Influential jazz collective Idris Ackamoor and The Pyramids return with an epic new opus, ‘Shaman!’, released on 7th August featuring a fresh line-up including original 1970s Pyramids member Dr. Margaux Simmons on flute Bobby Cobb on guitar, long-term associate Sandra Poindexter on violin, Ruben Ramos on bass, Gioele Pagliaccia on drums and Jack Yglesias on percussion. The band transitions from the political and social commentaries of 2018’s acclaimed ‘An Angel Fell’ into more introspective themes. “I wanted to use this album to touch on some of the issues that we all face as individuals in the inner space of our souls and our conscience,” explains Ackamoor. “The album unfolds over four Acts with personal musical statements about love and loss, mortality, the afterlife, family and salvation.”

Evolving around Ackamoor’s intricate compositions, the album takes us effortlessly across moods and emotions through a series of expansive, extended pieces. Starting with ritual, soul-searching, and masculine vulnerability on the title track, the band explores timeless existence on ‘Eternity’ and mourns the sudden loss of loved ones in the prescient ‘When Will I See You Again?’, a track which gains new relevance amidst the current COVID-19 crisis. Ackamoor pays tribute to his mentor Cecil Taylor on the angular ‘Theme For Cecil’ and renders homage to the ancestors on ‘Salvation’ and ‘The Last Slave Ship’, recalling the last ship to bring slaves to the US from Africa, the Clotilda. The superb ‘Virgin’ is an anthem of forgiveness, new beginnings and self-healing.

Another Sky are a London-based band fronted by Catrin Vincent, guitarist Jack Gilbert, bassist Naomi Le Dune and drummer Max Doohan. Their searing, cinematic songs have something vital to say; they touch on austerity, mental health and toxic masculinity, with an impressive deftness of touch, thereby establishing themselves as a vital voice on the UK’s alternative-rock scene.

They have already graced ‘Later… with Jools Holland’ and earned fans from the likes of Biffy Clyro, Snow Patrol, Elbow and BBC Radio 1’s Greg James.

Catrin wryly credits their early success to the fact her distinctive vocals are frequently mistaken for those of a male singer. “People say I sound like a man. Maybe that means they’ll listen.”

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: 12” Heavyweight Dark Green Vinyl.

Astrel K, based in Stockholm, is the solo project of Rhys Edwards of Ulrika Spacek. 

FORMAT INFORMATION

Ltd 7" Info: An edition of 492 copies in a generic card sleeve, with a hand stamped band name plus numbering.

Devendra Banhart releases a four-song EP, Vast Ovoid, as a limited-edition 12” coloured vinyl 45. The EP features ‘Let’s See’, as well as Helado Negro’s remix of ‘Love Song’, and is a follow-up to Banhart’s latest studio album, Ma, which was released to critical acclaim in September 2019.

"Banhart’s singular world remains as intoxicating as ever, as if all human life is here." – Q.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Ltd 12" Info: White 140 gram Vinyl.

Happiness was recorded from late 1988 to summer 1989, influenced by the band's immersion in the nascent UK Acid House scene. Originally a four-piece guitar/synth band, The Beloved MK1 parted ways late 1987 and founder members Jon Marsh and Steve Waddington were newly liberated by their electronic, machine-driven rhythm section. The perfect synchronicity of the Balearic stylings of the underground clubs and exposure to early Chicago House corresponded with a burst in songwriting and sonic adventure. The result: Happiness!

Recorded mostly with producer Martyn Phillips (who subsequently worked with Erasure, Jesus Jones, & Londonbeat) the band created a hybrid of British electronic pop music, US club beats, euphoric mood and consistently optimistic and uplifting lyrics. 

'Happiness' has been remastered from the original analogue studio masters (by John Davis at Metropolis Studios) and has a significantly louder and clearer audio than the original release. The reissue includes new sleeve notes written by the band themselves.

FORMAT INFORMATION

2xLP Info: Remastered 180 gram double heavyweight vinyl.

2xCD Info: 2CD edition also includes 'The Wolf Studio Recordings', a 15-track bonus disc of 'Happiness' demos, B-sides, remixes and four previously unreleased songs recorded at Wolf Studios in Brixton between 1988 – 1990.

Billy Nomates, the fierce, funny, outspoken force of nature who hails from Melton Mowbray and now flits between Bournemouth and Bristol, has arrived to rattle cages.

The songs on her debut album all come from a place of defiance. Rebellion against Brexit. Against soul-sapping, dead-end jobs and zero-hours contracts. Against gender inequality, sexual harassment and festivals with obligatory female acts hidden in the small print. Billy’s songs lampoon the same bleak reality satirised by her beloved Scarfolk website and explored so abrasively in the fringe theatre she finds solace in.

Musically, there are snatches of Nick Cave’s rumbling sprechgesang; the “off-the-wall-ness of musicians like Captain Beefheart”; Sleaford Mods’ febrile post-punk; the groovesome lofi art-rock of Sonic Youth; and the brassy Americana of Emmylou Harris. What dominates, though, is a feeling of release. Of letting it all out.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: LP is pressed on yellow vinyl, housed in a heavyweight spined sleeve with gold foil text print. Includes printed insert with handwritten lyrics and digital download card.

Blakk Soul is one of RnB’s most talented emerging artists. He has already worked alongside, sang, written and/or co-produced for industry heavyweights like Macklemore, PlayboiCarti, Jake One, Little Brother, and Dr. Dre and has now signed to indie stalwart Mello Music Group.

"Take Your Time" is Blakk Soul's MMG debut and is as musically sophisticated and seasoned as any in the genre. The record's sultry melodies are colorful and refreshing, a dripping wet bedroom masterpiece that combines RnB, NeoSoul, and Hiphop rhythms to perfection. Step into the luxurious RnB of Blakk Soul.

The timeless qualities of traditional tunes can carry us across oceans and eons, linking us not only to the past but to each other as well. It was under the banner of those eternal connections that the trio of Bonny Light Horseman came together. From festival fields and a German art hub to a snowy upstate studio and everywhere in between, the astral folk outfit—comprised of Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson (Fruit Bats, The Shins), and Josh Kaufman (The National, Bob Weir)—is mixing the ancient, mystical medium of traditional folk music with a contemporary, collective brush.

Their s/t debut is an elusive kind of sonic event: a bottled blend of lightning and synergy that will excite fans of multiple genres, eras, and ages. They follow that up with the Green/Green 7-inch, featuring two songs that didn’t quite fit on the album. Says Mitchell, “We recorded ‘Green Rocky Road’ and ‘Greenland Fishery’ for our LP, but ended up cutting them at the last minute to keep the record simpler (and higher quality for vinyl). We see the songs as a bit of a pair, they both feature Eric’s banjo playing and lean a little more ‘Americana.’ We’re glad they have a home on Green/Green and are grateful to be able to share music at a time when the world is hurting.”

Be With presents hen’s teeth extended cuts of two glorious Breakwater classics - “No Limit” and “Do It Till The Fluid Gets Hot”. These super-rare Arista promo-only 12" versions from 1978 have never been commercially available until now. Originals have regularly sold for upwards of £400 in the past 10–20 years so you know how vital this is.

Breakwater’s futuristic boogie-funk glider “No Limit” is six and a half minutes of slickness on wax. It’s almost AOR. Like an infinite masterpiece, the chilled opening chords of the intro could go on forever - and they almost do - but when they give way to the power-funk groove, the track just slaps. It sounds so fresh today, over 40 years on, thanks to the smooth, smooth mixing of Jimmy Simpson. In no uncertain terms this is a monster, written by the great Grey and Hanks. That bassline, those keys, the horn section… all the ingredients are there. Ahead of its time by a good 3 or 4 years, some regard “No Limit” as the first 80s groove ever recorded in funk/soul history. A neat trick, given its year of production.

On the flip, the six minute version of “Do It Till The Fluid Gets Hot” is an original Philly party jam. A showcase for Breakwater’s phenomenal intensity, this sounds like Parliament’s “Flashlight” on steroids. Acidic synths bleep and warp, blending with triumphant horns, in-the-pocket drums and bumping bass to conjure a truly deep funk groove. Laying deep in the cut, the salacious vocal delivery only adds to the brilliant sleaze.

Breakwater had a sonic aesthetic beamed in from the future and these two tracks are just more proof of that. Remastered and cut loud for devastating dance floor dynamite, this vinyl reissue arrives just in time for all those (perhaps imagined) BBQ Boogie Throwdowns. This is a true modern soul double-sider, essential in every way.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Ltd 12" Info: 140g vinyl, extended versions, cut at 45rpm.

BRONSON was formed when ODESZA members Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight met Golden Features’ Tom Stell at an Australian music festival in 2014. The trio shared a mutual admiration for their respective acts and stayed in touch by sharing music across time zones and continents through Dropbox files and FaceTime calls. Things culminated in 2018 when the three artists spent a week in the remote region of Berry, Australia, recording what would later become their debut BRONSON album.

As indicated by the two first singles, elements of light versus dark run throughout the 10-track album with the theme reflecting the light and dark inherent in human beings. The record combines both melodic vocal songs and moodier, deeper electronica with guest features from lau.ra (part of experimental rock band Ultraísta alongside Radiohead’s Nigel Godrich), acclaimed US R&B singer Gallant and British producer Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs.

ODESZA and Golden Features have a combined streaming total which reaches the billions, and hold multiple gold and platinum singles and albums, respectively. Both acts have remixed and collaborated with an array of renowned artists including Sia, Charli XCX, Leon Bridges, Regina Spektor, Katy Perry among others. Both leaders in live shows, together they’ve reached millions of fans around the world on headline tours, with ODESZA selling out venues including London’s O2 Academy Brixton, Los Angeles’ Staples Center and New York’s Barclays Center, as well as headlining festivals such as Coachella, Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Outside Lands and Lollapalooza. 

FORMAT INFORMATION

Indies Exclusive LP Info: Indies exclusive limited edition black & yellow LP.

'Foom label head Benjamin Freeney reworks Tim Burgess & Peter Gordon's restless, psychedelic epic, "Temperature High" into three new forms (two cuts for the dancefloor, and one ambient interlude), rearranging the rich source material of the original (metallic field recordings from the New York subway, Peter Gordon's original Korg bassline reincarnated in sub-bass form, Tim Burgess' ethereal vocal cut-up into new patterns) and fusing it with new percussive and melodic elements. The original track was featured on Tim Burgess & Peter Gordon’s Same Language, Different Worlds album from 2016, with contributions from Arthur Russell's close collaborators Peter Zummo and Mustafa Ahmed, as well as Factory Floor’s Nik Void.'

