Seven years since Robert Forster's last album The Evangelist (2008). Seven years since one of Australia's most respected singer-songwriters released what was widely regarded as his best solo album, and one that more than lived up to the many high points of his legendary band The Go-Betweens. Seven years for fans and critics alike to ask, what the hell was he doing?

Quite a lot, as it turns out. Record producer for acclaimed albums by Brisbane bands The John Steel Singers and Halfway. An extended stint as a music critic for the Australian periodical The Monthly that was so well received, a collection of his writings was published as 'The Ten Rules Of Rock And Roll' in 2009 - and was reissued, revised and updated in 2011. Curator and compiler of G Stands For Go-Betweens. Volume 1 - the first of three lavish boxset compilations charting the career of an Australian music icon, of which he was founding member, singer and songwriter.

Still ... seven years. Long time, musically speaking. Time for writing songs, time for gathering musicians, time spent preparing for what was to be the next chapter of his musical life – a refreshed creative direction that took shape as the new album Songs To Play. Ten very different Robert Forster songs recorded on a mountain top half an hour from his Brisbane home, in an analogue studio, with a troop of young musicians: talented multi-intrumentalists Scott Bromley and Luke McDonald (from The John Steel Singers), Matt Piele (drummer from his touring band), and violinist and singer Karin Baumler.

"I had originally envisaged the gap between my last album and my new one as five years," Robert says. "I wanted time to pass, for there to be a cut-off. I knew what happened next would be the start of something new."

"Five years became seven."

The resulting album is really nothing like he's ever done before, although it retains many of the qualities we know from his songwriting: highly melodic, with incisive, witty lyrics attuned to real people and real lives. The surprise will be the spirit of the record, its sense of adventure and fun - especially after the meditative reflections of The Evangelist (recorded a year after the death of The Go-Betweens co-founder Grant McLennan). Seven years has brought a bolder, wilder approach to sound ... and a set of truly inspiring compositions. Pop songs. Five minute epics. A bossa nova tune. Singer-songwriter classics. Add the more experimental and detailed production assistance of Bromley and McDonald and no wonder - from the album's opening lines on the super-charged Learn To Burn - Forster is bursting to get out and tell his story. Time's a sequence and you wait for changes. Problem is you know I've got no patience. I've got no desire to be the fourth person in line.

Seven years in the making. And worth every minute.

Following its unanimously acclaimed expanded reissues of Robert Forster’s first two solo albums Danger In The Past and Calling From A Country Phone, Needle Mythology Records is proud to announce the long-awaited remastered reissue of Robert’s 1994 'I Had A New York Girlfriend' now retitled as 'Beautiful Hearts'. The album saw Robert tackle a diverse array of his favourite songs from other composers – among them Mickey Newbury’s “Frisco Depot”, Martha & The Muffins’ “Echo Beach”, “Alone” by Heart and Guy Clark’s “Broken Hearted People" Having had three decades to reflect on the record, Robert took this chance to revisit the album’s title and artwork. I Had A New York Girlfriend had been an eleventh-hour decision, a line taken from the Modern Lovers song “Old World”. The working title had always been Beautiful Hearts, a phrase borrowed from another song, “For Those” by Tindersticks. With the old title gone, the artwork – a New York street scene – no longer made sense. “So in its place,” explains Robert, “comes a contemporaneous photograph of me conducting a set of musicians crashing into the album’s opening cut ‘Nature’s Way’. Well… that’s the fantasy.”

First time on vinyl for this remastered deluxe reissue.

TRACK LISTING

1. Nature’s Way
2. Broken Hearted People
3. Echo Beach
4. Tell Me That Isn’t True
5. 2541 6. Anytime
6. Locked Away
7. Look Out Here Comes Tomorrow
8. Alone
9. Bird
10. Frisco Depot
11. 3am

2020 sees the thirtieth anniversary of the album that launched the solo career of sometime Go-Betweens frontman Robert Forster. Upon its release ‘Danger In The Past’ met with universal acclaim from critics, even drawing comparison with Bob Dylan’s ‘Blood On The Tracks’ in some quarters. To mark this milestone, Needle Mythology will be reissuing expanded versions of both Danger In The Past and its 1992 successor ‘Calling From A Country Phone’. The re-release of these albums comes on the back of an incredible 2019 for Forster, in which he released an acclaimed studio album Inferno and received unanimous five star reviews for G Is For Go-Betweens Vol. 2, the second in a trilogy of box-sets gathering Go-Betweens studio albums and previously unreleased live recordings and outtakes. Forster himself has been fully involved on this expanded reissue contributing new liner notes and newly unearthed photographs. For Danger In The Past, Robert recorded in Berlin with an illustrious ensemble that included Bad Seeds alumni Mick Harvey (producer, multi-instrumentalist), Hugo Race (guitar) and Thomas Wydler (drums). BBC 6 Music’s Gideon Coe, described the record as "a beautiful, confident solo debut.” Of these new remasters, Needle Mythology co-founder Pete Paphides says, “The remastering (from Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios) has dramatically revealed a depth and physicality to these recordings that casts new light on Robert’s intentions for these records. 

TRACK LISTING

CD/LP:
1. Atlanta Lie Low
2. 121
3. The Circle
4. Falling Star
5. I Want To Be Quiet
6. Cat's Life
7. Girl To A World
8. Drop
9. Beyond Their Law
10. Forever &Time
11. Lonely Boy
12. Brookfield 1975

Bonus 7”:
1. Lonely Boy
2. Brookfield 1975

2020 sees the thirtieth anniversary of the album that launched the solo career of sometime Go-Betweens frontman Robert Forster. Upon its release ‘Danger In The Past’ met with universal acclaim from critics, even drawing comparison with Bob Dylan’s ‘Blood On The Tracks’ in some quarters. To mark this milestone, Needle Mythology will be reissuing expanded versions of both Danger In The Past and its 1992 successor ‘Calling From A Country Phone’. The re-release of these albums comes on the back of an incredible 2019 for Forster, in which he released an acclaimed studio album Inferno and received unanimous five star reviews for G Is For Go-Betweens Vol. 2, the second in a trilogy of box-sets gathering Go-Betweens studio albums and previously unreleased live recordings and outtakes. Forster himself has been fully involved on this expanded reissue contributing new liner notes and newly unearthed photographs. For Danger In The Past, Robert recorded in Berlin with an illustrious ensemble that included Bad Seeds alumni Mick Harvey (producer, multi-instrumentalist), Hugo Race (guitar) and Thomas Wydler (drums). BBC 6 Music’s Gideon Coe, described the record as "a beautiful, confident solo debut.” Of these new remasters, Needle Mythology co-founder Pete Paphides says, “The remastering (from Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios) has dramatically revealed a depth and physicality to these recordings that casts new light on Robert’s intentions for these records. 

TRACK LISTING

CD/LP:
1. Baby Stones
2. The River People
3. Leave Here Satisfied
4. Heart Out To Tender
5. Is This What You Call Change
6. Dear Black Dream
7. Danger In The Past
8. I've Been Looking For Somebody
9. Justice
10. The Land That Time Forgot
11. Falling Star (Original)

Bonus 7”:
1. The Land That Time Forgot
2. Falling Star (Original)

BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 - MOJO MAGAZINE & UNCUT MAGAZINE "In early '77 I asked Grant if he'd form a band with me. `No,' was his blunt reply." Grant McLennan didn't want to be in a band. He couldn't play an instrument; Charlie Chaplin was his hero du jour.

And yet, when Robert Forster wrote Hemingway, Genet, Chandler and Joyce into his lyrics, McLennan couldn't resist a second invitation to become 80s indie sensation The Go Betweens. The friends would collaborate for three decades, until Grant's premature death in 2006. Beautifully written - like lyrics, like prose - Grant & I is a rock memoir akin to no other.

Part `making of', part music industry expose, part buddy-book, this is a delicate and perceptive celebration of creative endeavour. With wit and candour, Robert Forster pays tribute to a band who found huge success in the margins, having friendship at its heart.

'Inferno' is acclaimed Australian singer-songwriter Robert Forster's first solo album in four years - his second album over the last eleven years. Forster only makes records when he feels he has the songs - on 'Inferno', he has nine he totally believes in.

They range from the exhilarating top ten pop of 'Inferno (Brisbane In Summer)', the beach shack groove of 'Life Has Turned A Page', via 'Remain's 1977 New York strut, to finish in a way that this concise, brilliant, drama and wit filled album only can - on the big build epic 'One Bird In The Sky'.

'Inferno' was made in Berlin in 2018, during the hottest German summer in decades. Noted producer/engineer Victor Van Vugt (Beth Orton 'Trailer Park', P J Harvey 'Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea'), recorded the album; the first time he and Forster had worked together since Van Vugt engineered Forster's debut solo album classic 'Danger In The Past' in Berlin in 1990.

'Inferno' in its making is a perfect mix of the familiar and the new. Also working with Forster again, are Brisbane based multi-instrumentalists Scott Bromley and Karin Bãumler from 'Songs To Play' (2015), while new recruits are drummer Earl Havin (Tindersticks, Mary J. Blige) and keyboardist Michael Muhlhaus (Blumfeld, Kante). Four musicians from the corners of the world, who, with Van Vugt's bold and beautiful production, sound like a band of the ages. In front of them, Forster delivers the best vocal performances of his career.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Encompassing all of the best melodic aspects of some of the greatest songwriters to date (Forster's vocal drawl sounding not entirely unlike Morrisey's at points), Forster manages to be both poignant and accessible all at once. Shimmering acoustic guitar and crisp production come together to accentuate the country-folk-indie at every turn. A wonderfully written and brilliantly conceived outing.

TRACK LISTING

1. Crazy Jane On The Day Of Judgement
2. No Fame
3. Inferno (Brisbane In Summer)
4. The Morning
5. Life Has Turned A Page
6. Remain
7. I'll Look After You
8. I'm Gonna Tell It
9. One Bird In The Sky

Picture one of our greatest living singer-songwriters in a kitchen. He is on holidays, he's just had a swim. His wife is out on the beach, and he finds himself faced with a bowl of irresistible strawberries. They're meant to be shared, of course, but their taste is “out of the ordinary”, so he just can't help himself. Minutes later all of the delicious fruit are gone, but there's the germ of a song as the phrase “Someone ate all the strawberries” has just popped into Robert Forster's mind, sounding “so weird, but normal”. Thankfully, he has taken his guitar with him.

As the story goes, his wife Karin Bäumler not only forgave her husband, she actually joined him on a duet of what was to become the title song to his ninth solo album. “What can ordinary be?” is its wistful question, befitting the life's work of Robert Forster who has perfected the art of being outré in a least ostentatious way,from his time in the Go-Betweens to his solo career, now spanning almost three decades, interrupted only by the old band's reformation in 2000 which ended with his songwriting partner Grant McLennan's untimely death in 2006.

As that traumatic blow struck almost two decades ago, let's bring you up to speed: Since then, Robert Forster has maintained a solid career on his own terms through tireless touring, writing (the books Grant & I and The Ten Rules of Rock'n'Roll, a forthcoming novel) and recording. Strawberries follows a recent spate of deluxe reissues of four of his older solo albums as well as the 3rd and final volume of the career-spanning series of G Stands For Go-Betweens boxsets with a much awaited helping of new material. Next to admittedly bigger names such as Bob Dylan or Nick Cave, Robert Forster is the rare case of an artist with a celebrated past whose current work evokes genuine interest among a faithful fan base.

But back to our scene in the kitchen, to Robert, Karin, a guitar and an empty bowl: As a straight-up personal song, “Strawberries” is a bit of a red herring in the context of this new album that, unusually for Forster, deals almost exclusively in observational character studies or, as the author would have it, “story songs”.

“The last album was very personaI,” says Robert, “I didn't write anything for about a year after I'd finished 'She's a Fighter' for the last album. And then I just started to write songs that were something a little bit else. They just came naturally. I didn't really have a theme, it was just sort of lighter, a situation a little bit outside of myself. And I thought that was good. That was a place I could go to.”

The first song to point in this new direction was “All of the Time”, starting with the ominous couplet “There's propaganda and there's truth / And there's a feeling that I get when I'm with you”. We never quite learn what sinister plot lurks in the background, but these words combined with the subtle suggestion of a glam boogie groove imply a certain clandestine sexiness not usually associated with the Forster canon. “It was just this sort of language that I normally didn't use,” says the man himself, “It meant I wasn't going into my present situation. It just pushed me out there and made it less confessional. A lot more playful and and a lot more story-orientated as well.”

As it turns out, this storyteller who sees the world through the eyes of a film director, has a way with romantic fiction that is as emotionally involving as it is economical and free of all sentimentality, as show- cased on “Breakfast on the Train”, the obvious centrepiece of the album. At almost eight minutes length, it tells the story of a not-so casual romance between the two odd ones out in a bar full of rugby fans who end up spending the night in a hotel, laconically retold with possibly the most perfectly timed use of the word “fuck” ever encountered in a pop song.

Inspired by an actual train journey through Scotland touring the previous album The Candle and the Flame with his musician son Louis, this epic is an indisputable addition to the pantheon of Robert Forster's best ever songs while “Foolish I Know”, a tender tale of unrequited same-sex attraction, has to rank amongst his bravest and most beautiful. Louis Forster, by the way, also makes an impressive appearance on lyrical lead guitar in “Such a Shame”, the moving story of an exhausted young rock star ending on the beautiful line “No one I've met has seen me yet at my best / No”.

As on most of the album, the narrator clearly isn't Forster himself, just as he's not the English teacher meeting a French woman in the album's bouncy opener “Tell it Back to Me”. “Your world so different to mine”, Forster sings, “I was corporate, you were folk.” Clearly, this relationship was never going to last, but then again, as Robert observes in the next song, it's “good to cry”. As his slapback echo vocals tuck into the rockabilly vibe of the song, you can hear Forster enjoying the company of his Swedish backing band: Producer Peter Morén (of Peter, Björn and John fame) on guitar, Jonas Thorell on bass and Magnus Olsson on drums, crucially augmented by Lina Langendorf on various woodwind instruments and Anna Åhman on keys.

The idea, writes Forster in his liner notes, was “to arrive in a town with a clutch of songs, to rehearse, record and mix an album with local musicians over a number of weeks, and then leave with the record done.” In this spirit, almost all of Strawberries was rehearsed and arranged to be tracked live, with very few overdubs, at Stockholm's INGRID studios. Forster and Morén, a long-time fan from the times of the Go-Betweens, had met and bonded at an Australian festival they both played in 2016. They had toured together with the core of the Strawberries band (Olsson and Thorell) the year after that, so their musical common ground was well explored years before recordings began.

“It's great working with someone who is truly an auteur,” says Peter Morén, looking back on the intense, focussed four week period working on the album in September/October 2024, “That sense of direction that 'This is what I do, and this is who I am as I perceive it.' He does what he does in the only way he can and changes and evolves in that sphere, but never loses sight of his own personality and strengths.”

“I wanted to explode the sound of my records to an extent”, is Robert Forster's somewhat different assessment of the collaboration, “I wanted to just bring in new colours.”

Nowhere is this more evident than on the album's monumental closing track “Diamonds”, which starts off as a cross between Lou Reed and Buffalo Springfield, then takes off via Astral Weeks into an (almost) Albert Ayler direction, with Lina Langendorf given free rein on the tenor sax and Forster himself relinquishing his trademark understatement for some unexpected outbursts of falsetto. It might just be a challenge for the more conservative end of Robert Forster's fan community, and that, he says, is “a good thing. I really love it. It's the last song. And you think you know the album, and you think you know Robert Forster. And then this last song comes in that's not like anything I've done, you know, sonically and musically.”

It all sounds much like the musical equivalent of a 67-year-old man standing in front of a bowl of strawberries that taste out of the ordinary who can't help himself but gobble them all up. After all, what can ordinary be?

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Quaint folky vignettes and rocky instrumental breakdowns are about as intense as it gets on the new Robert Forster album, but it's this small-scale homely storytelling and familiar lifelike honesty that makes 'Strawberries' such a relatable endeavour.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Tell It Back To Me
A2 Good To Cry
A3 Breakfast On The Train
A4 Strawberries
B1 All Of The Time
B2 Such A Shame
B3 Foolish I Know
B4 Diamonds

Former Go-between Robert Forster announces his 8th solo album 'The Candle And The Flame'.

It's an album for Forster that has taken a very different path in creating than his previous works. The first single is titled 'She's A Fighter'. It reveals only part of what became a journey of creating music with family and friends with a need to find joy and solace in the face of adversity.

