'We are the biggest band in Britain of all time, ever. The funny thing is, all that fucking mouthing off three years ago about how we were going to be the biggest band in the world - we actually went and did it.' Noel Gallagher

Oasis are one of the biggest bands the word has ever seen. Here, in Supersonic, they tell the story of the their beginnings from dive-bar hopefuls to global superstars.They themselves talk us through the pivotal moments in their phenomenal trajectory, from the day Noel Gallagher joined his brother Liam's band, through their first crucial five years culminating at their landmark gigs at Knebworth Park in 1996 - the pinnacle of their success.

With over thirty hours of interviews with Liam, Noel and those closest to them, this book documents in unprecedented depth and with their trademark candour and humour, the story behind one of the world's greatest bands, all told in their own words and fully illustrated with exclusive photographs and ephemera throughout.

Standing on the Shoulder of Giants was the fourth studio album by the Britpop band, originally released in 2000. It is the 16th fastest selling album in UK chart history, selling over 310,000 copies in it's first week. Standing on the Shoulder of Giants has been certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry and has sold around 208,000 copies in the US.

The album is an effective modern psychedelic record complete with drum loops, samples, electric sitar, mellotron, synthesizers and backward guitars, resulting in an album more experimental with electronica and heavy psychedelic rock influences. Songs such as "Go Let It Out", the Indian-influenced "Who Feels Love?", and the progressive "Gas Panic!" were a departure from the band's earlier style.

Released to celebrate the 30th anniversary of seminal single Whatever – limited-edition, numbered, Pink and Blue splatter 7” featuring remastered audio and B-Side (It's Good) To Be Free.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A 1. Whatever (Remastered)
SIDE B 1. (It's Good') To Be Free (Remastered) 

Agnes is a Danish singer, songwriter and musician. She began playing the piano when she was a child and in her late teens she founded the Copenhagen based band, Sohio, together with the Danish musician and producer Elton Theander. The two worked together for several years but nowadays she writes, plays, sings, records and produces her material on her own.

Feeling musically related to Roy Orbison, Agnes currently lives in Berlin and possesses the rare gift of a songbird’s voice, bringing to mind Ane Brun, Joanna Newsom or even Ricki Lee Jones.

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Beautiful and delicate piano led folk from this Danish starlet. The arrangements are kept simple and minimal allowing her amazing vox to take centre stage.

TRACK LISTING

1. Falling Catching
2. Riverside
3. Brother Sparrow
4. Just So
5. Beast
6. Louretta
7. Avenue
8. Philharmonics
9. Close Watch
10. Wallflower
11. Over The Hill
12. On Powdered Ground

For almost a decade, Agnes Obel has been one of the most independent and original artists in contemporary music. Now she has returned with new music, releasing the enchanting single “Island Of Doom”, ahead of the release of her highly anticipated new album Myopia–through Deutsche Grammophon, Universal Music Group’s prestigious Yellow Label, and Blue Note in North America.

Following the same principles as with her previous albums (Philharmonics, Aventine and CitizenOfGlass), which she completed as a one-woman project in her own Berlin home studio, Obel has been under self-imposed creative isolation with the removal of all outside influences and distraction in the writing, recording and mixing process. “The albums I’ve worked on have all required that I build a bubble of some kind in which everything becomes about the album.”

“For me the production is intertwined with the lyrics and story behind the songs,” says Obel. This is precisely what makes her music so compelling and the same is true with Myopia. “Paradoxically, for me I need to create my own myopia to make music.” Obel was experimenting with techniques of recording processing, warping and pitching down vocals, strings, piano, celesta and lutheal piano, finding ways to melt these elements together to become one and twisting them in a way that you feel at home within the sound she conjures throughout the record.

Although Obel’s music can often curate a monologue of modern-day dystopian-esque news stories that we are all now subject to, the contents of “Island Of Doom” are much more personal, as she explains: “The song is made up of pitched-down piano and cello pizzicato and vocals, all choirs are pitched down and up… In my experience when someone close to you dies it is simply impossible to comprehend that you can’t ever talk to them or reach them somehow ever again. They are in many ways still alive because in your consciousness nothing has changed, they’re still there with everyone else you know.

“For me Myopia is an album about trust and doubt. Can you trust yourself or not? Can you trust your own judgments? Can you trust that you will do the right thing? Can you trust your instincts and what you are feeling? Or are your feelings skewed?” – Obel.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Obel's latest opus challenges the backdrop of beautifully played modern classical instrumentation and meditative, soaring strings with a decidedly modern focus on vocal manipulation and production trickery, crafting a delightfully immersive and stunningly beautiful whole.

TRACK LISTING

1. Camera's Rolling 
2. Broken Sleep
3. Island Of Doom
4. Roscian
5. Myopia
6. Drosera
7. Can't Be
8. Parliament Of Owls
9. Promise Keeper
10. Won't You Call Me

LuckyMe show some mad A&R skills with their latest release, securing the up-and-coming Obey City (otherwise known as Sam Obey) to deliver a genre melding EP of leftfield dancefloor sounds and eclectronic brilliance. The 18 months since the Brooklyn producer released his superlative debut EP ‘Champagne Sounds’ have seen him tour Europe, the US and Japan (releasing the ‘Shochu Sounds’ EP as a Japan exclusive which topped their native Electronic chart on its first week) as well as get down to business in the studio in LA and NYC. Merging the production styles of the Neptunes, Jamie XX and the neo soul of FKA Twigs and Frank Ocean, Obey City producers a unique and cutting edge sound as future proofed as it is classic. EP opener, "With Grace We Go" is a euphoric neo soul cut with a sublime "Slave To The Rhythm Sample", while "Waterbed" is as sleazy and seductive slow jam as you'd find in a lifetime of Westwood radioshows. "The Motion Blurs" and "Cloud Lust" are frenetic future beats blasting out of the crossroads between nu garage, neo soul and grime, while "Chante" is a brain melting example of cutting edge rap sounds. It's perhaps EP closer "Airy", which gives us the most obvious example of Sam's skill as a songwriter. A timeless ballad featuring the gorgeous vocals of Kelela, "Airy" sounds like a modern take on a Prince classic, boasting that perfect balance of melodrama and kitchen sink that purple one did so well. 

“We could go so far as to say that it is the human condition to be grotesque, since the human animal is the one that does not fit in, the freak of nature who has no place in the natural order and is capable of re-combining nature’s products into hideous new forms.”

So reckoned Mark Fisher in ‘The Weird And The Eerie’, which chronicled the means by which the uncanny can enter the everyday. Mwg Drwg, the second album from South Wales psychic seers Obey Cobra, is an album that dwells in exactly this kind of headspace, where the otherworldly meets the kitchen sink. Always a band who’ve sought out new dimensions to explore via their trademark warped post-punk, electronic and industrial influences, Obey Cobra have crafted surreal new shapes here. Taking influences as diverse as Diane Arbus, David Lynch and Sonic Youth, they balance out heaviosity and grace on the likes of the majestically discordant ‘Ten Of Wands’ Elsewhere, on the title track, the band sculpt a Jesus Lizard-esque rhythmic pulse, eerie vocal abstraction and the crepuscular downtempo atmosphere of Massive Attack’s Mezzanine into a uniquely haunting dreamscape. Mwg Drwg is where the weird and eerie are amplified to intimidating proportions It’s where grotesquely and beauty happily cohabit. It’s an aural exorcism of William Friedkin proportions that demands your immediate attention.

The visionary electronic music producer team Arnau Obiols and KAYYAK, known for blending cultural influences into captivating soundscapes, present two new tracks seamlessly fusing afro-inspired rhythms with groovy organic beats. Splendid remix works by the masterminds Prins Thomas, Medlar & Dele Sosimi and Rahaan are the icing on the cake.

Arnau Obiols and KAYYAK return to Compost Records with their third release for the esteemed German label. Following their debut EP, 'Chang'an', and the single 'Tunacheza', which was also featured in the compilation 'Future Sounds of Jazz Vol. 15', the duo presents their latest offerings: "Faith" and "San Diago". Recorded between Zurich and Barcelona, these tracks embody a fusion of disco, funk, and jazz infused with a strong West African influence drawn from genres such as highlife, afrobeat, and juju. Their passion for psychedelia and krautrock is evident in the recordings, characterized by raw tape echoes, primitive drum machines, heavily processed analog synthesizers and dream-like atmospheres. While the original tracks maintain an organic vibe, the remixes offer club-ready versions tailored for the dance floor. Featuring outstanding remixes by the Norwegian space disco pioneer Prins Thomas, the Chicago legend Rahaan, and the British house producer Medlar, along with Nigerian musician Dele Sosimi, renowned for his work as a keyboard player for Fela Kuti in the late 70s and early 80s. Don't miss your chance to experience these captivating tracks. Grab it while you can, as this release is expected to go fast!

TRACK LISTING

1. Faith
2. San Diago
3. San Diago (Prins Thomas Remix)
4. Faith (Medlar & Dele Sosimi Remix)
5. Faith (Rahaan Remix)

Obits are a four-piece band who currently live in Brooklyn, NY, and whose music is probably considered an occupant of the rock music genre, specifically in the areas of garage, punk, surf, surf-punk, and garage-punk.

On this new album, ‘Bed & Bugs’, they’ve also covered a song (‘Besetchet’) from Volume 23 of the excellent ‘Ethiopiques’ series. So much for tidy categorization. · This is the third full length album by Obits, following their 2011 album ‘Moody, Standard And Poor’, which itself followed their 2009 album ‘I Blame You’.

‘Bed & Bugs’ was recorded by Nikhil Ranade, Eli Janney and Geoff Sanoff.

The discerning listener may well note more than a passing similarity to such bands as Hot Snakes, Edsel, Drive Like Jehu, Girls Against Boys, Pitchfork, and possibly Television or the Wipers. This is un-coincidental - with the exception of those last two, Obits share members with all of those bands.

TRACK LISTING

Taste The Diff
Spun Out
It’s Sick
This Must Be Done
Pet Trust
Besetchet
Operation Bikini
Malpractice
This Girl’s Opinion
Receptor
I’m Closing In
Machines
Double Jeopardy (For The Third Time)

The answer to the question, “Are Obits ‘indie rock veterans’?” is yes and no. Yes, they are accomplished musicians who once fronted Drive Like Jehu, Edsel, Hot Snakes, and Pitchfork. But also; No, they are not active or retired members of the United States military. It’s good to get these things sorted out.

What of Obits’ new record? Well, for starters, it’s their second full-length, and it’s called "Moody, Standard and Poor". It was recorded at Brooklyn’s Saltlands Studio by Eli Janney and Geoff Sanoff.

And how will "Moody, Standard and Poor" make you feel? The short answer is: great. Not Smoking-An-Eightball-Of-Coke great. But Alive-To-New-Listening Experiences great. The long answer is that these twelve songs will take you on a series of emotional road trips. Some will be as brief as a walk to the fridge. Others will be epic pilgrimages to the shady hinterlands of your subconscious. Great records can do this. "Moody, Standard and Poor" is no exception.

It's All True is an opera-in-suspension from New York ensemble Object Collection based on the complete live archives of iconic underground band Fugazi.

Grounded upon the Live Archive series of the Washington DC outfit, composer Travis Just and writer/director Kara Feely's work uses only the incidental music, text and sounds, none of Fugazi's actual songs. An obsessive leap into 1500 hours of gig detritus spanning shows from 1987 to 2002, and encompassing random feedback, aimless drum noodling, pre-show activist speeches, audience hecklers, and the police breaking up gigs. All of this material is the foundation of an ear-body-and-mind-flossing 100 minutes for 4 voices/performers, 4 electric guitars/basses and 2 percussionists.

It's All True is overloaded, maddening, mundane, properly funny, and a radical incitement to action. Half of this delectably bruising megalith is collected here for the first time and on the accompanying Prisons For Profit EP [SLP041], which together form Object Collection's debut outings on Slip. The label itself came to a lot of people’s attention last year with the release of Mica Levi and Oliver Coates stunning Remain Calm collaboration, a track from which was recently picked by the New York Times in it’s article 25 Songs That Tell Us Where Music Is Going.

It’s All True was commissioned by and premiered at 2016’s Borealis Festival in Bergen, Norway. The album is available on 12” vinyl and CD with artwork featuring Henrik Beck's beautiful photography of the original stage production. Vinyl comes with a foldout doublesided A2 newspaper print featuring both performance text and liner notes, replicated in the CD edition as a 20 page booklet. Mastered and cut by by Josh Bonati.

TRACK LISTING

01. Introduction
02. So Much Fun
03. Victory Parade
04. Loss Of Momentum
05. It’s Time To Expand The Definition
06. Children Dressed As Fish
07. What’s The Problem
08. Somebody In The Government
09. Ice Cream Eating Motherfucker
10. One Thousand Sorties
11. Da Da Da Da
12. Change

Prisons For Profit is the neighbour release of the full-length It's All True [SLP040], a bite-sized preview of New York ensemble Object Collection's opera-in-suspension based on the live archives of iconic underground band Fugazi. Grounded upon the Live Archive series of the Washington DC outfit, composer Travis Just and writer/director Kara Feely's work uses only the incidental music, text and sounds, none of Fugazi's actual songs, to build a disorienting wall of voices, instruments and raw polemic.

Collected here are two tracks exclusive to this EP: “Prisons For Profit” and “Male Lame-Asses”, alongside the LP cut "What's The Problem".

Limited edition cherry red 7” vinyl with artwork featuring Henrik Beck's beautiful photography of the original stage production, and a 2-sided printed insert. Mastered and cut by by Josh Bonati.

Object Collection was founded in 2004 by writer/director Kara Feely and composer/musician Travis Just. Based in Brooklyn, the group operates within the intersecting practices of performance, experimental music and theater. They are concerned with simultaneity, complexity, and radicality, combining dense layers of text, notation, objects and processes. They work to give audiences unconventional viewing experiences through our merging of theatricality and pedestrian activity. Their works upset habitual notions of time, pace, progression and virtuosity. They value accumulation above cohesion.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Prisons For Profit
B1. What’s The Problem
B2. Male Lame-Asses

The much-anticipated debut album from Leeds post-punk power-trio and 6Music favourites Objections. Optimistic Sizing is comprised of ten kitchen-sink dramas, ten miniature worlds to lose yourself in. The key topics are covered: performative royal mourning, ill-suited sexual relationships, coastal gentrification, motormouth bigots and–of course–snogging. These tales of 21stcentury existence are set to a musical backing that is joyous and wild. The guitar operates as a detonation device, a musical firework display to energise and punctuate the songs. The bass anchors with irresistible melodic and rhythmic hooks. The drums make complex and dizzying patterns seem effortlessly human, natural and always very, very danceable.

Objections might follow the Minutemen music-as-socialism blueprint (each member in charge of their own chunk of sonic landscape and mindful of the boundaries of the others) but rather than be constrained by these apparent limitations, they are somehow freed by them. That real estate might be clearly divided but it is vast, limitless, and ready to be explored. Objections formed in the post-lockdown period after drummer Neil and guitarist Joe’s former band (and cult favourites) Bilge Pump slowed to an amicable halt. They wanted to continue the musical dialogue they had built up over decades and turned to Claire Adams (Nape Neck, Beards) to start something new and Objections was born. The 3 members have also played in/with: Polaris, Yann Tiersen, HiM, Enablers, Felix and Damo Suzuki (among others).

Objections released their debut7"-BSA Day/Better Luck Next Time on Wrong Speed in 2023 and have recorded two Marc Riley / Gideon Coe BBC 6Music sessions. At Wrong Speed we are not fond of genres, we are here to release music we love not tell you how to file it. But Optimistic Sizing is genuinely post-punk in the literal sense of the term. Objections take the freedom and anyone-can-do-it promise of punk and run somewhere new and adventurous with it, creating a vibrant and living musical language with which to communicate their own unique world view. As a result, Optimistic Sizing is not only a classic debut album but a timeless one. "We like to think we know what we’re talking about....believe us when we say, Objections are a band to watch"-Louder Than War.