Finders Keepers Records' continued and unwaning commitment to preserving the archives of composer Suzanne Ciani pays off in an avalanche of dividends with this latest master tape discovery, placing further markers in the historical development of electronic music and cinematic composition. Developed at a lesser-documented axis combining Ciani's key disciplines as a revolutionary synthesist and an accomplished pianist, these early works from 1973 capture a rare glimpse of one of the world's most important electronic music figures embarking on the early throes of a fruitful career as a film composer and sound designer with this rare and previously unheard documentary music illustrating the first-ever skiers' decent from the peak of the tallest mountain in Alaska.

Capturing innocence and optimism in its composition, but never less than masterful in its realisation, Denali takes what would later become the yin and yang in Ciani's versatile musical personality and provides unrivalled vistas from both side of the mountain, scaling a treacherous and fine creative line.

The music on this record was also commissioned two years before Suzanne's first Buchla concerts in 1974 and 1975, which were accompanied by her seminal National Endowment Paper, and would reveal Suzanne's proud commitment to the developed Buchla instrument and her confidence in its place in modern music, thus proving the likes of Denali to be an earlier showcase of the instrument in it's advanced infancy although still robust enough to carry the emotive and ambitious songwriting skills of the classically trained Ciani. After hearing this record it will come as little surprise that the track known as Ski Song would later be reappropriated (and rerecorded) on Ciani's globally critically acclaimed debut album Seven Waves (as the Fourth Wave), which was initially released exclusively in Japan before Turkish-born electronic music pioneer _lhan Mimaro_lu signed the record to his Finnidar imprint at Atlantic records, thus making musical history for Suzanne as a widely celebrated American-Italian female composer.

Loved is the third album by the British band Cranes, released in 1994. Elements of alternative rock, shoegaze, dream-pop and darkwave are mixed in their attractive music. Their gothic elements made a return, while they retained the feeling of their previous album Forever. It was another artistic experience, with nicely orchestrated and constructed songs. Loved gives the title all the credits, as it is an album which shows most of their feelings and emotions. Siblings Alison and Jim Shaw formed the band Cranes back in 1989. They recorded several successful albums, including 1991s Wings of Joy and 1994s Loved.

FORMAT INFORMATION

LP Info: Black vinyl edition.

"Broad brushes of melancholic warmth often underpinned by metronomic propulsion" - Crack

"New album on Warp is inspired by everyday life, shoegaze and the hardcore continuum" - Resident Advisor

"'Civic Jams' may have been produced before the current climate, but arguably only personifies the here and now, adding to the ambience of what we make of our surroundings" - IA.

Divide and Dissolve are: Takiaya Reed (Black & Cherokee) Sylvie Nehill (Māori)

From the early protest songs that came from the violent occupation of Turtle Island (so-called United States), through punk music’s ght against the system, art has always been at the forefront of societal change. Whether that be through pointed attacks or something more existential - sung quietly or performed as loud as can be - music continues to be a spring-board for collective resistance.

Even so, few bands use their voice and platform quite as powerfully as Divide and Dissolve. Mirroring the brash, bone-crushing potency of their dynamic Drone music, the formidable Takiaya Reed (saxophone, guitar, live e ects) and Sylvie Nehill (drums, live e ects) carry their ght and ancestors straight forward each and every day, using the power of their performances to draw attention to the ongoing battle against systemic oppression. The duo returns this Summer with a brand new 7" single released via Saddle Creek’s Document Series. Consisting of two tracks, the new 7" is as thunderous as we’ve come to expect and precedes a brand-new album - produced by Ruban Nielson of Unknown Mortal Orchestra - set to be released later this year.

Opening track 'RVR' is three-minutes of menacing guitar riffs that always threaten to explode but never quite let go, while '8VA' grows from a minimal first-half to a colorful closing full of skewed, disjointed sax and inspired drum patterns that lend a whole new depth to the mesmerizing world they create. "We would like to observe a radical shift in the current paradigm of complacency in regards to oppressive power dynamics, genocide, racism, white supremacy, and colonization,” the band have previously said. “To give weight and validation to voices that are traditionally misrepresented and criminalized before given a chance to speak."

In 2020 those struggles have resurfaced in new and continually horrifying ways, however, Divide and Dissolve’s aim remains a simple one: to secure Black futures, liberation, and freedom; demand Indigenous Sovereignty; uplift people of color’s experiences; and destroy white supremacy. * Taking inspiration from the original concept behind the founding of Saddle Creek, as an attempt to highlight our home city through music and art, we began the Document Series in 2017. Each release featured in the Document Series is comprised of an exclusive record featuring unreleased music from artists outside of the label's roster, along with a specially curated zine created by the artist.

Dynamite cuts is proud to releases another Monster 7” double pack. The one and only Earth, Wind & Fire. 4 tracks taken from the anthemic first LP

These amazing tracks are all MUST HAVE 45s Cuts! Loaded with classic B-Boy break, Loops and club dancers. 

FORMAT INFORMATION

2xLtd 7" Info: 2x45 vinyl release with full colour sleeve.

An incomparable world of bug-eyed, harmony-rich folk-pop-psych-alt-country-rock lies in wait for intrepid listeners as the best Welsh band the world nearly forgot, El Goodo, return with only their fourth album in a 20-year career, Zombie. 

The result of a rapid-fire period of easy-come recording at the legendary Rockfield Studios in the company of experimental producer, Tim Lewis (aka Thighpaulsandra, a Julian Cope collaborator and former member of Spiritualized), El Goodo’s 13-track long player gathers loose ends from the band’s stop-start lifespan, as well as brand new songs exploring parenthood, losing parents and – tangentially – Spanish surrealist film.

Featuring over 20 musicians – including core members Pixy Jones (lead vocals/guitars/keys), Elliott Jones (drums), Jason Jones (vocals/guitars) and Andrew Cann (bass) – the album welcomes contributions from Sweet Baboo/Stephen Black (Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Flute) and Welsh Music Prize-nominee, Eugene Capper (violin/slide guitar). The Grey Tower itself is assembled of 17 players, finessing the ride between bright, sun-dappled hippy pop and intense, squally fuzz with saxophone, harmonica, heavy strings and a Baldwin Electric Harpsichord.

Originally intending their collaboration with a dedicated producer to be a double-album, a new sense of purpose and direction instead guided them to a drum-tight clutch of tracks that just fits on two sides instead of four. As well as recording Zombie direct to tape, El Goodo dug around in Lewis’ rich archive of analogue equipment at his Aeriel studio in Carmarthenshire, including a rare Univox early synth used by Joe Meek in the recording of his 1962 game-changer Telstar (now used by the band on I Can’t Leave). The result of their journey is a rich tapestry of valve-powered sound, recalling the White Album, Scott Walker, The Troggs, Gene Clark, the Beach Boys and numerous other ‘golden-age’ sonic explorers.

Named after Lewis’ sadly-departed dog, Zombie – etched in the band’s memories and nasal passages as a vegetable-loving creature, with noxious after effects - the album’s title follows in El Goodo’s tradition of naming albums after animals, succeeding 2009’s Coyote and 2017’s, widely-acclaimed, By Order Of The Moose.

Forming in the late 90s, El Goodo (named after the Big Star song, Ballad Of El Goodo) emerged with intent as not only a support band for Super Furry Animals on their 2006 Love Kraft UK tour, but also as label mates as the Furries released the band’s self-titled debut on their Placid Casual label in 2005. Haphazardly piecing together records using faulty equipment in a crumbling village hall in their sleepy hometown of Resolven, the next 15 years has seen El Goodo blip contentedly on the radar as a gently persistent musical jewel cherished by knowing audiophiles. Their association with the Furries persists as Zombie is released on Cian Ciarán and Dafydd Ieuan’s Cardiff-based, Strangetown Records. 

The Ethiopians was one of Jamaica’s most popular bands during the late ska, rocksteady and early reggae periods. As a much loved harmony group. After a series of major ska and rock steady hits, the group began working with producer, Karl ‘J.J.’ Johnson, with whom they subsequently enjoyed some of the biggest reggae sellers of the late sixties and early seventies, most notably ‘Everything Crash’, ‘What A Fire’, ‘Feel The Spirit’, ‘Hong Kong Flu’ and ‘Woman Capture Man’. The Reggae Power album is chock-full of these tasty melodies and rhythms and comes wrapped in a cool sleeve photo of future Carry On Girls actress Pauline Peart.

Reggae Power is available as a limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on solid orange coloured vinyl.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: Limited edition of 750 individually numbered copies on solid orange coloured vinyl.

Eyedress returns with a new album, 'Let's Skip To The Wedding' - a loved up remedy for uncertain times. Eyedress is an LA based Filipino singer, musician and producer. 'Let's Skip To The Wedding' is his first album since relocating from Manila to the US in late 2018. A passionate exploration of the themes of love, adjusting to life in a new city, and preparing to welcome a child into this ever changing world. His unique songwriting pairs lovesick lyrics with infectious guitar hooks & his trademark, cold wave inspired, woozy synths.

The album follows his Valentine's Day single, which was championed by Mike D on his Beats 1 show, and 2019's 'Jealous' EP, whose title track has grown to become his most popular to date. Over the past year Eyedress began collaborating with kindred spirits like Cuco, Triathalon and Inner Wave, and earned a reputation for his wild and unpredictable performances.
He’s shared stages with acts like Homeshake, Enjoy, Jasper Bones, N8NOFACE and B Cool Aid, as well as supporting Inner Wave on their 13 date west coast tour. His last album 'Sensitive G' was a personal reflection of Manila life told through the music of his youth; dreampop, punk & indie rock. In 2017 he released his debut album 'Manila Ice', a record about love and survival in the Philippines. Eyedress has previously collaborated with King Krule, VRITRA, Fazerdaze and Jess Connelly.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: Limited edition purple vinyl.

Forgotten side project production from 1986, by Grammy award winning sound engineer Chris Lord Alge. Two versions of an oddball leftfield electro downtempo chugger and one previously unreleased patriotic monologue acompanied by heroic emotional piano - to be served with a sense of sarcasm. 

Ejigayehu Shibabaw was born in 1974 in Chagni, northwestern Ethiopia and by pursuing a career as a singer, went against her father’s strict, traditional gender roles. As Gigi, she embraced the same musical freedom she had strived for in her personal life, incorporating the Ethiopian church, funk, hip-hop, West and South African music into her work. She first settled in Nairobi, then Addis Ababa, where she quickly established herself as one of the city’s leading singers. A move to San Francisco in 1998 led to a long and fruitful creative partnership with bassist and producer Bill Laswell.