Robert explains: "'She's A Fighter' is the last song I wrote for 'The Candle And The Flame' album. I wrote the music for it in June 2021. I liked the tune and the quick energy of the song, but I didn't know yet what it was going to be about. In early July, Karin Bäumler, my wife and musical companion for thirty-two years, received a cancer diagnosis. In late July, with a series of chemotherapy sessions about to begin, Karin talked of fighting for her health and a path through chemotherapy to recovery. The phrase, 'She's A Fighter' came to me. I liked it. And I knew immediately that it would work with my new melody. I needed just one other line for the lyric. 'Fighting for good.' The song was finished. I had written my first two-line song. I had just out-Ramoned The Ramones! Because the song has so much meaning to us, we decided to record it as a family. The only time this happens on the album. Karin sings and plays xylophone. Our daughter Loretta plays electric guitar. Our son Louis plays guitar, bass and percussion. And I strum an acoustic guitar fiercely and sing. And that's 'She's a Fighter'."

That coming together musically as a family is captured in the video for 'She's A Fighter'. "The video was shot in the same studio (Alchemix Studios, Brisbane) as the album was recorded in. So there is continuity," Forster said. "And the way the four of sit in a circle playing, is very much how we recorded 'She's A Fighter' and other tracks on the album."

'The Candle And The Flame' consists of 9 songs written by Robert. Produced by Robert, Karin Bäumler and Louis Forster (The Goon Sax), the album was mixed by Victor Van Vugt (Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey) and features former Go-Betweens and Warm Nights bass player Adele Pickvance as well as Scott Bromiley and Luke McDonald (The John Steele Singers), who worked on Robert's 'Inferno' and 'Songs To Play' albums.

"The recording sessions for the album were done sporadically over six months. Sometimes just one or two days a month. As that was all Karin's strength and condition allowed her to do. So we had to record 'live', catching magical moments and going for 'feel'. And that became the sound of the album." says Robert.

TRACK LISTING

1 She's A Fighter
2 Tender Years
3 It's Only Poison
4 The Roads
5 I Don't Do Drugs I Do Time
6 Always
7 There's A Reason To Live
8 Go Free
9 When I Was A Young Man

Following the 1989 break-up of the Go-Betweens, the band he had formed at college in 1978 with his friend Grant McLennan, Robert Forster embarked on a solo career, releasing four albums under his own name between 1990 and 1996, before reforming The Go-Betweens in 2000.

After the death of bandmate Grant McLennan in 2006 Robert released, this, his 5th solo album in 2008, including the last three songs he wrote with Grant. 

The 'Directors' Cut' re-issue, featuring revised tracklisting and previously unreleased material. Originally released in 1996, Warm Nights repositioned Robert’s standing as one of the great songwriters of the post-punk era. Robert recalls that producer Edwyn Collins “got the [intended] sound of the album completely: a dry low-end groove pitched somewhere between Creedence Clearwater Revival and Willie Mitchell’s early ’70s Hi Records work.” Towards the end of the sessions some complications arose – and it’s these complications that Robert has seized the chance to remedy for this new release of Warm Nights. “It was Edwyn’s idea,” explains Robert, “to bring in a three-piece brass section – it fitted some of the songs beautifully, but it was in the mixing of the brass and the effect it had on the running order that things got complicated, [resulting in] two changes to the album that have been bugging me for 25 years.” Finally, Robert can sleep easy. The revised edition of 'Warm Nights' sees the inclusion of the brass version “Fortress” and the addition of "Half The Way Home” (a song that Robert rashly demoted from the original album and is here for the first time on vinyl).

TRACK LISTING

1. I Can Do
2. Warm Nights
3. Cryin’ Love
4. Snake Skin Lady
5. Loneliness
6.Jug Of Wine
7. Fortress (Brass Version)
8. Half The Way Home
9. On A Street Corner
10. I’ll Jump

Love is a first kiss, a late night call, an ache of longing that can break your heart or a long drive with the top down to anywhere but here. Love can equally be contained, repressed and longed for as much as it can save, nurture and embolden. Love is a measure of our humanity or how lost we have become.

In her new album, How Love Bends, Reb Fountain muses on the transformative power of love. Imprinted with our fear, desire, hurt and hope as much as it is an expression of our suffering and joy, love is an ever-evolving shapeshifter that lives in our marrow; magnetic and emergent it is loosed by its archer to ride on the wind.

Reb's medium is that of a surrealist, playing with the stories that we tell ourselves she harnesses the sage wisdom of the dream; we embark upon a limitless exploration of love, life and loss within a landscape entirely of Reb's making. Reb's love is the stuff of chaos and oceans, vulnerability and revolution; stirring up the depths of the human condition and dancing with the richness of who we really are. Unapologetic, vulnerable, heartbroken and commanding; this is How Love Bends.

How Love Bends is at once haunting and alluring, mystical and triumphant. Reb is a seeker, actively reaching for the expanse. A reverent explorer she traverses the turbulent and tidal with heartbreaking vulnerability and blazon courage. The result is an emergent odyssey; a dynamic dreamscape unfolding and revealing itself mid-evolution. Reb has explored new approaches to songwriting revealing nuanced layers with endless depths.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Come Down
2. How Love Bends
3. City
4. Ring Ring
5. Over Joy/ed
6. Nothing Like

SIDE B
7. He Commands You To Jump Into The Sea
8. Drake
9. Forever
10. Everyday Fitness
11. Memorial
(BONUS 7”)
How Bizarre
The Gambler

RIYL: Patti Smith, Sharon Van Etten, Aldous Harding, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Kate Bush

The perfect extension of her 2020 self-titled record, IRIS elevates Reb Fountain’s music to new heights. Reb effortlessly combines pop elements with her trademark noir folk-punk sound; weaving authentic and anthemic tunes that create an instant and indelible impression. Written during lockdown in 202, Reb has said on the album “Writing a song a day to keep myself grounded and productive during lockdown, IRIS provided me an opportunity to speak my unspoken, to reflect what I have seen and experienced from within and to bear witness.”

Diving into the deeper meaning of the album’s namesake, Reb says “Iris is in many ways an unsung hero, known as the goddess of the rainbow, sea and sky, she acts as bridge between the gods to humanity with little of her own story known. So many stories go unheard, so many aspects of our humanity are unsung; visibility is a contested and inequitable space where what is essential and of beauty is often ‘invisible’. I wanted and needed to give voice to this essential human spirit; to conjure and hold and commune with the very real, valid and invaluable voices within and around me.”

The award-winning songwriter, Reb Fountain, is a consummate recording artist and performer; spell-bounding audiences with her music and artistry alike. Throughout 2020, Reb and her all-star band (Dave Khan, Karin Canzek and Earl Robertson) astounded audiences around the country on her sold out album release tour. Reb was born in San Francisco and immigrated with her family from North America to Lyttelton the quiet port town out of Christchurch that’s been fundamental to New Zealand’s alt-folk scene, raising artists like Marlon Williams, Aldous Harding, and Delaney Davidson.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Psyche
2. Foxbright
3. Invisible Man
4. Heart
5. Beastie

SIDE B
6. Fisherman
7. Swim To The Star
8. Lacuna
9. Iris
10. Intermission

This new vinyl only 45 from Hot Rox is limited to just 300 copies worldwide. It features a couple of brilliant hip-hop gems from Ronnie Frazzle. ‘The Doom Sessions’ (mix 1) will be recognisable to anyone who knows their hip-hop. DOOM over a classic Roots Manuva track is always going to work with the late great MC rapping over that heavy bassline. ‘The Doom Sessions’ (mix 2) is a much more funky affair with neat bass licks and golden chords spreading warmth and soul, making this a great yin to the a-side’s yang. An essential addition to any hip hop lovers records collection.

TRACK LISTING

A1. The Doom Sessions (feat MF Doom - Mix 1)
B1. The Doom Sessions (feat MF Doom - Mix 2) 

The meeting of two great reggae artists, reissued on LP for the very first time. A must-have for reggae, roots and dancehall collectors. Includes Johnson’s fabulous take on ‘Sitting In The Park’ and French’s protest ‘No War’. Recorded at the legendary Channel One Recording studio in Kingston, Jamaica, with the reputed Roots Radics Band, produced by ‘Jah’ Thomas Remastererd by Nick Robbins at Sound Mastering and presented in a deluxe sleeve, featuring the original artwork by Wilfred Limonious

TRACK LISTING

1. Sitting In The Park
2. Park Dub
3. Know Yourself Mankind
4. Mankind Dub
5. I Want To Hold You
6. Hold You Dub
7. Stop Spread Rumour
8. Rumour Dub
9. Number One Lover
10. Love Dub
11. No War
12. War Dub

A collection of 12 songs, each of which, as the title suggests, documents a tale of two people in crisis. Mostly country / bluegrass songs but occasionally deliving into pop and rock. Very good!

14 all new, frightfully rare, or altogether unreleased tracks.

Roel Funcken curates two 30 minute tracks consisting of music from Roel, Funckarma and Legiac. Cassette DJ Mix showcases the Funcken legacy whilst offering fresh, unique sounds. Roel has been at the heart of the electronic music scene for over two decades and continues to share his wonderful vision and style with the music community.

Cassette DJ Mix Part 1 and 2 (consists of tracks from Roel Funcken, Funckarma and Legiac).

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Roel Funcken presents a suite of electronic drifts and rich meditative synth, industrial atmospherics and brittle, aquatic modular blips. It's a huge body of work that feels both consistent and transportive, with as many moments of crystalline beauty as there are intimidating walls of noise. A lovely, fascinating behemoth.

Rami Gabriel’s second LP 'Tunderizer' focuses the harsh experimentalism of post-punk industrial upon the intimate sphere of home. Like shadows crossing through mirrors, a mesh of lo-fi noise art and field recordings obscures expertly tuned songwriting. 'Tunderizer' fires in all registers, from irrepressible melody to deconstructive static, from country to tarab, skronk to delta blues.

Born in Beirut, Rami Gabriel is a composer and songwriter who plays Oud, Buzuq, and Guitar. He learned blues and jazz performing with legendary Chicago musicians and integrating it with Arabic traditions. Rami performs widely across North America and internationally including in Europe, India, Turkey, Lebanon and Ghana. He recently performed at the Portland Jazz Festival, the NYC Arab Festival, and the Festival International De Louisiane.

Rami leads Chicago favorites The Arab Blues and the R&B quartet Rami & the Reliables. He has shared bills with roots luminaries including Buddy Guy, Zakir Hussein, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyers, and Rakesh Chaurasia. He opened for British songwriter Nick Lowe, and records regularly with members of American rock legends NRBQ. He also shared bills with Prostitute, Marvin Tate, and other punk and noise artists. His music has been remixed by experimental artists including Fire-Toolz, Beau Wanzer, Sen Morimoto, Lynyn, k-rAd, and Alex Hall of Chicago’s Reliable Recorders.

TRACK LISTING

1. Majesty And Misery
2. Tunderizer
3. Out Of Our Bed
4. Waiting For The Drugs
5. 680
6. Ain’t I Worth That
7. Whiskey On The Rocks
8. Greece Without The Greeks 9. Chennai
10. Nothome
11. Select A Room
12. Approaching Ramp
13. Money And Blood

Compassion combines ethereal pop with ‘80s synth textures, and slacker-rock charm. It's got a bit of Matthew E. White, chilled out BC Camplight and Conor Oberst.

The inviting and perceptive songs on Rui Gabriel’s debut LP Compassion all tackle growing up. It’s about how the older you get, your priorities shift, friendships evolve, and responsibilities become inescapable. For Gabriel, the Indiana-based, Venezuela-born artist and co-founder of the acclaimed band Lawn, the changes in his own life inspired him to write a solo full-length that sounds like nothing the indie rock journeyman has done before. Across 10 vibrant tracks that combine ethereal pop with slacker-rock and piano-driven dance music, it’s a galvanizing showcase of personal growth and the grace you give yourself to push forward.

Work on Compassion started in 2018 when Gabriel was living in New Orleans. “I was living a pretty teenage life in many ways,” says Gabriel. “I worked at a pizza restaurant and would just go to shows or parties. I wasn’t doing anything other than music. I didn't have many responsibilities.” The songs he was working on at the time—tracks that didn’t fit Lawn but Gabriel still liked—initially went unfinished. But as Gabriel’s life changed, so did his songwriting and his desire to see his ideas through. “When I was writing lyrics, I was settling down with my partner and about to become a dad,” says Gabriel. “I was making choices about my life that contradicted the existence I had before. I had a different set of priorities.”

The songs on Compassion deal with youthful carelessness ("Dreamy Boys") and coming face-to-face with newfound responsibilities ("Change Your Mind"). It's consistently a biting, observant look at getting older thanks to Gabriel's unique perspective as a South American immigrant who's lived across the United States for the past 13 years. “When you are Hispanic, English isn't your first language, and you're in a music scene with a bunch of white people, you're going to stand out a little bit,” he says. On “Church of Nashville,” “Hey, Leonard Cohen is singing poems by the gentrified alley” he humorously aims at scene pretension and industry gatekeepers.

Compared to Gabriel’s work with Lawn, where he writes frenetic post-punk songs and yells, for Compassion he explores more straightforward pop sensibilities and showcases his singing voice. “I wanted to do a solo record to prove to myself that I could sing,” says Gabriel. Take the meditative, piano-based lead single “Target,” which is inspired by Dido and finds Gabriel gorgeously harmonizing with singer Kate Teague. He reaches similar infectiousness on the sunny rocker “Summertime Tiger,” which guests Stef Chura. Co-produced by Gabriel and Nicholas Corson (The Convenience, Video Age), Compassion is consistently warm, generous, colorful, and adventurous.

“Compassion is a record about change,” says Gabriel. “It's a coming-of-age record but for somebody who's coming of age into their thirties.”

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Dreamy Boys
2. Target
3. Church Of Nashville
4. Hunting Knife
5. Summertime Tiger

Side B
6. If You Want It
7. Change Your Mind
8. Eyes Only
9. End Of My Rope
10. Money

The very last day of recording the album that became checkmate, Ron Gallo wrote and recorded the title track. Which, in his words, half-jokingly, is "my first true love song that also happens to be the best love song ever written". It encapsulates the entire purpose of the album which takes his previous motto - "The world is fucked, but the universe is inside you" and changes it to "The world is ending, what can I hold on to?". After years of navigating artistic reinvention and resisting change, Ron Gallo arrives at his latest album, checkmate, with a newfound clarity and sense of purpose. Stripped down and direct, checkmate marks a reset: a shedding of old selves, old anger, and the need for introspection. Social commentary has always been a driving force behind Gallo’s music, and checkmate finds the bridge between personal inner dialogues and cultural analysis, grasping the vulnerability he once avoided. What remains here is distilled: raw thoughts about love, identity, and survival in a collapsing world. Gallo calls it “a process to kill off my old self,” a release from years of hiding, whether it’s behind a comic veil or a wall of instruments and noise. With checkmate, he finds himself aligned with a new audience who have found his music through social media riffs turned viral smashes, 7am Songs, who come with no preconceived notions—only a desire to connect. The personal vulnerability found in these songs are far more relatable than Gallo could have first imagined. Inner dialogues we all seem to be having, but struggling to find the words for, until now.

Over the last 12 years, Ross Gay’s poems have given us indelible images and phrases of radical empathy and unabated gratitude; about community, collaboration, connectedness and hard work. They have crept into our hearts and made a home of all of us. And so we are launching our 25th Anniversary celebration with ‘Dilate Your Heart’, our first spoken word album since titan Robert Creeley’s self-titled release twenty years ago.

“Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude” is given a gorgeous, slowly creeping bed of vines by Bon Iver, as Gay’s unadorned voices speaks a lifetimes of Thank You’s. On “Burial,” harpist and composer Mary Lattimore’s lunar landscape follows Gay’s voice into space, telling of our endless energy exchange with nature. Chicago’s Angel Bat Dawid dances with the frenetic, joyous scene Gay leads us through on “To the Fig Tree on 9th and Christian,” in which a group of Philadelphia strangers scramble together to harvest the fruit of the titular urban fig tree. Songwriter Gia Margaret provides a mystical, amniotic environment for Gay’s “Poem To My Child If Ever You Shall Be,” a love letter to an imagined future child, treating Gay’s voice like a message in a bottle to a far off idea made only of love and potential. Sam Gendel, a secret weapon collaborator, affects Gay’s voice on “Sorrow Is Not My Name” to something glassy and almost singsongy. Throughout, Gay recites his poems with bright aliveness, his voice as warm and easy when he speaks about death as when he speaks about mercy, or love.

