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?

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

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

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.

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

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Rory Gallagher’s “Deuce” sophomore solo album from 1971, a cut-down version of a deluxe boxset of the album is presented which will include a new mix of the original album, previously unreleased alternate takes and radio bremen radio session tracks.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Used To Be - 50th Anniversary Edition
2. I'm Not Awake Yet - 50th Anniversary Edition
3. Don't Know Where I'm Going - 50th Anniversary Edition
4. Maybe I Will - 50th Anniversary Edition
5. Whole Lot Of People - 50th Anniversary Edition
Side B
1. In Your Town - 50th Anniversary Edition
2. Should've Learnt My Lesson - 50th Anniversary Edition
3. There's A Light - 50th Anniversary Edition
4. Out Of My Mind - 50th Anniversary Edition
5. Crest Of A Wave - 50th Anniversary Edition
Side C
1. Used To Be - Alternate Take 1
2. I'm Not Awake Yet - Alternate Take 1
3. Maybe I Will - Alternate Take 1
4. Whole Lot Of People - 12 String Acoustic Alternate Take 1
Side D
1. In Your Town - Alternate Take 3
2. Should've Learnt My Lesson - Alternate Take 3
3. There's A Light - Alternate Take 1
4. Out Of My Mind - Alternate Take 3
Side E
1. Crest Of A Wave - Alternate Take 2
2. Crest Of A Wave - Radio Bremen 21/12/1971
3. Don't Know Where I'm Going - Radio Bremen 21/12/1971
4. I Could've Had Religion - Radio Bremen 21/12/1971
Side F
1. Should've Learnt My Lesson - Radio Bremen 21/12/1971
2. For The Last Time - Radio Bremen 21/12/1971
3. Messin' With The Kid - Radio Bremen 21/12/1971
4. Pistol Slapper Blues - Radio Bremen 21/12/1971

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)

Sublime unreleased soundtrack by Ron Geesin, to one of the most important and controversial films in British cinema history.

Standard black vinyl (750 Copies) with sleeve art taken from the 1971 film poster. Cool as fuck.

Side One is the score for Sunday Bloody Sunday, the controversial 1971 drama directed by John Schlesinger. Starring Peter Finch, Glenda Jackson and Murray Head, it tells the story of an open love triangle between a gay Jewish doctor, a divorced woman and a bisexual young male artist who makes glass fountains. Daniel Day Lewis also makes his uncredited screen debut as a yobbo scratching up posh cars. The films significance at the time of release lay in the depiction of a mature gay man who was both successful, well adjusted and at peace with his sexuality.

The music on Side Two comes from two different sources: tracks one to four are from the 1985 Channel Four documentary about Viv Richards. Simply called “Viv” it was directed by Greg Lanning, with words and narration by Darcus Howe. It was (and still is) a fascinating film recounting Richards’ rise from young talented Antiguan to global cricket superstar. It also explored the long history of West Indian players through the English game. Howe later recalled how seeing Viv Richards walking out to bat at the Oval (just down the road from where Howe lived in Brixton) without a helmet on no matter how fast the bowler was - and wearing his Rasta sweatbands of gold, green and red, was inspirational. The documentary was later re-titled ‘Viv Richards - King Of Cricket’ for the video market, and let’s face it, that’s a more commercial title. I’d strongly recommend trying to track it down to spend an hour or so in the company of Viv and Darcus. As I write this it’s still up on a popular online streaming site for free.

The last six cues of Side Two are from a 1970 BBC Omnibus film ‘Shapes In A Wilderness’. Directed by Tristram Powell this was a documentary about the importance and influence of art therapy in mental hospitals, tracing its origins from a painting hut in a wartime military hospital to its successful and widespread incorporation in institutions. It featured fascinating medical insights, disturbing imagery and Ron’s finely tuned accompaniment. On its original transmission John Schlesinger saw it and was heard to say “I must have that composer for my new film!”. And he got his way.

