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

Taken from "Echoes Of Africa" the most requested track from the album, "People All Around The World, Can Make It" is dealt with themes of climate change with their strong afrobeat/funk personality, are intoxicants, choral aphorisms, reminiscent of American funk bands of the '70s. It doesn't take much to change direction, to erase the negative effects caused by the recent years' globalisation …We can Make it!

TRACK LISTING

1. People All Around The World, Can Make It (Album Version)
2. People All Around The World, Can Make It (Studio Live Take)

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)

Communique Records USA reissues another slice of unmissable Midwest acid techno. Hailing from Kevin Whitley in 1995, "The Nex EP" manages to harness and tame the wild, flailing sounds of the Roland TB-303 into something more contained, styish and seductive. Less Josh Wink more Phuture.
Recorded from original DAT and re-mastered. Essential! 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: With the acid revival in full swing, Communique revisit this tasty number from '95. Sexy, slinky and swinging off the rafters like a demonic rave monkey. Essential 303 biznoinks!

TRACK LISTING

A1 Izzy
A2 Channeling
B1 All Around Us
B2 Eupepsia

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

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)

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)

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.

"We first met Irked at The White Hotel in Salford. They were first on the bill. The venue is a repurposed warehouse on an industrial estate, cold on hot days and a dampness in the air even when it’s dry outside. As with all great bands they made the venue theirs. The White Hotel is the perfect space for a group to OWN when they're on fire and Irked were on fire. We think playing live is still the best way to make friends and Irked make lots of friends when they play. We kept in touch, hassling them to record the songs we’d heard and loved.

First came a One Sided 12" (pressed twice, sold out twice) after which they were invited onto the Marc Riley / Gideon Coe BBC 6Music show to do a session. Then came a Tour 7" (in time for their UK dates with Pigsx7, also long sold out).

They've gone up and down the UK numerous times – playing with the likes of Uranium Club, Part Chimp, Benefits, Hey Colossus and Swami John Reis as well as festivals like Manchester Punk Festival, NOISE ANNOYS, Clamlines, our own Wrong Speed Fest, Twisterella, Summer Streets and Rock Against Racism. Their enthusiasm for being in a band is genuine and infectious.

The Grievance is born out of this excitement for playing live and the noble desire to rip it up. However, as with all the best party music there's a mission statement too. Dancing to Betty Davis or Syl Johnson or Bikini Kill or Public Enemy is all well and good in the clubs, but when you really dig into it, you are taught and inspired as well as entertained. As the title suggests, there is spleen being vented here, just as when Huggy Bear vented, or Dead Kennedys vented, or X-Ray Spex vented. IRKED’s rage might be tempered by wit and killer hooks but it’s still laser focused. The Grievance is genuinely righteous music made by people embedded in their local community and rightly enraged at the world around them.

We’re not here to tell you how to file this record or what type of music it might be. We’re here to tell you that Irked belong alongside anyone who wants to bring a zest to a room, who wants to question what's going on, and who wants music played by folks who aren't cosplaying. We're done with that. We can spot it. The Grievance is inspiring, raging, uplifting, sometimes-hilarious/sometimes-brutally honest, catchy-as-f*ck punk rock and you’re going to love it." - Wrong Speed

TRACK LISTING

1. I.R.K.E.D.F.U.
2. Repeat Offender
3 Running
4.Who Asked?
5. The ACP
6. Settle Down
7. The Grievance
8. Green Space
9. Death Cult
10. The Hardest Man In Billingham
11. The Keynote Speaker
12. Freak Pub
13. Vomit
14. IRKED Vs. Area Manager

CD CONTAINS 5 BONUS TRACKS FROM THE BANDS SELF-TITLED EP (+ 2 ‘SECRET TRACKS’)
15. Snakes
16. Backstreets
17. Crippling Empath
18. Lanzarote
19. Move

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

“I’ve always wanted to use that title,” Sam Beam says of 'Hen’s Teeth', his eighth full-length album and his sixth for Sub Pop Records. “I just love it. To me it suggests the impossible. Hen’s teeth do not exist. And that’s what this record felt like: a gift that shouldn’t be there but it is. An impossible thing but it’s real.”

'Hen’s Teeth' and his previous album, 'Light Verse', are siblings of a sort. They were recorded during the same sessions after a year-long dry spell, with the same band, at Waystation studio in Laurel Canyon. “When I’ve been on a writing kick, and the band can meet me where I’m at, they push me into something I hadn’t imagined. I’m at a point in my life where spontaneity is a lot more important to me. I don’t have as much to prove as I used to. I’m a lot freer and I love making music more than ever. There are no right or wrong answers. You just pray for your luck and try your best.”

In this case prayers were answered and luck struck hard. The musicians cohered so quickly and inspired each other so much that they were often getting songs recorded in just a few takes, sometimes at the rate of two or three per day. The two albums might therefore be thought of as fraternal twins: they share DNA and complement each other but have distinct identities and are defined as much by their differences as their similarities.

'Light Verse' (2024) took its name from a form of poetry that makes heavy use of wordplay, humor, and nonsense. Its cover depicts figures in silhouette, floating or falling through a cyanotype sky. It’s a sweet and airy album, impressionistic, at times even flirting with abstraction, a hearty shaking off of the doom and gloom of the Covid era. Many of the songs are named for ideas or feelings that gesture toward hope amidst uncertainty: 'You Never Know', 'All in Good Time' (a gorgeous duet with Fiona Apple), 'Cutting It Close', 'Taken by Surprise'.

The world of 'Hen’s Teeth' is earthier, darker, more robust and more tactile than that of 'Light Verse'. The songs have titles like 'Roses', 'Robin’s Egg', 'Dates and Dead People', 'Singing Saw'. “Run into the one you love forever / Laugh into each other’s empty mouth,” Beam sings on 'Roses', the album’s first track. It’s one of several songs in which lovers are depicted as so deeply entwined they physically merge. 'Paper and Stone' recalls that “But for the time we fell in two / You’d be me and I’d be you / One crust of bread could fit in our mouths / You’d breathe in and I’d let it out.” And on 'In Your Ocean', we find Beam “Praying for dry ground / Though I only want to drown / When I find myself swimming in your ocean.”

The cover is a portrait of Beam surrounded on all sides by flourishing ferns and other tropical plant life. He is wearing a pin-stripe jacket and holding a massive cluster of grapes, prodigious beard spilling down his chest. He could be a local harvest god or a gentleman outlaw holed up in a jungle cave. There are white feathers covering his eyes but these somehow do not suggest blindness. Rather they seem to literalize the poetic notion of an artist’s vision taking flight. The whole surreal scene is washed in humid, spooky red. It’s somewhere between Leonora Carrington and Frida Kahlo, and the contrast with the cool blue-white palette of 'Light Verse' could not be starker.

“The experiments in this one were more with genre than with form. For the last couple years one of my go-to’s has been Van Morrisson’s 'Astral Weeks', that style where jazz musicians play folk music and it blossoms in different ways than folk musicians are normally interested in doing. ‘Singing Saw’ feels like a song that Dock Boggs and Simon & Garfunkel might have done together. ‘Roses’ and ‘In Your Ocean’ are straight forward folk rock, but they build to these apocalyptic endings. ‘Dates and Dead People’ and ‘Defiance, Ohio’ take a lot from Tropicalia, which is some of my favorite music too. I don’t see it as that much different from jazz. All these forms have been in rock music forever.”

About the players: David Garza on guitar, Sebastian Steinberg on bass, and Tyler Chester on keyboards. Griffin Goldsmith, Beth Goodfellow, and Kyle Crane all play drums. Paul Cartwright plays violin and mandolin among other stringed instruments; he also handled string arrangements for both records. The indie-country trio I’m With Her appears on the ebullient lead single, 'Robin’s Egg', and again on the tender, mournful 'Wait Up'.

“I’m obsessed with duets,” Beam says. “Ever since I did 'Love Letter to Fire' with Jesca Hoop. I just love the form. It’s inherently dramatic. And it’s so fun. I had these songs and I finished them with I’m With Her in mind.” Arden Beam—Beam’s daughter—contributes harmonies and backing vocals on the tracks, 'Roses', 'Singing Saw', 'Defiance, Ohio' and 'Grace Notes'. Her contributions lend a personal poignancy, as well as a wonderful sonic texture, to 'Hen’s Teeth'. Born two months before the release of his debut album, 'The Creek Drank the Cradle' (2002), she is now 23 years old and a musician herself—the first of his children to appear on one of his records.