TRACK LISTING

1. Catalog Of Unabashed Gratitude (with Bon Iver)
2. Burial (with Mary Lattimore)
3. To The Fig Tree On 9th & Christian (with Angel Bat Dawid)
4. Poem To My Child, If You Ever Shall Be (with Gia Margaret)
5. Sorrow Is Not My Name (with Sam Gendel)

Rhiannon Giddens’ You’re the One is the Grammy- and MacArthur-winning singer, composer, and instrumentalist’s third solo studio album and her first of all original songs; her last solo album was 2017’s critically acclaimed Freedom Highway. This collection of 12 songs written over the course of Giddens’ career bursts with life-affirming energy, drawing from the folk music that she knows so deeply, as well as its pop descendants. The album was produced by Jack Splash (Kendrick Lamar, Solange, Alicia Keys, Valerie June, Tank and the Bangas) and recorded at Criteria Recording Studios in Miami with a band composed of Giddens’s closest musical collaborators from the past decade alongside musicians from Splash’s own Rolodex, topped off with a horn section, making an impressive ten- to twelve-person ensemble.

Giddens made You’re the One with some of her closest musical collaborators from the past decade, including her partner, Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi, plus multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell, bassist Jason Sypher, and Congolese guitarist Niwel Tsumbu. The album features electric and upright bass, conga, Cajun and Piano accordions, guitars, a Western string section, and Miami horns, among other instruments, capturing the inclusive spirit that channels through all of her work.

"I hope that people just hear American music," Giddens says. "Blues, jazz, Cajun, country, gospel, and rock – it's all there. I like to be where it meets organically. They're fun songs, and I wanted them to have as much of a chance as they could to reach people who might dig them but don't know anything about what I do. If they're introduced to me through this record, they might go listen to other music I've made and make some new discoveries.”

You’re the One opens with ‘Too Little, Too Late, Too Bad’, an R&B blast (complete with background "shoops" and horns) that takes a titan for inspiration. "I listened to a bunch of Aretha Franklin, and then turned to fellow Aretha-nut Dirk Powell and said, ‘Let’s write a song she might have sung!'" Giddens recalls. Her danceable, vivacious tribute to Franklin's sound is a vocal showcase, spotlighting her soaring high notes and nearly-growling low ones. Another highlight, ‘If You Don't Know How Sweet It Is', intentionally puts an edgier spin on the sass of Dolly Parton's early work.

TRACK LISTING

1. Too Little, Too Late, Too Bad
2. You’re The One
3. Yet To Be (feat. Jason Isbell)
4. Wrong Kind Of Right
5. Another Wasted Life
6. You Louisiana Man
7. If You Don’t Know How Sweet It Is
8. Hen In The Foxhouse
9. Who Are You Dreaming Of
10. You Put The Sugar In My Bowl
11. Way Over Yonder
12. Good Ol’ Cider

Robert Glasper is a premiere example of musical aptitude and a proven champion of Black music - boasting nine Grammy nominations and four wins for Best R&B Album, Best R&B Song, Best Traditional R&B Performance, and Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media, and an Emmy Award for his song for Ava Duvernay’s critically hailed documentary “13th” with Common and Karriem Riggins. The 43-year old Houston native has a rich history contributing his artistry across both music and film, all the while carrying a consistent cultural message.

In 2012, Glasper delivered his album Black Radio that hit the scene as the first album in history to debut in the top 10 of 4 different genre charts simultaneously: Hip Hop R&B, Urban Contemporary, Jazz and Contemporary Jazz. The feat was then repeated by Black Radio 2. The ongoing Black Radio series has since become Glasper’s calling card, upholding a place at the heart of a trailblazing community: from long-time sonic brothers Mos Def and Bilal, to legends including Ledisi, Lupe Fiasco, Kanye West, Jill Scott, and Erykah Badu.

"Robert Glasper has established himself as a master of the territory where jazz, hip-hop and R&B overlap" – Rolling Stone

“No one has shaped the resurgence of jazz in black music more than Robert Glasper in the 2000s” – Nate Chinen (NPR)

Black Radio and Black Radio II are landmark albums that have shaped the genres of jazz, hip hop and r&b for the past decade. Direct lines can be drawn to Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, Kendrick Lamar, and black music writ large.

For Black Radio III, 4-time grammy® winner Robert Glasper cements his legacy as producer, curator and cultural icon. These collaborations range from the most powerful voices in contemporary black music (Killer Mike, ty dolla $ign, D Smoke, PJ Morton) to the most important lyricists and performers of the past 30 years (Jennifer Hudson, Ledisi, Common, Gregory Porter, Musiq Soulchild, India.Arie)

Black Radio III is also a statement for these times. It is Glasper’s most direct statement of the frustration and opportunity of a world disrupted by social change.

It is at once beautiful, powerful and innovative.

TRACK LISTING

1. In Tune Ft. Amir Sulaiman
2. Black Superhero Ft. Killer Mike + BJ The Chicago Kid + Big K.R.I.T.
3. Shine Ft. D Smoke + Tiffany Gouché
4. Why We Speak Ft. Q-Tip + Esperanza Spalding
5. Over Ft. Yebba
6. Better Than I Imagined Ft. H.E.R. + Meshell Ndegeocello
7. Everybody Wants To Rule The World Ft. Lalah Hathaway + Common
8. Everybody Love Ft. Musiq Soulchild + Posdnuos
9. It Don't Matter Ft. Gregory Porter + Ledisi
10. Heaven's Here Ft. Ant Clemons
11. Out Of My Hands Ft Jennifer Hudson
12. Forever Ft. PJ Morton + India.Arie
13. Bright Lights (with Ty Dolla $ign)

Robert Glasper's GRAMMY-nominated album, 'Code Derivation', is now available for the first time on vinyl.

This unique project gives listeners two radically different versions of the same track - one played live in-studio performed by Glasper and his band and a version "flipped" by a producer of his choosing.

Production duties are handled by Karriem Riggins, Hi-Tek, Black Milk, Taylor McFerrin and Riley Glasper.

TRACK LISTING

1. Soundcheck One
2. Say Less
3. Say Less (Flipped By Riley Glasper)
4. Wake Up
5. Wake Up (Flipped By MMYYKK)
6. Madiba
7. Madiba (Flipped By Hi-Tek)
8. AJ's Vibe
9. AJ's Vibe (Flipped By Black Milk)
10. Waiting On Arrival
11. Waiting On Arrival (Flipped By Taylor McFerrin)
12. Rm 112
13. Rm 112 (Flipped By Karriem Riggins)
14. Soundcheck Two
15. M&M March (Flipped By Riley Glasper)

'Legendary genre-bending, multiple Grammy and Emmy-winning artist and producer Robert Glasper releases his newest project, Fuck Yo Feelings. It is the result of a 2-day session in which Glasper invited musician friends to stop by the studio and organically create together, the final result being this mixtape which sonically documents the lost art of improv and on the spot collaborations that can only come from authentic relationships and true artistry. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Unstoppable jazz gee Robert Glasper makes expert use of his stacked Rolodex here, inviting a whole load of talented MFs for a two day session of improv action. Rather than sounding rushed or unfinished, this double LP is vital, immediate and punchy AF, traversing jazz, hip hop and broken beat with ease.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Intro (feat Aaron Crockett)
A2. This Changes Everything (feat Buddy & Denzel Curry, Terrace Martin & James Poyser) 
A3. Gone (feat YBN Cordae & Bilal & Herbie Hancock)
A4. Let Me In (feat Mick Jenkins)
A5. In Case You Forgot
B1. Indulging In Such
B2. Fuck Yo Feelings (feat Yebba)
B3. Endangered Black Woman (feat Andra Day & Staceyann Chin)
B4. Expectations (feat Baby Rose, Rapsody & James Poyser)
C1. All I Do (feat SiR, Bridget Kelly, Song Bird) 
C2. Aah Who  (feat Muhsinah & Queen Sheba) 
C3. I Want You
C4. Trade In Bars Yo (feat Herbie Hancock)
C5. DAF Fall Out
D1. Sunshine
D2. Liquid Swords
D3. DAF FTF
D4. Treal (feat Yasiin Bey)
D5. Cold

Robert Glasper’s 2005 Blue Note debut Canvas signaled the arrival of a singular new voice in jazz and his 2007 follow-up In My Element solidified his status as a rising star who was taking the music someplace new. Featuring bassist Vicente Archer & drummer Damion Reid, the album expanded the possibilities of where a modern jazz piano trio might go by delving further into his hip-hop & gospel roots.

This 2-LP Blue Note Classic Vinyl Edition was mastered by Kevin Gray and pressed on 180g vinyl at Optimal.

Robert Glasper releases 'Keys To The City Volume One' - a monumental testament to the magic of collaboration and improvisation captured live during his annual "Robtober" residency at the Blue Note Jazz Club in NYC.

This double LP is available for the first time on vinyl and features star- studded guest appearances from talented friends, including Black Thought, Norah Jones, Thundercat and more.

TRACK LISTING

1. Step Into The Realm
2. Paint The World
3. Prototype
4. Love You Down
5. Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box
6. Didn't Find Nothing In My Blues Song Blues
7. One For Grew
8. The Look Of Love
9. Over

Robert Glasper's 'Let Go' is an immersive, 13-track collection that delivers a serene listening experience.

This double LP is available for the first time on vinyl and blends his signature jazz and R&B mastery into a meditative soundscape. Glasper himself describes the album as a sanctuary, stating, "It's just something that quiets the world and allows you to see what's within."

The album features Meshell Ndegeocello, Chris Sholar, Kendrick Scott and Burniss Travis.

TRACK LISTING

1. Breathing Underwater
2. Your Eyes
3. Let Go
4. Inner Voice
5. Round 'bout Sunlight
6. Going Home
7. That One Morning
8. Awakening Dawn
9. Luna's Lullaby
10. Deep Down
11. Enoch's Meditation
12. I Am
13. Truth Journey

"Meet girls. Take drugs. Listen to music." In Rave, cult German novelist Rainald Goetz takes a headlong dive into nineties techno culture.

From the cathartic release on the dance floor to the intense conversations in corners of nightclubs and the after-parties in the light of dawn, this exhilarating, fragmentary novel captures the feeling of debauchery from within. Dazzling and intimate, Rave is an unapologetic embrace of nightlife from an author unafraid to lose himself in the subject of his work.

'Skylla' is the debut solo recording of Italian-born and London-based composer, bassist, and vocalist Ruth Goller. This album of otherworldly detuned bass harmonics and dense vocal arrangements was initially released in 2021 by longtime collaborator Bex Burch's Vula Viel Records, and quickly went out of print. Since then Goller's notoriety has only grown, and her follow-up record, 'SKYLLUMINA', was released by International Anthem in early 2024 and met with high praise.

'Skylla' is the genesis of her sound, and it is a sound that is hard to place. Listeners could be convinced that these recordings came out of contexts as disparate as 80s Downtown NYC or some mysterious Bjork-adjacent project of the Icelandic 2010s. It's hard to imagine a person making this music despite the fact that its elements are instantly recognizable.

TRACK LISTING

1. Often They Came To Visit, Even Just To See How She Was (M1)
2. In More Turbulent Times, She Managed To Take The Perfect Shot (M4)
3. What’s Really Important She Wanted To Know - Part 1 (M6)
4. What’s Really Important She Wanted To Know - Part 2 (M7)
5. What’s Up Is Not What’s Real Most Of The Time (M5)
6. When They Came Closer She Realised They Were Alien Creatures (M3)
7. The Shine Of Gold Was Too Strong (M8)
8. When She Curled Up They Started Dancing (M2)
9. He Was Painting Her Face With Colours She Had Never Seen (M9)
10. I Is One (M10) 

The Choctaw, Assiniboine, and Texan poet, journalist, visual artist, American Indian Movement activist, and musician Roxy Gordon (First Coyote Boy) (1945–2000) was above all a storyteller, known primarily as a writer of inimitable style and unvarnished candor, whose wide-ranging work encompassed poetry, short fiction, essays, memoirs, journalism, and criticism. Over the course of his career he recorded six albums, wrote six books, and published hundreds of shorter texts in outlets ranging from Rolling Stone and The Village Voice to the Coleman Chronicle and Democrat-Voice, in addition to founding and operating, with his wife Judy Gordon, Wowapi Press and the underground country music journal Picking Up the Tempo. Along the way he cultivated close friendships with fellow Texan songwriters such as Lubbockites Terry Allen, Butch Hancock, and Tommy X. Hancock, as well as Ray Wylie Hubbard, Billy Joe Shaver, and, most famously, Townes Van Zandt, whom he called his brother. Although his work covered a vast array of topics exploring strata personal, local, global, and cosmic alike, Gordon’s primary subject as a writer, musician, and visual artist was always American Indian culture, specifically the ways it collided and coexisted with European American culture in the South and West and within the context of his own life and braided identity.

The ten songs on Crazy Horse Never Died, his first officially released and distributed album, were recorded in Dallas in 1988. “Songs” is perhaps an imprecise taxonomy for what Roxy captured on this and his other albums, all of which remain out of print or were released in instantly obscure limited editions of homebrew cassettes and CD-R’s. (Paradise of Bachelors plans to reissue remastered, expanded editions of his catalog; Crazy Horse is the first.) He only occasionally attempted to sing, and his musical recordings are primarily corollaries of, and vehicles for, his poems. His sharp West Texan drawl, tinged by formative years of reservation living in Montana and unmistakable once you hear it high, lonesome, flat, and cold-blooded as a bare rusty blade instead patiently unfurls in skewed sheets of anecdotal verse and discursive narrative rants. His songs are essentially recitations over backing tracks of fingerpicked guitars, rubbery washtub bass, and buzzing, oscillating keyboards. On the stark yellow and red jacket of Crazy Horse, which he designed himself, Gordon describes these recordings as innately ambivalent in terms of form, content, and identity: These are poems and/or songs about the American West, white and Indian.

Crazy Horse Never Died comprises songs that span the personal and political arcs of his writing practice and the poles of his native and white ancestries. His introduction to the almost-title track in the strikingly illustrated poetry chapbook supplement to the album (included in the LP edition) draws explicit parallels between the oppression and displacement of Palestinians by Zionists and the similar treatment of Native Americans by Europeans, justifying the historical necessity of resistance to racist imperialism through terrorism.

In his 1984 essay “Breeds,” from the fine collection of the same name, he concludes with a note of hope:

The voices of these continents are not stilled because, for a few centuries, this land is overrun by human beings who cannot hear. Over years of cultural and racial genocide, over centuries of lies and misdirection, That Which Is still calls . . . and the old American blood in us listens.

Roxy’s friend and fellow poet-turned-musician Leonard Cohen had kind words for Breeds, writing: “It is strong. The word goes out. Can a change come on dove’s feet?” Bestir that old American blood and listen.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Crazy Horse Is Alive
A2. Junked Cars
A3. Living Life As A Living Target
A4. Flying Into Ann Arbor (Holding)
A5. I Used To Know An Assiniboine Girl
B1. The Hanging Of Black Jack Ketchum
B2. The Western Edge
B3. An Open Letter To Illegal Aliens
B4. The Texas Indian
B5. Why Do I Miss Someone?

The father of Lana Del Rey.

Rob Grant's debut album, Lost At Sea. An accidental recording artist, Grant has never had a lesson on any instrument in his life. No kind of formal musical training at all. He can't read sheet music. But when he sits down at a piano, something magical happens. Notes flow from him and out pours composition after composition.

The father of international icon Lana Del Rey, he enlisted an array of talent to contribute to the making of the album. Features and writing credits include his daughter Lana Del Rey, while production credits include Jack Antonoff, Luke Howard, Laura Sisk, and Zach Dawes.

TRACK LISTING

Moon Rise Over The Ocean
Setting Sail On A Distant Horizon
Lost At Sea (feat. Lana Del Rey)
The Texture Of Dreams
The Poetry Of Wind And Waves
A Beautiful Delirium
Deep Ocean Swells
My Deep Blue Dream
Reflections Of Light On Water
In The Dying Light Of Day: Requiem For Mother Earth
A Delicate Mist Surrounds Me
The Mermaids’ Lullaby
Song Of The Eternal Sea
Hollywood Bowl (feat. Lana Del Rey)

From its instructive title to its unapologetic sound, 'Louder, Please' is Rose Gray powerfully - but with quintessential, British politeness - backing herself (who she is, what she wants, and the artist she’s always had the potential to become). It’s a statement of intent reflected in the record’s breadth of collaborators, which span legendary pop kingpins Justin Tranter (Lady Gaga, Chappel Roan) and Zhone (Troye Sivan) to underground electronic heroes like Seda Bodega, Uffie and Alex Metric.

Throughout 'Louder, Please' pairs home truths with dance hedonism, summoning not just a transformative night out - the new faces and chosen family, ecstatic highs and crushing lows - but also telling Rose Gray’s story: a life lived through club music, and always to its fullest.

