Tight dynamic guitar driven songs from this local four piece who met at a Queens Of The Stoneage gig. There's an obvious influence from Josh Homme and co., but the songs are by no means derivative.

Vivien Goldman-style dubby post-punk synth pop.

With a handful of twitching insta-sketches, each addled with late-nite D.I.Y. quiver, the duo’s side-hustle sprouted in classical easy/cheap fashion [see the demo tape on their Public Nipples imprint for evidence].

As “global” concerns slowed, compatriots Michael Zamora (a superbly slanted multi-instrumentalist late of BAD BAD) and Alejandra Alcala (the region’s one true bass supervisor, also of bright lights BLUES LAWYER and PREENING) joined Sermeńo & Jordan as additional exposed flesh.

In full form, Naked Roommate has not only become a must-see, ever-evolving live act, but architects of Do The Duvet, one of the most intriguing and inspired recordings to come out of 2020’s American subterranea.

Do The Duvet proffers leftfield hijinks via punk execution, answering all the questions posed by questionable post-punk revivalism with sour lemon sneering and cherry-sweet smiles. It’s a fever dream, really…A flailing, sparking wire of hyper-compressed rhythms (breathing and synthetic), devolved guitar work and minced electronic compost. The resultant congealed groove is suitable for club situations and/or living space pulsations alike. Either way, the landlord is pissed.

Jordan’s beat programming, presumably inspired in part by recent obsessions with unjustifiably discarded electro sounds, manages to elicit physical response without veering into genre clichés like decay dance or Armageddon rave.

Instead, movement is prompted by sheer playfulness and high humour: see the sleepily sampled City sax on “Fondu Guru” or the comically taut bassline from “Credit Union”, itself a dreamwork born straight from a lovingly held-tight 99 Records 12”.

Thematically, Do The Duvet bounces between dissections of bourgeois trickery, the absurdity of domestication and the recognizable insanity of living in this particular age.As narrator, Sermeńo’s vocal presence is time-capsule great: a commanding grand-slam performance, alluring yet switchblade-dangerous in terms of wit and gaze. So totally wonderful.

What do you really own, anyway? What if your home does not even exist? Why not simply Do The Duvet and answer these queries yourself?
Mitch Cardwell 

TRACK LISTING

01. Mad Love
02. We Are The Babies
03. Fondu Guru
04. Credit Union
05. Je Suis Le Bebe
06. Fake I.D.
07. Fill Space
08. (Do The Duvet Pt. 2)
09. Repeat
10. (Re) P.R.O.D.U.C.E.

LuckyMe are very proud to present ‘Youth Mode’, the debut release from Naked.

Naked are an Edinburgh-based group consisting of Agnes Gryczkowska, Alex Johnston and Grant Campbell, who mix cold, neon-lit beats, glacial bass and guitar sculptures, filtered under hypnotizing and ephemeral vocals.

Their music speaks to a post-millenial, post-digital urban ennui - non-belonging and the pure, absolute loneliness of crowds. It is about the interaction of accelerating technology and the inherent sense of a terminal decline between the physical and hyper real - between man and machine, our bodies, senses and the industrial substances and digital technologies we surround ourselves with.

Deluxe EP with printed / debossed sleeve and digital download card.
Recently produced tracks for Mykki Blanco. Forthcoming album produced by Jacques Greene.

For fans of Mogwai, FKA Twigs, Salem, Optimo, The xx.

"Tapestry" is the first LP from Namas; a modern jazz band from Rennes, Brittany. It is a self-produced piece mixing the traditional sound of a trio with a slightly modern hip-hop-informed mindset. A nocturnal and thoughtful album influenced both by the London jazz scene and pictorial art.

This debut is an incredibly strong statement - showcasing the band's skilled musicianship alongside intricate and frenetic arrangements that keep the listener hooked throughout. Not only that, whoever has mixed the project has done a great job of creating space and dynamics on the record - it almost feels like you're sat right there, in front of the musicians. A stunning record! Look forward to hearing more from this troupe.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Strong styles from this trad-ish trio with an adventurous mindset - maintaining the dedication and rigor of pure jazz whilst injecting it with refreshing modernism.

TRACK LISTING

A1. LGFI
A2. Adim Adim
A3. 777
A4. Half Moon Light

B1. Kamalodo
B2. Pedrocha
B3. Catamandelo
B4. Outro

"His songs sound like memories, as familiar as they are foreign. I’m addicted to this record.” - Cate Le Bon. In a time rife with alienation, Magic Touch, the third album by the ubiquitous and mysterious Jack Name, offers the comfort of contact. With a body of work that ranges from the catchy to the cacophonous, Name has earned the reputation of a musician who’s difficult to define. For over a decade, he’s been a fixture in the Los Angeles underground. His songs have appeared on albums by U.S. Girls (Heavy Light, 2020) and White Fence (Family Perfume, 2012); he’s produced recordings for Cass McCombs and collaborated with Ariel Pink; and his experimental music has been performed at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

Magic Touch reveals yet another side of Jack Name. While it’s every bit as intricate as his previous releases, 2014’s Light Show and 2015’s Weird Moons, here he’s done away with the dense production of his earlier work to make a record that feels stark, personal, and effortlessly natural. With Magic Touch, Name brings his lyrical and conceptual focus away from the dream worlds of his first two albums and back to Earth: a simpler place, or so it seems, where humans are falling in and out of love, struggling with loneliness, reaching for connections to each other, and, for better or worse, affecting each other. In a year like 2020, it’s a place that feels familiar and far away all at once. The almost subliminal story arc of Magic Touch reminds us that touch itself is magic.

TRACK LISTING

1. Karolina
2. Do You Know Ida No?
3. Having A Good Time
4. A Moving-on Blues
5. I Came To Tell You In Plain English
6. Dudette
7. Losing My Way
8. Empty Nights
9. Kick-around Johnny
10. Sacred Place

Fool's Gold Vinyl is for Indies only. RIYL: Purling Hiss, Neil Young, Jim Shepard, Roy Montgomery, Peter Laughner, Circuit Rider. Nebraska songwriter David Nance returns to Trouble In Mind with his fifth (proper) studio album "Staunch Honey", his follow-up to his acclaimed 2018 album "Peaced and Slightly Pulverized". Returning to the home-recorded magic of his early albums, "Staunch Honey" was recorded entirely to tape by Nance himself at his Omaha home with scattered assistance from his longtime live bandmates Jim Schroeder & Kevin Donohue."Staunch Honey" is the culmination of two years of hard work - Nance worked and reworked the album three times over, recording & rerecording songs until they sounded just so - a stunning batch of sonic manna that hums with feeling and mood; expertly crafted, but sounding simultaneously off-the-cuff. Nance dials back the squalling feedback & raging guitars found on "Peaced..." into something a bit mellower, like the soundtrack to a late-night drive or late night hangs. Rusted & dusted with mid-fi, stoney brilliance.

