synth-pop . alt-R&B . cold wave . industrial

WEEK STARTING 2 Jun

Genre pick of the week Cover of & The Charm by Avalon Emerson.
Avalon Emerson "& The Charm" is an evolution. Created during an extended break from the hectic blur of her life as a touring DJ, the album is a personal statement of intent from an artist who’s long looked beyond the club for inspiration. It’s also the first time that Emerson has put herself, her emotions and, most notably, her voice fully into the spotlight.

Having spent her entire career working more or less alone, Emerson purposely sought out a small cast of like-minded artists to help bring the album to life. A vhief among them was UK avant-pop savant Bullion, who executive produced the record and, most importantly, shares both Emerson’s predilection for shimmering pop melodies and her boundary-free approach to music-making.

Working together, they cracked open her head and heart alike, creating a space where she could intimately reflect on the people and places she’s loved and left behind.

Come with lyrics sheet inner sleeve. 


STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Reflective and intimate synth-pop album from stadium dance destroyer Avalon Emerson. Nice to see her delving into this world with such confidence.

TRACK LISTING

Sandrail Silhouette
Entombed In Ice
A Vision
Astrology Poisoning
The Stone
Dreamliner
Hot Evening
Karaoke Song
A Dam Will Always Divide

Abel

Another Cigarette / Klat Klat / Raw

Music From Memory / Redlight man Abel doesn't grace our release sheets that often, presumably kept busy by curating those killer labels and endlessly digging. It's a shame really because he basically has a flawless record in edit-land, selecting the coolest records you've never heard, ditching the dross and giving the good stuff the maximum space to sparkle.

When this power-platter first surfaced in 2019 it flew (I'm talking bird, plane, superman speeds), so we never got even a sniff of a copy. Thankfully the Surfing In Kansas fraternity have seen fit to repress and I get to share my enjoyment of this record with all y'all. It's straight to the discotheque on the A-side with the drum box snap and electronic gurgle of "Another Cigarette", an absolutely class edit of a Euro-imitates-Sheffield synthpop smasher. Half sung male vocals, white noise snares and that kind of Electrifying Mojo energy. Flip it for the freaky fun of "Klat Klat", another INCREDIBLE cut which emerges from a haze of billowing pads, treated vocals and skewed rhythm grids as a blast of vocoded boogie optimism. Finally "Raw" gives it ya with no trivia, but a whole load of digi-cowbell, DX7 chimes and nipple high bass work, mid tempo action for the Balearic fam.


TRACK LISTING

A. Another Cigarette
B1. Klat Klat
B2. Raw

Sophie Ellis-Bextor

HANA

    ‘Lost in the Sunshine is about a lazy, hazy, hot, romantic, perfectly sunny day with the one you love’ - Sophie Ellis-Bextor

    TRACK LISTING

    1. A Thousand Orchids
    2. Breaking The Circle
    3. Until The Wheels Fall Off
    4. Everything Is Sweet
    5. Lost In The Sunshine
    6. Tokyo
    7. Beyond The Universe
    8. He's A Dreamer
    9. Reflections
    10. Hearing In Colour
    11. Broken Toy
    12. We've Been Watching You

    The Go! Team

    Thunder, Lightning, Strike - 2023 Reissue

      ‘One sick party record bursting with overdriven guitars, triumphant trumpet lines, and battling drum assaults that seem to break through walls with the barrelling force of a thousand Kool-Aid men’ Pitchfork 8.7 BNM

      The Go! Team burst onto the scene back in 2004 with their debut album “Thunder, Lightning, Strike” putting the disco in discordant & red limiting all the levels. They scored Pitchfork Best New Music, a Mercury music prize nomination and, from a small bedroom concern in Brighton, UK, emerged to take on the world, lighting up stages on every continent.

      Nineteen years later The Go! Team, led by main man Ian Parton and MC Ninja, are still releasing brilliant, ever more eclectic albums (see this year’s Get Up Sequences Part 2).