Introducing her debut album, Rose Gray comments: “I’ve always been obsessed with LOUD music, from late night car journeys with my Popps as a kid to spending my teens glued to the speakers of clubs. The album title was born on the mic, a running joke where I was always asking for things to be louder (please). I’ve spent ten years writing for myself and others, exploring different cities and their parties - but I’ve always known that I was working towards a body of work that brought all that together, and represented all sides of me. There’s definitely something in my personality which loves the adventure, and is always searching for more: I’ve also had my heart broken, fallen back in love, and become a woman in the process. To me, Louder, Please captures the rave, the ethereal, my friends and our stories: it’s classic pop with its roots firmly in the underground. On a beach or in a club, I want these songs to find their homes in someone else’s life. So enjoy - but make sure you play it LOUD, please?”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Thumping rave anthems and gritty house atmospheres beneath the syrupy smooth synths and stacked saw wave stabs, absolutely darting out of the gates for Gray's debut full-length album. Intoxicatingly heavy in points, but beautifully lightened with dancefloor hooks and modern, skittering percussion.

TRACK LISTING

1. Damn
2. Free
3. Wet & Wild
4. Just Two
5. Tectonic
6. Party People
7. Angel Of Satisfaction
8. Switch
9. Hackney Wick
10. First
11. Everything Changes (But I Won’t)
12. Louder, Please

Robin Guthrie returns with Mockingbird Love, a four track EP, the first in a short series of newly recorded instrumental releases for late 2021. Guthrie, whose production and signature guitar sounds are said to have shaped multiple genres was the co-founder and producer of Cocteau Twins. Over forty years he has produced and remixed countless artists, recorded instrumental albums, movie soundtracks and collaborated with many outstanding artists. Mockingbird Love is a most welcome introduction to a series of releases which will be available for a limited amount of time exclusively on Soleil Après Minuit

"'Flat Baroque and Berserk' was the first record of mine to go into the charts. For the first time in my recording career, proper care and attention was paid to the presentation of the song. Peter Jenner was assigned by EMI Records to produce the recording. Peter and I got on really well and he was a better overseer of my work than anyone I have been involved with before or since. I had also had a Studio upgrade. EMI Studios, Abbey Road was at that time the most advanced studio in Europe, and over the next ten years I was to record in near-perfect conditions.

Over those years, the studio buzzed with four separate Beatles, some Stones, The Pink Floyd, Cliff and the Shadows, Gracie Fields, three of four musical knights, Kate Bush, Olivier Newton-John, The Hollies, Yehudi Menuin, Stefan Grapelli, The Plastic Ono Band, Eric Clapton; you name them, they were all there. Jimmy Page and I were in there three or four times together.

It was a creative hotbed where the technical staff, headed by Ken Townsend, were second to none.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I was very pleased with my first record made in such elevated surroundings. The song that I was best known for in those days, 'I Hate the White Man,' was recorded live for this album, and still stands as a testament to my lifelong devotion to espousing equal rights for all humans. I have long since wondered about the wisdom of stating that you have the capacity to hate your own race for it's misdemeanours, but as a polemic it has been both an effective tool and somewhere of a place for a humble humanitarian to stand.

'Another Day' is probably one of the best love songs I ever wrote, and much of the rest of the record is on a gentler level, although 'Hells Angels,' recorded with 'The Nice,' is raw and was very eventful." - Roy Harper

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: It's little wonder that Roy Harper is popular amongst all the groovy, new, West Coast folksters: here's the reason!

TRACK LISTING

Don’t You Grieve
I Hate The White Man
Feeling All The Saturday
How Does It Feel
Goodbye
Another Day
Davey
East Of The Sun
Tom Tiddler’s Ground
Francesca
Song Of The Ages
Hell’s Angels

"I've had it in my mind to present a new edition of my 1971 record Stormcock to the world for some years now. It seemed a shame that one of my best loved albums was hanging around as an inferior package when compared to the prowess of its original 12 inch LP forebear. I've spent a long time thinking about it, and how I might go about returning it to being one of the brightest lights in my canon. The release of this new edition marks the fruition of those thoughts.

There are a few good reasons for this update and re-release. The first is that the cd packaging has never remotely been able to achieve what was possible with the original album art. Secondly, the transfer of what was a very dynamic record on vinyl to a cd with a 44.1 sample rate format just didn't seem to come across properly.

Another good reason is that there has been a lot of interest in this record in recent years. It has never lost it's place in the music pantheon, and as time goes on it seems to be gaining in stature. It's become wholly appropriate that it should have the kind of new presentation we have now given it. In digitally re-mastering it I have attempted to take off some of the distortional effects and digital noise brought over by the transfer from tape/vinyl to cd. Apart form that very little has happened to it. I now believe it to be an altogether better audio experience. (see blog entry for tech info).

Stormcock was born in 1969 as I began to stretch my wings. I'd been there a few times before, but this time I gave myself the space to go deep..and stay there. Hors D'Oeuvres is perhaps the lightweight in the collection, but after all, it's the starter...

The Same Old Rock records my opposition to continued dependence on the cheap opium of convenient mass religion. Humanity as hostage to superstition is a position which infuriates me. To allow superstition to control your life, as the world burns, is careless.

One Man Rock And Roll Band.. Welcome home oh Johnny Soldier, we treat you here just like they treat you there.. is a sad fact, and is an indictment of this kind of society. Are queues for tattoos with 'love' on one hand and 'hate' on the other a sign of old age?

Me And My Woman.. what IS our destiny? Does it matter? Is it bound up with 'our' planet? In my opinion, yes. We are now out on a cultural limb that's taking us steadily further away from the planet. The average human misses the reality of the planet entirely. 40 years ago, there were tens of thousands of people asking serious questions about the state of the environment. It's only a few miles thick. It can be changed very quickly. Surely, hindsight isn't our only view.... is it? Hopefully not.. but what is for sure is that our environment is all we have. At the time there were establishment figures who were certain humans were having no effect at all on the planet's environment. This of course will eventually be true!

Pete Jenner and I turned out a great record. Seems like a thousand years ago now. Though I very rarely listen to my own records I would definitely say that my personal highlight on the record is Jimmy Page's guitar solo on 'The Same Old Rock.' My opinion has not changed since the day he put it on there. Absolutely brilliant. The string arrangement on 'Me And My Woman' is by David Bedford." - Roy Harper

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Incredible, deep, heady, roving record. Four MASSIVE songs, one with Jimmy Page on and another, "Me And My Woman", probably the greatest thing in Roy's canon.

TRACK LISTING

Hors D’Oeuvres
The Same Old Rock
One Man Rock And Roll Band
Me And My Woman

Featuring Jimmy Page, ‘Jugula’ was originally released in 1985 and reissued as ‘1984 (Jugula)’.

Remastered and reissued on 180gm vinyl packaged in deluxe gatefold sleeve with original cover art and printed heavy inner sleeve including lyrics, comprehensive new notes and images.

All remastering was done by Roy Harper and John Fitzgerald at Lettercolm Studio in Timoleague, West Cork, Ireland. Artwork redesign by Harry Pearce at Pentagram.

TRACK LISTING

Nineteen Forty-Eightish
Bad Speech
Hope
Hangman
Elizabeth
Frozen Moment
Twentieth Century Man
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Never shy about using the most intimate and personal autobiographical details in his songs, Harper is one of the most genuine of songwriters. He has recorded several albums of great quality and beauty and "Bullinamingvase" is one of his finest. With an original vocal delivery and a sympathetic acoustic guitar style, Harper never crosses that line that divides the heartfelt from the bitter and mawkish. The halcyon summer feel to much of this work still has the timeless quality that can stand comparison with the best of music of the period.

"The major event on the record, One of 'Those Days In England', is a collection of reminiscences. The legend of Excalibur in the first line. The last of the willow leaves at the top of the tree hanging on into January. 'Alfred had me made', the words written in anglo-saxon around the Alfred Jewel. More precisely 'AElfred mec heht gewyrcan' Alfred ordered me to be made. The Alfred Jewel is housed in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford (England) and I visit it regularly when I can for emotional sustenance. In the light of the events of his lifetime, Alfred must not only be considered as the founder of the British Navy, but more importantly as the founder of the English language. Had it not been for Alfred's victory over the Danes in the late ninth century, it would perhaps be conceivable that one fifth of the world's population would now be speaking some kind of Danish dialect. I really love this album. It's always been one of my real favourites. I've always thought that the long version of 'One Of Those Days In England' is a touchstone of my long affair with my own culture. All in all, the album has the pastoral feel of the nature of my life at the time. Having said that, it also has a lovelorn edge in 'Cherishing The Lonesome' and angst in 'Naked Flame'. There's also sufficient reference to the nature of the times in lines such as 'You and me sister we're gonna plant a bomb in a street to change law and order', and 'You and me brother wrapped up in silence brooding for better breathing spaces'; both of which unfortunately still seem set to demand attention in global culture for the foreseeable future. Perhaps the reason I always think of it as a gentler album is the subtle ushering in of the realisations embodied in 'These Last Days', which are not so much resignation to a certain maturity as recognition that negotiation in life is paramount to community." - Roy Harper

Remastered audio reissued on 180gm vinyl.

Packaged in deluxe gatefold sleeve.

TRACK LISTING

One Of Those Days In England
These Last Days
Cherishing The Lonesome
Naked Flame
Watford Gap
One Of Those Days In England (Parts 2-10)

Originally released in 1967.

Produced by Shel Talmy.

Orchestral arrangements by Keith Mansfield.

Remastered audio reissued on 180gm vinyl.

Packaged in deluxe gatefold sleeve.

Printed heavy inner sleeve including lyrics, extra notes and images.

Artwork redesign by Harry Pearce.

TRACK LISTING

Freak Suite
You Don’t Need Money
Aging Raver
In A Beautiful Rambling Mess
All You Need Is
What You Have
Circle
Highgate Cemetery
Come Out Fighting Ghengis Smith

‘Folkjokeopus’ was originally released 1969 and produced by Shel Talmy.  

Remastered and reissued on 180gm vinyl packaged in deluxe gatefold sleeve with original cover art and printed heavy inner sleeve including lyrics, comprehensive new notes and images.

All remastering was done by Roy Harper and John Fitzgerald at Lettercolm Studio in Timoleague, West Cork, Ireland. Artwork redesign by Harry Pearce at Pentagram.

TRACK LISTING

Sergeant Sunshine
She’s The One
In The Time Of Water
Composer Of Life
One For All
Exercising Some Control
McGoohan’s Blues
Mañana

"HQ is to date my most integral 'rock' record. The songs on the record are less acoustically oriented than on any of my other albums. However this is not to say that any of the songs couldn't have been recorded playing just an acoustic guitar. The combination of Chris Spedding, Bill Bruford, Dave Cochrane and myself was a band I should have kept together, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. Dave Gilmour, John Paul Jones and Steve Broughton were the band that played together at a Hyde Park Free Concert and then recorded the backing track for 'The Game'. 

The highlights of the record are one, Chris Spedding's guitar solo on 'The Game,' which was a first take and is a wonderful piece of spontaneous Rock and Roll. He played it on a tiny amp in the middle of the empty aircraft hanger sized Studio 1, at Abbey Road, a studio built for a 100 piece orchestra and opera cast. He was dressed in a white suit with a red carnation and was in and out of the studio within 20 minutes! And two, the great lift that the Grimethorpe Colliery (brass) Band gave to the David Bedford arrangement of 'When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease.' It was recorded in the same studio and there were about 50 musicians in the studio that day. 

My childhood memories of the heroic stature of the footballers and cricketers of the day invoke the sounds that went along with them. Paramount among these was the traditional Northern English brass band, which was a functional social component through all four seasons, being seen and heard in many different contexts. My use of that style of music on 'Old Cricketer' is a tribute to those distant memories. Finally, not least among the highlights is the third verse of the lyric of 'The Spirit Lives.' A poem of mine that I really enjoy. I always look back on HQ as a great album made at one of the best times of my life." - Roy Harper

Remastered audio reissued on 180gm vinyl.

Packaged in deluxe gatefold sleeve.

Original cover art with additional printed heavy inner sleeve including extra notes and images.

Artwork redesign by Harry Pearce.

TRACK LISTING

The Game (Parts 1-5)
The Spirit Lives
Grown Ups Are Just Silly Children
Referendum (Legend)
Forget Me Not
Hallucinating Light
When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease

‘Sophisticated Beggar’ was originally released 1966.

Remastered and reissued on 180gm vinyl packaged in deluxe gatefold sleeve with original cover art and printed heavy inner sleeve including lyrics, comprehensive new notes and images.

All remastering was done by Roy Harper and John Fitzgerald at Lettercolm Studio in Timoleague, West Cork, Ireland. Artwork redesign by Harry Pearce at Pentagram.

TRACK LISTING

China Girl
Goldfish
Sophisticated Beggar
My Friend
Big Fat Silver Aeroplane
Blackpool
Legend
Girlie
October Twelfth
Black Clouds
Mr. Station Master
Forever
Committed

14 songs featuring Roy Harper's collaborations with the likes of Kate Bush ("You"), Jimmy Page, David Bedford, Dave Gilmour and Paul McCartney amongst others on an excellent US compilation.

With his unique voice and style Roy Harper has been a declaimer and entertainer throughout his long career. In 1972 he starred in a bleak, contemporary film with Carrol White called "Made", releasing the music he composed for the picture's soundtrack in 1973 under the title "Lifemask". It's one of his most satisfying albums, full of great songs, passionate and dramatic with startling use of echoplex and multi-tracking.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Includes the incredible tracks "Highway Blues" and "South Africa".

TRACK LISTING

Highway Blues
All Ireland
Little Lady
Bank Of The Dead
South Africa
The Lord’s Prayer

For our 100th Eccentric Soul 45, Numero returns to our Ohio roots with three replica 45s from the Capsoul universe.

We discovered Ron Harrington’s “Because You’re Mine” demo amongst the Capsoul tapes, a demo cut for founder Bill Moss that never escaped greater Columbus. The mid-tempo harmony joint “It Happened To Me Again” adorns the flip, with a lo-fi funk backbeat tossed in for good measure.

Eccentric Soul from the heart of it all.

TRACK LISTING

It Happened To Me Again
Because You're Mine

The indominable Russell Haswell returns! He's a restlessly forward-thinking, multi-disciplinary artist, performer and curator who calls Diagonal Records his home. His past collaborators include Aphex Twin, Gescom, Florian Hecker and Merzbrow. "DeepTime" is Russell's latest LP for the label following on from 2023's 'Reality Therapy'. Whilst "Reality Therapy" was an introverted affair, "DeepTime" is brimming with confidence and aimed squarely at the dance floor.

Russell's club friendly turns are resolutelyprogressivist. Whilst being informed by the works of Claude Young and Jeff Mills, his music feels like it was made in another dimension altogether. Title track, "DeepTime", "Unconformity" and "Atropine" all prove the point. It's techno but it's much more besides.

TRACK LISTING

1. International Globalisation
2. Deep Time
3. You Know
4. Rungled Irridium
5. Atropine
6. Unconformity
7. Satellite Killer
8. Infinite Space

Long-awaited vinyl reissue of 'Alarm Clock', first released in December of 1970 and one of Richie Havens' most iconic albums, unavailable on vinyl for decades! Deluxe 180g limited edition reissue, galaxy effect coloured vinyl, also includes 2 never before released bonus tracks.

Recorded amidst the Vietnam War's turmoil and the tragic Kent State shootings of 1970, 'Alarm Clock' was Havens' urgent wake- up call to a generation - a powerful warning against an overreaching government.

This reissue includes two never- before- released tracks: 'Nobody Knows', recorded during the same sessions, and a deeply moving rendition of Graham Nash's 'Military Madness'.

A testament to Havens' artistic integrity and commitment to social justice, Alarm Clock remains a timeless masterpiece. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Here Comes The Sun
2. To Give All Your Love Away
3. Younger Men Grow Older
4. Girls Don't Run Away
5. End Of The Seasons
6. Nobody Knows
7. Some Will Wait
8. Patient Lady
9. Missing Train
10. Alarm Clock
11. Military Madness

'Coles Corner' was Hawley’s third studio album and his first for Mute Records. After five years of garnering praise for his songwriting talents and heart-melting baritone voice, and steadily building a solid fanbase through his outstanding live performances, hard work paid off on an album regarded by many as his best.

Recorded in Sheffield’s Yellow Arch Studios, and co-produced with his long-time bassist Colin Elliot, and Mike Timm, Coles Corner featured fellow musicians Shez Sheridan (guitars), Jon Trier (keyboards), Jonny Wood (upright bass) and Andy Cook (drums). They conjured up an exquisite album inspired by Hawley’s love of vintage ‘40s and ‘50s sounds, chamber pop, country, blues, and rock ‘n roll, on a set of intimate love songs full of nostalgia, regret, sadness and a bittersweet atmosphere, on a collection that would cement Hawley’s abiding love and passion for his hometown of Sheffield. 'Coles Corner' is a cornerstone in the catalogue of one of the most creative and outstanding UK singer-songwriters of the past two decades.