"The Merchandise" kicks off the album, loping into earshot with an off-kilter countrified gait, not unlike a front porch jam session. This vibe permeates the album, other tunes like "Save Me Some Tears", "Gentle Traitor" & "When The Covers Come Off" burn with casual intensity, while rockers like "My Love, The Dark and I" and "Sell It All Night" sizzle with a six-string fury. "Black Mustang" - the penultimate number - is a real standout, with a subtle banjo plucking in the background & a palpable yearning and melancholy. Nance's true gift as a songwriter lies in his ability to craft poetry and personas that feel "lived-in". There's a world-weariness to his lyrical and musical approach, but rooted in joy, love and above all; passion. Many of the tunes on "Staunch Honey" feel like classics, but that's because in Nance's hands - they are. Not content to let the album go by without the rumble of guitar, "If The Truth Ever Shows Up" closes out the album. It's an instrumental jam with Nance wrangling and riffing on a gut-punching guitar solo for 6-plus minutes that feels very much like the end credits to a long-lost midnight movie

TRACK LISTING

1. The Merchandise
2. My Love, The Dark And I
3. This Side Of The Moon
4. Save Me Some Tears
5. July Sunrise
6. Gentle Traitor
7. Learn The Curve
8. When The Covers Come Off
9. Sell It All Night
10. Black Mustang
11. If The Truth Ever Shows Up

David Nance & Mowed Sound, the first album by Nance to be released on Third Man Records, cuts deep. Memories sprout back, like the sounds of a great rock song blasting from the neighbor’s truck as it revs away into the night. There is a definite connection to the past, but the swinging guitar boogie and snarled blues you might expect from Nance and company sounds leaner and completely hypnotic. What remains are 10 tracks from a well oiled group so rhythmically together that the songs on the album seem as connected as links in a chain.

TRACK LISTING

1. Mock The Hours
2. Side Eyed Sam
3. No Taste Tart Enough
4. Tumbleweed
5. Cut It Off
6. Molly's Loop
7. Credit Line
8. Tergiversation
9. Cure Vs Disease
10. In Orlando

David Nance, Omaha veteran of warble and hiss, returns with Negative Boogie, his new concoction of chug, throb and greasy swagger. On this album, Nance trades in his beaten up Tascam 488 for the bullet-proof, glass walls of A.R.C. Studios. What exactly is the negative boogie? Well, it’s a bit like Canned Heat but with Pere Ubu’s queasy rhythms and someone playing five finger fillet with Swell Maps. Ensconced in his ivory tower and soundproof rooms, Nance reached for unlikely weapons to tear down his own lofty experiment. He had his pick of rare guitars, cowbells, steel drums, vintage amps, Crazy Horse microphones, mellotron, and the restless but indefatigable rhythm section of Kevin Donahue and Tom May.

They started at sunrise and recorded fifteen songs by midnight. Maybe it’s his Midwestern work ethic, maybe he’s a sonic cheapskate. Maybe it’s just the sound of negative boogie. These songs stab and flow into one other like a perfectly orchestrated classic. They are drenched with Nance’s most biting and comic lyrics to date, peaking on “D.L.A.T.U.M.F. Blues (Don’t Look At This Ugly Mother Fucker Blues)”. And ripping through the entire thing is the cracked power he yanks out of the guitar, a veritable The Good, The Bad And The Ugly of riffage. This is a departure for Nance. It’s bigger and grander but it’s far from easy music. It’s his Plastic Ono Band, his For Your Pleasure, his fever dream of Rocket from the Tombs. But this of course is only a press release, written by a team of robots using words programmed to seduce you. Did it work?

With an intuitive understanding of melody and dynamics, Nancy Elizabeth brings a refreshingly Northern turn of phrase to her debut album, "Battle And Victory". The Lancashire-born singer's down-to-earth songs are brought to life by her warm and unaffected voice. Unpretentious but effortlessly ambitious, Nancy turns the retro, less-is-more aesthetic of the current acoustic revival on its head. Not content with writing and singing all the songs herself, the 23-year-old also plays most of the instruments, including guitar, khim, Indian harmonium, Appalachian dulcimer and bouzouki, amongst many others. The album was recorded in a 17th Century white stone cottage in the remote Welsh countryside, and a village hall outside Manchester, resulting in an intimate, uncontrived gem of a record. Using a minimum of recording equipment, the heartfelt honesty of her songs is revealed, extending to grander, more complex arrangements when the occasion calls, and bringing in friends to add cello, horns and percussion. While her work is never in thrall to any particular artist or genre, Nancy's music calls to mind aspects of artists as diverse as The Incredible String Band, Talk Talk and Led Zeppelin.

"Wrought Iron" is the second album by Wigan's Nancy Elizabeth, following the success of 2007's "Battle And Victory". Largely focused on piano-led songs (Nancy's instrument of choice this time), the album is a more understated affair than the guitar and harp-centred debut. The quality of the songwriting is stronger than ever, with a more personal, emotional edge to this album. Recorded in a remote corner of North Wales following time spent in rural Spain and the Faroe Islands, the album's arrangements reflect a sense of space and solitude. The album is as much influenced by the minimalism of Arvo Pärt and Steve Reich as by the choral harmonies of Judee Sill and the bare expression of Leonard Cohen's early records. Nancy recorded with James Yorkston on his last album "When The Haar Rolls In", as well as a forthcoming album of traditional folk songs as part of The Big Eye Family Players. She also recently collaborated with Japanese artist Susumu Yokota on his album "Mother", and contributed to the Lal Waterson tribute album "Migrating Bird". "Wrought Iron" should appeal to fans of PJ Harvey's "White Chalk", Talk Talk, Beth Gibbons, Laura Marling, Blue Roses and Alela Diane.