TRACK LISTING

1.Idiot Fill
2.BSA Day
3.Nicely Done
4.The Lurker
5.Excuses
6.Small Change
7.Hymns
8.TJOMT
9.Space News
10.Words Strongest

Objekt launches his new label, Kapsela, with a 10-year anniversary reissue of his lauded production ‘Ganzfeld’. An ambitious, evocative electro / IDM epic with cavernous drums and a riotously funky bass solo, 'Ganzfeld' was initially released in 2014 on Leisure System as the B-side of 'Hypnagogia', a split EP with Detroit electro pioneers Dopplereffekt. It quickly garnered critical acclaim (including Track Of The Year by Resident Advisor) and amassed a cult following despite clocking in at 147bpm, a relatively unwieldy tempo for most DJs at the time. Given the seismic shifts in tempo and genre that have taken place in the 10 years since and the emergence of a new generation of producers with whom Ganzfeld’s influence has resonated, 2024 seemed like the perfect moment for a re-release.

Commissioning remixes for the first time, Objekt enlists Djrum, who delivers a jaw-dropping 10-minute rendition which weaves through multiple genres and tempos with the cinematic flair of a short film score. Milan’s Piezo contributes a taut, prickly interpretation that builds tension at 80bpm before exploding into a cathartic double-time closer. Finally, US ambient artist Ulla fully deconstructs the original into a serene, undulating lullaby.

Mastered by Beau at Ten Eight Seven

Artwork by Brodie Kaman

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Bass-techno legend Objekt launches his new label with a 2014 archival dig backed with three fresh remixes. Proper feelin' that Piezo remix me...

TRACK LISTING

A1. Ganzfeld
A2. Ganzfeld (Piezo Remix)
B1. Ganzfeld (Djrum Remix)
B2. Ganzfeld (Ulla “Girl At Müller” Remix)

Obongjayar makes his return with a distinct double-single offering; the infectiously danceable and dreamlike pop creation 'Just My Luck', alongside the unflinching and percussive 'Tomorrow Man'. Reflecting on themes of loneliness and laziness respectively, these two sonically contrasting yet cohesive singles serve as an exciting preview of what can be expected from this next chapter.

TRACK LISTING

1. Just My Luck
2. Tomorrow Man

Steven Umoh grew up in Calabar, Nigeria. He was raised by his grandmother; his mother had moved to the UK to escape Umoh's father, who was abusive. Early in his life, he primarily listened to bootleg rap, particularly Eminem, Usher, Nelly, Snoop Dogg and Ciara. Umoh moved to live with his mother in England at the age of 17, but stayed active in the Nigerian music scene. He grew up a devoutly religious Christian, but became less so after he attended university in Norwich. In college he sang primarily in an American accent, influenced by his childhood spent listening to American hip hop music, but he transitioned to singing in his natural Nigerian-British accent before embarking on his professional career. Obongjayar's music has been called "hard to describe", incorporating elements of afrobeat, spoken word, soul, and electronic music. His lyrics incorporate spiritual overtones, although they are not readily identifiable with any specific religious tradition. A unifying feature of all of Obongjayar's music is his very deep voice, which slides between rapping, singing, and spoken word.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's really mindblowing work, this. A heady juxtaposition of soulful synth music, minimalist pop and bright, percussive African rhythms all brought together flawlessly and meticulously into a cohesive and unique vision.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE 1
1. Try
2. Message In A Hammer
3. Parasite
4. Some Nights I Dream Of Doors
5. Wrong For It
6. Sugar

SIDE 2
1. My Life Can Change Today (Interlude)
2. New Man
3. All The Difference
4. Tinko Tinko (Don't Play Me For A Fool)
5. I Wish It Was Me
6. Wind Sailor

Introducing Observers “The Age of the Machine Entities” an instrumental heavy metal reimaginin of Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C Clarke's 2001 A Space Odyssey.

Observers is a new project fronted by Martin Kennedy whose ambient rock band All India Radio has seen music used in CSI, One Tree Hill and many more.

Canadian metal titan Devin Townsend even covered an All India Radio song that he fell in love with while on holiday.

Kennedy has also released over fifteen albums with Steve Kilbey of psychedelic rock legends The Church.

Kennedy says “I’ve been fascinated by 2001 A Space Odyssey ever since my mum took me to see it in the 1970s. It blew my mind. I started making my own 2001 inspired super 8 movies, I collected everything I could afford and I’m still obsessed with it into my adult years.”

“The Age of the Machine Entities” is entirely instrumental and takes us on a cosmic journey through melodic metal, atmospheric riffs and psychedelic ambient sequences with echoes of Gojira, Black Sabbath and Tangerine Dream and the early 70’s work of Pink Floyd. Indeed treats us to a searing metal version of the obscure but fan favourite “The Narrow Way Part 2” from the Floyd’s Umma Gumma.

The album was mixed by Joe Haley from Tasmania’s legendary Psycroptic and the line up is Rich Gray (Annihilator) on bass, Chris Bohm on drums, and guest soloists including Joe Haley and Jake Weber.

The all important visual aspect is brought to life by Ryan T Hancock (known for work with King Buffalo, ᴀɢɴᴏxɪᴀ, Robot God), who created the mesmerizing album artwork.

Observers' "The Era of Machine Entities" is a fusion of artistic brilliance that pays homage to the timeless mystery of "2001: A Space Odyssey.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Into The Eye
2. Frank Poole's Dream
3. Frozen Lattices Of Light
4. Strange And Beautiful
5. Pod Bay Doors
6. Moon Doom
7. Metaphor II
8. The Star Child
9. The Narrow Way Part II (Pink Floyd) 

Obzerv finally makes his return to the label with his first solo vinyl release. A pack-a-punch electro ep with tracks taken from past live set performances, delivering that machine funk, robotic bass and energy that has proven to work the dancefloor. Listen to the machines come to life, with the synths communicating through the punchy, broken and 4/4 drum patterns.

Limited vinyl only, no repress, no digital!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Platinum
A2. Space Funk
B1. Mind’s Eye
B2. No Way Home

Recorded live at Londons iconic Roundhouse in Dec 2021, when Ocean
Colour scene played all their greatest hits and were joined on stage for two
tracks by the mighty Paul Weller.

TRACK LISTING

LP TRACKLISTING
Disc 1
Side 1
1. The Riverboat Song
2. You've Got It Bad
3. North Atlantic Drift
Side 2
1. Second Hand Car
2. Better Day
3. Lining Your Pockets
4. So Low
Disc 2
Side 1
1. Crazy Lowdown Ways
2. Jane She Got Excavated
3. It's My Shadow
Side 2
1. Profit In Peace
2. One For The Road
3. Get Blown Away
Disc 3
Side 1
1. The Circle
2. Travellers Tune
3. Hundred Mile High City
Side 2
1. Robin Hood/Live Forever
2. It's A Beautiful Thing
3. The Day We Caught The Train

CD TRACKLISTING
Disc 1
1. The Riverboat Song
2. You've Got It Bad
3. North Atlantic Drift
4. Second Hand Car
5. Better Day
6. Lining Your Pockets
7. So Low
8. Crazy Lowdown Ways
9. Jane She Got Excavated
10. It's My Shadow
Disc 2
1. Profit In Peace
2. One For The Road
3. Get Blown Away
4. The Circle
5. Travellers Tune
6. Hundred Mile High City
7. Robin Hood/Live Forever
8. It's A Beautiful Thing
9. The Day We Caught The Train

On Oceanator’s third full-length album, 'Everything is Love and Death', songwriter Elise Okusami showcases her exceptional pop sensibilities, delivering 11 tracks full of melodic depth and lively energy. Produced by Grammy nominated engineer/producer Will Yip (Title Fight, Turnstile, Bartees Strange), the new album features some of the biggest and boldest songs Okusami has ever written, such as the anthemic and sludgy 'Drift Away', featuring backing vocals from NNAMDÏ.

Oceanator’s music has been praised in outlets such as Stereogum, Pitchfork, NPR and SPIN, who described Okusami as having “the kind of voice that can silence a room.” The band has shared the stage with the likes of Jeff Rosenstock, Laura Jane Grace, PUP, and others with a notable touring history across North America and Europe.

TRACK LISTING

1. First Time
2. Lullaby
3. Cut String
4. Happy New Year
5. Get Out
6. Home For The Weekend
7. Be Here
8. All The Same
9. Drain The Well
10. Drift Away
11. Won't Someone

Oceans Apart are a five-piece indie-rock group made up of ambitious, like-minded individuals with a shared passion for music. Formed in February 2004, the band met at University in Manchester and in the last two years have brought their individual eclectic blend of styles to a number of different Manchester venues.

“A dusty plain, a red sky, sand in your teeth - ‘I don’t feel so great’ - a post-apocalyptic hooptie jeep-jammer. ‘Why is everything in ruins? There must be others like us out here somewhere…’

“This fine sizzling grease pit of cyber punk comes to us from psychic veteran Rick Pelletier (of Six Finger Satellite, Landed, La Machine), always bringing an interesting, bent and lurid account of visions to wax for the hungry ear bone. This time around the equipment scavenged is guitar, drums, synth and vocals. The beat goes full lotus climbing out of the goo, like men with sap gloves slapping the hulls of the remaining clubs, keeping the peace during live actions, gorgeous nauseating synthesized harmonies blowing through the ceiling vents, frickle-fried guitar belly slish and vocals delivered over the P.A. at Barter Town (sometimes from the workers in the pit, in unison).

“Picture a bucket of molten metal with gobs of scalp sizzling and sinking away-dance music for the infected. Be sure to double up on your dose before driving around on this one so you can wipe the chum smear off your wind screen.” - John Dwyer.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hope Will Pass
2. Baby Chiffon
3. Sully
4. I'm On A Roll
5. Borderline
6. Bill Fill
7. Shazzamatazz
8. Blowin My Mind

Ever since their inception, up and coming German outfit OCEANS have dropped jaws everywhere they went. With an unique sound ranging somewhere between nu-metal, progressive, post and death metal and putting mental health on top of their agenda, the four piece became a known constant in today’s metal universe quickly. Innovation and to experiment with different sounds and genres and even other artists’ work (covering Alessia Cara’s “Scars To Your Beautiful” may not be your average metal band’s idea) and collaborations with prominent musicians (MACHINE HEAD’s Robb Flynn or CALIBAN’s Andy Dörner can be heard on OCEANS’ latest EP “We Are Not Okay”) are high up on the band’s agenda which makes OCEANS one of a kind and even a pioneer in their own kind of genre. Having released two EPs in 2019, their debut album in 2020 and another EP in 2021, the band featuring visionary mastermind Timo Rotten can easily be described as one of Europe’s hardest and also fastest working bands in the genre. Enter 2022, great and out of the ordinary things can be expected from OCEANS once again.

Oceanvs Orientalis reveals the second single from his forthcoming album on Crosstown Rebels with ‘Heart Pieces’ feat. Idil Mese, accompanied by remixes from Mustafa Ismaeel and Nightmares On Wax.

A producer, live performer and solo act whose productions merge influences spanning Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian and Arabic sonics and beyond, Safak Oz Kutle, aka Oceanvs Orientalis, has crafted a sound that is entirely his own ever since making his debut back in 2014. Following on from his impressive debut appearance on the imprint with ‘Il Lupo’ alongside Italian talent Tooker, revealing the first single from his forthcoming album, the Istanbul-based talent is back on Crosstown Rebels with another gem taken from the project as he reunites with singer-songwriter Idil Mese for the excellent ‘Heart Pieces’ - with remixes from Crosstown and Rebellion regular Mustafa Ismaael, and legendary house talent and Warp favourite Nightmares On Wax.

Slow-blooming and resonant throughout, guided by Mese’s soulful and emotive vocals, vibrant sax melodies and trippy background samples, ‘Heart Pieces’ is a dazzling slice of laid-back, jazz-infused house music full of subtle elements. Remixing the record, Mustafa Ismaeel leans towards late-night hours with a remix drenched in rolling percussion and sweeping leads, while Nightmares On Wax takes the track in two directions - opting for loose drums, hazy tones and chugging grooves across his first take before laying the focus solely on the musical elements with his ‘Club Dub’.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Came for the bass-bugging Nightmares On Wax remix. Stayed for the terrace-friendly Mustafa Ismael remix. Strong package from Crosstown and co.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Heart Pieces 
A2. Heart Pieces (Mustafa Ismaeel Remix) 
B1. Heart Pieces (Nightmares On Wax Remix) 
B2. Heart Pieces (Nightmares On Wax Club Dub) 

Arriving on Crosstown Rebels is ‘Portrait of the Obscure’, the stunning new album from Oceanvs Orientalis. Following three superb singles on the label across the past four months, the nine-track LP offers a comprehensive exploration of the Instanbul-based talent’s rich, globally-infused and captivating sound.

Safak Oz Kutle, known as Oceanvs Orientalis, is a producer and live performer based in Istanbul. His musical style intricately weaves together diverse sonic tapestries of wide-spanning genres and cultures, and through his creative fusion of these influences, he crafts an immersive world that takes you far away from the usual club music references.

The nine-track LP project features a showcase of solo and collaborative material alongside close friends such as Tooker, Idil Mese and Tilahun Gessesse, delivering a journey into the creative mind of one of
the scene’s most intriguing talents.

The bold and riveting project kicks off with the captivating synthscapes, fluttering strings and plucked bass of the gorgeous ‘Pulse Antique’, before ‘Ministry Of Midnight’ cuts loose on more jumbled rhythms and intricate organic lines warmed with wordless vocals. Next up are two of the lead
singles - the tense and intricate house sonics of ‘Neutrality’ and the haunting atmospheres and ethereal synth lines of ‘IL Lupo’ featuring Tooker, while ‘Conritmo’ continues to bring exotic new string sounds, leftfield melodies and warped bass to this most vibrant exploration of candle-lit house sounds. ‘Soul of Calypso’ blisses out on far-sighted cosmic chords with sonorous bells and late-night spoken word musings that add all-new character to the innovative grooves. Then comes the laid-back, jazz-infused house of ‘Heart Pieces’ feat. Idil Mese, a deep and jazzy jungle shuffler in ‘Mercury’ and the playful horns and lumpy, dub-wise swagger of ‘Lanchi Biye’.

An album project encompassing its title perfectly, ‘Portrait of the Obscure’ is just that - a magnificent snapshot of the unique musical mind of Oceanvs Orientalis.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Pulse Antique 
A2. Ministry Of Midnight 
B1. Neutrality 
B2. Il Lupo Ft. Tooker 
C1. Contrimo 
C2. Soul Of Calypso 
D1. Heart Pieces Ft. Idil Mese 
D2. Mercury 
D3. Lanchi Biye Ft. Tilahun Gessesse 

The Ocelots are twin brothers Ashley and Brandon Watson from Wexford, now residing in Leipzig, Germany.

Building on the folk-rock essence of their debut, the duo are back with thier second album 'Everything, When Said Slowly'.

An album that unveils a richer, more expansive sound, masterfully produced by long-time collaborators Cillian and Lorcan Byrne (Ailbhe Reddy, Susan O'Neill). The narrative woven throughout the album explores themes of Irish migration, the perception of time, love, and the simple joys of cycling.

"The title: 'Everything, When Said Slowly' is a response from an old Irish man's perspective on people leaving our hometown of Wexford over the years past. He said it was a very long time since they left, but not much time if you said it fast. I found it wonderful and profound, but also deeply moving and fitting for the album's sentiment. How time flies or drags depending on what you're experiencing, especially when it's time in a place you said goodbye to."

TRACK LISTING

1.The Lighthouse
2. About You
3. Landlords
4. Australia
5. Joy Outside
6. The Good Of A Bad Year
7. Front Door Key
8. Fool To Want You
9. Tunnels
10. Innocent Of Love
11. Invisible Cities

Born in Russia, raised in Israel and now living in Berlin, constantly touring around the globe. Mary Ocher’s upbringing is reflected in her free music and wide artistry.
This new 10” was recorded in Kraut-legends Faust's studio and produced by Faust member Irmler. Among the 8 tracks here is a beautiful cover version of Robbie Basho's “Blue Crystal Fire" and the percussive track "Ulifant Fadera”, straight from the wilderness.