“It’s exciting, making it more of a family affair. I like making Iron and Wine records, but I like the collaboration even more. Interacting with a bunch of friends and being blown away by what they can bring, musically and emotionally, to a set of three chords. I get to play all day with these people I love and they respond by giving me their most vulnerable, expressive self. It’s the weirdest, best job ever.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Roses
2. Paper And Stone
3. Robin's Egg (feat. I'm With Her)
4. Singing Saw
5. In Your Ocean
6. Defiance, Ohio
7. Wait Up (feat. I'm With Her)
8. Grace Notes
9. Dates And Dead People
10. Half Measures

"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.

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)

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

'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

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

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

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.

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

Jason Isbell's songs are filled with ghosts. They're haunted by spirits both welcome and unwelcome, by the personal and historical legacies that make us who we are. Nowhere is this more evident than on his 2013 breakthrough album Southeastern. Isbell offers confessions, reflections, and promises that confront and make communion with those who have come before and remain with us still. Its twelve tracks represent an extended meditation on the concept articulated by another celebrated southern storyteller, author William Faulkner: "The past is never dead. It isn't even past"

TRACK LISTING

Black Vinyl / Coloured Vinyl Tracklisting
1. Cover Me Up
2. Stockholm
3. Traveling Alone
4. Elephant
5. Flying Over Water
6. Different Days
7. Live Oak
8. Songs That She Sang In The Shower
9. New South Wales
10. Super 8
11. Yvette
12. Relatively Easy

3CD / 4LP Tracklisting
CD1/LP1
1. Cover Me Up
2. Stockholm
3. Traveling Alone
4. Elephant
5. Flying Over Water
6. Different Days
7. Live Oak
8. Songs That She Sang In The Shower
9. New South Wales
10. Super 8
11. Yvette
12. Relatively Easy
CD2/LP2
1. Cover Me Up (Demo)
2. Stockholm (Demo)
3. Traveling Alone (Demo)
4. Elephant (Demo)
5. Flying Over Water (Demo)
6. Different Days (Demo)
7. Live Oak (Demo)
8. Songs That She Sang In The Shower (Demo)
9. New South Wales (Demo)
10. Super 8 (Demo)
11. Yvette (Demo)
12. Relatively Easy (Demo)
CD3/LP3&4
1. Cover Me Up (Live)
2. Stockholm (Live)
3. Traveling Alone (Live)
4. Elephant (Live)
5. Flying Over Water (Live)
6. Different Days (Live)
7. Live Oak (Live)
8. Songs That She Sang In The Shower (Live)
9. New South Wales (Live)
10. Super 8 (Live)
11. Yvette (Live)
12. Relatively Easy (Live)

Isella doesn’t flinch from the horror stitched into the fabric of the feminine experience. Citing writers like Plath Margaret Atwood, and Mona Awad as germinal influences on her lyricism, Isella plunges into the underbelly of expectations of good-girlhood, of valiant womanhood. In her songs she splays out the stakes of it all, plumbing the viscera, unearthing the blood, guts, dirt, and decay lurking beneath. By the time she hit fifteen, Isella’s taste had expanded and grown darker and more mature. Artists like Nine Inch Nails and Tom Waits became a conduit for the kind of raw intensity she’d always been drawn to, and gave her permission to push herself to new depths of expression. This is evidenced on her latest EP; That freedom that Reznor et al. endowed to the songwriter are evidenced on her latest EP; Something is a shell . Isella’s vocals swing from coolly detached to emotional detonation, often in the span of the same song. She brings listeners into a world colored by feminist hyper-realism, challenging listeners to re-define ideas of femininity, and safety; to see that things are not okay.

TRACK LISTING

1. Numbers 31:17-18
2. Out In The Garden
3. Star V
4. The Chicken Is Naked And Afraid
5. Above The Neck
6. Evergreen Soldier

Charting a course between electronic experimentation and the dark echoes of 1980s post-rock, ishi vu’s music transports the young artist’s philosophical meditations in Gothenburg to imagined dancefloors worldwide. Created in response to a deep transformational experience, his debut album 'La Luz' is truly unique: channelling all genres and none into a depiction of some of the most fundamental human feelings. La Luz is a vivid and poignant distillation of club culture into something familiar, temporarily distant, but fresh. With the precision of someone who has thought carefully about an exact psychological, physical - and perhaps even spiritual - effect they want to provoke.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
La Luz BLue18
This Is Your Life - Vinyl Version
Isolated Incidents

Side B
Poison Dart
Bell-Tower Trip

Side C
Neverending Elation
Brightly Burning, Yet Alone
A.S.I.S.O.A. 1000

Side D
The Wasp
SANCTUAry, It MUST HappeN AGain!
10 Tolls: A Threnody For The Luz
Persuaded To Embrace In Saving Faith
[A CURIOUS END]

Japanese-style Eurodance meets Philip Glass from Tasho Ishi

RIYL SOPHIE, Lorenzo Senni, PC Music and Oneohtrix Point Never 

Following his critically acclaimed debut "Dentsu2060" released via Lorenzo Senni's Presto!?, Tasho Ishi's second full-length album "Tasho Ishi lI" is now available on his own label T's.

It features the new-wave Parapara anthem "Collapse Roppongihills" which became a staple at Narita Airport raves. celebrity trap rave track "DreamDrakeDrain" reminiscent of jam session between Drake and David Chronenberg. the junk entertainment track "Hellnwein" depicting modern pop utopia and its violent underbelly.

The Japanese-style Eurodance meets Philip Glass "The Bachelor" inspired by reality TV. These anthems are contemporary, pop, and carry Tasho Ishi's unique critical edge.

The second album, "Tasho Ishi Il", is both a musical translation of Japan's diverse techno-animism and a sequel to the previous work "Dentsu2060". Techno-animism: Para Para, anime voice actors, reality TV, epics, advertising, and raves. Each track stands alone yet forms part of a larger, chronologically unfolding narrative.

While all tracks are animated by Japan-specific sound imagery, this is a pop album rather than avant-garde or abstract. In essence, it's a series of songs generated by rave trans-layers, serving as both reportage and documentation tracing Tasho Ishi's visionary city and its phenomena.

TRACK LISTING

A1.Window In The Sky
A2.The Bachelor
A3.Harry
A4.Helnwein
A5.Youth Packing
A6.Syukatsu Process
B1.Grandia AD
B2.Collapse Roppongihills
B3.Driftwood
B4.Memoria
B5.DrakeDreamDrain
B6.Get Out

“the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern; to see shapes or make pictures out of randomness.”

Eiko Ishibashi and Jim O’Rourke toured Europe for two weeks in 2023, a wonderful passage through France, Switzerland, Italy and Ireland; Pareidolia, the duo's fifth collaborative release, is a remix made up of resonances from those shows. The movement of sound in each performance and the relationships of sound between them; a dynamic medley of colour and shape to pulse through earbuds, speaker cones and the air immediately surrounding you.

Improvisation is the preferred collaborative mode for Eiko and Jim. They both prepare separately, without discussing anything beforehand. The dialogue in the moment determines the performance; anything that takes place is a possible point of departure, allowing for a unique experience each time they play.

These 2023 shows marked the first time Jim and Eiko had played together outside Japan. Perhaps the flow of parts unpacked from their respective computers was inspired by the experiences of the tour: the nature of the assembled audience, the quality of the meal on the day at hand. Additionally, Eiko played flute and they both played a bit of harmonica intermittently throughout the performances. These live acoustic signals were routed back to the hard drives, to provide further material to play with — and as they travelled, recordings of the previous nights’ shows were among the materials for the next performance. With all this to play with, there was much fun to be had every night. Pareidolia’s final mix is one further rearrangement of the elements — comping — say, a bit of Jim from Paris against Eiko in Dublin for a minute, before bringing them both back into the same room for a spell before another set of interactions comes into play. The choices and edits represented here make yet another unique dialogue, as well as a kind of 'best' version of what they were doing on the tour.

For us at home, the sense of inevitability in the parts as they flow together might suggest structure; happily, this occurs without Eiko and Jim really committing to anything of the sort. Their available sound sources could present as a hot-wired noise onslaught, with all faders up full. Endless possible interpretations to be had on either side of the experience! This is one of several ways that the LP title and sequence of song titles come into play. Listeners hearing something more should have a good look in the mirror and perhaps consider the old saying: “Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.”

It could only help!

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
Par
Ei

SIDE B
Do
Lia

The respected Japanese jazz drummer Akira Ishikawa was not messing around when he recorded the 'Uganda (Dawn of Rock)' album with his band the Count Buffaloes

For this offering, originally released in 1972 on Toshiba Records, Akira Ishikawa takes us on a deep tripped- out journey. 'Uganda (Dawn of Rock)' is a fusion of progressive and psych rock with African percussion workouts, dergy- wah wah blues-funk, and jazzy sensibilities; with different genres morphing and uniting as they progress.A long way from his funk and afrobeat album 'Back To Rhythm', reissued on Mr Bongo in 2019, this record has a darker, deeper, abstract and experimental stoned tone with the listener being pulled into its vortex for the ride. This record doesn't pull any punches.