TRACK LISTING

LP Tracklisting:
1. Coles Corner
2. Just Like The Rain
3. Hotel Room
4. Darlin' Wait For Me
5. The Ocean
6. Born Under A Bad Sign
7. I Sleep Alone
8. Tonight
9. (Wading Through) The Waters Of My Time
10. Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet?
11. Last Orders

CD Tracklisting:

CD1 - Coles Corner:
1. Coles Corner
2. Just Like The Rain
3. Hotel Room
4. Darlin' Wait For Me
5. The Ocean
6. Born Under A Bad Sign
7. I Sleep Alone
8. Tonight
9. (Wading Through) The Waters Of My Time
10. Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Feet?
11. Last Orders

CD2 - Single Versions, B-Sides And Acoustic Versions:
1. The Ocean - Single Version
2. Just Like The Rain - Single Version
3. Born Under A Bad Sign - Single Version
4. Hotel Room - Single Version
5. Long Black Veil
6. Room With A View
7. I'm Absolutely Hank Marvin
8. Dark Road
9. Kelham Island
10. Some Candy Talking
11. Young And Beautiful
12. I'm Just Here To Get My Baby Out Of Jail
13. Can You Hear The Rain Love?
14. Coles Corner - Acoustic Version
15. Hotel Room - Acoustic Version
16. Darlin’ Wait For Me - Acoustic Version
17. I Sleep Alone - ( Live At Sheffield City Hall)
18. A Bird Never Flew On One Wing

It’s been a while since the last Richard Hawley album - 4 years in fact. During that time he made a decision to break the recording / touring cycle he’d been working since he was 14 and went off to write music for films and also an acclaimed musical, "Standing At The Sky's Edge", based around a housing estate in his home town. But now he’s back, with a new album, and although there’s plenty of the swoonsome, croonsome Hawley we know and love, he’s not been afraid to push the boundaries a little.

If you’re a 6music listener, then you can’t fail to have heard the opening track, the bluesy rock’n’roll stomp of “Of My Mind” - maybe a bit of a shock to the system for long-time Hawley fans, but fear not! It’s followed my the Smithsian “Alone” and then the gorgeous “My Little Treasures” - a beautiful, heartfelt song written about drinking with two of his late father’s oldest friends. The sweeping strings and pedal steel of the title track and slow strummed ballad  “Emilina Says” wind things down beautifully.

I don’t know if the album was put together with the thought of an A-side and B-side in mind, but that’s how it comes across, with both sides opening with a big ballsy blast that slowly eases as the needle creeps inwards. The B-side opens with “Is There A Pill?”, with it’s pounding drums and big string surges that bring to mind “A Design For Life” era Manics. It’s followed by the chugging “Galley Girl” and then gently drifts into the languid “Not Lonely”. “Time Is” could be a Neil Diamond cover (he wrote some gems you know!) and is followed by my favourite track on the album “Midnight Train” - classic Hawley! And finally, the album is rounded off with the short but sweet, gentle strum of “Doors”.

“Further” is possibly the most diverse album Richard Hawley has recorded, but it flows beautifully - partly down to the wonderfully intertwined guitar playing of Hawley and long-time cohort Shez Sheridan, but also because Hawley is such a great song writer. If like me, you are unsure on first listen, stick with it - it’s worth it!

TRACK LISTING

1. Off My Mind
2. Alone
3. My Little Treasures
4. Further
5. Emilina Says
6. Is There A Pill?
7. Galley Girl
8. Not Lonely
9. Time Is
10. Midnight Train
11. Doors

The new album by Richard Hawley, 'In This City They Call You Love' sees Richard ditch the distortion pedals and go back into making voice most prominent.

Following the universal acclaim for 'Standing At The Sky's Edge', the award-winning musical based on his songs, in May Richard Hawley returns with 'In This City They Call You Love', his ninth studio album and his first since 2019's 'Further'.

'In This City They Call You Love' features 12 outstanding songs, many of which can be described as 'vintage Hawley' and are amongst some of the finest ballads he's ever written. Gorgeous melodies and arrangements are accompanied by his emotive and sonorous voice, which sounds better than ever, and will make this a crowning moment in a hugely successful recording career of almost 25 years.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A perfect distillation of Hawley's classic sound, whimsical balladry and beautiful instrumentation around a core of thoughtful lyrics and rich, swooning orchestral majesty. Nobody sounds quite like Hawley, and this couldn't be a more perfect representation of his appeal.

TRACK LISTING

1. Two For His Heels
2. Have Love
3. Prism In Jeans
4. Heavy Rain
5. People
6. Hear That Lonesome Whistle Blow
7. Deep Space
8. Deep Waters
9. I’ll Never Get Over You
10. Do I Really Need To Know?
11. When The Lights Go Out
12. ‘Tis Night

Iconic singer/songwriter Richard Hawley recorded live at the beautiful Piece Hall in Halifax on Saturday 4 September 2021. Live at Halifax Piece Hall captures, for the first time, Richard Hawley in concert with his band in full force. Recorded on a beautiful autumn night in September 2021 and in spectacular settings, the album features many Hawley classics as well as songs from his most recent album ‘Further’, augmented by a 4 piece string ensemble. Simply put, it is Hawley at his best.

TRACK LISTING

1. Off My Mind
2. Alone
3. Standing At The Sky's Edge
4. I'm Looking For Someone To Find Me
5. Tonight The Streets Are Ours
6. Coles Corner
7. Galley Girl
8. Don't Stare At The Sun
9. Open Up Your Door
10. Down In The Woods
11. Is There A Pill
12. For Your Lover Give Some Time
13. There's A Storm A Comin'
14. Heart Of Oak

The latest in the Richard Hawley music box series is  fan favouriet ‘I’m Looking For Someone To Find Me’, from the award winning Singer-Songwriter’s 5th studio album ‘Lady's Bridge’. 

Released in 2007, Hawley said the LP was about “leaving the past behind” and was named after another landmark location in his hometown of Sheffield. The Guardian called the record “beautiful, moving pop at its best" and it was lauded by the NME as “an album that has moments that won't be bettered this year or any other.” with BBC Music adding that it “furthers his cause in becoming a proper national treasure".

Richard Hawley is widely recognized as both one of the UK’s greatest songwriters and one of its most respected. Alongside two Mercury Music Prize Nominations, a BRIT award nomination and 4 UK Top 10 Albums, the Sheffield native songwriter has collaborated with the likes of Pulp, Arctic Monkeys, Lisa Marie Presley, Paul Weller and Elbow.

Following the success of Standing At The Sky’s Edge, which won Best New Musical and handed Hawley Best Original Score at the 2023 Olivier Awards, BMG announce the first ever Richard Hawley collection; Now Then: The Very Best of Richard Hawley.

Curated by Hawley and long-term collaborator Colin Elliot, Now Then spans his twenty plus year career, exhibiting all facets of his song writing mastery; marrying his most cinematic moments with his most tender, his best loved work and a host of hidden gems from his early work, to create a collection for both his hardcore fanbase and the perfect entry point for his newest fans. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A much-needed best-of from the brilliant Richard Hawley, spanning a full 20 years in the business and including a whole host of quintessentially Hawley offerings including 'Coles Corner' and 'Standing At The Sky's Edge'. Brilliant.

TRACK LISTING

Vinyl Tracklisting:
Side A
Open Up Your Door
Midnight Train
Tonight The Streets Are Ours
Coles Corner
Ballad Of A Thin Man
Baby, You're My Light
Side B
Not The Only Road*
My Little Treasures
Standing At The Sky's Edge
Heart Of Oak
The Ocean
Side C
Seek It
Off My Mind
Coming Home
I Still Want You
Just Like The Rain
Run For Me
Side D
Alone
For Your Lover Give Some Time
Serious
Don't Stare At The Sun
There's A Storm A'Comin
*previously Unreleased/exclusive

CD Tracklisting:
CD1
1. Open Up Your Door
2. Midnight Train
3. Tonight The Streets Are Ours
4. Coles Corner
5. Ballad Of A Thin Man
6. Baby, You're My Light
7. She Brings The Sunlight
8. Not The Only Road*
9. Which Way
10. My Little Treasures
11. Naked In Pitsmoor
12. Standing At The Sky's Edge
13. Long Black Train
14. Heart Of Oak
15. You Don't Miss Your Water
16. The Ocean
CD2
1. Don't Stare At The Sun
2. I Still Want You
3. Off My Mind
4. For Your Lover Give Some Time
5. Hotel Room
6. I’m On Nights
7. Seek It
8. Serious
9. Precious Sight
10. Remorse Code
11. Alone
12. Born Under A Bad Sign (Single Version)
13. Our Darkness
14. Run For Me
15. Kelham Island
16. There's A Storm A'Comin'
*previously Unreleased/exclusive

The 2nd in the series of Richard Hawley music boxes.

Wind the handle to play the gorgeous refrain from Open Up Your Door.

An absolute gem!

‘Standing At The Sky’s Edge’ is the title track from Richard Hawley’s sixth studio album, which debuted at number three in the UK albums chart in 2012 and was nominated for that year’s Mercury Prize. Named after Skye Edge, a hillside area with views over the city centre, the song went onto inspire a musical which tells the story of three families over sixty years living in Sheffield’s Park Hill housing estate. It premiered at the Crucible before transferring to the National in London and won Best Musical Production at the UK Theatre Awards and the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Theatre. This is another great Music Box version of one of Hawley's best-loved songs, so why not…

The third in the series of Richard Hawley music boxes.

"Do you know why you got feelings in your heart....."

Roland Haynes Jr and his group Phenix released just a single 45 on their eponymous label:the sophisticated modern soul cut 'Mind Games', with a dapper jazz ballad,'The Essence of Jai' as the flipside (coming soon on the studio LP). Until now, that 1983 single has been the sole material trace of both band and artist. But like many dedicated musicians who follow their own path outside of the music industry, Haynes understood his musical worth, and the quality of his band. He had documented his work at key moments, laying down carefully worked out studio sessions and recording packed-out live gigs. The recordings that we present here are drawn from Haynes' personal archive.

This first collection presents a selection of the many live recordings made by Phenix at Quarter Moon club in Orangeburg, South Carolina. This allows us to listen in as Haynes'abundantly talented band stretches out on a tight selection of originals and covers. Together, these sets allow Roland HaynesJrtofinallystakehisclaim to a place alongside the most forward-thinking jazz and soul artists of his era.

Covers of Marvin Gaye, Santana, Hubert Laws & The Jeff Lorber Fusion as well as originals.

TRACK LISTING

1. What's Going On (Live)
2. Interview (Live)
3. Cast Your Fate (Live)
4. Rain Dance (Live)
5. Europa (Live)
6. Loving You In Autumn (Live)
7. The Baron (Live)
8. Titi (Live)

Been waiting time to drop this full heavy cut 12" Version of the 1983 single 'Mind Games', from Gilles Peterson album of the 2024 and this is the BIG cut from that LP on 12 inch for the first time. 'Mind Games' is a total club destruction jazzy Disco Jazz masterpiece. On the flip we have 'The Essence of Jai' another downtempo beast. To top it off, we have a rather wonderful previously unreleased version of 'Song for my father' by Horace Silver, this being more a cover of the Leon Thomas version.

TRACK LISTING

1. Mind Games
2. The Essence Of Jai
3. Song For My Father

Following on from RW Hedges Pop debut 'The Hunters in the Snow'.. this one takes place in The American West of 1877 the year the phonograph was invented.

Constructed in RW's studio 'The Chalet' a get away full of books and fairy lights out in a field in a no man’s land. RW & Luca Nieri sat around bonfires and wrote lyrics written on big spools of paper.

As per last time Luca Nieri produces and RW Hedges directs the songwriting further towards his influences of 1930's Hollywood. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Havent Seen Her In A While
2. Deep In The Valley
3. Girl In The Story
4. Trail Of The Setting Sun
5. Old Missouri
6. My Dearest
7. Down To Venezuela
8. Sure Enough
9. Prairie Moon
10. The Westerners 

Consistently heralded as one of the most influential punk albums of all time, Richard Hell & The Voidoid’s “Blank Generation” celebrates its 40th anniversary this year with a 2CD and 2LP deluxe release for Black Friday, Record Store Day. With participation from Richard Hell, the album will be remastered and packaged as it was originally released in 1977 (unlike subsequent reissues) with a second disc of previously unreleased tracks including alternate studio versions, out of print singles and rare bootleg live tracks from their first appearance at CBGBs.  The booklet will contain additional photos (the iconic cover was shot by Richard’s ex-girlfriend, CBGB’s “house” photographer Roberta Bayley) with memorabilia and liners from Richard.

“For this EP I was trying to live less in nostalgia and function less off obvious references. I worked on ‘Pout’ while becoming a dad, sitting a lot in my garden, and trying to kill my ego. Tracks like ‘Mountain Access’ make me think about driving around Hamilton, Ontario, my home as of a year ago. I hope people can still get a chance to walk around with this on headphones or daydream while listening to this project.” - Ryan Hemsworth

Features from Ms. John Soda and BADBADNOTGOOD’s Leland Whitty.

TRACK LISTING

Hail
All These Dreams
Here I Stand (feat. Ms. John Soda)
Mountain Access
Keep Touch (feat. Leland Whitty)

'Reet' is a lost treasure of late 1960s folk/psych-folk. The only album she ever put to tape, with clear pure voice and guitar. luckily recorded by Andres Raudsepp in 1969.

Reet will be loved in the same breath as ;Sibylle Baier, Vashti Bunyan, Molly Drake, Bridget st John, Reet Hendrikson deserves wider listening and recognition.

Reet Hendrikson was born in Estonia only months before the "great escape" into exile in 1944. Brought up and educated in Sweden, she went to study in the US in 1967 on a Fulbright scholarship, before she made her mark as an Estonian musician in Canada. While her arrangements of Estonian folksongs on the guitar reflected the styles of the sixties, her voice and choice of material sounded authentic and made a connection with ages past.

When Hendrikson arrived in Canada in 1968 via the US, her Estonian was native-like because of the high quality of Estonian schools in Sweden. She was thus able to characterise the identity of young ex-patriate Estonians – especially those born in exile from Soviet occupation – in a new and meaningful way. A formal musical background allowed her to create the arrangements that accompanied her simple but pure singing voice. Having heard her under northern Muskoka pines at an Estonian summer seminar, it didn't takeAndres Raudsepp ( of raindeer records)long to bring her to a recording studio. "Reet – Estonian folksongs" appeared in 1969.

Hendrikson soon found her way to the scholarly atmosphere of Boston where, as a multi-instrumentalist, she joined a group of musicians who favoured traditional folk music. Back in Sweden in the 1980ies, she was invited to join a scholarly society of Estonian young women, which she led during musical sessions. She visited Estonia as frequently as possible, trying in particular to be helpful to Estonian musicians by providing sheet music and much-needed repertoire from the Swedish National Radio Archives, where she worked for a while..

TRACK LISTING

1. Meil Aiaäärne Tänavas
2. Kiigelaul
3. Haanja Miis
4. Oh Mina Väike Mehekene
5. Jaan Lä'eb Jaanitulele
6. Karjase Pühapäev - Kirbuga Kirikusse
7. Lauliku Lapsepõli
8. Iirekene
9. Kui Mina Alles Noor Veel Olin
10. Mardi Laul
11. Vennakene, Hellakene
12. Pill Oll' Helle

Robin Holcomb is a genre-defying singer/songwriter similar in many ways to Jane Siberry, who mixes folk and classical elements in her songs and layers a jazz sheen over them. Clever, literate lyrics and vituoso piano work makes "The Big Time" another intelligent and at times daring collection featuring contributions from artists of the calibre of Bill Frisell, Kate and Anna McGarrigle and husband Wayne Horowitz. Two traditional folk songs "A Lazy Farmer Boy" and "Engine 143" are included in the twelve tracks on display here but their treatment is anything but traditional and as with most of her own compositions they feature arrangements that have an edge and intelligence about them that makes this album rather special.

How do you follow up one of the most legendary, yet rarest albums said to signal the birth of doom metal?

If you’re Randy Holden, you give everyone about 50 years to catch up, then casually drop a tastefully modernized reinterpretation of that sound. Population III picks up where Holden’s 1969 solo debut left off, updated with several decades worth of technological advances and personal hindsight.

Following his tenure in proto-metal pioneers Blue Cheer in 1969, the guitarist aimed for more control over his next project. Thus, Randy Holden - Population II was born, the duo naming itself after the astronomical term for a particular star cluster with heavy metals present. Along with drummer/keyboardist Chris Lockheed, Holden created what many say is one of the earliest forms of doom metal.

“Godzilla just walked into the room. People just stood there with their eyes and mouths wide open,” Holden says of the audience’s reaction to their live debut performing with a teeth-rattling phalanx of 16 (sixteen!) 200 watt Sunn amps.