TRACK LISTING

01. Across Red Lines
02. A Beginning
03. Blue Crystal Fire
04. The Deep End
05. This World
06. Ulifant Federa
07. Calories In My Body
08. Piano Edit Revisited

Hypnagogia remains one of the most mysterious and haunting daily states of mind. Moments of revelation are wont to traditionally hit us particularly in the hinterland between dream and waking, It’s this particular headspace that’s very much the world of ‘Pö om pö’, the second Rocket Recordings released full-length record from Sweden’s equally mysterious OCH. Pö om pö (meaning ‘little by little’) is a journey further into inner space from ‘II’, the previous Rocket outing (which followed a 2014 cassette only release)

What’s mapped out here is a trajectory on the kosmische continuum that touches on the terrain of late 70s Sky records style ambience, the more overgrown quarters of Swedish experimental prog and the sun-baked lo-fi DIY cassette culture of the US early ‘00s.Dwelling in a smoke-clouded glow that’s equal parts sunset gold and effects pedal red, OCH have here transcended all influences to creating a tapestry of potent psychotropic sound. A record in which new horizons open up beyond the small hours, and where primeval wah-wah-abetted skronk and mantric folk[1]tinged repetition can collude to reveal new third-eye perceptions. Little By Little, Pö om pö , these forty minutes are here to bridge the chasms between conscious and subconscious, and in style.

TRACK LISTING

01. Bolid
02. Vadstena
03. Syzyrgy
04. Silverstjärnan
05. Isfält
06. Bråviken
07. Impetus
08. Ochra

During the holidays of 2023, Brigid Dawson and I got together at my house in Los Angeles and started transcribing a nice list of songs. Some new some very old that I’ve never been played live ever and put together a holiday set list which we performed two nights in a row at Permanent Records Roadhouse in Los Angeles and did a bit of it at a charity event at the Lodge Room.

Seven tunings later… It was a lot of fun and there was a lot of libation and celebration. We surrounded ourselves with good friends and came up with this charming off kilter set of recordings. I think they capture the casual energy of the evening in the mood of the crowd.

Hope you enjoy.

- JPD

TRACK LISTING

1. Dreadful Heart
2. Golden Phones
3. Ship
4. Make Them Kiss
5. Devil‘s Last Breath
6. I Agree
7. Hounds
8. If II Had A Reason
9. Rescue
10. Burning Bridges
11. I Am Slow
12. What The Driven Drink
13. Memory Of A Cut Off Head
14. The Pool
15. Wait All Night
16. Crime On My Mind
17. Im Coming Home
18. Highland Wives Lament
19. Block Of Ice

October All Over formed in the summer of 2003 and have been feeding back ever since. "The Sixteen Channels" is their debut album. The line-up consists of two shouting boy guitars, one singing girl bass and one hard hitting drummer boy. Ace shouty art-rock for fans of Sonic Youth, At The Drive In and maybe even Fugazi. Quality!

Blame The Young is the third album by the Taunton based Alternative Rock Band October Drift, out on Physical Education Recordings. Blame The Young (the title song) explores denial and blame. It works on a personal and level but also on a societal & political level too. The housing crisis, the food crisis, poverty, the unravelling of the NHS - blame the young, blame immigration.. The albums central theme is ownership of our own decisions, actions and choices with an element of youthful defiance. (Kiran Roy)

TRACK LISTING

1. Blame The Young
2. Demons
3. Nothing Makes Me Feel (The Way You Do)
4. Wallflower
5. Don't Care
6. Everybody Breaks
7. Borderline
8. Tyrannosaurus Wreck
9. Hollow
10. Heal
11. Not Running Anymore

Mantha, the mind-blowing EP from avant-rock trio ODD CIRCUS, will see release on deluxe blue vinyl February 11th via UK-based Airbag Records.

Operating out of Orlando, Florida and Washington, DC, the fittingly monikered ODD CIRCUS explores the suspension of space and time through sound. The band’s music navigates a boundary-less sonic landscape that embraces the unknown and welcomes the bizarre. The result is an experimental style of psychedelic art-rock that weaves its way into garage, fusion, krautrock, no wave, post-rock, noise, hard psych, and sci-fi prog.

Compiled from free improvisations performed live and originally released independently last spring, Mantha was recorded by the band, mixed by Crews Carter and ODD CIRCUS, and mastered by Joseph Carra at Crystal Mastering (Melbourne, Australia) with cover art by Katharina Maisenbacher.

Comments the band, "Airbag Records has come out of the gate dedicated to boundary-pushing experimental music, and we're thrilled to be a part of that with this deluxe version of Mantha on LP. In some ways, vinyl feels like the perfect format for the way we operate: We work hard to make our records flow in a way that makes a start-to-finish listen the ideal experience, and the LP encourages you to do just that. Drop the needle, sink in, and enjoy the trip."

TRACK LISTING

1. Dybukk
2. Gezora
3. Amarok
4. Wendigo
5. Venadek
6. Djinn
7. Maniac (Vinyl Bonus Track)

Odd Nosdam really doesn’t need an introduction, unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 20 years then undoubtedly you’ll know what’s up, and what an absolute humbling pleasure it is to now introduce Nosdam to the Where To Now? catalogue with two new cuts that flow from ethereal, meditative contemplation through to downtown abstracted machine damage..

The record opens with ‘End is Important’, A looping, spiritual lament which forces observation, or resolution around the concept of ‘Endings.’ Passages from Tsunetomo Yamamoto’s ‘Hagakure’ seep in and out of the mix throughout, where spiraling and glistening arpeggios dance across a glorious choral mantra, intended to elevate minds towards some kind of plume of awakening. This is a heady and deep cut which finds Odd Nosdam in full introspection mode.

‘Here to Know’ recalls the work of Patrick Cowley in his best downtown ultra slow swinging funk suit, or the more obvious nods to John Carpenter’s Assault on Precinct 13 OST. However, this is far from a straight up ode to creeping machine funk - Nosdam’s injection of energetic, pulsing synth stabs move the piece into a more surreal territory, creating a masterful and experimental injection of life and colour into an otherwise smoked out landscape.

“Where I found myself when Where To Now? reached out - asking if I'd consider a vinyl release with the label - was over in Barcelona spending time with loved ones at my family's apartment in the district of Sant Gervasi.

After my initial contact with WTN?, I ventured north to Cadaqués to visit Salvador Dalí's house in Port Lligat, where Gala & Dalí spent some 50 summers. While inspired asf touring the glorious property, I captured recordings from a looping video screening in an open air theater. These recordings became the foundation of Here To Know.

Sometimes there’s a break in the road. End Is Important was realized after re-watching the Jim Jarmusch film, Ghost Dog. Stealthy and evanescent, a familiar voice carries this slow-diver with a message to the world warped cruiser in all of us.” - Odd Nosdam 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Leftfield hip-hop mystic Odd Nosdam gets suitably strange for the Where To Now? label. Scripting in philosophical utterances and angelic harp passages on one side while on the other we get sludgy synth phlegm and thick atmospheres. Totally tripped out and all the better for it!

TRACK LISTING

A. End Is Important
B. Here To Know

New York quintet O'Death's third album, "Broken Hymns, Limbs And Skin", feels like a giddy junkyard hoedown, from the panicked fiddle screeches of opener "Lowtide" to the celebratory gallop of closer "Lean-To". At times it sounds morose or contemplative, but underneath the melancholy is a gospel fervour — bashed from paint buckets, banjos, guitars and anything else in kicking distance — that defines their sound. Since 2007's "Head Home", the band have evolved the possessed Americana-meets-gypsy-punk of recent years into a more urgent, unrelenting celebration of life, death and everything in between. They've grown up a little, but haven't lost the underlying longing or the unruly jubilation in their songs.

'Multi award winning, platinum selling artist, Tom Odell, returns in 2024 with his sixth studio album, ‘Black Friday’, following the release of the title track in September 2023. The song, ‘Black Friday’, a thing of delicate beauty that swells into an impassioned crescendo, marks Odell’s biggest launch on streaming platforms to date, with a massive 2 million streams in the first 24 hours of release. 'Armed with a newfound sense of freedom and creative control, this new era of Tom’s career has seen him grow his online fanbase by millions, play the biggest live shows of his career and become one of the most streamed British artists in the world. 

TRACK LISTING

Answer Phone
Black Friday
Loving You Will Be The Death Of Me
The Orchestra Tunes Up
Spinning
The End Of The Summer
The Orchestra Takes Flight
Somebody Else
Parties
The Orchestra Is Feeling Tense
Nothing Hurts Like Love
Getaway (voice Note)
The End

A new direction for ODESZA sees them enlist the help of South-African singer-songwriter Yellow House for an EP that sees the duo explores a sound which seeks to blend their signature arena electronic sound with elements of indie rock, folk, & psych.

The latest new collaboration follow previous high-profile musical partnerships with the likes of Leon Bridges, Little Dragon, Regina Spektor, Julianna Barwick, Naomi Wild, Låpsley, and Ólafur Arnalds.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Dissolved In A Daydream
A2. Easy Money
A3. Waiting Forever (Feat. Preston.)
B1. Heavier
B2. Undone
B3. Flaws In Our Design

Celebrating ODESZA’s seminal 2014 album 'In Return', featuring the RIAA certified Gold singles 'Say My Name' and 'Sun Models', alongside other fan favorites and classics such as 'All We Need', 'Bloom' and 'Memories That You Call' - this release also collates additional music and remixes from the 'In Return' era including 'Light (feat. Little Dragon)' and a number og remixes from RÜFÜS DU SOL, Hayden James, ILLENIUM, Lane 8, and Beat Connection.

TRACK LISTING

1. Always This Late
2. Say My Name (feat. Zyra)
3. Bloom
4. All We Need (feat. Shy Girls)
5. Sundara
6. White Lies (feat. Jenni Potts)
7. Kusanagi
8. Echoes (feat. Py)
9. It’s Only (feat. Zyra)
10. Koto
11. Memories That You Call (feat. Monsoonsiren)
12. Sun Models (feat. Madelyn Grant)
13. For Us (feat. Briana Marela)
14. Light (feat. Little Dragon)
15. Say My Name (feat. Zyra) (Hayden James Remix)
16. Bloom (Lane 8 Remix)
17. All We Need (feat. Shy Girls) (Beat Connection Remix)
18. It’s Only (feat. Zyra) (RÜFÜS DU SOL Remix)
19. Always This Late (ILLENIUM 2014 Remix)

Symphonic, vast, and emotionally stirring, ‘The Last Goodbye’ is the duo’s most ambitious album to date. Nostalgic yet rooted in the present, it serves as a sweeping sonic experience that speaks to themes of connection and reminiscence. Interwoven with both the new and the old, the album is interspersed with personal audio clips from home video footage, hypnotherapy sessions and even the voices of the duo’s parents, plus features The Knocks, Bettye LaVette, MARO, Låpsley, Ólafur Arnalds, Julianna Barwick, Izzy Bizu and Charlie Houston. These collaborations follow previous high-profile musical partnerships with the likes of Leon Bridges, Little Dragon, Regina Spektor, RY X, Naomi Wild, and more.

Discussing the album, Odesza say:

“Over the past few years we’ve been able to reflect on who we are, what it means to do what we do, and in the end, who we are doing this for. We became focused and inspired by the impact our families and friends have imprinted on us and how we want to continue to echo that out as we move through this life. We found comfort in the fact that those who we love stay with us, that they become intrinsically part of us, in a way. Is there ever a really a Last Goodbye? We don’t think there is. So, from us to you. The Last Goodbye, the album.”

TRACK LISTING

A1. This Version Of You (feat. Julianna Barwick)
A2. Wide Awake (feat. Charlie Houston)
A3. Love Letter (feat. The Knocks)
A4. Behind The Sun
B1. Forgive Me (feat. Izzy Bizu)
B2. North Garden
B3. Better Now (feat. MARO)
C1. The Last Goodbye (feat. Bettye LaVette)
C2. All My Life
C3. Equal (feat. Låpsley)
D1. Healing Grid
D2. I Can’t Sleep
D3. Light Of Day (feat. Ólafur Arnalds)

ODESZA present ‘The Last Goodbye Tour Live’, the GRAMMYnominees’ live album set for release via Foreign FamilyCollective / Ninja Tune. For the first time in their career,ODESZA will be releasing live versions of their songs as a fullycohesive album, bringing to life the nearly-indescribable magicof their expansive and immersive concert experience.

Produced and engineered by ODESZA (the duo of HarrisonMills and Clayton Knight), ‘The Last Goodbye Tour Live’ wasrecorded throughout their monumental 2022-2023 The LastGoodbye Tour, the first amphitheatre tour ever attempted by anelectronic act.

Referred to as VIP edits, almost every song has beenthoughtfully revised and rearranged deliberately for the liveshow and ODESZA’s creativity and ingenuity is abundantly clearthroughout the album. ‘The Last Goodbye Tour Live’ is completewith the ODESZA Drumline, two horn players, and a rotatingcast of vocalists including Naomi Wild, Sudan Archives, IzzyBizu, MARO, Mansionair and Charlie Houston.

TRACK LISTING

A1. This Version Of You
A2. Behind The Sun
A3. All We Need (ODESZA VIP Remix)
A4. Love Letter (ODESZA VIP Remix)
A5. Say My Name X Late Night

B1. In The Rain
B2. One Day They'll Know (ODESZA VIP Remix)
B3. Wide Awake (feat. Charlie Houston)
B4. Bloom (ODESZA VIP Remix)
B5. Equal X Boy

C1. All My Life
C2. Better Now (feat. MARO)
C3. Line Of Sight (feat. Mansionair & Naomi Wild)
C4. Forgive Me (feat. Izzy Bizu) (ODESZA VIP Remix)
C5. La Ciudad (ODESZA VIP Remix)

D1. Selfish Soul (feat. Sudan Archives) (ODESZA VIP Remix)
D2. TENSE
D3. KEEP MOVING
D4. Sun Models (ODESZA VIP Remix)
D5. Hopeful

E1. Across The Room X Falls (ODESZA VIP Remix)
E2. Loyal
E3. Don't Stop (ODESZA VIP Remix)
E4. Just A Memory (Interlude)

F1. Higher Ground (feat. Naomi Wild)
F2. A Moment Apart (ODESZA VIP Remix)
F3. The Last Goodbye

‘GHOSTS OF ROCK N ROLL’ is the fifth solo album from Men They Couldn’t Hang frontman Phil Odgers and is preceded by the digital single ‘The Serpent, The Maiden and The Bear’ (30th July). Beginning as a collection of ukulele led demos, ‘GHOSTS OF ROCK N ROLL’ has endured a stormy birth and its final emergence represents the triumph of resilience over adversity. Originally launched as a Pledge Music crowdfunded campaign, the album was nearly strangled at birth by the collapse of Pledge Music in 2018 and the loss of the majority of fan investment.

Despite this setback, all fan pledges were still fulfilled and the project relocated to Bandcamp just in time for the pandemic lockdown to prevent any further recording sessions with producer Jim Knight. Finally, the album inched forward over the summer of 2020 only to crash into the second lockdown and then the tragic loss of fellow TMTCH frontman Stefan Cush in February 2021. With such checkered history, ‘GHOSTS OF ROCK N ROLL’ seems an appropriate title and its combination of folky pop and melancholic twang, combined with an ethos of survival, memory and experience create a testament to a life spent sailing the sometimes treacherous waters of Rock and Roll. The album features guest appearances by Sid Griffin and Bobby Valentino.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Serpent, The Maiden And The Bear
2. Flower Lady
3. Brooklyn Bridge
4. The Last Thing On My Mind (Is Regret)
5. Ghost Of Rock 'n' Roll
6. Early Morning Rain
7.The Desert Has A Thousand Eyes
8. Empty Streets And Lovers In The Rain
9. Uke Town
10. Rage Against The Machine

This week's Ronseal award goes to Cole Odin for the lush and perfectly titled "Warmth" EP, a much needed dose of mid afternoon sun in the week my boiler broke down. On A-side cut "This Kitchen Is For Dancing", Cole is in full Claremont 56 mode, combining sunkissed arps and nuanced drum programming beneath a chiming, chorus soaked guitar, recalling the horiztonal magic of the finest moments from Messers Smith & Mudd. "The Warmth Of Your Sun" switches the style but retains the vibe, dropping the tempo for a dubby downbeat jam absolutely dripping with hallucinogenic agents. Remixes come from Jack Priest and Adam Warped who strip back and speed up the cuts respectively for some full blooded Balearic house heat. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Lovely stuff from Cole Odin on Eclectics here, ensuring we all stay toasty throughout the imminent winter. Dreamy guitars, bubbling electronics and unchecked optimism wait within.

