavy-hitters Holden or Luke Abbott, pitching tweeting modulars and syncopated throbs against a droning foundation of fire and brimstone. As with all of Fake's more recent work, this is a deep and rewarding experience, but gives as much as you do, revealing it's complexities through patence and perserverance. 

Moving further along (we have convered the towering 'DEGREELESSNESS elsewhere), we move into ambient territory with 'SmallCityLights' which is a relaxing and much-needed respite (make use of it while you can) before the thudding dystopian sidechained duality of 'Radio Spiritworld'. Like a pack of robots fizzing and staggering towards a neon sun, we get chillwave guitars, industrial hammering and crackling electronic connections, coming together into a bracing mix of rampant retro-futurism and forward-thinking outsider 'tron.

Providence is as contrary and (I imagine) divisive as anything Fake has accomplished thus far, founded upon his considerable talent for writing a dancefloor stomper, but abstracted into the outer realms of melodicism and rhythm. A challenging, towering behemoth of an album, that will confound and amaze in equal measure. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Nathan Fake does OPN. Shimmering synths, soul-shaking drone and abstracted rhythms mashed together (amazingly) into a brittle and brutal amalgamation of conceptual genius and technical mastery. A++, Will listen again.

TRACK LISTING

Feelings 1
PROVIDENCE
HoursDaysMonthsSeasons
DEGREELESSNESS (ft Prurient)
The Equator & I unen
SmallCityLights
Radio Spiritworld
CONNECTIVITY
RVK (ft Raphaelle)
REMAIN
Feelings 2

Produced by Dave Fridmann (Mercury Rev, The Flaming Lips), ‘Dizzy Heights’ is the third solo album by Neil Finn following 1998's Try Whistling This and 2001's One Nil.

Finn did not set out on his third solo album with a theme in mind. But by the time he came to call it after another track on the record, “Dizzy Heights”, it had become inescapable. “It crept up on me. I started noticing it in lots of places. You start off with a number of different threads and angles and demos, and they dictate the terms of the record. It’s only in the course of the process that you maybe get a feeling there’s a type of song emerging, or an atmosphere.”

Neil Finn was 18 when he was invited by his older brother Tim to join the trailblazing art rock band Split Enz. His career since might be measured as a series of bounds, the best-known being Crowded House, which he founded with Paul Hester and Nick Seymour after the breakup of Split Enz in 1984. Four albums, among them Crowded House and Together Alone, brought the group popular and critical acclaim around the world.

Along the way, there have been a host of collaborations, including with brother Tim and wife Sharon, and an array of names from Johnny Marr, Ed O’Brien, Eddie Vedder and most of Wilco. And yet Dizzy Heights unmistakably marks a fresh leap.

“I didn’t want to make it a solo record in a stripped back singer-songwriter sort of way,” says Finn. “I had a feeling Dave would be good at adding some odd shapes to the music. Which I always welcome – making things a little more expansive ... He is good at subverting things, and making things sound a bit messed up and not as obvious, rather than being too tasteful, which is always a temptation.”

TRACK LISTING

Impressions
Dizzy Heights
Flying In The Face Of Love
Divebomber
Better Than TV
Pony Ride
White Lies And Alibis
Recluse
Strangest Friends
In My Blood
Lights Of New York

Frahm returns to Erased Tapes for his most beguiling outing yet. Kicking things off with the choral solemnity of the brief 'The Whole Universe Wants To Be Touched',  before 'Sunson' excellently displays the sort of percussive demi-trance that he and Olafur Arnalds excelled at in their collaborative output. 'My Friend The Forest' has perhaps the most semblance to Frahm's earlier work, with the gently hammered piano strings being subtly blunted with some sort of preparation. It doesn't sound quite as muted as his seminal work (perhaps the felt has worn out a little), and is unmistakeable in it's  rapid trills, separated by moments of acoustic ambience. 

'Forever Changeless' is again littered with moments of progressive beauty, but eases off a little on the sustain to give way to a slightly terse atmosphere, beautifully accentuated by Frahm's deft hands before moving into 'All Melody' which couldn't be more reminiscent of the spine-tingling electronic crescendo of 'Says' from 2013's 'Spaces'. 

