This is the debut single release from L’Epee, the band are Emmaunelle Seigner (Ultra Orange & Emmanuelle), Anton Newcombe (The Brian Jonestown Massacre) & Lionel & Marie Liminana (The Liminanas). Recorded in Cabestany (France) and Berlin at Anton’s Cobra Studio, this three track 12” single comes in deluxe packaging & precedes the full length album released in June this year. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: If you're a fan of BJM's psych swagger and The Limiñanas' French charm this summery, fuzzy stomper will be right up your street. Love it!

TRACK LISTING

A1) Dreams  
B1) Last Picture Show  
B2) Dreams (extended A-go-go)

L´Exotighost are planning a new approach to the concept of Exotica for 2022. In their second album, "Kamongo", they spice up the original recipee of the genre with an array of new flavours and textures. The result in this will delight Exotica fans and newcomers who enjoy discovering fresh, original sounds.

Kamongo is a swahili word for the lungfish that lives in river Congo. When the river dries it is able to survive a long period of time in the mud, using its lungs instead of its gills until rain season, when it becomes once again, a fish. This prodigy of nature is a symbol anyone who plays music can relate to, even more so if their genre is Exotica. The history of Exotica is a bumpy one through the decades, sometimes flowing smooth, sometimes stalling buried under the mud until almost disappearing, but with endless capacity to mutate sonically and to reach new people. Kamongo is a word with which instrumental, original artists identify themselves more than ever, in this era of extreme survival. Its an African word but it appears in a film that takes place in the Amazon jungle - the habit of switching concepts from one continent to the other being very related to exotica- Jack Arnold's "Creature From The Black Lagoon", in which kamongo is a living fossil, the humanoid creature that lives in the black lagoon. This film contains all characteristics of exotica: mystery, remote landscapes and a risky swapping of cultures. Kamongo's spirit is present throughout the whole album.

Exotique Mecanique opens the album and is a summary of its whole concept: oriental melodies, sounds inspired by surf music, subtle electronic processes, waves ambiance, theremin atmospheres, relentless rhythmic marimbas and a nightingale that seems mechanical but is completely real.

Kamongo smells of a Caribbean party, a cha-cha-cha with aged rum that soaks the euphoric choir and the loud mambo. An evident reminder of the rusty Tropic that Marc Ribot evoked in his Lounge Lizards-Tom Waits era.

Quiet Gnossienne is an exotic wet dream turned real, bringing together Erik Satie's Gnossienne nº 1 and Les Baxter's Quiet Village, Exotica's reference theme, and surprisingly this experiment works wonderfully. Marimba works on the Baxter part while the interesting shamisen sound works with the Satie melodies. All of which is supported by Madrid Botanical Garden's croaking frogs as a nod to the frogs in the Hawaian Village at Waikiki Beach which, according to a legend, accompanied the first live performances at the Shell Bar of Martin Denny's band in the 50s, Exotica's origin as we know it today. Wailua Lui honors the Wailua falls (Kauai - Hawai) with a bubbling sound, a sort of bubble-gum-surf of exotic flavour in which theremin melodies and some mermaid chants float.

Mad Mad Madrid is the sonic expression of the urban jungle, as frenetic and unpredictable as is the city of Madrid. Urban sounds get intertwined with native birds over an Exotica up tempo with some chicha and cumbia- punk.

El hombre y la tierra might be the biggest achievement of the album: doing a new version of the theme to one of the most popular nature documentary series is an emotional starting point, as it is a song that has marked several generations. It could be considered the first Spanish song to have such a tribal and exotic spirit. In this cover, L'Exotighost maintains the percussive exuberance of the original and adds countless nuances, both electronic and acoustic, adding an ultra-low brass section (baritone sax and bass clarinet). On this song the role of the birds, which is key to exotica, is played by countless Iberian species, such as wolves, kestrels, lapwings, cicadas, etc. Iberian Exotica in its biggest expression.

Twilight On a Bald mountain is yet another successful intertwining of popular songs. The threatening melody of Mussorgsky's Night on a Bald Mountain flies over Twilight Zone's theme riff, all propelled by a surf rhythm in which you may find some influence of Neal Hefti's Batman, a hypersonic trip in the most interesting fashion of spatial Exotica.

Addis La Nuit is a musical deja vu that is a reminder of that very peculiar night one can live in the Ethiopian capital, with some Ethio-jazz combined with cooler and epic sounds and the appearance of the vibraphone and the atmosphere created by lap-steel guitars.

Psicalipso, recalls a tropical noir soundtrack, once again with the vibraphone in the foreground, as an unlikely crime fiction in the jungle with an atmosphere created by the band of the Star Wars canteen. A roller coaster of changes and intensities over a 7/8 rhythm that reminds us of the most exotic John Zorn when he led Klezmer Voodoo Party in the middle of the jungle.

Noctambulance is an ode to nocturnality and to the night in general in its most inspiring and mysterious dimension, sounds of nocturnal birds and crickets are mixed with melodies of theremin, shamisen, lap-steels and processed marimbas.

Formed in Montreal in 1967, L'Infonie lasted until 1974 - seven years of pure mayem that gave birth to four long players as well as various multi-media shows built as way-out happenings. Lead by composer Walter Boudreau and poet / singer, Raoul Duguay, this very loose collective contained up to 33 artists from various backgrounds coming together as one big avant-garde adventure still unsurpassed in Québec. Eclectic music mixing free-jazz, rock, classical and experimental electronic music. If you like some of the wackiness of Tropicalia then you'll need to investigate this!

The Left Side is the latest body of work from the Iggy Pop-endorsed teens since the release of their acclaimed second EP We Aren’t Getting Out But Tonight We Might in summer 2022. With Saul at the creative helm, The Left Side is a mature and cerebral body of work with Saul once again writing and producing the entire EP (with co-production by Ali Chant (Yard Act, Katy J Pearson, Dry Cleaning) on ‘Conman’ and ‘ITSA’). Written in Saul’s bedroom, the EP is a retrospective insight into the young band’s journey so far as they tie up their teenage years.

A coming of age saga, the EP acts as a vehicle for Saul to dive into the psyche behind emotional evolution, and to unpack the complexities of maturity and the ability to say goodbye to the past. These themes present themselves not only in the songs, but right down to the title of the EP itself - which refers to the fact that the left side of the brain is responsible for comprehension.

Summarising the EP, Saul says: “It’s the closest we have been to knowing what picture we want to paint. It’s another window into the musical space we wish to explore, yet I think we’re closer to having our sound. I think the project signifies the end of a section in our lives, moving out from the haze of the moment and reflecting on our teenage years and all its chaos with more understanding.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Entitled
2. Conman
3. The Dance You Sell
4. Puppy
5. ITSA
6. What A Time To Be Alive
7. Lily Of The Valley

Namir Blade controls the clouds and the concrete. With the blink of a synapse, his imagination conjures elaborate visions of valleys of death, bad Tijuana dreams, and shotgun raids. In the next breath, he’s blowing off texts, rolling out of bed around noon, and crooning falsetto pleas about his willingness to change. The Nashville’s latest, Imaginary Everything is a work of teleportation and twisted fantasy, a wig-flipping blast of surrealism and slang editorials. It is a journey and experience. A collaboration with the otherworldly producer, L’Orange.

TRACK LISTING

1. Imaginary Everything
2. Lyra
3. Nihilism
4. Point To Point (feat. Quelle Chris)
5. Out East
6. Corner Store Scandal
7. Gassed Up (feat. Fly Anakin)
8. Shotgun
9. Somebody's Anthem
10. Late Nights Early Mornings (feat. Jordan Webb)
11. Murphy's Law
12. I Can Change
13. Pipe Dream (feat. Marlowe)

Brooklyn-born and based experimentalist and multi-instrumentalist Taja Cheek, aka L’Rain, is mapping the enormity of how to change. Her forthcoming second album, Fatigue, demands introspection from ready ears with an array of keyboards, synths, and hauntingly delicate vocals that create a genre entirely her own. Cheek has dipped her toes in every corner of the arts, through her work at some of the most prestigious art institutions in NYC and collaborations with the likes of Naama Tsabar, Kevin Beasley, Justin Allen, and others in contemporary arts. How do we think through, express for, attest to, commit within and embody a substantive change for ourselves? How do we enact change in the company of others? What does it mean to internally engage with an abolition politic? These questions compose and propel the sonic energy of Fatigue. Over the course of 14 tracks, L’Rain continues her careful plotting of where we travel when cruising along the side alleys and major roads of an emotional city. Fatigue progresses the psychic collage assembled from her self-titled debut. Fatigue, while still cycling the wheel of grief, veers into the self-reckoning of holding emotional multiplicities that do not and cannot remain static.

TRACK LISTING

1. Kill Self
2. Fly, Die
3. Not Now
4. Find It
5. Two Face
6. Round Sun
7. Walk Through
8. Blame Me
9. I V
10. Black Clap
11. Suck Teeth
12. Need Be
13. Take Two
14. Love Her

This 30th-anniversary edition of the ‘90s underground rock classic Smell the Magic includes all 9 songs from the album, remastered and available together on vinyl for the first time ever! A multitude of rock music scenes populated the expanse of Los Angeles in 1989: hardcore punk, industrial goth, roots rock, and Sunset Strip hair metal, to name a few. L7 fit into none of them, creating their own unique blend of punk and hard, hooky rock loaded with humor and cultural commentary. Originally released in 1990, Smell the Magic is a a landmark of '90s feminist rock.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: If you’ve listened to the radio in the last 30 years you can hear all sorts of examples of how much L7 influenced other acts, and this 30th anniversary reboot of their incendiary second album is a remastered gem in the weirdo goth-rock crown.

TRACK LISTING

1. Shove
2. Fast And Frightening
3. (Right On) Thru
4. Deathwish
5. Till The Wheels Fall Off
6. Broomstick
7. Packin' A Rod
8. Just Like Me
9. American Society

All of us carry a piece of where we’re from with us, but these parcels of fallow land often in a uniquely mysterious way become the prey that nourishes our aspirations. Agnès Gayraud a refined thinker by day that transforms into la Féline at night left Tarbes many years ago in search of greener pastures. After making a name for herself with Adieu l’Enfance (2014), Triomphe (2017), and Vie Future (2019), the author and musician has evolved once again.

Her latest release Tarbes reinvents the circle of life and challenges our preconceived notions. She welcomes us to her hometown with sweet and clear melodies over the backdrop of an electronic hum, reminiscent of Mark Twain classic Tom Sawyer. Tarbes is no more than a listen away. Physically prevented from returning to her hometown by the viral threat we all know all too well, Agnès found her way back with a small Electone home organ. The constraints of off-peak hours that called for some DIY savvy, slowly but surely, roused her spirit. With a drum machine, a bass and a guitar, she succeeded in making the young girl inside her smile again. With 13 songs and just as many adventures Tarbes is a concept album that tells the story of a young woman’s formative years, as spent in her hometown. The returning hymn doesn’t only imprint nostalgia, it paints the full emotional portrait of a town. Because for Agnès, Tarbes is not just her theater, but her whole world, showing how fiercely protective she is of her hometown in the song Solazur. Under a magnifying glass of emotion, and with the sentimental testimony that is La Panthère des Pyrénées, the artiste shows us the skeletons in our own closets. Tarbes, more than a brief stopover in a rail journey to the coast, broaches issues that touch on abandonment, desertification, aging and redevelopment that many French towns and cities face today. Alexandre Guirkinger’s photographs serve as album art that illustrates this strangely unique singularity. While fine-tuning this collection of stories, in an oh-so-intimate album where solitude rips away the mask of confidence, Agnès found solace in uniting with other spirits.

For 3 songs Tarbes, Jeanne d’Albret and Fum, inspired by an Occitan poem of Louisa Paulin (1888-1944), she invited the young voices of Conservatoire Henri Duparc a building she knows intimately, despite never feeling allowed to enter as a child to breathe the energy of their adolescence into this record. She also collaborated with Lyon’s own François Virot to imbue his delicate rhythms into her work, as well as Belgian guitarist Mocke Depret. Lastly, La Féline entrusted the last production stages to her eternal partner in music, Xavier Thiry, with Stéphane “Alf” Briat on the mixing board. The final piece has a complex tranquility, surrounded by non-verbality, with Jeanne d’Albret, Louisa Paulin and the Pyrénées safeguarding Agnes’ secrets. With the calm reassurance of her metamorphoses, La Féline delivers a slice of silence to her town, serving as both her cradle and theater. Tarbes’ Théâtre des Nouveautés is where Agnès Gayraud, La Féline, has decided to present Tarbes to its residents on October 14, 2022. While “nouveautés” evokes newness, this theater is reminiscent of a future which is already outdated, where modernity is only vague and fictional, carrying reminders of French haute-kitsch accordionist Yvette Horner, whose parents were the caretakers of what was then called the Cani Eldorado a bastion of virtue through the 30s, with its lineup of Catholic films. However, by the 60s, it would have become a temple of pornographic cinema. Tarbes, “Les Nouveautés”, end card. In the mid 90s, then 16 years old, Agnès discovered the volatile dust and the ghosts of the past that were hidden in this apostate theater. This phantom bequeathed song the teenager with the gift of her undeniable talent at her first appearance on stage a high school performance of a guitar-laden ballad sung in Spanish, a language her Andalusian mother has infused her with. On October 14, 2022, Agnès returns to the stage, bass in hand and joined by François Virot (drums), Mocke Depret (guitar), Léa Moreau (keyboard) and the Conservatoire de Tarbes singers to perform the album in its entirety.

TRACK LISTING

1. Tarbes (Retourner À)
2. Une Ville Moyenne
3. Place De Verdun
4. Va Pas Sur Les Quais De L’Adour
5. Solazur
6. Je Dansais Allongée
7. Tout Doit Disparaitre
8. Jeanne D’Albret
9. Le Garçon Sur Le Toit
10. Dancing
11. Fum
12. La Panthère Des Pyrénées
13. La Route De Pau 

‘Blood’ is an album that was inspired by Lianne’s family heritage, which is part Jamaican and part Greek. Once touring for her debut album came to a close, she headed to Jamaica with her mother for a holiday which evolved into an experience of self-discovery. Lianne enjoyed emotional reunions with long-lost relatives; embraced Kingston’s clubs; and even jammed in front of her family for the first time during a session with legendary dancehall / reggae producer Stephen McGregor. Discovering her heritage inspired Lianne to reflect on the connections between now and then, which in turn sparked the songs which would become her future. Simply, “everything seemed to have a lot more clarity, and I really wanted to speak about it.” Lyrically, the songs that feature on the album are almost all related to “the feeling of who you are and where you come from.” Sonically, ‘Blood’ is a collection that shakes, shimmies and swings with Jamaican grooves with Lianne taking inspiration from the nation’s love of grooves, rhythms and syncopation. In addition to Stephen McGregor, ‘Blood’ features a rich collection of collaborators. Produced by Adele / FKA twigs collaborator Paul Epworth and founded upon an instrumental recording by Ninja Tune trio The Invisible, the first single ‘Unstoppable’ is a song that Lianne wrote to help to repair a relationship that she had ended.

Thru Me Again is the 2nd release from Chilean trio La Hell Gang and their first with Mexican Summer. Hailing from Santiago, which plays host to an ever growing psychedelic scene (Holydrug Couple, Follakzoid, La Banda, etc), the band create a remote and wild brand of rock ‘n' roll. The eight tracks across Thru Me Again weave seamlessly, channeling heat, light and endless desert dunes.

Despite the heavy context, there's a real clarity in the production, making the blistering guitar solos and mirage-like vocals all the more potent. Tracks like "Inside My Fall" and "Last Hit" recall bands like The Black Angels and BRMC, but some of the more lucid moments ("Sweet Dear", "So High") feel like a grittier Brightblack Morning Light. The soundtrack for your heat swept summer.

The sixteenth release in the LAMC 7” Series.