I could spend another paragraph analysing the music and stuff like that but you can listen and work all that out for yourself. But I will say that all the music just confirms the fact that Ron Geesin is one of the most underrated, inventive and versatile composers (and musicians) we have.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE ONE
1: Sky HIgh Balloons
2: Intriguing Cables
3: Bittersweet Reflections
4: Affections For String Quartet (unknown Studio String Quartet)
5: Chemical Dreams (voice Bridget St. John)
6: Blitzful Memories
7: Piccadilly Bustle
8: Motoring Sparkle (Second Gtr: Bridget St. John)
9: Wayward Balloons
SIDE TWO
Tracks 1 - 4 From The Soundtrack Of ‘Viv’
1: War Of The Willow
2: Slo-Mo Bowl
3: Through Loud Bamboo
4: Antiguan Stroll Tracks
5 -10 From The Soundtrack Of ‘Shapes In A Wilderness’
5: Mad Picture Gallery
6: Sculptural Drift
7: Muttering Mini Monsters
8: Cranial Cathedral
9: Ghostly Wasps
10: Hope And Misery

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)

'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.

"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) 

Goller is known for her bass and vocal work with Alabaster DePlume, whose music she elevates in live contexts with her genre-less improvisational intuition, and an incredibly diverse résumé that includes performance and recording with Bex Burch’s Vula Viel, Shabaka Hutchings, Rokia Traore, Melt Yourself Down, Sam Amidon, and even a very brief moment with Paul McCartney.

For 'SKYLLUMINA', her International Anthem debut, Goller expands upon the concept of her first solo album Skylla – de-tuned bass harmonics with layered voices – this time collaborating with a different drummer on each track. “As a bass-player, I love playing with drummers and I decided to focus on my close connection to that instrument and to the amazing people I met in my life who play it,” says Goller. “There were some who played tuned percussion as well, so it would give me another element to explore.” Her accompanists on the album include The Smile's Tom Skinner, go-to London drummer Seb Rochford, Berlin-based International Anthem labelmate Bex Burch, and ex-pat Chicago legend Frank Rosaly. But more importantly, the music is an immersive hyperfocus for Goller and her patently distinct, singular compositional vision.

'SKYLLUMINA', despite its highly conceptual origins, is heavy with human emotion. Its dark washes of melody and contrapuntal percussion could fit easily into a mixtape with indie downbeat / ennui royalty like Grouper or Low, while also being right at home next a Cage-Tudor prepared piano piece. And the piercing, siblant ice age siren song heard in Goller's powerfully feminine vocal arrangements find her in an otherworld only occasionally inhabited by the likes of Björk and The Knife.

TRACK LISTING

1. Below My Skin
2. Reach Down Into The Deepest White
3. Of Snowhere
4. Next Time I Keep My Hands Down
5. All The Light I Have, I Hand To You
6. She Was My Own She Was Myself
7. How To Be Free From It
8. From Breaks To Shreds It’s A Short Path
9. Don’t Follow Me
10. I Have For You - Simple Truth

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

The expansive new album Rachel Grimes, the renowned modern composer and cofounder of iconic chamber-rock group, Rachel’s. A rich, sprawling folk opera that explores the controversial history of Kentucky’s overlooked figures. The Way Forth, a new folk opera from Rachel Grimes, encompasses lush layers of voices and orchestrations in an experiential, non-linear investigation highlighting perspectives of Kentucky women from 1775 to today. Inspired by a treasure-trove of family documents, photos, and letters spanning several generations, Grimes began in 2016 to research some of the more vexing questions that came to the surface about these people, places, and events.