With the percussive workout of '#2' and 'Momentum' taking a metaphorical breath from the more upbeat moments, it gives us time to relax and reflect before the mournful military requiem of 'Fundamental Values' gives way to it's own latter resolution and smooth segue into the tropical arps of 'Kaleidoscope' and the soul-soothing slow-mo beauty of 'Harm Hymn'. 

Another beautiful outing for Frahm, and further evidence of his credentials as one of today's most talented composers. 

TRACK LISTING

1. The Whole Universe Wants To Be Touched
2. Sunson
3. A Place
4. My Friend The Forest
5. Human Range
6. Forever Changeless
7. All Melody
8. #2
9. Momentum
10. Fundamental Values
11. Kaleidoscope
12. Harm Hymn

The three EPs will be available as one full length release titled All Encores featuring 80 minutes of music to follow his masterful 2018 album All Melody.

Whilst Encores 1 focused on an acoustic pallet of sounds with solo piano and harmonium at the core, and Encores 2 explored more ambient landscapes, now Encores 3 sees Nils expand on the percussive and electronic elements in his work.

“The idea behind All Encores is one we had from before All Melody; to separate releases each with their own distinct musical style and theme, perhaps even as a triple album. But All Melody became larger than itself and took over any initial concepts. I think the idea of All Encores is like musical islands that compliment All Melody.”

Moulded during All Melody but refined by his live performances, All Encores is testament to Nils’ exceptional ability to craft his art on stage. Artificially Intelligent which showcases his ‘mad professor’ organ, and All Armed which has been a live favourite for some time, appearing on set lists since 2015, are now available to hear on record for the very first time. The final track of Encores 3, as well as the whole series, Amirador, perhaps aptly nods to the Spanish word for ‘lookout’ and hints at what’s to come.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Roughest Trade
2. Ringing
3. To Thomas
4. The Dane
5. Harmonium In The Well
6. Sweet Little Lies
7. A Walking Embrace
8. Talisman
9. Spells
10. Artificially Intelligent
11. All Armed
12. Amirador

Vinyl Tracklist:
A1 The Roughest Trade
A2 Ringing
A3 To Thomas
A4 The Dane
B1 Harmonium In The Well
C1 Sweet Little Lie
C2 A Walking Embrace
C3 Talisman
D1 Spells
E1 Artificially Intelligent
E2 All Armed
F1 Amirador

To mark this year’s Piano Day and as an acknowledgement to these unprecedented circumstances we find ourselves in, Nils Frahm surprised the world with a collection of eight solo piano pieces, titled Empty, made available digitally on March 28. The highly anticipated physical editions on vinyl and CD are set for release via Erased Tapes on October 23, 2020.

Conceived of just before Nils broke his thumb and composed the similarly intimate solo piano album Screws, Empty is a soothing vessel of eight simple and serene pieces originally recorded as the music to a short art film he shot with his friend and film director Benoît Toulemonde. Drifting through emotions from the stark and sobering opener ‘First Defeat’, to the gently euphoric ‘No Step On Wing’ and the contemplative but hopeful closer ‘Black Notes’, with its poignant minute of silence, Empty is a comforting score for these turbulent times.

“When I came back from the hospital with a broken thumb and listened to the recordings, I felt they were unfinished. I decided to put them aside and started to work on my small album, Screws.

Many many other notes of the piano have been struck since these days, and before we all forget about this, I thought it would be a good moment to share these lullabies with you. I hope they help you stay all strong and calm in these days of solitude – despite the hardship, we can discover introspection and reflection unexpectedly. Who knows what it is good for.
Much love, Nils”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Frahm is back! Returning to his much sought after piano-forte after a fruitful foray into synthland. ‘Empty’ is a hushed affair, gorgeously plaintive and brimming with the sort of atmospheric recording and room sounds which made 'Felt' such a beautiful success. Gorgeous.