Nanocluster Vol 1. is an album with some serious pedigree. It sees Immersion (aka Malka Spigeland Colin Newman of influential groups Minimal Compact and Wire respectively) collaborating with some of the finest left field artists of our era: Tarwater, Laetitia Sadier, Ulrich Schnauss and Scanner. The project was born out of a Brighton based club night, also called Nanocluster, run by Spigel and Newman alongside writer, broadcaster and DJ Graham Duff, and promoter Andy Rossiter. The club features a range of influential and cutting edge music acts. But the unique aspect of the evenings is that each show climaxes with a one off collaboration between Immersion and the headliners. The songs having been written and recorded in the studio in just three days prior to the performance -or one day in the case of Schnauss. “It could have just been a series of performances.” Says Newman.“But the fact that we had built the tracks in the studio for the performances means we had these recordings.” Says Spigel. The recordings have since been developed with Immersion heading up pro-duction duties. The result is a beautiful and unique album.“I think the really interesting thing is how different everybody is,” says Spigel. “Both as people and creatively.” Immersion and Tarwater The German duo of Ronald Lippok and Bernd Jestram have created an impressive body of work. Yet their involvement with Immersion has opened out their sound, creating a more panoramic soundscape.

The opening instrumental ‘Ripples’ is a gentle breathe of optimism, all purring tones and sun dazzled synths. Meanwhile, ‘Mrs. Wood’ is a dubby psychedelic shuffle, Lippok’s vocal cool and assured over a fat bass line and skybound eastern melodics. It feels like a more spacious take on theTarwater of albums such as ‘Suns, Animals and Atoms‘. The four musicians’ 3rd collaboration is Nanocluster’s most pop moment: with a heartfelt yet unsentimental lyric unfurling over feline rhythms, ‘All You Cat Lovers’ is a feel-good anthem for cat lovers everywhere.Immersion and Laetitia Sadier An original and distinctive presence in contemporary music, Sadier made her name with the inimitable Stereolab, but she’s also created several impressive solo works. The instrumental ‘Unclustered’ sees Sadier’s spidery guitar weaving through Immersion’s lush web of synths drones. The following ‘Uncensored’ has a subtle melodic tug with a classic Spigel guitar line underpinning Sadier’s sweet yet worldly wise vocal.

‘Riding the Wave’ is another feel good song, swapping between Newman’s plaintive vocal, and Spigel’s vocal and Sadier’s backing vocals. With its uplifting chorus: ‘Things have a way of working out’ ‘Riding The Wave’ feels like it might be the sound of the summer we’ve all been waiting for.Immersion & Ulrich Schnauss A highly respected solo artist, as well as being a member of Tangerine Dream, Schnauss’ skill with electronics is legendary. The opening ‘Remember Those Days On The Road’ skips along on a rimshot rhythm with Spigel’s honeyedvocal telling a tale of life ontour. Yet it is far removed from such usual fare. This feels vulnerable and flecked with melancholy. ’Skylarks’ opens with a lattice of arpeggios before a gently nag-ging guitar enters and everything takes a turn for the sublime. ‘So Much Green’ is everything you’d hope a collaboration between Newman, Spigel and Schnauss could be. A constantly spiralling urban-kosmisch, with Spigel’s plangent bass anchoring the celestial sounds. The addition of her wordless backing vocals and recordings of real birdsong only serve to elevate the mood further.Immersion & Scanner

Scanner -aka Robin Rimbaud -is one of the most prolific and diverse artists currently working in contemporary music. Spigel and Newman have of course collaborated extensively with Rimbaud before:alongside Max Franken in the art-pop group Githead. But this is something very different. Their opening piece together: ‘Cataliz’ is the album’s moodiest moment. With its 2serpentine synth drones it sounds like the soundtrack to a mysterious thriller. The rich pulsing ‘Metrosphere’ recalls Immersion’s early work whilst adding another layer of grainy uncertainty. The closing ‘The Mundane and the Profound’ opens with a “Rimbaud scanned” recording of an irritated flight attendant but this is eventually subsumed by a simple yet emotive piano figure: a gentle and touching end to a unique collection of songs.Nanocluster Vol.1 is a testament to a remarkable synergy between a diverse assembly of strongly individual talents. The fact that it not only succeeds, but excels should be cause for celebration

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: There's a seriously talented lineup here, resulting in a wonderfully rewarding and varied set of pieces from the leading lights of the avant/electronica scene. I'm particularly taken with the Scanner pieces, but as a massive fan of Sadier as well, it's a no-brainer. Top stuff.

TRACK LISTING

1. Ripples 
2. Mrs. Wood 
3. All You Cat Lovers Immersion, Laetitia Sadier.
4. Unclustered 
5. Uncencored 
6. Riding The Wave Immersion, Ulrich Schnauss.
7. Remember Those Days On The Road 
8. Skylarks 
9. So Much Green Immersion, Scanner.
10. Cataliz 
11. Metrosphere 
12. The Mundane And The Profound

While Nao's previous project propelled the singer-songwriter into a new stratosphere with its cosmic, coming-of-age themes, the songstress is now entering a brand new chapter with ‘And Then Life Was Beautiful’ - where ‘Saturn’ untangled the knots of late twenties soul-searching, ‘And Then Life Was Beautiful’ goes a step further by setting out a clarified sense of purpose. Now a mother of a young daughter, NAO is more confident in herself and her voice than ever. A pandemic album, written and recorded throughout never-ending lockdowns, the project celebrates life’s ups and downs, reaching out a hand to guide listeners through what hurdles may confront them next. It includes previously released tracks ‘Antidode’, featuring Nigerian superstar Adekunle Gold, ‘Woman’, featuring Lianne La Havas, which she recorded with her new-born daughter strapped lovingly to her chest, as well as ‘Messy Love’, a stunning offering loaded with strummed guitar grooves and drum rhythms rooted in 90s R&B.  

Other notable stand-out tracks include ‘Wait’, a stripped-back track which takes an intimate look at how you make mistakes to develop a relationship, and ‘Postcards’, highlighting a gorgeous vocal interplay of NAO and serpentwithfeet, who features alongside her on the track. For ‘Good Luck’, R&B crooner Lucky Daye jumped on board.

She says: “Life isn’t perfect; we still go through ups and downs, but it can be beautiful as a whole. I do think it’s a hopeful album, in an honest way – it’s not shiny or all ‘isn’t this great!’ and ‘party party party.’ But it’s hopeful in that through every rough patch, every dark patch or struggle we always come out again. That’s what life is. You keep going. But most of all you try and step into a place of gratitude so that you can see life in all of its beauty.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A silky smooth mix between soaring synth pop and grooving R&B, wonderfully bringing together Nao's gorgeous vocals and a distinctly modern mash-up of styles into a cohesive and jubilant whole.

TRACK LISTING

1. And Then Life Was Beautiful
2. Messy Love
3. Glad That You’re Gone
4. Antidote (feat. Adekunle Gold)
5. Burn Out
6. Wait
7. Good Luck (feat. Lucky Daye)
8. Nothing’s For Sure
9. Woman (feat. Lianne La Havas)
10. Better Friend
11. Postcards (feat. Serpentwithfeet)
12. Little Giants
13. Amazing Grace

“I think my music provides space for me to say the things I can’t always say in real life.” says Virginia native songwriter and multi-media artist Corrinne James. “That’s what I love about song writing—There’s room in music for all of the conversations that can’t exist in reality.”