Around the same time, Chris Blackwell had stepped away from Island Records to start the art house film company and label Palm Pictures. He took an interest in Gigi and together with Laswell, pulled together an all-star cast of musicians for her self-titled US debut album, including Herbie Hancock, Pharoah Sanders and Wayne Shorter. It won international critical acclaim, not just for its musicianship but for making Gigi a “defining voice for the Ethiopian expatriate community”, as journalist Tyran Grillo praises in his Time Capsule liner notes. From the nation-defining 1896 victory over Italian invaders to the quiet revolutionaries who wear simple shemma garments, Grillo believes the themes in Gigi make it “a shower of sunlight on her homeland for those ignorant of its struggles.”

After its success, Blackwell encouraged them to go back into the studio to rethink the album and Illuminated Audio was born. “Anyone can make a voice sound worldly”, Grillo remarks, “but rare are those who can make one sound inner-worldly.” Gigi was clear with Laswell to give her vocals a minor role “because it’s already been done.” Instead her Amharic verse is fleeting, exhaling through the textures like ghostly fragments, soaring yet muted. Yet the album is still titled under her name, an assertion by Laswell of her central role in the album’s creation. Not only was it a fully endorsed project by Gigi, but she would be present throughout its development, giving feedback on half-finished ideas as Laswell played them back in the Orange Music studio in New Jersey. “It works perfectly”, she reflected after the album’s release. “We wanted to capture the whole spirit of each track, and Bill’s remixes create a different music
language that really puts you in a pleasant place”.

This new vocabulary takes its lead from a technical approach that Laswell had been perfecting during a furtive creative period at the turn of the millennium. Much like his ambient interpretations of Miles Davis (Panthalassa, 1998), Bob Marley (Dreams of Freedom, 1997), and Carlos Santana (Divine Light, 2001), Laswell approached Illuminated Audio by returning to the original multi track masters. Gigi wasn’t just reworked, but recomposed into an expansive lattice of instruments, submerged in a watery ambience of dub and trance undercurrents.

Sonically, this new language that Gigi refers to, is manifested by the original album’s more understated parts being pushed to the fore. Explaining his contrasting methods, Laswell saw Gigi as being “put together in a way that fits”. Contrastingly, in Illuminated Audio “a lot of things that I featured in the remix weren’t as audible in the original.” Instrumentation laying near-dormant, deep in the mix are brought to the fore: the acid rock guitar and Wayne Shorter’s saxophone on ‘Tew Ante Sew’, Graham Haynes’ flugelhorn on Nafekeñ, Laswell’s bass on ‘Kahn’, the melodica in Mengedegna or the floating synths and talking drums in ‘Gud Fella’.

Brought to his attention by mentor DJ Nori, Hidaka describes Illuminated Audio as a “masterful sonic exploration into ethereal ambience and dub” and made sure this reissue also contained a full remaster to give much better dynamics and density in the overall sound. To the dub album non-believers this might seem like a prolific producer imposing himself on another artist’s work, with eternally developing rearrangements that never quite get to its destination. But that’s missing its true power and triumph. As Grillo asserts, this is “more than the reissue of a remix of her masterstroke”. Illuminated Audio refers to the illuminated manuscripts that comprise the major part of Ethiopian art and its new compositions stand in proud solitude as a rare body of reworks that both informs and enhances their
originals.

“Halloween” is a recording of a Grey Hairs live gig on October 31st 2019 at JT Soar in Nottingham. Gringo Records are releasing it on purple vinyl. It is limited to 300 copies and that’s it: no re-press, no deluxe edition. Grey Hairs guitarist Chris Summerlin takes up the story: “When the idea of recording a live album was put forward, our film-maker friend David Lilley suggested he film a song too. He wanted to experiment with using as many cameras and vantage points as possible and that’s exactly what he did here – cameras on heads, cameras on guitars, cameras on cameras. We hope you like it as much as we do.

People occasionally tell us we’re a “good live band”. I’ve never been sure – some bands we’ve been in have always been fairly predictable in their quality, always able to do a good show but this one is different and elusive somehow. You just can’t tell how something is going to go, even when you’re in the middle of it. So, in the name of balance and trust, before I tell you to buy this live record, I’m going to first tell you about the 3 worst Grey Hairs gigs to date, in no particular order.

Which brings me neatly back to plugging this record to you. We’ve resisted the temptation to do a live album because we always felt this unpredictability was both our secret strength and our clear weakness. We could never guarantee any live record would capture us at our best and maybe putting us under the microscope would just be upsetting. I’m pleased we were convinced otherwise, the record captures the good and the bad of what we do perfectly, maybe even more so than the studio albums. We really hope you like it. Maybe we *are* a “good live band” after all?”

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: Purple vinyl, limited to 330 copies. This is strictly for Indie stores only.

This Willie record is an especially happy moment for Yala! as it marks their first wholly independent release. Willie made one of the great debut bedroom records in ‘People And Their Dogs’, which they were huge fans of and felt very lucky in the wake of that to get a chance to work him, firstly on the follow EP ‘666 Kill’, and latterly on this album. It's a real privilege/responsibilityfor them to have their label associated with Willie's music and to put it out into the world, but something they’ve taken to with real fervour.

Twin Heavy was recorded in a couple of wildly productive weeks at Echo Zoo Studios in Eastbourne with producer Loren Humphries (Florence And The Machine, Last Shadow Puppets, Arctic Monkeys, Tame Impala). It was a hard collection to land on because Willie has a habit of writing a new song every week, almost always an evolution and improvement on the last. It’s not a bad problem to have but something as a label you have to be mindful of when contextualising a piece of his work. They eventually settled on a selection and the band recorded straight to tape. The life and simultaneous naivety and nous captured in this have really made them feel like they’re sitting on a special little secret ever since they first heard it.

Willie spent his teens with his ambitions set on a life as an amateur boxer but an introduction to the music of Neil Young set him on an accidental path of discovering he had a very natural ease with melody. As he told them, it suddenly felt like a better alternative than being punched in the head every day. Yala! have been really excited to see him grow over the last few months into an artist really capable of voicing his leftfield eccentricities alongside his very natural classic song writing. This final collection of songs feels to them like all the very best stuff from this last year of writing and recording...and, in their opinion and set against the chaos, a total relief to be in the company of.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: Limited yellow vinyl.

On their first album together since Maze of Woods (2015), Matthew Robert Cooper (Eluvium) and Mark T. Smith (Explosions in the Sky) further their creative curiosities as Inventions. Beginning with a trace of uncontrollable laughter that shifts into the driving atmosphere and unfolding elation of opening track “Hint and Omens,” Continuous Portrait is an album of strange hypnosis, punctuated by songs that venture quite far from the respective oeuvres of Cooper and Smith. The spry, playful layers of “Calico” bounce against a steady thrum of rhythms and samples from everyday noises, while the dancing lightness of “Outlook for the Future” is met with a storm of emotional resonance. Both tracks emerge as distinctively different directions for Inventions, and it is that very sense of exploration, pleasure, and ceremonial melancholia which informs the entire album from front to back. Inventions has always been the product of two friends who find comfort and inspiration in the genuine surprise of creating and combining sounds. Continuous Portrait whirls and hums like Cooper and Smith want us to invoke our inner playfulness and welcome a greater joy into our lives, if only for a moment. The result is a portrait that continuously embraces the completely foreign and familiar, and evolves with each successive listen.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: Limited Pearlescent Bronze coloured vinyl.

Jaga Jazzist return with new album “Pyramid”, where the legendary Norwegian eight-piece takes a deep dive into post-rock, jazz and psychedelia influences. It’s their first album since 2015’s “Starfire”, their ninth album in a career now spanning four decades, but it marks the group’s debut on Brainfeeder, the LA-based imprint curated by Flying Lotus. On “Pyramid”, Jaga Jazzist have crafted a suitably cosmic sound to match their new label home, all the while nodding to forebears spanning from 80s jazz band Out To Lunch and Norwegian synth guru Ståle Storløkken, to contemporaries Tame Impala, Todd Terje and Jon Hopkins. Each of the album’s four longform entries evolves over carefully plotted movements, the tracks’ technicolour threads dreamily unspooling.

The band, led by Lars Horntveth and his compositions, took a direct approach to the creation of “Pyramid”. Whereas “Starfire” saw them take the idea of a traditional studio record to extremity, with different members dipping in and out of the booth to write, record and experiment over two years, the process behind “Pyramid” was almost the polar opposite: it took just two weeks. Both records were driven by the same curious, experimental spirit, but the processes were very different. Retreating to a secluded woodland studio in neighbouring Sweden, they bunkered into the studio for 12 hour days. “The most important thing is that we didn’t want to over-analyze every musical idea” says co-founder and drummer Martin Horntveth. “We wanted to follow the first and original idea and keep the freshness.” For a band which has never settled on any one sound or style, the continuity lies in their constant willingness to evolve, experiment and improvise.

“Pyramid” is Jaga Jazzist’s first self-produced album (most of their records being produced by close collaborator Jørgen Træen) and it meant a change in the way they operate. On the one hand, there were lots of different voices jostling to be heard. On the other, they didn’t have an independent figure to make a call on whether something was a good idea. “It was hard but felt natural to do ourselves, as five of us are producers and make records for a living,” Martin says. The result is an album that feels more collaborative than ever.

Whilst they wouldn’t describe “Pyramid” as a concept album, the band see the track titles as a conceptual starting point from which the listener can construct whatever story flows out of the songs. The album title refers to the building blocks which make up a pyramid, and how each of the four tracks – and their constituent parts – fit together. ‘Tomita’ is a nod to Japanese composer and synth player Isao Tomita, and ‘The Shrine’ alludes to Fela Kuti’s legendary Lagos venue. Lars says: “I felt that this album is a small symphony, each part containing its own rooms to explore.” 

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: Crystal clear vinyl.

Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

Thomas V. Jäger is best known as the vocalist/guitarist in Monolord, the hottest, most crushing melodic doom band in the world. So, releasing an intimate, deeply and boldly personal album of acoustic and synth based songs hot on the heels of the band’s most successful and powerful album to date, No Comfort might seem like a risky move. And yet, that’s not even the most daring and inspiring thing about A Solitary Plan. Rather, this 7-song album is a cathartic depiction of very real and heart-wrenching situations as a means of musical therapy for the artist and, hopefully, for the listener as well. “This album is me venting all of this emotional energy I’ve been carrying around,” Jäger says. “Now I’m feeling more open about it, but at the start I had a hard time talking with friends and family. The record is what came out instead of talking about it.” The central lyrical theme to the album is a coming to terms with the likelihood of not becoming a parent after wanting to have a family for a long time.