The songs that make up The Way Forth weave back in time through a postcard, a personal account of a long life on a farm, traces of folk tunes, names, places, and rivers, all woven into an emotional fabric of yearning, nostalgia, grief, and the rich intimacies of everyday life. Initially solo voices are heard above vivid orchestrations, expanding with the choral voices of the community through fragments of traditional church music and popular tunes. The scope widens to include a modern male narrator's reflections on a place battered by greed, civil war, bigotry, and the exploitation of natural resources. Through music, voice, and film, The Way Forth honors the emotional legacy of the silenced, the holistic, the beauty in quotidian life, and explores the eternal grace and redemption of time, as symbolized by the great Dix and Kentucky Rivers

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: An honest and tender look at rural history and locality as well as the place of arts and creativity within society, all presented through Grimes' singular musical vision. Any fans of Rachel's tender chamber classical (myself included) will find a lot to enjoy here, while being comfortingly different from anything that's come before.

TRACK LISTING

1. Got Ahold Of Me (4:15)
2. Postcard From Pauline (1:46)
3. Patsy (2:11)
4. Sisterhood Of Man (3:20)
5. Red House School (5:24)
6. The Hysterical Society (2:15)
7. Nowhere On Earth (3:24)
8. There Is No Other (3:33)
9. The Spells (1:33)
10. Fontaine Ferry (4:25)
11. For So Long (4:40)
12. Dix River Doxology (3:21)
13. Dolly (1:43)
14. Bill Of Sale (1:53)
15. End Of Dominion (12:07)
16. Sara (2:45)
17. A New Land (3:39)

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

Following the October release of the EP Mockingbird Love and the November release of the album Pearldiving comes another unique release by Robin Guthrie, the 4 track EP, Riviera, a collection of tunes completed earlier this year. Riviera stands on its own, as a release apart from the album, featuring Guthrie’s ever present signature sound and atmosphere, displaying a refinement and maturity only found in the work of an artist working largely unfettered from the constraints of the music industry. His approach to music is perhaps more akin to that of a painter or a photographer. The adept use of light and shade, melody and counter melody, the carefully and precisely arranged instrumentation, musical textures and colorings gives his music a depth and level of detail which marks a master craftsman.

Roy Hamilton, Cosmo Bowen and Dennis Palmer go back a long way to the early 80's when they were members of a 9 piece funk outfit called Breeze - playing regularly Upstairs at Ronnie Scott's along with bands like Hi Tension and Gonzalez. In 1984 they linked up for this one and only 12" on their own HBS imprint - a laid-back stomper that has become in-demand on the UK soul/funk collectors scene - now given a fresh new cut & press thanks to Freestyle Records' 12" reissue initiative!

TRACK LISTING

1. Turn Up The Music
2. Turn Up The Music (Instrumental)

"'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

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
Advertisement

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

Few survivors from the golden age of British folk rock have kept their reputations intact. Among the survivors there is one figure whose body of work, comprising 23 studio albums and almost as many live and compilation releases, has come to stand for a particularly single-minded form of integrity. That man is Roy Harper.

Now officially ‘retired’, and living in a secluded corner of Ireland, Harper has recently been hailed as a key influence by a much younger generation of devoted starsailors who instinctively recognise his innovations. The likes of Fleet Foxes, Joanna Newsom and Jim O’Rourke are avowed fans, and in previous decades he has enjoyed public endorsements and tributes from the likes of Led Zeppelin (Roy is immortalised in ‘Hats Off To Harper’ from Led Zeppelin’s ‘III’), Kate Bush, Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour and many more.

Beginning with 1966’s ‘Sophisticated Beggar’, Harper’s music has consistently rattled the cage of received ideas. His versatile, poetic sensibility was employed in a wide range of song styles from romantic love songs to late night mantras to blackly comedic throwaway numbers.

‘Stormcock’ (1971) is generally regarded as a masterpiece: a sprawling but focused suite of four lengthy tracks which explored the inner space of Abbey Road Studio to rhapsodic effect; like ‘Astral Weeks’ refracted through the pages of OZ magazine. Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page added guitar, disguised as S Flavius Mercurius.