For this album, Akira is joined by Hideaki Chihara on bass, guitarist Kimio Mizutani, sounding at times like an early 70s Peter Green, percussionist Larry Sunaga and composer Takeru Muraoka.

The album has become highly sought- after amongst psych, prog and acid rock collectors and due to the rare nature of original copies they come at a hefty price tag.

TRACK LISTING

Wanyamana Mapambazuko
Na Tu Penda Sana
Vita
Pygmy

Ultra-rare jazz-funk/fusion album by Japanese drummer, Akira Ishikawa, featuring percussion-heavy versions of ‘Let’s Start’, ‘Bongo Rock’ and ‘Pick Up The Pieces’. ‘Back To Rhythm’ was the final recording in Ishikawa’s Africaninfluenced period. He cut this record with his band ‘Count Buffalos’, featuring Kiyoshi Sugimoto, Takeru Muraoka, Larry Sunaga and arranger Hiromasa Suzuki. It includes excellent cover versions of The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, BT Express, Stevie Wonder, Average White Band, Incredible Bongo Band and Fela Kuti. Originally released in Japan in 1975 by Columbia, this is now extremely difficult to find in its original format, and very pricey indeed!

TRACK LISTING

I’ve Got To Use My Imagination
Bongo Rock
Do It Til You’re Satisfied
Hey Jude
El Condor Pasa
Pick Up The Pieces
Love Is The Answer
I Shot The Sheriff
Let’s Start
Boogie On Reggae Woman

For this offering, originally released in 1972 on Toshiba Records, Akira Ishikawa takes us on a deep tripped- out journey. 'Uganda (Dawn of Rock)' is a fusion of progressive and psych rock with African percussion workouts, dergy- wah wah blues-funk, and jazzy sensibilities; with different genres morphing and uniting as they progress.A long way from his funk and afrobeat album 'Back To Rhythm', reissued on Mr Bongo in 2019, this record has a darker, deeper, abstract and experimental stoned tone with the listener being pulled into its vortex for the ride. This record doesn't pull any punches.

For this album, Akira is joined by Hideaki Chihara on bass, guitarist Kimio Mizutani, sounding at times like an early 70s Peter Green, percussionist Larry Sunaga and composer Takeru Muraoka.

The album has become highly sought- after amongst psych, prog and acid rock collectors and due to the rare nature of original copies they come at a hefty price tag.

We are delighted to present an officially licensed re- issue of this underground Japanese rock rarity.

TRACK LISTING

1. Wanyamana Mapambazuko
2. Na Tu Penda Sana
3. Vita
4. Pygmy

Following a banner year for Pete Cunningham - best known as dextrous saxophonist Ishmael and leader of the namesake Ishmael Ensemble - 2019 now brings debut album ‘A State of Flow.’ This new long player builds on Cunningham’s work as proud protector of Bristolian heritage, sketching loving sonic pictures of the South West in his Bristol-inspired ‘Severn Songs’ series, whilst also incubating local visual and musical talent, within the Ensemble.

‘A State Of Flow’ touches on various styles of jazz, stirring ambient invocations, club-ready percussive workouts, spiralling grooves & hazy psychedelic electronica. This would be a confusing melange, but for Cunningham’s excursions as a genre-agnostic DJ – something evident in the real house shuffle of ‘Lapwing’ – which evokes walking into a smoky afterhours haunt and finding a session in full, forward motion or the organic garage beats of ‘Full Circle’ and classic trip hop style ‘Waterfall’ fuelled by Holysseus Fly’s honey toned and evocative vocals.

This album, borne of strong vision and stronger hometown pride, embellishes Ishmael Ensemble as one of the UK’s finest new groups. As shown across ‘A State of Flow’, the future of Bristol’s musical legacy is in more than capable hands.

TRACK LISTING

A1. The Chapel
A2. Full Circle Feat. Holysseus Fly
A3. Siren!
A4. Lapwing
A5. Yellow House Feat. Yama Warashi
B1. The River
B2. First Light
B3. Waterfall Feat. Holysseus Fly
B4. Surge

Following a breakthrough year that saw the release of their second album “Visions Of Light” bring critical acclaim to the Bristol group led by producer & saxophonist Pete Cunningham - Ishmael Ensemble return with “Versions Of Light” - a collection of reworks, remixes and reimagined versions by an exciting line-up of friends and family from the wider Ishmael Ensemble contingent.

The aim of the project in Cunningham’s words “was to avoid just putting together another predictable club-centric remix package with a few extra kick drums added here and there, instead I’ve approached this record as an opportunity to further lean into the collaborative nature of Ishmael Ensemble, whether that’s asking friends to rework tracks or inviting new vocalists to add their story to the melting pot”

These include Rider Shafique's politically charged take on Empty Hands Grove’s twisted bashment version of Wax Werk. There are also clubby moments from London based House aficionado Medlar, who turns Soma Centre into a heady peak time banger, and Indian producer Sandune’s post-dubstep twist on the title track.

As well as appearances from bandmates Holysseus Fly, Rindill & takx - the record also features many of the original collaborators from “Visions Of Light” given free reign to re-contextualize their contributions including an otherworldly version of Looking Glass by the inimitable STANLÆY, an ethereal performance of The Gift by Tiny Chapter and a hazy lofi home recording of Morning Chorus by Cunningham and long term collaborator & vocalist Chris Hillier. 

TRACK LISTING

1. "Intro" (Rindill Version)
2. "Visions Of Light" (Sandunes Version)
3. "Wax Werk" (Grove Version)
4. "Soma Centre" (Medlar Version)
5. "Empty Hands" (Rider Shafique Version)
6. "Feather" (Takx Version)
7. "Looking Glass" (Stanley Version)
8. "Morning Chorus" (Home Version)
9. "The Gift" (Tiny Chapter Version)
10. "January" (Holysseus Fly Version)

Bristol experimental jazz collective Ishmael Ensemble reveal their expansive new album “Visions of Light”. 

Helmed by producer and saxophonist Pete Cunningham, Ishmael Ensemble’s richly inventive 2019 debut “A State Of Flow” marked them out as an explosive new force in UK jazz, imbuing lush cinematic compositions with left-field dub and electronic sensibilities redolent of Bristol’s vital musical landscape. Named The Guardian’s ‘Contemporary Album Of The Month’ and Mojo’s ‘Jazz Album of The Month’, it saw the group perform Maida Vale sessions for both Gilles Peterson and Tom Ravenscroft, as well as feature on compilations for Brownswood Recordings and Soul Jazz Records.

Ishmael Ensemble has since become a platform for Cunningham to subvert the conventional notions of producer/artist relationships, unsettling genre tags, and transcending the familiar landscape of UK jazz itself. Across the album’s 10 tracks, Cunningham practices a holistic approach with a long list of collaborators. Together, they explore vast new sonic terrain with an honesty, intimacy and emotional heft impossible for a conventional band.

“Visions Of Light” tells the story of Ishmael Ensemble’s development across its two sides. The first draws from the energy Cunningham and his bandmates discovered whilst extensively touring “A State Of Flow”. The album opens with a cascade of harp glissandos and the gorgeous “Feather” – Holysseus Fly’s lush vocal lulling the listener into a false sense of security, before her voice is warped beyond recognition in the high-octane, cacophonous “Wax Werk”. The tracks that follow take a darker, heavier turn. The driving, uninhibited performances of Stephen Mullins (guitar) and Rory O’Gorman (drums), along with Jake Spurgeon’s agile synth work, lay the foundation for Cunningham to deliver his most confident and direct saxophone performances to date.

Side B sees Cunningham settle into his role as producer and collaborator, resetting the scene with the vivid and playful “Looking Glass”, inviting vocalist, harpist and strings arranger STANLAEY to take centre stage. The landscape shifts again for the movingly nostalgic “Morning Chorus”, whilst “The Gift” sees the angelic vocals of Tiny Chapter (Waldo’s Gift) initiate a dizzying crescendo of swirling synthesisers and string arrangements. When “Visions Of Light” resolves with the gorgeous slow-burner “January”, it is with an unmistakable hopefulness – something that, in these times of disquietude, is urgently felt.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Intro
2. Feather
3. Wax Werk
4. Soma Centre
5. Empty Hands

Side B
1. Looking Glass
2. Morning Chorus
3. Visions Of Light
4. The Gift
5. January

This Fishtank session of Isis and Aereogramme together has a wonderful sound. Where both bands are known for their love of metal and post-hardcore, they also experiment and they not only show those skills here, but they reach an impressively high level of purity, roominess and emotion. Konkurrent expected a heavy and loud session not yet heard before in the series, but it's the analog warmth that makes the songs tender, organic, imminent and fragile. It's the unexpected that makes this a very successful Fishtank edition.

