After opening the dimension door via a hypnagogic contribution to recent Ruf Kutz comp ‘Expansion Pack 2: Textures’ and offering a sonic submersion into his ‘Deep Waters Mixtape’, Inner Glow takes the controls for RK18, treating the DJs and dancers to a high grade house triptych.

For the uninitiated, the man behind the music is a lifelong friend from Ruf Dug's Sydney sojourn, when the two would host mushroom squat parties with the rest of the Bodega Clan, and who helped mastermind the seminal Paradise Lost warehouse parties. Virtuously patient, the Australian spent the years since perfecting his craft, maxing out the XP and emerging as his evolved form, Inner Glow.

On the A-side, Inner Glow comes through with the two clubbiest cuts from the ‘Deep Waters’ cassette, unmixed, mastered loud and exclusive to vinyl. Already a firm favourite with Bradley Zero ‘Party People’ pulses on the A1, its one note bassline and taut pads keeping tension at a maximum. At the top of the frequency band sparse stabs and nuanced percussion dance in tandem, while the deft use of E-Smoove and First Choice acappellas provide an underground intertext Sprinkles would be proud of.

‘Call Me’ coaxes us into the shadow realm with the lure of Lynchian dialogue, slowly taking shape as a dub techno phantom. It’s a heads down affair as urgent subs push against the mist of static, until a rising, wriggling keyboard riff unwinds waists with a hint of UKG exuberance.

Inner Glow brings the beatific on the B-side’s ‘Love Has No Age’, combining rippling keys and MK vocal chops over waves of hiss and haze. The percussion combines classic house swing with the tinny hats of electro, keeping perfect time as the soulful vocals swell into the sublime.
Over the last twelve months Ruffy’s rocked the spot from Pikes to Houghton with these heaters, and now he’s sharing them with you.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Local legend Ruf Dug fires up the Ruf Kutz mill once again for an exquisite, royal outing by long term friend and Sydney underground star, Inner Glow.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Party People
A2. Call Me
B1. Love Has No Age

The first studio album from the innocence mission in four years, Midwinter Swimmers sounds immediately like an old friend.

At the same time, it's a new kind of adventure for the beloved Pennsylvania band of high school friends Karen Peris, Don Peris, and Mike Bitts, having both an expansive, cinematic quality and the strange, lo- fi beauty of a newly discovered vintage folk album.

"It's like it was recorded at Western Electric in the 60's, and makes me think of Vashti Bunyan or Sibylle Baier, but also has these emotional bursts of orchestration and drums and harmony coming in - the sound of the innocence mission never stops getting richer", writes one early listener and friend.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Gorgeous intimate guitar lines and echoic vocals, staggered percussion bursts and unhurried blooms of melody, recalling classic lo-fi indie and jangling folk.

TRACK LISTING

This Thread Is A Green Street
Midwinter Swimmers
The Camera Divides The Coast Of Maine
John Williams
We Would Meet In Center City
Your Saturday Picture
Cloud To Cloud
A Hundred Flowers
Orange Of The Westering Sun
Sisters And Brothers
A Different Day

For listeners of the innocence mission, the Lancaster, Pennsylvania trio are beyond a favorite band, more like a beloved companion, such is their intensity and fragility of their sound and vision, spearheaded by Karen Peris' heartbreaking, breathtaking voice

Those fans include Sufjan Stevens and Sam Beam (Iron & Wine), who have both covered innocence mission songs, and in whose company the trio deserve to be bracketed.

"All I cannot say I hope you know, all you cannot say I hope I can hear," sings Karen Peris on "Look Out from Your Window," the strong, circular, and somewhat quirky third track from the innocence mission's latest album, Sun on the Square. These lines, possibly spoken to her children -- one of whom actually plays viola on the song-- could be called emblematic for the album.

In their own way, Karen and her husband and fellow guitarist, Don Peris, have spent years trying to voice the inexpressible. Since forming the innocence mission in 1985 with Mike Bitts, upright bassist and friend from their Catholic high school, the dreamy, orchestral folk band have spent ten full-lengths speaking to our collective memory and awe at life's mysteries. Their songs are full of sensory imagery and deeply felt instrumentation, and it's their unique way of trying to approach universal joys and sorrows that allows the band to achieve the emotional connection with their listeners that makes them so special.

Sufjan Stevens talked to NPR about the innocence mission's music, saying "...what I always come back to, after the din and drum roll, is the small song that makes careful observations about everyday life. This is what makes the music by the innocence mission so moving and profound."

TRACK LISTING

Records From Your Room
Green Bus
Look Out From Your Window 
Shadow Of The Pines
Buildings In Flower
Sun On The Square
Light Of Winter
Star Of Land And Sea
An Idea Of Canoeing / Galvanic

Formed in NYC, this grammy-nominated group of Moroccan expats has been making waves locally and abroad with their hypnotic live shows. The group is led by Ma'alem Hassan Ben Jaffar, a master musician and spiritual elder of the ensemble who plays a three-stringed african bass known as a guembri. Ben Jaffar is accompanied by a brotherhood of musicians – (Amino Belyamani, Ahmed Jeriouda, Samir Langus and Nawfal Atiq) – all playing the qraqeb, metal castanets that represent the shackles and chains of slaves and also singing chorus responses. Gnawa music is a spiritual tradition rooted in Moroccoʼs ancient history. Often referred to as “Sufi Blues”, Gnawaʼs African influence originated from West African slaves brought to Morocco centuries ago. Not unlike blues music in the American South, Gnawa music is revered throughout Morocco as treasured indigenous soul music.

After seeing a performance at a mutual friend's party, producer and local Gnawa enthusiast, Bosco Mann, invited Innov Gnawa to come record some tracks at The Daptone House of Soul. The invitation was accepted and over a five-hour session, the group tracked an entire albumsʼ worth of material - all in one take. The session tracked that evening is what we humbly offer up to you, the beloved Daptone Family. Lila, literally meaning "night" is a traditional ceremony in which the Ma'alem and his qraqeb ensemble dedicate an evening of healing through music. This all-night rhythm fest is a spiritual ritual which cleanses the body, mind, and spirit. We invite you to immerse yourself in Lila. Experience Freedom, Liberation and the power of healing through music. The spirit of Gnawa is people. Experience the freedom, liberation, and power of healing through music. You are not alive if this music doesn't move you. 

TRACK LISTING

LP Tracklisting (please Note That Songs Are Broken Down Into Groups Of Tracks)
1. Chorfa (made Up Of The Tracks L’3fou, Salaw 3lik, Jilala)
2. El Kouhel (made Up Of The Tracks Mimouna, L’Ghumami, Gnawi Baba Mimoun, Baba L’Ghumami, Fofo Denba)
3. El Ghaba (made Up Of The Tracks El Hadiya, El Hadiya Sala Nabina)

CD Tracklisting
1. Youmala / Zidelmal
2. Chorfa
3. El Bouhala
4. El Kouhel
5. El Ghaba
6. Hamdouchia

It's 2013. You're a teenager squinting at your laptop in the dead of night, flicking between iTunes and YouTube and PirateBay.Endless reams of artists unspool at the click of a button. New forms of musical discovery open up before your very eyes.

This evolving digital landscape exists beyond the radio, HMV and even the most extensive record collection. You've entered a whole new world and, suddenly, just about everything feels possible. In Songs in the Key of MP3: The New Icons of the Internet Age, Liam Inscoe-Jones explores five contemporary artists who broke the old rules of sound, style and the music industry at large: Devonté Hynes (of Blood Orange), FKA Twigs, Oneohtrix Point Never, Earl Sweatshirt and SOPHIE.

Each began their careers as obscure outsiders but, over time, they helped to re-shape pop culture in their image. Through these five extraordinary figures and an eclectic supporting cast of dozens more, Inscoe-Jones paints a picture of the sonic landscape of the last ten years, exploring the influence of their dazzling music on pop culture, the internet and ourselves. An unorthodox mix of criticism, biography and music history - and featuring interviews with the likes of Caroline Polachek, Daniel Lopatin and Nicolás Jaar - Songs in the Key of MP3 is a book of endless curiosity and wonder; a salutary attempt to define pop culture in a fast and ephemeral age.

Following 2018's critically acclaimed self titled album - which received plaudits from Uncut, Mojo, The Quietus, The Guardian, The Times, NME and BBC 6 Music (playlist and live session) - and teaming up with producer Raf Rundell, recorded at the famous Konk Studios in North London, 'A Man For All Seasons' sees Saul's sound maturing into singer songwriter territory but still retains his dark and sharp observational British humour. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Syncopated guitars and percussion, soaring vocals and beautifully organic wisps of orchestration. The slower pieces here tend to lean towards smokey lounge-bar jazz and dramatic surfy guitar (Morricone + heroin), and contrast the more upbeat groovers beautifully. A wonderfully mellow, woozy collection and a great time all round.

TRACK LISTING

1. Love Again
2. Cleaning Bricks
3. Krab
4. Time Is A Healer
5. Tulse Hill Station
6. Alien
7. Butter
8. Graveyard (Of Our Love)
9. Weak

“Insides’s music shimmers and tingles with the tantalising promise of a different direction that UK pop could’ve gone: future-facing and fresh, rather than nostalgic regurgitation.” Simon Reynolds, author and music critic, writing in Euphoria re-issue liner-notes in 2019

“A sound still as dew fresh, dawn dazzled and shot through with luscious darkness as it was nigh on three decades ago.” Neil Kulkarni, The Wire, 2019

Insides are Julian Tardo and Kirsty Yates. They first recorded together in the early 90s as Earwig, and released an album, 'Under My Skin I am Laughing', which brought them to the attention of 4AD. Earwig morphed into Insides and two further albums were released on 4AD’s Guernica imprint: ‘Euphoria' (1993) and 'Clear Skin' (1994). In 2019 ‘Euphoria' was reissued for US Record Store Day by Beacon Sound, and was hailed as a lost treasure by discerning outlets.

'Soft Bonds' is Insides’ first release for 20 years. It’s the sound of heart-stopping slow motion, blood rushes, fingers digging into bruised flesh, and sleeping with clenched fists.

“We found some things that were recorded a long time ago. We added some things that have been haunting us for for years and recorded some other ideas that we’d just thought of. Recording started at home in 2012, and continued every now and then in our studio, on trains, in the Greek island of Naxos and while wandering around Cissbury Ring, Chanctonbury Ring and Devil’s Dyke in the South Downs. We finally walked away from the recordings in late 2019 and decided to release a small run of CDs and LPs on our own Further Distractions label.

'Soft Bonds' is about the past haunting the present, and gripping onto your crumbling sense of self. It’s informed by the spirit of This Heat/This Is Not This Heat, Patty Waters, Annette Peacock, Eartheater, Mhysa, Hailu Mergia, Scott Walker and Arca.”

The first track to be released, 'Ghost Music', was also the first to be finished and came about by scrapping the original structure, leaving only the trace elements. Working in the negative space that’s left behind, where rhythms are pulses and heartbeats and melodies are memories, it’s insistent, staring, but not shouting. Almost absent, or heard from another room. The video uses footage of Kirsty and Julian filmed and used in live shows in 1993 and cut with more recent footage from 2016. The past haunts the present.


“Pop loving the sound of itself to death. And hating the fact that it can’t stop loving.” Rob Young, The Wire, 1993

“...they seemed to be creating an entirely new version of pop. Their hooks were unmistakable, in that they triggered movement like perpetual-motion clockwork. Their grooves were sparse and spectral and nagged at you like breakbeats but made your heart and hair-follicles dance more than your feet. Their music was amniotic, ebbing and alive with iridescent melodic detail and lyrics that turned the turmoils and trauma of love into the sweetest searing honesty you’d been privy to since you first heard the Supremes.” Neil Kulkarni, The Quietus, 2011.

New on Honest Don Records. One of Florida best undiscovered acts, that's all about to change with this excellent little opus. The members are barely 20 but the 12 songs on offer here are done with the mastery of a band of old sweats. Exceptional emocore with a feel of The Ataris and Saves The Day about them.

This release sees ‘Devil Hopping’ re-issued on vinyl for the first time since its original release, housed in a standard 12” sleeve on limited edition 140g red vinyl.

Originally released on 22nd March 1994, ‘Devil Hopping’ was Inspiral Carpets’ fourth studio record and reached #10 in the UK album charts, featuring the singles ‘Saturn 5’, ‘I Want You’ and ‘Uniform’. Regarded as one of the main components of the Madchester movement in the early 90s, the Inspirals released a further three albums on Cow Records (via Mute Records) before disbanding in 1995.

This release sees ‘Revenge of the Goldfish’ re-issued on vinyl for the first time since its original release, housed in a standard 12” sleeve on limited edition 140g orange vinyl.

Originally released on 5th October 1992, ‘Revenge of the Goldfish’ was Inspiral Carpets’ third studio record and reached #17 in the UK album charts, featuring the singles ‘Dragging Me Down’, ‘Bitches Brew’, ‘Generations’ and ‘Two Worlds Collide’. Regarded as one of the main components of the Madchester movement in the early 90s, the Inspirals released a further three albums on Cow Records (via Mute Records) before disbanding in 1995.

Originally released on 22nd April 1991, ‘The Beast Inside’ was Inspiral Carpets’ second record and reached #5 in the UK album charts, featuring the singles ‘Caravan’ & ‘Please Be Cruel’. This release sees ‘The Beast Inside’ re-issued on vinyl for the first time since its original release 30 years ago and will be housed in a widespine 12” sleeve on limited edition double 140g purple vinyl.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Caravan
A2. Please Be Cruel
A3. Born Yesterday
B1. Sleep Well Tonight
B2. Grip
B3. Beast Inside
C1. Skidoo
C2. Niagara
C3. Mermaid
D1. Further Away
D2. Dreams Are All We Have

Formed in Oldham in 1980, Inspiral Carpets rose to prominence alongside such bands as The Stone Roses, The Charlatans & The Happy Mondays, as part of the Madchester scene in the late 80s/early 90s. They have released five studio albums; ‘Life’ (1990), ‘The Beast Inside’ (1991), ‘Revenge of the Goldfish’ (1992), ‘Devil Hopping’ (1994) and ‘Inspiral Carpets’ (2014), achieving four UK Top 20 Albums and UK Top 20 Singles. Their biggest singles include ‘This Is How It Feels’, ‘She Comes In The Fall’, ‘Saturn 5’, ‘I Want You’ and ‘Dragging Me Down’.

For the first time since their 2003 compilation ‘Cool As’, Mute/BMG announce a newly remastered singles collection; The Complete Singles including all of their biggest hits, features collaborations with Mark E.Smith & John Cooper Clarke plus material from their 2014 self-titled album, fully remastered on Heavyweight Black ‘Midnight Licorice’ Double Vinyl. The package features brand new artwork and sleeve notes from past and present band members.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There are few bands more revered in Manchester (and revered *by* bands that are revered in Manchester) than Oldham's Inspiral Carpets. This collection features some of their best tracks, and some of their best collaborations and on the extended CD edition, remixes too. Essential bit of musical history.