TRACK LISTING

A Side: La Luz – Believe My Eyes
B Side: Scully – Don’t Want That

Los Angeles has often been described as a “dream factory”--both a mecca where dreamers converge to pursue long-held aspirations, and a topography of hallucinogenic contradictions: enchanting tangerine sunsets diffused by smog, crystal-clutching spiritualists mingling with deep-pocketed narcissists, rows of scenic palms competing with garish billboards for commuters’ attention. It was against this backdrop that the four members of La Luz--singer/guitarist Shana Cleveland, drummer Marian Li Pino, keyboardist Alice Sandahl, and bassist Lena Simon—conceived of Floating Features, the band’s third studio album. For this, their most ambitious release yet, La Luz consulted landscapes both physical and psychological. References to dreams abound on Floating Features. “Loose Teeth” catalyzes nightmare fuel into a propulsive, intentionally-disorienting collision of honeyed harmonies and Takeshi Terauchi-esque jet-streams of distorted surf guitar. “Mean Dream” unsurprisingly mines dreamstate imagery, and the lyrics and melody for “Walking Into the Sun” actually came to Cleveland During a particularly-vivid night of deep sleep. Looming over the album’s Coterie of surreal figures (gargantuan cicadas, a monstrous “Creature,” The Sun King, aliens, the titular “Lonely Dozer”) is the magnificent “Greed Machine,” a skulking, insatiable engine of consumption-Nathanael West’s “business of dreams” fearsomely manifested. Only La Luz could conjure up Floating Features’ Leone-on-LSD vibes, and the album finds the L.A. band at the height of their powers--golden rebels in a golden dream.

TRACK LISTING

01. Floating Features 2:15
02. Cicada 3:13
03. Loose Teeth 2:49
04. Mean Dream 3:36
05. California Finally 3:23
06. The Creature 3:30
07. Golden One 4:16
08. Lonely Dozer 3:17
09. Greed Machine 4:21
10. Walking Into The Sun 2:47
11. Don’t Leave Me On The Earth 2:37

Seattle’s La Luz recorded their debut EP, Damp Face, in a small trailer on a hot August day. But barring the inevitable “no-AC-in-the-van” summer tour calamity, La Luz runs cool. Their brand of coolness isn’t about distance or affect; it’s a mood, and—sue me, but I’m about to totally rip off Zelda Fitzgerald: Something about this music vibrates to the dusky, dreamy smell of dying moons and shadows.

In Spanish, La Luz means “light” and that’s the perfect thing to evoke when your songs give the illusion of veering in the opposite direction. But lift out most any lyric—which is a good excuse to give a closer listen to the delicate, four-part harmonies that are fast becoming the band’s signature—and you’ll find that the aches and pains of love and loss, of living in a world where no foothold is ever a promise—all this is delivered with a nuanced dose of perfectly timed exhilaration, like the whole thing might just be worth it in the end.

Last spring, La Luz returned to that steamy trailer park to record It’s Alive – the much-anticipated follow up to Damp Face – with their friend and engineer Johnny Goss. From the first get-psyched drum roll and eerie chords of “Sure As Spring”, the dinged-up pop gem that opens the album, the rest moves like a slow drive on a dangerous road, slinking and bending as the terrain shifts. On “What Good Am I?”, the lead vocals, and the swirl of harmonies that surround it, recall the Spartan haze of Mazzy Star’s misty-eyed super hit. Smack in the middle is the title track. “It’s Alive” is a jangly rocker with a spooky refrain, oodles of ooohs, and a marauding narrative that nails down the misty logic of the rest of the album. Two instrumentals, “Sunstroke” and “Phantom Feelings”, showcase the band’s beach jam surf chops, and fall perfectly between the chilled out heartache that surrounds them.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sure As Spring
2. All The Time
3. Morning High
4. What Good Am I?
5. Sunstroke
6. It?s Alive
7. Big Big Blood
8. Call Me In The Day
9. Pink Slime
10. Phantom Feelings
11. You Can Never Know

On their self-titled fourth album, La Luz launch themselves into a new realm of emotional intimacy for a collection of songs steeped in the mysteries of the natural world and the magic of human chemistry that has found manifestation in the musical ESP between guitarist and songwriter Shana Cleveland, bassist Lena Simon, and keyboardist Alice Sandahl. To help shape La Luz, the band found a kindred spirit in producer Adrian Younge. Though primarily known for his work with hip-hop, soul, and jazz acts, Younge saw in La Luz a shared vision that transcended genre.

“We both create music with the same attitude, and that’s what I love about them,” he says. “They are never afraid to be risky and their style is captivating. It was an honor to work with them.” The result is an album that is both the most naturalistic and psychedelic of the band’s career. All the elements of classic La Luz are still present—the lush harmonies, the impeccable musicianship, the gorgeous melodies—but it’s a richer, earthier iteration, replete with inorganic sounds that mimic the surreality of nature—the humming of invisible bugs, the atmospheric sizzle of a hot day. After spending the last few years living in rural northern California, Cleveland’s lyrics have become more grounded, less interested in traveling to other dimensions than in peeking behind the curtain of this one. With sounds ranging from ghostly electric guitar shimmers, charging fuzz-guitar rock, soulful organ-driven dream-funk, galactic synths, and breezy ‘70s folk-pop, La Luz is an album that celebrates love- of music, of friendship, of life in all its forms. - Mariana Timony. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's a beautiful new LP from Shana Cleveland's La Luz, swimming in nostalgic 70's psychedelia, with wandering percussion and soaring vocal melodies, bringing to mind the Beatles circa Sgt. Pep or acid folk of the late 60's but with a keenly realised modern production sensibility. Superb.

TRACK LISTING

1. In The Country
2. The Pines
3. Watching Cartoons
4. Oh, Blue
5. Goodbye Ghost
6. Yuba Rot
7. Metal Man
8. Lazy Eyes And Dune
9. Down The Street
10. I Won't Hesitate
11. Here On Earth
12. Spider House

“I was in a dream, but now I can see that change is the only law.”

With a credo adapted from science fiction author Octavia E. Butler, an album title from a collection of metaphysical poetry, and an expansion in consciousness brought on by personal crisis, guitarist and songwriter Shana Cleveland learns to embrace a changing world with unconditional love on 'News of the Universe', the new full-length from California rock band La Luz.

'News of the Universe' is a record born of calamity, a work of dark, beautiful psychedelia reflecting Cleveland’s experience of having her world blown apart by a breast cancer diagnosis just two years after the birth of her son. It’s also a portrait of a band in flux, marking the first appearance for drummer Audrey Johnson and the final ones from longtime members bassist Lena Simon and keyboardist Alice Sandahl, whose contributions add a bittersweet edge to a record that is both elegy for an old world and cosmic road map to a strange new one.

But is there any band in the world more suited to capturing the chaos of change in all its messy beauty than La Luz? Formed by Cleveland in 2012, La Luz is beloved for their ability to balance bedlam and bliss, each new record another fine-tuning of the band’s mix of swaggering riffs with angelic vocals borrowed from doo-wop and folk; a band so reliably great that it makes the huge step forward in confidence and sheer musicality that is 'News of the Universe' all the more formidable. Cleveland, also a writer and painter, has developed into a truly original songwriter with her own canon of haunted psychedelia. Yet if Cleveland has spent years writing songs about ghosts, what lurks in the shadows of 'News of the Universe' is nothing less than death itself. “There are moments on this album that sound to me like the last frantic confession before an asteroid destroys the earth,” says Cleveland.

The powerful sense of openness that permeates 'News of the Universe' is at least partially due to the fact that it is a record made entirely by women—from the performing, writing, and producing all the way through to the recording, engineering, and mastering. Working with producer Maryam Qudos (Spacemoth), the all-female environment allowed Cleveland to feel safe tapping into difficult places and expressing hard emotions women are socialized to suppress.

Unashamedly vulnerable, unabashedly feminine, and undeniably triumphant, 'News of the Universe' is another knockout record from a band so reliably great that it has perhaps led people to overlook how pioneering La Luz really are: women of color in indie music forging their own path by following their own artistic star into galaxies beyond current musical trends, always led by an earnest belief in the cosmic power of love and a great riff. Never is that more true than on 'News of the Universe', which might be La Luz’s most brutal record to date but also their most blissful.

TRACK LISTING

1. Reaching Up To The Sun
2. Strange World
3. Dandelions
4. Poppies
5. Good Luck With Your Secret
6. Always In Love
7. Close Your Eyes
8. I'll Go With You
9. Blue Moth Cloud Shadow
10. News Of The Universe
11. Moon In Reverse
12. Blue Jay

Seattle "surf noir" band La Luz returns with the anticipated follow-up to their breakout 2013 debut album It's Alive. Recorded in a makeshift surf shop studio with producer Ty Segall, Weirdo Shrine is a noisier, more energized effort.

For most, a brush with death would be cause for retreat, reflection, and reluctance, but Seattle band La Luz found something different in it: resilience. Having survived a high-speed highway collision shortly after releasing their 2013 debut LP It’s Alive, La Luz, despite lasting trauma, returned to touring with a frequency and tirelessness that put their peers to shame. When it came time to record Weirdo Shrine, the goal was to capture the band’s restless live energy and commit it to tape.

In early 2015, Cleveland and Co. adjourned to a surf shop in San Dimas, California where, with the help of producer/engineer Ty Segall, they realized this vision. Tracking most of the album live in shared quarters, La Luz chose to leave in any happy accidents and spur-of-the-moment flourishes that occurred while recording. The resulting album is a natural evolution of the band’s self-styled “surf noir” sound—a rawer, turbo-charged sequel that charts themes of loneliness, infatuation, obsession and death across eleven tracks, from the opening credits siren song of “Sleep Till They Die” to the widescreen, receding-skyline send-off of “Oranges” and its bittersweet epilogue, “True Love Knows.”

TRACK LISTING

01. Sleep Till They Die
02. You Disappear
03. With Davey
04. Don't Wanna Be Anywhere
05. I Can't Speak
06. Hey Papi
07. I Wanna Be Alone (With You)
08. I'll Be True
09. Black Hole, Weirdo Shrine
10. Oranges
11. True Love Knows

"The year was 1996 (a guess really), when I had LA MACHINE play in our Olneyville warehouse space. It was the first time I danced in front of other people. (I was later told I was really good). I think maybe it was the first time I can recall where I stood in front of something I would consider modern psychedelic music. Not a rehash of some ghost from the past but something new to me.

We had a plethora of hardcore, improv, and noise bands in New England... but this... this was something different. It was churning and it had a haunting floor-scraping ass on it. It had hints of nausea and a cyclic simplicity that to this day I still love and listen to often. Loudly, stoned, driving through the desert, laughing. They played and my friends skated the quarter pipe my flate mate had built...it was my first successful party and I thank La Machine for it.

RICK PELLTIER and JOHN LOPER have compiled these tunes for us to release post-mortem, but who knows...maybe they will come back to haunt a warehouse near you...OoOoOoOH. Every song reminds me of when I was younger, stronger, and faster. But now I know enough to realize how lucky I actually was to have this stuff around me. And now you can too. Enjoy." -John Dwyer (4.30.13).

Lovingly remastered from the original cassette with new original art by WILLIAM KEIHN.

"The year was 1996 (a guess really), when I had LA MACHINE play in our Olneyville warehouse space. It was the first time I danced in front of other people. (I was later told I was really good). I think maybe it was the first time I can recall where I stood in front of something I would consider modern psychedelic music. Not a rehash of some ghost from the past but something new to me.

We had a plethora of hardcore, improv, and noise bands in New England... but this... this was something different. It was churning and it had a haunting floor-scraping ass on it. It had hints of nausea and a cyclic simplicity that to this day I still love and listen to often. Loudly, stoned, driving through the desert, laughing. They played and my friends skated the quarter pipe my flate mate had built...it was my first successful party and I thank La Machine for it.

RICK PELLTIER and JOHN LOPER have compiled these tunes for us to release post-mortem, but who knows...maybe they will come back to haunt a warehouse near you...OoOoOoOH. Every song reminds me of when I was younger, stronger, and faster. But now I know enough to realize how lucky I actually was to have this stuff around me. And now you can too. Enjoy." -John Dwyer (4.30.13).

Lovingly remastered from the original cassette with new original art by WILLIAM KEIHN.

La Mambanegra (The Black Mamba) is a powerful latin music orchestra. Its venom is made of 70s NYC Salsa and elements of Jamaican and Colombian music, Funk and Hip Hop. Made up of some of Colombia's finest players, La Mambanegra are the advance guard for the rebirth of Salsa, twisting the genre into the 21st Century. Inspired by the story of an anonymous and mythical hero of the Barrio Obrero, a popular neighborhood of Cali, who had a series of fantastic adventures in California, La Habana and New York, this band brings a new concept of Salsa and Latin Music to the world. But, La Mambanegra are more than just salsa. Indeed, their leader Jacobo Vélez prefers to believe that they inhabit a genre all of their own. He calls it 'break-salsa', on account of the band's easy assimilation of hip-hop, ragga and knife-sharp funk. Hailing from the Colombian salsa capital of Cali, this nine-piece have been grooving hard for four years now, their polyrhythmic, horn-heavy and thoroughly modern sound quickly earning them a devoted following across South America and beyond. Their full-throttle live shows overflowing with the absolute commitment of each band member. In Vélez, they have an exuberant, passionate leader for whom the music is an essential life force. "Salsa is sweat, sex, liquour and Pielroja cigarettes," he announces. "It's the gasoline that turns my heart on."

Originally released in 1974 on Shandar, Dream House 78’17” is the second full-length album by La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela. This first-time US edition reproduces the original gatefold sleeve with beautiful calligraphy by Zazeela and liner notes by Young and French musicologist Daniel Caux.

Side one was recorded at a private concert (on the date and time indicated by the title) and features Young and Zazeela’s voices against a sine wave drone with Jon Hassell on trumpet and Garrett List on trombone. This work is a section of the longer composition Map of 49’s Dream the Two Systems of Eleven Sets of Galactic Intervals Ornamental Lightyears Tracery (begun in 1966 as a sub-section of The Tortoise, His Dreams and Journeys, which was begun in 1964 with Young’s group The Theatre of Eternal Music). The piece evolves with the oscillator changing pitch and dictating an ornate pattern over the course of the performance. Side two is an example of one of the sets of frequencies sustained in the Dream House, the composite sound environments conceived by Young and Zazeela. The composer suggests listening while seated—to experience how the sound interacts with the room and other perceptions of its arrangement—as well as while walking.

As Young states, “The frequency ratios are monitored continuously as lissajous patterns on the oscilloscopes and, in spite of the great stability of the oscillators, the phase relationships of the sine waves gradually drift which causes their amplitudes to add and subtract algebraically. Not only does the sound become a bit louder and softer, but at very loud levels, one actually begins to have a sensation that parts of the body are somehow locked in sync with the sine waves and slowly drifting with them in space and time.”

Bogotá's La Pambelé steps into the ring for their debut release on Names You Can Trust, and with it, they've joined a storied history in Colombia's prized salsa tradition. This new generation of talented musicians have come out for the 1st round with fire, grit and determination. Brass, keys, percussion and lyrics blast at you from all angles, evocative of the way the orchestra's namesake, the legendary Palenque boxer, used his flashing fists within the squared circle.

Featuring a full album of original compositions that have been faithfully recorded and mixed under the guidance of Mario Galeano Toro (Frente Cumbiero) and Daniel Michel (La Boa) at Mambo Negro Records, the approach is a return to the roots of salsa dura that continues to thrive in Colombia's deep musical training grounds. The promising future of the genre shines in the capable hands of La Pambelé and its players, and this introduction is sure to help vault the group from up-and-comer to title contender status.

TRACK LISTING

1. Descarga
2. El Avispao
3. Quiebracanto
4. Traigo El Bongó
5. Eleguá
6. Tu Bravura

"Tomate Y Alandette" by La Pesada is one of the best tropical records released by Codiscos. Issued in 1978, the album is a "one off" by an all-star ensemble of musicians and singers, many of whom had played with Fruko y sus Tesos, Los Hermanos Martelo and other Colombian orchestras. The album showcases a diverse and eclectic range of stylistic modes and genres. There is cumbia, salsa, bolero, son montuno, descarga and even calypso. The arrangements and instrumentation range from flute and violin charanga in a "tropico" Cuban mode (augmented by a trombone section) to Colombian percussion-heavy cumbia. 

GENE arrives five years after the iconoclast variously known as Sam Eastgate, Sam Dust and LA Priest thrilled the world with the cosmic pop of his debut album Inji, his first LP for Domino and his first solo output following the disbanding of former outfit, Late Of The Pier. GENE also follows the 2016 project Soft Hair in which Sam teamed up with Connan Mockasin for an instant cult-classic album.

GENE, the album, is named after a brand-new analogue drum machine Sam dreamt up and built alone. Working in isolation for more than two years in California, Wales and England’s south coast, soldering iron in hand, Sam developed the inners of GENE using dozens of electrical circuits he made up himself. The creation came after a search for an alternative to the structure and rigor of standard drum machines. Its unique rhythmic patterns are the focal point for the album, which is coloured by lush, pastoral tones, paired with the influence of his environmental changes.

The product of clear-eyed focus, the record offers a one-way ticket into a dimension entirely of Sam’s own making.