TRACK LISTING

1. First Defeat
2. A Shine
3. No Step On A Wing
4. The Big O
5. Second Defeat
6. A Shimmer
7. Sonar
8. Black Notes

Encores 1 is five track 12" vinyl EP previously only available as an exclusive, limited release via Rough Trade. It was recorded in Nils Frahm's studio at the Funkhaus in Berlin, as part of the same sessions for the recently released and universally acclaimed new album, All Melody (Official Album Charts #21), released earlier this year on Erased Tapes. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Suddenly arriving as a top secret release on Friday morning, Frahm delivers five accompanying session tracks to his rather wonderful 'All Melody' album. Top drawer stuff!!

TRACK LISTING

A1. The Roughest Trade
A2. Ringing
A3. To Thomas
A4. The Dane
B1. Harmonium In The Well

Following the release of Encores 1 on June 1st, Nils Frahm releases of Encores 2, the second in a series of EPs following the release of the universally acclaimed album, All Melody, released in January of this year.

While Encores 1 focused on an acoustic pallet of sounds with just a solo piano and harmonium, Encores 2 explores a more ambient landscape from the All Melody sessions, the pinnacle of which is the astral 12 minute showpiece Spells. Recorded through an amplified stone well Frahm found on Mallorca, Encores 2 is at once unique but familiar; orbiting the universe of All Melody while inhabiting its own world.

“The idea behind Encores is one we had from before All Melody; to separate releases each with their own distinct musical style and theme, perhaps even as a triple album. But All Melody became larger than itself and took over any initial concepts. I think the idea of Encores is like musical islands that compliment All Melody”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A beautiful counterfoil to last years' 'Encores 1', we get a wealth of beautifully textured field recordings, icy and crepuscular loops bolstered with beautifully weighted and perfectly paced piano, as is Frahm's style. Encompassing elements of dark ambient and minimalism, this is further evidence of Frahm's domination of the modern classical field, and it shows no sign of slowing down. Lovely stuff.

TRACK LISTING

Sweet Little Lie
A Walking Embrace
Talisman
Spells

Nils Frahm announces the third and final instalment of his Encores series. 

Whilst Encores 1 focused on an acoustic pallet of sounds with solo piano and harmonium at the core, and Encores 2 explored more ambient landscapes, now Encores 3 sees Nils expand on the percussive and electronic elements in his work.

“The idea behind All Encores is one we had from before All Melody; to separate releases each with their own distinct musical style and theme, perhaps even as a triple album. But All Melody became larger than itself and took over any initial concepts. I think the idea of All Encores is like musical islands that compliment All Melody.”

Moulded during All Melody but refined by his live performances, All Encores is testament to Nils’ exceptional ability to craft his art on stage. Artificially Intelligent which showcases his ‘mad professor’ organ, and All Armed which has been a live favourite for some time, appearing on set lists since 2015, are now available to hear on record for the very first time. The final track of Encores 3, as well as the whole series, Amirador, perhaps aptly nods to the Spanish word for ‘lookout’ and hints at what’s to come.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: if you enjoyed Nils Frahm's collab with Olafur Arnalds a few years ago (was it really THAT long ago?!) then this is the Encores for you! Percussive, more 'dancefloor' focused (as much as can be), and absolutely hypnotic, this is probably my favourite of the lot, and I have excellent taste. Lovely stuff.

TRACK LISTING

1. Artificially Intelligent
2. All Armed
3. Amirador

Having recorded his last album live in a large, reverberant church, Nils Frahm now invites you to put on your headphones and dive into a world of microscopic and delicate sounds - so intimate that you could be sitting beside him. Recorded late at night in the reflective solitude and silence of his studio in Berlin, Frahm uncovers a new sound and source of inspiration within these peaceful moments: 'Originally I wanted to do my neighbours a favour by damping the sound of my piano. If I want to play piano during the quiet of the night, the only respectful way is by layering thick felt in front of the strings and using very gentle fingers. It was then that I discovered that my piano sounds beautiful with the damper.' Captivated by this sonic exposition, he placed the microphones so deep inside the piano that they were almost touching the strings. This brought a host of external sounds to the recordings which most producers would try their hardest to hide: 'I hear myself breathing and panting, the scraping sound of the piano's action and the creaking of my wooden floorboards - all equally as loud as the music. The music becomes a contingency, a chance, an accident within all this rustling. My heart opens and I wonder what exactly it is that makes me feel so happy.'