TRACK LISTING

Vinyl
A1. Keep The Circle Around
A2. Butterfly
A3. Joe
A4. Find Out Why
A4. Move
A5. This Is How It Feels
A6. She Comes In The Fall
B1. Biggest Mountain
B2. Weakness
B3. Caravan
B4. Please Be Cruel
B5. Dragging Me Down
C1. Two Worlds Collide (7" Edit)
C2. Generations
C3. Bitches Brew
C4. How It Should Be
C5. Saturn 5
C6. I Want You (ft Mark E Smith)
D1. Uniform
D2. Come Back Tomorrow
D3. You're So Good For Me
D4. Fix Your Smile
D5. Spitfire
D6. Let You Down (Edit)
All Tracks 2023 Remasters

CD1
1. Keep The Circle Around
2. Butterfly
3. Joe
4. Find Out Why
5. Move
6. This Is How It Feels
7. She Comes In The Fall
8. Biggest Mountain
9. Weakness
10. Caravan
11. Please Be Cruel
12. Dragging Me Down
CD2
1. Two Worlds Collide (7" Edit)
2. Generations
3. Bitches Brew
4. How It Should Be
5. Saturn 5
6. I Want You Ft MES
7. Uniform
8. Come Back Tomorrow
9. You're So Good For Me
10. Fix Your Smile
11. Spitfire
12. Let You Down - Edit
CD3
1. Dragging Me Down (Jon Dasilva Remix)
2. This Is How It Feels (The Go! Team Remix)
3. Caravan (No Windscreen Mix)
4. Generations (Denmark 2 Germany 0 Remix)
5. Commercial Reign (Rub-A-Dub Mix)
6. You're So Good For Me (Like A Tonic Remix)
7. Dubville
8. Two Worlds Collide (12 Inch Mix)
9. Saturn 5 (High Energy Mix)
10. This Is How It Feels (Robbery Mix)
11. Skidoo (Possession Mix)
12. Bitches Brew (Horse)
13. Changes (Martyn Walsh & Simon Lyon Remix)
14. Uniform (Scripka Mix)
CD1 & CD2 2023 Remasters

With half the band having left their native Texas for New York, Readjusting the Locks is the first Institute album written across the country. Despite the distance it sounds every bit as cohesive as if they were all still hanging out every night in the same Austin dives. The newly NYC-based Moses Brown and Arak Avakian flew to Houston in October 2018, where they joined Barry Elkanick and Adam Cahoon to demo the entirety of the new album in a single day. In December, the band got back together in Brooklyn to record with their longtime producer Ben Greenberg (Uniform).

Where the previous Institute albums often wandered into the experimental, Readjusting the Locks strives to be economical, its 13 tracks clocking in at a tight 29 minutes. The band has seamlessly incorporated more ’77 rock n’ roll into their sound, some songs feeling like they could’ve been a Stiff Records single. This sound is emphasized by Greenberg’s expert production — crisp but still blown out and dirty. Lyrically, Readjusting the Locks moves away from the traditionally personal words of frontman Moses Brown. Rather than attacking the internal workings of his brain or its socialization, as on previous records, this album attempts to address the societal atmosphere in which his agita exists.

Blaming Neoliberalism and the irresponsible notions of utopia fostered under it, Brown argues that in recent decades the Western world’s assumption that humanity would continue to prosper into the future has, on the contrary, created a disastrous political vacuum. This has allowed banks, corporations, and their politicians to aimlessly advance the Neoliberal agenda into an inconceivably dangerous place. He argues that we are deadlocked in a permanent existential crisis, stuck in an unhumanitarian and environmentally destructive system so all-consuming that we will not find a clear alternative. Without a true plan for a sustainable future those in power will continue to offer humanity new policies, technologies, and politicians that promise change but are only capable of “readjusting the locks” on our incomprehensible existential predicament.

TRACK LISTING

1. M.P.S. (2:15)
2. Mon Cherie (1:53)
3. Let Me Be (2:02)
4. Indoctrination Set (1:45)
5. Roll Music (2:30)
6. Can’t See Nothin’ (1:14)
7. Shangri-La (2:56)
8. St John’s Wort (1:23)
9. Dazzle Paint (2:36)
10. Anxiety (1:53)
11. Utopia Sound (1:26)
12. Fooled Again (2:38)
13. Deadlock (4:28)

Having made a name for themselves over the last few years as avant-garde, forward thinking producers who set trends instead of following, Instra:mental lay down a full length album showcasing where their productions are at now rather than being a summary of where they’ve come from.

Tracks like "Aggro Acid" and "Talkin Mono" give us crude analogue acid modulation at its rawest that twists and gurgles across the sound spectrum with mesmeric manipulation, whilst others such as "Memory Implant", "Waterfall" and "Plok" take us deep into synth arrangements that have become synonymous with their name. Alex Green and Damon Kirkham have studied every avenue to seek out new and interesting possibilities for originality within a tempo range, with most of this album focused on the 120-140 bpm range. They take elements of eras gone by and revitalise them with the use of old skool equipment mixed with modern production techniques. As usual their impressive hoard of vintage hardware plays an integral part in their characteristic sound. Whether it be techno, acid house, dubstep, drum & bass or electro that they turn their hand to, the Instra:mental sound shines through and makes genre irrelevant.

TRACK LISTING

CD TRacklisting:
1. Sun Rec
2. User
3. 8
4. Waterfalls
5. Aggro Acid
6. Arc
7. Love Arp
8. Thomp
9. Talkin’ Mono
10. Rift Zone
11. Plok
12. Delta Zone (Advance)
13. Memory Implant

LP Tracklisting
A. 8
B. Talkin Mono
C. Rift Zone
D. Aggro Acid
E. Delta Zone (Advance)
F. User

The transformation deepens with “Prolonged Resistance”; the second chapter in the Instruments Of Rapture series. The record opens with the hypnotic, slo-mo burner “Just A Memory,” luring you in before the striking hard with the uptempo, cosmic stomp of “Planets (Lost Groove).” The 12” closes out with “Better,” a mid-tempo, smoky soul bumper that lingers long after the fade. 

TRACK LISTING

A1: Just A Memory
A2: Planets (Lost Groove)
B1: Better

Centred around the varied and estimable talents of longtime Elephant 6 collaborator Heather McIntosh, The Instruments' new record culls from such disparate and beautiful influences as Sufi Devotional Music, the old country waltz, Nico's dunn cathedrals of song, and atmospherically harmonic pop emanating from somewhere way out near Eno's weird Green World. "Dark Småland" is resplendent with all the esoteric and sophisticated detail you'd expect from McIntosh and her two different crews of Instruments, though it never loses touch with the rarefied and dynamic melodic sense she's developed through years of performing with heavies like Circulatory System, Elf Power, Japancakes, Kevin Ayers, Of Montreal and Gnarls Barkley. As dense and layered as this album gets, it is at its core an elegantly melancholic folk-pop record sweetly at home in your heart next to Richard and Linda Thompson's most beautiful, hymnic monuments or the vestigial ghost of some ancient lullaby from your longlost childhood.

If musicians painted images with their instruments, The Intelligence's soundscapes would be set in a grainy, ash-gray world, among piles of scrap metal and busted machinery, with discarded computer parts blinking in cobwebbed corners and factories belching out toxins at irregular intervals. It'd be a black-and-white wasteland of humanity, a post-apocalyptic industrial revolution, warmed only by the distant loops of a delayed, disembodied guitar riff. At the center of it all would be Lars Finberg, delivering deadpan lines like 'Going out with you is like going out with a cop'. He'd be pounding bent garbage-can lids with one hand and programming distorted beats on his keyboard with the other, a one-man laboratory of intoxicating post-punk experimentation. The music is so jagged and cinematically poetic and dusted in clouds of lo-fi noise that listening to it at different times can conjure completely different visions. It's par for the course for Finberg, who has participated in some of Seattle's most exciting musical forces such as the A-Frames and The Dipers. The Intelligence are demanding attention in and beyond the Northwest, creating a new direction in sound based on the fundamental elements of bands like The Fall and PiL, yet beneath the post-punk clang lies a serious pop sensibility.

“For folks who dig A Frames, Country Teasers, Wire, Gang of Four, pita chips and dad’s boozy breath, may we present The Intelligence, captured live in a truly subterranean underground show space below SF vintage clothier Vacation.

“Lars Finberg: a name synonymous with artisanal hand-crafted, locally brewed, and organically-farmed song lasers. Hilarious, fast, tour-tight and ballsy—the band has all these perks in pocket, and all that on borrowed gear! I’ve watched this band go through many variations over the years and in their own right all of them have been marvelous. This particular version of the line up is constructed entirely of road-dogs. These guys don’t fuck around—or maybe they only fuck around, who can tell anymore? They drink, they get bawdy, they shred, and when we asked Lars if the band would be into doing a small show in a basement in the Tenderloin in SF for a live LP, he asked ‘What should we play?’ and I replied ‘nothing but the hits’— and they did exactly that.

“The Intelligence and Lars himself are masters at the penning of hits—hit after hit after hit—and with a soft-shoed tippity-tap of crowd work and banter, you can really smell the basement on this one and feel the cobwebs grazing the top of your head as you go deaf in one ear from the eye level PA pointed directly at your soul hole. If you love this band then this is a great live LP of them scorching the hits and talking trash. If you don’t know this band (shame on you) then this is a good place to start.” —John Dwyer

TRACK LISTING

1. Virgos
2. Dating Cops
3. Debt & ESP
4. We Refuse (To Pay The Dues)
5. Whip My Valet
6. Evil Is Easy
7. Thank You God For Fixing The Tape Machine
8. Estate Sales
9. Janitors
10. (They Found Me In The Back Of The) Galaxy
11. Confidence
12. Telephone Wires
13. Males

The Intended formed years ago in a procrastinator’s threesubject
notebook during chemistry class. Four longtime friends
began passing the time playing music together—Kevin Boyer,
Larry Williams and Heath Heemsbergen were playing in
Tyvek; Glen Morren and Heath Moerland made sounds in
Detroit freakout ensemble Odd Clouds, and after many jams,
a band existed. Trying out song ideas, working on a ’60s cover,
expanding on sketches—a few local gigs and a few years pass.
The zero-pressure nature of how The Intended began shows
up in how the group progressed: a single materialized and the
band’s vibe was caught perfectly on four track by Chris Durham
in his basement practice space. More four track sessions
ensued until a bag of unlabelled cassettes made its way to the
studio to be transformed into the debut album: Time Will Tell.
Held together by a raw fidelity (those tape warbles and
wonky pitch changes aren’t plug ins), the songs twist through
diversions such as the ebullient blasting of “The Ineffable,” the
juvenile classroom anxieties of “Dirty Secret,” and the spoken
revelations of “Beast and the Priest.” Straying from Tyvek’s
punk tendencies, mellow ’60s rockers “Don’t Wait Too Long”
and the title track hit a jangling nerve. Time Will Tell shines a
spotlight on the blemishes of youth, somehow embraced with a
fearless yet awkward glance.

TRACK LISTING

1. Huguenot
2. The Ineffable
3. Desperation
4. Dirty Secrets
5. Time Will Tell
6. Beast & The Priest
7. Blue Law Sunday
8. Fighter Pilot
9. Don?t Wait Too Long
10. Nobody Move

IMA (Intense Molecular Activity) is the duo of Don Hunerberg (synthesizers) and Andy Blinx (drums and percussion). Based in New York City and active between 1979 and 1982. Don, a studio Sound / music engineer and musician, Andy an electronic clothing designer, drummer and sound reinforcement engineer at downtown clubs like Max's Kansas City, Mudd Club and CBGB. In between doing sessions at Radio City Music Hall Studios for groups such as Ramones, Richard Hell, Sonic Youth, Liquid Liquid, John Zorn, Glenn Branca and many others, IMA took advantage of off hours to create their own music. As far as influences go, Don's background was in electronic music and Andy's in prog rock.

To produce the songs, Don used his own method of creating patterns from 2-track tape loops and then edited them together on to a 24-track recorder adding more tracks of overdubs, In a very similar way that sequencers are used today. By 1980 the duo honed their own unique sound and version of post punk and no-wave with the tools of the trade of the early 80s. Situated above the proscenium of the Radio City Music Hall stage, the studio was outfitted with a variety of orchestral instruments (timpani, bells, xylophone, etc). They self-released a 4-song EP titled “IMA” on an 8” flexi-disc which was distributed by Ed Bahlman of 99 Records. The music bridges the wild psychedelic-rock of the 60s, the synth-punk of the late-70s and the elaborate constructions of progressive-rock. There are nods to the freak-outs of Chrome and the super neurosis of Suicide, but IMA takes a more clinical approach which also takes notice of Hawkwind and Pink Floyd's interstellar overdrive. Dark Entries have added 4 bonus tracks recorded during the same studio sessions and included them here for the first time on vinyl. DJ Hell lifted elements of IMA's song "Blurb" virtually intact and unaccredited for his electroclash club hit "Keep On Waiting" 20 years later. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. 

TRACK LISTING

Blurb 
Points In Space 
Just Testing, Blinxong
Beat Street
Battery Life 
Rapid Ear Movements 
The Look.

Swearing allegiance to always bring the ruckus, Intermood is an instrumental four-piece hailing from the far reaches of planet Earth (actually it's Melbourne, Australia, but that's far enough for us!).

Since their debut show in October 2022, the band’s electrifying live performances have caught the attention of the city’s thriving dance and instrumental music scene, earning them spots at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival and Strawberry Fields Festival.

Blending psychedelic jazz with high-energy neo-disco, we find sophticated key changes that recall the greatness of Stanley Clark; chord progressions and big, confident solos that'll raise the roof. Intermood is guaranteed to make you move. Their debut EP, "Casuarina", released by Stone Pixels Records, is a triumph of modern jazz. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Exquisite stuff from the Melbourne based group who drop four tracks of sublime jazz hybrids. The musicianship on display is nothing short of breath taking, whilst their arrangements are quite spectacular, multi-layered, expansive journeys.

TRACK LISTING

A1.Hypnagogic
A2.Casuarina

B1.Bongalow
B2.New Krush!

The Internal Tulips is a new project from two guys who have a history in American Bands such as Medicine and Savage Republic and who have separately released more abstract electronic music on Planet Mu in the past; they are Brad Laner who was Electric Company and Personal Electronics and Alex Graham who is Lexaunculpt, and they continue continue these experiments in pop. The project has a Beach Boys / Brian Wilson/Beatles influenced sound, but it manages to avoid being another exercise in retro comfort music because Brad and Alex use laptop trickery learnt form their more experimental pasts to bring their sound firmly into the present.
Aside from making beautiful songs, sung in Brad's delicate multi-tracked falsetto, The Internal Tulips give their whole project a very modern, psychedelic production, treating their slow burning but gently arranged Americana to unusual treatments that blur the layers between acoustic and electronic sounds, cutting and editing vocals and instruments and adding depth and clarity to the arrangements, giving them an extra sense of the dreamlike. It's an album that feels immediately familiar; we're used to Grizzly Bear and the Fleet Foxes, bands you could superficially compare to Internal Tulips, but after a few listens the modern abstraction and production at the heart of the album will pull you in and take you somewhere else.

Interpol celebrates the 20th anniversary of their iconic sophomore album, Antics, first released on September 27th, 2004.

Released in 2004, Antics cemented Interpol's position as one of the most influential bands of their generation. The album's dark, atmospheric soundscapes and frontman Paul Banks' signature vocals spawned iconic tracks such as ‘Slow Hands,’ ‘Evil,’ and ‘C’mere’ and Antics continues to resonate with fans worldwide, solidifying its place as a modern classic.

Formed in New York City, Interpol quickly rose to prominence with their unique blend of post-punk, shoegaze, and dark wave influences. Their debut album, Turn on the Bright Lights, became a critical and commercial success, establishing the band as a major force in alternative music. Over the course of their career, Interpol have released seven critically acclaimed studio albums including The Other Side of Make-Believe in July 2022.