GENE is the most complete realisation of his vision yet. These songs are on a quest for meaning, exploring the limits of their maker’s abilities.

Coaxed into life with the juicy groove of “Beginning”, the record struts and sparkles through “Rubber Sky” and “What Moves” towards the melancholic interlude of “Sudden Thing” and the gigantic noise of centerpiece “Monochrome”, taking a sharp turn in the final third towards something darker and more mystical.

GENE was produced alongside London based artist, producer, DJ and founder of Phantasy records, Erol Alkan.

TRACK LISTING

Beginning
Rubber Sky
What Moves
Peace Lily
Open My Eyes
Sudden Thing
Monochrome
What Do You See
Kissing Of The Weeds
Black Smoke
Ain’t No Love Affair

Fase Luna is the ocean-inspired, wobbly-pop filled third album, by LA Priest, aka Sam Eastgate – due for release May 5th via Domino. Following 2020’s GENE, named after a modular drum machine that Sam designed using 150 electrical circuits he’d built himself, Fase Luna strips things back to little more than Sam and his guitar: nine sunshine-streaked tracks of pure bliss.

Recording in Mexico and the rainforests of Costa Rica, Fase Luna draws inspiration from each area’s mythical history and ancient connections to the ocean, drawing heavily on both to pack Fase Luna with stories of spirits and imaginations of life on the ocean bed. Raw and unfiltered, Fase Luna offers a one-way ticket to another world.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: 'Fase Luna' brilliant walks the path of Demarco-inspired woozy pop, with tape warble and shimmering affected guitar lines warping around each-other. It's brilliantly loose, perfectly laid back and results in an otherworldly experience all round. Lovely stuff.

‘Inji’ is the debut solo album by Sam Dust, AKA LA Priest.

Across its 10 audaciously imaginative tracks, ‘Inji’ reasserts Dust as a truly idiosyncratic voice in British music, applying the same frantically eclectic, mischievous and willfully absurd spirit of his previous band, the beloved Late Of The Pier, to ever more nuanced and affecting songwriting and composition.

From the obscene space-age stadium rock guitar solo of ‘Oino’, the maddeningly catchy digi-dub single that Dust leaked sample-by-sample on a suitably enigmatic website at the turn of the year, to ‘Learning To Love’, the record’s gargantuan, eight minute long prog-house centrepiece and ‘Occasion’, a melting Martian Prince come-on, ‘Inji’ confounds and delights in equal measure and at every turn.

TRACK LISTING

Occasion
Lady’s In Trouble With
The Law
Gene Washes With New
Arm
Oino
Party Zute / Learning To Love
Lorry Park
Night Train
Fabby
A Good Sign
Mountain

Part synth-pop classic, part future pop blueprint, the unforgettably catchy "I'm Not Your Toy" is set to be La Roux's next instant classic and is as sure to take up residence in your brain as its predecessors. With her own sci-fi disco ice queen style cut from the same iconic androgynous mould as Grace Jones and Annie Lennox and looking as otherworldly as Tilda Swinton in an electro remake of the Man Who Fell To Earth, La Roux has ripped up the 2009 pop star rule book, already becoming an accidental fashion heroine, a pop star as beloved of fashion journalists as much as radio DJs. Both 12" and CD single features remixes come from Data (big main room electrohouse smasher) and Jack Beats (another of their monster fidget jackers).

Originally released in very limited quantities on vinyl in 2009, the album, La Roux, contains the UK No. 1 single Bulletproof as well as Top 3 smash In For The Kill. La Roux was shortlisted for the 2009 Mercury Prize and won Best Electronic/Dance Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in 2011.

La Roux was a refreshing addition to the world of pop. Brixton-born Elly Jackson was inspired more by the music of Nick Drake and Neil Young than synth pop, and when Ben Langmaid first heard her, she was playing her songs on an acoustic guitar. Together, they updated the template for the synth duo, Langmaid resolutely in the background, while Jackson became the face and mouthpiece for the group.

Their debut single, Quicksand, was released on Kitsune Records in December 2008, and soon after Polydor signed them, and amid a flurry of press attention, In For The Kill came out in March 2009, rising to No. 2 in the UK. In June that year, Bulletproof topped the charts, paving the way for the album, which was received warmly in the UK and made huge inroads into the US charts.

Jackson’s androgyny and the duo’s musical style evoked the 80s, yet this was no mere pastiche. The songs had heart and soul and were delivered with matchless panache. “People don’t just want R&B girls thrusting their groins at them,” she told The Guardian. “It gave me hope. People bought the record even though it was fronted by this odd boy-looking ginger girl.”

La Roux is presented with scrupulous attention to the detail of the original UK first pressing and available in audiophile 180gm vinyl. Whether replacing a much-loved original copy, or adding to a collection afresh, this is a superior way to enjoy such enduring and influential music.

TRACK LISTING

1. In For The Kill
2. Tigerlily
3. Quicksand
4. Bulletproof
5. Colourless Colour
6. I'm Not Your Toy
7. Cover My Eyes
8. As If By Magic
9. Fascination
10. Reflections Are Protection
11. Armour Love
12. Growing Pains

Love her or hate her, you can't deny that La Roux has come up with some super-catchy electro-pop tunes this year. "Quicksand" is another one that's sure to make a run up the charts. With snapping 80s electro-dance beats, a dirty bassline and a big hooky chorus, this has 'hit' written all over it.

Grammy-winning and BRIT and Mercury-Prize-nominated artist La Roux returns with her first new album since 2014’s ‘Trouble In Paradise’ is released on her own label Supercolour Records. From the cover to the contents, this is unequivocally the album Elly Jackson always wanted to make, a claim that with some artists might ring alarm bells, but in this instance simply means that ‘Supervision’ sounds precisely, unmistakably, gloriously like La Roux. So, if you're looking for shimmering synths, bubblegum flavours, effortlessly cool vocals and exceptional pop songwriting, this is your new jam.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Huge, bold synths and 80's tinged percussion lay the foundations for this, the latest outing from La Roux. The brilliantly written and confident pop aesthetic ensures that La Roux feels just as essential on your home stereo as it does in the club, and as a main constituent of a good Lasagne.

TRACK LISTING

21st Century
Do You Feel
Automatic Driver
International Woman Of Leisure
Everything I Live For
Otherside
He Rides
Gullible Fool

L.A. Salami is back after releasing two EPs in 2019/20 with his third album ‘The Cause of Doubt & a Reason to Have Faith’. This isn’t the music of a virtuoso: it’s explorative, daring, meditative and sometimes wild. For the first time, Lookman has embraced the world of multi-tracking, though the record still retains a raw energy and an integrity. Lookman has translated a whole album of raw emotion and philosophical musings for your delectation. As a testament to a unique and thrilling talent, this record is a beacon of hope in troubled times and L.A. Salami’s most complete vision so far. In short: We need this record right now. L.A. Salami will be embarking on a 6 date German tour in August. Previously championed by QC rising star, Sunday Times Culture, Brooklyn Vegan etc.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Cause Of Doubt & A Reason To Have Faith
2. When You Play God (The 2018 Copyright Blues)
3. Thinking Of Emiley
4. Dear Jessica Rabbit
5. Things Ain't Changed
6. The Cage
7. The Talis-Man On The Age Of Glass (Redux)

As La Sera, Katy Goodman turned an aching heart into two marvelous, alluring yet bittersweet break-up albums (2011’s self-titled debut and 2012’s Sees the Light). On her latest, though, the former Vivian Girl is through crying.

Hour of the Dawn sees Goodman waking up, throwing open the bedroom windows and welcoming the day.

"I wanted the new La Sera record to sound like Lesley Gore fronting Black Flag," Goodman says. "I didn't want it to be another record of me sad, alone in my room. I wanted to have fun playing music and writing songs with a band." To back her nimble basslines and enchanting vocals, Goodman assembled a new band helmed by guitarist Todd Wisenbaker.

"We started playing faster, louder and more aggressively," Goodman says. "I wanted to get that energy onto the album."

The forceful new La Sera line-up set about fleshing out Goodman’s melodies and lyrics into strapping rock anthems, debuting them to enthusiastic crowds on tour, and refining them with a newfound obsession to detail.

After a year of perfecting their new material, La Sera was ready to commit it to tape. In the summer of 2013, the group decamped to a sweltering studio in East Los Angeles with engineer Joel Jerome and banged out the ten songs that would become Hour of the Dawn—an album that never walks, but runs, a collision of unleashed punk and ‘80s power-pop.

"We wanted to make a classic American record," Wisenbaker says. "The album was inspired by a lot of bands: The Pretenders, Minor Threat, X, The Smiths, The Cars and more."

The sound that emerged from these disparate influences combined hardcore energy with tuneful harmony, as exemplified by opening track “Losing to the Dark.” Title track "Hour of the Dawn," meanwhile, rides a steady groove towards a long horizon of sunrise. It’s the record's thematic center: a final wave goodbye to a messy past and the beginning of a new day. In a burst of bright, immediate and jangly Smiths-inspired pop, "Fall in Place" captures La Sera at an emotional and musical crossroads.

Hour of the Dawn, as its title suggests, heralds the beginning of a radiant and energetic new chapter in La Sera’s evolution—the summit of Goodman’s steady ascent to rock and roll queendom.

Limited edition split single, comes with free download code.

La Shark are a stunning new force in popular music, a band whose reputation proceeds them as a true live spectacle. The fivepiece group from London brings together an outrageous stage presence with their own school of experimental, revealing and infectious pop music.

A. Human hail from the Dalston Area of London. They tell stories about love, the damned, the strange and everything in-between. Vintage keyboards punctuate soaring triggered samples while rolling drums form an epic backdrop to wry and amusing lyrics. They draw influence from the disco soul of DFA and thoughtful dance music of New Order through to the art school originality of Talking Heads and lo-fi electronica of Arthur Russell. Their universally highly praised live performances are as chaotic and unpredicatable as they are refreshingly thrilling and engaging.

"In many ways this is a golden era for pop music. It's just that, er... you're not hearing any of it on your radios... As this ludicrously catchy split single shows, the pop gems of our time are being written firmly in the bosom of the underground" - Artrocker.

TRACK LISTING

La Shark - I Know What You Did Last Summer
A.Human - Take Me Home

A slice of seriously sought after US disco from La She Ba on Heavenly Star Records that has been a firm favourite of master selector Hunee and trades hands for £125+ on the secondhand market, gets a fresh reissue and remaster for a new generation of listeners.

Formed of Catherine Miller on vocals, produced and written by Harvey Miller and arranged by the mighty Patrick Adams, La She Ba – You've Been Hunchin' hits in all the right spots. Exquisite instrumentation with swooning strings, enchanting chords and tight drums laying the foundation for Miller’s celestial vocals to be the star of the show. Heavenly by name, heavenly by nature this is a must have 12 inch for any collection.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Heavenly Star Records bottom out the market resale value of this Harvey Miller & Patrick Adam's indebted masterpiece by offering us an affordable, officially licensed reissue. How commendable.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Vocal
B1. Edit

Octo Octa adds the melancholy to LA Vampires infinite fadness on "Freedom 2K", their reachin’ / preachin’ 50/50 collaboration on 100% Silk. Here La Vamps has traded her cheap'n’chic booty-budget grooves for sleek'n’chic haunted house. With lyrical references to Minnie Riperton, Arthur Russell, and Evelyn 'Champagne' King, vocalist Amanda Brown reappropriates realms of romance, skewing them into fresh sonic moods. Her wash'n'rinse sing / speak is backed by Nick Malkin’s keys-like-skippin’-stones, Britt Brown’s Tex-Mix dub-bumps, and Brian Foote’s sense and sexpertise, which are all just spit and shine for Octo Octa’s moonlit piano naïve melodies. Gloss and glow design by aesthetic-elevator Bobby Houlihan, with silver and pink toned drop-of-androgeny photography by Ashley Anthony, will push your candy buttons. "Freedom 2K" provides dance-or-be-danced-on anthems for the 21st Century, with a diagonal devotion to our generation’s gay nineties. 'We were living in a fantasy' - George Michael, "Freedom 90".

TRACK LISTING

A1. His Love
A2. Wherever, Boy
A3. Found You
B1. Freedom 2K
B2. Unity
B3. Freedom 2K (Malvoeaux Mix)

"La Yegros is at the helm of no ordinary revolution. Like Che Guevara, her domination plot extends well beyond Argentinian borders. But hers is a revolution that's feminine, joyous and tropical. It's a revolution you can dance to." - Time Out

La Yegros releases her debut album, 'Viene De Mi' on ZZK Records. The first female signing to the renowned ZZK label she is seen as the first lady of cumbia in a typically male dominated scene. A graduate of the Music Conservatory of Morón, she first tasted the spotlight in 1998 as part De La Guarda, performing in front of a 15,000 strong crowd. It was here she also met Gaby Kerpel (better known as King Coya), the highly acclaimed composer of the music for the De La Guarda and Fuerza Bruta shows and the producer of her debut album Viene De Mi. Fusing the traditional, festive chamamé music from her father's Misiones province in the north east jungles of Argentina, the Colombian cumbia that her mother introduced her to and the influences of her own upbringing in Buenos Aires, her music has already piqued the attention of MTV Iggy, NPR, and The Fader. On Viene De Mi Kerpel adds to it his own dark, electronic twist on Andean folkloric rhythms. Under the ZZK banner she has toured the world, playing festivals like Central Park's Summerstage and the Roskilde festival in Denmark and will return to Europe this spring.

TRACK LISTING

Viene De Mi
Trocintro
Trocitos De Madera
Cariño 
Iluminada Feat El Gato Muñoz
Vagar
El Bendito
Ya No Llores Feat Miss Bolivia
Solo
Que Me Hizo Mal

Analogue Attic presents the second solo release from label co-founder and one half of Albrecht La'Brooy.

6 stunning compositions to soundtrack your half-time break, or to celebrate the big win, 'There's Always Next Year' is a tribute to the misguided hopes and dreams of a sports fan.

Field recordings and commentary from a range of codes weave between silky saxophone lines and piano chords in what is a textbook showcase of the classic Analogue Attic downtempo and early evening sound we've come to know.

Credits:

Leo Yucht on Drums
Greg Carelton on Saxophone
Mastered by Corey Kikos

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: An alluring and enchanted set with coastal leanings, expansive horizons and balmy scents throughout. The ultimate late summer shimmer for those milking out the final rays of the season.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Boxed In
A2. Curse
A3. 3rd And 28
B1. 140 To The Pin
B2. Let
B3. There's Always Next Year

This is the first time these session recordings, from between 1987 and 1990, have been made officially available, and given that Lee Mavers turned up, played on them, allowed them to be broadcast and didn't go round telling everyone not to listen to their radios, we can assume that the mystical Scouser was actually happy with these versions! He's only done one LP so you may aswell bag this too, because, well: it's brilliant! Ironically, the only duffer is a rather clangy, rigid "There She Goes", but everything else probably surpasses the album versions. You also get the superb "Calling All", a huge song which was going to give the debut album its title, until it was mysteriously dropped at the eleventh hour. Basically, if you love The La's then you need this CD. Is right!

Austere Recordings are back with their 10th release, having always favoured quality over quantity. LAAK feature once again on a 200 limited hand stamped ep, serving up their usual high calibre tracks. 

TRACK LISTING

A1. One Sec
A2. Norm-alise
B1. Natural Selection
B2. Obsolescence

Since 2008, Lab Coast has been delivering hazy bursts of hook-laden guitar pop via a string of critically acclaimed, award-winning albums, EPs, and singles. From their basement studio in Calgary, Alberta, the song writing team of singer David Laing & multi-instrumentalist Chris Dadge (Chad VanGaalen, Bug Incision, Samantha Savage Smith) carve out detailed analogue productions; these recordings draw from the wealth of instruments that friends leave at the Lab Coast practice space, and the ever-evolving recording techniques that they've been honing since day one. Their home-brewed recordings sit in the tradition of DIY-recorders such as Strapping Fieldhands, early Guided By Voices, and R. Stevie Moore, while the songs themselves recall the likes of Teenage Fanclub, Tom Petty, and The La's.

Onstage, these richly textured pieces are ably brought to life by Sammie Smith (aka Samantha Savage Smith), Henry Hsieh (Cold Water, Crack Cloud), and Darrell Hartsook (Prenup, Sissys).

Lab Coast is a collection of songs cherry-picked from the band’s extensive back catalogue by Faux Discx overseer Dan Reeves and the band themselves, compiled in to one succinct album. It acts as an introduction to a highly prolific band and as a showcase for their refined ability to consistently knock clever, catchy pop songs out of the park.