“When I put down vocal tracks on the last song ‘The Bitter End’, you can hear my voice is trembling at parts. Every time I listen I get goosebumps, which rarely happens with songs I write.” Other songs also deal with personal challenges, like health scares, existential searching, and death in the family. “Goodbye” is written for Monolord bassist Mika and his wife Emma. “When they had to put down their dog Eskil it affected me greatly. This song is him talking to them and telling them it is gonna be alright.” Heavy stuff, indeed — but in a different way from Monolord’s pummeling riffs. Jäger doesn’t intend for the album to be a “woe is me” exercise, but rather something constructive. “I know that music helps people,” he says. “This is without any irony, it’s therapeutic. I know fans can interpret and use the songs for their own purposes. That feels meaningful to me.”

The album began organically, as Jäger often writes and records at home, sketching out song ideas on acoustic guitar into a computer with no set goal for anyone else to hear them. RidingEasy Records chief and Monolord manager Daniel Hall cajoled the guitarist into sending him some of the home recordings he’d been working on, and he immediately pushed for them to be released in this stripped-down form. “I could’ve rearranged them to get a Monolord vibe, but I wanted the basis of just voice, guitar and synths,” Jäger says. “Really laid back and mellow.” He completed the album between tours, with mixing and mastering by Kalle Lilja at Welfare Sounds. Emil Rolof plays a real Mellotron on the title track, all other instruments and voices are Jäger himself. A Solitary Plan will be available on LP, CD and download on July 24, 2020 via RidingEasy Records

Prisyn features guest appearance by Emma Ruth Rundle. Evan Patterson has always been a wanderer and an explorer. It’s evident in the constant evolution of his music since his earliest days as a guitarist in left-of-center bands, but it’s best exemplified by the constant creative shifts within the fever-dream blues of Jaye Jayle. On the newest Jaye Jayle album, “Prisyn” Patterson takes his boldest leap into unknown territories, capturing immediate moments in his ever-shifting surroundings with the most basic tool at his disposal: the GarageBand app on an iPhone. Instead of his usual backing band, he paired up with Ben Chisholm (White Horse, Revelator, Chelsea Wolfe) as collaborator and producer to create an electronic album completely unlike anything else from Jaye Jayle and an ambitious step from 2018’s remarkable No Trail and Other Unholy Paths LP.

The LP began with a request from couture designer Ashley Rose, when she proposed that Evan Patterson team up with Sargent House label mates Chelsea Wolfe and Ben Chisholm to create a soundtrack for one of her upcoming fashion shows. Patterson was in the early stages of a massive eleven-week stretch of touring and used his downtime in the van to flesh out ideas on his phone. “I sent a track to Ben and he sent it back the next day with additional instrumentation, sounds, and effects,” Patterson recalls. “It was wild. He suggested we make a whole record that way.” By the end of tour, Patterson and Chisholm had an LP’s worth of songs waiting for vocal treatments. “I printed out all these poems, stories, and journal entries I’d made on my phone over the course of the year and went into the studio with my friend Warren (Christopher Gray). We’d find things that rhythmically worked, and that’s how all the lyrics and singing happened. It was all gut instinct, improvisational,” Patterson recalls.

“The vocal approach isn’t meant to be full of hooks and melody. The music is framed almost as a film score for my life. Instead of David Attenborough or William S. Burroughs as a narrator, I used this opportunity to narrate visuals from my reality,” he continues. The record's title “Prisyn” is a play on the idea of a synthetic prison, and alludes to Patterson’s desire for artistic freedom and the album’s conflicted use of addictive technologies. But in the time of the pandemic, he also views it as an example of overcoming adversity in desperate times; this is a record that could have been made under the jail-like confines of quarantine, with Patterson and Chisholm having never been in the same room at the same time. Patterson comments, “These songs have a totally different energy, and that’s the exciting thing about making art. Things have to progress. I don’t want to draw the same picture for the rest of my life. Maybe that keeps you from being a master at it, but being a master isn’t the key to art. It’s having that constant expression, the constant outlet, the constant change." 

FORMAT INFORMATION

Ltd LP Info: Vinyl Single LP printed on silver board stock + download card.

Dynamite cuts is proud to releases one of the all time b-boy breaks and club classic. KC & The Sunshine Band “Let It Go” part one is an up-tempo groove loaded with killer horns and vocals. Not forgetting on the flip one of the best DJ drum sample tools of all time.

These amazing tracks are all MUST HAVE 45s Cuts! Loaded with classic B-Boy break, Loops and club dancers. 

FORMAT INFORMATION

Ltd 7" Info: 1x45 vinyl release with full colour sleeve.

Two early digi-reggae super rare masterpieces by Arnold Brackenridge, made available again, now on 12" format, remastered and restored from the artist's master tapes.

Having been out of print for years, ‘Little Joy’ is back on vinyl available on Rough Trade Records. Little Joy are Binki Shapiro, Rodrigo Amarante and Fabrizio Moretti, three friends who dropped their routine at their respective hometowns to make a record in Los Angeles, California. 

Through a chance encounter at a Portuguese festival in Lisbon, where both Amarante (singer / guitarist of Los Hermanos) and Moretti (drummer of The Strokes) had performed, the two chatted well through the night and into the morning by the side of the river, humouring the idea of working together on music that had no affiliation to their particular bands.  

A year later, Amarante travelled to the United States to record with Devendra Banhart on his ‘Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon’ album. On the off hours of an arduous recording process, Amarante would meet with Moretti to discuss anything but music.

Binki Shapiro, musician and native of Los Angeles, was introduced to the pair through mutual acquaintances and became a fast friend, encouraging the two to focus on the music they had spoken of long before. Through the process of late night ‘show-and-tell’ the three developed and arranged songs Moretti had begun and soon after started writing original music for the group as a band.

A couple of months later they all moved into a house in Echo Park to demo songs and soon after, with the help of producer Noah Georgeson, who had recorded Banhart’s album, they finished their self-titled debut, ‘Little Joy’, named after the cocktail lounge just down the street from their home.

Michelle are a musical collective hailing from New York City.

Weaving in and out of R&B, 80’s synth pop, jazz and indie, Michelle is refreshingly predominated by queer and POC members, showcasing a transformative era in pop music.

Written and recorded in a bedroom over the span of two weeks, their debut album “Heatwave” captures a compilation of sentimental moments – snapshots of youth in a New York summer, all immediately recognizable to those who’ve lived them (and those that have wished to).

Sometime in 2006 or 2007, Jason Molina moved from the midwest to London. Separated from his bandmates and friends and never one for idleness, Molina explored his new home with fervor. Sometimes he’d head out on foot, often with no destination in mind. Other times, he’d pick a random tube stop and find his way back home. He’d pick up on arcane trivia about London’s rich history, and if the historical factoids weren’t available — or weren’t quite to his liking — Molina was quite comfortable conjuring his own history. His adoration of The Great American Tall Tales like John Henry and Paul Bunyan’s blue ox Babe stretched across the Atlantic, where he created his own personal Tall Tales. And when he learned of the London Wall’s seven gates (itself a misconception), Molina went ahead and called it eight, carving out a gate just for himself. The eighth gate was Molina’s way into London, a gate only passable in the mind.

Fast forward to 2008, Molina set off on an experimental solo tour through Europe. While in Northern Italy, Molina claimed to have been bitten by a rare, poisonous spider. A debilitating bout of illness ensued. “I was in the hospital here in London,” Molina wrote in a letter. “Saw six doctors and a Dr. House-type guy. They are all mystified by it, but I am allowed to be at home, where I am taking a dozen scary Hantavirus type pills a day that are all to supposedly help — but they make me feel like shit.” There is no record of a single doctor visit, not any prescription record for these medications. It is entirely plausible there was no spider and that whatever was keeping him indoors during this time was entirely self-induced. While at home, he of course wrote songs.

Molina also claimed that during this time, he fed several bright green parrots that would gather in his yard. While often associated with a greyscale sensibility, Molina was oft-clad in a Hawaiian shirt and had, at least in part, selected the name Songs: Ohia for his first project as a nod to Hawaii’s ‘Ohi’a lehua flower. Which is all to say, the tropical element the parakeets brought to those sick days delighted Molina. He made short, crude field recordings of them with his trusty four-track. Only once Molina was officially on the mend and re-exploring the streets of London would he learn that those parrots had their own fabled tale. Back in the 60s, Jimi Hendrix — in a moment of psychedelic clarity — released his pair of lime green ring-necked parakeets from their cage, setting them free into the London sky. Now, their decendents are spotted regularly around certain parts of the city. Or so we’re told.

Eight Gates is the last collection of solo studio recordings Molina made before he passed from complications related to alcoholism in 2013. Recorded in London around the time of the supposed spider bite and Jimi’s supposed parakeets, some of the songs (“Whispered Away,” “Thistle Blue”) are fully-realized — dark, moody textures that call to mind his earlier work on The Lioness. Knowing what we know about those parakeets and their peppered presence on the recordings, one can’t help but think of that colorful tree of birds on Talk Talk’s classic Laughing Stock, certainly a spiritual guide for much of the set. Other songs (“She Says,” “The Crossroads and The Emptiness”) lay in a more unfinished states, acoustic takes that call to mind Molina’s Let Me Go Let Me Go Let Me Go, and still tethered to Molina’s humorous studio banter. You remember how young Molina was, and how weighty this art was for such a young man. On the closer, “The Crossroads and The Emptiness,” Molina snaps at the engineer before tearing into a song in which he sings of his birthday (December 30), a palm reading and the great emptiness with which he always wrestled. It is a perfect closer and, in many ways, the eighth gate incarnate: mythical, passable only in the mind, built for himself and partway imaginary but shared, thankfully, with us.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive 'Shortcake Splash' coloured vinyl!

Dancers can always be sure of one thing with Chen Moscovici – a.k.a. Moscoman – a certain unpredictability and energy will always define the music he serves up. As well as having a background in indie and rock, he plays house, acid, techno, dark disco, synth, all from a more alternative angle. For that reason, he is a regular at wide-ranging but iconic places like Space in Miami, Berghain’s Panorama Bar, Glastonbury and Pacha Ibiza.

2020 sees the release of Moscoman’s long awaited second LP.

In the studio Moscoman has always switched up from one release to the next: raw and rugged machine disco, melodic techno and wonky house on past record labels Because, Life And Death, Greco-Roman/City Slang and his own label Disco Halal. Time Slips Away shows Moscoman stay true to his roots, while exploring new sonic textures with more direct themes. The forthcoming LP also sees him collaborate with artists Tom Teleman, Vanity Fairy, Wooze, Niki KiniandNuphar.

Moscoman says of the album: “The best way to describe the album overall is a feeling of ‘happy sad’. It’s inspired by the highs and lows of my touring life–the amazing gigs, the shitty ones, the opportunity to see the world vs the crazy traveling schedules and lack of sleep.”