TRACK LISTING

1. Next Exit
2. Evil
3. Narc
4. Take You On A Cruise
5. Slow Hands
6. Not Even Jail
7. Public Pervert
8. C’mere
9. Length Of Love
10. A Time To Be So Small

Recorded with longtime associate Peter Katis, "Antics" is an optimistic exploration of the dark landscapes visited on Interpol's hugely successful debut "Turn On The Bright Lights". Some of Interpol's greatest songs are here: "Evil", "Take You On A Cruise", "Slow Hands" and "Not Even Jail" among them.

For the first time since 2007’s Our Love to Admire, Interpol have opened themselves up to the input of a producer. For two-week spells between December of 2017 to April of 2018, they travelled to upstate New York to work with Dave Fridmann – famed for recording with Mercury Rev, Flaming Lips, MGMT, Spoon, Mogwai, and countless more.

In the run up to writing and recording, Sam found himself immersed in soul drummers such as Al Jackson Jr (Otis Redding’s drummer) and 80’s funk producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. “How can I make shit swing?” was the question Sam repeatedly asked himself, and the answer is in the striding gallop of opener “If You Really Love Nothing,” the embellished skip ‘n’ bounce of “Stay in Touch” and the R&B swagger of closer “It Probably Matters.” Interpol have always been world-beaters at creating a feeling, but Marauder is where the feel is just as crucial.

Paul may have stepped out of the shadows as a bassist, but he’s stepping into an even brighter light as a songwriter. During Interpol’s previous albums, the singer largely kept himself out of his own work, preferring to fill his lyrics with detached thoughts, characters, and observations, often phrased in abstract. But more than 20 years on since forming at NYU, the frontman is finally allowing himself to play a role in his own stories.

“This record is where I feel touching on real things that have happened to me are exciting and evocative to write about,” he explains. “I think in the past, I always felt autobiography was too small a thing for me to reference. I feel like now, I’m able to romanticize parts of my own life.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: FOUR YEARS! That's long enough to wait for a new Interpol album isn't it, if anything i'd say it was a little too long, but you'll be delighted to know (as I was) that it's every bit the Interpol album we all want and deserve. Brilliant hooks, snarling vox and heavy AF guitars. Thoroughly killer.

TRACK LISTING

If You Really Love Nothing
The Rover
Complications
Flight Of Fancy
Stay In Touch
Interlude 1
Mountain Child
NYSMAW
Surveillance
Number 10
Party's Over
Interlude 2
It Probably Matters

Our Love to Admire marked a critical and commercial breakthrough for the band. Recorded at New York's Electric Lady and the Magic Shop studios with producer Rich Costey (Muse, Death Cab for Cutie), the album boasts an expansive, cinematic sound that drove home such notable songs as The Heinrich Maneuver, Pioneer to the Falls, No I In Threesome, Mammoth and Rest My Chemistry. Upon its release, the album debuted in the Top Five in both the U.S. and the U.K. Interpol formed in the late 1990s and quickly established a dense, intoxicating sound featuring layers of guitar, bass and synthesizers. The band came up through the vibrant New York scene, alongside such notable contemporaries as the Strokes and the National, but gained crucial early attention in Britain, where they recorded a prestigious live session for legendary BBC DJ John Peel.

TRACK LISTING

Pioneer To The Falls
No I In Threesome
The Scale
The Heinrich Maneuver
Mammoth
Pace Is The Trick
All Fired Up
Rest My Chemistry
Who Do You Think
Wrecking Ball
The Lighthouse

If fate didn’t quite ordain the circumstances for Interpol’s seventh album, it was at least fortunate that the band had happily concluded their Marauder cycle on stage in front of 30 thousand-odd Peruvian fans. Rather than be sent scrambling like so many other musicians on tour or promoting new music, when lockdown clamped in March 2020, Interpol quickly got into a productive mood.

Coming from a group whose early work was characterised by Polish knife-wielders and incarcerated serial killers, you might expect Interpol’s pandemic record to be an emotional tar pit — doubly so, given the presence of towering producer-engineer duo Flood and Moulder on the boards. But Banks felt the call to push in a “counterbalancing” direction, with paeans to mental resilience and the quiet power of going easy. “The nobility of the human spirit is to recover and rebound,” he says. “Yeah, I could focus on how fucked everything is, but I feel now is the time when being hopeful is necessary, and a still-believable emotion within what makes Interpol Interpol.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Interpol are back for their seventh outing, recalling the superb melodic moments of their early years (Something Changed for example is classic Interpol) but with a more scattered, world-weary stagger. As ever, wonderfully engaging, aided by legendary production duo Flood and Moulder. Dream team.

TRACK LISTING

Toni
Fables
Into The Night
Mr. Credit
Something Changed
Renegade Hearts
Passenger
Greenwich
Gran Hotel
Big Shot City
Go Easy (Palermo)

Interrobang‽ - with a clear vision to create something current and relevant. Something that speaks to the generations who grew up in the shadow of punk, with hopes and dreams, full of rebellion. Bruce and Hamer both have previous form as awkward troublemakers in the anarcho-pop-cabaret troupe Chumbawamba whilst Griffin was a former enfant terrible in the London louts, Regular Fries. What happened to that spark? How do we express our anger now? How relevant are we? How do we make ourselves heard and where do we fit in now? The eponymously entitled Interrobang‽ album is vocalist Bruce laid bare, torn open asunder, as he finds himself deep in those 50-something blues. Lyrically the album is an exploration of his determination to never give up the struggle despite his own malaise.

He questions and rails against his own demise with song titles such as Curmudgeon, Mad As Hell and Am I Invisible Yet? whilst still full of that anger about the state of the world in songs such as Are You Ready People? and Here Now. He veers from the personal to the political, from the poignant to the pithy, never pulling any punches, always being brutally honest but with an ability to laugh at himself as well. The music of Griffin and Hamer is short, sharp and urgent. Interrobang‽ pride themselves on their tightness and economy in these rapid-fire assaults and with their crisp, cutting backing vocals the band have created an album that is pointed and precise, exciting and exhilarating. This is an album’s worth of hard hitting songs for hard hit people with Griffin’s guitar technique building layers of scorching sonics which when seen live will astound. From such statements of intent as Here Now to the lament Do You Remember? about Bruce’s difficult relationship with his father to the uplifting and inspiring Love It All, we are taken on a rollercoaster of an adventure. This whole journey is all based on a true story of discontent but Interrobang‽ have thrust themselves back in the fray, with something to say; they are determined to not fade away and this is their cri de couer! 

TRACK LISTING

Here Now
The Inclement Weather 
Asking For A Friend 
Are You Ready People? 
Mad As Hell 
Curmudgeon 
Music Of The Gross 
Taciturn 
Do You Remember? 
Love It All 
Based On A True Story 
Billingham 
Breathe 
Am I Invisible Yet?

After three studio albums and over a decade deep into the music game, The Interrupters deliver their new album, In The Wild.

This 14-track opus is the real deal; it's a story of survival, a story of resilience, by a band being bold and rejecting the easy impulses of simply repeating what's worked before. Together during lockdown, Aimee Interrupter, partner and guitarist Kevin Bivona, and his younger twin brothers, Jesse (drums) and Justin (bass), decided to put idle hands to work. After building a home studio in their garage together, Kevin stepped up and took charge of production duties to become "the accountable one" this time around. The record took shape in an unforced and organic fashion, and the recording process was evidently a fun one, which is refected in the sound of the album, gliding across a spectrum of breathless punk rock, doo-wop, gospel, dancehall, and the band's customary nods to the lineage of two-tone. It's further evidenced in the uplifting spirit and the glittering rollcall of guests (Tim Armstrong, Rhoda Dakar, Hepcat, The Skints) involved too. Thanks to the cocoon of the intimate environment they'd built and relaxed working practices, the results made for the most personal Interrupters album to date, as well as being the one all four feel most connected to

Roberto Intrallazzi and Dario Piana, two unheralded sons of Italy’s original Afro-cosmic movement of the 1980s, have joined forces in the studio for the first time. The result is the 99% Stories EP, a collaborative debut for Leng inspired by the formative years of the duo’s near 45-year friendship and their shared musical roots.

The duo both started DJing in and around Milan in 1981, drawing inspiration from pioneering contemporary Daniele Baldelli. Intrallazzi found international success following the birth of Italy’s distinctive house scene, collaborating with other like-minded producers as part of FPI Project and Cube Guys, while Piana continues to be a prolific solo artist whilst also working extensively with mentor and friend Baldelli.

The EP begins with ‘Out Of Control’, a dubbed-out cosmic disco chugger with guitar snippets, spoken word samples and sonic textures over a percussive beat and low-slung bass guitar line. Fellow long- serving Italian LTJ Xperience drops a remix that highlights the acid-flecked electronic sounds,
rubbery bass and hypnotic beats in his trademark style.

Intrallazzi and Piana explore the middle ground between psychedelic, pitched down acid and cosmic- disco on ‘Lazise’, offering up a blend of percussion-enhanced beats, undulating 303 motifs and intergalactic electronics, before once more reaching for the bass guitar to drive the vibraphone, bleeps, keys and vocal enhanced midtempo shuffle of ‘Saocraffen’.

The digital version of the EP has bonus cut: ‘SP-15’. Named in honour of the Technics turntables used by Daniele Baldelli at the iconic Cosmic Club – where he first showcased his hybrid and decidedly psychedelic ‘Afro-Cosmic’ DJ style – the track is murky, immersive, trippy and picturesque in equal measure, with waves of glistening synth sounds and musical flourishes winding in an out of a charred, midtempo cosmic disco groove. We have no doubt that Baldelli approves! 

TRACK LISTING

A1. Out Of Control
A2. Out Of Control (LTJ Xperience Remix)
B1. Lazise
B2. Saocraffen 

Coming through next on Star Creature, we have the vinyl debut of LA's Introverted Funk. Formed in 2018 by producer Daniel Valle & vocalist Veronica Rosa, the duo channels a deep love of classic booge into their soulful blend of modern disco-funk. Their upcoming 7" features 2 analog-recorded tracks inspired by Rod Tempterton & Nile Rodgers and should, in turn, appeal to Manchester's vast swathes of street soul lovers with its intimate, DIY approach and seductive female vox. Top drawer stuff from this modern stable. Don't sleep!

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Introverted Funk go back to the original Star Creature remit - delivering star studded new boogie, galvanized with authentic Strat licks and big bolshy basslines.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1.Tell You
Side 2
1.Fan Out

A timeless classic - coming up on nearly 20 years since the original 12's were released and the very first time this LP has collectively been available on wax. (over 15 years since last in circulation) This edition was remastered to analog perfection from the legendary Stefan Betke (POLE) sonically sculpting the original work into a true masterpiece - this album has never sounded so alive! This is truly a multidimensional sound experience; it's like taking a swim in an analogue ocean and being immersed into the deepest end of the Marianas Trench. This edition features two cuts, "A Night To Remember" (as featured on Richie Hawtin's ENTER: Ibiza 4XCD mix) & "Under The Ocean" from the original 2009 edition of the album. The remaining tracks were selected from CD2 including "Tswana Dub" (Phase90 Restructure) as featured on Deadbeat's classic mix "Radio Rothko" on NYC's theAgriculture. Also included is a "live" (recorded from the house booth) performance at "dub echoes" in NYC (a screening for the feature film).

Pure analogue bliss -- sonic submersion of the highest order!

CREDITS:
Written & Produced by Steven Hitchell. Additional Mastering, Mixing and Engineering by Mark Richardson @ PrairieCat/Metropolis Mastering, Chicago, USA. (2007-2009)
Remastering and Lacquer cutting by Stefan Betke (POLE) @ ~scape mastering.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Now remastered for an even clearer headspace, the 2nd part of Intrusion's classic dub-techno opus arrives for us all to dive into its rich plasma pools of bass and atmospheric currents.

TRACK LISTING

A1. A Night To Remember [Remastered] 11:07
A2: Ocean View [Remastered] 5:30
B1. Kingston’s Burning Dub [live In Nyc] 8:08
B2: De Lion’s Den [Remastered] 4:20
C1: Never Forget [Remastered] 9:06
C2: Tswana Dub (Phase90 Restructure) Remastered (4:42)
D1: Love In Lofi [Remastered] 13:00
D2: Under The Ocean [Remastered] 4:44

A timeless Echospace classic featuring Tikiman on vocals and Rhodes - coming up on nearly 20 years since the original release and the very first time this LP has collectively been available on wax (over 15 years since last in circulation).

This edition was remastered to analog perfection from the Grammy award winning ears @Stardelta Mastering. Paying close attention to every finite detail - this album has never sounded so alive!

A multi-dimensional sound experience; it's like taking a swim in an analogue ocean and being immersed into the deepest end of the Mariana's Trench. Sonic Submersion of the Highest Order!

Credits:
Written & Produced by Steven Hitchell.
Vocal & Rhodes Performance by Paul St. Hilaire (Tikiman), courtesy of false tuned. Published by Basic Channel Publishing. (BCP)
Additional Mastering, Mixing and Engineering by Mark Richardson @ PrairieCat/Metropolis Mastering, Chicago, USA. (2007-2009)
Remastering and Lacquer cutting by Stardelta, UK. (2024)

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Steven Hitchell & Tikiman?! What's not to like?! Completely essential for anyone with even a passing penchant for Rhythm & Sound's vast dubwise catalogue. The added dubbed-out ambient tracks cocoon the vocal tracks in sumptuous electro-static. Unmissable stuff.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Montego Bay
A2: Twilight 
B1. Angel Version W/ Paul St. Hilaire 
B2: Seduction 
C1: Tswana Dub 
C2: Reflection I
D1. Intrusion Dub
D2: Little Angel W/Paul St. Hilaire 

With not one but two tracks being BBC 6Music Recommended by Steve Lamacq, the self-titled debut album from Invaderband (based in Derry, but frontman Adam Leonard is from Manchester) is a slickly drilled post-punk gem built on Krautrock foundations. For fans of Buzzcocks, Wire, Magazine, The Fall, Devo, Half Man Half Biscuit, Pete & The Pirates, etc. "A smashing record" - Gideon Coe, 6Music.

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

TRACK LISTING

1. Hints And Omens (5:38)
2. Calico (3:57)
3. Continuous Portrait (2:54)
4. Outlook For The Future (3:31)
5. Close To People (3:16)
6. Spirit Refinement Exploder (5:15)
7. The Warmer The Welcome (3:57)
8. A Time In My Life (4:11)
9. Saw You In A Movie (4:07)

The greatest hits and rare grooves from legendary UK lovers group, The Investigators is some essential listening. First issued in 1991, this compilation collects together the groups late 1970s to mid-1980s recordings of bangers after bangers. The groups sweet-talking lyrics and glowing melodies are an absolute dream.

TRACK LISTING

1. Love Is What You Make It
2. Turn Out The Light
3. Close To You
4. How Could I Let You Get Away
5. Marley's Gone (Tribute To Bob Marley)
6. Baby I Am Yours
7. Summer Time Blues
8. Living In A World Of Magic
9. Woman I Need Your Loving
10. Run Away Child

While awaiting the production of their new album The Invisible Session, Space Echo makes a bold return with the release of their new single ‘What’s Wrong With Your Mind’ - a supercharged funk statement aimed at the war-driven forces that destabilize lives and communities.