TRACK LISTING

1.For Now
2.Really Realize
3.Bored Again
4.As Usual
5.Away From Here
6.Helen Bach
7.Better Than Me
8.Recognize I’m Wrong
9.Remember The Moon Jr
10.The Pointe Of It All
11.Guessing Anyhow
12.Dislocated
13.Walking On Ayr
14.Winter Balls

Limited Edtion: screen printed single sleeve jacket.

Lace Curtain is a new project from Australian wizards Mikey Young, Dave West and James Vinciguerra. The trio, who are involved in a myriad of punk and garage bands including Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Total Control and Rat Columns, veer in an entirely new direction on this 12" for Mexican Summer. Each side shows the band approaching electronic music with a diverse interpretation that encompasses elements of disco, krautrock and synth pop.

From the outset those drum machine patterns are locked in tight, boosted by deep, pummelling synths and basslines that could seemingly play out for eternity. Young's vocals drift in and out of each track, cloaked in a foggy club ambience that only further enhances this release's air of nonchalant cool.

This is the first time his extraordinary music has been released. CD in jewel case with large 16 page booklet, full colour rare photos, essay by Will Fowler. Compiles tracks from the ' Volume One' and' Volume 2' LPs.

Bruce Lacey is the quintessential British eccentric. Bruce Lacey is an artist, a musician, a filmmaker, a shaman, a genius and visionary. Since the 1950s he’s made film, music, art and performances, and collaborated with everyone from the Beatles to Throbbing Gristle.

He was part of the groundbreaking Cybernetic Serendipity exhibition in 1968. He even built a robot that won the Alternative Miss World.

Made and recorded using household objects as well as a modified synthesizer (made by a schoolboy in the early 1970s), it ranges from abstract tribal concrete to droning electronic trance. The music will be released across two separate LPs and one CD. Included will be a fine essay about the history of this inspiring figure by BFI / Flipside archivist Will Fowler.

Bruce Lacey has been a busy man. Since the 1950s he’s been making film, making music, making art, sculpture, rituals, performances and more besides. Many of his films have explored the basics of life and sex all with a sprinkle of irony, realism and ritualism. Many of his films have required music, music which Lacey made himself, improvising with bottles, rattles, typewriters and a tape machine.

By the early 1970s Lacey was exploring stone circles and ancient rights; he’d also bought a home-made synthesiser from a schoolboy who’d advertised it in Exchange & Mart. He’d made it as a home project. A week later Lacey bought a keyboard from another schoolboy in Exchange & Mart. Lacey set about slowly modifying this synth and improvising music influenced by his stone circle visits over the next few years.

This music is made only when “The Muse” descends. It is impossible for Bruce to perform this improvised music live. The music he made was occasionally available on cassette at his exhibitions in the 1970s. The late Poly Styrene (who had a copy) compared Lacey’s music to Tangerine Dream. Lacey had not heard of Tangerine Dream. This is the first time this raw and extraordinary music, by one of the UKs most extraordinary men, has been made available.

Born and raised in Manor Park, East London, she relocated to Nottingham whilst working for a children's charity and initially only considered making music as a way of having fun with friends. However, a chance encounter lead to her earning a place on Future Bubblers - Gilles Peterson's development programme devoted to discovering and nurturing fresh UK talent - and enthused by the experience, Lacey recorded some songs in her living room, then in 2017 self-released her debut EP, 'Black Moon'. The more polished 'When The Sun Dips 90 Degrees' EP followed in 2018, and then 'Morning Matters' EP in 2020 – the EP's title track has clocked up over 14 million plays on Spotify and also saw Yazmin make her COLORS debut performing 'On Your Own'.

TRACK LISTING

Flylo Tweet
Bad Company
Late Night People
Fools Gold
Where Did You Go?
Sign & Signal
From A Lover
Eye To Eye
Pieces
Pass It Back
Tomorrows Child
Match In My Pocket
Legacy
Sea Glass

Yazmin Lacey emerged onto the new jazz scene with her beautiful sound, her new release When the Sun Dips 90 Degrees is on First Word Records.The EP follows on from her two recent singles, '90 Degrees' and 'Something My Heart Trusts', both of which are included here, along with three previously unreleased tracks, 'Heaven', 'Body Needs Healing' and 'Burn & Rise'. This set illustrates again Yazmin's candid songwriting delivered in her uniquely laidback soulful style, whilst a glorious fusion of neo-soul and jazz performed by Pete Beardsworth and her trusty band rides throughout. Initially a Brownswood 'Future Bubbler' graduate, Yazmin self-released her debut EP, 'Black Moon', last year. This lead to a Maida Vale session late 2017 with Jordan Rakei, Moses Boyd, Oscar Jerome and now label-mates, Children of Zeus. She kicked off the year with a performance at the Worldwide Awards with Skinny Pelembe, and has recently done shows with artists such as Ezra Collective, Tall Black Guy and Fatima. Yazmin has a UK tour scheduled for later in the year, as well as several festival appearances across Europe locked in. There's a lot more to come from this Notts-based Londoner yet. In Yazmin's words: "'90 Degrees' is about that time of the day / night when there's a shift in pace and energy. When you decide to lock off from the 'outside' world and create your own atmosphere, take some time to give thanks for what's breathing love into your life and smoke off the fuckeries. Everyone needs a little routine for self preservation."

STAFF COMMENTS

Millie says: Beautifully warm vocals layered on top of relaxed neo-soul vibes and jazz elements has created this perfect sound that I’ve fallen in love with.

TRACK LISTING

1.  90 Degrees
2.  Something My Heart Trusts
3.  Burn & Rise
4.  Heaven
5.  Body Needs Healing 

A colossus of the funk & soul world, Adam Gibbons (aka Lack of Afro) has been releasing music for 15 years and continues to go from strength to strength. Previously signed to Freestyle Records in London and running his own label The Bastion Music Group since 2015, he has been responsible for some of the genre’s most important releases, not least his debut album Press On described by iDJ as “one of the most important albums of the modern funk era” and more recently given ‘classic’ status by Future Music Magazine.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Intro
2. The Outsider
3. Rusty
4. Touch My Soul
5. For You
6. Pure Filth
Side B
1. Wait A Minute
2. Live At The Club
3. Mongrel Strut
4. When The Sun Goes Down
5. Roderigo
6. Where It’s At 

Following two years battling addiction and a marriage breakdown, Lack of Afro returns firing on all cylinders with his eighth studio album, Square One, via his own label Bastion Music Group. Finding inspiration in his recent trip to the US to produce at the legendary FAME Studios at Muscle Shoals (and with his first US tour on the horizon), this is an album full of hope, optimism and good times.

With a career spanning over 17 years now, one that seen his music appear on films and TV shows around the world and rack up millions of streams online, Adam, like so many, had to go back to Square One, overcoming numerous challenges and setbacks. And in doing so he had delivered his most accomplished album yet and is ready to hit the road with his band. With a renewed sense of inspiration and energy in his craft, and he is determined to keep the funk alive and kicking.

TRACK LISTING

1 Enter The Ring (feat. DJ Yoda)
2 Let It All Out (feat Wax & Herbal T)
3 All Night (feat. Jack Tyson-Charles)
4 Loving Arms (feat. Greg Blackman)
5 Least Favourite Wonder (feat. Dare Club)
6 Wide Open
7 Amigos (feat. Too Many T's)
8 Looking At The Love (feat. Greg Blackman)
9 Automatic Lovin' (feat. HOLMES)
10 Not For You (feat. Alyssa Marie & Jack Tyson-Charles)
11 Browsing YouTube
12 Go Free 

Punk pioneers Crass continue their vinyl reissue series ‘2 by 2 And Back Again’ with reissues from Lack of Knowledge and Sleeping Dogs. Lack of Knowledge formed in 1978 and explored the intersection of punk and new wave, withbrooding synth and an angular, melancholy edge. Their greyscale, gothic delivery recalls the likes of The Damned and Joy Division, but they found a home in the capital’s thriving anarcho-punk scene, seemingly more in-keeping with their work ethic. They consistently and defiantly subverted expectations, taking what a band seeking commercial success would do, and at each turn doing the opposite. Unpretentious, and embodying the very essence of DIY value, they have since become something of a cult hit, with their original 1984 Crass Records release now a bona fide collector’s item.

TRACK LISTING

We’re Looking For People
Another Sunset
Girl In A Mask
Radioactive Man

Of all the new generation of B-more inspired producers, labels and DJs, Aaron LaCrate and production partner Debonair Samir are by far the most sought after. Here they follow-up LaCrate's trend-setting "B-more Gutter Music" mix from 2006. This release brings us the next level of Baltimore exclusives that have been burning up dancefloors worldwide, mixing future classics with club favourites and brand new bangers. Includes the highly sought after E-40 "U & Dat" remix featuring Juelz Santana that so many kids have been digging for, plus "Supahead" with Amanda Blank and nine others of the most in-demand and authentic tracks of the Baltimore Club genre designed to blow the dust outta your ears.

Apollo XXI is the debut album from Steve Lacy - best known as the guitarist of space-soul band The Internet. At the ripe age of 20, the Grammy-nominated Compton native already has a veteran’s resume; he was Wired Magazine’s Tech Visionary, Time Magazine’s Most Influential Teen, produced-written-featured with Solange, J Cole, Vampire Weekend, Blood Orange and produced some of Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN on his iPhone. He’s also toured the world with his band mates The Internet, given a TED Talk, worked extensively with Louis Vuitton on behalf of Virgil Abloh (including walking at the LV Paris Fashion Week show) and now releases his debut album on his own terms. The most purely glorious song is Playground, whose one-chord rhythm guitar jangles as if announcing the arrival of swallows, ice cream and Love Island all at once, and is met by a limber falsetto top line worthy of Sly and the Family Stone.

TRACK LISTING

Only If
Like Me Feat. Daisy 
Playground
Basement Jack
Guide 
Lay Me Down
Hate CD 
In Lust We Trust
Love 2 Fast
Amandla’s Interlude
N Side
Outro Freestyle/4ever

Following the worldwide success of Steve Lacy’s critically acclaimed album Gemini Rights, this collection is now available on vinyl. The album features Steve’s chart topping global hit, Bad Habit.

Steve Lacy is a Grammy nominated singer-songwriter, producer, and musician who was born and raised in Compton, California. Steve was introduced to the music industry initially in 2015 as a member (guitarist) of R&B group, The Internet.

His previous solo work includes his debut EP, Steve Lacy’s Demo (Feb 2017), his debut album, Apollo XXI (May 2019), and The Lo-Fis (December 2020). Steve has production, writing and feature credits with artists like Kendrick Lamar, J Cole, Tyler, Mac Miller, The Internet, Thundercat, GoldLink, Solange, YG, Vampire Weekend, and Kali Uchis to name a few.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE 1
Static
Helmet
Mercury
Buttons
Bad Habit
SIDE 2
2gether (Enterlude) Steve Lacy & Matt Martians
Cody Freestyle
Amber
Sunshine
Give You The World

Mike Ladd challenges listeners preconceptions with this venture into black jazz on Thirtsy Ear, taking his hip hop origins and flushing them down the toilet of history, moving rapidly through a theoretical musical journey of ethnology.

After months of anticipation, Lady Blackbird’s already critically acclaimed debut album, Black Acid Soul which was recorded in legendary Studio B (Prince’s room) in Sunset Sound and produced by Grammy-nominated Chris Seefried has now been released via Foundation Music/BMG.

To celebrate the release, Lady Blackbird recorded a live version of her latest single ‘It’ll Never Happen Again’ at the iconic Capitol ‘A’ studio in LA. The song is a gentle, yet powerful, reinvention of another poignant obscurity written by Tim Hardin and which first appeared on the folk singer’s seminal 1966 debut.

With a voice that has stopped critics in their tracks, Lady Blackbird is a revelatory new talent with music that transcends the jazz scene through which the LA-based artist is rooted. Reflecting influences as varied as Billie Holiday, Gladys Knight, Tina Turner and Chaka Khan, with critics drawing comparisons to Adele, Amy and Celeste, Lady Blackbird’s distinct and beguiling talent is not one to be missed.

TRACK LISTING

Blackbird
It's Not That Easy
Fix It
Ruler Of My Heart
Nobody's Sweetheart
Collage
Five Feet Tall
Lost And Looking
It'll Never Happen Again
Beware The Stranger
Black Acid Soul

Set for release on 28th October, the deluxe edition of Lady Blackbird’s debut album ‘Black Acid Soul’ comes with a staggering 11 additional songs, encompassing brand new material such as stunning single ‘Feel It Comin’ and remixes commissioned by the likes of electronic, jazz, funk luminaries Emma-Jean Thackray, Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy and Greg Foat.

Originally released in 2021, ‘Black Acid Soul’ received enormous critical acclaim; The Sunday Times named her their Breaking Act, stating that she “brings a singing voice of extraordinary nuance and immaculate phrasing to a selection of covers/reworkings and pindrop originals” in a 4* review. The Guardian awarded the album a 5* review, remarking that Blackbird “finds her calling with an extraordinary collection of songs and performances that burn deep into you”.

TRACK LISTING

CD Tracklist:
CD 1
1. Blackbird
2. It's Not That Easy
3. Fix It
4. Ruler Of My Heart
5. Nobody’s Sweetheart
6. Collage
7. Five Feet Tall
8. Lost And Looking
9. It’ll Never Happen Again
10. Beware The Stranger
11. Black Acid Soul
CD 2
1. Did Somebody Make A Fool Out Of You
2. I Am What I Am
3. Woman (Single Version)
4. Feel It Comin (Single Version)
5. Baby I Just Don't
6. Beware The Stranger (Chris Seefried Remix) (Edit)
7. Collage (Greg Foat Remix)
8. Blackbird (Emma-Jean Thackray Remix)
9. Lost And Looking (Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy Cosmodelica Remix)
10. Collage (Bruise Remix) (Edit)
11. Beware The Stranger (Gil Cang Tuff Scout Remix)

LP Tracklist:
SIDE A
1. Blackbird
2. It's Not That Easy
3. Fix It
4. Ruler Of My Heart
5. Nobody’s Sweetheart
SIDE B
1. Collage
2. Five Feet Tall
3. Lost And Looking
4. It’ll Never Happen Again
5. Beware The Stranger
6. Black Acid Soul
SIDE C
1. Did Somebody Make A Fool Out Of You
2. I Am What I Am
3. Woman
4. Feel It Comin
5. Baby I Just Don't
SIDE D
1. Beware The Stranger (Chris Seefried Remix)
2. Collage (Greg Foat Remix)
3. Blackbird (Emma-Jean Thackray Remix)
4. Lost And Looking (Colleen 'Cosmo' Murphy Cosmodelica Remix)
5. Collage (Bruise Remix)

Following her contribution to this "Gudu & Friends Vol. 1" compilation, Lady Blacktronika steps out with a full EP for Peggy Gou’s Gudu label.

Whether operating as Lady Blacktronika or her Femanyst alias, Akua Grant has built a deserved reputation as one of house and techno’s most daring and unique artists - one that dates back 25 years now, when she first debuted as a vocalist.

'House and techno' can be a cliched catch-all term, but in Grant’s case, she really has explored the extremes of both sides. Her early Lady Blacktronika work, when she earned the nickname The First Lady of Beatdown, saw her produce and narrate a style of deep house that was both sensitive and transgressive, while as Femanyst, she explores some of techno’s darkest corners, all distorted kicks and serrated edges.

Her EP for Gudu kicks off with some serious intent: "Baby I Got It" chops its vocals rough and raw, pairing them with marching drums and the sort of idiosyncratic synth-work that feels like a Blacktronika signature at this point. "Sing the Blues" and "Hold My Hand" take things smoother, but without ever deferring to type - as ever with Grant’s music, she works with such sleight of hand that it’s easy to skip back three minutes previous and wonder how the hell we got here. Her tracks are just that hypnotic and hallucinatory.

Closing the EP, Octo Octa provides a remix of "Hold My Hand" that unfolds over a long arrangement, taking us out with crushed percs and held pads over some undeniable drum work.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Baby I Got It
A2. Hold My Hand (Octo Octa's Sapphic Trails In Bloom Mix)
B1. Sing The Blues
B2. Hold My Hand 

Lady Gaga releases her highly anticipated sixth studio album Chromatica via Interscope Records. The album is executive produced by BloodPop® and Lady Gaga. The album comes on the heels of Friday’s release of the high-energy pop smash Stupid Love, which debuted at #1 on iTunes in 58 countries.

Remastered for its 10th Anniversary, the newly cut vinyl edition of Ripely Pine features the bonus track “Up In The Rafters,” long a live favorite that really should have been on the album in the first place.