Her modern folk production and poetic song writing links the sounds of classic folk artists like Joan Baez and Steeleye Span to a 21st century context. James wrestles with guilt, purpose, and jealousy through vivid narratives in the songs that make up her vast self-releases.

On the title track for Concession Stand Girl that opens the EP, James sings the inner monologue of an unappreciated ticket-taker at a high school football game. James plucks a sparkly banjo and sings details of the concession stand girl’s relationship to each of the spectators who must go through her to enter the game. “Although seemingly insignificant, the concession stand girl must interact with each spectator as they enter the football game. Despite being unable to physically see the game, inside of her head she narrates her relationship to the people at the game.” The track “Anywhere Else” sits in contrast to the rest of the EP, being the only song where James plays guitar instead of banjo.

The last song written for the EP, “Anywhere Else” describes the tense emotions that come from comparing yourself to others in the eyes of your partner. “The protagonist is convincing herself, as well as her partner, that she could leave at any moment. She doesn’t want to be taken for granted anymore.” “Big Blue World” is a touching closer to the EP, where James sings about finding her way back to the place that feels most like home. James examines the fleeting nature of ambition and asks what really creates the feeling of contentment. Describing the song’s lyrics James says, “You can achieve everything you want, but sometimes it doesn’t feel like anything compared to just feeling at home and feeling who you are deep down.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Concession Stand Girl
2. Momma
3. Anywhere Else
4. Big Blue World

Nap Eyes’ latest full length, ‘Snapshot Of A Beginner’, is proof that sometimes the late bloomers bloom brightest. Eight years and four albums into it, the artistic arc of Nap Eyes finds itself tracing a line alongside frontman Nigel Chapman’s daily tai chi practice. Those first years and albums are the cold mornings in the park: the measured movements, the joint aches, the self-doubt. With each new release, an incremental and invigorating step forward. And with the end of each album and tour, a return to the beginner’s practice. And now, ‘Snapshot Of A Beginner’ - Nap Eyes’ boldest, most concentrated and most hi-fi album to date - a study of that repeated return and all that it can teach you.

Almost all the songs of Nap Eyes are whittled into their final form from Chapman’s unspooling, 20-minute voice-and-guitar free-writing sessions. Each member - drummer Seamus Dalton, bassist Josh Salter or guitarist Brad Loughead - then plays a crucial role in song development, composing around the idiosyncratic structures and directing the overall sound and feel of the songs. Until now, that final song construction and recording has been mostly done live in a room. But for ‘Snapshot Of A Beginner’ the band went to The National’s neuvo-legendary upstate NY Long Pond Studio, working with producers Jonathan Low (Big Red Machine, The National) and James Elkington (Steve Gunn, Joan Shelley), the latter of whom also did pre-production arrangement work with the band.

It took Nap Eyes a long time and a long practice to reach this artistic zen but one gets the feeling throughout ‘Snapshot Of A Beginner’ that this balance is going to hold.

Previous album ‘I’m Bad Now’ was described by Uncut as “as much a modest masterpiece as ‘Spring Hill Fair’ [by The Go-Betweens] or ‘Tigermilk’ [by Belle and Sebastian].”

TRACK LISTING

So Tired
Primordial Soup
Even Though I Can’t Read Your Mind
Mark Zuckerberg
Mystery Calling
Fool Thinking Ways
If You Were In Prison
Real Thoughts
Dark Link
When I Struck Out On My Own
Though I Wish I Could

Nap Eyes return with an allusive, ambitious third album, elevating to a new sonic clarity, depth and wavelength of succinctly stinging, guitar-centric rock and roll.

They are all Nova Scotians by raising and temperament but acclimated to life on an Atlantic peninsula linked narrowly to the rest of North America. ‘I’m Bad Now’, which follows enigmatic frontman Nigel Chapman’s quest for selfunderstanding, is their most transparent and personal to date and constitutes the third chapter of an implicit, informal trilogy that includes ‘Whine Of The Mystic’ (2015) and ‘Thought Rock Fish Scale’ (2016).

While Nigel composes songs in their inchoate form at home in Halifax, Brad Loughead (lead guitar), Josh Salter (bass) and Seamus Dalton (drums), who live a twelve-hour drive away in Montreal, augment and arrange them, transubstantiating his skeletal, ruminative wafers into discourses that transcend. The band provide ballast and bowspirit to Nigel’s cosmical mind, this album lending itself to a new sonic clarity, depth and range to match his effortless melodies and extraordinary writing.

TRACK LISTING

Every Time The Feeling
I’m Bad
Judgment
Roses
Follow Me Down
You Like To Joke Around
With Me
Dull Me Line
Sage
Hearing The Bass
White Disciple

Nap Eyes return with an allusive, ambitious third album, elevating to a new sonic clarity, depth and wavelength of succinctly stinging, guitar-centric rock and roll.

They are all Nova Scotians by raising and temperament but acclimated to life on an Atlantic peninsula linked narrowly to the rest of North America. ‘I’m Bad Now’, which follows enigmatic frontman Nigel Chapman’s quest for selfunderstanding, is their most transparent and personal to date and constitutes the third chapter of an implicit, informal trilogy that includes ‘Whine Of The Mystic’ (2015) and ‘Thought Rock Fish Scale’ (2016).

While Nigel composes songs in their inchoate form at home in Halifax, Brad Loughead (lead guitar), Josh Salter (bass) and Seamus Dalton (drums), who live a twelve-hour drive away in Montreal, augment and arrange them, transubstantiating his skeletal, ruminative wafers into discourses that transcend. The band provide ballast and bowspirit to Nigel’s cosmical mind, this album lending itself to a new sonic clarity, depth and range to match his effortless melodies and extraordinary writing.

TRACK LISTING

Every Time The Feeling
I’m Bad
Judgment
Roses
Follow Me Down
You Like To Joke Around
With Me
Dull Me Line
Sage
Hearing The Bass
White Disciple

Universally credited as the band that invented grindcore, it's no exaggeration to say that Napalm Death are one of the most important acts in metal history

Earache Records' third ever release (MOSH003), classic debut album 'Scum' had an immediate, seismic impact in 1987 and its influence can still be felt far and wide today. To celebrate its 35th anniversary, this essential album is repressed with limited edition Blue and Pink colour sleeves. An absolute 'must have' for any heavy metal collector.