Blending irresistible funk rhythms with downtempo grooves, ‘What’s Wrong with Your Mind’ is an invitation to reflect and introspect. The track’s infectious groove is elevated by the masterful trombone work of Gianluca Petrella, channeling a pure Fred Wesley-esque funk energy. Meanwhile, commanding choral arrangements in the spirit of 1970s funk bands drive the song’s message home, creating an immersive experience that stimulates both mind and body. This is more than just a song - it’s a call to shift perspectives and challenge the forces that divide us.

Alongside the single, Agosta presents a powerful remix of 'Mother Forgive Us' from The Invisible Session's previous album 'Echoes Of Africa', transforming the track into a futuristic electronic afro-funk odyssey. Infused with tribal percussion, pulsating electronic textures, and deep-rooted African musical influences, the remix is a high-energy fusion of past and future. Its hypnotic rhythm captivates the body and soul, while soaring synths and driving basslines create a dynamic interplay of tradition and innovation.

Lyrically, the remix carries a poignant message: ‘Mother Earth, forgive us for what we have not done and are not doing’. This plea underscores the urgency of climate action and the disconnection from nature that defines modern life. It’s both a lament and a rallying cry - an appeal for awareness and transformation.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Heavy bumping funk here from The Invisible Session that'll take you right back to the days of Electric Chair at The Roadhouse or The Music Box!

TRACK LISTING

What's Wrong With Your Mind
Mother Forgive Us (Agosta Remix)

In a career packed with plaudits, critical praise and plenty of highlights (for instance, when I put them on at Sounds From The Other City), The Invisible have cut a singular path through the musical world, remaining independent and individual whilst still achieving mainstream success. That they manage to pull this off whilst still boasting an ephemeral, essentially indescribable sound and style is remarkable when you think about it. 
Here the trio follow their excellent third LP with a 12" single brought to you in collaboration with DJ, producer, jazz genius and man of the moment Floating Points. And it's the Eglo man who kicks us off, taking the controls for an A-side remix chocked full of loose funk and heart swelling melody. Sweeping, autumnal strings drift over syncopated drums and punchy bass, fusing into a nebulous shelter for Dave Okumu's gossamer vocals. Dreamy, deep and dancey, the track drops out into stripped back, groove led excursions with just enough frequency to make those maximal moments hit with full emotional resonance. Peppered with the trilling synths, sparkling sequences and subtle tones he's made his own, this is Floating Points in full control of all around him - simply masterful. Even for a man of FP's inummerable talents, none of this would be possible with from piss-poor material, and The Invisible's original version opens the flip in no less impressive fashion. Emotive, immersive and blessed with the kind of off-kilter rhythm missing from music since Micachu had her Shapes, this fusion of jazz tones, funk beats and dreampop haze is worth the admission fee alone. But that's not all folks, for deep in the obscurity of the B2 glimmers a brand new track, co-written by Floating Points. Powered by thudding drum machines and sparkling sequences, "First Time" offers dramatic 80s tinged guitar chords, booming boogie bass and all the wonk you'd expect from an intoxicated evening at an Eglo showcase. If you're digging on the synthetic soul sound of Blood Orange or Ghostpoet right now, you'll love this. 

Listen to The Invisible’s new album, 'Patience', and what you will feel most strongly is the band’s sense of “joy and gratitude for being alive.” The experiences of Dave Okumu (guitar, vocals), Tom Herbert (bass & synthesizer) and Leo Taylor (drums) since the release of their last album, 'Rispah', both individually and collectively, mean that the group “have gained a deeper understanding of the value of life,” and a mission to communicate that to the listener. On 'Patience', they achieve these aims with a kind of effortless transcendence.

From the opening bars of the wonderful “So Well”, (featuring their friend and collaborator Jessie Ware), the feeling of joy pervades the record. Although the group have worked on this record with Anna Calvi, Rosie Lowe, Connan Mockasin and Sam Shepherd (Floating Points) as well as Ware, the sense of collective excitement and pleasure in music-making is what holds sway. It’s an album which hints towards the London soul of Ware, but combines it with the experimentation of the LA beat scene (where Dave Okumu went to write many of the songs) and the raw funk of D’Angelo.

Shortly before the release of Rispah (itself a heartfelt tribute to Okumu’s dead mother), Okumu was electrocuted while playing with the band onstage in Lagos, Nigeria. It’s possible that only the intervention of Herbert, who pulled his guitar off him, saved his life. This personal sense that the band have of deliverance has lead to Patience, not least their sense that they are “the luckiest men alive.”

Joyous without losing any of its intelligence or compositional rigour, the record takes its title from an unfashionable but profound idea - that, if we want to solve problems we have to be prepared to work and to wait rather than expecting instant results. It was an idea clarified when Dave found himself playing in Paris only a week after the gun attacks which ripped through the city on November 13th 2015. On his way home he read an interview with the Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield in which he talked about a realisation that could only have come to him in space: “What started seeping into me on...seeing all the ancient scars, was the incredible temporal patience of the world.”

TRACK LISTING

So Well
Save You
Best Of Me
Life’s Dancers
Different (ft Rosie Lowe)
Love Me Again (ft Anna Calvi)
Memories
Believe In Yourself
K Town Sunset (ft Connan Mockasin)

Listen to The Invisible’s new album, 'Patience', and what you will feel most strongly is the band’s sense of “joy and gratitude for being alive.” The experiences of Dave Okumu (guitar, vocals), Tom Herbert (bass & synthesizer) and Leo Taylor (drums) since the release of their last album, 'Rispah', both individually and collectively, mean that the group “have gained a deeper understanding of the value of life,” and a mission to communicate that to the listener. On 'Patience', they achieve these aims with a kind of effortless transcendence.

From the opening bars of the wonderful “So Well”, (featuring their friend and collaborator Jessie Ware), the feeling of joy pervades the record. Although the group have worked on this record with Anna Calvi, Rosie Lowe, Connan Mockasin and Sam Shepherd (Floating Points) as well as Ware, the sense of collective excitement and pleasure in music-making is what holds sway. It’s an album which hints towards the London soul of Ware, but combines it with the experimentation of the LA beat scene (where Dave Okumu went to write many of the songs) and the raw funk of D’Angelo.

Shortly before the release of Rispah (itself a heartfelt tribute to Okumu’s dead mother), Okumu was electrocuted while playing with the band onstage in Lagos, Nigeria. It’s possible that only the intervention of Herbert, who pulled his guitar off him, saved his life. This personal sense that the band have of deliverance has lead to Patience, not least their sense that they are “the luckiest men alive.”

Joyous without losing any of its intelligence or compositional rigour, the record takes its title from an unfashionable but profound idea - that, if we want to solve problems we have to be prepared to work and to wait rather than expecting instant results. It was an idea clarified when Dave found himself playing in Paris only a week after the gun attacks which ripped through the city on November 13th 2015. On his way home he read an interview with the Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield in which he talked about a realisation that could only have come to him in space: “What started seeping into me on...seeing all the ancient scars, was the incredible temporal patience of the world.”

TRACK LISTING

So Well
Save You
Best Of Me
Life’s Dancers
Different (ft Rosie Lowe)
Love Me Again (ft Anna Calvi)
Memories
Believe In Yourself
K Town Sunset (ft Connan Mockasin)

GAMM heads down under with prolific producer Inkswel aka Inxxxwel (on this project) for a tasty 7" crammed with deep hip hop, funk, soul and overall jazziness.

You'll hear reminiscence of Dilla and 90's R&B on the opening track 'Chill' and a kinda 90's Jersey house / R&B track (pitched down) on the B Side track, 'Hanna-Mi-Dia' (feat vocals from Blu & Ta'Raach). There's a smooth and sexy, head nodding bump to both productions that's truly tasty!

If you're an adventurous hop-hop or soul head...this should tickle your ears :)

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Inkswell plugs into some vintage rap shit which I'm ashamed to say I'm not sure I'm familiar with. Both sides are super strong, with a kinda funky, Nas-esque jam on side A; and a more smooth rollin' West Coast flavoured joint on side B. Answers on a postcard pur-lease!

TRACK LISTING

A. Chill 
B. Hanna-Ma-Dia

Hidden Notes Records (Spindle Ensemble, Fran & Flora, Josh Semans) and Tardigrade Records (Cosmo Sheldrake, Howl) are excited to announce a unique collaboration to release ‘Selected Worlds’, the monumental and ambitious debut triple album by composer and pianist Daniel Inzani.

Over the past 2 decades you might have seen Inzani performing with dozens of bands from Bristol’s underground alternative and avant-garde scene, blending classical, jazz, contemporary, improvisation, unusual harmony and rhythms as a band leader and collaborator.

He’s released an avant-garde collaborative album with Alabaster dePlume, is the musical director and arranger for Cosmo Sheldrake’s 19 piece live band, leads his own critically acclaimed modern chamber quartet Spindle Ensemble and (the now disbanded) 8 piece Ethiopian Jazz meets Frank Zappa group Tezeta, He has toured worldwide as a keys player, collaborated with Canadian ensembles Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan and London Symphonia and co-founded Bristol’s experimental collective Bloom, leading to tours and releases with UK rocksteady favourites Count Bobo, the psychedelic space doo-wop of Dubi Dolzcek and many more.

After years of recording, touring and eclectic composing he has gathered a trusted set of musicians who are both skilled improvisers and virtuoso players to record an instrumental triple album for release under his own name.

The 3 vinyl discs act as albums in their own right, each with different sets of musicians, instrumentations, genres and intentions. The 3 discs were recorded live over 3 day periods in quick succession, with Daniel’s regular collaborator Cosmo Sheldrake engineering the recording sessions. It’s quite possibly the only album you’ll ever hear that starts with a neo-impressionist string quartet, goes on to merge avant-garde symphonic arrangements with group improvisation and ends with an 8 piece cosmic jazz band wigging out, yet Inzani’s voice is clear throughout making for a cohesive 2 hour odyssey from the mind of a composer whose idiosyncratic style thrives through variety.

Listeners will hear influences from the aforementioned composers including Mingus, Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou, Ravel and Moondog in Inzani’s music but might also find the soundtracks of Morricone and Jonny Greenwood nestled alongside the loose freeform leanings of Alabaster dePlume, the contemporary jazz of Kamasi Washington and the unique collaboration by Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders (minus the electronics perhaps.)

Swedish singer, songwriter, producer and filmmaker, ionnalee (Jonna Lee), brings the evolution of her ten-year creative career to a new peak with the release of her new self-produced solo album EVERYONE AFRAID TO BE FORGOTTEN on 23rd February 2018 on To whom it may concern.

Even considering Lee's past endeavors as the creator and frontperson of iamamiwhoami, who have captured the internet's attention since 2009, this is the most ambitious project which the Stockholm-based master of audiovisual artistry has embarked on.

EVERYONE AFRAID TO BE FORGOTTEN is a studio album and standalone filmic counterpart directed by ionnalee and cinematographer John Strandh, made in visual alliance with fashion and art trail-blazers, COMME des GARÇONS.

Breaking from tradition, the feature is not a sequential track-by-track visualization of EVERYONE AFRAID TO BE FORGOTTEN, rather its own separate organism, combining a dramatic plotline, music and art house cinematography with an avant-garde fashion slant.

“John Strandh and I were discussing the format of what we do and how the online distribution arena affects that format”, ionnalee says. “Our work is predominantly regarded as a form of music video because there is music and movement in it. But, in reality, we have been at the very forefront of the audiovisual format and, in the past couple of years, a lot of other works have patently drawn inspiration from ours, so that the term “visual album” is now part of common parlance and practice.” Consequently, ionnalee and Strandh wanted to try an alternative configuration, rather than treading the same old ground and to go closer to the feature film format”.

The official album cover is shot by John Strandh and features a sculpture made by ionnalee.

TRACK LISTING

1. Watches Watches
2. Joy
3. Work
4. Like Hell
5. Not Human
6. Temple
7. Samaritan
8. Dunes Of Sand - With Jamie Irrepressible
9. Blazing
10. Simmer Down
11. Here Is A Warning
12. Gone
13. Memento - With Barbelle
14. Harvest - With Tr/St
15. Fold

Ior's second album is a continuation of their debut album from 2024. Where the previous record came about in a euphoric state, brought about by David Fridlund's (David & The Citizens) escape from a broken relationship in the USA and the overwhelming feeling of being able to do exactly as you want from one day to the next, 'Livsvärk' is a collection of reflections on life, choices you make and how you end up where you end up.

The band ior is from Gothenburg and plays emotional power pop and consists, in addition to David Fridlund, of Daniel Fridlund, David Bergström and Mathias Engwall who have previously played or are playing with bands and artists such as Kid Down, Joel Alme, European Sons, Llawgne, New Moscow etc. They weave together a mixture of indie pop, shoegaze, uncompromising rock attitude, mixing in the most beautiful melodies, all strong enough to be performed acoustically but here dressed in ethereal noise and winding melodies.

'Livsvärk' is very much a celebration of life and an acknowledgement that life without pain may not offer as much as the experience of having gone through really hard things and coming out stronger on the other side.

TRACK LISTING

1. Allting Sköljer över Dig
2. Havsglas
3. Nattryttare
4. En Millimeter Till Kortslutning
5. Ikigai
6. Tiden, Igen
7. Kanske Var Det Bara En Dröm
8. Den Du En Gång Var
9. Tiotusen
10. Västra Kyrkogården

Acid Jazz Records celebrate an exclusive licensing agreement with Albarika Store, the legendary record label that defined the sound of Benin and influenced the entire region of West Africa and beyond with this first exhaustive trawl of the archive and will see the label presented in a way that ensures its historical importance is recognized.

‘Ipa Boogie’ is a super rare LP from 1978 that almost never surfaces in good shape. Today even average condition copies can command £500 to £1,000 on the collector's market and for good reason. These are the only known recordings by this obscure band and they present the listener with some of the finest afro-boogie and afro funk that the extensive Albarika Store catalogue has to offer.

Transferred from the original tapes and remastered by Grammy award-winning engineer Frank Merritt at The Carvery, the album is presented with beautiful artwork and packaging to match the sonics. This is the music as it should be heard.

TRACK LISTING

Get The Music Now
Africa
Jesus Kese Me
Alo Dangereux
Giving Yourself To Me
Sunga Mba

Using broader concepts, ‘Dreamer’ is “more introspective, because it's about things that I’ve been through over the last few years,” she says. The album is an intimate journey through snapshots and memories of Nabihah’s life. Exploring personal identity and grief through the soft-focus lens of melancholy, the album is not one specific sound. Her left-field lo-fi aesthetic twirls itself throughout as she manages to skate between tracks without ever sounding disjointed. Apart from four of the songs which have live drums on them, Nabihah wrote, recorded and produced the album herself. Incorporating the harmonium and sitar in her music for the first time, instruments reflective of her Pakistani heritage, it’s Nabihah’s rawest and most personal work yet.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: Though not a million miles away sonically from her 2017 debut album ‘Weighing Of The Heart’, Nabihah Iqbal's second long player ‘DREAMER’ does sound like the London based musician, producer and DJ has taken on a new creative direction, deconstructing her trademark sound of electronic shoegaze and dreamy synth-pop into its core elements. While sounding more mature and confident than its predecessor, the record also shows more vulnerability, as if past struggles (among them stolen equipment and a family emergency during the pandemic) have left her visibly exposed. The ethereal, otherworldly opener “In Light” is followed by a catchy dream pop number, the aptly titled “Dreamer”, before “This World Couldn't See Us” introduces more electronic elements and spoken vocals without interrupting the sonic theme of melancholy that is undisputedly making its mark throughout the entire the album.