More than anything, Aly Spaltro has 20,000 second-hand DVDs to thank for her first album. Despite being recorded at a proper studio in her recently adopted home of Brooklyn, Ripely Pine showcases songs conceived during her tenure at Bart’s & Greg’s DVD Explosion in Brunswick, Maine. Little did customers know, the same store they’d drop off their Transformers movies was providing the ideal four-year cocoon for the development of a major musical talent. Spaltro worked the 3:00 PM to 11:00 PM shift. Each night, after locking up, she’d walk past Drama and Horror, pull out her music gear from behind a wall of movies, and write and record songs until morning broke. She did this every day, drawing strength from the monotony of her routine and testing out multiple techniques, approaches and instrumentation. Anger, confusion, love, happiness and sadness reigned, and the songs ran rampant, with little form or structure. Isolated for those many hours, Spaltro let melodies morph together, break apart and pair up. This is how she taught herself to write music and sing.

Taking the name Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, Spaltro became one of the most beloved musicians in Portland. Her live shows were unhinged, as melodies followed an internal logic only apparent to Spaltro herself. She sang and played guitar, and the songs offered a vivid yet brief snapshot of her expansive world. At 23, with years of writing and performing music already under her belt, she ventured to the next milestone - recording an album. This would be the first time she did so in a professional studio and the first time she shared the process with anyone else. Luckily, she met Nadim Issa at Let ’Em Music in Brooklyn. He was taken enough by her abilities to dedicate nine full months toward the recording of Ripely Pine, and she with his producing abilities to ease comfortably into making him a part of her recording process. She wrote everything - all the songs, all the arrangements. And the two of them assembled an album that finally fit what existed in Spaltro’s mind. Keeping the songs’ stark rawness, the record is a pure representation of her sound. Ripely Pine shouts the introduction of a new talent from every groove. These recordings come as close as possible to conveying the intense majesty of her live shows, and, much like those performances, a narrative breathes through the record’s progression. The album opens with urgency and anger, settles into reconciliation and reciprocation, and ultimately reaches toward resolution, realizing infatuation leads to a loss of self; instead, embracing one’s own strengths is the most powerful thing of all.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hair To The Ferris Wheel
2. Aubergine
3. Florence Berlin
4. Bird Balloons
5. Regarding Ascending The Stairs
6. You Are The Apple
7. Mezzanine
8. Little Brother
9. Crane Your Neck
10. Rooftop
11. The Nothing Part II
12. Taxidermist Taxidermist
13. Up In The Rafter

To many, Lady Lamb is an enigma. Her songs are at once intimate and unbridled, both deeply personal and existentially contemplative. Aly Spaltro is a fearless performer who can command a pitch black stage with nothing more than her voice. Yet, when the band bursts in and the lights come up, what began as a demonstration of restraint shifts seamlessly into an emphatic snarl.

On her newest work, After, Spaltro explores dualities further - giving equal attention to both the internal and external, the before and after. Her most palpable fears and memories are on display here, with a familiar vulnerability even more direct than her last effort. After boasts driving rhythms, bold melodies, candid lyricism, and a growling sonic stamp that is all her own.Spaltro’s formative years were full of change – moving houses, cities, and countries every three years until she landed in her family's home state of Maine. It was here that Spaltro found her voice among thousands of films at Bart & Greg’s DVD Explosion, an independent rental store in the small coastal town of Brunswick. During the day Spaltro would rent movies to the locals. At night she would lock up, pull out her 8-track recorder, and create songs completely uninhibited by musical conventions, learning to play and sing as she hit record. These creations brought forth nearly one hundred recordings, twelve of which were carefully curated and fully realized on her 2013 full-length studio debut Ripely Pine (released on Ba Da Bing! Records).

Ripely Pine garnered praise for its lyrical intricacies, emotive vocals, and often unpredictable musicality, introducing Spaltro as a formidable new artist. In between tours, Spaltro returned home, focusing with laser-like intent on writing, arranging, and demoing the songs on After. These new works - which found Spaltro co-producing with her Ripely Pine partner Nadim Issa at his Brooklyn studio, Let 'Em In - are sonically vibrant, with an assertive use of grit and brightness. Thematically, they provide direct insight into Spaltro’s rumination on mortality, family, friendships, and leaving home. There are many songs on After that explore themes of a much larger scale. In 'Heretic' Spaltro sings of a childhood UFO sighting in Arizona. In 'Batter' she dies in a plane crash, while in 'Spat Out Spit' she questions whether she was even born at all. Alternatively, in 'Billions of Eyes' Spaltro can "only see into her suitcase," her mind simultaneously present and wandering as she "gnaws [her] way back home." The tender and sparse 'Ten' delves into her mother’s childhood diary, giving the listener a clear view throughout into some of Spaltro's warmest memories of her loved ones. Ripely Pine was marked by an undeniable passion and confidence, but where it sometimes lacked in personal narrative and directness is where After shines. The last line on After encompasses the self-assurance of the work as a whole, stating "I know where I come from." This theme is a constant throughout After, as Spaltro seeks to allow the listener to move in closer than ever before, to reflect on the past with grace, and envision the future with fervor. Spaltro invites us to contemplate the dualities that make us human, encouraging the celebration of both fear and love: internally and externally, before and after.

6 face-melting gurners for the 21st Century’s, wilted and jilted generation.

Glasgow’s Lady Neptune follows her New Gorbals Gabber cassette E.P. with her debut vinyl release NOZ. Over the course of 23 bloody fisted minutes, Lady Neptune’s – aka Moema Meade - hyper destructed take on Gabber and Happy Hardcore breaks down the genre tropes before rebuilding them as a new pop music. If 2020’s New Gorbals Gabber showed an artist building their own language from fragments of different genres, 2022’s NOZ goes harder into the cyberpunk-ass future and takes no prisoners.

Recorded and mixed at Glasgow’s legendary Green Door Studios and mastered by Rashad Becker, here Lady Neptune evolves into a monster. With the classic weapons of Dutch Gabber – distorted 909 kick drums, bursts of noise and world-eating Rave-O Matic hoovering synth riffs, Lady Neptune’s 6 tracks constantly threaten to careen off the speaker into the sweatiest, most gibbering, messy corners of the club. The two years since her debut has seen Meade destroying festival dancefloors, training for the full assault that is NOZ. Live performances have seen foam guns, tequila pistols, neon stage dancers and a full, maxed-out orgy of fast-as-hell BPM, rave music burning up the cones. The experience reaps rewards from the outset on recorded form here.

APOCOLYPS begins with monstrous vocals and the all-consuming kick, pulled back and taut for launch. The arsenal builds; warbling synths and high-pitched synth-strings before dropping into Bald Terror-sized hoovers and stuttering 4/4s. It quickly bleeds into MASTERER, with a looped, pitched up vocal intersecting with the synth riff. The aesthetics might be Happy Hardcore but the dynamic feels like a synthetic, evil Nu Metal-influenced Industrial music. Constantly evolving and twisting with its own natural drama, the drop at 2:15 is pure ecstatic release. fusing Meade’s inclination for pop hooks with the first out-and-out 180BPM (ish, who’s counting?) anthemic melter of the E.P., TELL ME has THE big catchy chorus, used sparingly and sung by Meade with angelic devilishness, coming at you in waves of XTC. It’s a repeater.

It’s then massive fists in the air for the ruthless Side B opener WIT. In the Welsh-Brazilian artist’s adopted home of Glasgow it translates directly as WHAT!? Itt makes sense. g. Sharp, weaponised, rhythmic punishment abounds before OH responds. Pitched up vocals and another mid-frequency synth hook wipes the slate clean. Like the best Gabber, the tension and release dynamic is used to full effect by Meade, with the thunderous low end kick - expertly tweaked in the mastering by Rashad Becker – slipping into the ghostly cavern. Industrialized 4/4 and noise-snares propel onwards to be utterly squashed by that bloody synth, stinging and horribly brilliant. Proving her genius for a ridiculous A-N-T-H-E-M, TIME 2 MAKE U FEEL GOOD closes the 23 minutes of ragged, drugged glory with a festival-slamming chorus built from the wreckage. It’s a song that does that thing we all know and love but can’t put our finger on. Sad, happy, tragedy, ecstasy, joy, horror...There’s big, minor chord changes (yes there’s some CHORDS on this slammer), the kick is submerged in layers of pads and Meade’s actual secret weapon: her vocal and knack for writing a chorus line. In the listener’s mind it’s over before it’s begun, a track destined for the big rewind.

Released on the weekend Lady Neptune debuts at legendary Bang Face festival, NOZ is a breathless, E-number riddled eternal ecstasy.

TRACK LISTING

1. Apocolyps
2. Masterer
3. Time 2 Make U Feel Good
4. Wit
5. Oh
6. Tell Me

Big Crown Records is proud to present Piece of Me, the sophomore full length offering from Lady Wray. This is something of a homecoming for Nicole. Where her 2016 solo debut Queen Alone leaned more towards Soul and R&B with tinges of hip-hop, this record changes the mixture. It's still R&B with the textures of analog Soul, but there is a heavy Hip Hop infl­uence that brings the sum of Nicole's career together in a new sound that will de‑ne her future.

Boom-bap drums and chunky bass lines are front-and-center creating a perfect head-nodding backdrop for Lady Wray to take on the good, the bad, the difficult, and the joyful on her most personal collection of songs to date. The title track, "Piece of Me," which has already become a classic since it's 2019 release is about the people in your life who need more than you are willing to give. This tune and the B side of the 7” “Come On In” were the first songs put to tape for this album and they were recorded with Nicole sitting in a chair 8 months pregnant with her daughter. Her voice is so powerful, so raw, so thorough on these initial songs—it's wild to think that they were recorded this way. And even wilder to know that she knocked them all out in one take. Long time collaborator and producer Leon Michels keeps the musical backing restrained and expertly executed, setting up Lady Wray for the full spotlight and setting the tone for the rest of the album.

While the upbeat energies of “Under The Sun” and “Through It All” are sure to become hits that reconnect Lady Wray with her 90s R&B fanbase, “Where Were You” offers a behind the scenes look at what those days of stardom in her youth were really like. Nicole takes on the racial tension in America with her poetic and powerful “Beauty In The Fire” and leans heavy into her faith and church upbringing on the showstopper, “Thank You”. She gushes about the profound love she’s come to know for her daughter on “Melody” and celebrates life’s ups and downs on “Joy & Pain”. In 2021 it is rare to hear a varied yet cohesive album with no “skippers”, but that is what you have here in spades. The tried and true chemistry between Lady Wray and Leon Michels has undeniably found a higher level and this album stands as a testament to conviction and dedication for all of us to enjoy and be inspired by.

With this in mind, when talking about this record, for Lady Wray, it's about a larger purpose. "My goal is always to help and to heal people with singing," she explains. "Part of that is to try and bring back real music, real singing, so people can feel something again." Now, she's not dissing anyone here, to be clear. It's just that Lady Wray cannot sing without tapping into something deeper, searching for that shared compassion between all of us. Perhaps it comes from her church upbringing, or maybe from her years of trials and tribulations in the music industry. Either way, Lady Wray is looking to bring that "Good Sound" back and the good feelings that come with it. She calls it "those inner hands," and she always means to stir them up, grabbing your attention from within.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A:
1. I Do
2. Through It All
3. Piece Of Me
4. Come On In
5. Under The Sun
6. Where Were You

SIDE B:
1. Beauty In The Fire
2. Games People Play
3. Melody
4. Thank You
5. Joy & Pain
6. Storms

Ladyfuzz were fully formed in London in early 2005 when Austrian front woman Liz Neumayr was joined by guitarist Matt Lord and drummer Ben Esser. "Bouncy Ball" is a taste of what to expect from their forthcoming debut album "Kerfuffle".

Re-release of their long-deleted debut single.

Time Flies, is an extraordinary collection that fuses intimate subject matter and upbeat guitar-led rock with irresistibly catchy electronic elements. In the half decade since her acclaimed 2016 album Wild Things, Pip has gone through a personal transformation.

Pip has openly struggled with mental health, anxiety and depression for a long time and, after dealing with severe postnatal depression + a serious skin cancer condition which has thankfully seen a full recovery, was able to successfully procure the right balance of therapy & medication which is so individually specific. When she embarked on writing songs for this new record in 2019, there was a sense of freedom in the work. “I was feeling pretty grateful to be alive and making music, so I felt like I didn’t ‘care’ anymore - not in a bad way, I just stopped overthinking it.”

Time Flies was produced with a host of incredible collaborators including, LA songwriter and producer Tommy English (K.Flay, Carly Rae Jepsen, Kacey Musgraves, Adam Lambert, Broods etc), Auckland based Josh Fountain (Leisure, Benee), Jeremy Toy (Leonard Charles, She’s So Rad) , Sydney's Chris Stracey (Bag Raiders, Paloma Faith, Diplo.) and Jono Sloan (Empire Of The Sun, PNAU).

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
My Love
Think About You
Time Flies
Mixed Emotions
Guilty Love Ft. BROODS

SIDE B
Take It Easy Mama
Loner
Adam
Reactor
Walk Away
Love Is Blind

Whether they were singing hymns or secular songs, Ladysmith Black Mombazo always raised their voices in glorious harmony. They are the unmatched masters of South African a cappella and this release documents their vocal prowess. This album is comprised of their very best performances from over a long and prestigious and celebrated career. It covers from when they burst onto the scene when they participated with Paul Simon on his hugely successful "Graceland" album and launched their years of worldwide touring to appearances on venues like Saturday Night Live, and providing music for movies with major stars like Michael Jackson and Dolly Parton. Their unparalleled artistry won them great fame and five Grammy awards. They also always found time to lend their voices in Support of South Africa's Struggles away from apartheid rule.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Izithembiso Zenkosi
A2. Kubi Ukungalaleli
A3. Uphi Umhlobo
A4. Yimani
A5. Silgugu Isiphambano
A6. Limnandi Izulu
B1. Ayanqikaza Amagwala
B2. That's Why I Choose You
B3. Isimanga Salomhlaba
B4. Ungikhumbule
B5. Amafutha Esibane
B6. Udla Nge'nduku Zabanye

Ladytron return with their highly anticipated 7th studio album ‘Time’s Arrow’. The scouse natives show off everything that hard earned fans can count on - crystalline melodies enveloped in icy textures and rippling arpeggios - with touches of indie pop, shoegaze, disco, and industrial music

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Ladytron return for their sleekest and most pristine offering yet, with euphoric synth sweeps and grand, 80's-tinged percussive rolls. It's a sound that's familiar in today's musical landscape but one that Ladytron have been doing for some time, and it shows. Perfectly produced synth-pop from one of the original and best.

TRACK LISTING

1. City Of Angels
2. Faces
3. Misery Remember Me
4. Flight From Angkor
5. We Never Went Away
6. The Night
7. The Dreamers
8. Sargasso Sea
9. California
10. Time’s Arrow

The third 12” on Laen Disc from Farren Laen. "A Crossing Road" opens in stylish manner - cascading acid fragments drizzled across a introspective soundbed whilst a ring modulated synth note rattles around in the mix. Reminds me a little bit of Swayzak or Recloose. Moody, red lit, electronic soul. "In Betweens" continues with expansive pads sweeping in over fluttery hi-hat patters and rising bass plumes. Finally "Distrubance" sounds like a lost B-12 number with its vintage drum machines rhythms, heavenly high register synth licks and bubbling acid bassline. Very nice very suave! 

Hand stamped & numbered in NYC. 150 copies.

Early support from: Kornel Kovacs, Mr. Beatnick, Move D, Gene Tellem, Frits Wentink, Nathan Micay, Massimiliano Pagliara, Johannes Albert, & more

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Farren Laen's infrequent but considered series drops its third volume in as many years. They might not come around very often, but for lovers of sincere, pure and deep-as-you-like house music, Laen Disc's are completely essential.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Farren Laen - A Crossing Road
B1. Farren Laen - In Betweens
B2.. Farren Laen - Disturbance

After crisscrossing the nation for the last half-decade looking for a home, Pokey LaFarge found himself in Mid-Coast Maine. Upon arriving, the Illinois- born singer/ songwriter/ actor pursued a major life change, working 12-hour days on a local farm--a turn of events that catalyzed an extraordinary burst of creativity and redefined his sense of purpose as an artist. Rhumba Country was initially shaped from material that emerged while LaFarge was deep in work on the farm. "I'd be pushing a plow or scattering seeds, and the songs would just come to me," he recalls. "It was tremendously inspirational and made me realize that apart from singing, farming is perhaps the oldest human art form." While farming, LaFarge began dreaming up a kaleidoscopic sound informed by his love of music from far- ranging eras and corners of the globe, including mambo, tropicalia, rocksteady, and mid-century American rock-and-roll. "The songs that naturally come to me are upbeat and make you wanna dance or at least bop your head--they're all very colorful," says LaFarge. "I used to think of my music in dark blue, but now I see it in technicolor." Co- produced along with Chris Seefried and Elliot Bergman and recorded in L.A., the resulting Rhumba Country is an invitation to come together to celebrate life and love.