Next to all this, Moscoman continues to focus on building his Disco Halal label. It is a place where artists like Simple Symmetry, Red Axes, Trikk and Auntie Flo have all freely expressed themselves. Like Moscoman's own approach to music, it is an unrestricted label that never fails to subvert and surprise.

"If you’re going to deconstruct the modern psyche," says Liela Moss, "you might as well dance to it." On her second solo album, ‘Who The Power’, Moss fulfils that remit with all the power its title calls for. After 2018’s deeply personal ‘My Name Is Safe in Your Mouth’ - a debut solo album at times serene, at others stormy, on every front sumptuous - Moss entered a period of profound creative and personal self-reflection. When she emerged, she forged an album of questioning intensity and synth-loaded drama, with the expressive force in her voice refuelled by the urgent desire to interrogate the role of selfhood in fraught times. And, crucially, backed by the urgent grooves needed for the job.

As Moss says of her feelings during the build-up to the album: “To make music for the sake can sometimes feel like a narcissistic thing to do, and very reflective of our times. So much of being a musician and live performer is about projecting energy outward, which can be a beautiful and powerful thing. I experienced a good round of that over previous years, and now wanted to explore my fears of tipping the scales the other way: why should I continue to reenact the narcissistic habits of our generation, desperate for validation, desperate for space, for ‘a platform’?”

Album opener ‘Turn Your Back Around’ is a yearning eco-lament set to banked synths over a propulsive beat. Or, as Moss puts it: “One filthy, upbeat, downhearted, close-your-eyes-and-dance-by-yourself pop song, offered as a parting gift to Mother Earth.” ‘Watching The Wolf’ is another forthright song for today, its brooding, near-gothic swagger framing a righteous modern-day folk tale about wolves converging to unseat a toxic political pundit. A controlled rage shows in Moss’s voice, which grows more liberated still amid the simmering darkwave throb of ‘Atoms At Me’, where Moss issues a call to free the senses from the call to consume.

That sense of freedom further shows in the album’s dynamic focus and passion. The nearceremonial ‘Always Sliding’ draws power from the idea of impermanence, from the call to “keep searching.” ‘The Individual’ sets a Paradise Lost-ish narrative to a sulphurous bassline and lunging synths, while the graceful synths and infectious melody of ‘White Feather’ frame lyrics with teeth. “‘White Feather’ is a lament for the earth, sung with fingers crossed behind my back,” explains Moss. “Humanity is losing connection with something vital, and willingly letting itself slip into an abyss. This isn’t as simple as my reaction to the distressing reality of environmental damage; it is my thoughts on our lousy behaviour to one another.”

Elsewhere, the moody elegance of ‘Battlefield’ and bruised plea of ‘Nummah’ rank among Moss’s finest vocal performances. ‘Suako’ offers pulsing synth-rock impetus to risk starting anew, while the blissful ‘Stolen Careful’ ends the album on a palpable note of revitalisation, all risks rewarded as Moss emerges refreshed in her hunger to explore new, meaningful ways to engage with the world.

As with the widely acclaimed ‘My Name Is Safe in Your Mouth’, that engagement took place close to home. Working again with partner / producer Toby Butler, Moss wrote and recorded the album in their studio in Somerset, where they live with their child. The difference this time, she explains, was a desire “to create something more urgent,” which captured a sense of renewal while conveying a strong sense of despair at modern culture. “Perhaps that oscillating energy is best expressed musically via machines. We spent much of our time playing with vintage synths and drum machines, building a more visceral palette. I wanted the album to convey a depth of field, to be multi-layered yet feel simple, and to groove.”

Widescreen ambitions fulfilled, the result is another bold leap forward for one of alt-rock’s most magnetic, exploratory voices. Over 14 years, Moss’s work with the Duke Spirit (on pause) ranged from brawling riff-rock to more cinematic ventures. Other gigs have included synth-rock recordings with Butler under the name Roman Remains and various collaborative ventures – with UNKLE, Nick Cave, Giorgio Moroder and Lost Horizons, as well as serving as muse for fashion icons Alexander McQueen and Phillip Lim, among others.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: LP pressed on yellow 180g vinyl with digital download code.

Sound accompaniment to Alison Mosshart's book "Car Ma" Sound Wheel is artist and musician Alison Mosshart’s first solo spoken word album and companion piece to her new printed collection of paintings, photographs, short stories and poetry, Car Ma.

After releasing on Stand High Patrol records and Music from Memory, Androo teams up with Baba aka NS Kroo to releases another EP. "Introduction" is a minimal and radical experience including 2 downtempo and 2 steppers with heavy raw dub mix inna wave dub style. 

Billy Paul’s “Let The Dollar Circulate” and “East” have never appeared on a legit 12" before. They do now.

“Let The Dollar Circulate” is inextricably linked to one of J Dilla’s greatest ever deep productions, whilst the massive “East” has long been a big Harvey tune. Both make full use of the incredible MFSB, the regular group of crack musicians that acted as the house band for the Philadelphia International Sound label at Sigma Sound Studios.

Causing glorious damage to discerning dance floors until this very day, Billy Paul's “Let The Dollar Circulate” was first released in 1975 on the album When Love Is New. It has the upbeat, dramatic proto-disco sound of classic Philadelphia soul. Taut, urgent verses of evergreen lyrics that preach the evils of capitalism and environmental destruction, to a thumping, menacing bassline. A gospel-infused chorus releases the tension in an explosion of strings and horns. Dynamite.

A richly textured and enduring soul hit, “Let The Dollar Circulate” received a second wind when it was sampled by Dilla for Spacek’s 2005 underground gem “Dollar”.

“East” is a fascinating, genre-blending track; a magical, widescreen soul-jazz masterpiece. Mystical and powerful, it’s a pulsating mini-epic with a potent spiritual dimension. “East” was written by Philly bassist and baritone Tyrone-William Brown and appears on 1971’s Going East LP. Lenny Pakula’s atmospheric arrangements are complex but deeply funky, perfectly suited to Paul’s fervent vocals. Gamble and Huff’s production is a brilliant demonstration of their balancing Paul's jazz roots with the funky soul of the day, and seeking to innovate and push musical boundaries.

A first-person rumination on slavery, Paul’s thoughtful, deeply moving spoken word introduction unravels as the track reveals its secrets. Against the jazzy backdrop Paul’s delivery is heartfelt, welling up with emotion. Strings cascade and winds howl while the bass prowls along the arrangement. Stunning.

Remastered to stunning effect, Be With is delighted to present this vital double-sider from the man ?uestlove called “one of the criminally unmentioned proprietors of socially conscious post-revolution ’60s civil rights music”.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Ltd 12" Info: 140g vinyl, first time on a 12", cut at 45rpm.

This shirt features a orange print on a olive Gildan Softstyle Rinspun t-shirt.

FORMAT INFORMATION

S Info: To fit chest 28"/30".

M Info: To fit chest 32"/34".

L Info: To fit chest 36"/38".

XL Info: To fit chest 40"/42".

2020 marks the 30th Anniversary of Bossanova, the third studio album by Pixies.

The band continued to work with Gil Norton after collaborating to such success on their platinum-selling second album Doolittle; this time choosing to record in Los Angeles over their native Boston (the track ‘Blown Away’, however, was recorded at the Hansa Tonstudio in Berlin during a European tour in 1989).

Their third album in as many years, 1990 was a particularly fertile time for the band with Kim Deal also having success with The Breeders, who released their debut album Pod just a few months prior.

Featuring the singles ‘Allison’ (a tribute to jazz and blues pianist Mose Allison), ‘Dig For Fire’ and ‘Velouria’, plus the first cover to feature on one of their albums ‘Cecilia Ann’ (originally by The Surftones), Bossanova showed a less primal side to the band, with surf and space rock rising to the fore. Lyrically, Black Francis is even more cryptic with a recurring sci-fi theme running throughout, which in turn influenced Vaughan Oliver’s classic planet design for the sleeve.

To celebrate Bossanova hitting its third decade, 4AD are releasing a limited red vinyl edition with the original 16-page booklet being reinserted, having previously only been available with the initial UK LP pressing.

This 1967 sleazealogue about the sex and drug crazed San Francisco hippie underground is a strange trip soundtracked by the psychedelic sounds of sitar and tabla, backwards vocals, heavy breathing, satanic flutes bathed in tape delay, all underscoring the thoughts and hallucinations of the film’s plastered protagonists. It’s a sensual, id-shaking, mind-bending experience that may leave you forever changed!

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: This LP is pressed on coloured vinyl and includes a dvd of the entire film!

DJ Soopasoul's last mash-up was an inspired affair that saw him perfectly fuse tracks by Philadelphia Soul legends MFSB and the Beastie Boys. Here he takes a similar approach, placing the rap vocals from the 1995 hip hop classic "How High" atop a suitably funky, lolloping beat crafted from Clavinet-heavy sections from Stevie party-starting floor-heater "Superstition". It works remarkably well on the A-side vocal mix, and those who'd not heard either track would be convinced that there was no mash-up antics going on. Over on side B you'll find an instrumental mix that showcases Soopasoul's editing skills; minus the Hip Hop vocals, is a fine re-edit of the Wonderful jam.

FORMAT INFORMATION

7" Info: Limited to 300 copies

Like the other seven titles in the Saint Etienne Deluxe Edition series both discs are packaged in a gatefold card sleeve with a 24 page colour booklet.

The original sleeve notes by Travis Elborough are included alongside new notes by Adey Lobb of The Big Issue. The booklet also contains previously unseen photographs by Karen Robinson and Paul Kelly plus a blow by blow account of each song penned by the three members of Saint Etienne.

Disc one is the original 13 track album whilst Disc Two contains all 10 tracks from the long deleted US only ‘More Words And Music’ release plus 3 songs appearing on CD for the first time. ‘Pocket Call’ and two previously unreleased recordings ‘Starlings’ and ‘When I Was Seventeen (single mix)’. We think you’ll be pleased.

More notes on this underrated gem from the Saint Etienne cannon:

'Words and Music by Saint Etienne' was the bands eighth studio album released on 18 May 2012 by Heavenly Recordings. The record features collaborations from longtime Saint Etienne associate Ian Catt, as well as Richard X and former Xenomania members Tim Powell and Nick Coler. The title was provided by Lawrence of the bands Felt, Denim and Go-Kart Mozart.

According to Bob Stanley the record deals with "how music affects your life. How it defines the way you see the world as a child, how it can get you through bad times in unexpected ways, and how songs you've known all your life can suddenly develop a new attachment, and hurt every time you hear them. More than how it affects and reflects your life though, the album is about believing in music, living your life by its rules.”

Shit And Shine return to the mighty Riot Season - the label that was brave enough to put them on the map in the first place.