‘DREAMER’ sounds like it was written by someone who feels just as at home at an intimate gig as at a rave, but it manages to combine Iqbal's influences so effortlessly that the album flows and never strays from what it set out to do, despite featuring tracks as wildly different as the introspective, stripped back “Lilac Twilight”, the haunting, beatless “Sweet Emotion (Lost In Devotion)” and the anthemic, trance influenced “Sky River”; one of the songs on the album that showcases her love for dance music. Awash with ambient synth pads, reverb laden guitars, textured melodies and big beats, ‘DREAMER’ manages to please both stargazers and night-time ravers. A truly beautiful record by an artist who is at a creative peak in her career.

TRACK LISTING

1. In Light
2. Dreamer
3. This World Couldn’t See Us
4. Sunflower
5. Lilac Twilight
6. Gentle Heart
7. Sky River
8. Sweet Emotion (Lost In Devotion)
9. A Tender Victory
10. Closer Lover

The artist formerly known as synthwave sensation Throwing Shade steps out of the erm...shade and into the spotlight under her birth name Nabihah Iqbal. "Weighing Of The Heart" is a big statement in two ways: firstly because she’s taken her real name to stand proudly as a female British Asian artist making music and secondly, because she’s moved her music in a bolder, more expansive direction, with a greater focus on live instruments. Crunching percussion (think JAMC) lends the LP a lot of drive while spectral vocal fx and swirling guitars reference C86 indie and the psychedelic shimmer of shoegaze. 

TRACK LISTING

Eden Piece
Something More
Saw U Twice
In Visions
Alone Together
Zone 1 To 6000
Feels So Right
New New Eyes
Slowly
Eternal Passion
Untitled Friday

Two brass-powered monster tracks from Deptford Northern Soul Club Records.

Irene And The Scotts’ 1967 smash goes for around £150 a copy these days. A Detroit soul side arranged by the legendary Dennis Coffey, produced by Motown man Bob Babbitt, co-written by Ray Monette (later a member of Motown act Rare Earth) and featuring the mysterious Irene’s punchy torch vocal backed by Chicago soul band The Scott Brothers. Rife with brass stabs and a glorious sax break - an absolute floor filling gem.

Backed with The Chantels’ ‘Indian Giver’ from 1966, which first appeared on the Verve label (a copy of which would now fetch around £275 a throw). A super-rare soul side from the Bronxbased all-girl doo wop pop outfit who found the funk in the mid ‘60s. Delivered over a hypnotic backbeat, ‘Indian Giver’ is a horn-laden uptempo groove with a drummer on double-time. An absolute handclapping, split-inducing dance classic.

TRACK LISTING

Irene And The Scotts - I’m Stuck On My Baby
The Chantels - Indian Giver

The complete collection of her elementally inspired series channelling Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. Scotland’s own Mha Iri completes her elemental journey with the announcement of her first long player, the 'Four Elements' album – a special vinyl collection bringing together the full force of her 'Earth (Leader of the Pack)', 'Fire (Elements of Dance)', 'Water (Come With Me)', and 'Air (Fury)' EPs.

The album marks the culmination of an 18-month sonic and creative exploration through the natural elements that have defined her rise as one of techno’s most commanding new voices. The vinyl release will feature eight stand-out tracks.

TRACK LISTING

1. Leader Of The Pack (Original Mix)
2. Go Hard (Original Mix)
3. Elements Of Dance (Original Mix)
4. Post Punk (Original Mix)
5. Come With Me (Original Mix)
6. Signal (Original Mix)
7. Fury (Original Mix)
8. Acid (Original Mix)

Belgian underground prog band Irish Coffee are at times reminiscent of Deep Purple, particularly William Souffreau's powerful and soulful vocals, and the guitar / keyboard duets of Jean Van Der Schueren and Paul Lambrechts. A must for fans of the heavy vintage progressive sound.

A wonderfully weird and wacky one from Iris on Tax Free, "Speah" contains 21 cute little sonic sketches or vignettes. Slightly spellbound, with gamelon, Reichian minimalism and nods to Manhattan Research Project - it's like ⅓ downbeat, ⅓ library, ⅓ DIY electronix - all made to pleasure the ears and put a smile across one's heart.

If you've already a sucker for the wild world's inhabited by Max Graef, Glenn Astro, Funkycan, Employee etc - this one for you!A wonderfully weird and wacky one from Iris on Tax Free, "Speah" contains 21 cute little sonic sketches or vignettes. Slightly spellbound, with gamelon, Reichian minimalism and nods to Manhattan Research Project - it's like ⅓ downbeat, ⅓ library, ⅓ DIY electronix - all made to pleasure the ears and put a smile across one's heart.

If you've already a sucker for the wild world's inhabited by Max Graef, Glenn Astro, Funkycan, Employee etc - this one for you!
 

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Rub Ix (1:25)
2. Steely Dreem (1:09)
3. Dreem Reprise (1:17)
4. T 7 Ret (1:31)
5. Down By The Rivrrrs (1:08)
6. Werld (1:20)
7. Deth (1:40)
8. Miragem (1:29)
9. Deadlocked (4:32)
10. Flesh (1:07)
11. I Speah (2:42)
Side 2
1. Leer Die Kasse (1:14)
2. Dezert (1:21)
3. Maga (2:33)
4. Bels (1:34)
5. Thee Sun (0:45)
6. JPT Acid (4:08)
7. Graveyard (1:54)
8. Resurec (2:58)
9. Wav (0:13)
10. Dezert (Other) (1:47)

Follow up to the debut 12" EP that was pressed, sold out, repressed, sold out, and pressed again. They're currently mastering their debut album (recorded by Sam from Pigsx7), it's due in the Autumn on Wrong Speed. To keep the merch table hasslers happy WSR have pressed this super limited 7", with two cover versions on the B-Side. In the last 12 months the band have been named One's To Watch by BBC Introducing, had numerous Radio One plays, had a live 6Music Session for Riley + Coe, and have shared stages with Benefits, Big Joanie, Swami John Reis, House Of All, Uranium Club, and more.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Hardest Man In Billingham
2.Fuck Friday
3. Sooprize Package For Mr. Mineo

Irma Vep is the on-going, evolving main vehicle for polymath musician Edwin Stevens and on Embarrassed Landscape the project has reached a zenith. Primarily recorded in Stevens’s adopted home town of Glasgow over two days with frequent collaborators Ruari Maclean and Andrew Cheetham, Embarrassed Landscape is an album that breathes in a fetid skip full of millennial dread, self-effacing anxiety and doubt before exhaling it as heartbreaking songs and ecstatic abandon. Following a series of limited releases spread out over the course of a decade, recorded in fits and starts around the United Kingdom as the protagonists wanderlust saw fit, Irma Vep’s 4th album proper presents Stevens’s vision in its fullest and most realised form.

Built around the skeleton of Stevens’s songwriting and fleshed out with loose, virtuoso playing, it’s a body of work that could have been the anxious songs of an over-thinker but rendered here Embarrassed Landscape revels in a kind of un-selfconscious confidence. Indeed, various tensions throughout the album are constantly revealing. Lyrics are riven with poetic, crushing self-analysis and absurdity only to be performed against a backdrop of trance-rock music skewered with Stevens’s own instantly recognisable guitar playing, a style free and full of fire.

Songs wring nuggets of uncanny truth out of prosaic, every day activities while sounding like Rolling Thunder Revue era-Dylan. Songs that seem hewn from some unspeakable personal pain are laced with a disarming streak of black humour, massive, world-ending psych jams that harken to Vibracathedral Orchestra’s wall of sound dissipate into tender songs that deserve to be picked apart and cried to. Tension needs release and here the release needs tension. For example, Opener King Kong is bold in several directions at once. A pummelling trance spurred on by the endlessly enjoyable interplay between drummer Andrew Cheetham’s free jazz-inflected style and Stevens’s barely contained guitar wildness, the music screes for 6 minutes of transportation on its own steam before Stevens’s vocal even comes in.

Perhaps the biggest dichotomy at the heart of Embarrassed Landscape is between the unbridled energy of the songs’ performances, their often bold arrangements and the heartbreaking, darkly funny songwriting at their heart. Closing song Canary brings most of these tensions to a sweet end. Within the alternating crescendos of violin and guitar Stevens intones about canaries brushing teeth down sinks, alcohol abuse, ghostly images half-seen through the fug of depression yet saved somehow by the social crutches friends and lovers provide. Embarrassed Landscape feels like the album Irma Vep always threatened to make, by some strange alchemy transforming the anxieties and self-criticisms inherent in the lyrics into a liberation, a letting go, a release from the tensions built up by a life lived full.

TRACK LISTING

1. King Kong
2. Disaster
3. I Do What I Want
4. Standards
5. The Feeling Is Gone
6. Tears Are The Sweetest Sauce
7. Not Even 8. Purring
9. Canary

Irma Vep is a loner, a joker, a roamer, a ribald construct riddled with both earnest anxiety and mercurial songwriting talent birthed by a young Edwin Stevens in Llanfairfechan, North Wales. Having since fully grown into Irma Vep and now residing in Manchester, Stevens' discography has expanded to document every aspect of his music, from ecstatically free group experiments to bare, sparse songwriting that cuts to the quick, shorn of ornament or pretence. No Handshake Blues is a homage to Llanfairfechan (Transylfechan to the locals).

Having bedded down into Manchester's bourgeoning DIY scene, Stevens moonlights in several other groups (Sex Hands, Klaus Kinski, Desmadrados Soldados De Ventura, Yerba Mansa…), bringing with him an instantly recognisable guitar language. However it's in Irma Vep that his most life-affirming, troubling and thrilling music is made. Much Irma Vep feels like what "classic" music should feel like if it weren't so Classic. Each record, each song and each performance exists as an evolving drama.

Edwin has toured the West Coast of America after being invited by Chris Johanson to play his Quiet Music Festival of Seattle and Portland. BBC 6 Music regularly spin his work. He tours the UK and Europe “butt loads”. Somehow he also finds time to run a tape label and put on gigs in Manchester under the ”Very Bon" moniker. Irma Vep performs solo, and also expands to a full band that includes Manchester legends DBH, Andrew Cheetham, Dave Rowe, Kiran Leonard and Dylan Hughes.

TRACK LISTING

1. A Woman’s Work Is Never Done
2. It Runs Slow
3. Plod
4. No Handshake Blues
5. Hey, You!
6. The Moaning Song
7. Armadillo Man
8. I Want To Be Degraded
9. You Know I’ve Been Ill
10. Still Sorry

Archive Series Volume No. 5: Tallahassee is the lost-in-time debut album from Iron & Wine. A collection of songs recorded three years prior to his official Sub Pop debut, The Creek Drank the Cradle (2002). A period before the concept of Iron & Wine existed and principal songwriter Sam Beam was studying at Florida State University with the intent of pursuing a career in film. Tallahassee documents the very first steps on a journey that would lead to a career as one of America’s most original and distinctive singer-songwriters.

Creek arrived like a thief in the night with its lo-fi, hushed vocals and intimate nature, while almost inversely Tallahassee comes with a strange sense of confidence. Perhaps an almost youthful discretion that likely comes from being too young to know better and too naïve to give a shit. The recordings themselves are more polished than Creek and give a peak into what a studio version of that record might have offered up.

Tallahassee was recorded over the course of 1998-1999 when Beam and future bandmate EJ Holowicki moved into a house together. Beam had not been performing publicly, however he was known for playing an original song or two in the early morning glow of a long night. Holowicki also in the film program and who would go onto a career as a sound designer at Skywalker Sound, had a mobile recording device and after some prodding convinced his friend to record these late-night meditations.

Together they would record close to twenty-four songs, ideas and sketches, with EJ on bass and Sam on vocals, guitar, harmonica and drums. The recordings – all captured in the house where they lived – have a “live in the room” feel akin to say Neil Young’s Harvest or Nick Drake’s Five Leaves Left, rather than the homespun lo-fi 4-track home recording experiment taking place at the time.

These recordings, minus one track, have never been made available and were instead left preserved on a hard drive for the last twenty years. The one track that floated out there, called “In Your Own Time” was shared without a title to childhood friend Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses) at some point. The song became known as the “Fuck Like A Dog” song and Ben shared it with more than a few folks during the golden era of mix cd’s. Two of those folks were Jonathan Poneman from Sub Pop and journalist Mike McGonigal, who included it on his best songs of 2001 mix cd, passed out to friends and acquaintances. And for many that is where the Iron & Wine story begins, until now…

Tallahassee is the foreword to your favorite book that you’ve somehow skipped over time and time again. It’s an alternative history mixed with some revisionist history told over the course of eleven songs. It’s also the debut record by Iron & Wine some twenty years after the fact. 

TRACK LISTING

Why Hate The Winter
This Solemn Day
Loaning Me Secrets
John's Glass Eye
Calm On The Valley
Ex-Lover Lucy Jones
Elizabeth
Show Him The Ground
Straight And Tall
Cold Town
Valentine

"I must confess that I’ve always shied away from album introductions citing the usual "dancing to architecture" cop out. Speaking to their own work is uncomfortable for many artists, but I’ve made a new album called Beast Epic which is important to me and I wanted to take a moment to talk about why. I’ve been releasing music for about fifteen years now and I feel very blessed to have put out five other full lengths, many EPs and singles, a few collaborations with people much more talented than myself, and made contributions to numerous movie scores and soundtracks. This is my sixth collection of new Iron & Wine material and I’m happy to say that it’s my fourth for Sub Pop Records.

It’s a warm and serendipitous time to be reuniting with my Seattle friends because I feel there’s a certain kinship between this new collection of songs and my earliest material, which Sub Pop was kind enough to release. In hindsight, both The Creek Drank the Cradle (2002) and Our Endless Numbered Days (2004) epitomize a reflective and confessional songwriting style (although done with my own ferocious commitment to understatement, of course.) I have been and always will be fascinated by the way time asserts itself on our bodies and our hearts. The ferris wheel keeps spinning and we’re constantly approaching, leaving or returning to something totally unexpected or startlingly familiar. The rite of passage is an image I've returned to often because I feel we’re all constantly in some stage of transition. Beast Epic is saturated with this idea but in a different way simply because each time I return to the theme I’ve collected new experiences to draw from. Where the older songs painted a picture of youth moving wide-eyed into adulthood’s violent pleasures and disappointments, this collection speaks to the beauty and pain of growing up after you’ve already grown up. For me, that experience has been more generous in its gifts and darker in its tragedies.

The sound of Beast Epic harks back to previous work, in a way, as well. By employing the old discipline of recording everything live and doing minimal overdubbing, I feel like it wears both its achievements and its imperfections on its sleeve. Over the years, I’ve enjoyed experimenting with different genres, sonics and songwriting styles and all that traveled distance is evident in the feel and the arrangements here, but the muscles seemed to have relaxed and been allowed to effortlessly do what they do best.

I’ve been fortunate to get to play with some very talented musicians over the years who are both uniquely intuitive and also expressive in exciting ways. This group was no different. We spent about two weeks recording and mixing but mostly laughing at The Loft in Chicago.

To be honest, I’ve named this record BEAST EPIC mostly because it sounds really fucking cool! However, with that said and perhaps to be completely honest, “a story where animals talk and act like people” sounds like the perfect description for the life of any of us. If not that, then it’s at least perfect for any group of songs I’ve ever tried to make. I hope you enjoy it." - Iron & Wine

Ghost on Ghost is Iron & Wine’s fifth full-length record and was originally released in 2013. The album found Sam Beam, the band’s principle member, working once again with longtime associate Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Califone). The record marks the last time the two would work together on a journey that began with the bands second record, Endless Numbered Days. It also marked a shift for the two from working in Chicago to setting up in New York City. The idea behind the move was to tap into the creative musical community New York had to offer.