Guitar throttling slow drone metallers Isis team up with Glasgow underground heroes Aereogramme on this latest installment in Dutch distributor Konkurrent's Fishtank series. Where both bands are known for their love of metal and post-hardcore, they find the time here to experiment, reaching an impressively high level of purity, roominess and emotion. "In The Fishtank" is the ongoing project of Konkurrent, an independent record distributor in the Netherlands. They invite bands they feel strongly about to take two days studio time and freedom to do whatever they like musically. The Fishtank series offers a space for expression and experimentation.

Continuing the series of Isis reissues, 'In the Absence of Truth' is the band’s 2006 release, remastered by James Plotkin.

The album expands upon the group's previous full-length, 'Panopticon', further exploring lead singer Aaron Turner's clean vocals (though his former techniques, which relied more on screaming and growling, are still present as well). Musically, the album is dynamic, ranging from extended musical ambience to almost tribal drumming. Isis continued their lengthy songwriting; 'In the Absence of Truth' is Isis' longest record, at almost 65 minutes.

TRACK LISTING

1. Wrists Of Kings
2. Not In Rivers, But In Drops
3. Dulcinea
4. Over Rot And Thorn
5. 10 Shards
6. All Out Of Time, All Into Space
7. Holy Tears
8. Firdous E Baren
9. Garden Of Light

Continuing in the series of Isis reissues, 'Wavering Radiant' is the band’s final and 2009 release, remastered by James Plotkin. 

The album was produced by Joe Barresi, and the band split just over a year after its release. The album continues Isis' history of lengthy songwriting, yet presents a slight departure from the soft-loud dynamics and post-metal aesthetic which characterized previous releases. It is widely considered the band’s most accessible release in their catalog.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hall Of The Dead
2. Ghost Key
3. Hand Of The Host
4. Wavering Radiant
5. Stone To Wake A Serpent
6. 20 Minutes / 40 Years
7. Threshold Of Transformation

Ahead of their UK and European tour dates, we are excited to announce the release date of ‘Feels Like Air’, the debut album from ISLAND, out via Frenchkiss. The band will also play a very special headline show at London’s iconic KOKO venue on 23rd May. Following two acclaimed EPs and a busy 12 months establishing themselves as ones-to-catch on live circuits across the UK and Europe, the band have built a reputation as one of 2017’s most important break out acts. 

Drawing on influences from their shared love of artists like Fleetwood Mac, Kings of Leon, War On Drugs and Grizzly Bear, ‘Feels like air’, with its hook-filled anthemic choruses and inventive drumming, is a body of work two years in the making. This is a band that has spent time carefully honing their craft, so as to capture the sound and energy of their live performances.

TRACK LISTING

1. Ride
2. Try
3. The Day I Die
4. Something Perfect
5. Interlude
6. Horizon
7. Moth
8. We Can Go Anywhere
9. God Forgive
10. Feels Like Air
11. Lilyflower

There are influences of Van Der Graaf and Gentle Giant in this 1977 Swiss bands only release. Hints too of Magma and Gong but from the eerie H.R.Giger take on the "Isle of the Dead" to the epic closing track, the 23 minute "Empty Bottles" there is always something to enjoy on this real prog rarity, one well worth discovering.

Everything delivered from Rollo Doherty and co. up to now has a straight-down-the-line, effortlessly huge quality” – DIY.

“The one band everyone is raving about… A very very special band” – Huw Stephens.

‘When We’re Still’ is the latest EP from ISLAND, which follows the four piece’s debut album ‘Feels Like Air’, released in 2018. The EP features a selection of tracks that show a remarkable sonic development and usher in a new era for the band, taking the driving, anthemic and atmospheric nuances of their signature sound to glorious new heights. Speaking about ‘When We’re Still’, ISLAND stated: “With this EP, we wanted to write songs that, for us, were best enjoyed still. Songs to listen to while just thinking. The EP sandwiches brand new material alongside much older tracks like ‘Lyra’, which was the first song we ever wrote as a four’

TRACK LISTING

A

1. Just That Time Of The Night
2. All In My Head
3. She
4. Lyra Side

B

1. Just That Time Of The Night (Instrumental)
2. All In My Head (Instrumental)
3. She (Instrumental)
4. Lyra (Instrumental)
5. Lyra (2014 Demo)

Yesterday Park’ is an album about nostalgia, that feeling of looking back, not to one specific time or place but rather the feeling associated with the hazy blur of childhood and teenage memories. The songs cover a lot of different themes, but at their heart they all stem from formative memories. When writing we considered how our understanding of past experiences had shifted through the many different retrospective lenses we have. Life has become more complex and we wanted to capture that feeling of looking back, finding the beauty in those simple moments that exist as silver-linings in our memories. That reflection also brought us to think differently about the complexity and challenges of life today. It inspired us to consider the importance of taking responsibility for the harm that the world is doing to itself, at the same time as needing to take more responsibility in our own lives.

We had the majority of the album written just before everything shut down in March last year, but, since taking that enforced pause, the songs have grown to take on new significance for us. Nostalgia is a feeling that has become more relevant for everyone in the last year, with more time and space to reflect on past experiences. We regrouped in the summer in a strange, semi-locked-down London to record ‘Yesterday Park’. Although we’d always previously self-produced our music, we wanted to expand our sound for this record in order to best capture that feeling we wanted to create, and we began working with producer Mikko Gordon (Thom Yorke, Arcade Fire). We stepped away from some of our old approaches and brought in new ideas, experimenting with more complex production that we had previously shied away from. Introducing new textures, instrumentation and recording techniques allowed us to better create that reflective feeling we were aiming for. We drew a lot of influence from the 90s, and particularly beat-driven 90s hip-hop which inspired a lot of the grooves in the album.

After being apart from each other for months, away from any chance to perform, hunkering down in our hometown and focusing in on making ‘Yesterday Park’ was a really intense experience for us, and emphasised that cathartic feeling of reflecting on the past.

TRACK LISTING

1. Octopus
2. Everyone's The Same
3. Do You Remember The Times
4. Young Days
5. We Use To Talk
6. Yesterday Park
7. By Your Side
8. The Lines We Follow
9. When I Gave You My Heart
10. This Part Of Town
11. My Brother
12. The Way We Love

Islandman are a musical trio from Istanbul and "Godless Ceremony" is their third album, released via our much treasured friends at Music For Dreams. Alligance with the label is bound to signify a degree of horizontal leaning, and across the double album Islandman explore slow-mo Balearic chug, eastern melodies, downtempo house, expansive horizons and sun scorched air. An incendiary, uplifting and psychedelic slew of music drawn from a world of make-believe, rooted in Anatolia and rich with exotic beauty.

These 13 tracks are awash with acid drenched electronic motifs and stuttering electronic drum machine syncopations. The group effortlessly sail the globe, dropping into the tropics of Ecuador ("Amarnos Ahora"), to Mali visiting North African desert blues masters Tamikrest ("Tarhamanine Assinegh") and North India ("Drums Of Colca") whilst never forgetting the music and poetry from the band's spiritual home, Anatolia ("Kara Toprak"). In "Godless Ceremony" we are withdrawn from time and place, delivered to a fantasy zone, dreamt up in the sea, gazing at the stars. It's a musical storyboard, that whilst conceived in Istanbul by producer, singer and multi instrumentalist Tolga Böyük, journeys to far off places, real and imagined. Hindustani tablas, Tibetan flutes, flamenco guitars, Anatolian Saz and Balinese (Bhasa) vocals all mesh within a concept (and coping mechanism) that contemplates daily routine as beautiful and meditative and as Tolga has appreciated over a testing two years i

The core members of Islandman are multi-instrumentalist & producer, Tolga Böyük and Eralp Güven (percussion) and Erdem Başer (guitars). Islandman have become known for their live performances, as anyone who has witnessed their live streams from Istanbul for the London Jazz Festival and Boiler Room can attest to.

Islandman simply avoids boundaries and "Godless Ceremony" is ultimately their most open-minded work to date. The subtleties and deft electronic touches bewilder and their clear appreciation of music on a global level is an education for us all.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Godless Ceremony sits perfectly in-between the dancefloor and the beach, with tropical rhythms and airy ambience beautifully twisting around a solid core of deep-house percussion and euphoric vocal melodies. Perfectly measured and beautifully rich.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Kara Toprak
A2 Sattva
A3 Aku Membawa - Radio Edit
A4 Sad Walk
B1 Tarhamanine Assinegh Feat. Tamikreast
B2 Drums Of Colca
B3 Istanbul Lockdown
C1 Amarnos Ahora
C2 Godless Ceremony
C3 Eros Dosco Bossa
D1 Dere Boyu Kavaklar
D2 Self Hypnosis
D3 Gaze Into An Abyss

"Island5" is Islandman’s most focused and detailed exploration of Anatolian psychedelia to date. They re-imagine the deep-rooted sounds of Anatolia through a modern lens. To them, this music isn’t frozen in time - it’s alive, shifting, and always becoming. Tradition, in their hands, isn’t something to preserve in glass, but something to carry, stretch, and let grow.