TRACK LISTING

A1. This Kitchen Is For Dancing
A2. This Kitchen Is For Dancing (Jack Priest Remix)
B1. The Warmth Of Your Sun
B2. The Warmth Of Your Sun (Adam Warped Remix)

Odonis Odonis have proven time and time again that they’re not interested in doing the same thing twice. Since their beginnings, the Toronto outfit led by core duo Constantin Tzenos and Denholm Whale, have put out five full-length albums, and played countless shows and festivals across North America and Europe, all while following their musical instincts. In the past eleven years, they’ve thrillingly explored genres including post-punk, EBM, industrial, shoegaze, pop, and surf rock. For their next evolution, Odonis Odonis are shifting from the grind of the traditional music industry with its unsustainable physical and psychological demands, to strictly focus on meaningful creative endeavors. These include releasing music, album production, and event production, and draw on Tzenos and Whale’s collective talents and experience. From producing, scoring, and mastering at Tzenos’s new studio After Hours, to countless curated shows through Whale’s co-run concert company Transmit Presents, these past and forthcoming projects were chosen selectively, and with the intention of working with individuals they respect and admire.

The duo describe their collaborative EP ICON as a “calling card,” and it perfectly encapsulates the new iteration of Odonis Odonis. Following their 2021 album Spectrums, they started working on this collection of five songs, writing them geared towards some of their favorite veteran and up-andcoming artists. “We wanted to bring out what we admire in them and prove that we can do a variety of styles,”explains Whale.

Some like New York noise rock mainstays A Place to Bury Strangers, Pittsburgh experimentalist TOBACCO, and Vancouver post-punks ACTORS, they’ve previously shared stages and tour vans with, while others like Vancouver darkwave singer and pianist Terror Bird and Los Angeles industrial pop project Patriarchy, are more recent discoveries. The striking artwork comes courtesy of New York-based noise artist Dreamcrusher, another act who shares Whale and Tzenos’ community-minded ethos. Somewhat ironically, by shedding their skin as a band, the duo have embraced the individual spotlight more, and ICON marks the first chapter (with further collaborations to come) of this new Odonis Odonis era.

TRACK LISTING

1. X
2. Model (feat. A Place To Bury Strangers)
3. Beast (feat. TOBACCO)
4. Brilliant Things (feat. Terror Bird)
5. XX
5. No One Left (feat. Actors)
6. Passing Us By (feat. SUUNS)
7. Scapegoat (feat. Patriarchy)
8. XXX

RIYL: D.A.F., Nine Inch Nails, HEALTH, Metz. Toronto underground staple Odonis Odonis broke out in 2011 with their scrappy, blown out debut, Hollandaze. The dynamic trio instantly began turning heads with their signature "industrial surf-gaze" sound.

On their Polaris Prize nominated follow up, Hard Boiled Soft Boiled, Odonis Odonis masterfully crafted a sonically divergent record that pushed their sound into new territory. Odonis Odonis' latest epic, Post Plague, delivers a powerful blend of industrial, electronic and Sci-Fi. Odonis Odonis' post--apocalyptic anthems construct scenes of sci-fi horror and saturate them with industrial strength synth beats. Dean Tzenos' vocals sit clear and upfront, delivered with a foreboding intensity accented by his synth motifs and soundscapes. Denholm Whale's carefully crafted bass figures / electronic percussions are strategically placed like demolition charges throughout the sonic foundations of each track that Jarod Gibson, like some futurist architect, constructs.

On Post Plague, Odonis Odonis delivers the kind of hypnotic, pulsing destruction that you can't wipe away. Post Plague inhabits that impending reality of synthetic experience which forces us to realize what we are: vulnerable, frantic creatures yearning for an authentic present / future. Jeff Goldblum, in the acclaimed motion picture The Fly, reminds us that we must take a “deep penetrating dive into the plasma pool,” and take stock of ourselves before we lose something profound. Something that may be necessary to ward off a pending anthropogenic apocalypse. Recognize and take pleasure in our fucked up place in time as we have so many new worlds possible at once.

TRACK LISTING

01. Fearless
02. Needs
03. That’s How It Goes
04. Nervous
05. BLTZ
06. Pencils
07. Game
08. Vanta Black
09. Betrayal
10. Lust

On Spectrums, Odonis Odonis showcase the extreme ends of their musical margins. Embracing a love of ‘80s goth and darkwave melodicism while maintaining an industrial strength intensity, the dualities of their sound are revealed in a striking new light. With four albums under their belts, the Toronto based duo of Dean Tzenos and Denholm Whale have always followed creative impulses wherever they might take them. Yet while tracing their earliest experiments with surf-rock and shoegaze into more recent dabblings in abrasive EBM, they have never sounded as sonically boundless as this compilation of tracks. Beyond their recorded output, Odonis Odonis have earned a reputation for the ferocity of their live performances, combining cathartic aggression with danceable beats set to pulsating strobe lights and the addition of live drummer Phil Wilson.

Their 2017 album No Pop was described by Pitchfork as “ claustrophobic electronic music that sounds like the end of the world ,” while they have earned praise from influential sources such as NPR, FADER, Stereogum, and The Needle Drop. Odonis Odonis began as a solo recording outlet for Tzenos in 2010 before evolving into a noisy rock band formation. They have now stripped down to a core duo as the project celebrates a decade of activity. The social limitations of the pandemic found the pair of multi-instrumentalist producers forced to work completely from home for the first time, challenging themselves to step outside of the box and create music they may have shied away from in the past.

Tzenos describes their newfound process as cherry-picking elements from the angry and occasionally antisocial sound of past releases, but applying an extroverted approach. “This project is the start of the third chapter of the band's evolution,” says Tzenos. “I still feel like we have a lot more to explore musically and writing these songs lit the spark for a lot of new directions. The idea of doing something poppy is a stark contrast to our last record, but as long as the project remains fun and experimental it will keep growing. We’re more like the weird goth kids in the back of the club now.”

TRACK LISTING

01. Trust
02. More
03. Shadow Play
04. Impossible
05. Laced In Leather
06. A Body
07. Get Out
08. Slow Drip
09. In The Fire
10. Salesmen

Avidya is back with a third EP to build on the head-turning success of the first two and it is another trip to the outer edges of the dancefloor. Odopt from Born Free and 777 Recordings kicks off with a snappy cut that is deceptively simple but devastatingly effective with its gurgling and acidic bass. Remotif is a fast-rising talent who impresses with the heavy techno sludge of 'HAJKSD15' and Full Circle aka Alexis Le Tan and Joakim link with Kris Baha to offer a remix that is all twitchy electrons, busted drum loops and fizzing pads before 53X's 'Simulaatio' is another brilliantly loose jumbled of wiry electronics, sci-fi effects and techno chug for a fantastic closing beatdown.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Odopt - 11000 Versions Of A Simple Track (Berlin Mix)
2. Remotif - HAJKSD15

Side 2
1. N Tropic - One Night Stand (Full Circle & Kris Baha Remix)
2. 53X - Simulaatio

Odopt is back on Especial and this time is in collaborative mode with Sebastian Hoyos aka Sano, who is a regular on the likes of Matias Aguayo's Comeme and Munich's Public Possession. The pair cook up a fine globally-minded club trip that comes with another label return, this time from remixer Jamie Paton. The original 'Picha' first started as a sketch in 2016 then became a demo in 2019 and now finally arrives on wax. It's a raw percussive workout with razor-sharp snares and plenty of cowbells. Next to an instrumental comes the Paton remix and it is a trademark deep and dubwise piece of work with widescreen dynamics.

TRACK LISTING

Picha
Picha" (instrumental)
Picha (Jamie Paton Remix)
Picha (Jamie Paton Dub)

The Odyssey Cult has its roots in Miller’s improvised solo electric guitar performances dating back to 2013. Though still almost entirely instrumental, the two volume debut expands his original concept of ‘solo electric guitar performance’ to something much broader in narrative scope and is as indebted to the great minimalists and loop pioneers as it is to guitar oriented Krautrock, cult film soundtrack music and the great feedback-riding, amp destroyers of the 60s to present day.

In departure from the more structured song work of most of Miller’s bands over the last 16 years, The Odyssey Cult albums are based in improvisation. Loops, cut-ups, collages and tonal performances (rather than melodic ones,) often form the engine of movement and narrative. The Odyssey Cult is the sound of the collapse of a prehistoric age. Giant amplifiers and fuzz bass loops smash into one another until only crackling ANS transmissions are left floating above the fray.

A prayer of poetry scrawled in feedback, a painting in sand of the dreams of imaginary birds, and raising the noise-rock quotient significantly, the rhythm section of Feral Ohms makes multiple appearances throughout the two albums as foil to Miller’s screaming amps, echoing extended guitar oriented power trio freak outs like White Heaven’s ‘Levitation’, a deconstructed mid 70s Crazy Horse and the heat-blistered primal workouts of High Rise. Vol.1 and Vol.2 are an artistic statement intended to be sat down and fully engaged with, a journey, an epic poem, a meditation, a long rich dream that loosens all sense of space and time- ultimately confusing history, moment and self.

Those that take the time to enter and feel sound, creation and performance will surely be rewarded by the joy and beauty of The Odyssey Cult.

For fans of Ash Ra Temple, Popol Vuh, 70’s Soundtracks, Fripp & Eno, Guru Guru UFO, Faust, Hendrix Woodstock feedback meltdowns, The great PSF power trios, Flying Saucer Attack, This Heat and disorienting ambient music.

TRACK LISTING

1. Olympus EES-2
2. The Abbot?s Yard
3. Cyclops, Tell Them It Was I!
4. Lotus; Torraloom, Torraluum
5. Laestrygonians
6. The Tongue And Hoof Of Blazes Boylan
7. Thick With Woods Where The Wild Goats
8. In Black Poplar Grove, Calypso At Her Loom

The Odyssey Cult has its roots in Miller’s improvised solo electric guitar performances dating back to 2013. Though still almost entirely instrumental, the two volume debut expands his original concept of ‘solo electric guitar performance’ to something much broader in narrative scope and is as indebted to the great minimalists and loop pioneers as it is to guitar oriented Krautrock, cult film soundtrack music and the great feedback-riding, amp destroyers of the 60s to present day.

In departure from the more structured song work of most of Miller’s bands over the last 16 years, The Odyssey Cult albums are based in improvisation. Loops, cut-ups, collages and tonal performances (rather than melodic ones,) often form the engine of movement and narrative. The Odyssey Cult is the sound of the collapse of a prehistoric age. Giant amplifiers and fuzz bass loops smash into one another until only crackling ANS transmissions are left floating above the fray. A prayer of poetry scrawled in feedback, a painting in sand of the dreams of imaginary birds, and raising the noise-rock quotient significantly, the rhythm section of Feral Ohms makes multiple appearances throughout the two albums as foil to Miller’s screaming amps, echoing extended guitar oriented power trio freak outs like White Heaven’s ‘Levitation’, a deconstructed mid 70s Crazy Horse and the heat-blistered primal workouts of High Rise. Vol.1 and Vol.2 are an artistic statement intended to be sat down and fully engaged with, a journey, an epic poem, a meditation, a long rich dream that loosens all sense of space and time- ultimately confusing history, moment and self. Those that take the time to enter and feel sound, creation and performance will surely be rewarded by the joy and beauty of The Odyssey Cult.

For fans of Ash Ra Temple, Popol Vuh, 70’s Soundtracks, Fripp & Eno, Guru Guru UFO, Faust, Hendrix Woodstock feedback meltdowns, The great PSF power trios, Flying Saucer Attack, This Heat and disorienting ambient music.

TRACK LISTING

1. Nausicaa | Sandymount
2. Poseidon
3. The Heaven's Black
4. Sirens
5. Far From The Others, Washed His Hands In The Foaming Surf
6. Ulysses

Of Monsters and Men began as the solo project of Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir however it quickly grew with the additions of friends Ragnar “Raggi” Þórhallsson (co-singer/guitarist), Brynjar Leifsson (guitarist), Arnar Rósenkranz Hilmarsson (drummer), Árni Guðjónsson (piano/accordion player) and Kristján Páll Kristjánsson (bassist)

Crafting epic songs inspired by their amazing homeland, fairy tales and personal history, the band went from battle of the bands winners to the breakthrough act at this year’s Iceland Airwaves and SXSW festival. The bands self-released, first single ‘Little Talks’ to date has sold an impressive 400,000 copies and received 3 million views on YouTube.

Of Monsters and Men continue to make waves among fans and tastemakers alike. ‘My Head is an Animal’ has already enjoyed huge success in Iceland and Europe. Mirroring that feat in America ‘My Head is an Animal’ entered the iTunes alternative chart at #1 and album chart at #2 however went on to top the album charts one week later. And in Germany the album debuted at #4 on their official album chart.

Along with a penchant for crafting rising epic pop numbers ‘My Head is an Animal’ has beautifully delicate moments and signal a fully-fledged band destined to win the hearts of musical lovers worldwide.

STAFF COMMENTS

Ryan says: A stern bit of icelandic pop right here, it's a bit folky but they manage to turn humble folk into a collection of sing-out-loud anthems. It's brilliant!

TRACK LISTING

1. Dirty Paws
2. King And Lionheart
3.Mountain Sound
Slow And Steady
5.From Finner
6. Little Talks
7. Six Weeks
8. Love Love Love
9. Your Bones
10. Sloom
11. Lakehouse
12. Yellow Light

This limited edition Record Store Day 7”. (1000 copies worldwide) pairs indie‐pop virtuosos of Montreal with the Norwegian language electro‐pop/ afrobeat tunesmiths Casiokids. Over the last fifteen years, of Montreal has imitated everyone (86 covers and counting), while developing its own inimitable sound ‐‐ a unique mixture of indie‐pop, glam‐rock, funk, and R&B. Though private and reserved, frontman Kevin Barnes wears his fame like a feathered fedora: on the children's show Yo Gabba Gabba, in collaborations with Spike Jonze, on stage spanking pigs with Susan Sarandon, on horseback in NYC's Roseland Ballroom, and even spontaneously performing six songs nude during a concert in Las Vegas. On this 7” Kevin’s cover of Buffalo Springfield’s classic “Expecting to Fly” is raw and heartfelt. With a bizarre effect created by delay and the honesty of a simple arrangement it is a beautiful take on a great song. Casiokids bring us their new single “London Zoo” which will be included as a bonus track when Moshi Moshi releases their debut reocd “Topp Stemning På Lokal Bar” in the UK. Hailing from the same celebrated Bergen scene that has produced Datarock and Annie, Casiokids were so‐named for the beat‐up old keyboards with which the band members first conceived their club‐ready sound. Formed with the intention of making electronic music more visual, the band has since added guitar and drums to produce a collection of incredibly catchy tunes often sung in their native Norwegian and influenced by afro‐beat, techno and out‐and‐out pop. You may not understand the words but the music speaks for itself.

Over the course of the last two decades, of Montreal’s creative force, Kevin Barnes, has been wowing fans with their vast catalog of endlessly fascinating pop and mesmerizing live shows. Barnes’ songwriting and production aesthetic has since become iconic in the industry and has garnered massive critical acclaim in publications such as Rolling Stone, The New York Times, NPR, and Pitchfork, who described the band’s album, Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? as “ceaselessly fascinating and inexhaustibly replayable,” as well as ranking it as the #5 album of the year. Barnes’ influence on pop music is undeniable, with multiple late night TV appearances, including The Late Show With David Letterman and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, as well as brilliant collaborations with the likes of Solange, Janelle Monáe, Jon Brion, and others. The band has also performed across the globe, with festival appearances at Coachella, Sasquatch!, Pitchfork Music Festival and others, as well as hundreds of millions of streams worldwide.

On of Montreal’s latest album, Freewave Lucifer fck, Barnes continues to push the boundaries of what pop music can be. On songs like “Marijuana’s A Working Woman,” Barnes revisits themes of psychedelia using pulsating synths over their instantly recognizable bass playing. The album also touches on aspects of gender fluidity and is a fascinating look at what makes Barnes one of the most prolific and creative songwriters making music today. "...every year or so of Montreal is going to release a new full-length of mind-bending glam-punk decadence that sort of blows everything else away." - Paste

TRACK LISTING

1. Marijuana's A Working Woman
2. Ofrenda-Flanger-Ego-à Gogo
3. Blab Sabbath Lathe Of Maiden
4. Après Thee Dèclassè
5. Modern Art Bewilders
6. Nightsift
7. Hmmm

Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer? is of Montreal's landmark 2007 album. The album defined of Montreal's career and continues to be hailed as a classic. Pitchfork called the album "Ceaselessly fascinating and inexhaustibly replayable," honoring it with "Best New Music" and placing it in the Top 5 albums of 2007.

With Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer?, of Montreal has created its masterpiece. It is an irresistible and remarkable album, sounding like a logical extension of the erratic indie-disco sounds of The Sunlandic Twins. However, Hissing Fauna is also the most personal of Montreal album to date, with Kevin Barnes, lead of Montreal songwriter, pouring tremendous amounts of emotion, heartbreak, frustration and elation into its twelve tracks.

Written and recorded primarily during what they call "an insane year," Hissing Fauna sees Barnes adopt a new writing style. It's an unabashedly autobiographical attempt from a songwriter whose early material tended towards characters and story-songs. Barnes continues down the whimsical pop-funk path, while changing up its lyrical scope; and Hissing Fauna balances its poppy nature while showcasing brutal and unflinching honesty. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Suffer For Fashion
2. Sink The Seine
3. Cato As A Pun
4. Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse
5. Gronlandic Edit
6. A Sentence Of Sorts In Kongsvinger
7. The Past Is A Grotesque Animal
8. Bunny Ain't No Kind Of Rider
9. Faberge Falls For Shuggie
10. Labyrinthian Pomp
11. She's A Rejecter
12. We Were Born The Mutants Again With Leafling
13. Du Og Meg
14. Voltaic Crusher/Undrum To Muted Da
15. Derailments In A Place Of Our Own
16. Miss Blonde, Your Papa Is Failing
17. No Conclusion 

On Of Montreal’s latest album, 'Lady on the Cusp', Kevin Barnes shapeshifts between genres with each song. On tracks like 'Rude Girl on Rotation', Barnes revisits sounds of late 60’s guitar pop & psychedelia reminiscent of 2013’s 'Lousy With Sylvianbriar', while 'Young Hearts Bleed Free' and 'Music Hurts The Head' showcase Barnes’ love of experimental funk pop that has been present throughout much of the band’s discography. 'Lady on the Cusp' is another exciting listen from one of the most prolific and influential artists making music today.

TRACK LISTING

1. Music Hurts The Head
2. 2 Depressed 2 Fuck
3. Rude Girl On Rotation
4. Yung Hearts Bleed Free
5. Soporific Cell
6. I Can Read Smoke
7. PI$$ PI$$
8. Sea Mines That Mr Gone
9. Poetry Surf
10. Genius In The Wind

Skeletal Lamping may be bizarre, complicated, and dense, but it's also extremely catchy and packed with slinky grooves that demand a physical response. Instantly ingratiating hooks abound as Kevin Barnes' compositions constantly mutate and shape-shift in ways that defy conventional pop song structure and album sequencing. Nevertheless, the record has its own internal logic, and its many tangents and detours feel entirely intuitive and organic in context. The movements mimic the shapeless, mystifying mingling of thoughts and emotions in the human mind, so even the most deliberately jarring transitions evoke a sudden shift in attention that is recognizable and commonplace, but rarely emulated in mainstream music.

Though of Montreal have never been strangers to expressing sexuality in their music, Skeletal Lamping finds Barnes fully immersed in the topic. Throughout the record, sexuality is presented as a broad continuum encompassing a wide range of experiences, anxieties, emotions and orientations. Barnes openly explores sex and gender roles without insecurity. They attempt to bring all of their fantasies, and terrors, to the surface, so as to better understand the machinery behind them. In Skeletal Lamping, Barnes argues that identity is fluid, malleable, and limited only by one's imagination.

TRACK LISTING

1. Nonpareil Of Favor
2. Wicked Wisdom
3. For Our Elegant Caste
4. Touched Something's Hollow
5. An Eluardian Instance
6. Gallery Piece
7. Women's Studies Victims
8. St. Exquistie's Confessions
9. Triphallus, To Punctuate!
10. And I've Seen A Bloody Shadow
11. Plastis Wafer
12. Death Is Not A Parallel Move
13. Beware Our Nubile Miscreants
14. Mingusings
15. Id Engager

Originally released in 1998, Of Montreal's second full-length features uncredited appearances by members of Neutral Milk Hotel and The Late B.P. Helium. The album was the first where Of Montreal built characters around concepts. Although not as developed as later of Montreal concept albums, "The Bedside Drama: A Petite Tragedy" is infused with Vaudevillian elements that foreshadowed of Montreal's break-out albums "The Gay Parade" and "Coquelicot Asleep In The Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical Verse". According to All Music Guide, the album 'marked a crucial stage in the evolution from the lo-fi garage pop of Cherry Peel to the ambitious rock carnival of The Gay Parade and cemented of Montreal's status as one of the most creatively relevant groups of the late 90s.'

Of Montreal's seminal record, The Sunlandic Twins, arrived in April of 2005 as the follow-up to their breakthrough album, Satanic Panic in the Attic.

TRACK LISTING

1 Requiem For O.M.M.2
2 I Was Never Young
3 Wraith Pinned To The Mist And Other Games
4 Forecast Fascist Future
5 So Begins Our Alabee
6 Our Spring Is Sweet Not Fleeting
7 The Party's Crashing Us
8 Knight Rider
9 I Was A Landscape In Your Dream
10 Death Of A Shade Of A Hue
11 Oslo In The Summertime
12 October Is Eternal
13 The Repudiated Immortals
14 Art Snob Solutions
15 The Actor's Opprobrium
16 Keep Sending Me Black Fireworks
17 Everyday Feels Like Sunday
18 Family Noveau
19 Psychotic Feeling
20 Kristiansand
21 Micro University
22 Subtext Read, Nothing New
23 Noir Blues To Tinnitus 

Three new releases vinyl albums bundled together at one very special price!!

Off World - 1
Automatisme - Momentform Accumulations
Jason Sharp - A Boat Upon Its Blood

Off World presents the final album in its trilogy of surreal and spacious leftfield electronics. "A stellar project headed by Sandro Perri, one of the most singular producers in contemporary music" (Boomkat), this third volume is another distinctive collection of tracks constructed from semi-improvised ensemble recordings made over the past decade with a varied cast of co-conspirators. Drew Brown, Matthew Cooper, Susumu Mukai and Andrew Zukerman join Perri again on a variety of synths and machines, along with violinist Jesse Zubot (Tanya Tagaq, Fond Of Tigers). Perri also continues to add organ and piano to the mix, while Volume 3 notably features first-time Off World contributors Nicole Rampersaud on trumpet and Martin Arnold on guitar, both mainstays of Toronto's vibrant improv and out-music scenes. The Quietus calls Off World "genuinely explorative…the musical equivalent of a Dali-esque landscape" which through all sorts of genre-defying twists and turns, at times evokes "off-kilter, late Miles Davis ambience". Off World 3 doubles down on that jazz-adjacent trope in certain respects, while holding fast to Pitchfork's dictum that Perri "cultivates his own genreless brand of futurism." Marked by longer tracks than previous collections, three of the album's five songs clock in around the 10-minute mark, where overtly improvised instrumental playing wends its way across alternately bubbling and woozy electronic beds. "Impulse Controller" is a languidly skewed rhumba where ambling melodic undercurrents and dubby electronic pointillism provide a dulcet promenade for Rampersaud's Miles-esque trumpet excursions. "Ludic Loop" see-saws along in a slow synthy two-step, punctuated by Perri's restrained piano chords and Arnold's fried electric guitar. "Empasse" is perhaps most reminiscent of earlier Off World collections, though again slowed and stretched, with oozing synth bass ostinatos counterposed by ambient layers of viola and violin filigree from Zubot. These three centerpiece longform tracks each highlight one of the album's instrumental improvisers, and taken together, make for the most scintillating sedate and ruminant album in the trilogy. Off World 3 sounds as sui generis as ever, but in wrapping up the series, Perri sprinkles the project's emblematic alien surrealism with decidedly anthropic elements and temporalities. This final volume in the trilogy could also be seen as a re-statement of the politico-aesthetic mission that Pitchfork aptly celebrates in its glowing reviews of Perri's two most recent solo albums, In Another Life (2018) and Soft Landing (2019), that were released between Off World 2 and the present volume: a uniquely purposeful, subtly detailed cannon of songs "busy, vibrant, and bursting with life, but that aren't ever in a rush to get anywhere". 

TRACK LISTING

1. Orientation (3:45)
2. Impulse Controller (10:49)
3. Terrascope (1:03)
4. Ludic Loop (9:55)
5. Empasse (8:53)

OFF!, the punk braintrust formed in 2010 by Keith Morris (ex-Black Flag, Circle Jerks) and Dimitri Coats (ex-Burning Brides), will release their first new album in eight years, Free LSD on Fat Possum Records.

The band’s powerful new rhythm section: bassist Autry Fulbright II (...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead) and drummer Justin Brown (Thundercat, Herbie Hancock) accompany the release. The injection of new energy into the band’s signature high-anxiety hardcore is palpable and volatile, adding a new swing to the music’s incendiary thrust.

Combining reckless improvisational energy with the combined skills of four deadly sharp musicians (vocalist Keith Morris, guitarist Dimitri Coats, bassist Steven McDonald, and drummer Mario Rubalcaba), OFF! have dug down through a decades’ worth of accumulated stylistic garbage, and rediscovered the stripped down core of noise, speed, and rock & roll that punk seemed to have lost forever. Their third full-length studio recording, “Wasted Years”, is the most direct and unprocessed embodiment of OFF!’s mission yet.

TRACK LISTING

1. Void You Out
2. Red White And Black
3. Legion Of Evil
4. No Easy Escape
5. Over Our Heads
6. Hypnotized
7. It Didn't Matter To Me
8. Exorcised
9. Death Trip On The Party Train
10. I Won't Be A Casualty
11. All I Can Grab
12. Time's Not On Your Side
13. Meet Your God
14. Mr. Useless
15. You Must Be Damned
16. Wasted Years
17. In Your Arms (Bonus Track - CD Only)

Blackest Ever Black presents to you 'Dead Unique', an album by Officer! recorded in 1995 but - outrageously, inexplicably - never before released into the public domain. This then is not a reissue or a revival; it’s a new record that just happens to have been maturing in the cask for, oh, a little shy of 20 years. It also happens to be a lost classic of English art-rock, and the crowning achievement in the career of its mercurial creator, Mick Hobbs. Londoner Hobbs’ roots are in the fecund RIO scene of the late ‘70s and early 1980s, initially as guitarist in The Work (alongside Bill Gilonis, Rick Wilson and Henry Cow’s Tim Hodgkinson), and subsequent related groupings The Lowest Note, The Lo Yo Yo, and The Momes. Over the course of the decade he became closely associated with This Heat and their Cold Storage studio in Brixton, working with the likes of Flaming Tunes, Family Fodder, Catherine Jauniaux and Zeena Parkins, to name but a few. Officer! - the project that this incorrigible collaborator and connector calls his own - surfaced in 1982 with a cassette tape entitled 'Eight New Songs By Mick Hobbs'. It marked the blossoming of a singular writer and improvisor, with a gift for plangent melody, ingenious arrangement and lyrics at once caustic and courtly, playful and profound (two songs from this tape, ‘Life At The Water’s Edge’ and ‘Dogface’, have been remastered for a limited edition 7” release on Blackest Ever Black later this year). The Cold Storage-recorded 'Ossification' LP arrived a year later, followed by 'Cough' (1985) and 'Yes Yes No No Yes No Yes' (1988). Megaphone Records, responsible for 'Ossification'’s recent 30th anniversary reissue, rightly describe it as “one of the most unusual, pleasurable and character-filled ‘pop’ records anyone has heard… a timeless anomaly in the history of recorded music.”

By the start of the 1990s Hobbs had joined Jad Fair’s Half Japanese (he continues to play in that group as well as Strobe Talbot, a trio with Fair and Benb Gallaher). In the early months of ’95, Half Japanese were in Baltimore to record their 'Hot' LP; Hobbs stayed on to cut the bulk of the songs that comprise Officer!’s 'Dead Unique' - songs drawn from a rich store of material written and refined in the seven years since the band’s last outing - with a talented assemblage of local and visiting musicians. Returning to the UK, Hobbs brought the tracks to producer Julia Brightly to mix at her 16-track home studio in Bethnal Green; by the end of the summer, 'Dead Unique' had taken shape. And then? Nothing. For reasons that no one, least of all Hobbs, can remember, 'Dead Unique' was shelved, all but forgotten about until 2012, when Blackest Ever Black chanced upon it while trawling the Officer! archive maintained for Hobbs by Andrew Jacques. Finally, rightfully, on May 26th, 2014, the album will be made available to all for the very first time - on double-vinyl and CD.

A complex but thrillingly immediate avant-pop song cycle that charms and confounds at every turn, Dead Unique will give immense pleasure not only to Officer!’s existing cult following, but to anyone with an appreciation of piquant, idiosyncratic songcraft – fans of Kevin Ayers, Flaming Tunes, Art Bears, Woo, Dislocation Dance, R. Stevie Moore, Robert Wyatt, Cleaners From Venus, Lol Coxhill or The Monochrome Set should especially pay attention. It touches upon ragged-raw rock ‘n roll, sumptuous chamber music, pastoral folk, blowsy prog-jazz and paranoid dub-space, effortlessly shifting from skronking abstraction to rousing harmonic refrain and back again. 'Dead Unique' is also the culmination of Hobbs’ lifelong collaborative impulse: his visionary ability to bring musicians together, galvanise them and wrestle coherence out of the collective free play of ideas, arriving at something far more than the sum of its parts. The tension between composition and improvisation is key to the LP’s power, with Hobbs abetted by an extraordinary supporting cast that includes Tim Hodgkinson (bass clarinet), Pleasant Livers’ Fred Collins (vocals), Legendary Pink Dots’ Patrick Q (violin), filmmaker/animator Martha Colburn (vocal), Gilles Rieder (drums), Jad Fair (vocals) and Jason Willett (bass, keyboards, trumpet). Special mention must go to John Dierker, whose superbly expressive clarinet and saxophone parts are a fixture throughout, and to Joey Stack, who takes lead vocals on ‘Good’ and the show-stopping ‘Elephant Flowers’. Nonetheless it is the voice of Hobbs – as principal writer, performer and protagonist of these songs – that resonates most powerfully. Blurring the roles of storyteller, poet and prankster, he turns memorable line after memorable line, booby-trapping them with mischievous puns, fleet-footed literary allusions, sudden digressions and shifts of register, nonsense rhymes and other wordplay. But his acute wit and flair for the absurd is moored by a deep romantic sensibility, and though it delights in the minutiae of the human comedy, 'Dead Unique' ultimately addresses its biggest themes: love, loss, commitment, independence, the mutability and inconstancy of all things.

TRACK LISTING

1. Nest
2. Elephant Flowers
3. It Goes Up / Revenge
4. Go Back
5. Cows Hum In The Fields
6. Shrug / Good
7. Biteman
8. Nardis
9. Someone At The Door
10. Stewed Fruit
11. All I Got
12. VIM
13. Bugs In Amber
14. Guess
15. The Pony Was Contented
16. Lilac And Orange
17. Clint

The Officers have been compared to everyone from NIN to the Chemical Brothers. Here, they deliver their debut single: a dark, scuzzy electro-rocker.

The band was a crucial part of the Rose Mansion Analog label (including bands Soviet Pop, Hot & Cold, and Golden Driver) & the scene that spawned around it. Since the band's dissolution, guitarist Tom Ng has formed the (even more) minimalist duo Gong Gong Gong (Wharf Cat Records) and continues to hone the 'Phantom Rhythm' with each passing release. Read what their associate Fung You-Chung wrote of the album upon it's debut: Do the Offset: Spectacles need a drummer or a drum machine? There are a lot of different opinions on this topic. When the band first started, they were busy trying to answer the same question. In the early days, the band auditioned a drummer in Hong Kong's famous underground rehearsal space, President Piano Co. The session began with some roughly-formed songs, and the drummer's technique was hardly questionable, yet something was missing. Finally they decided to max out the volume on the three amplifiers they were using. At the end of the session, they couldn't even hear what each other were saying. The drumless concept did not come from this incident, but the totality of each instrument, tone, expression, volume level and the subsequent ringing in the ears did conglomerate into form through it. Beats produced by drums or drum machines do not always necessitate the sense of rhythm or listener's immersion into the music.

This is the art of the Offset: Spectacles: a demonstration of how to enter one's consciousness through rudimentary movements. The quantified beat case no longer describe the intertwining results of the tug-of-war between different instruments through the negotiation of volume - that is, the Phantom Rhythm. Although one could certainly take the quantified beat into account, that would defeat the purpose. Whether it was deliberately done or not, it doesn't matter. This result is not about technique or form, nor can it be pinned down to any sort of category, and it would be rather shallow to describe it as theory. This physical and mental dialogue not only connects the listeners (as well as the origination of its name.