Pressed from the original master tapes, the album has been specially recreated using 'fdr' – full dynamic range mastering - allowing the music's nuances to shine through and giving the classic album a more ferocious and dynamic sound, enabling the listener to immerse in the full audio heaviness like never before.

TRACK LISTING

Multinational Corporations
Instinct Of Survival
The Kill
Scum
Caught In A Dream
Polluted Minds
Sacrificed
Siege Of Power
Control
Born On Your Knees
Human Garbage
You Suffer
Life?
Prison Without Walls
Point Of No Return
Negative Approach
Success?
Deceiver
C.S.
Parasites
Pseudo Youth
Divine Death
As The Machine Rolls On
Common Enemy
Moral Crusade
Stigmatized
M.A.D
Dragnet

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2021 EXCLUSIVE AND WILL BE AVAILABLE INSTORE ON SATURDAY JULY 17TH ON A FIRST COME FIRST SERVED BASIS, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

IF THERE ARE ANY REMAINING COPIES THEY WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE ONLINE AT 6PM ON THE SAME DAY (SATURDAY JULY 17TH).

July 17 will see the much-treasured analog synthesizer suite Chronology by Pakistani-American composer and drummer of the cult trio Dawn of Midi, Qasim Naqvi, finally receiving a worldwide vinyl release on Record Store Day 2021. Originally conceived only digitally in 2016, Chronology was Qasimís first release of electronic music. Having been in the world of improvised and classical music up to this point, it seemed only fitting for Naqviís inaugural electronic music album to be made exclusively on a malfunctioning synthesizer ó an old Moog Model D. Leaving the abundant options of a computer behind. Transparent vinyl

Pakistani-American composer Qasim Naqvi will release his debut album for Erased Tapes on May 3rd. 'Teenages’ captures the sound of electronics living, breathing and mutating of their own accord – almost autonomously – with only subtle, sparing but perfectly-judged and masterful guidance.

This album is one singular synergy between Qasim and his machine within a broader milieu of sound, also explored by contemporaries Sarah Davachi, Alessandro Cortini, Caterina Barbieri and also the forefather, Morton Subotnick. At points tonal, textural and rhythmic, over six evolving and growing audio organisms, the album flourishes upwards in stages, from initial micro-sonics to something bigger, brighter and anthemic.

This is Naqvi’s first non-soundtrack release, having previously established himself as a renowned composer for dance, theatre, film and installation-based art, not to mention his role as drummer in lauded trio Dawn of Midi. According to Naqvi, “my past releases like ‘Chronology’, ‘Preamble’, ‘Fjoloy’ and ‘Film’ were made to accompany visual mediums. The music was always written to enhance another form. ‘Teenages’ is the first album with its own motivating force. It’s a live multi movement work that I recorded for myself.”

With ‘Teenages’, Naqvi summoned all the material on an analog modular synthesizer – a voltage-controlled sound generating system comprised of multiple modules. Naqvi built this synth over the course of two years and amassed a collection of works for this album.

“I’ve always been drawn to the power of un-amplified acoustic music. And for me modular synthesizers are a natural progression forward from the acoustic realm into the electric. It feels like an orchestra comprised of very unusual instruments, and their orchestration and vibrational properties lie in the patching and flow of voltages through a system.

They’re also unstable and they rarely play the same thing twice in any exact way. It’s almost organic and human. It was really important for this album to capture that kind of uninterrupted behavior.”

Capturing a live feeling without the aid of heavy studio production was an important component to this release: “Even though this is ‘electronic music,’ I didn’t want to rely heavily on a computer with an array of plugins, loops and samples, or exhaustive editing as part of the writing process. I wanted to treat this work like a live piece of music and have the natural behavior of the machine shine through and sound huge, like an orchestra of electrical signals.”

Gently stuttering like a time lapse-video of a seed sprouting up from the earth, ‘Intermission’ sets the scene, before musical motifs begin to emerge on the dancing, bubbling bassline of ‘Mrs 2E’, which possesses a playful, infantile quality, like a newborn animal learning to walk after birth.

More bouncy, skewed bottom-line squelch appears on the jittery, buzzing ‘Palace Workers’, which seems to evoke life in the form of amplified insect or bat noises, with a melody that eventually unfolds into something akin to a fractal rendition of ‘Oxygene’. By ‘No Tongue’ more traditionally identifiable musical signifiers begin to emerge, with a bright and melodic synth line evoking the new blooms of spring, whereas ‘Artilect’ takes a more ominous drone tone, insinuating the dark, potential threat of artificially augmented biological intelligence.

Like a coming-of-age, the album culminates on title track ‘Teenages’ – a dynamic, technicolour symphony that was recorded in one take, with no overdubs or edits. In the year leading up to ‘Teenages’, Naqvi created a series of shorter works. These stepping-stones eventually became the first 5 tracks of the album and were part of a larger process, leading to the realization of the title track. “I wanted to show the stages of development that lead to the main act. All of these tracks share the same D.N.A., even though they seem distantly related.” Explains Naqvi.

The pieces heard prior to ‘Teenages’ chronicle both Naqvi’s understanding of writing for this type of instrument and the growth of the instrument itself: “I started with just a few modules. And naturally things had to be layered and pieced together but as the synthesizer and its components grew over time, I was able to create broader and more complex strokes in the moment. And by the time I got to ‘Teenages’, it was possible to create a robust, large-scale piece spontaneously. This is very much an experiential album for me because it was borne out of my direct experience of learning the instrument. And as the synthesizer grew over time with more components, it matured. At times I felt like it was even rebelling against my instructions or surprising me with what felt like its own choices.

When everything was finished and I was thinking about track titles, this idea of artificial intelligence came into my head; a machine that reacts to your impulses and is capable of giving you something different from what you ask, and even defying you. It felt like different stages of growth and adolescence, and that lead to the album title, ‘Teenages’.”

Deeply rewarding on close listening, Naqvi has created an inspiring and synapsestimulating new masterwork, within the analogue/modular cannon.

TRACK LISTING

1. Intermission
2. Mrs 2E
3. Palace Workers
4. No Tongue
5. Artilect
6. Teenages

With an output that has been described as, ethereal, epic and anthemic, Mancunian electronica band narcissus were tipped for big things in the mid-noughties, having signed a publishing deal on the back of some genre-bending demos and following a series of amazing live events including a 'D-percussion festival/band on the wall' double header.

The quartets' reputation was further enhanced with the release of a single 'The Window' through Manchester indie label Northern Ambition, the label was also responsible for Stephen Fretwell's early output.

Unfortunately, the collapse of narcissus' publishing deal during the recording of their debut album led to a parting of ways but time and fate have brought the band back together.