In 2005 Harper was awarded the Mojo Hero Award by the staff of Mojo magazine. The award itself was presented by long-time collaborator and friend Jimmy Page. In 2013 Harper received the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Lifetime Achievement Award.

TRACK LISTING

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

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

Harvieu’s defiance against the odds and her willingness to lay herself open to make what she believed was within her is baked into every groove of the record, across every stylistic turn: the giddy pop of ‘Strange Thing’, the gothic swoon of ‘Cruel Disguise’, the smokey seductiveness of ‘Yes Please’ through to the stirring torchsong finale ‘My Body She Is Alive’.

Harvieu has come a long way from the 17-year-old who was signed to Island Records and who had no intention of becoming a singer-songwriter. Even when she made her debut album “Through The Night”, her confidence was low. “I did help write a few of the songs on that record, which I’m still very fond of, but I felt more of a mouthpiece for someone else’s talent, which eats away at you especially because I had so much to say lyrically I just hadn’t learnt how to as yet.”

Her injury - a broken spine following “a freak accident” between recording and releasing her debut album - undermined Harvieu even further. Likewise, Island parted ways with her six months after it’s release, despite a Top 5 chart entry, making the BBC’s Sound Of 2012, a 5-star live review from The Guardian and TV exposure. What followed was what Harvieu describes as “some very dark years” which she addresses in songs like ‘Spirit Me Away’ and the 50’s ballad-evoking ‘You Don’t Know Me.’ A split with her long term partner, her manager and then her beloved Salford. “In one fell swoop everything was gone. I knew I had to get away, start again, rebuild myself.”

It wasn’t until 2015 to be exact, when she met Romeo Stodart, the Magic Numbers frontman and songwriter who had emailed after seeing her perform on Later… With Jools Holland, to ask if she’d consider writing together. “When we started, the energy was immediately different to anyone I’d worked with before, there was this insane instant musical connection” she says. “I loved that Romeo really embraced who I was and encouraged it, I was starting to realise that I didn’t have to be anything other than myself.”

The pair spent the next two years co-writing: “I wasn’t in a massive hurry, because at last I was having fun” Harvieu says. ‘We’d stay up all night drinking, dancing and playing music, I felt like I was re-discovering a girl who had been hidden, quietened. I’d tell Romeo, I don’t just want to paint pretty pictures I want to revel in the drama of my life, the good and the bad, before I was afraid to say something in my lyrics, but no longer. I felt free.”

The album was co-produced by Romeo Stodart and Dave Izumi Lynch, owner of Echo Zoo studio in Eastbourne where recording took place. “It was a truly magical experience working with Dave & Romeo, they are two absolute nurturing musical wizards.” says Harvieu.

Harvieu’s lyrical confidence is evident throughout the album and has you leaning in to absorb line after line. Her voice, soaring and caressing in equal measure, is matched in force by her flirtatious personality. From the album’s opening lyric “Let me put my paws on you, strange thing’through to the feminine bite of ‘Curves And Swerves’ “I’ve got some curves and some swerves, what you gonna do about it?” which crackles with sexual tension and an aching vulnerability.

Among Harvieu’s new songs are messages of hope to her younger, anxious self. To the teenage goth Ren in ‘Little Raven’, she says: “I want you to know, that I’m starting to feel, but its gonna take time, but I’m ready to heal”. ‘Tomorrow Girl Today’ is to the Ren “who would make bad decisions… we can all be very self-destructive, but will we make it this time?”

So what now, Ren Harvieu? “I’ve created a second chance for myself“ she says. “And I will keep creating second chances for myself, because this is my life and I’m not afraid to revel in it anymore.” Revel In the Drama of Ren Harvieu - finally we all can too.