If one were to suggest that history has provided adequate nourishment through the forebearers of Phantom Rhythm in Django Reinhardt, Bo Diddley, The Velvets, one could further suggest that the lyrics of the Offset: Spectacles is a realization of the characteristics of a spectacular society. As opposed to this age of totemic cities that oversaturated lofty ideas and golden rules, the Offset: Spectacles do not ask the listeners to explore the absolutes. The lyrics do not exist on their own, nor are they a subject of lyrical studies or dialogues crafted for enticing anyone, rather, they are a straightforward presentation of the society of the spectacles, or the spectacles of the society; bits and pieces of emotions left in the cities.

Whether this musical layering is an inversion, negation or just a void of rhythm, the essence lies in how the band absorb and replicate such cities, such character, and such mental states. When the chord strikes, when subjects intertwine in space, if listeners could still sense the scent of the band, urges from each embrace would undoubtedly enter their perception. The Offset: Spectacles debut album is presented again in glorious black vinyl, with remastered audio by Mikey Young, and includes a new insert with English translations of the lyrics by Vince Li. The album will also land on streaming services for the first time.

TRACK LISTING

1. Back To The Cave
2. Plateau Insomniac
3. Snags
4. Binary March (for Lee Chi-Leung)
5. The Loop Swing
6. Colour It In
7. Downward
8. Dead Air
9. Lament For Michaelangelo Antonini
10. Bodies’ Descendants
11. Curbstomp

Two and a half years on from the sad and untimely passing of Ewan Robertson aka Offshore, his label Big Dada can announce the release of a last album from the Aberdonian musician and designer. The tracks for the new record, 'Offshore' were all more or less completed before his death in 2012. His family, his partner and the label have pieced the album together as close to his original intentions as they could manage, to create a suite of music which in its openness, beauty, humour and joyfulness, both hints at what Ewan could have gone on to achieve, and celebrates what a unique and lovely human being and musician he was.

In addition, artists including Ikonika, Amon Tobin, Blue Daisy, Slugabed, Mamiko Moto, Lockah and Enchanté have all contributed remixes and expect videos and photographs from long time collaborators.

All profits from the record are to go to the Marfan Trust at his family's choosing, it was the condition that affected Ewan.

The sadness felt by those who knew and loved Ewan is still very real, but this record is a chance to celebrate what a unique and talented individual he was.

TRACK LISTING

J Bouncey
Make It Up
Barden’s Burden
Church Rhythm
Flickbook
NY In A Minute
Torry Tash
Olympian
Step Forward
Ruin
Swing
Start
Painting
Turn That Down Upside Frown
Off Peak

Over the past couple of years Acid Jazz have been re-issuing releases from the enigmatic ‘Albarika Store’ label, a goldmine in Afro cuts from Benin, West Africa. The latest instalment is the ultra-rare ‘Ogassa Original (Vol. 1), the first LP from obscure but ultimately brilliant Porto Novo group, Ogassa from 1978.

Like many Albarika releases, it was recorded at EMI Lagos, giving a depth and fidelity that stands out in the realm of Afro rarities. Reissued in full with the original artwork for the very first time, a must have for Afro collectors and completists alike.

TRACK LISTING

1. Avale
2. Ogassa Story
3. Production Vido Tche
4. Gbe We Gnin Wa Bio

Many years in the works, Ōgon Batto finally unleashes his album “Hedoro”. A journey into Japanese soundtracks and 90's adventure-gaming. Ōgon Batto is Bent Von Bent from Antwerp, Belgium. Besides working as a visual artist around archiving systems and collections, he is also the co-runner of the Hare Akedod label, together with David Edren aka DSR Lines. Following his debut release, Ōgon Batto secretly started working on a second album Hedoro, meaning “slime” or “chemical ooze”. Bent is immensely fascinated by Japanese traditional and contemporary culture ever since he first visited the country. Mixing his European background with these Japanese influences, he shifts easily between abstract electronic tracks and pieces with a more classical Japanese tool kit.

Think Oneohtrix Point Never or Mica Levi composing a soundtrack to a fantasy game. With an amazing sense for detail Hedoro's musical story - entirely composed with synthesizers - is reduced to a collection of situations and drama, with space for suggestion and imagination. Every track, how short it may be, is essential to the whole, maximizing the general dramatic effect. The album was mixed in Sapporo, Japan with the typical sounds of cicadas in the background (not on the album though) and some glasses of sake. The ceramic sculpture on the front cover is a reinterpretation of Rolls Royce's "Spirit of Ecstasy” and is created by Benny Van den Meulengracht-Vrancx. 

Daniel Ogren is one of the key artists in Sweden's contemporary, underground music scene. He has already accrued quite the back catalogue, both as a member of the sensational quartet Dina Ogon and also as a solo artist with eight albums already under his belt.

'Fastingen-92' was originally released as a limited-edition vinyl pressing in 2020 on the independent label Sing A Song Fighter Records (the same label that first introduced us to Dina Ogon's music). The album came to our attention after hearing Daniels' solo band performing live at the Stockholm Jazz Club, Fasching. The band featured Love Orsan and Christopher Cantillo of Dina Ogon fame (who also records with the incredible Sven Wunder), and their sensational genrebusting set blew us away. It convinced us that this now out-of-print album needed to reach a wider audience.

'Fastingen-92' doesn't sit in one genre, it draws from Daniels's love of South American folk music, soul, Nordic folk music and film soundtracks, resulting in something unique, dreamlike and transformational.

It features 'Idag', an epic, beautiful, cinematic song that introduces the ethereal vocalist Anna Ahnlund. 'Idag' has gained a cult following and Daniel has stated that it was the spark that started the Dina Ogon project. Tracks like 'Annalena' and 'Kristinehamn by Night (for Christopher)' sound like a new club sound that hasn't yet been invented (which Nicola Cruz would spin in his DJ sets), mysterious, hypnotic, and engaging. Other songs like 'Maj (for Tintin)' and 'Picasso' venture into blissed- out Scando- Balearic realms. Daniel's love of nature and the inspiration he draws from the geographic environment of the Swedish countryside can be felt in these tracks, they take you to other places and times and are simultaneously familiar, ancient and alien.

Alongside the collaborations with Anna and Christoper, the album features Josefin Runsteen playing the drums on 'Idag' and Swedish musicians Edvin Nahlin and Ulrik Ordin. The majority of the album was played, recorded and mixed by Daniel. For the Mr Bongo edition, we have added the bonus track 'April' which was previously only available digitally. 'Fastingen - 92' is a truly remarkable record that gets into your soul, so please delve in!

TRACK LISTING

Annalena
Hjalmarsfjorden
Idag
Kristinehamn By Night (for Christopher)
Maj (For Tintin)
Picasso
Levi
Oktober (For Lo)
April

"Might" EP is the debut release from Oh Minnows, the new band formed from the ashes of Semifinalists. Opening track "Might" is a lovely slice of melodic pop built around a super-slow beat. It has an 80s feel to it, without being too clichéd, and a very familiar sound, although I can't actually pinpoint who or what it reminds me of. "Second Version" on the flip ups the tempo, but only a fraction, starting with whispered vocals it then soars and swoops along nicely. Short and sweet. And finally we have the swaying slow burner "High Or Low" which rounds of the EP nicely.

Hey there, human kids,
Lift your face out of the feed trough and pluck that feculence from your ears. Hark! A sonar blip from beneath the pile of bodies. Boop, blip ughhh….
People churning like a boiling swamp. Man, this din is nauseating.
The screen flickers for the first time this year with a transmission from two months in the future:
“the internet has deemed guitar music dead and you are free to do whatever the fuck you like ….long live the new flesh!”

This album is Soundcloud hip-hop reversed, a far flung nemesis of contemporary country and flaccid algorithmic pop-barf.
No songs about money or love are floating in the ether.
Just memories, echoes, foggy blurs
Blip-blop goes the scope
Heavy funk
Dystopia-punk canons
Lonnnnng jams
Bloated solos dribbling down your caved-in chest.
Human cattle like a beef avalanche, right on your burned out face hole.
Spider legs fuzz crawling in your brain.
Lots of curse words for your mom.
You’ve gotten the over-population blues, so let’s have some art for art’s sake.
What else are you gonna do?
Stare at the sky? Please…
50 carbon copies of you look back at you as you walk the streets.
Take a breath, you’re going to need it.
Take drugs, you’re going to need those just to stand in line at the air and water reclamation center soon enough.
There’s no fruit, buddy.
You’re at the bleak-peak.
They will squeeze you till you’re all squeezed out.

For fans of fried prog burn out, squished old-school drool, double drums, lead weight bass, wizard keys (now with poison), old-ass guitar and horrible words with daft meanings.
If you don’t like it then don’t listen, bub.
Back to the comments section with you!
Easy
Over and out

- John Dwyer.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Obviously the Oh Sees had to release another album on the same week as their top competitors in the 'Who Can Write The Most Albums' game (it's a good one), and much like KG&tLW, they've smashed it once again. It's no surprise that Dwyer has formed a brilliantly heavy but perfectly nuanced mix of production perfection and instrumental devastation. Everything you'd imagine, and some stuff you probably wouldn't. Ace.

TRACK LISTING

The Daily Heavy
The Experimenter
Face Stabber
Snickersnee
Fu Xi
Scutum & Scorpius
Gholü
Poisoned Stones
Psy-Ops Dispatch
S.S. Luker’s Mom
Heartworm
Together Tomorrow
Captain Loosely
Henchlock

The Oh Sees at the peak of their prog obsession, super jammed out and totally dominating. The Chapel SF 10.2.19 is a 53 minute, beautifully recorded, hi-fidelity live explosion of orc puke and kraut-gone-punk rock dominance by one of the rippingest bands of the 21st century.

TRACK LISTING

Static God
Jettisoned
Henchlock
Together Tomorrow
Animated Violence
Gholu
Plastic Plant
C
Nite Expo
Encrypted Bounce

The newly shorn Oh Sees waste no time in racing headlong into nightmarish battle with the mighty Orc, and wouldn’t ya know it, they’ve clawed even farther up the ghastly peak last year’s A Weird Exits stormed so satisfyingly. The band is in tour-greased, anvil on a balance beam, gut-pleasingly heavy form, nimbly braining with equal dashes of abandon and menace on this fresh batch of bruisers and brooders, hypnotically stirred into to the cauldron of chaos you’ve come to expect from, ahem, Oh Sees. Fresh blood Paul Quattrone joins Dan Rincon to form a phalanx of interlocking double drums, alternately propelling and fleet footing shifting ground to pinion Dwyer’s cliff-face guitars to the boogie. Tim Hellman keeps it swinging like a battle-axe to the eyebrows. The tunes veer towards the violence of their live shows, with a few tasty swerves into other lanes… heavy to lush, groovy to stately… throughout it remains sinister in its swaggering skulk, manic in its fuzz-fried fugues… they hit all the sweet spots the heads foggily remember, and there’s plenty to sweat over if you just hopped into the sauna. Ew. More evil…more complex… more narcotic… more screech…. more blare…. more whisper… there’s even more Brigid. Less “Thee”, but more of everything else.

TRACK LISTING

01 “The Static God”
02 “Nite Expo”
03 “Animated Violence”
04 “Keys To The Castle”
05 “Jettisoned”
06 “Cadaver Dog”
07 “Paranoise”
08 “Cooling Tower”
09 “Drowned Beast”
10 “Raw Optics”

Crack the coffers, Oh Sees have spawned another frothy album of head-destroying psych-epics to grok and rock out to. Notice the fresh dollop of organ and keyboard prowess courtesy of Memory Of A Cut Off Head-alum and noted key-stabber Tom Dolas, while the Paul Quattrone / Dan Rincon drum-corps polyrhythmic pulse continues to astound and pound in equal measure, buttressed by the nimble fingered bottom end of Sir Tim Hellman the Brave and the shred-heaven fret frying of John Dwyer, whilst Lady Brigid Dawson again graces the wax with her harmonic gifts.

Aside from the familiar psych-scorch familiar to soggy pit denizens the world over, there’s a fresh heavy-prog vibe that fits like a worn-in jean jacket comfortably among hairpin metal turns and the familiar but no less horns-worthy guitar fireworks Dwyer’s made his calling card. Perhaps the most notable thing about Smote Destroyer is the artistic restlessness underpinning its flights of fancy. Dwyer refuses to repeat himself and for someone with such a hectic release schedule, that stretching of aesthetic borders and omnivorous appetite seems all the more superhuman!

TRACK LISTING

1. Sentient Oona
2. Enrique El Cobrador
3. C
4. Overthrown
5. Last Peace
6. Moon Bog
7. Anthemic Aggressor
8. Abysmal Urn
9. Nail House Needle Boys
10. Flies Bump Against The Glass
11. Beat Quest

Encased in a brown paper wrapping like a forgotten bit of smut from behind the beaded curtain, this unassuming disc is a time-capsule back to John Dwyer’s early SF days, janglingly fingerpicked wisps of melody and electronics baking in the all-too anemic sunshine of San Francisco’s elusive summer. Like a seashell to the ear, one can hear within it Baker Beach bike ride excursions, holding court and gently harassing passers-by on a Haight street stoop, and midnight rambles with friends from out of town, daring the sun to come up.

Somewhere chronologically between the folky whisper of Songs About Death And Dying and the recently reissued Cool Death Of Island Raiders, this one’s been vexing to find for way too long and Castle Face has decided to give it “the treatment”. May it awaken the gentle glow of possibility dappled with the dancing shadow of danger that it stirs around this castle.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: Much anticipated reissue of this low-key/lo-fi The(e) Oh Sees EP from 2006, now available on green vinyl. Don't snooze!

TRACK LISTING

1. I Agree
2. Grave Blocker
3. Burning Bridges
4. Cunny Sharms
5. I Am Slow (demo)
6. The Great Crush
7. Drone #3
8. Drone #4

Long overdue vinyl repress of the sixth The Oh Sees album, and indeed, the first Castle Face release Yes! the sixth THE OH SEES album (from 2007!) and their first for their own label Castle Face. Now reissued on Black Vinyl for the first time in an age..has a DL included … . Produced by KELLEY STOLTZ using all green energy (no joke), the album serves as a half-way point between the band's Cool Death of the Island Raiders album and their most recent material. we got some right now, dig in!

Announcing a reissue of The Oh Sees - The Cool Death of Island Raiders
We here at Castle Face are not afraid to get our shins dirty mucking around in the stacks and we’re well aware of an out-of-press gap of Oh Sees releases right before 2006 when we started the label with Sucks Blood. We’re rectifying that and first among these is The Cool Death of Island Raiders, a particularly dusty gem that we think merits another look.

Kicking off the record with what should have been the hit of the summer that year but for the hard C in the title, "The Gilded Cunt" seems to clearly preface Oh Sees’ later psych skewed pop sensibilities. At the time it was an obvious jam and I recall being floored by its shuffling beauty. Chirping birds, gently lapping tempos and the nascent harmonization of Bridgid Dawson and Dwyer detail what I consider to be a definitive highlight of their early quiet period of the band. The tree hangs heavy with Patrick Mullins’ handiwork, manning the musical saw, drums, and an assortment of home made electronics. It seemed a bit radical to be so quiet about it but the tunes are total earworms among the assorted drones, cut up bits of tape noise, and mellow front porch vibes, and the whole thing hangs together in a lovely hand-made way, helped in no small part by Dave Sitek’s production (he would later work on Master’s Bedroom as well). “

We flew Brigid out a fresh woman and literally sent her home on a plane with a trash bag of her clothes” says John. Evidently the whole record was accidentally erased at some point right around when the photo on the back of the jacket was taken, which makes it all the more remarkable that the result sounds so casually and confidently careworn. 

TRACK LISTING

1. The Gilded Cunt
2. The Dumb Drums
3. Turn Offs
4. Losers In The Sun
5. Drone Number One
6. Island Raiders
7. Cool Death
8. Broken Stems
9. We Are Free
10. Drone Number Two
11. You Oughta Go Home

Warm Slime is the tenth studio album by Thee Oh Sees, originally released on May 11, 2010.

The album is the fourth to be released under the name Thee Oh Sees, and is the band's tenth studio album, overall.