This LP, like last years ‘DOING DRUGS, SELLING DRUGS’ returns to the SLUDGE. Sludge the way SLUDGE is meant to be ... fucking SLUDGY and EVIL. This shit is ridiculously HEAVY, in fact i’d say it’s one of the heaviest sludgiest records ever made. Yeah, for real. Sleep? Melvins? you call that sludge!? PAH!! No, not quite. Sure it’s heavy and riffy but NOTHING close to this SLOW MOTION EXPLODING MOUNTAIN OF FILTH LAVA. Yeah I like that - that sums it up nice.

GOAT YELLING LIKE A MAN what a great name for a fucked up record. No bullshit the LP includes actual goats yelling like men as vocals. Hail the mighty black goat of your nightmares! Hail Shit And fucking Shine!. When sludge needs to be done PROPER, Shit And Shine DO NOT FUCK AROUND

FORMAT INFORMATION

LP Info: LIMITED 500 ONLY WHITE VINYL LP WITH DOWNLOAD CODE

Working for only the second time as a solo artist, The Coral’s drummer and occasional co-conspirator in Serpent Power headed out to Berlin in 2019 with a tailwind of creativity guiding him. An easy - going, collaborative atmosphere in the company of producer and guitarist/friend, Paul McKinnell, with Paul Pilot on mixing and recording duties, helped twelve new songs to flow effortlessly to tape in just one, happy week in the German capital.

Calling on the Jokerman to provide help on a day of despair, the single reveals a fissure of vulnerability and reflection on an album otherwise written specifically for the purposes of joy and escape. Written during a period Skelly associates with personal loss, he determinedly set out to craft a breezy, sonic antidote to what he was going through. Hitting on the formula to leave painful realities at the door, songs like Jokerman and the album’s first single, Captain Caveman , offered ample escape through their airy abandon and blurred lyrical outlines.

Skelly says: “To me, pouring your sad heart out on a song is self-indulgent. When I am feeling down, I just put on T-Rex really loud and escape. I couldn’t write any sad songs when I was working on ‘Drifters Skyline’, it just had to be upbeat. Friends and family really liked ‘Jokerman’ from the start, so it seemed a good vibe. Then, when we recorded it, the entire process turned out to be great fun. It felt exciting. What should have been work in the studio turned out to be a jolly.”

The release of Drifters Skyline accompanies more exclusive artwork from Skelly, who, as a prolific artist, has illustrated numerous of his own and The Coral’s album projects, including promotional videos, all featuring his darkly comic, gonzo collage work as well as photography and drawing. 

A founder member of The Coral, releasing eight studio albums since their self - titled debut album in 2002, Skelly released his first solo album, Cut From A Star in 2012. Together with former Zutons guitarist, now a full - time member of The Coral, Paul Molloy, Skelly has released two, critically acclaimed albums as Serpent Power , including 2017’s Electric Looneyland .

FORMAT INFORMATION

Ltd LP Info: 12" Heavyweight Vinyl.

Recently uncovered high quality soundboard recording of the Stooges' famous final show with their original lineup and with bassist Dave Alexander, playing Fun House in full just before release. An unearthed gem in Stooges history.

The apocryphal tale of the Stooges performance at the Goose Lake festival has been told countless times over the past five decades. Bassist Dave Alexander, due to nerves or overindulgence or what ever you choose to fill in the blank, absolutely spaces in front of 200,000 attendees. He does not play a single note on stage. He is summarily fired by Iggy Pop immediately following the gig. Here starts the beginning of the end of the Stooges.

But what if that simply...wasn't the case? What if you could prove otherwise? Well, it'd be the proto-punk equivalent of having an immediate, on-the-scene, man on the street report of all those folkies booing Dylan's electric set at Newport in '65. Irrefutable evidence of what ACTUALLY went down.

Found buried in the basement of a Michigan farmhouse amongst other tasty analog artifacts of the same era, the 1/4" stereo two-track tape of the Stooges complete performance at Goose Lake on August 8th, 1970 is the Rosetta Stone for fans of this seminal band.

Not only is this the last ever performance of the original godhead Stooges line-up, but it is the ONLY known soundboard recording of said line-up. Playing the entirety of their canonical 1970 masterpiece Fun House, the sound, the performance, everything about this record is revelatory.

Would you believe that...Alexander actually DID play bass on this occasion? Or that, despite a handful of flubs, he manages to hold his own? Especially on the bass-led songs "Dirt" and "Fun House"? Does Iggy provoke the crowd to tear down festival barriers? Did the powers that be pull the plug on the Stooges? So many questions are answered only to have more arise.

Released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the performance, Live at Goose Lake: August 8th 1970, is the rare release that literally rewrites the history of these Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees.

Recorded with Arkestra veterans at the same NY studio that hosted countless Sun Ra sessions since the late 60s, this first ever reissue of Celestial Love contains the only known recordings of the titular track and ‘Blue Intensity,’ plus a cut not on the original Saturn LP! True studio albums of Ra with the Arkestra are rare on this planet or beyond. This studio saucer is an interplanetary interpreter, here to convert even the faintest of heart to the sounds of Sun Ra.

This collection of ground-breaking instrumentals captures a moment of musical alchemy. Stylistic edges become blurred with by-turns into jazz, gospel, soul, funk and dance. A new genre – gospel jazz – was created in their wake.

The son of a minister father and a missionary mother, Tankard grew up playing drums in his local church. Numerous offers of scholarships to music college came his way but his height and youthful speed determined the choice of a scholarship in basketball. Turning pro, he was drafted with NBA team Portland Trailblazers before a knee injury cut his career short and led to a period of homelessness: “I could not pay my rent so for a short time I was living in my car and sleeping on friend’s sofas.”

A church visit proved life-changing: “I heard of a revival service that was going on. I was nearly starving with no job or income so I went only for the free meal. Afterwards the preacher called me up and told me to sit down to the keyboard. I was hesitant but after all I did not have anything to lose. When my hands touched the keys I began to play like George Duke! No lessons - just instant awareness. That is where ‘gospel jazz’ was born. Since it was jazzy in nature, yet inspired in the church, I decided to call it ‘gospel jazz’.”

Tankard got a job at a local music store where he spent the next few years honing his craft before he began recording his own music. “I programmed all the instruments myself on a keyboard so I called it All Keyed Up.”

Curator Pol Valls found the record while digging and was struck by it’s genre-defying creativity: “the track which stood out the most for me was Eden Celebration which has the feel of early dance music. I also loved Melodic Heaven and the title track All Keyed Up. That track was really short though so we decided to make a remix of it.

If Eden Celebration, with its highly rhythmic cross-breed of jazz fusion and electro shows Tankard at his most creative, then All Keyed Up - a stellar exercise in funk-laced jazz fusion replete with Don Blackman-esque piano runs - demonstrates his prowess on the keys. On Melodic Heaven lo-fi synths and boogie-fied bass synths combine with his elegant and soulful piano. The remix of the title track expands the short-but-sweet piano-based vignette into a Balearic anthem replete with extra drums, synths and guitar.

Released in 1989, Tankard’s All Keyed Up album kick-started a hugely successful recording career. Nowadays he’s also known as a motivational speaker, author, trained pilot (famously flying to shows in his own planes) and as the star of his own reality TV show. This collection chronicles the magic that happened at the beginning of his career, it’s inspired melding of styles sounding as fresh today as when they were first put to tape on his home studio.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: You're looking at a masterclass in acceptable fusion right here folks. Maximal DX7 vibrations power the New Age dance mode of "Eden Celebration", a firm friend to Hardcastle's "Rainforest", while the smooth "Melodic Heaven" and "All Keyed Up" are jazz jams for the Balearic crowd. Toppest of notches.

Emma-Jean Thackray, an outstanding figure in the UK jazz scene, releases Um Yang, her long-dreamed project dedicated to the Taoist philosophy of duality and harmony. A highly ambitious and personal record that sees Thackray leading a septet featuring Soweto Kinch and Steam Down’s Wonky Logic, recorded straight to vinyl.

An accomplished trumpeter, beat-maker, singer, composer and DJ, Thackray draws on far wider influences than jazz. Her sound is distinctive; in the words of The Guardian like “Bitches Brew era Miles entering the dub chamber with a New Orleans marching band – in a good way”. Since debuting in 2016, Thackray has directed the London Symphony Orchestra, performed at the NY Winter Jazz Fest, played Glastonbury five times in 2019 alone, and launched her own record label, Movementt (in association with Warp).

Raised in Yorkshire, Thackray inherited a grounding in Taoism from her father, and approaches her music with the same pursuit of harmony between Um & Yang (the Korean Ying & Yang), balancing melody and rhythm, groove and free improvisation, cerebral and physical. For this one-off recording, Thackray has applied this ideology in every sense, even down to the ensemble itself featuring not one but two percussionists. Um commences with ethereal interplay between keys, percussion, and Thackray’s trumpet, recalling the spiritual jazz of Alice Coltrane’s classic records. As the piece builds, an earthy groove emerges. On both trumpet and vocals, Thackray leads the ensemble further out until the piece peaks with an epic breakdown. On the flip, Yang starts on the same cacophonous note but progresses to a joyful groove before returning to a peaceful state again, balance restored.

When Night Dreamer Records invited Emma to record Um Yang straight-to-disc at Artone’s vintage recording studio in Haarlem, Holland, Emma was excited by the idea of capturing this specific project in one-take, without overdubs or edits. “Recording in (Artone) was such a dream” Thackray recalls. “It had all the fantasy analogue equipment you daydream about one day being able to use. The desk looked like something Uhura would use. All the instruments were natural, woods and metals, no plastic in sight, and everything was to be hit or blown, all analogue. I really needed everything to be natural and real, because the music is about the universe, about the energy of all things, and what is more real than that.” Honest sound to match truly honest music. With Um Yang, Emma-Jean Thackray has created her most personal and defining work to date.

PERSONNEL:
Emma-Jean Thackray - Trumpet, Voice, Percussion
Soweto Kinch - Saxophones
Lyle Barton - Rhodes
Ben Kelly - Sousaphone
Dwayne Kilvington - Percussion
Crispin Robinson - Congas
Dougal Taylor - Drums

TLC’s “Creep” and “Waterfalls” are both stone cold killers from the golden age of American R&B. Here they are again, back to back on a jukebox 7", just as they appeared back in 1996. Name a more iconic duo.

As far as Be With is concerned, the mid-90s remains a high point for this supreme musical expression, and these two tunes from T-Boz, Left-Eye and Chilli sit pretty much at the summit. A pair of canonical guaranteed party starters if ever we heard them.