TRACK LISTING

One You, One Me
For A Night
Run Run Run
Like A Sailor
Sister Andre
So Long Chicago
It's Not Over
Home Home Home
Made To Be Loved
You Make My Garden Grow

This was a single from June which initially was not offered to stores. 'Easy Meat' the title track taken from LaFaro's second album signals a departure in both musical and thematic territory. Recalling early Morphine, Ministry and NIN the stoner-swagger of the first album has been supplanted by droning riffology and bluesy nuance. Similarly, Johnny Black's lyrics have zoomed into examine other people's lives in even creepier and more exacting detail; as his songwriting matures so too does his ability to single out life's undesirables and our innermost, darkest thoughts. At 2'17" the track transforms into what fans love LaFaro for, a killer breakdown with outrageously exuberant John Stainer influenced drum-fills, from this point out the track is a master-class into how to bring it to the front three rows. Even those sitting comfortably at home with earbuds and tea will want to take their tops off and shake a fist at someone.

Crushingly recorded by the band's now regular producer (a Bangor man simply known as 'Marty') this new set of songs have all the urgency and precision of LaFaro live. In keeping with the album's theme of using Northern Irish colloquialism-as song title LaFaro's B-side to this single is entitled 'Wee Buns' and is well worth the purchase price alone. Recalling Jesus Lizard, Shellac, Helmet (with whom the band have toured Europe) and NI heroes Therapy? LaFaro have character, chops and emotion oozing through every seedy riff 'I love to write about life's dark little secrets - the things we all know happen but never get discussed'.

TRACK LISTING

1. Easy Meat
2. Wee Buns

Lafawndah’s first release on Warp takes influences from wide-ranging genres such as zouk, kizoma, salsa, cumbia, dubstep and grime, creating an exciting sampler of what’s to come next from this defiant and inspired artist.

“Out of this world music… the perfect expression of our globalised culture” - The Guardian · Lafawndah is somewhat of a global citizen, having lived in Paris, Tehran, New York and Mexico City and coming from an Egyptian / Iranian / English heritage.

Listening to her music, a fusion of regional subgenres from different corners of the world, she has evidently a certain porosity when it comes to digesting sound, taking snippets of different influences as souvenirs to use in her own work. · The songs on ‘Tan’ are at the same time relaxed and playful, bold and confrontational. The combination between strong narrative, clarity of expression and seamless transmutation is reminiscent of early Björk, Missy Elliott and Grace Jones.

Co-produced by L-Vis 1990 and ADR. Executively produced by Lafawndah.

For fans of Kelela, Leila, Muslimgauze, Mira Calix.

TRACK LISTING

Town Crier
Ally
Tan
Crumb

Rio-born pianist and organist Lafayette’s career started in the mid-60s and saw him become a prominent member of the Brazilian musical movement entitled ‘Jovem Guarda’. For his inclusion on this selection in the Brazil45 series the Bongoteam move things along a few years to 1982 and the Brazilian boogie gem ‘Sol De Ver o’.

Taken from his album ‘Edi o Especial’ and originally released on Copacabana Records, ‘Sol De Verao’ was written by Jorginho Gomes from one of Brazil’s greatest bands Os Novos Baianos. It’s a superb slice of 80s boogie/funk brilliance with a super catchy ear-worm of a vocal - definitely one for the dancers!

For the flip, there's an absolute monster from the fantastic Marisa Rossi, who we featured previously on number 38 in the Brazil45 series. ‘Quem Vem L ‘ is a heavy driving Samba Rock / MPB groove track with female and male call and response vocals. Originally released on a very rare and exclusive 7” also on Copacabana Records, but this time in 1971. Marisa would go on to work with the legendary Arthur Verocai in the 1980s. Two very different slices and styles of Brazilian music, but both absolute gems.

TRACK LISTING

Lafayette - Sol De Verao
Marissa Rossi - Quem Vem La

Strut proudly presents the first official remastered reissue of Lafayette Afro Rock Band's elusive funk/Afro original album, 'Malik,' originally released in 1974. In 1971, an undocumented seven-member Afro-American ensemble known as the Bobby Boyd Congress made a transformative journey from the United States to France. Bandleader Frank Abel recollects, "We sensed that the soul and funk market was saturated back home, and our original plan was a brief 6-month stint in Paris. Surprisingly, we ended up staying for a decade." Upon lead singer Bobby Boyd's return to the U.S., the group rebranded as Ice and crossed paths with independent producer Pierre Jaubert, a seasoned studio professional with credits on groundbreaking recordings alongside Charles Mingus, John Lee Hooker, and Archie Shepp, among others.

Drawing inspiration from Motown's work ethic, Jaubert initiated regular rehearsals with Ice. He recalled, "I didn't want to mimic Berry, but with seven talented musicians collaborating daily, something unique emerged. " The band, residing in Paris and immersed in the African-dominated Barbesse district, began infusing African elements into their music frequently performing with Paris-dwelling Camaroonian and legendary composer Manu Dibango.

Under the new moniker Lafayette Afro Rock Band, the group's music transitioned to predominantly instrumental compositions, featuring a denser Afro-funk sound. Their inaugural recording with the new name, 'Soul Makossa, ' included a compelling rendition of Dibango's classic and the impactful break in 'Hihache.' The subsequent release a year later, 'Malik,' refined their sound with the percussive Afro party jam 'Conga, ' the atmospheric vocoder and piano-led piece 'Djungi,' and the robust funk of 'Darkest Light.'

Despite a limited impact upon its initial release, 'Malik' found appreciation as hip-hop culture flourished in the '80s, establishing itself as a rich source of samples and riffs. 'Conga' was featured in the 'Ultimate Breaks And Beats' series, while the opening horn line from 'Darkest Light' became a pivotal hip-hop motif, employed by Jay-Z, Public Enemy, Wreckx 'N' Effect, and many others.

This remastered reissue, the first of its kind, meticulously crafted by The Carvery from the original tapes, showcases the album in its entirety and includes the full original artwork.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Djungi
A2. Raff
A3. Conga
A4. Avi-vo
B1. Malik
B2. Darkest Light
B3. Baba Hya

Strut proudly presents the first official remastered reissue of the funk/Afro classic, Lafayette Afro Rock Band's 'Soul Makossa' from 1973. In 1971, an undocumented seven-member Afro-American ensemble known as the Bobby Boyd Congress made a transformative journey from the United States to France. Bandleader Frank Abel recollects,"We sensed that the soul and funk market was saturated back home, and our original plan was a brief 6-month stint in Paris. Surprisingly, we ended up staying for a decade." Upon lead singer Bobby Boyd's return to the U.S., the group rebranded as Ice and crossed paths with independent producer Pierre Jaubert, a seasoned studio professional with credits on groundbreaking recordings alongside Charles Mingus, John Lee Hooker, and Archie Shepp, among others.

Drawing inspiration from Motown's work ethic, Jaubert initiated regular rehearsals with Ice. He recalled, "I didn't want to mimic Berry, but with seven talented musicians collaborating daily, something unique emerged." The band, residing in Paris and immersed in the African-dominated Barbesse district, began infusing African elements into their music frequently performing with Paris-dwelling Camaroonian and legendary composer Manu Dibango.

Rechristening themselves Lafayette Afro Rock Band, the group's musical direction shifted towards predominantly instrumental compositions, characterized by a weightier, more intricate Afro-funk sound. Their debut recording under this new moniker, 'Soul Makossa,' made a powerful impact with a dynamic rendition of Dibango's classic, coupled with the intense break of 'Hihache' and the contagious 'Nicky.' Initially released by Musidisc in France and later in the U.S. via Editions Makossa, the album omitted the title track due to publishing clearance issues.

Despite modest sales upon its initial release, the album's enduring influence became evident as hip-hop culture surged in the '80s, establishing it as a primary source for samples and riffs. The iconic 'Hihache' break found fame in Biz Markie's 'Nobody Beats The Biz,' and tracks from the album were lifted by LL Cool J, The Beatnuts, Kruder & Dorfmeister, and numerous others.

This remastered reissue, the first of its kind, meticulously crafted by The Carvery from the original tapes, showcases the album in its entirety and includes the full original artwork.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Soul Makossa
A2. Azeta
A3. Oglenon
B1. Voodounon
B2. Hihache
B3. Nicky

Lag & X-Coast drop collaborative project XL Traxx.

Lag is a DJ / producer who has previously released on MORD, THEM, Elements, and Don’t since his first 12” in 2013. X-Coast has released on Steel City Dance Discs, Unknown To The Unknown and his own Riviera Records following his smash debut with the 90s-tinged "Mango Bay" in 2016. Teaming up for the first time, the Serbian duo unleash their new project XL Traxx with a fierce three-track EP on Radio Slave’s Rekids.

Leading the release is the energetic "M-Bomb", bringing heaving kicks, rave stabs, and a classic house vocal snippet together for a rowdy affair. On the flip, "E-Dancer" sees clever sampling and atmospheric pads meet over pounding drums before the propulsive "D-Edge" rounds out the vinyl with slick synthesis and shuffling percussion. All tracks possess that clearly defined air and sophistication of Proper Techno. Harking back to the tribal era, they playing with energy and dynamics in the way that only the best moments of the genre have always done. Like I said - Proper. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Devastating main room techno from Serbia. Rocking that classic high octane vibe (a la DJ Rush / Sims / early Hawtin) perfectly. Guaranteed to make you feel feral for at least 15 minutes.

TRACK LISTING

A1. M-Bomb
B1. E-Dancer
B2. D-Edge

Drawing inspiration from the depths of late '70s NYC proto-rap disco instrumentals, Nigerian boogie, Jamaican dub and modern jazzy house - The Lahaar is a Trans-Tasman collaboration between Julien Dyne, Horatio Luna and Surprise Chef's Lachlan Stuckey, featuring Mara TK and Toby Laing on vocals.

The EP embarks on a 5-track rollercoaster - kicking off with "Doin' It", fast-paced jazz- funk peppered with marimba and organ riffs, balanced out by the siren vocals of Mara TK. "Step 2" suddenly brakes and swerves into cruise mode, repurposing the trumpets and dub echoes - picking up tempo in the soulful melancholia of "Work Work Work". In the last two tracks the organs and guitars make a frenetic comeback by way of disco-house, ending with a nod to 70s cop movie funk.

For fans of: Julien Dyne, Surprise Chef, 30/70, Ezra Collective, Jitwam, Makaya McCraven, Lord Echo, Fat Freddy's Drop, Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange.

TRACK LISTING

1. Doin' It
2. Step 2
3. Work Work Work
4. Super (Kiki)
5. Chase Scene Part 1

I Love You Like A Brother is the highly anticipated album from Melbourne’s Alex Lahey. An infectious debut that shines with a rare confidence, I Love You Like A Brother is a riotous record, packed with relatable fuzzpop gems. 

After finishing school, Lahey initially went to university to study jazz saxophone, but unimpressed with “learning music in such a regimented way” she switched to an arts degree. While studying, Alex cut her teeth as a member of cult party collective Animaux, which allowed her restlessly rebellious streak to flourish. Alex began to form the blueprint for her own solo material by writing songs inspired by the two people she considers the greatest songwriters of all time, Dolly Parton and Bruce Springsteen, whilst retaining the punk spirit of her first musical outing. These songs found themselves on her first solo EP, the acclaimed B-Grade University.

The EP included the single. ‘You Don’t Think You Like People Like Me’; a mainstay on Australian radio, landing on triple j’s prestigious Hottest 100 of 2016. The song’s universal tale of rejection took Lahey global - its message, she says, is the flipside of the usual break-up scenario: “Yeah, you’re right. It’s not me. It IS you”. This no-shit-taken attitude forms the backbone of I Love You Like A Brother as evidenced by the uproarious opening track ‘Every Day’s The Weekend’.

Throughout the records’ ten songs, Alex’s lyrics deftly move between wry, often hilarious witticism to heartbreaking poignancy. For every uplifting anthem, such as ‘I Love You Like A Brother’ and the unruly ‘Perth Traumatic Stress Disorder’, there’s painfully relatable tracks like ‘Backpack’ and ‘Awkward Exchange’. Despite the instant pop chops of I Love You Like A Brother, there’s introspection, self-doubt and sense of working out the complexities of growing up in this limbo period between youth and adulthood.

The themes of Alex Lahey’s album might be universal, but it’s the unique approach she takes unpacking them that’s earned her millions of Spotify streams, buzz-worthy showcases at SXSW and festival sets alongside the likes of Flume, The Kills, At The Drive-In and James Blake as well as guesting on tours with Tegan & Sara and Blondie.

TRACK LISTING

1 Every Day's The Weekend
2 I Love You Like A Brother
3 Perth Traumatic Stress Disorder
4 I Haven't Been Taking Care Of Myself
5 Backpack
6 Awkward Exchange
7 I Want U
8 Lotto In Reverse
9 Let's Call It A Day
10 There's No Money

Love Record Stores Edition available from 9am on Saturday June 20th.
Limited to one per person.

On her sophomore LP, The Best of Luck Club, 26-year-old Melbourne, Australia native Alex Lahey navigates the pangs of generational ennui with the pint half-full and a spot cleared on the bar stool next to her. Self-doubt, burn out, break-ups, mental health, moving in with her girlfriend, vibrators: The Best of Luck Club showcases the universal language of Lahey’s sharp songwriting, her propensity for taking the minute details of the personal and flipping it public through anthemic pop-punk. Lahey’s 2017 debut I Love You Like a Brother encases Lahey’s knack for writing a killer hook and her acute sense of humor delivered via a slacker-rock package and, in a way, The Best of Luck Club picks up where that record left off.

Lahey co-produced the album alongside acclaimed engineer and producer Catherine Marks (Local Natives, Wolf Alice, Manchester Orchestra), and dives headfirst into a broader spectrum of both emotion and sound through polished, arena pop-punk in the vein of Paramore with the introspective sheen of Alvvays or Tegan & Sara. Here, Lahey documents the highest highs and the lowest lows of her life to date. After a whirlwind of global touring in support of breakout debut I Love You Like a Brother, Lahey wrote the bulk of her follow-up in Nashville during 12-hour days of songwriting. There, she found the inspiration for The Best of Luck Clubís concept: the dive bar scene and its genuine energy.”Whether you’ve had the best day of your life or the worst day of your life, you can just sit up at the bar and turn to the person next to you - who has no idea who you are - and have a chat. And the response that you generally get at the end of the conversation is, "Best of luck", so The Best Of Luck Club is that place.

TRACK LISTING

1. I Don’t Get Invited To Parties Anymore
2. Am I Doing It Right
3. Interior Demeanour
4. Don’t Be So Hard On Yourself
5. Unspoken History
6. Misery Guts
7. Isabella
8. I Need To Move On
9. Black RM’s
10. I Want To Live With You

By now Nicola Loporchio aka Nico Lahs has a discography that has become respected and sought after among DJs and music lovers in dance music across the globe.Whether it be deep, atmospheric, jackin' or jazz-flecked deep, it's all firmly rooted in house music tradition, something that Nico Lahs masters with ease. With releases on labels like Moods & Grooves, Delusions Of Grandeur, Ovum, HotMix, Adeem plus many more, he shows no sign in slowing down either.

"Ancestors Call" is a musical story told in two parts. Filled with melodic and spiritual elements, sitting somewhere between Ron Trent, Kyle Hall and Joe Claussell.

Part 2 dives deeper and adds additional layers of melody that tie the whole release firmly together. With Nico Lahs talented songwriting, his evolution is endless and bright...