The album's liner notes state that the album was "recorded live at 606th street in San Francisco in one day, one week after the gay pride parade 2009 on a tascam 388". 606th Street in San Francisco was, at the time, the location of Club Six, a hip hop club where John Dwyer worked. Dwyer described Club Six as "A big, airy room with a nice wooden stage, hardwood floors and really high ceilings. I gave them $500 to record in the room for 12 hours." The whole album was recorded "live" with no overdubs in an attempt to recreate the feeling of the band's live performances. Mike Donovan, the leader of Sic Alps, was the only guest musician on the album. Donovan was a past collaborator that had appeared on OCS' 2005 album 3&4, on which he provided vocals for the song "Burning Beauties". Like the majority of the band's catalogue, Warm Slime was recorded and mixed by Chris Woodhouse.

Much attention was drawn to the album's title track. At over thirteen and a half minutes long, it was the lengthiest song the band had ever released. Dwyer claimed that he had wanted to record a long format song like Can's "Yoo Doo Right", The Doors' "When the Music's Over", and Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida".

John Dwyer – vocals, guitar, tape
Petey Dammit – bass
Brigid Dawson – organ, percussion, vocals, Wurlitzer
Mike Shoun – drums
Mike Donovan – fuzz guitar, percussion

One of the BIG faves in the Oh Sees catalogue!

TRACK LISTING

1. Warm Slime
2. I Was Denied
3. Everything Went Black
4. Castiatic Tackle
5. Flash Bats
6. Mega-Feast
7. MT Work

From the same misty mountaintop tape spool as August’s A Weird Exits, Thee Oh Sees bring the companion album An Odd Entrances.

Delving more towards the contemplative than the faceskinning aspects of its predecessor, this sister album is a cosmic exercise en plein aire with John Dwyer and company double-drum shuffling, lounging with cellos, following a flute around the groove, and spooling a few Grimm-dark lullabies along the way. Lurking in the grass are a snake or two, like the celestial facing instrumental buzz of “Unwrap The Fiend Pt. 1.”…But for the most part this is a relatively hushed affair, a morning rather than evening listen.

The band plans on donating half their profits from the first pressing to Elizabeth House, a local charity in Pasadena that specifically helps homeless women with children get back on their feet.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: If this forms the Yang to 'A Weird Exit's Ying, there is between them a fully realised and startlingly broad palette of skills. Where 'Weird Exits' brought the fire, this brings the sweet, sweet burn cream. Rhythms are more pronounced, the distortion is turned down a little but still forms a brilliantly nuanced and fantastically executed whole. Superb.

TRACK LISTING

1. You Will Find It Here
2. The Poem
3. Jammed Exit
4. At The End, On The Stairs
5. Unwrap The Fiend, Pt. 1
6. Nervous Tech (Nah John) 

Our lad John P. Dwyer has been lancing eardrums with Thee Oh Sees in an ever-escalating flurry of records for the past six years. Since the release of The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In announced a new loud era (and excepting a few momentary detours into home-baked territory - Dog Poison and Castlemania, for example), Dwyer and company have pummelled a bit harder each time out, cementing their reputation as a live force to be reckoned with and leaving legions sweaty and bruised in the process. Late last year, after years of relentlessly touring the world, the word got out… Dwyer’s moving to Los Angeles (fear not, still California!) and Thee Oh Sees are taking a much-needed hiatus with a shifting of gears ahead and a new album on the way. This is that album.

Drop was recorded in a banana-ripening warehouse (no joke) with hair-farming studio warlock Chris Woodhouse playing drums; it’s also graced with the presence of talented gurus Mikal Cronin, Greer McGettrick and Casafis adding horns and vocals. The result pushes the familiar polarities of the group farther outward than ever before. Opener “Penetrating Eye” might be the heaviest Oh Sees song yet, “Transparent World” and “Put Some Reverb On My Brother” foam with seasick fuzz, and yet the ballads, like the harpsichorded “King’s Nose” and the lush and stately closer “The Lens,” extend their oeuvre into mellotronic, far-out pop with delicacy and grace.

This schizophrenia heralds the man and the band into an unseen future in classic Dwyer fashion - restless energy harnessed into exquisitely crafted jams, with an emphasis on the pensive and the paranoid in turns.

TRACK LISTING

1. Penetrating Eye
2. Encrypted Bounce
3. Savage Victory
4. Put Some Reverb On My Brother
5. Drop
6. Camera (Queer Sound)
7. King's Nose
8. Transparent World
9. The Lens

Back in 2012, Thee Oh Sees made their first appearance at Austin Psych Fest, performing an electrified set at Emo's East. The first of many Levitation appearances down in Austin, this show has been mixed by John Dwyer and mastered for vinyl by JJ Golden. Now immortalized on glorious 12" colored wax. "I think this was our first time at levitation but our millionth time in the amazing and tough as nails city of Austin, Texas. Brigid Dawson, Mike Shoun, Petey D and myself had already laid the live show out in front of crowds here, so it wasn't our first rodeo and certainly not my last. Our love is obvious here as we bring forth a short but sweet set of hits and deep cuts. This is also the version of the band with Lars "Fingers" Finberg of Intelligence fame as second banana drummer. So enjoy some primal and sensual double drumming and as a side note, no one died at this show. Thanks as always to Levitation for making shit happen" - John Dwyer 


The first Austin Psych Fest was held in March 2008, and expanded to a 3 day event the following year. The event quickly developed into an international destination for psychedelic rock fans, with lineups spanning the fringes of indie rock, from up-and-comers to vintage legends, and capped off with headline performances from co-founders The Black Angels, along with Tame Impala, The Flaming Lips, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Thee Oh Sees (in various forms) and many more. LEVITATION helped spark a movement, inspiring the creation of similar events across the globe and a burgeoning psych scene that would soon ignite. The series captures key moments in psychedelic rock history, and live music in Austin, Texas, pressed on beautiful limited edition colorful vinyl pressings - each an eye popping visual representation of the music contained within. The artists and sets showcased on Live at LEVITATION have been chosen from over a decade of recordings at the world-renowned event, and document key artists in the scene performing for a crowd of their peers and fans who gather at LEVITATION annually from all over the world.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Dream
2. Devil Again
3. Tidal Wave
4. Enemy Destruct
5. Robber Barons
6. Block Of Ice
7. Meat Step Lively
8. Minotaur

Perched in the belfry of The Chapel we caught thee mighty Oh Sees, alive and in their natural element, with our shutters aflutter and our
tapes on a roll. After a short incubation period, the beast has reached full maturity and it is hideous. Over three nights they pummeled, and we’ve culled some great photographs, a wicked recording, and even a little live video action.

Castle Face is happy to announce the first double LP in the Live in San Francisco series, presented on two discs, in a handsome double
gatefold jacket.

Finally you depraved Oh Sees freaks have something to take home with you when you lose your shoes and your girlfriend at the show. Put it on at home and pretend to wait in line for the bathroom and it’s like you’re really there.

The thrash, the throb, the mob is all present and pushed to the front. Dual drummers synced in each ear, Tim Hellman rounding out the
bottom and Castle Face’s own John Dwyer up front on guitar, lasering young brains off and fomenting the crowd to a froth—it’s a great
band, in a great room, with a great crowd and it’s cooked to perfection…

Take a little bit of it with you this time.

TRACK LISTING

1. I Come From The Mountain
2. The Dream
3. Tunnel Time
4. Tidal Wave
5. Web
6. Man In A Suitcase
7. Toe Cutter Thumb Buster
8. Withered Hand
9. Sticky Hulks
10. Gelatinous Cube
11. Contraption

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions Thee Oh Sees? Probably their riot-sparking live show, right? Visions of a guitar-chewing, speaker-smothering, tongue-wagging John Dwyer careening across your cranium, chased by a wild-eyed wrecking crew that drives every last hook home like it’s a nail in the coffin of what one thought it meant to make 21st century rock ’n’ roll?

Yeah, that sounds about right. But it misses a more important point—how impossible Thee Oh Sees have been been to pin down since Dwyer launched it in the late ’90s as a solo break from such sorely missed underground bands as Pink and Brown and Coachwhips. That restlessness extends to everything from the towering, thirteen-minute title track of 2010’s Warm Smile LP to the mercurial moods of 2008’s The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending a Night In. And then there’s the home-brewed symphonies of Castlemania and the high-wire hooks of Carrion Crawler / The Dream, which dropped a second drum set among sunburnt organs, dovetailing guitars and rail-jumping rhythms.

If one prefers a slightly more subtle musical awakening, there’s always Putrifiers II, the latest in a long line of Oh Sees albums that expands the group’s sound well past your friendly neighborhood garage band. So while the space-odyssey nods of “Wax Face” actually sound like they’re meant to melt one’s ears straight off, the record’s full of deviant detours, from the poison-tipped string parts and Eno-esque engineering of “So Nice” to the groove-locked Krautrock inclinations of “Lupine Dominus.”

The most noticeable element may be Dwyer’s melodies, however, as they reveal a softer side to his songwriting, one that makes perfect sense considering just how disparate his dust-clearing influences are. Scott Walker, The Velvet Underground, The Zombies and the experimental Japanese act Les Rallizes Denudes are but a small taste of what informed Thee Oh Sees this time around, as Dwyer returned to the multi-instrumental ways of Castlemania— full-band sessions for another record are already underway—and rounded out a fuller, drier sound with drummer / engineer Chris Woodhouse and special guests like Mikal Cronin (sax), Heidi Maureen Alexander (trumpet, vocals) and K Dylan Edrich (viola).

TRACK LISTING

1. Wax Face
2. Hang A Picture
3. So Nice
4. Cloud #1
5. Flood's New Light
6. Putrifiers II
7. Will We Be Scared?
8. Lupine Dominus
9. Goodnight Baby
10. Wicked Park

John Dwyer and his Oh Sees (aka OCS) reissue the "Suck Blood" album on his own Castle Face imprint. Produced by Kelley Stoltz using all green energy (no joke), the album serves as a half-way point between the band's "Cool Death Of The Island Raiders" album and their most recent material. Thee Oh Sees are the underground punk rock of 2009!!

TRACK LISTING

1. It Killed Mom 02:42
2. Sucks Blood 03:42
3. Iceberg 02:58
4. The Gouger 01:53
5. You Make Me Sick, Oh Yeah 03:41
6. [Untitled Drone #] 01:30
7. The Killer 03:50
8. Ship 02:42
9. What The Driven Drink 02:05
10. Invitation 03:14
11. Golden Phones 03:30
12. [Untitled Drone #2] 01:39

“Thee Hounds of Foggy Notion / Live Performances Sans Stages And Whatnots With Thee Oh Sees (2008), is a film we made just over a decade ago, and this record is the soundtrack. I loved making it, and I love all that were involved. I’m honestly blissed-out proud to hear over the years that it somehow is loved by so many others, too. “I first met John Dwyer on Flag Day. I was blown away by a trio of roving Coachwhips guerrilla street shows that climaxed at the the scenic vista parking lot high above San Francisco atop Mt. Sutro. Amongst the gathered uninitiated hordes of souvenir sweatshirt selling families, and puzzled elderly global tourist translators, and a white weirdo tuxedo wedding party, was the sonic corruption of the Coachwhips...I’m certain that this exact event was the idea seed for Thee Hounds Of Foggy Notion, and that it saved my life a little bit. “When JPD asked me to consider making a video for Thee Oh Sees with the sole stipulation that he didn’t want to do anything fake-y to playback, my head started swimming. What we mutually agreed upon was to essentially reprise Flag Day, and film Thee Oh Sees performing live, but not on stages. “I rented a 15-passenger van, a generator, and the minimal cinematic equipment my trusted cinematographer friend James Wall deemed we needed. Everything sound wise was JPD territory and went through an ancient mixing board that Johnny had housed within a Samsonite suitcase. We ran all the plate mics from the drums, and the li’l pedestal mics from the amps through this old mixer, and we all believed that all would be well and swell.” — Brian Lee Hughes

TRACK LISTING

1. The Gilded Cunt
2. Island Raiders
3. Ship
4. Block Of Ice
5. Curtains
6. Dumb Drums
7. We Are Free
8. Thee Hounds Of Foggy Notion
9. Make Them Kiss
10. Golden Phones
11. If I Had A Reason
12. Highland Wife’s Lament
13. Dreadful Heart
14. Ghost In The Trees
15. Iceberg
16. Second Date

The ridiculously prolific Bay Area band Thee Oh Sees are back with another full-length long-player. "Warm Slime" is guaranteed to please fans of their whacked-out garage / psych / punk jams. Recorded by Sacramento sultan of sound Chris Woodhouse, "Warm Slime" carries on in the same tradition as the group’s previous In The Red release, "Help", showcasing their more electrified and rocking side, in comparison to other recent home-recorded releases. The centrepiece is undoubtedly the mind-bending title track, which clocks in at nearly 14 minutes and takes up the entirety of the album’s first side. It’s a psychedelic epic of "Inna Gadda Da Vida" proportions! John Dwyer’s guitar playing is at its quadraspazzed best here, and the vocal interplay with Brigid Dawson gives it a B-52s-at-their-least-cheesy-crossed-with the-Troggs vibe. The results are stunning.

'Thee Oh Sees incorporate the oft-referenced Nuggets stuff in a way that feels reverential. With grinding guitars and bah-bah-bah vocals, but with the punk and new-wave elements also at play, they don’t feel trite or plagiarized. This is like meat and potatoes prepared by a master chef -totally familiar but utterly delicious.'  - Pitchfork.

TRACK LISTING

1. Warm Slime
2. I Was Denied
3. Everything Went Black
4. Castiatic Tackle
5. Flash Bats
6. Mega-Feast
7. MT Work

A new Canadian band, available only on import, fronted by Suzie Ungerleider whose effortless vocals are a real discovery. This is melodic, laid back americana full of tasty guitar lines produced by vintage 1950's and early 1960's Gibson and Les Paul classic guitars and it really gives a quality to the music.

Raz started working on the album Tyrants in 2017 and mixed the finished version in 2021. The writing process began with listening to sketches and sound-files he had collected throughout the past years, which he had not yet given up on. The album is thus a natural continuation of his previous works and showcases Raz’s unique sound design coherently. His increased focus into composition and arrangement is highlighted even further in this release.

In the oblivious environment surrounding his hideaway lake cabin he produced an album that is rich and diverse in its sonic palette, ranging from harshly distorted synth-peaks, cinematic soundscapes, all the way to avant-garde contemporary classical, and jazz music. It is an album that invites the listener to explore and discover not just the intimate self: it is also a very personal, intuitive observation and reflection on the world that we are living in today.

Certain instruments are very prominent. An old piano that was left in Raz’ apartment by a friend that he found joy in playing. One can hear a certain curiosity in the performance of this newly found, dust layered treasure (Bardot). Sonically the album is an attempt to blend acoustic sound recordings with synthesized sounds, and to blend musical genres into one. It is an acoustic expression of the transformative times we are living in, a realm of mankind being mastered by technology. The gap of this transformational process is a glitchy moment of time. It is portrayed on the front cover image of the album, by glitch artist Azamat Akhmadbaev.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Bardot
A2 Instant Mastery
A3 River Of Surrender
A4 Whistleblower
B1 Where To
B2 Tyrants
B3 Pretty Bird
B4 Bootsy & Nils

"Beacons" is the beguiling UK debut of Ohbijou. Borne in the bedrooms of a family home in Ontario, Casey Mecija's gentle compositions, bound with youthful frailty and unnerving beauty, found their natural habitat in Toronto. Enlisting the help of her younger sister, Jenny, and friends Heather Kirby and Anissa Hart, Mecija's songs began to take flight. An encounter with James Bunton and Ryan Carley led to further collaboration and the conception of Ohbijou. Andrew Kinoshita soon added his talents to Ohbijou's orchestration. Furnished with mandolin, violin, piano, banjo, cello and an impressive array of other instruments, a seven piece orchestral pop force began to appear on stages around Toronto that quickly affected the landscape of independent music in the city. Mecija pens songs wrought with the romantic afflictions of big city life. She sutures the intimate details of her personal relations to the macrocosmic relations of her city. Dressed with intricate melodies and vocal harmonies arranged by her bandmates, the songs reveal a striking musicality and virtuosity. Ohbijou's music has a seductive beauty, their delicate songs framed by elegant orchestral arrangements. Their emotive music is simultaneously both sad and life-affirming.