Each track offers a different angle into this reimagined sound. Analog synths mimic reed instruments, fuzzed guitars evoke forgotten tales, and percussion carries both the pulse of the city and the stillness of rural ground. There are meditative passages that invite silence ("Slwly"), and sunlit grooves that move the body before the mind ("Adada", "Rüzgar"). Everything flows as if improvised, but nothing feels accidental.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Is it Balearic? No! It's Anatolian! Tolga Boyuk completes his dream line-up with psychedelic guitar work from Erdem Baser and meditative percussion from Eralp Güven.

TRACK LISTING

1 Rüzgar
2 Adada
3 Eros
4 Ala Geyik
5 Cool Saz
6 SLWLY

A Powys trio whose free-spirited invention and exuberant intensity flows through experimental pop: hypnotic, exhilarating and defiantly unique. The Welsh band Islet return with the release of their long-awaited new album.

Eyelet was recorded at home tucked away in the hills of rural Mid Wales. It took form the months following the birth of band members Emma and Mark Daman Thomas’ second child and the death of fellow band member Alex Williams’ mother. Alex came to live with Emma and Mark, and the band enlisted Rob Jones (Pictish Trail, Charles Watson) to produce.

‘Caterpillar’ described by Emma as “a song for my unborn child”. It's followed by syncopated lullaby ‘Good Grief’ with its haunting keyboard hook and icy percussion thawed by Emma’s yearning vocals about the quiet strength of generations of women. With nods towards Arthur Russell and Jenny Hval, ‘Geese’ is a mini symphony of driven electronica inspired by Welsh cultural theorist Raymond Williams’ novel People Of The Black Mountains.

Young Fathers inflected rhythm can be heard on ‘Radel 10’ that accompanies the multi-tracked variations of Emma and defiant lyrics that were inspired in part by The Good Immigrant - the landmark anthology of essays on race and immigration by BAME writers.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Islet were one of the first bands I saw play when I moved to Wales, and remained a mainstay on my shelves since that day. Whilst their groove has morphed, and the frenetic energy has both waxed and waned, the output has remained undeniably brilliant. 'Eyelet' is on the more relaxing side, but absolutely glimmers with astoundingly written pop songs and immersive, soaring heft. Their greatest work to date, in a catalogue of gold.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
A1 Caterpillar
A2 Good Grief
A3 Treasure
A4 Geese
A5 Sgwylfa Rock

Side B
B1 Radel 10
B2 Clouds
B3 Florist
B4 Moon
B5 No Host
B6 Gyratory Circus

The genre-defying Welsh group define their vision with a breath-taking new album, Islet’s ‘Soft Fascination’ is an ecstatic experience in music, an explosion of emotion subsumed in sound. The album is filled with high energy cadence and meditations on collective joy, a balancing act underpinned with glorious melodies and Emma Daman Thomas’ evocative vocals that swirl in the symphonic surf. Self-produced, and with instruments recorded live with few overdubs, the effect is direct, it veers from the upfront and immediate to the spacious and challenging.

The first half is intentionally fast, intense, almost relentless. The second half is more spacious, as the album unravels and becomes more hazy. There is excitement and fascination and a willingness to show a lack of restraint in realising it, traversing hailstorms, hedgerows, broken promises and poisoned prayers; constantly breathing real life all in. Featuring standout singles: the pulsating ‘Euphoria’, the liberating flow of energy on ‘River Body’ and the recurring conundrum of choice of ‘Hat Person’, ‘Soft Fascination’ is an album of rare beauty.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Euphoria
A2 River Body
A3 Sherry
A4 Flailing
A5 Hat Person
B1 An Open Door
B2 Woolgathering
B3 Lemons
B4 Sleepwalker In A Fog
B5 Discipline
B6 Kits

The Isley Brothers “Knowledge is power. I’m a witness to that. Our parents wanted us to have a complete musical education. They exposed us to everything, classical to country, standards, show tunes.” Ronald Isley, Mojo Magazine, 2000.

The Isley Brothers have delighted audiences since the 1950’s and are celebrating their eighth decade in show business. Morphing from their roots in gospel and doo-wop through funk, rock and then, finally, into slow-jam R&B, the Isley Brothers remain one of the most fascinating groups of all time.

This album contains some of the most life-affirming music ever recorded: Ronald Isley’s keening yelp offering strength and sensitivity as it is supported by brothers Rudolph and O’Kelly. Our collection picks up their story in 1969. By this time, they had been recording for 12 years for many legendary labels, from RCA, to Atlantic, to Motown.

The brothers decided to go it alone on their own label, T-Neck. The repurposed Isleys broke onto the scene with the US R&B No.1/Hot 100 No. 2, ‘It’s Your Thing’. The album of the same name was a Top 30 smash and the group’s decision was vindicated. ‘It’s Your Thing’ marked a meeting point of influences: Sly Stone, James Brown, gospel and one-time group member Jimi Hendrix, laying the template for the Isleys’ next decade, from the gritty rock covers of Givin’ It Back to the era-defining ‘3 + 3’ (with the formal addition of the two younger Isleys, Ernie and Marvin, plus brother-in-law Chris Jasper).

After the 1972 release of ‘Brother, Brother, Brother’ (featuring the classic ‘Work To Do’) T-Neck moved to CBS leading to their first Platinum-selling album (1973’s ‘3+3’). Produced with Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff, ‘3+3’ was practically prescribed to every soul boy in the UK (witness Wham’s cover of ‘If You Were There’). For the Isleys to take their old R&B hit, ‘Who’s That Lady’ and turn it into hard-rocking psychedelic soul was a blazing statement of their intent. Their version of Seals and Croft’s pretty ‘Summer Breeze’ became one of their biggest hits, with Ronald and Ernie stamping their authority on the ballad.

A period of phenomenal success followed. For every standout ballad (‘For The Love Of You’, or ‘The Highways Of My Life’), there was strident, take-no-prisoners political funk - as typified by ‘Fight The Power’, a US R&B No. 1 in 1975. It was written by Ernie on the same day as another of their greatest moments, ‘Harvest For The World’.

This collection is a beautiful overview to the group, a most fabulous re-introduction to old friends. This era is affectionately known by the Isleys as the ‘gold and platinum years’ - one listen and you will understand why.

TRACK LISTING

It’s Yout Thing ( 02:46 )
Work To Do ( 03:12 )
That Lady - Parts 1 & 2 ( 05:34 )
Summer Breeze - Parts 1 & 2 ( 06:12 )
Harvest For The World ( 03:51 )
Live It Up - Parts 1 & 2 ( 06:15 )
Hello It’s Me ( 05:32 )
Groove With You ( 04:50 )
Fight The Power - Parts 1 & 2 ( 05:19 )
Hope You Feel Better Love - Parts 1 & 2 ( 06:06 )
For The Love Of You - Parts 1 & 2 ( 05:38 )
The Highways Of My Life ( 04:17 )
Footsteps In The Dark - Parts 1 & 2 ( 05:06 ) 
It’s A Disco Night ( Rock Don’t Stop ) - Parts 1 & 2 ( 05:15 )
Say You Will - Parts 1 & 2 ( 05:27 )
Between The Sheets ( 05:39 )

This 2026 reissue of Isolée’s 'Beau Mot Plage' revisits one of the most quietly influential tracks of early-2000s minimal techno and deep house.

Presenting a trio of reworks that stretch its sun-bleached elegance in different directions. Built around Isolée’s signature warm chords, skittering rhythms, and hypnotic restraint, 'Beau Mot Plage' remains a masterclass in subtle groove and emotional economy.

The A-side opens with the Heaven & Earth Re-Edit, Luke Solomon and Rob Mello's extended take that amplifies the track’s balearic glow while preserving its intimate pulse. This is followed by the Freeform Five vs Idjut Boys Beats version, which nudges the original toward a looser, club-ready feel, adding bounce and attitude without sacrificing its understated charm. On the B-side, Freeform Reform Parts I & II delivers a deeper, more exploratory reconstruction.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Heaven & Earth and Free Form Five offer up fresh interpretations of Isolée's tropical flavoured, minimal techno anthem. Even the bloody Idjut's get invited along!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Beau Mot Plage (Heaven & Earth Re-Edit) 
A2. Beau Mot Plage (Freeform Five vs Idjut Boys Beats) 
B. Beau Mot Plage (Freeform Reform Parts I & II) 

isolée’s fourth album ‘resort island’ is a record as that's in turns hazy and thumping, euphoric and melancholy, always delivered in brilliant splashes of color. "coco's visa" sets the tone, its soft chords lapping against the drums like waves against a dock. Gentle moments like this and the exquisitely bittersweet "let's dence" offset dreamlike club tracks of the kind only Müller could make. "rumour", the album's first single, is all ghostly strings and loping synths, a mellow joy-ride in magic hour light.

isolée need not apologize for this flirtation with the sound of French touch. "pardon my french" has the key elements that give the best disco and disco-flavored house records their magic: impossibly smooth bass tones connect perfectly plump kick drums, a strutting rhythm, glittering synths, all joining forces to give you the feeling of having a supremely, impossibly good time. On Resort Island, it's a vacation within a vacation, an artist so skilled at subtle, ambiguous moods going for straight up bliss, just this one time.