With an album already recorded, narcissus went back into the studio late 2018 and recorded a brand new track ‘burning candles’ finally released on new Manchester record label 42’s Records

TRACK LISTING

Side A Burning Candles
Side AA Flashing Blue Lights

Milton Nascimento’s "Maria Maria" was recorded in 1974 and was unreleased until almost thirty years later. The album was written as the soundtrack to a ballet which dealt with the legacy of slavery in Brazil. Raw, atmospheric and emotionally charged, "Maria Maria" reveals one of Brazil’s greatest ever songwriters at his creative peak. Featuring an all-star cast of fellow Brazilian legends including Nana Vasconcelos, Joao Donato, Paulinho Jobim, and members of Som Imaginario, Maria Maria holds what Milton considers to be the definitive versions of some of his classic songs, including "Os Escravos De Jó" and "Maria Maria".

Milton Nascimento possesses one of the most immediately recognizable voices in Brazilian music: high and sweet and as breathtakingly sublime as that of any soul singer. It was this voice that the legendary Brazilian singer Elis Regina fell in love with back in 1964, having heard Milton perform his song "Can o do Sal (Sultry Song)" at a private party in Sao Paulo. Ellis went on to record the song in 1967 -giving Milton his first hit in Brazil and beginning a career that has spanned over 50 years.

Born in Rio on the 26th October 1942, Milton moved with his adoptive parents at the age of 18 months to Tres Pontas, a rural town in the state of Minas Gerais, 500 miles north of Rio. Milton became part of a local network of musicians, film makers, dancers, theatre directors and writers that included the journalist and song writer Fernando Brant as well as lyricist Marcio Borges and his younger brother Lo Borges. Milton’s religious upbringing as an Afro-Brazilian Catholic saw him exposed to church choral music from an early age. His love of this genre of music is apparent in both his celestial falsetto and vocal choral arrangements. This collection also displays his early fascination with evocative, non-verbal, scat-style singing, spare, harmonic guitar work and local folk music, jazz and rock.

TRACK LISTING

LP 1:
Maria Maria
Cozinha
Pilar (Do Pila)
Trabalhos (Essa Voz)
Lilia
A Chamada
Era Rei E Sou Escravo
Os Escravos De Jo
Tema Dos Deuses

LP 2:
Santos Catholicos X Candomble
Pai Grande
Sedu O
Francisco
Maria Solid Ria
De Repente Maria Sumiu
Eu Sou Uma Preta Velha Aqui Sentada No Sol
Boca A Boca
Maria Maria

3rd studio album from platinum selling artist and Brit Award winner Kate Nash.

TRACK LISTING

1. Part Heart
2. Fri-end?
3. Death Proof
4. Are You There Sweetheart?
5. Sister
6. OMYGOD!
7. Oh
8. All Talk
9. Unconventional Girl
10. 3AM
11. Rap For Rejection
12. Cherry Pickin'
13. Labyrinth
14. You're So Cool, I'm So Freaky
15. Lullaby For An Insomniac

Heavy, as steel tank and spiced with ever changing tones and atmospheres. This is a document of the true power in sound and noise. In the hands of Mats Gustafsson, Dror Feiler and Lasse Marhaug, sound and noise is getting vital again. Three true masters of the unknown territories of their acoustic and electronic equipment. A modern power trio. This is the debut album by this new band.

Texas’ genre-bending rock ‘n’ roller Israel Nash presents his latest long play, Lifted. It is a modern day hippie-spiritual, a tonic for those needing to put aside the mess of the daily grind. With luscious beds of strings, horns and well adorned towering walls of sound, Lifted finds Nash continuing his tradition of creating a sonic experience of feeling that is at once both vast and intimate - soaring and untamed at times, placid and sincerely personal at others. Inspired by methods pioneered by John Cage, Nash randomised sounds and music and rearranged them according to the I Ching (The Book of Changes). Utilising these recording and tracking techniques help create a sonic and very present picture of Nash’s Texas Hill Country home and his life. Accompanied by his longtime band, with arrangements by Jesse Chandler (Mercury Rev, Midlake), horns by members of Austin’s cumbia/funk compadre’s Grupo Fantasma, and strings from Kelsey Wilson and Sadie Wolf of indie pop’s Wild Child, Nash, alongside co-producer and engineer Ted Young (Kurt Vile, The Rolling Stones), presents an album that soars as a masterwork of American roots songs, meticulously crafted and gently sprinkled with life meaning and multi-hued rock and psychedelia.

TRACK LISTING

1. Rolling On (Intro)
2. Rolling On
3. Looking Glass
4. Lucky Ones
5. Sweet Springs (Intro)
6. Sweet Springs
7. Spiritfalls
8. Northwest Stars (Out Of Tacoma)
9. Hillsides
10. The Widow
11. Strong Was The Night
12. Golden Fleeces

Hailed as a “master of sonic textures” by Rolling Stone and “folk-rock visionary” by Uncut, Israel Nash first rose to fame in Europe, where he built a loyal following with a series of critically acclaimed albums that landed him a deal with the renowned Loose Music label. As American audiences began to catch on, the Missouri native relocated to Dripping Springs, Texas, where he built his own recording studio on a ranch and embraced a more spacious, psychedelic sound that landed somewhere between Neil Young and Pink Floyd. Produced by Kevin Ratterman (My Morning Jacket, Ray LaMontagne), Nash’s newest record, the rousing Ozarker, finds him returning to his Midwestern roots, embracing the heartland rock he grew up on with larger-than-life guitars, anthemic melodies, and rich character studies.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Nash's psychedelic folk-rock takes a little left turn on his latest LP 'Ozarker'. Swapping out the simmering melodies and low-key Americana for something a lot more majestic and Midwestern. Huge melodies and stadium choruses abound.

TRACK LISTING

1. Firedance
2. Can't Stop
3. Roman Candle
4. Lost In America
5. Ozarker
6. Midnight Hour
7. Travel On
8. Pieces
9. Shadowland
10. Going Back

“Music can be the space where people think––even just for a few minutes,” says Israel Nash. “The space is not about changing their lives or political views or their party ticket. It’s about creating something that prompts reflection in a moment––and those reflections have other chain reactions.”

Nash is sitting outside in the sun, thinking. It’s something he does often, looking out over endless Texas hills that surround his family’s rural home. He’s thought a lot over the last several years about music––not only how to make it, but why. What is the endgame for Nash, a critically acclaimed rock-and-roll groovesman, personally?