Berlin-based pianist Nils Frahm is already a firebrand in the modern classical world, collaborating with contemporaries such as Peter Broderick, Ólafur Arnalds and Anne Müller. His unconventional approach to an age-old instrument, played contemplatively and intimately, has won him many fans around the world. As announced by Drowned In Sound, he finally returns on October 10th 2011 with the successor to his highly acclaimed solo piano works Wintermusik and The Bells. Released on Erased Tapes Records and entitled 'Felt', the album will coincide with a European tour in November 2011 - a truly memorable and magical live experience.

Piano Day 2021 sees Nils Frahm surprise the world with his Erased Tapes debut. Wait, what? How? Anyone who has seen the trail blazing sonic pioneer live will know Nils likes to deadpan a joke. Graz is in fact the first studio album he recorded for the label back in 2009, that somehow remained a secret… until now.

Nils Frahm has quietly changed the musical landscape, reincarnating the centuries old figure of a pianist-composer for a new generation of music fans. As Nils’ word-of-mouth popularity grew and grew, so did the pop-culture profile of his instrument. He founded Piano Day with a team of like-minded friends in 2015 to help that process, some years releasing an album of piano recordings to celebrate one of humankind’s greatest inventions. Graz is one such record; an unheard snapshot of a young Nils recorded at Mumuth, the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, in 2009 as part of the thesis Conversations for Piano and Room produced by Thomas Geiger, which received an award in the Classical Surround Recording category at the 127th AES Convention in New York.

Whilst at the time it was decided to keep the grand piano recordings from the Graz sessions locked away and instead focus on his close mic’ed, dampened piano explorations which would become his acclaimed studio album Felt in 2011, two of the pieces — most notably Hammers — lived on as part of his live set, and were expanded on and re-recorded as part of his breakthrough 2013 record Spaces (a collage of field recordings from concerts which broke the Fourth Wall and included audience coughs). Over his mercurial career, Nils has pushed and pulled at the boundaries and parameters of his prolific work like that. He’s physically changed his piano (the softened prepared strings of Felt) played with a modified body (Screws recorded with 9 fingers and a broken thumb) played with scale (Solo recorded on the 3.7 metre high Klavins M370) and with the different layers of formats (last year’s Tripping with Nils Frahm nested his studio setup inside a live performance, concert film and live album). Now with Graz he has found the final frontier for play: time itself and his own discography. Graz is a moment of time at the very beginning of Nils’ quiet revolution. The essential genius is already evident; the harmonic language of classical, and the immediacy of jazz. Nils seems to pull down each idea moment by moment, gently, to not scare away the muse.

He describes: “sometimes when you hear a piano, you might think it’s a conversation between a woman and a man. At the same time, it can hint at shapes of the universe and describe how a black hole looks. You can make sounds that have no relation to anything we can measure.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There have been a number of Frahm iterations. Personally (though I love them all), I think that the era that birthed both 'Felt' and 'The Bells' is probably my favourite. It's with considerable excitement I read that this 'latest' outing is in fact the least latest of all the outings. Gorgeous piano musings, tickling ivories and roomy 'verb, just like in the olden days (2009 - 2011). Astoundingly good.

TRACK LISTING

1. Lighter
2. O I End
3. Because This Must Be
4. Kurzum
5. And Om
6. Hammers
7. Crossings
8. About Coming And Leaving
9. Went Missing

Nils Frahm returns with an expansive new album, Music For Animals, his first fresh studio material since 2018’s ‘All Melody’ and 2019’s associated ‘All Encores’. Containing ten tracks and clocking in at over three hours long, it’s an ambitious and compelling set different to anything Frahm’s released to date – in fact, it finds the Piano Day founder declining to use a piano – but at the same time retains many of the qualities that have set the influential musician’s work apart over much of the last two decades.