      TRACK LISTING

      1. Panther Dash
      2. Ladyflash
      3. Feelgood By Numbers
      4. The Power Is On
      5. Get It Together
      6. We Just Won't Be Defeated
      7. Junior Kickstart
      8. Air Raid GTR
      9. Bottle Rocket
      10. Friendship Update
      11. Hold Yr Terror Close
      12. Huddle Formation
      13. Everyone's A V.I.P. To Someone 

      First release on the new French label Disques de la Spirale, featuring an experimental motorik-kraut-dub infused, semi-improvised live act built by Tamara Goukassova, Axel Larsen & Théo Delaunay (Panoptique, Succhiamo, Violent Quand on Aime, Radiante Pourpre..) from Simple Music Experience; featuring Maoupa Mazzocchetti, Fiesta en el Vacío, Ventre de Biche, Kyle Knapp (Deliluh).

      For fans of Faust, Tomaga, Tony Conrad.

      French non-jazz trio overflowed by Simple Music Experience’s founders Tamara Goukassova, Théo Delaunay & Alexandre Larcier, offering a 40mn of non-simple music madness, and navigating between a dozen of etiquettes from undecided space rock to motorik-infused-dub, medieval folk, cartoon trance; everything under the seal of psychedelia and half-improvisation.
      Built from drums, violin, springs, samples, reiterations, overdubs, trumpets, synths, distortions; and the appearances of L. Cedrón (Fiesta en el Vacío), L. Retraite (Ventre de Biche), K. Knapp (Deliluh), F. Mazzocchetti (Maoupa Mazzocchetti).

      Parasite Jazz emerged in 2016 in the smoke of a suspicious performance on Simple Music TV. An improvised and protean artifact at birth, the project settled down at the end of 2020 as a trio (Axel Larsen, Constance Chlore, Tamara Goukassova) in Marseille, then as a sextet during the Illusio festival in the summer of 2021. A series of concerts with a shifting line-up followed - Kyle Knapp, Luca Retraite and Luna Cedrón sometimes appeared and with them, spontaneous incandescences. This first series of collective hallucinations took the form of an album during a perilous recording at Grrrnd Zero (Lyon) in October 2021, and is completed by live recordings gleaned over the course of the summer episodes.


      TRACK LISTING

      A1. Pi Dub (10:29’)
      A2. Alarm Twist (2:44’)
      A3. Damn Spring (3:36’)
      A4. Terciopelo (3:33’)
      B1. Carton Jazz (2:01’)
      B2. Glissement De Terrain (8:11’)
      B3. Untitled (Live à Gigors) (9:54’)

      Jake Shears

      Last Man Dancing

        Jake Shears turns his lifelong love affair with club culture into his most ambitious pop music to date with his brand new album, Last Man Dancing. The new album sees the rollerblade his way unapologetically through pop culture. The album was brought to vivid life by Jake Shears and a close crew of collaborators, including head-turning features from Kylie Minogue, Jane Fonda, Amber Martin, and a pre-Renaissance turn from the iconic Big Freedia.

        The album launches with the massive single ‘Too Much Music’, which – from its glam rock overture, dramatic strings and irresistible Nile Rodgers groove – announces itself immediately as a definitive Jake Shears anthem. Last Man Dancing is a life affirming record for anyone who has felt lost – out of love, on a night out, or in the modern world – but kept moving anyway.


        TRACK LISTING

        A1 Too Much Music
        A2 Do The Television
        A3 Voices (feat. Kylie Minogue)
        A4 I Used To Be In Love
        A5 Really Big Deal
        A6 Last Man Dancing
        B1 8 Ball (feat. Le Chev)
        B2 Devil Came Down The Dance Floor (feat. Amber Martin)
        B3 Mess Of Me
        B4 Doses (feat. Big Freedia)
        B5 Radio Eyes
        B6 Diamonds Don’t Burn


        Back to top