Nash’s magnificent new album, Topaz, is what happened when he found his answers. Nash recorded the album over the course of about a year in the Quonset hut studio he built about 600 feet from his house in the Texas Hill Country. While musician friends from nearby Austin contributed to the project, Topaz marks the first album Nash has recorded mostly on his own, both taking his time and relishing his newfound access to immediacy, punching the red button moments after an idea hit. “It's allowed me to capture sounds and ideas, to really get stuff out of my head and into the world so quickly,” Nash says.

Recorded over the course of March 2020 in Bandung and Amsterdam, ‘Poe’ is a collaboration between Jonny Nash and Teguh Permana. Permana is a renowned player of the Tarawangsa, a two-stringed instrument used in the sacred Tarawangsa music of Sunda, Indonesia. Poe’, meaning ‘Days’ in Sundanese, is a meditation on death and rebirth as reflected in the passing of time and the changing of the seasons. Permana is also active in the group Tarawangsawelas who released their debut album on Morphine records in 2017.

TRACK LISTING

Langit
Bunga
Api
Daun
Angin

Kate Nash’s new album ‘9 Sad Symphonies’ is her first signed to the legendary Kill Rock Stars label. The album was produced and mixed by Grammy winning Danish producer Frederik Thaae (K Flay, Jada, Crown The Empire).

Marking a new chapter in Kate’s illustrious career, the album’s lyrical scope is both deeply personal and achingly relatable, whilst its orchestral arrangements and melodies draw from Kate’s experience in the world of musical theatre.

Kate Nash is a BRIT Award-winning singer-songwriter, musician and actress known for her fearless approach to music and unapologetic storytelling. A platinum selling artist with a career spanning over a decade, she has garnered critical acclaim for her chart-topping hits and electrifying live performances. From her debut album ‘Made of Bricks’, to her latest releases, Kate’s artistry continues to resonate with audiences and has earned her a dedicated fanbase. She also captivated audiences as Rhonda in Netflix’s Emmy-nominated GLOW.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Millions Of Heartbeats
Misery
Wasteman
Abandoned
Horsie

Side B
My Bile
Those Feelings
Space Odyssey 2001
Ray
Vampyre

It's been quite some time since a full length solo Ben Nash release, and it's finally here, and so,what different from his more psychedelic folk drones he showcased way back on 'The Seventh Goodbye'. Probably best left for Ben to explain this one for you... "I recorded this new full-length record during downtime from playing with Chora and after a long break from recording any solo music. Having become somewhat disillusioned with the process of overdubbing conventional “physical” instruments repeatedly in my solo work I have spent a lot of time experimenting with different ways of inputting, manipulating and arranging sound electronically, both in a variety of computer based environments and also using an Apple iPad. This release is the first in a series that will document these experiments. All sounds on the album stem from and are sequenced within Yamaha’s TNR-I app with some minimal mix processing in Logic" - Ben Nash, Camberwell Green, September 2011. Edition of 250 copies pressed on heavy weight black virgin vinyl.

In 1994, hip-hop was going through an at-times painful growth spurt. Since NWA’s and Ice-T’s ascent in the late 80s, the rap game was no longer owned by the East Coast. After the worldwide popularity of Dr. Dre’s ‘The Chronic’ in 1992, things were looking even worse for hip-hop’s hometown. The East Coast / West Coast feud that would later indirectly claim the lives of Biggie and 2Pac was still in its infancy, but New York needed a shot in the arm. The hype behind young Queensbridge native Nasir “Nas” Jones had been in full swing months before his smash debut album ‘Illmatic’, thanks to Columbia Records’ promo machine. From his earliest appearance on Main Source’s ‘Live At The BBQ’, to his own accomplished debut ‘Half Time’ (as Nasty Nas, in late 1992), it was clear that this kid was something special. In fact, the pressure on him must have been overwhelming at times. April 19, 1994 couldn’t have come soon enough. And as soon as the first lines of ‘NY State Of Mind’ kick in, bolstered by perhaps DJ Premier’s darkest beat of all time, the entire East Coast breathed a collective sigh of relief. God’s Son had arrived. Backed by an absolute all-star cast of New York’s top-shelf producers - Premier, Pete Rock, Large Professor, Q-Tip and a youngster named LES - the album never lets up. Serious to a fault, and lyrically dense to an extent that has possibly never been matched, the 20-year old Nas stood on the shoulders of his predecessors and proudly proclaimed, “Don’t f*** with the East… we are BACK”. ‘Illmatic’ was actually a slow-burn, which might surprise fans that have come to its genius more recently. Despite an unheard-of “5 Mics” rating in The Source – breaking an unwritten rule of never awarding classic status to debuts - it didn’t go gold until early 1996, and didn’t hit platinum status until late 2001. But when you dive deeper that shouldn’t be a shock: like Black Moon and Wu-Tang’s debuts, it was a dark, hard record, made for heads in New York, not teeny-boppers in Des Moines. There were no dance beats, no crossover love songs. Just boom-bap and rhymes, skills and heart.

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: This album pretty much single handedly reignited the flame of East Coast hip hop. Produced by DJ Premier, Large Professor, Pete Rock AND Q Tip!! It's an authentic, masterpiece of minimal beats and street poetry that is universally recognised as one of the greatest rap albums of all time.

TRACK LISTING

40 Side North:
The Genesis
NY State Of Mind
Life's A Bitch
The World Is Yours
Halftime

41st Side South
Memory Lane (Sitt'in In Da Park)
One Love
One Time 4 Your Mind
Represent
It Ain't Hard To Tell

In 1994, hip-hop was going through an at-times painful growth spurt. Since NWA’s and Ice-T’s ascent in the late 80s, the rap game was no longer owned by the East Coast. After the worldwide popularity of Dr. Dre’s ‘The Chronic’ in 1992, things were looking even worse for hip-hop’s hometown. The East Coast / West Coast feud that would later indirectly claim the lives of Biggie and 2Pac was still in its infancy, but New York needed a shot in the arm. The hype behind young Queensbridge native Nasir “Nas” Jones had been in full swing months before his smash debut album ‘Illmatic’, thanks to Columbia Records’ promo machine. From his earliest appearance on Main Source’s ‘Live At The BBQ’, to his own accomplished debut ‘Half Time’ (as Nasty Nas, in late 1992), it was clear that this kid was something special. In fact, the pressure on him must have been overwhelming at times. April 19, 1994 couldn’t have come soon enough. And as soon as the first lines of ‘NY State Of Mind’ kick in, bolstered by perhaps DJ Premier’s darkest beat of all time, the entire East Coast breathed a collective sigh of relief. God’s Son had arrived.