Unfolding at an unhurried, meditative pace in a celebration of tone, timbre and texture – and thus of sound itself – Music For Animals offers an unusually immersive experience. “My constant inspiration,” Frahm explains, “was something as mesmerising as watching a great waterfall or the leaves on a tree in a storm. It’s good we have symphonies and music where there’s a development, but a waterfall doesn’t need an Act 1, 2, 3, then an outcome, and nor do the leaves on a tree in a storm. Some people like watching the leaves rustle and the branches move. This record is for them”.

Music For Animals is a substantial collection that encourages listeners to bask in its tranquility at their chosen depth, demanding only as much attention as they wish to contribute. As Frahm himself happily points out, “It all comes back to that waterfall. If you want to watch it, watch it. If you don’t, then you don’t have to. It will always be the same, yet never quite the same.” Indeed, that’s Music For Animals’ greatest strength. Instantly recognisable, it’s still like nothing else.

TRACK LISTING

The Dog With 1000 Faces
Mussel Memory
Seagull Scene
Sheep In Black And White
Stepping Stone
Briefly
Right Right Right
World Of Squares
Lemon Day
Do Dream

Nils Frahm has always said that he’s just waiting for something real special when being asked if he would ever score the music for a film. And that’s exactly what German director Sebastian Schipperpresented to him with his one-take feature ‘Victoria’. Filmed in Berlin, Victoria’s plot sees a runaway party girl, who's asked by three friendly men to join them as they hit the town, but their wild night of partying suddenly turns into a bank robbery as the music changes from techno to subdued piano sounds.

For the recording session at Studio P4 in Berlin, Frahm enlisted the help of long-time collaborator and cellist Anne Müller, violist Viktor Orri Árnason and ambient artist Erik K. Skodvin of Deaf Center on guitar.

The soundtrack opens with an edit of ‘Burn With Me’ by German producer DJ Koze.

Dear viewer and listener,

I’ve finally written music for a film. It took me some time to do so, as I was patiently waiting for a movie that would truly speak to me. When director Sebastian Schipper invited me to work on Victoria, I knew it was worth the long wait. Does such a strong film even need music? I realised it wouldn’t be easy to create a score that embraces these bold pictures.

Luckily we were given unusual creative freedom by approaching the movie together with Sebastian Schipper, who was keeping the production and direction to one single team. The score was recorded in a special location, the former GDR broadcasting production facilities that today host Studio P4. We simply put a big screen in the middle of the room, filled it with microphones and instruments, set the movie on loop and kept improvising on top of it together – my good friends and I.

The guest musicians started their recording session by playing a cohesive take over the course of the whole movie. This was the most interesting part of the day, since they hadn’t seen the film before. They became spectators and creators at once, intuitively recording hundreds of different cues that way. You are about to listen to some of its highlights. I hope they do Victoria and your ears justice.

With love, Nils Frahm.

TRACK LISTING

01 Burn With Me (Victoria Edit DJ Koze)
02 Our Own Roof
03 A Stolen Car
04 In The Parking Garage
05 Them
06 The Bank
07 The Shooting
08 Nobody Knows Who You Are
09 Pendulum

Old Friends New Friends was pieced together during the pandemic as Frahm used the time to arrange his archives, conscious of the sheer number of recordings he’d accumulated. Having selected his favourites, he realised how, when he listened to them together, they offered “a different spectrum of freedom for me. I forgot that some tracks are ten years old, some two, and they’re all played on different pianos. Instead I remembered how, as a fan, I love albums like this. With a lot of my records there’s a point where you feel, ‘This is the centrepiece,’ but here I wasn’t really worrying about that. It still feels like my universe, though, and I’m proud that all these things which I never found a way to unite before now work together. It’s like I tossed flowers indiscriminately into a vase and then realised it looked exactly right.”

One can only guess how difficult it may initially have been to narrow down candidates for public consumption from the wealth of choices, because even selecting highlights from Old Friends New Friends is a challenge. Nonetheless, among its almost 80 minutes of music are the fluid ‘Rain Take’, in which his instrument’s glistening ripples are married with the distant sound of a deluge outside; ‘Wedding Walzer’, a Satie-esque piece so intimate Frahm’s pedal-work threatens to overshadow its delicate melody; the unexpectedly touching ‘Then Patterns’, the exquisitely graceful ‘Acting’, and the redemptive, radiant ‘The Chords Broken Down’. Clearly, these are much more than outtakes, something Frahm has no trouble explaining. “Often tracks that don’t make it onto an album are the ones with the most boldness and bravery.”