TRACK LISTING

1. Strange Thing
2. Teenage Mascara
3. This Is How You Make Me Feel
4. Curves And Swerves
5. Cruel Disguise
6. Yes Please
7. Spirit Me Away
8. This Is Our Love
9. You Don’t Need Me
10. Tomorrow’s Girl Today
11. Little Raven
12. My Body She Is Alive

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

'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

The first of a series of Richard Hawley music boxes.

Turn the handle to play a snippet of Coles Corner.

It'll melt your heart!

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)

Insanely good almost completely unreleased Jazz funk LP from Roland Haynes Jr. (They released just a single 45 included here from the tapes). Think undiscovered James Mason, and you'll be half way there, even by our high standards, this LP is HUGE.

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 of studio recordings that were for the most part unreleased.

TRACK LISTING

1. Mind Games
2. Pretty Melody
3. Titi
4. The Essence Of Jai
5. Ceta Theme Intro
6. Ceta Theme
7. I'll Always Be There
8. Daddy Rob
9. Jobman Caravan
10. Donna
11. Cast Your Fate

Wewantsounds is delighted to reissue Roy Haynes' 1971 LP 'Hip Ensemble,' recorded in New York for Bob Shad's Mainstream Records and featuring Hannibal Marvin Peterson, George Adams, Teruo Nakamura and Lawrence Killian. Together the musicians create a superb mix of jazz funk and spiritual Jazz showcasing Haynes powerful drumming and creativity. "Hip Ensemble" is reissued here for the first time on vinyl since 1971, in its original gatefold artwork with first generation photos and includes the bonus track "Roy's Tune." It comes with newly remastered audio and a 2-page insert featuring new liner notes by Kevin Le Gendre.

TRACK LISTING

1. Equipoise
2. I'm So High
3. Tangiers
4. Nothing Ever Changes For You My Love
5. Satan's Mysterious Feeling
6. You Name It/Lift Ev'ry Voice And Sing
7. Roy's Tune

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

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.

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

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

Cornish singer/songwriter Ruarri Joseph releases his debut single, "Tales Of Grime And Grit. A live favourite, it is the first physical format release from Ruarri. He's been touring extensively, both solo and band performances, supporting Wilco, Funeral For A Friend and others and is confirmed for a slew of festival appearances this Summer as well.

Soundway Records are proud to present the Afro-jazz soundtrack to Ola Balogun's legendary movie from 1978. The film was written and directed by Balogun (recognised as one of Nigeria's most renowned directors) but shot and cast in Brazil. The Soundtrack was composed by one of Nigeria's most successful and original musicians Remi Kabaka (who has played with Steve Winwood and Ginger Baker amongst others).

The Record was originally issued in both Nigeria and Brazil, but recorded in Lagos, using four of the Nigerian music scene's most innovative players: Remi Kabaka himself, alongside Biddy Wright, saxophonist Dele Okonkwo and Mono Mono frontman Joni Haastrup. The result is a truly unique and experimental afro-jazz recording that has been out of print for many years, until now.

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

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)

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.

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

Grammy Award winning artist Ray LaMontagne is set to release his eagerly anticipated, eighth studio album 'MONOVISION' via Columbia Records.

The 10 track album sees Ray not only writing and producing the album once again but also includes added duties of engineering as well as performing all the instruments for the tracks. 

Grammy Award winning singer-songwriter Ray Lamontagne releases his seventh studio album on 18th May, via Columbia Records.

Written & produced by LaMontagne, this nine song album includes the singles "Such A Simple Thing" & "Paper Man".

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Lamontagne brings us his newest LP, with tender folk stylings subtly woven amongst the stunning acoustic balladry, all accentuated with Lamontagne's heart-melting vocals.

TRACK LISTING

1. To The Sea
2. Paper Man
3. Part Of The Light
4. It's Always Been You
5. Let's Make It Last
6. As Black As Blood Is Blue
7. Such A Simple Thing
8. No Answer Arrives
9. Goodbye Blue Sky

On the remastered vinyl, LaMontagne says, "When Trouble was initially released Vinyl was considered a dead format, never to breathe again. Digital audio was the new King. As we know this has proved untrue. Each year more and more music lovers are listening to vinyl and appreciating it for its depth and breadth of sound, for its physical heft, for its tangible realness."