OHHMS come crashing through the Doom gates with their sophomore album 'Exist'. Heavy prog recorded in the spirit of Pink Floyd, Soft Machine and The Mars Volta. After rising a sonic tempest with their widely praised debut full-length ‘The Fool’ last year, UK’s breakthrough progressive metal act Ohhms keep conquering uncharted territories with their new album ‘Exist’. Wielding the flag of Animal Rights and Conservation as a casus belli against global injustice and ignorance, the Canterbury five piece deliver their deepest, most immersive music piece to date. Over the span of four songs, Ohhms prove they are more than great post-metal and doom providers, by crafting a gripping record which backbone subtly calls to mind albums from the finest of 70s prog such as Pink Floyd, Rush or Genesis

TRACK LISTING

1. Subjects
2. Shambles
3. Calves
4. Firearms

There's an obvious chemistry emanating throughout Ohmme's music that's so tangible it can only come from a decades-spanning friendship. Songwriters Sima Cunnningham and Macie Stewart formed their unbreakable bond performing throughout the fringes of Chicago's many interlocking communities, collaborating with titans from the city's indie rock, hiphop, and improvised worlds. But together, along with drummer Matt Carroll, they've stretched the boundaries of what guitar music can do starting with the band's experimental 2016 self-titled EP and their adventurous debut 2018 LP Parts. Now their longstanding partnership culminates with the stunning and muscular follow-up Fantasize Your Ghost. Ohmme formed in 2014 as an outlet for Cunningham and Stewart to explore an unconventional approach to their instruments.


"That's the whole genesis of the band: us walking up to our guitars and saying, 'how can we make this noisemaker do something different?'" says Cunningham. But as their musical collaboration strengthened, bringing Parts and intensive tours with acts like Wilco, Iron & Wine, Twin Peaks, and more, the band's scope and focus has also broadened. "Grinding on tour last year for so long, it can alter your mental state where you have to think about your life in a different way than you would if you're home. A lot of the songs stemmed from just thinking about all of the possibilities that life could be and could take," says Stewart. The commanding single "3 2 4 3" tackles the terrifying realization of needing to make a change. Their deft scene-setting and the way their disparate voices blend together heightens the song's inherent anxiety. These moments of emotional clarity fill Fantasize Your Ghost.


Written across 2019, early sketches of the album's tracklist were demoed at Sam Evian's Flying Cloud Studios in upstate New York. "That's where we really started to see the record come together," says Cunningham. The sessions were intensely collaborative and open, the product of long, existential conversations between Stewart and Cunningham in the van about their lives and how to channel the anger they were feeling about the state of the world. Tracks like the driving opener "Flood Your Gut" underwent several revisions with Ohmme uncovering several new directions the song could go before finishing it. Fantasize Your Ghost was recorded over a six day session in with indie rock journeyman producer Chris Cohen and captures the astounding magnetism and ferocity of their live show.


Fantasize Your Ghost encapsulates the thrilling and sometimes terrifying joy of moving forward even if you don't know where you're going. It's an album that asks necessary questions: When life demands a crossroads, what version of yourself are you going to pursue? What part of yourself will you feed and let flourish and what do you have to let go of? This is a record of strength, of best friends believing in each other. Unapologetic and brave, Ohmme are ready to figure it all out together.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Over the few years they've been recording, Ohmme have clearly perfected their brand of rhythmic indie rock into the perfectly hypnotic distillation we hear today. Elements of Americana, White Stripes-esque blues rock and hypntoic synthy kosmische. It's a melting pot indeed, but one that works flawlessly. That groove!

TRACK LISTING

1. Flood Your Gut
2. Selling Candy
3. Ghost
4. The Limit
5. Spell It Out
6. Twitch
7. 3 2 4 3
8. Some Kind Of Calm
9. Sturgeon Moon
10. After All

From the muddy banks of the Mersey comes this 5 track mini-album by the front-runners of the New Liverpool Underground... their (long-gone) cassette release now on vinyl. Twenty two minutes & fourteen seconds of white hot Granadaland Gnarl fusing paint-stripping Post-Punk with "Back From The Grave" Garage Rock Gunk ...not to mention a heavy, heavy dose of Metalcore Skrunk. Dig The Fall? The Gories? The Common Cold? Arndales? Imperial Wax? Sabbath? Replacements? This is for you, Daddy-o... this is for anyone who still believes in the R&R dream ... R&R as primal scream... OHMNS ain't no slackers & are playing constantly around the North and sometimes further afield (France, Italy, Denmark even) Should they arrive near you ...do not miss!

London-based psychedelic stalwarts Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation are proud to reveal their third album 'Sacred Dreams' for Rocket Recordings. Continuing to dive into the deeper waters of experimentation, ‘Sacred Dreams’ is both a musically hefty amalgamation of reverb drenched space-rock and retro centric electronics, as well as an emotionally cathartic release for the band, marking a new direction and fresh approach.

Since their critically acclaimed album 'Mirage' was released, Josefin and writing partner Fredrik have relocated from Stockholm to London and have created a new Liberation around them - this new band consists of the powerful and intuitive assemblage of musicians; Maki (Go Team), Patrick C Smith (Eskimo Chain), Matt Loft (Lola Colt) and Ben Ellis, who’s worked with both Iggy Pop and Swervedriver. ‘Sacred Dreams’ was largely recorded at Press Play Studios (King Krule, Fat White Family, Yves Tumor, Stereolab, High Llamas and many others) run by Andy Ramsay of Stereolab, who also produced and even programmed his non synced drum machines adding a lot of inspiration to the album.

‘Scared Dreams’ invites you into the bands own dimensional soundscape, a world built with transcendental guitars, driving grooves and otherworldly, enchanting vocals, altogether seeped in layers of blissfully produced synths. Opener and lead single ‘Feel The Sun’ encapsulates this new direction perfectly before the anthemic ‘I Can Feel It’ makes the bands intentions known. Elsewhere playful 80s electronics sit alongside a shoegaze sensibility effortlessly and amongst the textured flow of the LP emerge pop hooks like the infectiously bluesy ‘Baby Come On’.

Josefin tells us “This album comes out of a period of heartbreak, loss and dissolution, but also of deep love, warmth and beauty unveiled in the middle of it. A sacred dream, the way we see it, is not necessarily a golden fluffy cloud river, but instead also contains all the shadows that need to be seen and felt in order to drop what has to go in order to truly live. And the dissonance of such a dream may not be immediately apparent, let alone the meaning of it. In a way all of these tracks seem to emanate from that place where we have almost reached a new shore, or maybe we missed it and are headed somewhere else entirely, but there’s no way of telling until afterwards.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: After the experimental krautrock LP ‘Horse Dance’ (2015) and the pulsing psychedelia on shop-favourite ‘Mirage’ (2016), London-based Swedes Josefin Öhrn + The Liberation return with their most diverse album to date, showcasing a variation of sounds, including, but not limited to, 80s synths, trippy, reverb-laden guitars and dreamy, 60s inspired pop. ‘Sacred Dreams’, which was written during a ”period of heartbreak, loss and dissolution”, is less of a sonic journey than its predecessors and instead seems to show that Josefin and her band don’t want to be confined to a particular genre. After opening with the electronic and motorik dance tracks “Feel The Sun”; “I Can Feel It” and “Desire” the Spiritualized-esque “Hey Little Boy”, the transcendental “Only Lovers” and the blues stomper “Baby Come On” lead the album into a hazier, mellower and more psychedelic direction.

TRACK LISTING

01/ Feel The Sun
02/ Honey Slumber
03/ I Can Feel It
04/ Desire
05/ Hey Little Boy
06/ Only Lovers
07/ Baby Come On
08/ New Horizons
09/ Caramel Head
10/ Let It Come
11/ Whatever You Want
12/ Floating Away

Oil Red O's debut 7" single, "Cutshaw" is released on their own label Mer-r-r-r-man Records. Oil Red O are an instrumental three-piece that encompass sharp angular sound, ever changing dynamics, thrashy rock sequences and a sense of playfulness that bears comparison with US post-hardcore bands like Slint and Shellac.

WRWTFWW Records is honored to announce the first ever vinyl release for esteemed Japanese producer, composer, and environmental music luminary Yoshio Ojima’s rare forgotten album "Club", previously only released as a limited edition of 50 cassettes back in 1983. The electronica/proto-techno/experimental gem is available as an LP reissue supervised by the artist, sourced from the original masters and housed in a heavy 350gsm sleeve. Only 500 copies were made.

A precious and sought-after item among collectors and enthusiasts of early Japanese electronic music, "Club" is a stunning and timeless collection of avant-garde electronica, proto-techno, mecha-ambient, and ear-pleasing experimentations from Yoshio Ojima, the ambient/environmental master behind the pivotal "Music For Spiral" albums released in 1988 (aka Une Collection Des Chaînons I and II reissued on WRWTFWW), and producer of Hiroshi Yoshimura’s Pier & Loft, Motohiko Hamase’s #Notes of Forestry, and Satsuki Shibano's iconic Rendez-Vous.

Filled with quirky minimalist acid-synth-and-drum-machine-handiwork, bouncy collages of beautifully childlike techno and pre-IDM, and the irresistible DIY charm of humble beginnings, the 8-track album is a fun, adventurous and risqué, but catchy in the most peculiar way piece of Japanese electronic music history neatly capturing the incredible creative energy boiling through the country’s scene in the 1980s.

Experience the roots of Japanese electronica!

Points of interests

For fans of electronica, ambient, minimalism, kankyo ongaku, cassettes, YMO, Hiroshi Yoshimura, DIY adventures, albums that were never on vinyl before, music that predicted the future (which is now the present…or even the past!)

First ever vinyl release of Japanese environmental music legend Yoshio Ojima’s super rare 1983 album "Club".

TRACK LISTING

A1. Entrance
A2. Orientation
A3. Club-a
A4. Club-b
B1. Days-man
B2. Boy In Vision
B3. Schooling
B4. Graduation

From the depths of stoner hell crawls Italian band OJM. Produced under the eyes and ears of stoner-rock guru Paul Chain, the debut kicks from the get-go sounding akin to a heavier version of Queens of the Stoneage. Nine tracks to melt your cerebelum, including a nerve shredding version of Iggy Pop's "TV Eye". Hard fuzzed guitar and lurching slow doom epics. Yum!!

Helsinki quartet OK:KO releases their third album "Liesu" with We Jazz Records on 15 April. The band, led by drummer/composer Okko Saastamoinen and including saxophonist Jarno Tikka, pianist Toomas Keski-Säntti and bassist Mikael Saastamoinen (of Superpostion & Linda Fredriksson "Juniper") is a scene favourite in Finland and has recently garnered some international attention with their melodic, dynamic and original approach. The OK:KO sound is adventurous yet accessible, and contemporary yet rooted in the lineage of acoustic small group jazz.

When listening to OK:KO, you can feel that their influences also come from out of the musical realm. After all, isn't this just how it should be? Making music from your own life. Here, you can tell that the landscape of rural Finland, its poetic, at times even melancholy beauty, is ever present. It's folk song country. But don't be fooled, these guys form a real flesh and blood jazz band. That means that the music just starts when the first note hits, and onwards from there, we're in for a wild ride.

Whether punchy like on "Anima", solemn like on "Arvo", or just trekking out there a skiing lane of their own like on "Vanhatie", what you'll get is pure OK:KO. Melodic, interactive, honest and forward-reaching contemporary jazz music. That is something we appreciate – a lot!

Vinyl editions available on opaque white / black vinyl, with inside-out 3mm spine sleeve and a polylined black inner sleeve.

TRACK LISTING

1. Anima
2. Rieju
3. Kirkkis
4. Arvo
5. Vanhatie
6. Yösalmi

“Even my subconscious is self-conscious,” Okay Kaya sings on “Inside Of A Plum”, giving us a sense of the mental state she entered while making SAP, an album she wrote, performed, engineered, and produced alone, sometimes spending weeks at a time without social interaction. This is a concept album about consciousness in which Okay Kaya focuses her trademark combination of abstraction and wit on what happens to her mind unaccompanied, on her tendency to feel less like a human and more like the sticky secretion of a tree.

After releasing her Spellemann Award winning album Watch This Liquid Pour Itself in January of 2020, Kaya left her home in New York and moved to Europe to create and show her various interdisciplinary exhibitions. Among others, she made an installation that amplified music made underwater and an interactive sculpture based on Jungian sandplay therapy for children. Between her exhibits, Kaya recorded through lockdowns by herself in the loaned studios of generous friends.

SAP first grew from the first single “Spinal Tap” about Kaya wandering in Berlin, tree-touching. “Sap reminds me of the bodily functions I need to remember to do, like sleep. One might say it ‘resinates.’” The album was further inspired by Ketamine Therapy which is discussed in “The Inside Of A Plum.” Kaya explains, “The doctor said this treatment grows literal physical branches in your brain.” As she experimented with ego death, the subject of her song “Jazzercise”, Kaya found herself writing in the voices of fictional characters she’d encountered in other people’s stories. In ‘Jolene From Her Own Perspective,’ she imagines Dolly Parton’s nemesis responding to her song. In ‘Origin Story,’ Kaya writes as a mythical goddess frustrated with her creation myth. In ‘I’ve Spent Forever Planning A Crisis,’ Kaya responds to Cassavetes’ film A Woman Under The Influence writing from the perspective of the story’s children.

Okay Kaya’s investigations of mind-body come along with sexy dance beats, unpredictable interlocking synths, delicate soft guitars, and close-to-the-mike R&B whispering. But Kaya likes her falsettos cracking and her soul-inspired hooks careening wildly, a beautiful chaos that somehow fits together.

When she returned to New York, Kaya was excited to collaborate again, to get friends to “bless the record.” She invited friends to Gaia Studios in Greenpoint, Brooklyn to sing or play an instrument. Most songs on the album unfold with guest performances from artists as varied as deem spencer, Taja Cheek of L’Rain and Adam Green of The Moldy Peaches.

Just as the recording process began with isolation and ended with friends, SAP starts with the internal and leads outside to romance, to lovers who serve as funhouse mirrors, reflecting Kaya back to herself from different angles. In “Pearl Gurl” Kaya harmonizes with her multi-tracked second self and sings her uncertain conclusion: “If love is not the answer, it’s one hell of a question.”

TRACK LISTING

1) Mood Into Object Personified
2) Jolene From Her Own Perspective
3) Origin Story
4) Jazzercise
5) Pathologically Yours
6) Spinal Tap
7) Inside Of A Plum
8) Rorschach
9) In Regards To Your Tweet
10) Dep. Chamber
11) Pearl Gurl
12) The Lesson
13) I’ve Spent Forever Planning A Crisis
14) Like A Liver
15) Weltschmerz

Fatherland is the first album to be released by Kele Okereke under his full name, following two acclaimed solo records as Kele, The Boxer and Trick, and five albums as the frontman of unparalleled British band Bloc Party.

TRACK LISTING

1. Overture
2. Streets Been Talkin'
3. You Keep On Whispering His Name
4. Capers
5. Grounds For Resentment (feat. Olly Alexander)
6. Yemaya
7. Do U Right
8. Versions Of Us (feat. Corinne Bailey Rae)
9. Portrait
10. Road To Ibadan
11. Savannah
12. The New Year Party
13. Royal Reign

Long-awaited return of ex-Granfaloon Bus frontman Felix Costanza. After releasing eight critically acclaimed albums over more than a decade, San Francisco's Granfaloon Bus 'parked' forever in 2003. The band had built up a good following in Europe, and many press writers wondered openly how much longer the band could possibly remain 'under the radar' before the wider world finally woke up to their considerable talents. Following the split of the band, front man and songwriter Felix Costanza turned his attentions to a new solo project, which he called Okie Rosette. The album "Leap Second" was brought to life with the help of various accomplices. Thee More Shallows' Dee Kesler lent his recording expertise and sonic wizardry to some of the tracks, Carrie Bradley (The Breeders, 100 Watt Smile) contributed violin parts, and ex-Granfaloon Bus members Jeff Stevenson (bass) and Ajax Green (guitar) joined in too, along with various other contributors. The addition of Rachel Stevenson's dulcet, husky voice provided the perfect foil to Costanza's world-weary vocals. A description once used by a journalist to describe the music of Granfaloon Bus – 'slanted folk-pop' – still applies as an apt description of this mixture of folk / melodic pop / Americana stylings, further tweaked with distorted samples, electronic beats, loops and skewed lyrics. It all adds up to a stunning album – the best work yet by Felix Costanza, and hopefully only the beginning of his long-overdue ascent 'above the radar'.