Likewise, their 6-song debut album Population II delves into leaden sludge, lumbering doom and epic soaring riffs that sound free from all constraints of the era. It’s incredibly heavy, but infused with a melodic, albeit mechanistic, sensibility. However, troubles with the album’s original 1970 release bankrupted Holden, who subsequently left music for over two decades. For good reason, it’s widely hailed as a masterpiece, and until finally getting a proper formal release in 2020 on RidingEasy Records, was a longtime Holy Grail for record collectors.

Flash forward 40 years to 2010, we find the guitarist/vocalist quietly coaxed into recording a followup album by Holden superfan and Cactus member Randy Pratt. Joined by drummer Bobby Rondinelli (who has played with Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Rainbow), the trio cut the 6-song collection of leaden future blues, Population III. “Randy Pratt had written the basic song structures, he understood my music and where I come from quite well,” Holden says. “He nailed it.”

But the recording was ultimately shelved for over a decade. “A year ago, in 2021 I listened to the songs and was delightfully surprised,” Holden says. “I think it’s the best album I’ve ever done.”

Throughout Population III, Holden effortlessly dishes out squealing, soaring leads and skull-thwacking riffs with his signature low end grit and penchant for Middle Eastern scales. Coupled with Pratt’s pocket-locked bass, the slight flanging effect on Rondinelli’s drums and his pugilistic beats, the album occasionally brings to mind Presence-era Led Zeppelin, particularly on the 22-minute epic “Land of The Sun.” Elsewhere, “Swamp Stomp” echoes more the troglodyte blues of Holden’s older work, with his evermore searing solos showing hints of early Clapton/Hendrix era guitar prowess to drive home the stomp of the song’s namesake. At times, Holden sounds reminiscent of Neil Young leading Crazy Horse’s ruptured grunge as his lilting falsetto vocals push and pull his guitar’s siren’s call. Taken as a whole, there’s a very distinct difference between the way these veterans of hard rock’s formative years carry the songs compared to the more lugubrious riffing of today’s young doom purveyors. Population III is the real deal — a powerful continuation of a sound forged 50 years ago, that almost didn’t happen. Somehow, Randy Holden’s music always finds a way to stand the tests of time. 

Rick Holmes’ breath-taking track, ‘Remember To Remember’ gets its first ever officially licensed, remastered reissue on blue vinyl on Gold Mink Records. With prices of the original topping £60 this limited colour edition will be a welcome sight for many.

Title track, ‘Remember To Remember’ is a celestial, emboldening downtempo cut. Beginning with the timeless line, ‘Pass the information, extend the knowledge…’ Rick dives into a spoken word stream of inspirational black artists and key figures whose most memorable words and song titles are framed into snippets of wisdom that get ever more significant the greater in number they become. A powerful monologue, in Rick’s warm reassuring tones, shining a light on those men and women who have made ‘strong contributions to mankind because of their compassion and humanitarianism’, laid over instrumentation you lose yourself in just as easily.

‘Remember to remember, to never forget.
How Long… how long… how long will it take man?
For us to come together.
It will take us as long as you make it…’

Words that ring just as true today, as they did 40 years ago, yet with a new sense hope in the air and prospect of progress approaching.

The B side houses another of Rick’s mesmerising monologues – ‘To The Unknowledgeable One’ motivational, moving and smooth as you like.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Remember To Remember
B1. To The Unknowledgeable One

The ongoing importance of this album is indisputable, essential both to techno and to Tresor. It is a history intertwined. This work elevates its maker as master, and remain a cherished moment in the Tresor story, sharing an irrefutable singular magic, sounding as present and indispensable as when first created. To understand this work fully is to stand back and celebrate its impact. Originally released in 1994, ‘Internal Empire’ marks a point of transition for Robert Hood moving on from his previous collaborations within Underground Resistance. Robert Hood advanced uncovering the power of true minimalism. Deep soul through a simplicity that showed how much could be done with so little. The devastating rhythms of this album forge the unmatched spirit of this sound, influencing generations to come.

TRACK LISTING

1. Intro
2. Master Builder
3. Parade
4. Within
5. Minus
6. Internal Empire
7. Home
8. Multiple Silence
9. Spirit
Levels
10. The Core
11. Chase

Detroit pioneer Robert Hood joins Radio Slave’s Rekids label with a new album entitled ‘Mirror Man’ this November.

A founding member of Underground Resistance alongside Mad Mike Banks and Jeff Mills, Robert Hood is one of techno’s originators and his decorated career spans three decades. The American artist and his M-Plant label laid down the blueprint for minimal techno and 1994’s ‘Minimal Nation’ on Axis was a definitive album that further cemented Hood’s reputation as one of the greats to emerge from the Motor City.

Since then, Hood has gone on to release on many of electronic music’s best labels like Tresor, Peacefrog, Music Man Records, Dekmantel and more. After a busy few years making music and touring as Floorplan alongside his daughter Lyric, Hood now joins Rekids with an album showcasing his innate knack for crafting paired back but intricate rhythms that deliver punch and soul.



Opening with the cinematic ‘Through A Looking Glass Darkly’, the album quickly flows into precise, powerful four four. There’s mesmerising cuts such as ‘Fear Not’ with its throbbing bass and spectral vocals, the twisted and off-key ‘Run Bobby, Run’, not to mention muscular tracks designed to light up dancefloors like the machine driven ‘A System of Mirrors’ or the mesmerising ‘Face In The Water’. Hood also breaks things up with downtempo and mind-bending interludes, including the tranquil yet spooky ‘Black Mirror’ and the beatless and murky ‘Freeze’. Each of these are aural feasts that demonstrate his vast musical pallet.

From start to finish ‘Mirror Man’ is an education in finesse from one of techno’s most heroic artists, landing on one of electronic music’s most important labels.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Through A Looking Glass Darkly
A2. Fear Not
B1. Black Mirror
B2. Falling Apart
C1. Run Bobby, Run
C2. A System Of Mirrors
C3. A Shattered Image
D1. Face In The Water
D2. Freeze
D3. Prism

The people. The love. These are the threads that came together to make the Haçienda great.

Celebrate the magic of the club that changed everything in this official book, told through evocative photographs and eye-witness accounts of the people who were there, from musicians, DJs and fashion designers to performers, clubbers and staff. Featuring contributions from Peter Hook, John Cooper Clarke, Bez, Noel Gallagher, Rowetta, Mani, Irvine Welsh, Andrew O'Hagan, Mike Pickering, DJ Paulette, Todd Terry and Roger Sanchez - as well as Haçienda staff, club-goers and many more.

In November 1969, the Rolling Stones toured the United States for the first time in three years. Gone from the band was founder member Brian Jones, replaced by Mick Taylor from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Gone too were the Top Ten-laden 30-minute sets played over inadequate PA systems to crowds of screaming, gawping teenagers.

In their place was a fully-fledged 75-minute rock show drawing heavily on the new Stones albums Beggar's Banquet and Let It Bleed, utilising innovative lighting andstaging. Led by the Glimmer Twins - Mick Jagger and Keith Richards - the Rolling Stones rocked across America on a 24-date tour whose essence iscaptured in the live album Get Yet Ya-Ya's Out, heralded by many as the finestlive rock album of all time. From an unpublicised opening night in Fort Collins, Colorado through to the tragic events at Altamont, California a month later, Everybody Seems To Be Ready(taking its title from Chip Monck's nightly stage introduction for the band) mixes contemporaneous press reports with previously unpublished first-hand accounts to present the story of a tour that has gone down in history as the first rock tour of the modern era in the words of the people who were there.

Born and raised in Lake, Mississippi, a small town east of Jackson, Houser was the son of a musician and took to music himself at an early age. Picking up the guitar before his tenth birthday, he played in bands throughout his adolescence, sharpening his songwriting skills as he attended East Central Community College in Decatur, Mississippi. Prior to his success as an artist, Houser lived as a songwriter, co-writing singles including "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" by Trace Adkins, "Back That Thing Up" by Justin Moore, and "My Cowboy" by country pop artist Jessie James.

TRACK LISTING

A1/1. Still That Cowboy
A2/2. Workin’ Man
A3/3. Note To Self
A4/4. Country Round Here Tonight
A5/5. Take It To The Bank
B1/6. Call Me
B2/7. Out And Down
B3/8. Rub A Little Dirt On It
B4/9. American Dreamers
B5/10. Remember How To Pray

Rowland S. Howard's importance to the world's musical landscape and Mute's history can not be understated. Rowland joined The Boys Next Door in 1978, a band formed by Nick Cave and Mick Harvey and is often sited as the catalyst that turned that band's sound into the force of nature that would become their new band The Birthday Party. After The Birthday Party split up in 1983, Nick Cave formed the Bad Seeds with Mick Harvey and Rowland formed the magnificent These Immortal Souls whilst also collaborating with Simon Bonney's Crime & The City Solution, Lydia Lunch, Nikki Sudden, Fad Gadget, Foetus, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Epic Soundtracks and Mick Harvey. Rowland sadly passed away in 2009 after recording his final solo album Pop Crimes, both this and Teenage Snuff Film have been unavailable physically outside of Australia for many years and both fetch high prices on Discogs and Ebay.

TRACK LISTING

1 (I Know) A Girl Called Jonny
2 Shut Me Down
3 Life's What You Make It
4 Pop Crimes
5 Nothin
6 Wayward Man
7 Ave Maria
8 The Golden Age Of Bloodshed

Rowland S. Howard's importance to the world's musical landscape and Mute's history can not be understated. Rowland joined The Boys Next Door in 1978, a band formed by Nick Cave and Mick Harvey and is often sited as the catalyst that turned that band's sound into the force of nature that would become their new band The Birthday Party. After The Birthday Party split up in 1983, Nick Cave formed the Bad Seeds with Mick Harvey and Rowland formed the magnificent These Immortal Souls whilst also collaborating with Simon Bonney's Crime & The City Solution, Lydia Lunch, Nikki Sudden, Fad Gadget, Foetus, Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Epic Soundtracks and Mick Harvey. Rowland sadly passed away in 2009 after recording his final solo album Pop Crimes, both this and Teenage Snuff Film have been unavailable physically outside of Australia for many years and both fetch high prices on Discogs and Ebay.

TRACK LISTING

1 Dead Radio
2 Breakdown (And Then…)
3 She Cried
4 I Burnt Your Clothes
5 Exit Everything
6 Silver Chain
7 White Wedding
8 Undone
9 Autoluminescent
10 Sleep Alone

‘Breaks & Bone’ is the follow up to RM Hubbert’s SAY Award winning album ‘Thirteen Lost & Found’.

‘Thirteen Lost & Found’ was named Scottish Album Of The Year in June, defeating the likes of Django Django, Admiral Fallow, Paul Buchanan and Lau.

Following ‘First & Last’ and ‘Thirteen Lost & Found’, ‘Breaks & Bone’ concludes a confessional triptych Hubby refers to as ‘The Ampersand Trilogy’.

‘Breaks & Bone’ heralds a return to solo performing for RM Hubbert, having retired the collaborative approach he employed so effectively on ‘Thirteen Lost & Found’.

While Hubbert’s guitar work retains the flamenco structures and techniques of his earlier material, it’s augmented on ‘Breaks & Bone’ with vocals - the first time Hubby has sang on record since his El Hombre Trajeado days.

Production on the album is purposefully spartan, picking up the conspicuous creaks and squeaks of his instrument - a custombuilt guitar made by Luthier Anders Eliasson in South West Spain.

The album’s cover star is Hubby’s dog, D Bone: named in tribute to one of the guitarist’s musical heroes, the late D Boon of Californian punk trio Minutemen. His canine friend is also the subject of the album’s instrumental opener ‘Son Of Princess, Brother Of Rambo’.

"First & Last" brings Glasgow music scene mainstay and longtime friend of the label RM Hubbert onto Chemikal Underground for the first time.

Following several years in Glasgow outfit El Hombre Trajeado, Hubbert took a few years off to study guitar before self releasing "First & Last", his debut solo album.

Chemikal Underground have come on board to provide their support, coinciding with Hubbert’s upcoming support slot on Mogwai’s mammoth European tour.

The album also receives its virgin pressing on deluxe vinyl.

RM Hubbert’s debut is a collection of beautifully contemplative instrumentals which highlights his undeniable virtuosity without any hint of self-indulgence or technical bravado.

The tracks incorporate elements of folk, flamenco and samba, and were often inspired by dark events in Hubby’s past, notably the death of his parents and his diagnosis with depression.

That these traumatic events resulted in an album of such beauty is testament to Hubbert’s considered and subtle strengths as a composer.

Awkward comparisons with folk and flamenco artists can give the wrong impression – best to note that RM Hubbert has been asked to support Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra Band, Alasdair Roberts and King Creosote, and is about to embark on a five week European tour with Mogwai.

Award-winning songwriter and guitarist RM Hubbert returns with a masterfully curated and lavishly diverse set of collaborations.

Featuring a stellar cast of contributors, ‘Telling The Trees’ is a thrillingly inventive collection, highlighting the extraordinary talents of some of the finest musicians, songwriters and lyricists.

‘Telling The Trees’ is a return to the collaborative format that saw him pick up a Scottish Album Of The Year (SAY) Award for 2012’s ‘Thirteen Lost & Found’.

Guesting on the album are the likes of Rachel Grimes, Eleanor Friedberger, Kathryn Williams, Helen Marnie (Ladytron), Martha Ffion, Karine Polwart and fellow SAY Award winner Kathryn Joseph.

“Hubbert’s live shows provide the rare spectacle of a noisy rabble falling instantly silent to marvel at both his technical ability and the emotional impact of his music” - The Scotsman

“RM Hubbert is a fascinating and talented guitarist” - Drowned In Sound

Follow up to RM Hubbert’s debut album ‘First & Last’ which came out in February 2011.

The album was produced by Alex Kapranos (Franz Ferdinand) and engineered by Paul Savage. The album was recorded between Chem19 and Alex’s studio in the Scottish Borders.

The album features collaborations with some very special artists including Hanna Tuulikki (Nalle), Emma Pollock (The Delgados), Luke Sutherland (Long Fin Killie, Mogwai), Aidan Moffat (Arab Strap), Alex Kapranos and Alasdair Roberts amongst others.

‘Thirteen Lost & Found’ was conceived by Hubbert as a way of reacquainting himself with old friends while making some new ones. Each piece was written collaboratively with the respective artists placing the emphasis on spontaneity and experimentation.

The resulting collection is eclectic and beautiful: voice, percussion, violin, piano, banjo, accordion, vibraphone and gu zheng all joining Hubbert’s idiosyncratic guitar over the eleven songs.

'This is the book we've been waiting for . . .

It is a biography to be treasured' Joe Boyd'The Drake completist could ask for nothing else' Telegraph'Illuminating. The definitive word on Drake' ObserverIn 1968 Nick Drake had everything to live for. The product of a loving, creative family and a privileged background, he was not only a handsome and popular Cambridge undergraduate, but also a new signing to the UK's hippest record label, Island.

Three years later, however - having made three well-reviewed but low-selling albums - Nick had been overwhelmed by a mysterious mental illness. He returned to live in his family home in rural Warwickshire in 1971, and died in obscurity in 1974, aged just 26. In the decades since, Nick has become the subject of ever-growing fascination and speculation.

Combined sales of his records now stand in the millions, his songs are frequently heard on TV and in films, and he has become one of the most widely known and admired singer-songwriters of his generation. Nick Drake: The Life is the only biography of Nick to be written with the blessing and involvement of his sister and Estate. Drawing on copious original research and new interviews with his family, friends and musical collaborators, as well as deeply personal archive material unavailable to previous writers - including his father's diaries, his essays and private correspondence - this is the most comprehensive and authoritative account possible of Nick's short and enigmatic life.

Includes a foreword by Gabrielle Drake and over 75 photos, many rare or previously unseen.

Rzee Jackson, also known by his stage names Esso Jaxxon and Castro Pink, has been a transformative figure in the reggae music scene, both in Jamaica and Canada. Originally from Clarendon, Jamaica, Jackson's musical journey began in earnest when he moved to Canada in 1975 after a cultural exchange program in the United States. Toronto's reggae scene was vibrant with legendary figure such as Jackie Mittoo of Studio One fame, and Rzee Jackson was at the forefront, contributing to the city's unique Jamaican vibes.

Leroy Sibbles, the lead singer of The Heptones, recognized Jackson's talent and brought him into the Ital Groove Band, where Jackson sang harmonies, played Gong Bap/Congos, and engineered. The Ital Groove Band became one of Canada's most prolific reggae bands, with Jackson touring extensively. With The Ital Groove Band, Rzee Jackson quickly made his mark, collaborating with renowned producer Oswald Creary of Half Moon Records.