"Ancestors Call" is something you listen to from start to finish, each song building a musically expansive story. That said, all four jams here are gonna get even the stiffest of nightclub patron shuffling around inna eyes-wide-shut revelry; the chakra-aligning rhythms and moods certain to rouse the spirits of the weary and inject life into the dancefloor... Recommended! 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Dreamy and oozing class, Nico Lahs drops a spiritual four tracker of dizzying quality. Reminiscent of Ron Trent's Electric Blue series - the merger of electronic elements of human expression is both elevating and transportive. A shimmering holographic world of beauty.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Dancing Stars
A2. Ascension
B1. Astral Pla(t)s
B2. Love Sets You Free

R&S' dreamy sibling, Apollo (often found in her bedroom watching vapourwave videos on youtube - ed) introduces the spaced out soul and future boogie from Lahun, who was last spotted remixing Lakker’s "Milch". The romantic types will appreciate the slow tug of "Slow Love". With Sarah Garvey on vocal duties the track constantly pulls on your sleeve, beckoning you into its loving gaze with hues of red, purple and green. "Mystic Jam Hands" has that celestial dreaminess we usually associate with Dam Funk. Infact, this is as good if not better than the LA new boogie poster boy! An absolutely breathtaking slow jam, laid back as you like and with delicious piano licks, spine-tickling chord progression and one of the tastiest B-line / xylophone combos you're ever likely to hear. Worth the entrance fee alone! "Slow Love" gets an instrumental outing, which seems to bring to focus its darker, shadow-sculling underbelly. "Siriusly" opens the B-side with percolated wood blocks, astonishing synthesizer parts and neck snapping snare hits. It's long arrangement giving birth to many different themes before reaching its logical conclusion. It's worth noting here that Lahun's productions seem to exist on a plane which time forgot, and have an air of the everlasting about them; allowing the listener to dip into the stream whenever he or she pleases. "Nana Chan" concludes proceedings with more suspended strings, rampant percussion rhythms and a wavy, disorientating aesthetic. Totally out there and sounding all the better for it! Welcome the future with a loving hand, Lahun is by our side. Recommended.

TRACK LISTING

1. Slow Love
2. Mystic Jam Hands
3. Slow Love (Instrumental)
4. Siriusly
5. Nana Chan

“Silence is worse; all truths that are kept silent become poisonous.”
Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra

Laibach announce the release of a brand new album, Also Sprach Zarathustra.

The music for the album was originally created for a theatrical production of Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Also Sprach Zarathustra) based on Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophical novel of the same name, which premiered in March 2016. Also Sprach Zarathustra is an update of the music Laibach created for the play, directed by Matjaž Berger for the Anton Podbevšek Theatre (APT) in Novo Mesto, Slovenia.

35 years on from their genesis in the then-Yugoslavian industrial town Trbovlje, Laibach are still the most internationally acclaimed band to have come out of the former Communist countries of Eastern and Central Europe. Founded in the death year of the country’s founding father Tito, and rising to fame as Yugoslavia steered towards self-destruction, Laibach can make you think, dance and march to the same music.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Unearthly drones, crisp glassine clicks and haunting ambience, gothic electronics and foreboding vocal abstractions make this yet another next-level dark ambient / classical / drone outing from one of the frontrunners of the scene. Superbly intimidating but brilliantly conceived and executed.

Following the release of the Love Is Still Alive EP, the legendary Slovenian group Laibach presents their brand new album and soundtrack for IRON SKY : THE COMING RACE.

The Coming Race (dir. Timo Vuorensola, 2019), was the follow-up to the film Iron Sky (2012) in which Nazis plot to take over the world after lying dormant in a secret military base on the dark side of the moon. Laibach were commissioned to compose the music for the Finnish dark comedy, which achieved cult-status and raised more than $1 million via crowdfunding, with their original soundtrack being widely acclaimed.

The Coming Race see’s humanity trying to survive on the former Nazi moon base, but as supplies are running low, a small band of survivor’s journey to the hollow Earth's core where a power is buried that could save or destroy mankind. Along the way they must fight an ancient shape-shifting reptilian race to save humanity.

This soundtrack is as epic and cinematic as the first, providing a musical journey of orchestral scores with bonus songs featured on the CD and download, including the track ‘The Coming Race’ that adds Slovenian Grammy winner Amaya’s powerful vocals into the Laibach mix.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Title Sequence
A2 Neomenia Moon Base
A3 Moonquake
A4 The Jobsists
A5 Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish
A6 Renate And Obi
A7 Vestal Celestial Amelia
A8 Moon Führer Is Back
A9 Vril-ya
A10 Back To Earth / Crash Landing
A11 Hollow Earth
A12 3310 Blue R7309170
A13 The Promised Land
A14 The City Of Agartha, Pt. 1
A15 The Vril Banquet Hall, Pt. 1

B1 The Vril Banquet Hall, Pt. 2
B2 The City Of Agartha, Pt. 2
B3 First Among Steves
B4 Malcolm Fights Raptors
B5 The Gate To The Holy Grail
B6 Malcolm Fights Vril Jobs And Vril Hitler
B7 The Triceratops Chariot Race
B8 Escape From Earth
B9 Sieg Heil, Mutterfückers!
B10 Zeit Zum Töten
B11 Renate Dies
B12 Escape From The Moon / IExcommunicating Wolfgang

Laibach’s classic album from 1987, 'Opus Dei', has been remastered and redesigned.

The album that first brought Laibach to a mass consumption audience, with their unique interpretations of Opus' ‘Live is Life’ and Queen’s ‘One Vision’, and heavy rotation on MTV’s alternative shows and ITV’s The Chart Show. Produced by Rico Conning, it stands as a defining statement of intent and prophecy that the band continues to uphold nearly 40 years later.

The album, remastered from the original tapes, includes an extensive 16-page booklet with new text by Alexi Munroe and photos from the time. The album cover artwork has also had a distinctive redesign that draws on the original and pushes it forward.

The CD box set includes an additional CD of 16 live tracks from the Opus Dei touring that happened between 1987 and 1989.

The original vinyl edition has been unavailable for over 20 years.

TRACK LISTING

LP Tracklist:
1. Leben Heißt Leben (Opus Dei)
2. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision)
3. Leben-Tod
4. F.I.A.T. (Let It Be)
5. Opus Dei (Life Is Life)
6. Trans-national
7. How The West Was Won
8. The Great Seal

CD Tracklist:

CD1:
1. Leben Heißt Leben (Opus Dei)
2. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision)
3. Leben-Tod
4. F.I.A.T. (Let It Be)
5. Trans-national
6. How The West Was Won
7. Opus Dei (Life Is Life)
8. The Great Seal
9. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision) [Eine Richtung Und Ein Volk Version]
10. Leben Heißt Leben (Opus Dei) [Marche Funèbre Version]
11. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision) [3. Oktober – Kraftbach – Version]

CD2:
1. Leben Heißt Leben (Opus Dei) [Live From London, Queen Elizabeth Hall, 1987]
2. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision) [Live From Somewhere In Europe/US, 1987-1989]
3. Leben-Tod (Live From Somewhere In Europe/US, 1987-1989)
4. F.I.A.T. (Let It Be) [Live From Paris, Espace Ornano, 1992]
5. Trans-national (Live From Somewhere In Europe/US, 1987-1989)
6. How The West Was Won (Live From Somewhere In Europe/US, 1987-1989)
7. Opus Dei (Life Is Life) [Live From Somewhere In Europe/US, 1987-1989]
8. Leben Heißt Leben (Opus Dei) [Live From Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987]
9. Geburt Einer Nation (One Vision) [Live From Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987]
10. Leben-Tod (Live From Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987)
11. How The West Was Won (Live From Berlin, Quartier Latin, 1987)
12. Geburt Einer Nation (Vienna, Messepalast, Kaiser Franz Josef Reitschule, 1988)
13. Leben-Tod (Live From San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989)
14. Trans-national (Live From San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989)
15. How The West Was Won (Live From San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989)
16. Opus Dei (Life Is Life) [Live From San Francisco, The I Beam, 1989]

Legendary Slovenian group Laibach return with their new EP LOVE IS STILL ALIVE, via Mute.

The EP is a 40 minute country, dance and electronic masterpiece, featuring different versions of the song Love Is Still Alive. The original song is taken from Laibach’s soundtrack for the sci-fi action film Iron Sky: The Coming Race, and centres around Milan Fras’ unmistakable gravely vocal over an old time country western accompaniment, a musical curveball from a career that defies genres. The Coming Race is the sequel to Iron Sky, which Laibach were commissioned to compose the score for in 2012. The Finnish dark comedy achieved cult-status and raised more than $1 million via crowdfunding. This release follows a series of important theatrical performances and releases from Laibach, and supports their Coming Race tour dates (2022/2023).

TRACK LISTING

1. Love Is Still Alive I (Moon, Euphoria)
2. Love Is Still Alive II (Venus, Libidine)
3. Love Is Still Alive III (Mercury, Dopamine)
4. Love Is Still Alive IV (Neptune, Oxytocin)
5. Love Is Still Alive V (Uranus, Prolactin)
6. Love Is Still Alive VI (Saturn, Insomnia)
7. Love Is Still Alive VII (Jupiter, Tristitia)
8. Love Is Still Alive Viii (Mars, Dysphoria)

‘Spectre’ follows the band’s widely acclaimed conceptual album ‘Volk’ (2006), where Laibach interpreted national anthems of historically imperialistic nations, and the release of the side projects ‘Laibachkunstderfuge’ (2008) and ‘Iron Sky: The Original Film Soundtrack’ (2012).

Laibach have once again ‘re-invented’ themselves into a newly born, yet polished and solid, formation. And, as is now customary, Laibach call into question all the rigid and cemented interpretations (and prejudices) about themselves, about their music, intentions, philosophy and ideology. Laibach are masters of escape, true escape artists. And yet, despite everything, ‘Spectre’ resonates as a real and full-blooded Laibachian work and nothing else.

With ‘Spectre’ Laibach have created a big, important, and almost dangerous step forward; it seems that this time it has fatally crossed the Rubicon. On this album the group - which has never defined itself politically, but has, nevertheless, constantly analysed politics through its work - comes across as politically engaged as never before. ‘Spectre’ literally sounds like a political manifesto in poetic form. Titles and lyrics couldn’t be more direct. With these lyrics and songs, Laibach, who have always given a controversial impression - or an impression of controversy - especially in terms of its political orientation, is now very clearly taking a position on the political spectrum and probably irreversibly abolishing its own (to some extent quite comfortable) political ‘freedom’ and neutrality.

The album opens with ‘The Whistleblowers’, a contagiously optimistic piece of classic ‘militant and symphonic’ Laibach, sounding like the sequel to Lieutenant F J Ricketts’ 1914 ‘Colonel Bogey March’. ‘No History’ knows no mercy, and leaves no doubt: Laibach require uncompromising action, they demand bravery and boldness and seek heroes “who will be the creed of a new political faith”. And, in one of the verses of this song, listeners can find a mini ‘manifesto’ about the album itself, its sonic expression, and the position of the group in relation to its own history.

In amongst these rallying calls from the band sits a rare Laibach love song: ‘We Are Millions And Millions Are One’ deals with love in today’s impossible times, times which are dangerously close to the fictional reality of classic anti-utopian novels such as Yevgeny Zamyatin’s ‘We’, Laibach’s inspiration for this song.

Ending the album is the elegant utopian song ‘Koran’, a track that shows the possibility of a better and fairer world - on Earth or in the hereafter. Consequently, the album ends with the (in)complete, open, unfinished sound of a piano key.

Laibach present their brand new album WIR SIND DAS VOLK (Ein Musical aus Deutschland). This album consists of the music from the band’s political theatre production Wir Sind das Volk (We are the People), which premiered at HAU (Berlin) in 2020. The piece was based on the writings of Heiner Müller (1929-1995), who was observed as one of the most significant German-language playwrights and poets since Bertolt Brecht.

The artwork for the new album is by the acclaimed Austrian-Irish visual artist, Gottfried Helnwein, known for his narrative reflecting upon historical and political issues. The cover features his work Epiphany I: Adoration of the Magi, which reflects upon childhood and National Socialism.

TRACK LISTING

VINYL TRACKLIST
A1 Philoktet
A2 Der Vater
A3 Medea Material
B1 Ich Bin Der Engel Der Verzweiflung
B2 Flieger, Grüß Mir Die Sonne
C1 Ordnung Und Disziplin (Müller Versus Brecht)
C2 Lessing Oder Das Ende Der Aufklärung
C3 Traumwald
D1 Im Herbst 197.. Starb… (instrumental)
D2 Ich Will Ein Deutscher Sein
D3 Ich War Die Wunde

CD TRACKLIST
1 Philoktet
2 Der Vater
3 Medea Material
4 Ich Bin Der Engel Der Verzweiflung
5 Flieger, Grüß Mir Die Sonne
6 Ordnung Und Disziplin (Müller Versus Brecht)
7 Lessing Oder Das Ende Der Aufklärung
8 Traumwald
9 Im Herbst 197.. Starb… (instrumental)
10 Ich Will Ein Deutscher Sein
11 Ich War Die Wunde
12 Das Lied Vom Einsamen Mädchen (live)
13 Im Herbst 197.. Starb… (live)
14 Wir Sind Das Volk Nur Durch Die Liebe (Abschlussrede Von Peter Mlakar, Live)

In "Ngélar" - the sextet’s sophomore LP - deeper social narratives and more intimate subject matters are more apparent. In which they speak a lot about ‘tanah’ or ‘land/soil,’ owing a lot to the fact that their hometown, Jatiwangi’s history of being the country’s largest producer of clay/terracotta-based products. The people in Jatiwangi’s intertwining relationship with ‘tanah’ is simply unparalleled - even their instruments are mostly made of terracotta.

From the reimagining of their hometown’s past glories, Lair, along with singer/songwriter Monica Hapsari (who co-wrote and co-composed three songs in the album) and Go Kurosawa (Kikagaku Moyo) helming the project as the producer, sings about the rituals and traditions of harvest, to sending off prayers towards their once-prospering land and the ruins of what was once a dense forest in Jatiwangi, which they are currently trying to reclaim while racing with the massive wave of industrialisation. It is a contextually-sorrowful album as much as it is a candid, cheery commemoration of the band members’ everyday life in today’s northern shores of Java, Indonesia.

"Ngélar" is one of the words that might be able to describe the essence of Lair as a group. The word itself can be traced back to the locals’ culture of ‘going around in celebration of something.’ In their village, ngélar simply means a traveling performance, in which the performers would play music and go around the village, greeting the people around them as they move from place to place, or simply within their immediate surroundings, indicating that there is something nearby that is being celebrated.

Lair are simply in love with journey, time, and all of their interactions. "Ngélar", for them, is a representation of their journey. How they go around, interacting and communicating, to celebrating and making sense of everything that is going on within and around them. For Lair, "Ngélar" is a method, a creative process, and - as an album - a culmination of each of their journeys since the group’s founding.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Hair raising psyche, fuzz and funk from this Indonesian group. Plenty for fans of Goat to enjoy, whilst it also sits perfectly into the Guruguru Brain ethos.

TRACK LISTING

Tatalu
Pesta Rakyat Pabrik Gula
Tanah Bertuah
Hareeng
Boa-Boa
Kawin Tebu
Bangkai Belantara
Gelombang Pemecah Malam
Mencari Selamat

Danny Green, aka Laish, is set to release his third album via Talitres. A set of twelve songs that span the spectrum of gentle fingerpicked acoustic guitar ballads, through to more robust art-rock jams. Laish’s plaintive tenor - rich, deeply textured and affecting - takes centre stage as he sings honest, self-reflective songs of relationships failed and survived.

Danny formed the band Laish in Brighton in 2008 and became part of the Willkommen Collective (Sons of Noel and Adrian, The Leisure Society, Rozi Plain). Laish have released two records, their eponymous debut (2010), and Obituaries (2013, Folkwit Records), both recorded by Green at his home. 

TRACK LISTING

1 – Vague
2 – Learning To Love The Bomb
3 – Love On The Conditional
4 – Song For Everything
5 – The Last Time
6 – My Little Prince
7 – Pendulum Swing
8 – Wrote Of Freedom
9 – Rattling Around
10 – Gambling
11 – We Haven’t Made Any Money
12 – Isolation

Laish, from Brighton, are piloted by the mesmeric Danny Green, a master of captivating confessionals and a thoroughly engaging front man. His glorious voice ranges from the angelic, to a plaintiveness echoing Robert Wyatt, to deeper Kurt Wagner-esque tones. New album, Time Elastic, brims with ultra-cool, classic songwriting and bestows a superbly developed and playful record, full of surprises. A bold step forward, presenting a songwriter at the height of his powers.

Chicago’s Magic Touch label gets the Numero Group treatment. Available for the first time ever on 7”, Boogie Holy-Grail “Too Far Gone” has been “Too Hard To Find” on the second hand market since first introduced to the masses via the legendary cratesmith Mark Grusane of Mr. Peabody Records. Rare Groove Windy City Disco at its finest sliced, diced and remastered for maximum dancefloor potential. 