Frahm has other reasons to release this record, too, among them a craving to protect his legacy in an era where ‘bonus material’ is in constant demand. “The nature of the mind – and a hard drive – is that you forget a lot of stuff,” he says, “and I hate the idea that somebody might browse through my things trying to find something I’d forgotten. I’ll probably burn everything before I go, but these are pieces I wanted to put out. So this is an original ‘Nils Frahm’, so to speak, not somebody curating a leftover meal.”

Furthermore, Frahm felt an urge to clean the slate before making his next move. His debut, Streichelfisch, was released 16 years ago, and not only has his solo output since then been prolific but he’s also engaged in large amounts of collaborative work with friends like Ólafur Arnalds, Peter Broderick, F.S. Blumm, Library Tapes and Anne Müller. “My intuition,” he says, “is that it’s easier for me to start over if the body of work from the last ten years or so is organised enough that I never need worry about it again. It’s time to forget about the past, but in order to never think about it again I have to address it first.”

Whether or not it’s prudent to add to the significant amount of music he’s released in recent years, Frahm’s unconcerned. “History tells us people sometimes pick up on records years later and still like them, so hopefully my music isn’t bound to any specific date. If people hear this for the first time in, say, 20 years, they won’t worry about when it came out, or whether something else also came out the same year. And anyway: who knows? Maybe at some point down the line I won’t release any albums for five years!”

As for how he feels letting the music loose into the world, Frahm simply chuckles. “It’s like if your kids finally move out when they’re 23, and you realise, ‘Shit, this could have happened years ago!’”

TRACK LISTING

1. 4:33 (a Tribute To John Cage)
2. Late
3. Berduxe
4. Rain Take
5. Todo Nada
6. Weddinger Walzer
7. In The Making
8. Further In The Making
9. All Numbers End
10. The Idea Machine
11. Then Patterns
12. Corn
13. New Friend
14. Nils Has A New Piano
15. Acting
16. As A Reminder
17. Iced Wood
18. Strickleiter
19. The Chords
20. The Chords Broken Down
21. Forgetmenot
22. Restive
23. Old Friend

Nils experienced an unfortunate accident, which saw him fall from his bunk bed located directly above his studio, which resulted in a broken thumb. But through inspiration from his fans and despite the 4 screws that had just been surgically placed inside his thumb, he started recording with 9 fingers, which later resulted in 9 intimate piano recordings. Nils chose his 30th birthday to offer these recordings as a free download to his fans via screws. durtonstudio.com where they have been freely available since.

IN HIS OWN WORDS: “I am sitting in front of a sheet of paper. My right hand is bending over my left thumb. The first day I got out of my cast I could bend it by 15°. Now I am already at 50° and that makes me happy. Things are going uphill… As you can imagine, it is really bad news for a pianist when he gets diagnosed with a broken thumb. That day I was sitting in the emergency room, feeling rather dizzy while thinking of a zillion shows coming up and all the people involved around it. I realised in that moment how busy things have become. It is hard to turn down interesting projects and opportunities, since I surely love my work. It actually never felt like work. Playing piano and playing it for wonderful people is the greatest joy I can imagine. For a couple of days I felt like this could all be over. How pathetic, but hey – also feeling sorry for yourself has its place somewhere. All of a sudden I had so much time, an unexpected holiday. I cancelled most of my schedule and found myself being a little bored. Even though my doctor told me not to touch a piano for a while, I just couldn’t resist. I started playing a silent song with 5 fingers on my right and the remaining 4 on my left hand. I set up one microphone and recorded another tune every other night before falling asleep. The day I got rid of my cast I had recorded 9 little songs. They have helped me feel less annoyed about my accident and reminded me that I can only achieve something good, when I make the most of what I’ve got.” – NILS FRAHM.