Through his own indie labels : Ital, BeeZee Sounds Production, and Radio Plus, Rzee Jackson has recorded and distributed music with CC Records and Jet Star in the UK. His records have resonated on radio stations across Canada, the USA, Europe, Africa, and Brazil.
On this new Jamwax release, you will play two standout tracks from the "New Beat" album, originally released in the mid-80s in Canada on Ossie Records, the label owned by Oswald Creary.

The reissue features on A-Side "Row Fisherman Row," a timeless classic from Cedric Myton & The Congos, "Blackheart Man" the iconic song from Bunny Wailer and on the B-Side "Long Long Time" a deep extended 12-inch roots track with dubwise elements reminiscent of King Tubby's style. All songs, produced by Rzee Jackson, were recorded at Half Moon Recording Studio in Toronto, Canada, under the expert engineering of Oswald Creary.

This reissue also boasts new sleeve artwork by Ras Mykha, capturing an Ethiopian-inspired scene that depicts Rzee Jackson, Jackie Mittoo, and Cedric Myton in a fisherman boat, celebrating the unity and legacy of these reggae legends.

In recent years, Rzee Jackson has been collaborating with Cedric Myton and The Congos. As a producer, engineer, singer, and songwriter, Rzee Jackson continues to contribute to the rich tapestry of reggae music, bringing authentic Jamaican and Rasta vibes to audiences globally.

Producer: Rzee Jackson
Engineer: Oswald Creary
Recorded at Half Moon Recording Studio (Toronto, Canada)
Arwork by Ras Mykha
Licensed courtesy of Rzee Jackson

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Rrrrreeal strong reggae offering from Jamwax who've secured these mid-80s Canadian gems for our listening pleasure. High grade tackle you'd give up yer last nug for.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Row Fisherman Row
A2. Blackheart Man

B1. Long Long Time

Ricardo Jefferson is a producer and DJ based here in Manchester. The roots of his sound are in funk, disco, space rock, prog rock, but he has melded them into a sound that is more than just the sum of these elements. This is funky, bass-heavy, trippy techno for the dancefloor. "A Brutal Truth" is a big tune that builds relentlessly. The track has an inclusive, celebrational, feel which simply invites everyone to lose it on the dancefloor. "Persons Unknown" is a tune to drop when everyone on the dancefloor is in the zone and locked into the groove. A finely crafted trip created with multiple delays skittering around the sound field, anchored by the funky bass heavy groove. "The Egg (Part One)" employs a tight kick drum of differing weights to propel the groove, overlayed with a circular keyboard motif. On the off-beat, add the processed sound of someone hitting a metal sheet, and viola! – one aggressively funky bomb! Lastly "God Of The Machine" has a simple 4x4 kick and handclap pattern pinning down a delicious oscillating bassline, under a classic descending four chord circular chord progression.

Packaging will be a gatefold card wallet & will include 16 page lyric booklet. Pandemic Songs is songwriter Robb Johnson’s chronicle in song of the unprecedented events of the first half of 2020. His critically-acclaimed family histories of the 20th Century Gentle Men & Ordinary Giants use song to dramatise past lives & narrate significant historical events & processes. Pandemic Songs uses songs to provide a media-free perspective of contemporary history, with thirteen tracks written between March & June of this year, that record & comment on the global pandemic, from Robb’s local UK perspective. The songs are angry, sad, affectionate, elegiac, satirical, anxious, & compassionate. They celebrate our lives in lockdown & the endurance of our keyworkers, & catalogue the vanities, incompetence, hypocrisy & failures of those in power. Pandemic Songs was recorded with a socially-distanced pared-down version of The Irregulars; John Forrester on bass & vocals, Arvin Johnson on drums, percussion & Spanish guitar, & Fae Simon on vocals. The result is a powerful, visceral album, a significant creative response to these very significant times. Robb Johnson is now widely recognised as one of the UK’s finest songwriters: 

TRACK LISTING

1. Saint Mary (a Fable About The Origin Of A Virus),
2. Monday Afternoon In The Paris House (March 16th, & A Last Gig Before Lockdown),
3. 422 (lockdown Has Begun),
4. One More Lockdown Day (lockdown Continues),
5. 5373 (the Number Of Deaths From COVID 19 Continues To Rise),
6. 89p (the Government Responds By Promoting A Care Badge),
7. Disinfectant (President Trump Promotes A Cure),
8. The Highlight Of My Week (the Weekly Lockdown Shopping),
9. All The Bells Were Ringing (the Nightly Lockdown Dreaming),
10. Lockdown Jokes & Stories (three Sad Stories- Belly Mujinga, Railworker, Mervyn Kennedy, Bus Driver, Louisa Rajakumari, Teacher, & One Bad Joke – Dominic Cummings Drives To Durham) 
11. Victory In Europe (May, & The UK Achieves The Highest Rate Of COVID 19 Deaths In Europe),
12. The Days We Don’t Forget (a Proper Remembrance)
13. In Palmeira Square (June 17th, & Lockdown Is Ending)

This album grew out of the recording sessions that produced the “Mystery / Poetry” LP, adding brass & violin parts, new songs, new recordings of three audience favourites, & reworking three songs that appear on the LP. Core Irregulars John Forrester (bass), Arvin Johnson (drums & percussion) & Fae Simon (vocals & percussion) are joined by Sian Allen (trumpet), Linze Maesterosa (saxophone) & Lorsey Tillbrook (violin). Together they create a truly fine album showcasing some of the best of Robb’s songwriting for electric band performance. “The most joyous & life affirming set that I watched over the weekend” – audience response to recent Irregulars festival appearance.

TRACK LISTING

1: Win, Lose Or Draw
2: From Tolpuddle To Timbuktu,
3: Brown & Black In The Union Jack
4: One Day We Go To Wembley
5: Fiddler In The Rain
6: Start Counting *
7: When I Look Up*,
8: The Summer Time Is Coming
9: Be Reasonable
10: My Very Best Of Friends.

* Lead Vocal Fae Simon

Recorded as soon as the 2021 Covid restrictions allowed, this album expresses both the delight at being able to make some noise again, to be working with other musicians live again, & the anger at having had to endure both a pandemic & a useless, heartless government at the same time. Songwriting, vocals & guitar by Robb, The Irregulars on this album are John Forrester, bass & b/vox, Arvin Johnson, drums & percussion, & Fae Simon, b/vox, percussion, & lead vocal on “Start Counting”. Recorded by Ali Gavan at Brighton Road Studios, the album was manufactured by Press On Vinyl in Middlesborough – the cutting engineer said it was the best album he’d worked on, & Robb thinks the Press On pressing is the best sounding album he’s had manufactured.

TRACK LISTING

1: Scream Till The Walls Fall Down
2: Danny Kustow’s Gibson
3: Lost In Space
4: One Day We Go To Wembley
5: Yes Please Louise
6: Start Counting
7: From Tolpuddle To Timbuktu
8: Anytime

Last year Robb released the vinyl-only album Minimum Wages, 9 songs performed on acoustic guitar, with guest appearances from Boff Whalley, Fae Simon & John Forrester on vocals, Jude Abbott on brass, Jason Pegg on accordion & Jenny Carr on piano. The album was very well-received; “a timeless album for the times” (****RNR), Folk Radio UK named it as one of their top 10 albums of the year, & Ian Anderson said it would have been one of Podwireless’s CDs of the year – if it had been on CD.

The album has its CD release as part of a double album with Bodger: My Part In His Downfall, a collection of 20 songs chronicling the events of the last three years – “the worst of possible times to have the worst of governments too.” There are voice & acoustic guitar based tracks, 2 ukulele songs, & various contributions from Irregulars Sian Allen (trumpet), John Forrester (bass), Ali Gavan (drums), Arvin Johnson (drums), Linze Maesterosa (clarinet), Fae Simon (b/vox, lead vocal on track 190, & from Irregular Records recording artiste & award-winning poet Roger Stevens (piano). The recording of the album’s last track “Goodbye” was finished on July 6th - & the following day the Prime Minister resigned. Irregular Records decided to release the album to celebrate the departure of this most murderously lazy, corrupt, mendacious & incompetent of Prime Ministers. The double album includes a 12 page booklet with notes for all the songs. 

TRACK LISTING

Minimum Wages:
1: Fiddler In The Rain
2: Last Night Of The Proms
3: Hartlepool ASDA, Saturday Morning
4: Great Aunt Gladys
5: My Quiet Flame
6: Sister Reynardine
7: This Is Your History
8: Minimum Wages
9: My Very Best Of Friends

Bodger: My Part In His Downfall:
1: Well Done Little England
2: The Cheese & Wine Of Privilege
3: Barry Bucket
4: Common Sense
5: Don’t Forget To Wash Your Hands
6: Tony Skinner’s Lad
7: Blue Light On A Red Brick Wall
8: When The Leaves Have All Fallen
9: Jack & Jill Are Good For The Economy
10: Chipping Sodoffbury
11: Shut Up & Just Go Xmas Shopping
12: We Can All Join A Union
13: The Plague Ship
14: What A Week It Was When The Pubs Reopened
15: Freedom Day
16: You’ve Only Got Yourself To Blame
17: Well Done Little England
18: The Worst Prime Minister In The World
19: Sunlight On The Wall
20: Goodbye

January 2024 looked endless; I needed to do some recording to cheer myself up. The studio I usually use was booked all month, but before the disasters of Brexit & Covid I’d met pianist Yves Meerschaut in Gent, and he’d shown me his recording studio, Room 13, and that did have a couple of days free in January…

I decided to make a record of old songs that other people have liked, and / or that I play differently now, and / or that haven’t appeared on vinyl before. So, here, there’s:

“Pennypot Lane”, a fox song that people like, “Winter Turns to Spring” that was Tony Benn’s favourite song, “The Blue Sea Says Yes”, a song about how the sea welcomes us all, heroic or fragile, equally in our mortality (something like that anyway) , that I had forgotten about till people started saying how much they liked it, “More Than Enough”, that Roy Bailey and Martin Simpson have kindly rescued from the obscurity of its previous appearance on a CD in 1992, “Babbecombe at the Closing of the Day”, a song about going to Babbecombe model village, “At the Siege of Madrid” which quite a few people like, but is one of those songs that always somehow eludes a definitive performance, “A True History of Couscous”, a song I like that is more or a less fictionalized autobiography, and lastly..

“You Don’t Have to Say Goodbye”. This is a song from my first CD; Thames Valley folk-stalwart Terry Silver used to enjoy performing it so that afterwards he could shock audiences who’d been happily singing along to it by revealing it had been written by that dreadful lefty Robb Johnson, It’s also, more recently, a song our son Arvin likes very much too, and he graces this version with his characteristically modest tasteful Spanish guitar playing. He also nagged me into doing the artwork for the cover.

Three of these songs are lucky enough to have Yves’s breathtaking, exquisite piano playing embellishing them, and Sian Allen gifts “Madrid” some beautiful trumpet accompaniment too. But primarily, for good or ill, it’s mainly me with an acoustic guitar. Robb Johnson, May 24.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Pennypot Lane
Winter Turns To Spring
The Blue Sea Says Yes
More Than Enough

Side B
Babbecombe At The Closing Of The Day
At The Siege Of Madrid
A True History Of Couscous
You Don't Have To Say Goodbye

Robert Johnson stands at the crossroads of American music. He became the first modern bluesman, evolving the country blues of the Mississippi Delta. Johnson was a songwriter of searing depth and a guitar player with a commanding ability that inspired every blues artist that followed in his wake.

This essential LP contains the most celebrated numbers of Robert Johnson. It compiles twenty master recordings waxed in San Antonio and Dallas, between 1936 and 1937. Highlights include "Sweet Home Chicago," "Come On In My Kitchen," "Love In Vain," "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom," and Johnson's biggest hit "Terraplane Blues," a popular song on jukeboxes throughout the South.

"The music of Robert Johnson has inspired a million riffs. The myth of Robert Johnson has inspired a million dreams." - Jimmy Page.

TRACK LISTING

Sweet Home Chicago
Come On In My Kitchen
Me And The Devil Blues
Love In Vain Blues
Preachin' Blues (Up Jumped The Devil)
Kind Hearted Woman Blues
I Believe I'll Dust My Broom
Drunken Hearted Man
Hell Hound On My Trail
Walkin' Blues
Cross Road Blues
Ramblin' On My Mind
They're Red Hot
Raveling Riverside Blues
32-20 Blues
Malted Milk
Stones In My Passway
When You Got A Good Friend
Terraplane Blues
From Four Until Late

At last! The classic music from this important TV series is now available! Yes, to many people who grew up near a television in the 1970s and 1980s, Fingerbobs was a curious, formative and hugely inspiring series. Only 13 episode were made but were often repeated. It starred the audacious Fingermouse, a host of his paper friends (Scampi, Gulliver, Flash), and was fronted by folk musician, actor and former Play School presenter Rick Jones as “Yoffy”. Each episode involved simple craft, music and a story or fable based on that week’s theme (such as sound, wood, shapes and shadows). The whole series was conceived, created and modelled in a briliant home made style by the legendary husband and wife team Joanne and Michael Cole, the minds behind much of Playschool, the books and TV series Bod, and Ragtime.

The Fingerbobs album has been quite hard to put together; there are no masters and very little paper based archive to speak of, so no set stills, no paper puppets. All that really remains are a few scraps of paper in the Cole’s very small archive and the Fingerbobs annual, which contains nothing but pecualir drawings, none that really relate to the show. But, as the album was going to print Lo Cole found an exceptionally rare promotional flyer for the series in 1973 when it was first aired, and this wonderful little gem is what has been used to make the fabulous artwork.

In order to produce a musical album worthy of release, Jonny Trunk entrusted the ears and musical abilities of Jon Brooks (AKA The Advisory Circle) to pull together a musical collage of the whole series. So, we have all the themes, all the songs, all the instrumentals, a scattering of stories too. The music is a touch folky, a little whimsical, classically nostalgic, humble, hip, witty and occasionally camp (Gulliver’s song). Fingerbobs was possibly the last remaining unreleased score from TVs golden era, and finally, thanks to this first ever release, we can now enjoy it whenever or wherever we want. Like in the car with the kids. Which is a very good thing indeed.

Kicks is an eclectic album of ten cover songs - from "Mack The Knife" written in 1928 for a German musical (known in the U.S. as The Threepenny Opera) that became a jazz standard, to "Bad Company" the eponymous theme song for the British rock band written in 1974. The arrangement and instrumentation, by producer Michael Napolitano (Ani DiFranco), provides a fresh and modern sonic infusion on every song. Rickie Lee Jones skyrocketed to fame in 1979 when as a barely known artist she appeared on Saturday Night Live. Performing her biggest hit “Chuck E’s In Love” in her trademark red beret, Time Magazine instantly dubbed her “the Duchess of Coolsville.” Since then she has gone on to win two Grammy Awards, appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone twice, and was included in VH1’s 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll.

TRACK LISTING

1. Bad Company
2. My Fathers Gun
3. Lonely People
4. Houston
5. You're Nobody 'Til Somebody Loves You
6. Nagasaki
7. Mack The Knife
8. Quicksilver Girl
9. The End Of The World
10. Cry

10" UK roots releases from Room In The Sky, with tracks by Rivah Jordan and J. Nile, plus two versions of Rebel Horn by The Inn House Crew.

TRACK LISTING

1. Rivah Jordan - Hard To Win
2. J. Nile - Reggae Vibe
3. The Inn House Crew - Rebel Horn Dub
4. The Inn House Crew Ft.Jonah Little - Rebel Horn (instrumental) 

BBE Music are proud to reissue one of the most elusive and sought-after Afro-Funk LPs of all time: Son Of Africa, by Remi Kabaka. Now a proud 85 years of age and enjoying retirement in America, Remi was the cornerstone of British West African music in the 50s, 60s and 70s, along with Ginger Oloronso Johnson, Fela Kuti and others. But while Ginger played mambo and cha cha cha in Soho clubland and Fela released his early ‘highlife jazz’ records on the Melodisc label, Remi Kabaka was fully ensconced in the UK Rock world, playing sessions and live shows with The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood and countless others. As the 60s became the 70s, Kabaka developed yet another string to his bow: the development of a UK based West African Funk scene, that found its genesis in the legendary Osibisa, but with an influence and an inspiration that spilled over into every contemporary Brit Funk band from Cymande and the Equals to The Average White Band, Matata and beyond. Son Of Africa was originally released by Chris Blackwell’s Island records in 1976, to little acclaim, very few reviews, and with almost no promotion. African music was a hard sell when the 70s Black British record market wanted reggae first and foremost, and with Bob Marley on the books, Island understandably had other priorities at the time. The record disappeared. Until it reappeared in the early 2000s, as a £700-plus collectors’ item. It’s barely 30 minutes long. But every single minute is drenched with sinuous, spare funk: no spacey psych rock, no disco, no boogie, no over-the-top production: just 90-110 BPM grooves that go straight to the body. So: whether you’re a turntablist, a hip hop sampler, or just an honest-to-goodness African Funk lover, catch this limited reissue (with full, updated liner notes) while you can. There won’t be another chance.