TRACK LISTING

Trouble
Shelter
Hold You In My Arms
Burn
Forever My Friend
Hannah
How Come
Jolene
All The Wild Horses

Dublin-born singer and composer Rachael Lavelle’s debut album ‘Big Dreams’, released via her Rest Energy label, has quickly seen her become recognised as one of Ireland’s most exciting emerging talents.

It’s seen the album receive a nomination for Ireland’s prestigious Choice Music Prize Album of the Year. Lavelle has also been tapped up to tour with breakthrough Irish trailblazers Lankum and CMAT, as a musical guest on The Adam Buxton Podcast Live, as well as taking part in the Sorcha Richardson curated ‘Imagining Ireland’ at The Barbican in London and National Concert Hall in Dublin alongside SOAK, Ye Vagabonds, Aby Coulibaly and more.

‘Big Dreams’ is an existential coming-of-age album that chronicles the journey of a young woman searching for direction and meaning in a very strange world. Inspired by sounds of everyday life and an intriguing obsession with YouTube self-help videos, the album explores romance, directionless-ness, ambition and the expectations of the unsatisfied digital native. ‘Big Dreams’ is an introspective journey that invites the listener to ask what it means to be alive in the 21st century.

Floating in a world that is at once full of irony and honesty, Rachael examines the essential things: sleeping, eating, work and the search for love, reimagining them in a dream-like musical landscape of luscious synths, manipulated vocals, cinematic sound design, strings, woodwind and electronic beats. A wry sense of humour peppered throughout is glued together by the iconic voice of Doireann Ní Bhriain, the voice of the Luas transport system in Dublin.

Recorded in various locations between Ireland and Portugal, the album is the result of years of experimentation and destruction. Written and produced by Lavelle, it was created alongside long-time collaborator, multi-instrumentalist and co-producer Ryan Hargadon (moondiver, Anna Mieke, Kojaque) and engineer and co-producer Alex Borwick (Niamh Regan, Inni-K).

TRACK LISTING

1. Travel Size
2. Let Me Unlock Your Full Potential
3. Soft Colour Palettes
4. Eat Clean
5. Gratitude
6. Perpetual Party
7. My Simple Pleasures
8. Night Train
9. Sleepy Gal
10. Big Dreams

When LCD Soundsystem broke up in 2011, they left behind a small but remarkable catalog of music. On top of the genius singles and a longform composition for Nike, there was a trilogy of full-length albums. During that initial run, LCD Soundsystem—and the project's mastermind, James Murphy—were at the center of several 21st century developments in pop culture: indie music's growing mainstream clout, Brooklyn surpassing Manhattan as an epicenter of creativity in America, the collision and eventual erosion of genre perceptions, and the rapid and profound growth and impact of digital culture.

Amidst this storm, Murphy crafted Sound Of Silver, the centerpiece of LCD's work. At the time of Sound Of Silver’s creation and release, Murphy was a man closing in on 40 while fronting a critically-adored band still on the ascent. This album was the first place where he earnestly grappled with questions of aging, of being an artist, and the decisions we make with the time we have left.

Anchored by a series of colossal, intense dance-rock songs, Sound Of Silver called upon the rhythms of New York City in order to draw out, dissect, and ultimately rip open these meditations. By the time LCD Soundsystem reunited in 2016, Sound Of Silver had already proven to be a generational touchstone, living on as a document of what it's like to be alive in the 21st century.

Mr Bongo's Brazil 45's series serves up another pair of Brazilian classics in the form of Rita Lee & Tutti Frutti 'Agora E Moda' and Pete Dunaway 'Supermarket'.