The line-up that helped bring Beam’s vision for Ghost on Ghost to life included a who’s who from the jazz community as well as the deep wells of outside art including Steve Bernstein (Sex Mob/Levon Helm Band), Rob Burger (Tin Hat Trio), Brian Blade, Curtis Fowlkes (The Jazz Passengers), Tony Garnier (Bob Dylan Band), Marika Hughes, Briggan Kraus, Maxim Moston, Tony Scherr (The Lounge Lizards), Doug Wieselman, Kenny Wolleson (Tom Watis/John Zorn) and Anja Wood. The level of talent on Ghost on Ghost far surpassed anything Beam ever imagined when he first began writing songs as Iron and Wine on his four-track.

Upon completing the Ghost on Ghost , Beam jokingly referred to the recording process as “a reward to myself” after years of chasing sounds by himself. Being able have the finest in musicians in New York City perform on the record, elevating these songs into places he never imagined Beam stated, “it was an honor -- really inspiring.”

Beam stated at the time that Ghost on Ghost takes it’s inspiration from records like Nilsson Schmilsson, Ram, Mingus Moves and What’s Going On. The record they all crafted is warm and inviting and was unlike anything up to that point in the Iron & Wine catalog.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Caught In The Briars
The Desert Babbler
Joy
Low Light Buddy Of Mine
Grace For Saints And Ramblers
Grass Windows
Singers And The Endless Song

Side B
Sundown (Back In The Briars)
Winters Prayers
New Mexico’s No Breeze
Lovers’ Revolution
Baby Center Stage

Collecting songs ranging from out-of-print to never-before-released, "Around The Well" spans Iron and Wine's earliest sessions which yielded the band's debut (2002's "The Creek Drank the Cradle") through to material recorded for 2007's "The Shepherd's Dog". The "Around The Well" collection is broken up into two sections. The first half is an assortment of hushed home recordings, unedited and raw, and the second highlights moments captured in the confines of proper studios with the help of other musicians, friends and engineers. The album's title comes from a line in the song "The Trapeze Swinger", a fan favourite which was written for and included in the movie 'In Good Company'. Three more songs written and recorded for the film finally make their appearance here as well: "Belated Promise Ring", "God Made The Automobile" and "Homeward, These Shoes". "Around The Well" also brings together hard-to-find covers such as The Flaming Lips' "Waitin' for a Superman" and New Order's "Love Vigilantes", along with one of Iron and Wine's earliest originals, "Sacred Vision".

"Boy With A Coin", the first single to be taken from forthcoming album "The Shepherd's Dog", is darkly playful, tumbling under its cascading melody and backwards guitar textures. A worthy example of the highest standard of songwriting displayed on the rest of the album and marks a departure in style from Beam's previous work, without betraying his blissful Americana roots.

New to 4AD, Iron And Wine deliver the perfect way to start any year.

It’s been over three years since Iron & Wine released "The Shepherd’s Dog", a collection of songs that Sam (Beam) himself described as an attempt to replicate something in the vein of Tom Waits’ "Swordfishtrombones".

While Waits fans might gasp at such a notion, making the kind of records that had brought much of their early successes would have been all too easy and living up to folks expectations never sounded all that interesting to Sam.

After all, the most fascinating journeys are the ones where you have no idea where you’re headed, and that’s what the experience of making the record turned out to be. In the end, they were rewarded with a warm reception from both fans and critics alike.

"Kiss Each Other Clean" is the next logical step and should have been done sooner had life not got in the way. As is well documented, Sam resides outside of Austin, Texas close to the middle of nowhere where he and his wife tend to a rather large homestead.

As one journalist who visited him once said, “he lives exactly as you hoped he would”. Good for us, sometimes difficult for him.

When possible, recording sessions were taking place over the course of 2010 in Chicago with Brian Deck at the helm again as well as a number of familiar names who pop up to contribute musically.

Not one to rest on laurels, "Kiss Each Other Clean" takes off where "The Shepherd’s Dog" left us with layer upon layer, rhythm upon rhythm and of course some acoustic guitar and whispering vocals for good measure. In a recent interview Sam said that the resulting ten tracks make for a “more focused pop record”, albeit with “straight-up jazz, blues and African elements” experimentally thrown in.

If we are to believe Sam on his earlier Waits-ian comparison then it’s safe to say that "Kiss Each Other Clean" could be the second phase in his own trilogy a la "Rain Dogs". One thing is certain, he’s yet to show any sign of letting up.

When the pandemic began, and the world shut down, so did the process of creating for Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam. In its place was a domesticity that the singer hadn’t felt in a long time, and although it was filled with many rewards, making music was not one of them. Reflecting on that time;

Beam notes:
“I feel blessed and grateful that I and most of my friends and family made it through the pandemic relatively unscathed compared to so many others, but it completely paralyzed the songwriter in me. The last thing I wanted to write about was COVID, and yet every moment I sat with my pen, it lingered around the edges and wouldn’t leave. This lasted for over two years.” The journey back began with a recording session in Memphis to record a handful of Lori McKenna tracks for the EP Lori with friend and producer Matt Ross-Spang. The cathartic experience reconnected Beam with his love for making music, and soon enough the paralysis had passed, and he was finishing lyrics and booking studio time for what would become Light Verse. Light Verse was recorded with engineer and mixer Dave Way at his studio Waystation high up in Laurel Canyon (with an additional session at Silent Zoo Studio with a 24-piece orchestra), with a host of talented musicians joining Beam: Tyler Chester, Sebastian Steinberg, David Garza, Griffin Goldsmith, Beth Goodfellow, Kyle Crane, and Paul Cartwright. And, Fiona Apple joined Beam on vocals for the duet “All In Good Time.” Beam lyrically once again takes focus on a series of both fictional and personal insights, filled with desperate characters and wide-eyed optimists, offering promise and a dose of heartache, tears and laughter, life and love. Taking stock in the album’s title, he jokes, “Light verse is a form of poetry about playful themes that often uses nonsense and wordplay, and it’s my first official Iron & Wine comedy album!…. Just kidding….”

While true this may be Iron & Wine’s most playful record, Beam says the title mostly reflects the way the songs were born with joy after the heaviness and anxiety of the pandemic. Where recent records like Beast Epic or Weed Garden gave air to the disquiet of middle-aged frailty and brokenness, these songs trade that for the focus acceptance can bring. Moment by moment, they delight in being pointed or silly (or both) and attempt beauty over prettiness.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Sam Beam presents a tenderly melodic suite of swinging symphonies and off-kilter jangle. Pieces like the enthralling opener 'You Never Know' are both wonderfully syncopated and display Sam's ability to switch from breezy to near-chaotic in the blink of an eye, without ever breaking the listening spell. Beautiful.

TRACK LISTING

1. You Never Know
2. Anyone's Game
3. All In Good Time
4. Cutting It Close
5. Taken By Surprise
6. Yellow Jacket
7. Sweet Talk
8. Tears That Don't Matter
9. Bag Of Cats
10. Angels Go Home

Sam Beam, aka Iron & Wine, released "Our Endless Numbered Days", his second in March of 2004. It followed his hushed, literate, intimate, melodic, 2002 debut album, "The Creek Drank the Cradle", a quiet treasure which, with its unaffected candor and depth, found fans all over. "Our Endless Numbered Days" was recorded both at Sam’s Miami home and in Chicago’s Engine Studios with Brian Deck (Red Red Meat, Modest Mouse, Ugly Casanova, etc.) On it, Sam is aided and abetted by his then touring and recording conspirators: his sister Sarah Beam, Patrick McKinney, Jeff McGriff, EJ Holowicki, and Jonathon Bradley. Listening to "Our Endless Numbered Days" makes plain Sam’s deft touch with words and melody; one that allows him to turn out stories about love, loss, faith, or the lack of it that are at once personal and universal, set to music that is sweetly haunting and timeless.

This reissue features the original album, plus eight previously unreleased demo versions and a 12-page booklet with an essay about the album by Amanda Petrusich.

TRACK LISTING

On Your Wings
Naked As We Came
Cinder And Smoke
Sunset Soon Forgotten
Teeth In The Grass
Love And Some Verses
Radio War
Each Coming Night
Free Until They Cut Me Down
Fever Dream
Sodom, South Georgia
Passing Afternoon
Naked As We Came (demo)
Cinder And Smoke (demo)
Teeth In The Grass (demo)
Love And Some Verses (demo)
Free Until They Cut Me Down (demo)
Fever Dream (demo)
Sodom, South Georgia (demo)
Passing Afternoon (demo)

Iron & Wine follow up their 2018 Grammy-nominated full-length Beast Epic with Weed Garden, a collection of material that began about three years ago. The six-song EP features songs that were part of the writing phase for Beast Epic, but went unfinished. They were part of a larger narrative for principal songwriter Sam Beam, who ran out of time to get them where they needed to be for inclusion on Beast Epic. Weed Garden also includes the fan favorite “Waves of Galveston.”

While on tour last fall, the final pieces of material took shape and a sense of urgency prevailed in bringing these characters full circle. To resolution. To completion. In January, Beam and company hunkered down in Chicago at The Loft recording studio to capture these six songs.  No more, no less.
Weed Garden joins the good company of previous Iron & Wine EP’s – The Sea and Rhythm, Woman King, In the Reins – and in 2018’s attention-span challenged world that's not a bad thing.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: If you've heard Iron & Wine before, you'll be well aware of Mr. Beam's capability for weaving a rich acousticana tapestry, and 'Weed Garden' is exactly that, beautifully played organic instrumentation with a strong melodic sensibility, relaxing and transportative. (Iron &) Wine-not give it a go.

Iron & Wine’s Who Can See Forever is an accompanying live record to the film of the same name. Captured at Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw, North Carolina, the soundtrack features nineteen songs from the twenty plus year career of singer-songwriter Sam Beam. Having found inventive ways to re-invent his catalog live over the years, Who Can See Forever offers new and fresh versions of Iron & Wine songs including “The Trapeze Swinger”, “Boy With a Coin” and “Naked As We Came.” The film - initially intended as a live concert film - evolved into a visual portrait capturing Beam during a creative outburst that earned him four Grammy nominations in four years. Like his music, the film touches on universally personal themes as Beam juggles being an artist, husband and father. Taken as one, the soundtrack and film are a fascinating first-time glimpse behind-the-scenes of Iron & Wine.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Trapeze Swinger
2. Boy With A Coin
3. Woman King
4. Thomas County Law
5. House By The Sea
6. About A Bruise
7. Sodom, South Georgia
8. Last Night
9. Monkeys Uptown
10. Wolves (Song Of The Shepherd's Dog)
11. Grace For Saints And Ramblers
12. Dearest Forsaken
13. Glad Man Singing
14. On Your Wings
15. Passing Afternoon
16. Pagan Angel And A Borrowed Car
17. Naked As We Came
18. Call Your Boys
20. Muddy Hymnal

Following 2011’s ‘Kiss Each Other Clean’, which debuted at number two on the US Billboard chart, ‘Ghost On Ghost’ is to be the fifth studio album from Austin-based Sam Beam.

While Rolling Stone said of ‘Kiss Each Other Clean’ that “pop music hadn’t seen anything like it since the heyday of Cat Stevens,” and Pitchfork said it “more closely resembles the lush, gold-toned singer songwriter records of the late 60s and early 70s - ‘Astral Weeks’, ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’”, Beam felt it time to move from what he called the “anxious tension” from this record and his previous one (‘The Shepherd’s Dog’). “This record felt like a reward to myself after the way I went about making the last few,” he says.

Recorded in New York and produced by Beam’s longtime associate Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Califone, Fruit Bats), helping achieve Beam’s vision were a group of stellar musicians including Rob Burger of Tin Hat Trio, Steve Bernstein, Tony Scherr, Kenny Wollesen, and Briggan Krauss of Sex Mob, jazz drummer Brian Blade, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes of The Jazz Passengers, bassist Tony Garnier (Bob Dylan’s band), cellist Marika Hughes, Maxim Moston and Doug Wieselman of Antony And The Johnsons, and Anja Wood. Burger (Tin Hat Trio) has worked with Beam intermittently through the years and handled arrangements for strings and horns on ‘Ghost On Ghost’.

For the album’s cover, Beam, who is also a visual artist, chose an image from the series ‘Private Views’ by noted photographer Barbara Crane.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Another mellow delight from Sam Beam. Lovely.

TRACK LISTING

Caught In The Briars
The Desert Babbler
Joy
Low Light Buddy Of Mine
Graces For Saints And Ramblers
Grass Windows
Singers And The Endless Song
Sundown (Back In The Briars)
Winter Prayers
New Mexico’s No Breeze
Lovers’ Revolution
Baby Center Stage

"Our Endless Numbered Days" is the second full-length album from Iron and Wine and it was recorded both at Sam's Miami home and in Chicago's Engine Studios with Brian Deck. On it, Sam is aided and abetted by regular touring and recording conspirators: his sister Sara Beam, Patrick McKinney, Jeff McGriff, EJ Holowicki, and Jonathan Bradley. No grand gestures here, instead the record is filled with tiny moments, little windows into our shared mortality in a way that serves to sharpen the hunger for love and connection over time rather than dull or defeat it. Listening to "Our Endless Numbered Days" makes plain Sam's deft touch with words and melody; one that allows him to turn out stories about love, loss, faith, or the lack of it that are at once personal and universal, set to music that is sweetly haunting and timeless.

Iron And Wine the recorded word of one Samuel Beam, Miami, Florida; is one of those one-guy-and-his-tapedeck affairs. "The Creek Drank the Cradle" is filled with hushed, restrained vocals, affecting lyrics from a naturalist's perspective, exploring relationships and the hope born from them, all of which come across as though whispered to you personally, accompanied by guitar, banjo, slide guitar. Taken as a whole, "The Creek Drank The Cradle", Iron and Wine's debut CD, is an ode to an older South; a part of America that is defined by 'traditional values', pastoral imagery and arcane manners. Or maybe that's just what we want to hear.

From the other side of the Pennines, Hudd Traxx makes label history with its first-ever full-length album, "Dial Me In", from long-time affiliate Iron Curtis. IC has contributed more tracks across more releases than any other artist in the label’s history, so it seems apt that the label enlist him for their first long playing excursion.

Across the set, Curtis delivers a rich and varied journey through deep house, ambient textures, and eclectic grooves, flowing effortlessly from club-ready jams to moments made for home listening. It's crisp, high fidelity and produced with a keen ear for tantalizing, fresh sounds and enjoyably kinetic rhythms.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Super strong long player from IC on Hudd Traxx - Yorkshire's finest purveyor of deep house music! It's literally all hitter no shitter on this one, every track shins brightly with intricate synth patches, infectious rhythms and snappy arrangements.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Speak To Me, Baby
A2. Roxy
A3. Dial Me In
A4. Slipstream
B1. Troubles
B2. Bodycode
B3. SignalSignal 

Featuring the original revered gatefold sleeve artwork, the album comes with two 140g colour vinyl (one in blue, the other in yellow) featuring the 2015 audio remastering. The package also includes a replica 24 page World Slavery Tour programme, bringing back to life the original tour programme for new generations.