TRACK LISTING

1. Kabaka
2. New Reggae Funk
3. Sure Thing
4. Future Of A 1000 Years
5. All Black Festival
6. Aqueba Masaaba
7. African Hustle
8. Meteorite
9. Blue Lagos
10. Follow Your Needs

New Ray K on cult label E-Beamz. One of the lo-fi house OGs that's broke out and found fame outside of the genre - namely on Arcane; here he returns to his roots for a four track cruncher for the vape generation. "Needless To Say" gets split across two parts. The first part is a steady climb, tumbling toms and ratcheting stabs creating a sense of excitement and tension; leaving what's around the corner purely to our imagination. Part 2 seems to up the tempo and the deepness in equal measure; straying away from the obvious and expected to plummet heads down into the speaker stacks for an amphetamine-fuelled fist-pumper of the highest order! I can feel the sweat flicking across the dancefloor now! "See Outside" offers from shimmering, reflective beauty, a contrast to the jagged and full throttle energy of side A, this revels in a seductive charm that'll get people moving closer to each other on the dancefloor. "Ray" concludes by cleverly matching Guy Called Gerald's "Voodoo Ray" to mechanized, slow-n-steady cerebral beats, flipping the mood of the original entirely and coming out with summat pretty heady and narcotic. Ace!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Needless To Say (Part I)
A2. Needless To Say (Part II)
B1. See Outside (Part II)
B2. Ray

From early on in her artistic journey, composer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Rebekka Karijord, has been fascinated by the human voice.

Known for her sweeping film scores (like for the Hulu Greta Thunberg documentary I Am Greta) as well as her work with artist Jessica Dessner and The National's Bryce and Aaron Dessner in the group Complete Mountain Almanac, she brings a unique musical perspective and skillset to every one of her projects. The Bell Tower, her seventh solo album, is one of her most ambitious records to date.

The Bell Tower is many things at once: it's an ode to our planet in peril; it's a missive from a mother to her children; it's a meditation on humanity and our place within the natural world. On top of that, it's also an experiment, something that evolved from a tiny idea into an all- encompassing work that touches upon 19th- century poetry, environmental activism, and the cross-section of digital and organic instrumentation. There's admittedly a lot to unpack, which becomes even more impressive when you actually give the album a spin and realize that Rebekka has managed to stack all of these ideas and moods into something that is balanced, harmonious, and at times, even calming. One reason for this is the way she has produced the album- which features voice only-in a way that is as engaging as it is innovative.

It takes a great deal of technical knowledge to successfully create experimental or ambient-leaning music, and The Bell Tower's many complex layers are solidly built by Rebekka's expertise.

TRACK LISTING

Lacrimosa 
Sanctuary 
Fugue
Serenade
You, Mountain 
City By The Sea
Megafaun
9th Duino Elegy 
Earth
Let This Darkness Be A Bell Tower
Vespera

OONA Recordings is thrilled to announce a limited edition environmentally conscious vinyl pressing of the ‘I Am Greta’ soundtrack by Rebekka Karijord and Jon Ekstrand. Manufactured at RPM Records in Denmark, every step in the production process was carefully considered in order to achieve the most environmentally friendly product possible. The records are made of 100% recycled PVC, and the covers printed on wood free 350 gsm 100% recycled uncoated card stock using plant-based inks. The records are protected by a 100% recycled 250 gsm paper inner sleeve and the cover is sealed with a sticker printed on recycled material. No plastic or shrink wrap will be used in the packaging or production apart from the recycled PVC in the vinyl record itself. One can read more about the process and the drive to create more sustainable productions at www.rpm.dk/eco.

'I Am Greta', the intimate Hulu documentary by Swedish director Nathan Grossman, tells the story of teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg through compelling, never-before-seen-footage. Starting with her one-person school strike for climate action outside the Swedish Parliament, Grossman follows Greta - a shy student with Asperger's - in her rise to prominence and her galvanizing global impact as she sparks school strikes around the world. The film culminates with the extraordinary wind-powered voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to speak at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York City. The synergy between the two composers with very different backgrounds as well as the blend of classic instrumentation and usage of electroacoustic elements led to a unique, compelling score: The score consists of a string octet, modular synthesizers and a voice instrument built by Rebekka of 25 unique singers sampled in their full range.”Rebekka and Jon’s dynamic score to 'I Am Greta' is huge and intimate, uplifting and melancholic, and manages to carry the emotional nuance of Greta's story. The score forms a musical parallel to Greta's journey and narrative voice throughout the film. It’s energy, urgency and emotional depth reminds us that the time for climate action is now.” - Nathan Grossman, director of 'I Am Greta'.

TRACK LISTING

A Side:
1.Tic Toc.
2.Fridays For Future.
3.Riksgatan.
4.Depression.
5.Childhood.
6.The Wind.
7.Nervous Feet.
8.Katowice.

B Side:
1.Fridays For Future (alternative Version).
2. The Movement.
3. Grief.
4.The Ocean.
5. The Arrival.
6. People Are Waking Up.
7. Grief (credits Version)

Born in Japan in 1947, Ryo had a long and stellar career recording and releasing music up until his passing on 13 April 2020, in Tallinn, Estonia. Ryo is one of the pioneers of the jazz fusion genre, with the Japanese jazz fusion / funk sound becoming extremely influential within the 80s UK club scene and amongst its DJs. His track 'Trinkets & Things' became a bonafide underground classic. In the US he worked with some of the greats of jazz, such as Elvin Jones, Chico Hamilton and Bobbi Humphrey, to name but a few. A forward-thinking and ever-evolving musician,

Ryo collaborated with the Roland Corporation and Korg on the 'guitar synthesizer' and later wrote music software for computers. Later in life he relocated to Estonia and worked there, as well as Finland, Sweden, and the Baltic states.

'Juice' has become a much-loved album for crate diggers and jazz-funk enthusiasts, with its tracks frequently being sampled and re-imagined in hip-hop. The smoky, beat- down, spiritual funk jam 'Bamboo Child' has been flipped by Diamond D, Puff Daddy, and Kool G Rap. The album was released in 1976 on RCA Records and features the musicians' drummer Jimmy Young, rhythm guitarist Hugh McCracken, and bassist Stu

Woods amongst other luminaries. A solid album throughout that incorporates a heavy dose of tripped-out synths alongside the emerging disco sound of the time. Tracks such as the opener 'Raisins', with its drum beat intro and bubbling bass-line, rivals The Headhunters at their finest. A superb album from an underground legend.

TRACK LISTING

1. Raisins
2. Sometime
3. The Breeze And I
4. East Side Boogie
5. El Toro
6. Bamboo Child
7. Andes

This is the extensive legacy of grime, as told by a pioneer of the scene. With vivid imagery from Roony’s archive and firsthand accounts from MC’s, designers and artists, this illustrated guide invites you to experience the 140BPM beating heartbeat of grime – not just as a music genre, but as a living, breathing culture that continues to thrive, inspire, and boldly challenge the status quo. “Grime to some is a just a genre; a specific form of music.

But, to those involved, and anyone brought up in London around the early 2000’s, it’s way more than a BPM. Grime is a way of life, a voice for the ambitions and dreams of the inner-city youth. It’s a vessel for our creativity and a way to express ourselves.

It’s a rebellion to the system; to those who said we can’t or don’t deserve to be involved, be better, or to want more. Grime is the way you carry yourself, the way you talk, the way you wear your clothes. It’s a culture, it’s the heartbeat of the UK’s underdog story for this generation; it’s our punk.

It’s acceptance across the world for the music we make and the respect we’ve commanded. It’s the evolution of the sounds brought to England and the culmination of cultures: the black, the white, the Turkish and the Asian, the working classes, the poor and the wanting more. It’s that little voice inside you that says, ‘go the extra mile and don’t give up’.” Roony ‘Risky Roadz’ Keefe stands as a trusted chronicler of the grime scene's early days.

Starting as a fan armed with a handy cam, his RiskyRoadz series captured the buzz of the time, and blew up when YouTube emerged. He later directed iconic music videos that defined the genre's visual identity – from Skepta's "Man" and "It Ain't Safe," to Chip's "Scene," and Kano's "3 Wheel-ups." Legendary status runs in his bloodline; his grandmother is non other than 80-year-old viral sensation, Grime Gran. GRIME spotlights the people and places across East London that shaped the genre: from its inception in the early 2000s, to today.

It's a portal into the gritty, authentic world of grime, offering a front-row seat to modern history; the beef, the social history, the personalities, the tracksuits, the tunes – and the reality of a revolution that reshaped a generation. Contents: What is Grime?LondonPioneersMarginalisation and CensorshipYouTube & The Quiet TimeGoing MainstreamIconic Artwork & VideosFashionGentrification& How We SpeakGirls of GrimeFriendshipsA-Z of Artists

Robert Earl Keen is the latest Lost Highway artist this year to release a top Americana album folowing in the footsteps of Lucinda Williams on the same label. This has the same bittersweet flavour as Williams' "Essence" with that wistful nostalgic sound that a lot of these alternative country players seem to be becoming increasingly fond of.

Rotterdam-based Robin Kester’s music thrives in moments of quiet unease. Following her 2020 “mini album” ‘This Is Not A Democracy’, Kester was lauded for her stirring blend of chamber pop and psychedelia for her debut album ‘Honeycomb Shades’ (2023) which was named Dutch album of the year by newspapers NRC and de Volkskrant and nominated for the best Dutch album by 3voor12.

Now, Kester returns with second album ‘Dark Sky Reserve’ via Memphis Industries; a soundtrack to all the thoughts that bubble to the surface once the silence sinks in. ‘Dark Sky Reserve’ is Kester’s most artistically focused record to date, combining a rich, layered humanity in the music with minimalist lyricism. With the help of producer Ali Chant and a variety of other collaborators including Adrian Utley (Portishead) and Rozi Plain, Kester balances scenes of idyllic bliss from the “magical and strange” ‘Talybont-on-Usk’ with existential questions on ‘Departure’. Written in the nights of recording sessions in Bristol, ‘Dark Sky Reserve’ is the result of Kester writing from a place of newfound clarity: “I could see myself for who I am.”

TRACK LISTING

1. An Hour Per Day
2. Happy Sad (It's A Party)
3. Departure
4. The Daylight
5. Dog
6. Talybont-on-Usk
7. Perspective
8. Game Sounds
9. Tree-lined Lanes
10. Something Is Moving

Flirty Ghost is an evocative LP by Rachel Kitchlew, a jazz and contemporary harpist known for pushing the boundaries of her instrument. A blend of jazz, ambient, and experimental sounds, the album was crafted in a spontaneous, deeply personal atmosphere, recorded late at night in the cozy, smoky setting of SFJ headquarters.

Inspired by everything from Henry Mancini to Dorothy Ashby, this LP captures an eerie, playful essence, like a ‘flirty ghost’, while celebrating exploration and self-expression. The album holds emotional depth, particularly in tracks like ‘Truncate’ and ‘Cyclical’, which were recorded shortly after the passing of Rachel's grandmother, Sheila Horton, whose work is featured on the back cover.

With the collaboration of close friends and talented musicians, ‘Flirty Ghost’ represents a new chapter for Rachel, marking a joyful departure from her solo harp work into a collective, experimental musical journey.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Mammone - 4’00
A2. Panther Jam - 4’56
A3. Heady - 5’02
A4. Truncate - 3’54
B1. Cyclical - 4’02
B2. Opium Lounge - 6’14
B3. Leopard Slug - 4’25
B4. Heady Reprise - 1’42

Rindert Lammers' debut album is a heartfelt exploration of gratitude, blending personal narratives with cinematic imagery in a serene and soulful ambient jazz style. Inspired by Japanese cinema and the raw authenticity of YouTube confessions, the album captures a mood of introspection and appreciation. Central to the album is the track "Thank You, Kirin Kiki," which draws from a powerful scene in the film Shopliers. Lammers explains "It's one of my favorites. The Japanese actress Kirin Kiki plays the grandmother of a ‘chosen family’, all of whom have fled or lost their own families in some way. In this scene, one of her last scenes before her (real) death, Kirin Kiki (the grandmother) looks at her family and says, 'Thank You!' twice towards the children and the sea. Kirin Kiki improvised these words on the spot, and it's such a poignant moment in the film, but also indicative of her impending death. I found the gratitude so moving it fit perfectly with the gratitude I found in the voice clip from "Thank You Hiroshi Yoshimura. "The fourth song, "Thank You Hiroshi Yoshimura," opens with a voice clip that acts almost as the protagonist of a film, reflecting on a turbulent time of sleeping in parks and on the streets. This voiceover was inspired by a comment on a Hiroshi Yoshimura video on YouTube that began, “This album reminds me of...” Lammers noticed the deeply personal responses le on these videos, so he recorded various similar YouTube comments from people around the world, initially intending to set them to music. Though much of this idea evolved, this particular voice clip remained a central influence, ultimately inspiring a cinematic journey within the album. "Summer in Shibuya" sets the scene as a trailer, "Opening Credits" introduces the narrative, and "Closing Credits" gently brings it to a close. While there’s a Japanese and Tokyo theme running through the tracks, Lammers doesn’t view the album as a tribute to Japan or Tokyo specifically—he’s never visited and admits to knowing only fragments of the culture. Yet he's drawn to Japanese environmental music and is an avid Murakami reader, seeing Japan as a powerful, visual inspiration in his mind’s eye. In a way, the album is also his “thank you” to the beautiful art that Japan has shared with the world.

R.I.Y.L.: Nala Sinephro, Sam Gendel, Shabaka, Alabaster De Plume, Jeff Parker, Carlos Niño.

TRACK LISTING

01 Summer In Shibuya
02 Opening Credits
03 Thank You Kirin Kiki
04 Thank You Hiroshi Yoshimura
05 Closing Credits

This is a super follow-up to his much-loved debut and whilst the warm, woody soulfulness of primetime Van Morrisson still shines through there's enough new ground covered to prove that he is indeed a major talent in the making. There's country and blues to add to his rustic soul music, this time with echoes of John Lennon or even Ryan Adams. There's some unsettling, sparse stuff here too; it's an occasionally challenging as well as a comforting listen. Fans are going to love this record!

Ray LaMontagne  has spent the past two decades carving a singular space for himself in modern music. In a career that has seen overflowing critical acclaim, he’s opted out of the spotlight and its accompanying celebrity in the remote hills of Western Massachusetts. The New York Times accounts, “Visiting Ray LaMontagne is like going back to another century.” His signature voice, described by Rolling Stone as an “impeccably weathered tenor croon”, continues to serve as a conduit for era-defining melodies and songwriting. Across eight studio albums, LaMontagne has let his songs and story speak for themselves, ringing a deep chord in the American subconscious. As has come to be expected through his extensive and awarded discography, LaMontagne delivers yet again on record nine with a cohesive, impressive effort.

The core of Long Way Home reverberates deep into LaMontagne’s youth—at 21-years-old, in a small club in Minneapolis, he recalls seeing Townes Van Zandt perform live. A line from “To Live Is To Fly” has stuck with him ever since; Van Zandt sang, “When here you been is good and gone, all you keep is the getting there.” LaMontagne reflects, “Thirty years later it occurs to me that every song on Long Way Home is in one way or another honoring the journey. The languorous days of youth and innocence. The countless battles of adulthood, some won, more often lost. It's been a long hard road, and I wouldn’t change a minute. It took me nine songs to express what Townes managed to say in one line. I guess I still got a lot to learn.” Produced in tandem with Seth Kauffman (Floating Action, Angel Olsen, Lana Del Ray), Long Way Home’s nine moving tracks recall the folk-rock explosion of the early seventies, while aptly sitting among the modern Americana revival that LaMontagne was integral in fueling. Recorded over the course of a few weeks in his home studio, LaMontagne tapped both long-time and new collaborators across the record—The Secret Sisters provide backing vocals on the first three tracks, while the album was engineered and mixed by the team of LaMontagne, Kauffman, and Ariel Bernstein.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A beautifully emotive, swooning mix of American primitive drones, bucolic folky textures and brittle acoustic guitar strums, all topped with LaMontagne's syrupy vocals. Beautifully warm, instantly reminiscent of the glory days of American folk music but with a distinct, modern slant.

TRACK LISTING

1. Step Into Your Power
2. I Wouldn't Change A Thing
3. Yearning
4. And They Called Her California
5. La De Dum, La De Da
6. My Lady Fair
7. The Way Things Are
8. So, Damned, Blue
9. Long Way Home