'Agora E Moda' is a psychedelic, disco- boogie- groove monster brought to our attention by Greg Caz and Sean Marquand aka Brazilian Beats Brooklyn . Originally released on Rita Lee's 1978 album Babilonia LP on Som Livre, this sublime track is drenched in squelching guitar licks, funk drums and sensuous cosmic vocal flavours.

Lee was the lead singer of Brazilian psychedelic rock band Os Mutantes and a hugely important figure in the Tropicalia movement . She sadly passed away in 2023 but her legacy well and truly lives on, loved both in and out of the music world.

On the flip side, Pete Dunaway's 'Supermarket' is a rare groove/AOR masterpiece with a killer bassline, swaggering guitar and luscious string section layered with a perfectly delivered English vocal.

Pete Dunaway, real name Otavio Cardosa was a singer, composer, arranger and multi- instrumentalist from Sao Paulo, who spent the majority of his time composing for TV themes and library instrumentals.

TRACK LISTING

Rita Lee & Tutti Frutti - Agora E Moda 
Pete Dunaway - Supermarket

Sound artist Richard Lerman composed musical pieces for bicycles that sounded like the gamelan music of south-east Asia. This collection includes his "Travelon Gamelon (Music for Bicycles)" set, which was using real bicycles as musical instruments and was performed live in 1970s-80s. Disc 2 features other various sound-works of Lerman's pieces performed and recorded through 1964-1986. Both discs are CD-EXTRA (CD enhanced) including movies of his performances on QuickTime and scores / diagrams for those works as PDF files.

The musician: Rudiger Lorenz was a pharmacist by trade. He produced and marketed a total of eighteen electronic music albums until his death in the year 2000. As only a few hundred copies of each were circulated, Lorenz's works remained largely unknown. This reissue will change that! The music: Southland originally released in 1984, is stylistically between the new Dusseldorf School (Ata Tak/Pyrolator) and the old Berlin School (Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze). Just when you thought you had heard everything that German electronic music of the 1980s had to offer, up pops an artist who has resolutely stayed off the radar all these years, in spite of having a discography which lists no less than 18 albums. Then again, this is not so remarkable in the case of Rudiger Lorenz: The (hobby) musician completed an album almost every year from the early 1980s, beginning with limited runs of two to three hundred on cassette, switching to vinyl in 1983 and CD from 1990. His last album was released in 1998. Two years later Rudiger Lorenz died unexpectedly and far too soon.

Born in 1941, Lorenz actually got into music at a young age, although his activity at this stage was confined to playing in a beat group. But as a musically open-minded character, his record collection grew to over 10,000 discs, acquainting him early with bands like Kraftwerk, NEU!, Can and Cluster. These bands had a lasting influence on his relationship to music, guiding him towards electronica.

After years of success in the world of neo-classical music with his band Balmorhea, RG Lowe took an artistic sharp turn leading to his soulful 2017 debut, Slow Time, which Stereogum called "impossibly smooth." Three years later, Lowe returns with Life of the Body, produced by David Boyle - known for his work with Glen Hansard, Patty Griffin, and Okkervil River. This wide-angle collection of songs invites us to reconnect with ourselves and our world through the senses by illuminating our intrinsic connection with the physical world, and the freedom found therein. Echoing the ardor of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass, and channeling Talk Talk's Mark Hollis, Lowe asks us each to "feel the wind blow on your face, camerado." At once intimate and epic, opening track "Sorrow" sets a tone of longing and malaise, from which Lowe expands and breaks out of, over the next 8 songs. As the album progresses, he explores myth, desire, love and the mystery of art, concluding with the ethereal, acoustic guitar-driven "Beauty Finds Forever," on which it's clear he's transformed. He's found the deepest nourishment; an enrichment of the soul found through a saturation of his physical senses, an antidote to our anguished age.