The third single from Resort Island is "Canada Balsam," a dreamlike club track of the kind only isolée could make. The beat is taut and punchy, a welcome echo of the minimalist flair of his early records. The rest draws from the lush sonic palette he's perfected since then: vaporous chords, swirling hand percussion, a subtly dramatic earworm melody that almost sounds plucked from a harp. It's the kind of tune that brings a wash of technicolour onto the dance floor, a cool breeze riding on a perfectly tight groove.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Coco's Visa 3:15
A2 Canada Balsam 6:18
B1 Pardon My French 5:26
B2 Con O Sin 5:42
B3 Let's Dence 3:32
C1 Modernation 5:28
C2 Rumour (album Version) 6:35
D1 Clap Gently 2:39
D2 Tender Date 5:22
D3 7eleven2 4:41

Playhouse follow up Isolee's brilliant "We Are Monster" album with this Jorn Elling Wuttke (Alter Ego) compiled singles collection. Some tracks, like the beautiful New Order-esque "Initiate II", Freeform Five mix of the classic "Beau Mot Plage" or Burial Mix / Basic Channel style "Monitor", are from Rajko's early days, while tracks like the electroid disco of "Lost" bring his sound right up to date. Managing to create a sound that is at once clinical, warm, electronic and funky is no mean feat, yet Muller carries this off with aplomb.

Released in 1993 and never reissued on vinyl since, this album was recorded at Music Works Recording Studio, which was renamed that same year Anchor Recording Studio, well known among reggae enthusiasts. It was produced by Doctor Dead and mixed at the prestigious Lion & Fox Recording Studio, the American base of the RAS Records label.

The line-up is impeccable, featuring of course Flabba Holt on bass, Tee Bird on keyboards, Dwight Pinkney on guitar, and Sky Juice on percussion—in short, the full Roots Radics line-up.

As usual, Skelly, Wiss, and Apple take turns singing lead while the other two enhance the vocals with high-pitched melodic harmonies.

In a Roots Rock Reggae vein, this album is a cornerstone of the group’s discography, presented to you remastered, with a sound it had never been given before. The 180g vinyl pressing, glossy finish, and 350g sleeve make it a choice piece for all lovers of quality Roots reggae.

TRACK LISTING

1. You Never Know
2. Falling Angel
3. Reggae RockN'Roll
4. Hard Times
5. Racial Injustice
6. Run But You Can't Hide
7. Babylon By Bus
8. Naw Give Up the Fight
9. Thank You Jah

Whilst the visceral energy of their live performance has always been enough to attract a large crowd, The Isrights have come a long way since their days of making promoters sweat by packing out venues with rowdy, underage kids.

Now coming into their own as adept musicians, The Isrights have fully realised their own sound, following in the long tradition of fusing UK music with Jamaican sensibilities, resulting in a hybrid that's anything but formulaic.

With the solid foundation of Jack Hendrie's metronomic beat and Andy Gill's driving bass, Matt McNamara and the band's frontman Che Wilson are able to bounce off each other with a nuanced guitar style that adds a psychedelic element to the mixing pot.

Drawing from the world around them, the band paint a picture of what it's like to be young in these turbulent and uncertain times, with lyrics that look to bring back some sincerity to an increasingly cynical and shallow world.

Following up on the successes of their debut release, which paired the riotous ‘Drinking Game’ with the dubwise ‘Summer ‘05’, the youthful force of The Isrights return with another single.

With their first festival appearance under their belts, taking to the same main stage Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry graced at Manchester’s Moovin Festival, the lads have been creating quite a buzz of late, which they’re looking to respond to with their latest single ‘Real?’.

‘Real?’ questions the spectacle of a world the band grew up in, full of illusion and false prophets, where simple lies beat complicated truths and hollow reality stars are idolised.

Musically the band again draw from the UK / Jamaica melting pot but this time add to it echoes of a ‘60s pop sensibility and have experimented further with a plethora of sequencers and effects, no better heard than on the B-side with an instrumental version of ‘You Know’. A promising sign of things to come from the rising band.

Manchester’s IST IST return with their fifth studio album ‘DAGGER’ - the follow-up to 2024’s ‘Light A Bigger Fire’ which charted at number 25 in the UK, breaking them into the Top 40 for the first time. Once again collaborating with producer Joseph Cross (Hurts, Lana Del Rey, Courteeners) the record finds the band returning to their electronic-infused post-punk roots after making a leap into more mainstream sensibilities last time out.

Over their decade as a band so far, IST IST have forged a formidable reputation on word of mouth excitement, amassing a dedicated cult following in the process. Operating with a fierce DIY work ethic, the band have an ever-growing back catalogue of successful studio and live releases. Self-releasing their entire repertoire through their own Kind Violence Records label, the band’s output has been championed by BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6Music, Radio X, XS Manchester, KINK FM in the Netherlands, The Times and more

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The latest outing from one of our most requested Manchester bands, and sees Ist Ist moving adjacent to their work on the brilliant 'Light A Bigger Fire' from 2024, but with a more robust focus on throbbing New Order-y synths and hypnotic, slowly morphing progressions.

TRACK LISTING

1. I Am The Fear
2. Makes No Difference
3. Warning Signs
4. Burning
5. The Echo
6. Encouragement
7. I Remember Everything
8. Obligations
9. Song For Someone
10. Ambition

‘Live at Paradiso’ is an all-encompassing document of IST IST's recent sold out show at Amsterdam’s most iconic venue on their 'DAGGER' tour, in support of their second UK Top 40 album. Recorded on 14th March 2026 and presented in it's entire 90 minute, 24 song form, this release captures the finest version of the band in front of 1,500 fans, with their signature dark moods and intricate musicianship in full view here. A release which serves to prove that even with increasingly-popular and polished studio output, IST IST still remain a band which needs to be experienced in the live arena.

Over their twelve years and counting as a band, IST IST have forged a formidable reputation on word of mouth excitement, amassing a dedicated cult following in the process. Operating with a fierce DIY work ethic, the band have an ever- growing back catalogue of successful studio and live releases through their own Kind Violence Records label and have been championed by BBC Radio 1 and BBC 6Music, Radio X, XS Manchester, KINK FM in the Netherlands, The Times and more

TRACK LISTING

1. I Am The Fear
2. Lost My Shadow
3. The Kiss
4. Black
5. What I Know
6. Makes No Difference
7. Warning Signs
8. Burning
9. Dreams Aren’t Enough
10. Mary in the Black and White Room
11. A New Love Song
12. Night’s Arm
13. Repercussions
14. Fat Cats Drown in Milk
15. I Remember Everything
16. The Echo
17. I Can’t Wait For You
18. Under Your Skin
19. Something Has To Give
20. Hope To Love Again
21. Emily
22. Encouragement
23. You’re Mine
24. Stamp You Out

'On Fire' is a document of IST IST at their blazing best. The album takes in all ten 'Light A Bigger Fire' tracks recorded at ten different shows and chronicles the growth of the songs from the studio into the live arena.

It includes recordings from iconic venues such as the Paradiso in Amsterdam and New Century Hall in the band's home city of Manchester.

'Light A Bigger Fire' peaked at number 25 in the charts in September 2024, breaking the band into the Top 40 for the first time; a genuine indie success story with the release coming on the band's own Kind Violence Records label.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: 'On Fire' shows why IST IST have become one of the biggest rises in indie music in recent history, with their live show proving a huge draw. Here we get an accurate document of the incendiary live experience, and a superb listen from start to finish.

TRACK LISTING

1. Lost My Shadow (Paradiso, Amsterdam, 18.11.24)
2. The Kiss (Oslo, London, 18.10.24)
3. Repercussions (De Oosterpoort, Groningen, 04.11.24)
4. I Can't Wait For You (Live/Evil, Munich, 07.11.24)
5. Dreams Aren't Enough (Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 03.10.24)
6. Something Else (Movie, Bielefeld, 16.11.24)
7. What I Know (Exchange, Bristol, 10.10.24)
8. Hope To Love Again (Exil, Zurich, 10.11.24)
9. XXX (Think Tank, Newcastle, 05.10.24)
10. Ghost (New Century, Manchester, 19.10.24)

It's taken three years since their inception for this Buffalo, NY outfit to produce their first LP and the time was well spent. A mosaic of crunching guitars, headache breakdowns and raging, dark, cynical vocals - and the most inspired, shimmering melodies capped by warm, exquisite harmonies. A remarkable debut.