Another indie-Balearic crossover album from Sweden's Service imprint, this is  lushly produced, blissful pop, all shoegazer meloncholy but with an MOR sheen. Studio dude D.Lissvik has mixed up a sound that's tuneful like Crepes, but with a gently grooving bottom end : streamlined rhythms (shades of St. Etienne) and wistful, lovelorn melodies create a cozy, hypnotic quality that pulls you in. There's some fantastic songwriting here, (similar to those other Scando masters Radio Dept. and Magnet)  but a more recent comparison would be with a softer, slightly adrift  Empire Of The Sun, or on the dancier numbers maybe Pheonix's first album.  For me though, this goes right back (via The Field Mice, of all people!?)  to 4AD and late 80s UK shoegazing. Combining that with such a gorgeous, smooth production is a winning combination. Recommended.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Dream-pop goes (fantasy) mainstream! Anyone remember The Frazier Chorus?!

LAKE are an experimental-pop ensemble centered around the songwriting partnership of wife/husband duo Ashley Eriksson and Elijah Moore. LAKE's musical kindling is unusual for a band whose genesis was rooted in the punk and indie community - before signing to legendary K Records (for their 2nd album Oh,The Places We'll Go, 2008) Calvin Johnson apparently couldn't believe a band from the Olympia underground would be so keen on reinterpreting the music of mainstream pop acts from a bygone era. LAKE has since converted him, and many more, to a re-sensitized appreciation of big musical ideas, which are non-cynical, joyous, inviting.

LAKE are an experimental-pop ensemble centered around the songwriting partnership of wife/husband duo Ashley Eriksson and Elijah Moore. LAKE's musical kindling is unusual for a band whose genesis was rooted in the punk and indie community - before signing to legendary K Records (for their 2nd album Oh,The Places We'll Go, 2008) Calvin Johnson apparently couldn't believe a band from the Olympia underground would be so keen on reinterpreting the music of mainstream pop acts from a bygone era. LAKE has since converted him, and many more, to a re-sensitized appreciation of big musical ideas, which are non-cynical, joyous, inviting.

“I want total freedom, total possibility, total acceptance. I want to fall in love with the rock.” That’s how Lillie West describes the theme of “DIVER,” the song she calls the thesis of Lala Lala’s third record, I Want The Door To Open. The rock in question is a reference to Sisyphus, the mythical figure doomed by the gods to forever push a boulder up from the depths of hell. To West, it is the perfect metaphor for, in her words, “the labor of living, of figuring out who you are, what's wrong with you, what's right with you.”

Coming off of 2018’s acclaimed The Lamb, an introspective indie rock album recorded live with a three-piece band, West knew she was ready to make something sonically bigger and thematically more outward-looking than anything she’d done before; a record that would be less a straightforward documentation of her own personal struggles and more like a poem or a puzzle box, with sonic and lyrical clues that would allow the listener to, as the title says, open the door to the greater meaning of those struggles.

The result is I Want The Door To Open, a bold exploration of persona and presence from an artist questioning how to be herself fully in a world where the self is in constant negotiation. From the moment West declares “I want to look right into the camera” over a cascade of dreamy vocal loops on opening track “Lava,” I Want The Door To Open distinguishes itself from anything she’s done before in scope and intensity. The ultra-magnified iteration of Lala Lala is fully encapsulated in the monumental “DIVER.” Inspired by a character from a Jennifer Egan novel, it’s a pop song of Kate Bush-esque proportions replete with layered synths and booming, wide open drumming by fellow Chicago musician Nnamdi Ogbonnaya, and West pushing her vocals to the ragged edge. I Want The Door To Open is a musical quest undertaken with the knowledge that the titular door may never open; but it is through falling in love with the quest itself that one may find the closest thing to total freedom, total possibility, and total acceptance available to us on this plane of existence.

TRACK LISTING

Lava
Color Of The Pool
DIVER
Photo Photo
Prove It
Castle Life
Bliss Now!
Straight & Narrow
Beautiful Directions
Plates
Utopia Planet

Originally released in October 2016 as a long-since sold-out self-released cassette, Hardly Art is proud to announce that Sleepyhead, the debut full-length from celebrated Chicago band Lala Lala, will be available for the first time ever on LP and CD (along with a new run of cassettes). Recorded in a basement over the course of five days during a typically-inhospitable Midwestern winter, Sleepyhead is an auspicious—if, at the time, criminally overlooked—debut effort from the young songwriter Lillie West and her then-lineup of supporting players (Abby Black on drums and Karl Bernasconi on bass). Unlike 2018’s critically-acclaimed The Lamb, Sleepyhead is a rawer, more punked-up album with fewer lyrical metaphors obfuscating it’s intimate, direct emotionality. Committed to tape in an urgent outburst of creative energy, the self-produced record eschews overdubs and takes unfussy aim at the listener’s ears, heart, and the lump in their throat.

Album standout “Fuck With Your Friends” was a breakthrough moment for West—it was the first song she ever wrote, one that tumbled out of her fully-formed, setting her on the path that’s led to her recent successes. Its also emblematic of Sleepyhead’s confessionalism and fearless forthrightness: “I drink more than I want to 'cause it makes you easier to talk to / And what you're saying is boring,” West sings.

“The Lamb was written during a time of intense paranoia after a home invasion, deaths of loved ones and general violence around me and my friends,” says Lillie West, the Chicago-based songwriter behind Lala Lala. “I began to frequently and vividly imagine the end of the world, eventually becoming too frightened to leave my house. This led me to spend a lot of time examining my relationships and the choices I’d made, often wondering if they were correct and/or kind.”

West initially started Lala Lala as a way to communicate things that she felt she could never say out loud. But on The Lamb, her sophomore LP and debut for Hardly Art, she has found strength in vulnerability. Through bracing hooks and sharp lyrics, the 24-year-old songwriter and guitarist illustrates a nuanced look on her own adulthood -- her fraught insecurity, struggles with addiction, and the loss of several people close to her.

Across the album’s 12 tracks, West carefully examines the skeletons in her closet for the first time, hoping to capture honest snapshots of her past selves. Many of the songs show West asking herself agonizing questions about her life with a clever and hopeful curiosity. On the album’s first single and opening track, “Destroyer,” she reflects on feeling self-destructive and the delayed realization something in the past has irrevocably hurt you. In “Water Over Sex,” West laments her old precarious lifestyle, while trying to readjust to her newfound sobriety, and ”Copycat” confronts her feelings of alienation and boredom. “Some of this album is about being frustrated that everything is always repeating itself and being bored with your own feelings,”she explains. “‘Copycat’ in particular is about how everyone talks exactly the same on the Internet and how it sometimes feels futile to try and be yourself.”

TRACK LISTING

01. Destroyer
02. Spy
03. Water Over Sex
04. I Get Cut
05. Dove
06. Dropout
07. The Flu
08. Copycat
09. Scary Movie
10. Moth
11. When You Die
12. See You At Home

The world has changed rapidly since Lali Puna released Our Inventions in 2010, a fact that is also reflected in the band's fifth album, Two Windows. Written and produced over almost two years, these twelve new songs meet those changes head-on both musically and lyrically. Keith Tenniswood (Two Lone Swordsmen) contributed as Radioactive Man. Dntel aka Jimmy Tamborello, another old friend of the band, is featured as well as harpist / Ghostly International alumna Mary Lattimore and experimental artist Midori Hirano (here under her MimiCof moniker).

Daniela Lalita ‘s debut EP Trececerotres on Young. A direct reference to the apartment - 1303 - in Peru where Lalita grew up with her mother and grandmother, Trececerotres is rooted in magic, ritual, healing and the matrilineal relationship.

Every song on Trececerotres feels like a different mode of ancestral channeling. The Peruvian creative - whose practice spans music, costume design, film, performance and fine art - stretches her voice into raw guttural depths, reaching brutally emotional heights throughout the record to startling effect. A testament to a childhood talent of learning to do different voices for TV commercials as her first job, Lalita’s vocal distortions mesh together with drums, gnashing electronica and esoteric glossolalia to craft a sound both modern and mystical. Working with the buchla synth Lalita found a world without limitations of traditional scales, the instrument provided boundless experimentation for the artist whose practice of recording and layering vocals were implemented in the production of Trececerotres to craft a multiplicity of sonic worlds.

TRACK LISTING

1. Trececerotres
2. Tenía Razón
3. Atrás
4. No Para
5. Pisoteo

Rush-released due to Internet leakage, Kendrick Lamar's 'To Pimp A Butterfly arrives in double quick time. 

With Lamar's previous album, 'Good Kid M.A.A.d City', lauded as one of this fledgling Century's best, the level of expectation on its follow up was sky-high. How do you proceed after such a triple A-rated straight-up hip hop smash? Get afflicted by the (P)funk, that's how. Channelling the psychedelic stew of Parliament / Funkadelic, 'To Pimp A Butterfly' positions Lamar along the higher branches of rap's genre-busting evolution (see also The Roots’ 'Phrenology', Common’s 'Electric Circus', Q-Tip’s 'Kamaal the Abstract', André 3000’s 'The Love Below'). The expansive scope of Lamar's vision also runs to a live studio band featuring Robert Glasper, Flying Lotus' fretless bass maestro Thundercat and producer /sax player Terrace Martin, who add free jazz backing, pulling the music in another direction.

Lyrically the album walks in the footsteps of the socio-political commentary of Curtis Mayfield and Marvin Gaye, but in the post-Ferguson era of continued police brutality towards African-Americans, Lamar's anger burns bright. Less 'What's Going On', more ' The Predator'. He offers a thoughtful and thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be a black man in America today, often introspective, but never naval-gazing.

Inspired and inspiring, 'To Pimp A Butterfly' is an adventurous and challenging album, and one that can be added to the essential hip hop list.

TRACK LISTING

1. Wesley's Theory Feat. George Clinton And Thundercat
2. For Free? (Interlude)
3. King Kunta
4. Institutionalized Feat. Bilal, Anna Wise, And Snoop Dogg
5. These Walls Feat. Bilal, Anna Wise, And Thundercat
6. U
7. Alright
8. For Sale? (Interlude)
9. Momma
10. Hood Politics
11. How Much A Dollar Cost Feat. James Fauntleroy And Ronald Isley
12. Complexion Feat. Rapsody
13. The Blacker The Berry Feat. Assassin
14. You Ain't Gotta Lie (Momma Said)
15. I
16. Mortal Man

Kendrick Lamar has released a surprise eight-track album, 'Untitled Unmastered', comprising outtakes from the Grammy-winning 'To Pimp A Butterfly'. Filled with jazz solos and politically-charged lyrics, it appears to be a companion piece to 'Butterfly', rather than a standalone record. All of the tracks are untitled, save for the date they were recorded.

TRACK LISTING

01. Untitled 01 | 08.19.2014.
02. Untitled 02 | 06.23.2014.
03. Untitled 03 | 05.28.2013.
04. Untitled 04 | 08.14.2014.
05. Untitled 05 | 09.21.2014.
06. Untitled 06 | 06.30.2014.
07. Untitled 07 | 2014 - 2016
08. Untitled 08 | 09.06.2014.

10th anniversary re issue - 'Good Kid, M.A.A.d City' is the second studio album by Kendrick Lamar. It was released on 22nd October, 2012, through Top Dawg Entertainment, Aftermath Entertainment and Interscope Records. The album features guest appearances from Drake, Dr. Dre, Jay Rock, Anna Wise, and MC Eiht. It is Lamar’s major label debut, after his independently released first album Section.80 in 2011 and his signing to Aftermath and Interscope the following year.

Good Kid, M.A.A.D City features production by Dr. Dre, Just Blaze, Pharrell Williams, Hit-Boy, Scoop DeVille, Jack Splash, and T-Minus, among others, contributing to the album. Billed as a “short film by Kendrick Lamar” on the album cover, the concept album follows the story of Lamar’s teenage experiences in the drug-infested streets and gang lifestyle of his native Compton. The album earned Lamar four Grammy Award nominations at the 2014 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year.

TRACK LISTING

Sherane A.k.a Master Splinter’s Daughter
Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe
Backseat Freestyle
The Art Of Peer Pressure
Money Trees
Poetic Justice
Good Kid
M.a.a.d City
Swimming Pools (drank) (extended Version)
Sing About Me, I’m Dying Of Thirst
Real
Compton

First thing's first, Kdot's the greatest rapper alive. Through the hype-heavy new school G-shit of "Good Kid M.A.A.d City", the politically charged 'Martin Luther King Jr meets Miles Davis at a cypher' stylings of "To Pimp A Butterfly" and the free-wheeling, string of consciousness expression of "Untitled Unmastered", the West Coast rapper has embarked on a creative period comparative to Stevie Wonder in the 70s. Not concerned with setting the bar at Olympic record heights, Kendrick follows the 'voice of a generation' vibe of "To Pimp A Butterfly" with a move straight out of the Bob Dylan playbook. Much like the folk great going electric and swapping the protest songs for personal reflections, Kendrick finds the middle ground between the hard hitting car bumpers of "GKMC" and societal rage of "TPAB" with a fourteen track examination of his place within contemporary America. Over a series of whip beating, bass heavy beats, Kendrick muses on religion, the media, whack rappers and relationships, inviting mega stars Rihanna and U2 along for the ride. Beyond the massive singles "Humble" (better than Drake's whole album) and "DNA" (FEAT. bowel emptying bass!) we get a faultless LP of diverse moods and themes, culminating in the sublime "Duckworth". Taking us back to the early 90s, Kdot explores a chance meeting between his father and TDE's Top Dawg, which could have resulted in Ducky's death, Top Dawg's prison sentence and no Kendrick. Chillingly deep yo.

TRACK LISTING

1. Blood
2. DNA
3. Yah
4. Element
5. Feel
6. Loyalty Ft. Rihanna
7. Pride
8. Humble
9. Lust
10. Love
11. Xxx Ft. U2
12. Fear
13. God
14. Duckworth

Every so often an artist comes along who changes the musical landscape, an artist who brings something different to the game... Step forward Kendrick Lamar.

Hailed as the new face of West Coast Rap, the 24 yr-old Compton-native has already been making his mark on the music scene, first with his sought-after mixtapes - ‘Training Day’ and ‘C4’. Then with his self-titled debut EP, 2009’s ‘Kendrick Lamar’ which featured his trademark singles ‘P&P’ and ‘She Needs Me’, followed up by 2010’s ‘(O)verly (D)edicated’ powered by the singles ‘Michael Jordan’ and ‘Cut You Off’. In 2011 he independently released ‘Section. 80’ becoming one of the top digital hip hop albums of the year.

Fast-forward to 2012 and with the weight and backing of Dr. Dre (the two recently had a joint XXL cover), Kendrick is ready to release his highly-anticipated major label album ‘Good Kid, m.A.A.d City’. Hot single ‘Swimming Pools (Drank)’ serves as a good taster to the album, alongside the previously released warm-up single ‘The Recipe’ ft. Dr. Dre and the recently announced collaborative single with Lady Gaga called 'Partynauseous'. As well as scene stealing features alongside The Game, Drake, Rick Ross and others - Kendrick is poised to be the first artist in a long time to not only change how the country views West Coast hip hop, but how the world sees Hip Hop as a whole.

“The coolest shit to say used to be the gangsta shit,” Kendrick says. “But now, the real cool shit to talk about is supporting your family.”

TRACK LISTING

CD Tracklisting:
1. Sherane AKA Master Splinter’s Daughter
2. Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe
3. Backseat Freestyle
4. The Art Of Peer Pressure
5. Money Trees - Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock
6. Poetic Justice - Kendrick Lamar, Drake
7. Good Kid
8. M.A.A.d City - Kendrick Lamar, MC Eiht
9. Swimming Pools (Drank)
10. Sing About Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst
11. Real - Kendrick Lamar, Anna Wise
12. Compton - Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre
13. Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe (Remix - Featuring Jay Z)
14. Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe (International Remix - Featuring Emeli Sande)

Vinyl Tracklisting:
Side A:
1. Sherane A.k.a Master Splinter’s Daughter
2. Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe
3. Backseat Freestyle
4. The Art Of Peer Pressure

Side B:
5. Money Trees - Kendrick Lamar, Jay Rock
6. Poetic Justice - Kendrick Lamar, Drake
7. Good Kid
8. M.A.A.d City - Kendrick Lamar, MC Eiht

Side C:
9. Swimming Pools (Drank)
10. Sing About Me, I'm Dying Of Thirst
11. Real - Kendrick Lamar, Anna Wise

Side D:
12. Compton - Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre
13. The Recipe - (Bnus Track)
14. Black Boy Fly (Bonus Track)
15. Now Or Never - Featuring Mary J. Blige (Bonus Track)