Additionally the vinyl features a replica tour pass and a glossy 12 page booklet, which contains the original eight page booklet alongside an exclusive and brand new essay entitled Rime And Punishment: Celebrating 40 Years Of Live After Death, where Iron Maiden fan club editor Alexander Milas interviews Steve Harris, Nicko McBrain, Rod Smallwood and acclaimed illustrator Derek Riggs about the legendary album.

Widely acclaimed as not just the greatest heavy metal live album of all time, but one of the most iconic live releases in any musical genre, 'LIVE AFTER DEATH' was recorded mostly during the four nights that Maiden played at Los Angeles’ Long Beach Arena in March 1985. The final side of the double album was recorded during the four nights the band played at Hammersmith Odeon in October 1984.

Both sets of concerts were part of the ground-breaking World Slavery Tour, in support of the band’s 1984 album Powerslave, which started in Poland and featured 187 concerts across 331 days. The tour firmly established Iron Maiden as one of the most exciting live bands on the planet, a reputation that they carry to this day.

TRACK LISTING

1. Intro: Churchill's Speech
2. Aces High
3. 2 Minutes To Midnight
4. The Trooper
5. Revelations
6. Flight Of Icarus
7. Rime Of The Ancient Mariner
8. Powerslave
9. The Number Of The Beast
10. Hallowed Be Thy Name
11. Iron Maiden
12. Run To The Hills
13. Running Free
14. Wrathchild
15. 22 Acacia Avenue
16. Children Of The Damned
17. Die With Your Boots On
18. Phantom Of The Opera

Parlophone Records is thrilled to announce the release of Iron Maiden’s 17th studio album Senjutsu, their first in 6 years. It was recorded in Paris with longstanding producer Kevin Shirley and co-produced by Steve Harris.

For Senjutsu – loosely translated as ‘tactics & strategy’, the band once again enlisted the services of Mark Wilkinson to create the spectacular Samurai themed cover artwork, based on an idea by Steve Harris. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Iron bloody Maiden eh? They return for their SEVENTEENTH LP and you know what? It's great! It's a lot more of a proggy affair than during their heyday, but there is an absolute wealth of undeniable hooks and brilliantly hefty songwriting. Dickinson's voice is in top athletic form too.

TRACK LISTING

Senjutsu (8:20)
Stratego (4:59)
The Writing On The Wall (6:13)
Lost In A Lost World (9:31)
Days Of Future Past (4:03)
The Time Machine (7:09)
Darkest Hour (7:20)
Death Of The Celts (10:20)
The Parchment (12:39)
Hell On Earth (11:19)

2022 is the 40th Anniversary of Iron Maiden’s Iconic third album The Number of The Beast. The first Iron Maiden album to feature Bruce Dickinson on vocals, The Number of the Beast was also the band’s first album to hit the number 1 spot in the UK. The album spawned the crossover hit singles Run To The Hills and The Number of The Beast, and introduced the band to a truly global audience.

To celebrate this milestone anniversary Iron Maiden release a very special 3LP collectors vinyl featuring the original album with revised track list plus the legendary 1982 live show from Hammersmith Odeon ‘The Beast Over Hammersmith’.

The original album replaces Gangland with Total Eclipse in a revised track list. The accompanying double live album The Beast Over Hammersmith is presented on vinyl for the first time.

This collectible 180g 3LP vinyl set is packaged in a double gatefold sleeve featuring a special ‘split’ cover image and many rare photos from the time. Also, featured are excusive sleeve notes from Steve Harris.

TRACK LISTING

Disc 1 - The Number Of The Beast
Side 1:
1. Invaders
2. Children Of The Damned
3. The Prisoner
4. 22 Acacia Avenue
Side 2:
1. The Number Of The Beast
2. Run To The Hills
3. Total Eclipse
4. Hallowed Be Thy Name
Disc 2 - Beast Over Hammersmith (LIVE)
Side 3:
1. Murders In The Rue Morgue
2. Wrathchild
3. Run To The Hills
4. Children Of The Damned
5. The Number Of The Beast
Side 4:
1. Another Life
2. Killers
3. 22 Acacia Avenue
4. Total Eclipse
5. Transylvania
Disc 3 - Beast Over Hammersmith (LIVE)
Side 5:
1. The Prisoner
2. Hallowed Be Thy Name
3. Phantom Of The Opera
4. Iron Maiden
Side 6:
1. Sanctuary
2. Drifter
3. Running Free
4. Prowler

Recorded in 2003 as he was travelling around the country, this very simple, intimate, and home spun record continues to stun all who have heard it as a self released CDR. Asa's vocals are complemented so perfectly by his dear friend Swaan that the songs resonate with the mutual knowing only old close friends can share. If you are at all familiar with his efforts in Feathers, or watched him hunch over a guitar with Witch, or have been perplexed and amazed at his saw blade solo work, this document will be an irreplaceable eye-opener to how well grounded and concurrently high reaching Asa's music can be.

Ironweed is Aniff Akinola, formerly one half of the massively underrated Manchester band Chapter And The Verse (amongst other things!). "Down To My Grave" is a slab of soulful, stoned blues delivered with an awesome deep 1930s dustbowl style vocal. The CD includes the 'dustbowl mix', a more stripped down 'audio suspects remix' and two more uptempo remixes from Interfearence and First Man, along with an accapella version.

Irreversible Entanglements’ self-titled debut album was originally released in September 2017, and features the first music ever played together by the freshly assembled super-group of Camae Ayewa (Moor Mother), Luke Stewart, Keir Neuringer, Aquiles Navarro, and Tcheser Holmes. The explosive collection of improvised free-jazz with spoken word accompaniment was born after the group's initial meeting at a “Musicians Against Police Brutality” event following the state-sponsored killing of Akai Gurley.

As the OG press release puts it, “the spirit and subject the band channels and explores represent a return to a central tenet of the free jazz sound as it was founded—to be a vehicle for Black liberation. As creative and adventurous as any recording of contemporary avant-garde jazz but offering listeners no abstractions to hide behind, this is music that both honors and defies tradition, speaking to the present while insisting on the future.”

The IA11 Edition LP features our IARC 2025 obi strip, plus a new 8-page 11x11" insert booklet with unpublished session photos and new liner notes by Irreversible Entanglements bassist Luke Stewart.

TRACK LISTING

1. Chicago To Texas
2. Fireworks
3. Enough
4. Projects

Open The Gates is Philadelphia-based free jazz collective IRREVERSIBLE ENTANGLEMENTS’s third full length album (and first double LP length album). Recorded at Rittenhouse Soundworks in Philadelphia, across 73 minutes of music the band – featuring Camae Ayewa aka Moor Mother, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro & drummer Tcheser Holmes (who released their duo debut Heritage of the Invisible II on International Anthem last year), saxophonist Keir Neuringer, and bassist Luke Stewart – supplement their raw, organic punk-jazz sound with firsttime experiments with electronics and synthesizers.

“Irreversible Entanglements’ fearless music takes to task the police, American politics, capitalism, and racism.” – The Nation

"The jazz ensemble evokes our American topography, both physically and psychologically, by capturing what’s in the news and what’s underneath that surface.” – Pitchfork

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A brilliantly soulful storm of free-jazz timbres and spoken word phrases bolstered with snappy counterpoint and harmonic dissonance, both unnerving and hypnotic, but thoroughly enthralling throughout. Brilliantly inventive and momentous.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
A1. Open The Gates
A2. Keys To Creation
SIDE B
B1. Lágrimas Del Mar
B2. Storm Came Twice
SIDE C
C1. Water Meditation
SIDE D
D1. Six Sounds
D2. The Port Remembers

'Impulse! Records proudly announces the signing of free jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements with their label debut Protect Your Light. Fusing elements of jazz, hip-hop, global music traditions and spoken word, the new album sees the quintet (vocalist/poet Camae Ayewa, saxophonist Keir Neuringer, bassist Luke Stewart, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, drummer Tcheser Holmes) break molds with adventurous improvisation driven by Ayewa’s poetry about the Black experience, love, power, community and liberation.

Formed in London, the Is Tropical line up of Gary Barber (vocals / guitar / keys), Simon Milner (vocals / guitars / Keys) and Dominic Apa (drums & programming) first came to international attention with the release of their debut single ‘When O’ When’ on Hit Club Records in January 2010. Produced by Al Al Al (The Big Pink / Klaxons), the single, together with their spectral live shows, saw the band attract the attention of fans and critics alike. After signing to Kitsune and releasing the single ‘South Pacific’, they now deliver their debut album.

‘Native To’, produced by the band with Jimmy Robertson and mixed by Lifelike, features twelve new tracks including the recent single ‘South Pacific’ and the forthcoming new release ‘The Greeks’. Effortlessly swooping from raw pop anthems to lo-fi dance songs with fantastic results, as well as the two singles other standouts include ‘Take My Chances’, ‘Lies’ and ‘Think We’re Alone’.

TRACK LISTING

01. South Pacific
02. Land Of The Nod
03. Lies
04. The Greeks
05. What???
06. Clouds
07.take My Chances
08. Oranges
09. Berlin
10. Think Were Alone
11. Zombie
12. Seasick Mutiny

Can you sleep? (04:30) Idler chronicles a personal struggle with insomnia that inspired the album’s title, it combines bossa nova, 70s analog synths and the polymorphous vibrations of London’s new burgeoning jazz scene.

Jamie Isaac is a young producer and songwriter, born in Croydon to Burmese and British parents. He signed to Marathon Artists in 2014 and has been harnessing his sound ever since, operating in the space between jazz, soul, R&B, electronics and hip hop. Across a handful of singles and EPs, as well as a mixtape, his debut album and its follow-up, he has evolved into a formidable artist with a transatlantic following.

STAFF COMMENTS

Millie says: This might just be the perfect hybrid of synths, hip hop-jazz and electronic sound wrapped up in one record like a present. I can't get enough of the soft dreamy vocals, you need to listen to this it's a beaut!

TRACK LISTING

Doing Better
Maybe
(04:30) Idler
Sleep
Interlude (Yellow Jacket)
Eyes Closed
Slurp
Counts For Something
Melt
Drifted
Rope
Delight

Can you sleep? (04:30) Idler chronicles a personal struggle with insomnia that inspired the album’s title, it combines bossa nova, 70s analog synths and the polymorphous vibrations of London’s new burgeoning jazz scene.

Jamie Isaac is a young producer and songwriter, born in Croydon to Burmese and British parents. He signed to Marathon Artists in 2014 and has been harnessing his sound ever since, operating in the space between jazz, soul, R&B, electronics and hip hop. Across a handful of singles and EPs, as well as a mixtape, his debut album and its follow-up, he has evolved into a formidable artist with a transatlantic following.

STAFF COMMENTS

Millie says: This might just be the perfect hybrid of synths, hip hop-jazz and electronic sound wrapped up in one record like a present. I can't get enough of the soft dreamy vocals, you need to listen to this it's a beaut!

TRACK LISTING

Doing Better
Maybe
(04:30) Idler
Sleep
Interlude (Yellow Jacket)
Eyes Closed
Slurp
Counts For Something
Melt
Drifted
Rope
Delight

Brooklyn Highs Edits are back with another killer 7-inch release, featuring two exclusive versions from Ilija Rudman—reimagining the work of one the greatest Soul Men a.k.a Black Moses. Limited edition, Buy or Cry!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Ilija Rudman - Higher Ground Mix Part I
B1. Ilija Rudman - Higher Ground Mix Part II

Burning Sounds was a reggae label opperating from the late 70s - mid 80s. With an archive packed with quality roots, dancehall and dub albums, the imprint has been relaunched to release nuggets from the back catalogue.

For this release we're treated to 1978's 'Slum In Dub' album. Engineered by Prince Jammy and featuring the Revolutionaries as the studio band (Sly & Robbie, Ansel Collins, Uziah "Sticky" Thompson, Noel "Scully" Simms, Tommy McCook etc). The set features heavyweight rockers dubs with lots of studio efx, but hardly a murmer from Mr Isaacs himself, so if you want an album of mostly Cool Ruler songs, look elsewhere.

180g vinyl reissue with original 1978 sleeve artwork.

TRACK LISTING

Public Eye's
Slum
Reform Institution
Crofs
Tam Tam
Aso
Nigger
Leaving
Leggo Beast
Embarrassment

King Jammy breathes new life into a top draw selection of Cool Ruler Classics on this highest upgrade to Gregory Isaacs Kingston catalogue

Making the journey down to Jammy's Warehouse HQ to look down the safest combinations is an A- list selection of Jamaica's finest including Sean Paul, Shaggy, Alborosie, Jesse Royal, Bounty Killer etc.

Gregory Isaacs finest performances on those never say die tuff King Jammy Riddims all now combination style and 21st Century Fresh

TRACK LISTING

It Go So (ft. Shaggy) - Gregory Isaacs
Another Try (ft. Sean Paul) - Gregory Isaacs
Don't Take Your Love From Me (ft. Jesse Royal) - Gregory Isaacs
First Class Lover (ft. Aza Linegae) - Gregory Isaacs
Dance With Me (ft. Ras Demo) - Gregory Isaacs
You're Like An Angel (ft. Brandon The Messenjah) - Gregory Isaacs
Dreadlocks Bridge (ft. Alborosie) - Gregory Isaacs
Another Warning (ft. Bounty Killer) - Gregory Isaacs
Never Give Your Love (ft. Junior Reid) - Gregory Isaacs
Counterfeit Lover (ft. Ras Shiloh) - Gregory Isaacs
You Can Have The Bits (ft. Projexx) - Gregory Isaacs
Flirting Around (ft. Claire Angel) - Gregory Isaacs
Lost My Happiness (ft. Chaka Demus) - Gregory Isaacs
Don't Go (ft. Flinix) - Gregory Isaacs
My Pride Won't Let Me (ft. Bunny General) - Gregory Isaacs

Killer mid 70s roots rocker from The Cool Ruler with the sound of babylon dubwise on the flip from The Mighty Two Joe Gibbs.

TRACK LISTING

1. Gregory Isaacs - Babylon Too Tough
2. Mighty Two - I Stand Accused

'Forever Blue' (30th Anniversary Edition) celebrates the GRAMMY-nominated and Platinum-selling record described as “as moodily beautiful as ever.” With Isaak and his band in top form produced by Erik Jacobsen, the LP features hits like 'Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing' and 'Somebody’s Crying'. Pressed on black vinyl, the gatefold packaging features era-specific photography and recreated original artwork.

TRACK LISTING

1. Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing
2. Somebody’s Crying
3. Graduation Day
4. Go Walking Down There
5. Don’t Leave Me On My Own
6. Things Go Wrong
7. Forever Blue
8. There She Goes
9. Goin’ Nowhere
10. Changed Your Mind
11. Shadows In A Mirror
12. I Believe
13. The End Of Everything

Gregory Alan Isakov with the Colorado Symphony marks a milestone for the Colorado-based singer-songwriter, re-imagining songs from his previous three studio albums— The Weatherman, This Empty Northern Hemisphere, and That Sea, the Gambler —along with the debut studio recording of “Liars,” a fan favourite and staple of his live shows for many years.

TRACK LISTING

01. Liars
02. Dandelion Wine
03. Big Black Car
04. The Stable Song
05. Amsterdam
06. Master & A Hound
07. Saint Valentine
08. That Sea, The Gambler
09. Living Proof
10. If I Go, I'm Goin
11. Unwritable Girl

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and now calling Colorado home, Gregory Alan Isakov is a lifelong traveler, farmer, and Grammy-nominated folk artist

Since his debut in 2003, Isakov has released four full-length studio albums with over 1 million in sales and has toured widely, building a devoted international audience.