The members of It Hugs Back have now spent half of their lives making music together. In 2009 the band released their first album ‘Inside Your Guitar’ - “a remarkable debut, a record that wraps itself around you and doesn’t let go for a solid, dream-like 40 minutes” according to NME - recorded 4 BBC Sessions, and toured heavily throughout Europe. Since then the band have gone on to fill their time with an array of ventures, most notably guitarist & singer Matthew Simms joining the highly influential art rock band Wire. In the summer of 2010, the band started to regroup and record more regularly, initially not with the specific intention of making a new record, yet as the sound of the band evolved during many hours of creative improvisation, their second album almost created itself.

It’s clear that the focus of this band is in the detail – from the layered noises and textures created over months of hard work together, to the distinctively thick vocal harmonies added to the sound, the desire to produce a record that can be played repeatedly yet encourages the listener to discover something new each time is at the forefront of their musical mission. The unquestionable diversity heard within ‘Laughing Party’ is a telling sign of the band’s varying influences and record collections. From the opening 15-minute interstellar jam ‘The Big E’, sonic guitar clatter of ‘Sit Tight’ and mellow grooves of ‘Massachusetts’ to the pure pop joy of ‘Happy’ and deceptively catchy ‘Half American’, It Hugs Back cover a lot of ground in this 60 minutes, each track working alongside the other to document the band’s experiments and explorations, their journey and discovery of what makes a record truly great.

TRACK LISTING

01. The Big E
02. No One Should Know
03. Massachusetts
04. Half American
05. Grown Old
06. Sit Tight
07. Strange Noise
08. Happy
09. Times Square
10. Melting
11. Never Get Tired
12. All In One Day

The title of Ital Tek's seventh album "Timeproof" reflects what Alan Myson has observed and learned whilst making the album. Firstly, how distorted the perception of time is in the creative headspace - being in the studio creates a timeless environment, one's mind starts wandering and the perception of time is altered. Secondly, the bizarre effect of the last few years of lockdown have somehow infected the title, temporarily contracting our collective notion of time. And thirdly, Alan has learnt how spending time away from the studio can be as effective as being there, giving one space to process. Appreciating the power of being out in nature, putting other things into perspective, refreshing one's ability to approach work with both patience and creativity. Overall "Timeproof" feels more introspective than Alan's last album "Outland". Perhaps because of the time in which it was created or this new relationship to the creative process. The sounds and textures of the record hint at brutality and menace whilst also pulsing and evolving softly with a more refined interior life. It's expansive and elegant, neatly balanced between light and dark, more mossy and dreamy than the extremes of "Outland".

When making the album, Alan spent about a year or so working quickly and intuitively, churning out ideas, sketches and sound experiments without any attempt to finish or perfect anything. "I let it settle until I was ready to return to this body of raw material with fresh ears some months later, sometimes barely remembering what or how I’d done much of it." Over the course of another year he dived into the details, rendering all of this rough material and sound into something with form. Alan also visited older material and ideas, trying out, reworking and sampling, building it into this new body. The finished album feels open, with a gentle intuition that feels as if it's guiding you through.

TRACK LISTING

Side A:
1. Phantom Pain
2. Staggered
3. The Mirror
4. One Eye Open
5. Cold Motion
Side B:
1. Heart String
2. Darking
3. Zero Point
4. The Next Time You Die
5. Timeproof

The first Itasca record in over four years begins, in “Milk,” with a dream of Genevieve, “the myth in the mirror’s gleam” perhaps, on this faith-haunted album, a reference to the fifth-century saint, or the chaste, cave-dwelling heroine of medieval legend. It ends with Olympia, standing at the shore maybe, among these myth-haunted songs, a reference to the ancient Greek sacred site, or, considering the artist narrator of the title track, to Édouard Manet’s revolutionary 1863 painting of a defiant sex worker. Across its suite of smoky nocturnes, Imitation of War finds Los Angeles-based songwriter, singer, and guitarist Kayla Cohen continually embracing the tangled ambiguities of its evocative title, with its suggestions of artfulness, artifice, and antagonism alike. Aptly, the song “Imitation of War” maps the range of the eponymous record’s domain, in which Cohen surveys, with refreshing urgency and a refined sonic palette, mythologies and psychologies both classical and deeply personal. Her characteristically ethereal vocals precipitate, among orange and laurel trees, upon rockier terrain than ever before, negotiating a “muse’s crown” and “a snare set by the devil.” The uneasy idyll, set to a brisker tempo and more spirited and spacious band-centered arrangement than most anything on Spring (2019) or Open to Chance (2016), her prior two albums with Paradise of Bachelors, captures the flexibility and finesse Cohen wrings from reduction. Distilled to an oceanic essence of guitars, bass, drums, and vocals, Imitation of War is simultaneously (and somewhat counterintuitively) her loosest, leanest, and most liberatingly unclad album and her most theatrical set of songs and performances to date. “Molière’s Reprise,” named for the seventeenth-century French playwright, sets the mise en scene: like the apple tree that hangs on / the curtains rise, I sing my song / myth changes to an actor’s call the bell rings, the curtains fall / and storyless I’m off.

This kind of allegorical theatricality manifests not only in the redolent, if sometimes cryptically allusive (and intentionally Jungian), symbolism and subject matter which includes El Dorado, Circe, and Orion in addition to the aforementioned cast of muses, saints, and devils, at play in night and nature but likewise in the immediacy of its inky, glammy production. Cohen began writing several of these songs, notably “Tears on Sky Mountain,” in the fall of 2020, while she was recording with Gun Outfit (with whom she plays bass) in Pine Flat, California, near Sequoia National Forest. A nearby forest fire darkened the day into an eerie, eternal gloaming, ominously masking and unmasking the moon above the redwoods a menace and color palette that shaded the resulting songs. Engineered and co-produced by Robbie Cody of the bands Wand and Behavior, whom Cohen credits with helping to instill a newfound levity and sense of fun in the recording process, Imitation of War features both Cody’s bandmates Evan Backer and Evan Burrows and Cohen’s regular collaborator and bandmate Daniel Swire, also of Gun Outfit.

Cody proved instrumental in shaping the elemental, guitar-centric arrangements to achieve what he refers to as “an economy of sounds.” Cohen played all the guitar parts herself, largely on her 1971 Gibson SG-100 the acoustic instrumental sketch “Interlude,” the ballad “Dancing Woman,” and the portrait in miniature “Olympia” are exquisite exceptions showcasing her deft command of the instrument. Nowhere is this confidence and lyricism more evident than on the record’s sublime nine-and-a-half-minute centerpiece “Easy Spirit,” the incendiary, downshifting dynamics and painterly solos of which radically expand her prior folk-inflected guitarist touchstones Michael Chapman, Mike Cooper, Meg Baird into the rarefied rock-and-roll strata inhabited by Jerry Garcia, Phil Lynott, and Tom Verlaine. These ten sturdy set-pieces represent the most smolderingly electric guitar-forward recordings of Itasca’s deepening catalog.

Cohen explains the titular simulation as the “performance of war postures” evident at every scale of human and animal life. But it could just as easily apply to the revelation that, with Imitation of War, Itasca has finally come to inhabit fully the staged postures toward which former records gestured. She sounds more herself, more confidently authorial than the longing protagonist of her earlier work. No imitation, formal or emotional, of former self or imagined other, remains. It’s a self-knowing sentiment implied in the lyrics of “El Dorado”: I knew the road to my El Dorado / but I was caught looking at the weeds

TRACK LISTING

A1 Milk
A2. Imitation Of War
A3. Under Gates Of Cobalt Blue
A4. Interlude
A5. Tears On Sky Mountain
A6. Dancing Woman
B1. El Dorado
B2. Easy Spirit
B3. Molière's Reprise
B4. Olympia

RIYL: Michael Chapman, Bridget St John, Mike Cooper, Steve Gunn, Kenny Knight, Ryley Walker, Sibylle Baier, Bert Jansch & Vashti Bunyan.

ITASCA is the musical identity of Los Angeles-based guitarist, singer, and songwriter Kayla Cohen. Just as the name itself is ambiguous—a 19th-century pseudo-Ojibwe place name and portmanteau of the Latin words for “truth” (veritas) and “head” (caput). Cohen, who grew up in New York state near the Hudson River, moved from Brooklyn to L.A. in 2011. Though she began playing guitar at age thirteen, her songwriting idiom emerged gradually from her longstanding noise and drone practice.