The achingly cool funk of “Creep” was the lead single from TLC’s second album CrazySexyCool. Released in 1994 it was the R&B trio’s first worldwide smash, and hit number one on Billboard’s Hot 100. This is a sophisticated head-nod gem. A breezy horn refrain, speaker smashing beats and the Slick Rick samples blend sumptuously with the defiant lyrics to create an eternal sun-drenched classic.

Written from inside the head of a woman who’s cheating on her shitbag boyfriend just to feel wanted, Dallas Austin penned the lyrics for “Creep” after talking with lead singer, T-Boz. “Unfortunately, that was one of my true stories,” T-Boz said in 2015. “You’re with a guy and he’s not showing you attention, so another guy comes along and you’re like, ‘Hey, if you were where you were supposed to be, he couldn’t be showing me attention right now!’”

On the flip, “Waterfalls”, also off CrazySexyCool, was no mere follow-up single. This was TLC’s version of alternative music, a song with a strong message: “the idea that pursuing anything that’s self-destructive, that’s chasing a waterfall”. To the three of them, this meant “unprotected sex, being promiscuous, and hanging out in the wrong crowd”. The message hits home hard, now as much as ever, and it’s probably why “Waterfalls” remains their biggest track. But the mighty Organized Noize also deserve some credit. They produced “Waterfalls” after working with Outkast and Goodie Mob and brought along that same in-the-pocket funk, that soulful sound that was their signature.

It’s maybe easy to forget now, 25 years on, but the track was regarded as groundbreaking when it was released in 1995. Musically, the future-retro sound appealed to deep heads across the board, turning TLC into the mainstream R&B group it was hip for the indie cognoscenti to reference, and those bracing lyrics moved them beyond “just a fun girl group”. From then on, TLC were seen as the real deal.

Remastered for this vinyl reissue (that turntable crackle is pure, authentic 90s sampling), we’re delighted to present this essential double-sider as a dinked 7" perfect for every record bag.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Ltd 7" Info: 2020 re-issue, dinked jukebox 7".

Glasgow’s always wonderful, new ‘sci-fi pop’ kids-on-the-block return with an ace new 45 for Polytechnic Youth.

Two fabulous tracks recorded pre lockdown, but which act now, say the band “as a perfect soundtrack to these surreal times”. Both tracks unique to this stand alone release, as the band knuckle down on recording the next full length.

A side “Populous” has already attained 6music radio play and the bands’ self made video has been given video of the week thumbs up on 2 online blogs- and merges perfectly with sleeve art created once again by the always great Nick Taylor. A fabulous synth pop track, totally befitting the current climate.

The instrumental flip “Living in a Simulation”, brings to mind a long lost La Dusseldorf demo given a modern reworking- punchy, kraut infused synth pop acting as a perfect foil to it’s flip. Lovely stuff once again and like everything by artist and label; expected to sell out swiftly upon release. Pressing of 300 on vinyl only. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's a rare thing indeed that PY put out a record i'm not completely enamoured with, and that slims down to 'absolutely unheard of' when it's Tomorrow Syndicate's new release. This double A side shows all of the kosmische power of these top-tier synthesists, and is further evidence to their supreme skills. THAT VIDEO TOO! So good.

FORMAT INFORMATION

7" Info: Limited double a-side 45.

Melvin Bliss' iconic 'Synthetic Substitution' (1973) has been sampled hundreds of times. Gracing records from Naughty by Nature's 'O.P.P' to Public Enemy's 'Don't Believe the Hype', it's one of the foundations of hip-hop. However, there's a school of thought that says the sample could have been retired forever after Ced Gee used it for 'Ego Tripping'. It was the first song to use those wonderful Bernard Purdie drums, and arguably the best.

Their first release on Next Plateau Records, this instant 1986 classic slams from the first bar, that hard-as-hell beat underpinned by stabs and the breathy 'ultra-magnetic-magnetic' chant beneath. Meanwhile, Ced and future legend Kool Keith go to town with pseudo-science and a thinly veiled diss of Run DMC – 'Say what, Peter Piper, to hell with childish rhymes'. It's a song shot through with promise they'd more than fulfil on their debut album, 1988's landmark 'Critical Beatdown'.

The flip, 'Funky Potion', doesn't coalesce with quite the same genius but is still more than a curio, with the MC's doubling down on their futuristic nonsense approach to lyricism. Rufus Thomas' 'Do the Funky Penguin' is the base for yet more stabs, discordant scratches and a kitchen-sink approach that shows just innovative the group were prepared to be.

Never before released before on 7", this undeniable hip-hop classic comes complete with bespoke hype stickers incorporating one of the great rap logos of all time.

The late engineer and producer Paul C's fingerprints are all over this single from Ultramagnetic MC's, perhaps the defining release of their career. While earlier records gave notice of their strange and unique talents, they were loveably messy affairs. This, however, is the real deal, as polished as their early sound would ever be.

'Give the Drummer Some' grabs a fistful of different elements – from James Brown, Dee Felice Trio and James Brown – but bends them to its own purpose. This is a song with a momentum of its own and endlessly quotable lyrics. One of which, of course, was sampled by The Prodigy – huge hip-hop fans – for 'Smack My Bitch Up' in 1997. The now hugely rare 7" of 'Give the Drummer Some' edits this out to make it more radio-friendly, but this reissue reverses that cut, giving you the original lyrics. If anyone knows why Kool Keith also changes the word 'rappers' to 'monkeys' for that edit, answers on a postcard…

The brilliant B-side harks back to the time when every group had a song dedicated to their DJ. 'Moe Luv's Theme' sees Kool Keith at his most straightforward, singing the praises of the turntable skills of Moe Luv. It would be throwaway were it not for the effortless repurposing of Jackie Robinson's oft-sampled 'Pussyfooter'. That – and the presence of one of the world's great MC's at the height of his powers – elevates it far above a footnote.

Let's be honest – the first time many of us heard the otherworldly talents of the Ultramagnetic MC's was on a compilation. A smattering of singles in 1986 had barely registered beyond a small circle in New York, but the inclusion of the 1987 single 'Travelling at the Speed of Thought' on Street Sounds' 'Hip Hop Electro 16' set, sandwiched between classics from MC Shy D and Just-Ice, was a watershed moment.

In a way, it's their most atypical release. The deceptively simple combination of drums 'borrowed' from The Rolling Stones and a scratched hook from The Kingsmen's definitive version of Richard Berry's 'Louie Louie' is one thing. The simple by their standards vocals, however, render it into a loveable pastiche of rock-rap, a more esoteric equivalent of Run DMC's 'Walk This Way'.

The flip is more in keeping with their style both on their earlier 'Ego Tripping' single and the soon-to-arrive landmark classic album 'Critical Beatdown'.

Over some heavily chopped drums from erstwhile breakbeat classic 'Apache' by the Incredible Bongo Band, Ced Gee and Kool Keith showcase flows that were different from anything out there at the time.

'M.C.'s Ultra (Part II Edit)' is part brag-rap, part baffling science lecture. Leaning heavily on the thesaurus, it's a slang heavy manifesto that elevated the boast rap to the next level. While Kool Keith would go on to be the group's breakout star, this is a showcase for the whole collective, right down to DJ Moe Love's slithery scratching sliding from one channel to the next.

Only previously released in the UK as a 7" that's now very hard to source, this is a chance to re-embrace this breakthrough from a legendary group.

RIYL: David Bowie, Prince, Paul McCartney. Restlessness is the first step towards pleasure. We make comfort out of discomfort, pleasure out of pain. That journey isn’t always a straight line, but at least we’re going somewhere real. “I had to move, Lord I couldn’t be still” is the unsettled way that Video Age’s new album and title track, Pleasure Line, begins. But as the song unfolds, it uplifts us into a romantic space of possibility and love. Just as “love” is both a noun and a verb, Pleasure Line is both a road to be traveled and the act of crossing that road.

Video Age’s first two albums were about loneliness and discovering oneself, but Pleasure Line takes on a whole new attitude, considering songwriting partners Ross Farbe and Ray Micarelli are both getting married this year (just a few weeks apart from each other, too). But these songs aren’t expressions of one-dimensional puppy love—this is euphoria with depth, ecstasy with complications. Video Age’s third album, due out from Winspear on August 7, 2020, pairs neon-bright 80s pop melodies with a vast range of influences (including Janet Jackson, David Bowie, and Paul McCartney) to create an optimistic sound all their own. The influences vary song to song, but they’re all tinted with the same rosy hue. These are catchy, memorable songs that radiate big “glass-half full” energy. Pleasure Line is a salve that protects against cynicism—listening to this album, you can’t help but feel the world around you is full of romantic potential. 

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: Purple Royalty Vinyl exclusive to indie stores only.

Vintage Crop serve to serve again. Over the last four years the Geelong group have become a burgeoning force in the Australian punk scene. Their burly, brusque yet supple songs have evolved from the garage rock of 2017’s ‘TV Organs’ album into the post-punk panic attack of last year’s ‘Company Man’ EP. Now they’ve sculpted their sound further, the barrage now offset with robust songwriting, their full-pelt bounce tempered with flailing guitar lines and sardonic commentary. Bringing to mind Wire tackling tracks from early 7”s by The Yummy Fur, it’s an inspired approach, both striking and effortlessly mirthful. Vintage Crop still dish-up plenty of commanding stomp, their lyrics remain as keen-eyed as ever, but now they’re unafraid to mess with the tempo and drive their point home.

‘Serve To Serve Again’ is Vintage Crop’s third full-length album. It was recorded by Mikey Young after a year of playing solid shows, including tours in Europe and the UK alongside Louder Than Death and URSA and some of the band’s biggest shows to date in Australia with Amyl & The Sniffers, R.M.F.C. and The Stroppies.

This allowed Vintage Crop to nail the songs live before committing them to tape, pulling and pushing ideas, stretching them into new-found territories. ‘First In Line’ races off the blocks with its sawtooth riff and splintered beat, all jagged edges and ragged vocals. Quickly follow a pair of totemic bruisers in the guise of ‘The Ladder’ and ‘The North’, both brimming with a nigh anthemic quality, confident in their faculty to rouse the rabble. ‘Jack’s Casino’ is a lurching romp about gambling, ‘Streetview’ is similarly propellent, only choosing to meander and divert itself with cryptic trips around the neighbourhood: “He only moved to that side of town because the postcode is worth it’s weight in gold”.

There’s no better poised nod to frustration than ‘Gridlock’ - “the hustle and bustle of inner-city traffic is driving me nuts because the radios on static”. Guitar lines entwine and wriggle wildly free from the song’s pouncing rhythm and potent vocal, making for the most vigorous of rackets. ‘Just My Luck’ prowls with a shared thrumming verve, whilst ‘Everyday Heroes’ closes out the album with measured flair. Skewed and fervent, rangy at times yet always assured in its intent ‘Serve To Serve Again’ is long-legged leap for Vintage Crop into the delirious now. These songs strive to make sense of futility, they criticise the chain of command, question privilege and most importantly make us want more from life. Now all we have to do is turn up the volume!