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: Really excited about this LP. His previous releases have all been wonderful. That voice....

TRACK LISTING

The Fall
Before The Sun
Appaloosa Bones
Silver Bel
Watchman
Miles To Go
Terlingua
Mistakes
One Day
Sweet Heat Lightning
Feed Your Horses

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and raised in Philadelphia, Isakov moved to Colorado at the end of the 90's to study and made it his home.
He has been described as, "Strong, subtle, a lyrical genius" and has been compared to his influences, Bruce Springsteen, Kelly Joe Phelps, Iron & Wine and Gillian Welch. Gregory's humble presence and his overwhelming voice and guitar style have been treasured by an ever-growing and captivated fan base. 
This 2007 LP is a gorgeous gentle affair, with finger picked guitars providing the perfect accompaniment to his distinctive vocals.

TRACK LISTING

All There Is
The Stable Song
Black & Blue
San Francisco
Salt And The Sea
John Brown's Body
3 A.m.
That Sea, The Gambler
Raising Cain
Unwritable Girl
The Moon Was Red And Dangerous

The Weatherman is Johannesburg born, Colorado based singer songwriter Gregory Alan Isakov’s fifth album (his third that has been widely available) . It follows a similar path to his previous releases with his poetic, evocative lyrics woven delicately around understated instrumentation.

An absolute beauty.

TRACK LISTING

Amsterdam
Saint Valentine
Second Chances
Living Proof
Time Will Tell
O' City Lights
Astronaut
California Open Back
The Universe
Suitcase Full Of Sparks
Honey, It's Alright
All Shades Of Blue
She Always Takes It Back

This Empty Northern Hemisphere is Isakov's latest collection of songs in which he conjures the miracles and heartaches of day to day living then transforms them into melodies, with a serious commitment to songcraft and musicianship. Isakov composed the songs for This Empty Northern Hemisphere following his relocation from the Colorado wilds to the town of Boulder. The period also marked the beginning of a new creative cycle for the 28-year-old singer songwriter, who combines his personal past with poetry to create a musically visceral present. Isakov co-produced the album at various locations with Jamie Mefford who also engineered and is credited with God Noises. He's accompanied throughout by his band, the Freight: Jen Gilleran (drums), Jeb Bows (violin) and Phil Parker (cello). Isakov plays guitars, banjo, piano and harmonica, among other instruments. Brandi Carlile (Columbia) sings on 5 of the tracks. The pair also cut Leonard Cohen's One of Us Cannot Be Wrong, as a duet.

TRACK LISTING

Dandelion Wine
Light Year
That Moon Song
Evelyn
Virginia May
Big Black Car
Master & A Hound
This Empty Northern Hemisphere
Idaho
Words
Fire Escape
If I Go, I'm Goin
One Of Us Cannot Be Wrong

Antony Ryan and Robin Saville - the inventors of electronica - are returning with their ninth studio album. Three years in the making, "The Lamenting Machine" will go down in history as the deepest and most satisfying chapter yet in the ongoing musical conversation between these brilliant musicians. Subtle yet mesmerizing melodies evoking long forgotten memories, calmly throbbing bass figurines pulsing gently along - all paying tribute to free-floating rhythms and their eternal noises. ISAN has always been an intimate and personal take on electronic music.

Isao Suzuki Quartet + 1 – Blue Road (recorded in 1975).
A month after the recording of his masterpiece Orang-Utan, Suzuki and his fellow musicians delivered this powerful performance at the “5 Days in Jazz 1975” festival—a rare document of the group in its prime.
The source comes from a newly digitized transfer of the original 2-inch master tape. Supervised by TBM founder Takeshi Fujii and track-downed by Yoshihiko Kannari—the “guardian of the TBM sound” who also engineered the original live recording—this release faithfully revives the sound of Three Blind Mice nearly half a century later.
An invaluable record that vividly captures the raw energy of Japanese jazz at its peak in the 1970s.

TRACK LISTING

Blue Road 17:19
Where Are You Going 7:54
Bird Of Beauty 4:36
Orang-Utan 19:32

THIS IS A BLACK FRIDAY RELEASE AVAILABLE INSTORE OVER THE COUNTER FROM 10AM ON NOVEMBER 26TH.

ANY REMAINING ITEMS WILL BE AVAILABLE ONLINE ON SATURDAY NOVEMBER 27TH FROM 8AM.

LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

“Georgia Blue is a labor of love. On election day 2020, when I saw that there was a good chance the state of Georgia might go blue, I came up with an idea: to record an album of Georgia- related songs as a thank you to the state and donate the money to a Georgia based non-profit organization. I will admit my motivations were a bit selfish. For years, I’ve been looking for an excuse to record these songs with my band and some friends. The songs on this album are some of my favorite Georgia-related songs, but the tracklist is not meant to be comprehensive. I would love to cover Outkast and 2 Chainz, but I don’t think the finished product would be very good. We’re a rock band, so we covered rock songs. We have roots in blues and R&B, so we enlisted some brilliant artists to help us pull off songs by Precious Bryant, James Brown, and Gladys Knight. My favorite part of the Georgia Blue recording process was having the opportunity to work with these very special artists, and I thank them: Amanda Shires, Brittney Spencer, Adia Victoria, Brandi Carlile, Julien Baker, Bèla Fleck, Chris Thile, Steve Gorman, Peter Levin, and John Paul White. I hope you enjoy listening to these recordings as much as we enjoyed making them. Keep listening to good music and fighting the good fight.” - Jason Isbell

TRACK LISTING

1 Nightswimming Feat. Bela Fleck And Chris Thile
2 Honeysuckle Blue Feat. Sadler Vaden
3 It's A Man's Man's World Feat. Brittney Spencer
4 Cross Bones Style Feat. Amanda Shires
5 The Truth Feat. Adia Victoria
6 I've Been Loving You Too Long
7 Sometimes Salvation Feat. Steve Gorman
8 Kid Fears Feat. Julien Baker And Brandi Carlile
9 Reverse
10 Midnight Train To Georgia Feat. Brittney Spencer And John Paul White
11 In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed Feat. Peter Levin
12 I'm Through
13 Driver 8 Feat. John Paul White

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit follow up 2018's 'Live from the Ryman' with a second volume of live recordings from their annual residency at The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN. 'Live from the Ryman Vol. 2' features 15 live versions of songs from Weathervanes and Reunions as well as as well as stunning rendition of 'The Last Song I Will Write', from Isbell’s 2009 self-titled release, and a poignant cover of Tom Petty’s 'Room at the Top.'

'Live From The Ryman Vol. 2' draws from multi-track recordings by the band’s longtime front-of-house engineer, Cain Hogsed, from 4 of the last 6 years of sold-out shows at Nashville’s legendary Ryman Auditorium. Hogsed co-produced the album alongside Isbell, and mixed the tracks with Nashville, TN’s Todd Tidwell.

TRACK LISTING

1.Save The World
2.King Of Oklahoma
3.Only Children
4.Overseas
5.Dreamsicle
6.Running With Our Eyes Closed
7.Middle Of The Morning
8. The Last Song I Will Write
9.Strawberry Woman
10.Cast Iron Skillet
11.Miles
12.River
13.When We Were Close
14.Room At The Top
15.This Aint It

“Georgia Blue is a labor of love. On election day 2020, when I saw that there was a good chance the state of Georgia might go blue, I came up with an idea: to record an album of Georgia- related songs as a thank you to the state and donate the money to a Georgia based non-profit organization. I will admit my motivations were a bit selfish. For years, I’ve been looking for an excuse to record these songs with my band and some friends. The songs on this album are some of my favorite Georgia-related songs, but the tracklist is not meant to be comprehensive. I would love to cover Outkast and 2 Chainz, but I don’t think the finished product would be very good. We’re a rock band, so we covered rock songs. We have roots in blues and R&B, so we enlisted some brilliant artists to help us pull off songs by Precious Bryant, James Brown, and Gladys Knight. My favorite part of the Georgia Blue recording process was having the opportunity to work with these very special artists, and I thank them: Amanda Shires, Brittney Spencer, Adia Victoria, Brandi Carlile, Julien Baker, Bèla Fleck, Chris Thile, Steve Gorman, Peter Levin, and John Paul White. I hope you enjoy listening to these recordings as much as we enjoyed making them. Keep listening to good music and fighting the good fight.” - Jason Isbell

TRACK LISTING

1. Nightswimming Feat. Bela Fleck And Chris Thile
2. Honeysuckle Blue Feat. Sadler Vaden
3. It's A Man's Man's World Feat. Brittney Spencer
4. Cross Bones Style Feat. Amanda Shires
5. The Truth Feat. Adia Victoria
6. I've Been Loving You Too Long
7. Sometimes Salvation Feat. Steve Gorman
8. Kid Fears Feat. Julien Baker And Brandi Carlile
9. Reverse
10. Midnight Train To Georgia Feat. Brittney Spencer And John Paul White
11. In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed Feat. Peter Levin
12. I'm Through
13. Driver 8 Feat. John Paul White

Live From The Ryman was primarily recorded during the group’s six sold out nights at Nashville’s legendary Ryman Auditorium in 2017. The album features 13 live versions of songs from their last three critically acclaimed, award-winning studio albums - Southeastern (2013), Something More Than Free (2015), The Nashville Sound (2017).

TRACK LISTING

1. Hope The High Road
2. 24 Frames
3. White Man's World
4. Flagship
5. Cumberland Gap
6. Something More Than Free
7. The Life You Chose
8. Elephant
9. Flying Over Water
10. Last Of My Kind
11. Cover Me Up
12. Super 8
13. If We Were Vampires

Reunions is the new album from Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. Jason Isbell is a four-time Grammy award winner and nine-time Americana Music Association award winner

TRACK LISTING

1. What’ve I Done To Help
2. Dreamsicle
3. Only Children
4. Overseas
5. Running With Our Eyes Closed
6. River
7. Be Afraid
8. St. Peter’s Autograph
9. It Gets Easier
10. Letting You Go

The Nashville Sound was recorded at Nashville’s legendary RCA Studio A and produced by Grammy Award-winner Dave Cobb, who produced ‘Something More Than Free’ and Isbell’s celebrated 2013 breakthrough album ‘Southeastern’.

‘The Nashville Sound’ features 10 new songs that address a range of subjects that include, politics and cultural privilege (“White Man’s World”) longing nostalgia (“The Last Of My Kind”), love and mortality (“If We Were Vampires”), the toxic effect of today’s pressures (“Anxiety”), the remnants of a break up (“Chaos and Clothes”) and finding hope (“Something To Love”). Songs such as “Cumberland Gap” and “Hope The Highroad” find Jason and his bandmates going back to their rock roots full force.

TRACK LISTING

1. Last Of My Kind
2. Cumberland Gap
3. Tupelo
4. White Man's World
5. If We Were Vampires
6. Anxiety
7. Molotov
8. Chaos And Clothes
9. Hope The High Road
10. Something To Love

Weathervanes is a collection of grown-up songs: Songs about adult love, about change, about the danger of nostalgia and the interrogation of myths, about cruelty and regret and redemption. Life and death songs played for and by grown ass people. Some will make you cry alone in your car and others will make you sing along with thousands of strangers in a big summer pavilion, united in the great miracle of being alive.

A Jason Isbell record always lands like a decoder ring in the ears and hearts of his audience, a soundtrack to his world and magically to theirs, too. Weathervanes carries the same revelatory power.

This is a storyteller at the peak of his craft, observing his fellow wanderers, looking inside and trying to understand, reducing a universe to four minutes. He shrinks life small enough to name the fear and then strip it away, helping his listeners make sense of how two plus two stops equalling four once you reach a certain age - and carry a certain amount of scars.

Jason Isbell has established himself as one of the most respected and celebrated songwriters of his generation. The North Alabama native possesses an incredible penchant for identifying and articulating some of the deepest, yet simplest, human emotions, and turning them into beautiful poetry through song. Isbell sings of the everyday human condition with thoughtful, heartfelt, and sometimes brutal honesty.

The record features the rolling thunder of Isbell’s fearsome 400 Unit, who’ve earned a place in the rock ‘n’ roll cosmos alongside the greatest backing ensembles, as powerful and essential to the storytelling as The E Street Band or the Wailers.

Isbell broke through in 2013 with the release of Southeastern. His next two albums, Something More Than Free (2015) and The Nashville Sound (2017), won Grammy Awards for Best Americana Album and Best American Roots Song. Isbell’s song ‘Maybe It’s Time’ was featured in the 2019 reboot of A Star Is Born.

His most recent full-length album, Reunions (2020), is a critically acclaimed collection of ten songs that showcased an artist at the height of his powers and a band fully charged with creativity and confidence. The roots of Weathervanes go back into the isolation of the pandemic and to Isbell’s recent time on the set as an actor on Martin Scorsese’s upcoming film Killers of the Flower Moon.

TRACK LISTING

1. Death Wish
2. King Of Oklahoma
3. Strawberry Woman
4. Middle Of The Morning
5. Save The World
6. If You Insist
7. Cast Iron Skillet
8. When We Were Close
9. Volunteer
10. Vestavia Hills
11. White Beretta
12. This Ain't It
13. Miles

Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Jason Isbell is one of the most respected and celebrated artists of his generation. The North Alabama native possesses an incredible penchant for identifying and articulating some of the deepest, yet simplest, human emotions, and turning them into beautiful poetry through song. Isbell sings of the everyday human condition with thoughtful, heartfelt, and sometimes brutal honesty.

This album showcases his song craft at its purest roots with just his voice and an acoustic guitar.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: 'Foxes In The Snow' showcases Isbell's most tender leanings, with athletically plucked acoustic guitar and gravelly, perfectly pitched vocals sitting comfortably together, showcasing a beautiful LP that unsurprisingly, lands somewhere between classic country and uplifting folk-rock. What's most unimpressive is how full these unadorned pieces sound, and how in keeping with Isbell's impressive canon it is.

TRACK LISTING

1. Bury Me
2. Ride To Robert’s
3. Eileen
4. Gravelweed
5. Don’t Be Tough
6. Open And Close
7. Foxes In The Snow
8. Crimson And Clay
9. Good While It Lasted
10. True Believer
11. Wind Behind The Rain

How does an artist follow a critically-acclaimed breakthrough record like 'Southeastern'? For Jason Isbell, the answer was 'Something More Than Free'. With songs like '24 Frames', 'Flagship', and 'Children of Children', the 2015 album found Isbell tackling the subjects he knows best: the dignity of work, the difficulty of love, the friction between the present and the past. 'Something More Than Free' further established the North Alabama native as a bonafide songwriter, and also netted him his first two Grammy Awards, for Americana Album of the Year, and for American Roots Song of the Year ('24 Frames'.)

10 years later, 'Something More Than Free' has been re-mixed by the legendary Sylvia Massy (Prince, Johnny Cash, Tom Petty), breathing new life into these now classic songs in the Isbell canon. And as a cherry on top, the man has broken his normal rule and included a b-side here. 'Should I Go Missing' is a bluesy jammer highlighted by Isbell's slide guitar playing.

TRACK LISTING

1. If It Takes A Lifetime
2. 24 Frames
3. Flagship
4. How To Forget
5. Children Of Children 
6. The Life You Chose
7. Something More Than Free
8. Speed Trap Town
9. Hudson Commodore
10. Palmetto Rose
11. To A Band That I Loved 
12. Should I Go Missing