Her out-of-time recordings as Itasca—refined over the course of several releases, including the acclaimed 2014 LP Unmoored by the Wind (New Images)—reflects both this dislocated geography and her Janus-faced gaze towards both baroque, acid folk-inflected songcraft and deconstructive, textural sonics. Her adept fingerstyle guitar work—nimble but unshowy, always at the service of framing her plaintively unspooling modal progressions and gorgeous, moonlit voice—centers Itasca’s melancholy pastorales in a hazy, heat-mirage space equally suggestive of familiarity and distance, community and anomie.

Open To Chance is her first album to feature the full band with whom she currently records and tours, including pedal steel player and frequent collaborator Dave McPeters, drummer Coleman Guyon (and occasionally Kacey Johansing), and bassist and vocalist Julia Nowak.

“Gorgeous acid folk reverie… A heady slice of lysergic ladies of the canyon, with the feel of tropical microdots that dominated the These Trails and Linda Perhacs sides given a slightly more baroque dream-time feel. Some of the guitar stylings have the kind of courtly appeal of Current 93 circa Of Ruine Or Some Blazing Starre, but when she gets into more complex vortices of steel strings she comes over like Robbie Basho circa Basho Sings. This one came out of nowhere and knocked us sideways“ Volcanic Tongue 

TRACK LISTING

A1 Buddy
A2 Henfight
A3 No Consequence
A4 G.B.
A5 Layman’s Banquet
A6 Carousel
B1 Just For Tomorrow
B2 Angel
B3 Daylight Under My Wing
B4 Right This Time
B5 Bonafide 

In the fall of 2017, a year after the release of her acclaimed 2016 album Open to Chance, Kayla Cohen, the songwriter and guitarist who records and performs as Itasca, left her home in Los Angeles to live and write for two seasons in a century-old adobe house in rural New Mexico (pictured on the album cover). More urgent escape than fanciful escapade, the move from one Southwestern desert to another resulted from a set of dire circumstances, both personal and societal, not least of which was the sense, shared by many, that a sinister cabal of impaired lunatics had irredeemably poisoned the already sour well of our American discourse. She decided to drop out and dive deeper—hiking into the mountains, through fragrant juniper and piñon forests, past groves of golden cottonwoods, to the source of what she calls in the song “Cornsilk” with a nod to poet Clayton Eshleman “the canyoned river.” Inspired by the landscape and history of the Four Corners region, the resulting album, the sublime Spring—its title summoning both season and scarce local water sources—dowses a devotional path to high desert headwaters.

Cohen followed some heavy footprints across the Sandia and Sangre de Cristo ranges. In the long American tradition of lighting out for the territories, many artists, particularly visual artists including Terry Allen, Georgia O’Keefe, Agnes Martin, Walter de Maria, Bruce Nauman, and Susan Rothenberg have famously sought refuge and inspiration in the Land of Enchantment. Captivating landscapes and the astonishing biodiversity aside (outside), foot-thick adobe walls provide a security and shelter insulation and isolation that can be hard to find in LA. With her studies of New Mexico’s long history and seismic geological and cultural changes, Cohen sought something different, more ancient—a hearth, a retreat from the noisy and noisome city, yes, but also a deeper historical understanding of urbanity and community, landscape and loss. (Chaco Canyon’s massive architectural complexes ranked as the largest buildings in North America until the late 19th century.)

Her investigations bore bright fruit in the form of an interpretive travelogue: Spring, suffused with mystery and a keenly evoked sense of place, contains Cohen’s most quietly dazzling, coherent, and self-assured set of songs to date. Having withdrawn from and returned to the city, she sounds more like herself than ever before. In the context of the album’s bolder arrangements, her gorgeous, lambent voice and helical fingerstyle guitar plumb new depths of expressivity, confidence, and wonder. Inflected with flourishes recalling the ’70s orchestrated concept albums from which it draws influence, Spring resembles an archeological excavation of
Cohen’s own encanyoned style. She recorded unhurriedly, in piecemeal fashion, with various collaborators: first to two-inch tape at Minbal studio in Chicago, with Cooper Crain (Bitchin’ Bajas) engineering; then to quarter-inch tape at home, with a Tascam 388; and finally overdubbing at Tropico in Los Angeles, with Greg Hartunian. Daniel Swire (drums), Kayla’s bandmate in Gun Outfit, and Marc Riordan (piano) of Sun Araw provided the exquisitely delicate rhythm section; Dave McPeters once again contributed lightning-field flashes of pedal steel; and James Elkington arranged the subtly cinematic strings (played by Jean Cook.) Chris Cohen mixed, imparting some of his signature classic pop dynamics, which press beyond the sonic realm of the solitary singer-songwriter.

If Open to Chance felt moonlit, spectral and spooky, Spring sounds positively auroral, luminous, a brisk early morning walk through lucid daylit dreams, a series of vivid visions in thrall to the dusty New Mexican terrain. By opening themselves to multivalent interpretations, these generous, sun-dappled songs hide nothing. An intentional narrative of discovery connects the sequence, from the beckoning highway apparition in “Lily,” through the immersion in the “Blue Spring” dug deep into the recesses of a cliffside cave, to the resigned farewell of “A’s Lament” (which ends, poignantly, with a blessing to a departed friend: “I just want you to be free”). Elsewhere the links to Cohen’s research are oblique, more atmospheric and impressionistic than explicit. She carefully claims no authority or answers, but instead offers a traveler’s tranquil observation and wide-eyed reflection, weaving together her questions about the relationships between the land and the Ancestral Puebloan culture that shaped it with her questions about her own cultural and ecological bearings. Lead single “Bess’s Dance” provides a metaphorical key to the record’s concept, with a glimpse of the Basketmaker culture’s woven artifacts, functional art objects that so fascinated Cohen that she found herself dreaming their patterns:

TRACK LISTING

A1. Lily
A2. Only A Traveler
A3. Bess’s Dance
A4. Comfort's Faces
A5. Voice Of The Beloved
B1. Blue Spring
B2. Cornsilk
B3. Plains
B4. Golden Fields
B5. A’s Lament 

London alt-pop group The Itch's debut LP. On 'It’s The Hope That Kills You', Simon Tyrie & Georgia Hardy pair dancefloor filling beats with disenchanted pop songwriting to create something that nods to electroclash, indie-rock and europop while remaining entirely singular. The Itch are both a product of and the antidote to an age of pessimism.

TRACK LISTING

1. Space In The Cab
2. No More Sprechgesang 
3. Can’t Afford This
4. Pirate Studios
5. Drugdealer
6. Radio Frequencies
7. It’s The Hope That Kills You 
8. Aux Romanticiser
9. Ursula 
10. Never Change
11. Switch It Off 

Having first appeared on the live circuit at the tail-end of 2023, The Itch’s pairing of undulating dancefloor fillers and disenchanted pop songwriting quickly saw their name passed from one gig goer to another despite a notable absence from social media; as word-of-mouth spread about an act tessellating New Romantic and rave influences on the capital’s sticky-floored circuit.

Live bookings from notable publications ensued alongside a run of support slots which threatened to hijack the limelight and a tide of offers from major festivals including End of The Road, Wide Awake and Latitude - all before the release of 2024’s debut single, ‘Ursula’.

Steering the project are Georgia Hardy and Simon Tyrie. After meeting as teenagers at an open mic night, the two swapped music recommendations online, exposing each other to new genres and a collaborative relationship blossomed. They learnt to DJ and put on club nights in their hometown before moving to London where they began writing, recording and producing music themselves in their makeshift home studio, leading them to develop a style that’s uniquely their own.

TRACK LISTING

The Influencer
The Influencer (Gabe Gurnsey Remix)

itoldyouiwouldeatyou are that most beautifully human of things: a contradiction. They are a group of young people with the wisdom of older souls; they are angry as hell, and they are loving and kind; at times they are violent, but with a fragility that underpins everything they do; they are deadly serious, and they are seriously irreverent.

The multi-faceted indie-punk/emo/experimental collective will release their debut album Oh Dearism later this year via various formats in a collaboration from Alcopop! Records, Failure By Design Records and Beth Shalom Records. It’s a startling debut that should instantly mark them out as one of the most very special bands that the UK underground DIY scene currently has to offer

TRACK LISTING

Earl, King, Whatever
Gold Rush
Young American
Almost Zero
Gathering Things Together And Not Dividing Them
Get Terrified
Craiglockhart
Greek Fire
Goodbye To All That

Brand new EP form Its A Buffalo featuring the four tracks ("Divorce Song", "Somewhere In Range", "Broken Toy" and "Climb Climb") from their sell out debut 7" singles on Akoustik Anarkhy. An exclusive tour release, now available through us.