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: Limited edition opaque white vinyl (180g) – 500 copies wordwide.

Fusing dexterous hand-percussion, hypnotic guitar riffs & soaring melodies, Waaju rise from London’s rich cultural palette with their latest album ‘Grown’, proving UK Jazz doesn’t have to sound the way we expect it to. Led by drummer and percussionist Ben Brown (Alfa Mist, Dizraeli, Ashley Henry), the band comprises percussionist Ernesto Marichales (Jordan Rakei, Sigala), guitarist Tal Janes (Nubiyan Twist, Bahla), Sam Rapley (Fabled, Maria Chiara Argiro) and Joe Downard (China Moses, Judi Jackson), each with their own strong presence on the UK’s extensive music scene. Waaju’s refined and divergent sound connects the dots between the likes of Ali Farka Touré, Alain Peters, Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, Oscar D’Leon and Beth Carvalho. Waaju formed as a means of exploring music’s hidden connections, from trance-inducing Moroccan Gnawa to Caribbean carnival music, and embracing them to reflect different shades of London’s own musical culture.


It was the band’s love for Mali’s folk music – and Ali Farka Touré’s stylistic prowess in particular – that first set the project in motion. London’s Jazz Cafe invited Waaju to reinterpret classic tracks from Farka Touré’s catalogue to sold-out audiences in 2018 and 2019. According to Brown: “Ali’s one of the best. He has such a unique sound. His playing is so gnarly. His spirit and attitude are things I always think of when making music.” Waaju (meaning ‘to urge, inspire or influence to take action’ in Malian language Bambara) blends pulsing Latin polyrhythms, psychedelic Malian blues licks and cinematic textures. Following the group’s 2018 self-titled debut record, Grown presents a group more unified and distinctive-sounding than ever with six fresh, bold compositions.


The record begins with Moleman, a potent reminder of the intricacy and energy Waaju’s become known for. Gritty, clattering metal defines the landscape for sizzling builds, hinting at rave culture styles like Bashment and Jungle. Listening Glasses follows and it’s clear why this is the album’s lead single – its Afrobeat-like energy and joyful interplay between guitar and tenor sax lies somewhere between Tony Allen’s grooves, Chimurenga guitar and Headhunters’ funk. On late night jam Rollando, Joe Downard’s skulking bass frequencies rule and wonkiness reaches new heights as heavy dub grooves almost tear themselves apart. Time’s Got a Hold was co-written by Waaju and Jordan Rakei for a show together in November 2018. Kicking off side B, this version features special guest vocalist Will Heard over bouncing triplets evocative of 1970’s Sega from La Reunion.


A kind of looseness found only at night, the quiet drive of Wassoulou is sparse yet purposeful. Pulling back the tempo and dimming the lights, cavernous percussion fills each corner of the room, springing back as spectral reverbs. The title and final track shows the many dynamic sides of the outfit’s far-reaching sound, with its expansive harmonies and explosive psychedelia, spanning Yoruba Andabo to Hendrix, signing off an exciting and energetic second LP from Waaju at their most scintillating.

Washed Out is Atlanta-based producer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Ernest Greene. Over three enchanting, critically-lauded albums and an EP, his music has proved both transportive and visual, each release inviting listeners into immersive, self-contained universes. With Purple Noon, his fourth album, and his return to Sub Pop, he delivers the most accessible Washed Out creation to date.

Life of Leisure, Washed Out’s 2009 debut EP, set the bar for the Chillwave era, shimmering in a warm haze of off-the-cuff Polaroids and pre-IG filters. Within and Without, his 2011 full-length debut on Sub Pop, morphed into nocturnal, icy synth-pop and embraced provocative imagery. 2013’s Paracosm was Greene’s take on psychedelia, with a full live band and kaleidoscopic light show, and saw him playing to the largest audiences of his career. The sample-heavy Mister Mellow (2017, Stone’s Throw) delivered a 360 audio/visual experience, with cut-n-paste and hand-drawn animation to match the hip-hop influences throughout the album. With each release, Greene has approached his evolving project with meticulous detail and a steadfast vision.

For Purple Noon, Greene again wrote, recorded, and produced the entirety of the album, with mixing handled by frequent collaborator Ben H. Allen (Paracosm, Within and Without). Production of the album followed a brief stint of writing for other artists (most notably Sudan Archives) which enabled Greene to explore genres like R&B and modern pop. These brighter, more robust sounds made their way into the songs of Purple Noon and mark a new chapter for Greene as a producer and songwriter. The vocals are front and center, tempos are slower, beats bolder, and there’s a more comprehensive depth of dynamics. One can hear the luxuriousness of Sade, the sonic bombast of Phil Collins, and the lush atmosphere of the great Balearic beat classics. Mediterranean coastlines inspired Purple Noon, and Greene pays tribute to the region’s distinct island culture - all rugged elegance and old-world charm - and uses it as a backdrop to tell stories of passion, love, and loss (Purple Noon’s title comes from the 1960 film directed by Rene Clement and based on the novel The Talented Mister Ripley by Patricia Highsmith). Much like romantic Hollywood epics, the melodrama throughout is strong: a serendipitous first meeting in “Too Late”; a passionate love affair in “Paralyzed”; disintegration of a relationship in “Time to Walk Away”; a reunion with a lost love in “Game of Chance.” Purple Noon adds a layer of emotional intensity to the escapism of Washed Out’s oeuvre, taking the music to dazzling new heights.

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: Loser Edition purple coloured vinyl available to independent retailers.

No Horizon, the new EP from Wye Oak, is the latest offering and sound of a project plumbing the depths of an "evolve or die" ethos. For multi-instrumentalists Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack, there is no fear of the unknown, no preciousness about rigidity, no hard definition of what Wye Oak is. Here, in a transitional moment for the band, there is no "if" about whether or not they'll experiment with the format of their musical output - it's "how?" Wasner and Stack have been making music together as Wye Oak for over a decade, yielding five critically acclaimed LPs in the process. The Baltimore-born, Durham-based pair spent 2012-2019 writing music while living in different parts of the country, but the five songs that make up No Horizon mark the first that Stack and Wasner composed while both lived in Durham. The EP was originally composed in a tight, concentrated timeframe at the end of 2018 and early 2019, and then performed at New York's Merkin Hall as part of Ecstatic Music Festival in collaboration with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. The resulting EP is beautiful and strange: distinctly and recognizably Wye Oak, while simultaneously unlike any other of the band's studio work. 

FORMAT INFORMATION

Coloured LP Info: Very limited Opaque Hot Pink Vinyl 12" EP.

Enter Yes Grasshopper, taking you on a trip into the unexplored depths of their collective mind, a place of daring rescue missions and uncanny swamp monsters, all imagined through the lens of a playful B-movie aesthetic.

Emerging from England's unforgiving northern coast, this dynamic duo present a wholly unique take on noise rock, with crushing riffs, white water rhythmic twists and barking intertwined vocals making way for heinously catchy hooks you'll find yourself whistling at the most unexpected of times. And with the lyrics spinning esoteric tales over such a compelling foundation, Yes Grasshopper won't let your undivided attention slip for a single second.

Their universe is one where both rage and joy jostle side-by-side, one moment buzzing with all the fury of a swarm of pissed-off hornets/mozzies, the next inviting the whole lot round for an unforgettable afterparty. Call it metal. Call it punk. Hell, call it hardcore-acid-math-crustcore if you want. What's so striking is that it doesn't deal in the usual palette of oppressive blacks and greys those genres invariably paint with, instead imagining a more kaleidoscopic and perhaps even welcoming landscape. And despite the heavy-as-heavy-can-be riffery and hammer-blow grooves, there is somehow an air of levity permeating the whole thing.

Giving the likes of Hella, Lightning Bolt and John (times two) a run for their money in the 'how much noise can two people make?' stakes, the respective halves of this newly established duo have been nourished on a diet of music's more extreme offerings, with the mischievous demons within intent on shredding hard. Live shows consist of the slicing of mustard and people losing their socks.

Previous PY collections (“They Make No Say” & “Popcorn Lung”) are firmly established gems in the label’s (completely sold out) back catalogue; so the news of a third’s arrival is a joyous moment for fans of the label.

This collection came about under way more unusual circumstances than the previous pair; recovery from the lockdown period resulted in a daunting list of promised releases; far too many for what time was left in 2020. So mercifully, ‘SNR’ not only acts to shorten this list by a 12” and 3 x 45s, it also runs wonderfully seamlessly into the bargain!

The set kicks off with a long-held favourite here at PY HQ. Cyril Bihan’s “PHIL WAVE” project. Sadly, Cyril passed away in 2019, and we are hugely grateful that Cyril’s family allowed the inclusion of the thumping “Hacking Sequence” to open proceedings here. Following that, KLAUDYNA POP offer up the fabulous “Contempt”, which, in their own words, contains an equal mix of “anger, resentment and general 2020 disillusionment expressed as a three-and-a half minute Northern Minimal pop song”.

Closing both sides of the record are two epic tracks from one man Swedish outfit VIB, planned initially as a 12” before the year ebbed away. “Vendel” and “The Deep i” both clock in at ten minutes plus; killer, slow building, meditative kosmische pieces recalling Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream with latter day nods to Emeralds, Eat Lights Become Lights and perhaps some Chris and Cosey. Recorded at home -beneath a bunk bed as his son slept- true DIY home recordings, epic in breadth and motorik goove.

Side two kicks off with the latest in a long line of French artists to have featured on PY. RECIDIVE NOIRE follow in the footsteps of Alexandre Bazin, Bernard Grancher, Cite Lumiere and many more; a Parisian trio with a love of old analogue, synth and cold wave. Professing a love especially for Martin Dupont, Wire and Air amongst others. Following them is the incredible S.A.P.T (Soloist Anti-Pop Totalization); the project of Japanese experimental electronic musician Rikinari Hata. The label is hugely excited about future releases with Rikinari, who offers up the fabulous “Other” for the record here.

Another wonderful PY collection, expected to follow the trends set by the first two and sell out immediately upon release. An absolute must for all fans of early Mute, the late 70s Sheffield electronic scene, Heldon / Pinhas, the Illuminated and (TG’s) Industrial labels. One time vinyl only pressing of 500 copies. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The Last PY compilation was a SUPER seller,so much so that it got repressed with another LP and THAT sold out too! It's obvious that you're in safe hands with Dom curating another one and in even safer hands when you see the lineup. Some stunning tunes here, and after all, who needs to even read anything else... It's on Poly Youth.. you're safe.