TRACK LISTING

01 Sorrow 6:06
02 He Done Her Wrong 4:46
03 Sendai, Unknown 4:26
04 My Body 4:38
05 Soap 2:01
06 Tulip Ave 4:28
07 Salpetriere 3:54
08 Life-World 5:18
09 Beauty Finds Forever 4:28

“I wanted this album to sound like a collage”, says Rosie Lowe of her new album 'Lover, Other'. “My love of choral music, sample culture, the energy of live music and the intricacy of more produced elements in electronic music. I wanted to incorporate it all into an album, weaving together the different processes in writing that excite me”. It’s a messy mission statement but one born from a decade of experience in the music industry - and a lifetime of obsession before that - and over the fifteen tracks of 'Lover, Other', that complexity and conflict is reflected – self doubt pitted against self-assurance, age against youth, life against death - Lowe’s inner dialogue laid bare. It’s a tightrope trapeze-act, a frankenstein vehicle for her art, expertly tied together by Lowe’s flawless vocal layers and effortless delivery. The resulting record is a celebration of all sides of Lowe’s character and musicality, a patchwork tapestry of her experience.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sundown
2. Mood To Make Love
3. In My Head
4. Bezerk
5. There Goes The Light
6. Walk In The Park
7. Something
8. Don't Go
9. In The Morning
10. Out Of You
11. Gratitudes
12. This Before
13. Lay Me
14. Lover, Other
15. Sundown (Reprise)

Let's be honest: life is a series of swipes left and right, love you's, and ghostings, all while trying to figure out why you're crying over a meme at 2 a.m. but Ray Lozano? She gets it. Her new album, SILK&SORROW is that perfectly timed text from a friend who knows when to send the "you good?" without expecting an answer.

Lozano explores the contradictions we face daily, creating a sonic embrace for anyone caught between connection and detachment, feeling everything and nothing all at once. The title says it all: "Silk" gives you warmth and comfort, while "Sorrow" hits you with an emotional gut punch you didn't see coming. It's a reminder that softness and pain aren't mutually exclusive - they're two sides of the same coin, constantly present in our daily lives, whether we're ready for them or not.

Each track feels like Lozano's looking over your shoulder, seeing your emotional history play out - like she's right there as your laugh turns into a sigh, and nostalgia for a moment you didn't realize was gone hits harder than you'd like. Her ability to transform the most ordinary, chaotic moments of life into something extraordinary is her superpower. SILK&SORROW isn't about fixing things. It's about feeling them, really feeling them, in all their messy glory.

In a time where vulnerability is often seen as a mere aesthetic choice on Spotify, Lozano goes deeper. SILK&SORROW isn't trying to be trendy or polished. It hits you where it hurts and where it heals, and it shows you that the chaos is where the magic happens. Consider this album your anthem for late-night introspection. SILK&SORROW is less of an album, and more of a survival guide for the beautifully chaotic mess we call life.

TRACK LISTING

1. INTRO
2. BETTER DAYS
3. HIYA
4. DRAGON
5. KIKI
6. I DON'T CARE
7. CAN'T LOVE
8. SOMETIMES
9. LOTA
10. LET THE HEART GROW
11. OUTRO

These amazing Brazilian soul-funk nuggets from Renata Lu, originally appeared on a 7” compacto and on her self-titled debut album for Copacabana Records in 1971. The up tempo break-beat funk of ‘Faz Tanto Tempo’ has a real dance-floor cross-over appeal and should please Brazilian, funk, hip-hop breaks heads and mod-soul DJ’s & collectors alike. Renata Lu had a long career releasing records on labels such as Compacaban / CID & Continental through out the 70’s and 80’s and worked as backing vocalist on recordings by Tim Maia and Nonato Buzar.

STAFF COMMENTS

Sil says: Two rare Brazilian dancefloor diamonds in one small 7" via Mr Bongo. Nothing can go wrong here. Essential!

TRACK LISTING

Faz Tanto Tempo
Sambaloo