Backed by an absolute all-star cast of New York’s top-shelf producers - Premier, Pete Rock, Large Professor, Q-Tip and a youngster named LES - the album never lets up. Serious to a fault, and lyrically dense to an extent that has possibly never been matched, the 20-year old Nas stood on the shoulders of his predecessors and proudly proclaimed, “Don’t f*** with the East… we are BACK”. ‘Illmatic’ was actually a slow-burn, which might surprise fans that have come to its genius more recently. Despite an unheard-of “5 Mics” rating in The Source – breaking an unwritten rule of never awarding classic status to debuts - it didn’t go gold until early 1996, and didn’t hit platinum status until late 2001. But when you dive deeper that shouldn’t be a shock: like Black Moon and Wu-Tang’s debuts, it was a dark, hard record, made for heads in New York, not teeny-boppers in Des Moines. There were no dance beats, no crossover love songs. Just boom-bap and rhymes, skills and heart.

TRACK LISTING

The Genesis
NY State Of Mind
Life's A Bitch
The World Is Yours
Halftime
Memory Lane (Sittin' In Da Park)
One Love
One Time 4 Your Mind
Represent
It Ain't Hard To Tell

It Was Written is the second studio album by American rapper Nas, originally released on July 2, 1996, by Columbia Records. After the modest commercial success of his debut album Illmatic (1994), Nas pursued a more polished, mainstream sound for It Was Written. Produced largely by Trackmasters, it departed from the debut's raw, underground aesthetic and embraced mafioso and gangsta themes. The recording also marked the first appearance of Nas's short-lived supergroup The Firm, featuring the rappers Foxy Brown, AZ, and Cormega.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Album Intro
2. The Message
3. Street Dreams
4. I Gave You Power
Side B
1. Watch Dem Niggas
2. Take It In Blood
3. The Set Up
Side C
1. Black Girl Lost
2. Suspect
3. Shootouts
4. Nas Is Coming
Side D
1. Affirmative Action
2. Live Nigga Rap
3. If I Ruled The World (Imagine That)
4. Silent Murder

Nas King's Disease II Album Following the Grammy Award winning album, King’s Disease, the king returns to his throne with the second coming, King’s Disease II. The star-studded project offers tacit game on life, love, and loss, uplifting through action and lived experience in a way only Nas can. This is a body of work for the fans, for the day 1’s that contributed to the legacy. Alongside the decorated production savant, Hit-Boy, Nas remains rooted in lyrical prophetism while proving that he constantly reinvents the wheel. The sequel to last year’s King’s Disease features Ms. Lauryn Hill, Eminem, EPMD, Hit-Boy, Charlie Wilson, YG and more.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Pressure
2. Death Row East
3. 40 Side
4. EPMD 2 (feat. Eminem & EPMD)
5. Rare
6. YKTV (feat. A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie & YG)
7. Store Run
8. Moments
9. Nobody (feat. Ms. Lauryn Hill)
10. No Phony Love (feat. Charlie Wilson)
11. Brunch On Sundays (feat. Blxst)
12. Count Me In
13. Composure (feat. Hit-Boy)
14. My Bible
15. Nas Is Good

As the third installment of Nas and Hit-Boy's GRAMMY Award winning King’s Disease series, King’s Disease III is Nas' latest album, and marks the duo's highly anticipated return since 2021's surprise LP, Magic. Executive produced by Nas and Hit-Boy, the album finds the rap legend at his best, flowing effortlessly over signature punchy beats including "Legit," "Michael & Quincy," and "30" among others. "With ‘King’s Disease III’, the New York rapper has put the seal on a strong album trilogy that proves that, three decades in, he’s still a force to be reckoned with." - NME

TRACK LISTING

1. Ghetto Reporter
2. Legit
3. Thun
4. Michael & Quincy
5. 30
6. Hood2Hood
7. Recession Proof
8. Reminisce
9. Serious Interlude
10. I'm On Fire
11. WTF SMH
12. Once A Man, Twice A Child
13. Get Light
14. First Time
15. Beef
16. Don't Shoot
17. Til My Last Breath (Bonus Track)

A legendary fan favorite Illmatic era demo, gets revisited and completed nearly 3 decades later! Available on vinyl for the first time.

TRACK LISTING

1. Life Is Like A Dice Game (Vocal Version Ft Cordae & Freddie Gibbs)
2. Life Is Like A Dice Game (Instrumental Version, Prod By Hit-Boy)

Produced by Nas’ longtime collaborator Hit-Boy, Nas shares Magic, the transcendent 9 track album including “Wave Gods” ft. A$AP Rocky and DJ Premier. Magic follows the August 2021 release of Grammy nominated album, King’s Disease II.

TRACK LISTING

1. "Wu For The Children"
2. "Speechless"
3. "Wave Gods"
4. "Meet Joe Black"
5. "Ugly"
6. "The Truth"
7. "Dedicated"
8. "40-16 Building"
9. "Hollywood Gangsta"

Instrumental version of the 15th studio album from American Rapper Nas.

TRACK LISTING

1. Speechless - Instrumental
2. Meet Joe Black - Instrumental
3. Ugly - Instrumental
4. 40-16 Building - Instrumental
5. Hollywood Gangsta - Instrumental
6. Wu For The Children - Instrumental
7. Wave Gods - Instrumental
8. The Truth - Instrumental
9. Dedicated - Instrumental 

Nas' 1994 debut "Illmatic" is rightly hailed as a paragon of underground hip-hop, a turning point in East Coast rap's development, and one of the all-time greatest debut albums in general. Though Nas' artistic legacy is without question, it was not always the case; if Nas had flourished during the mid-90s, he had stumbled clumsily while transitioning into the 00's. After achieving universal praise via Illmatic and commercial success with its' follow-up It Was Written, Nas' next few releases were considered inconsistent and lackluster compared to the critical one-two punch they followed. During this time period he had abandoned the socially-conscious and philosophical topics that made him a critical darling in favor of more commercially viable gangsta rap. Though he maintained a chart presence for much of the late-90s, review scores began to dwindle, and his status among the hip-hop community was thrown into question. This would change in 2001 with the release of Nas' fifth studio full-length, which made the effort to re-establish him as a legitimate artist. Eschewing the pop-friendliness he'd found success with, Nas instead opted to return to the underground style he came up in, with tracks about American politics, ghetto life, and social upheaval. Perhaps sensing this need to return to his roots, he titled the album "Stillmatic", a clear and present reference (and sequel of sorts) to Illmatic.

The ploy worked perfectly; Stillmatic was hailed by critics as a stunning comeback, and a brilliant return to form, earning rave reviews from rap outlets such as The Source and HipHopDX as well as from more mainstream publications as The Rolling Stone and The Village Voice. Praise was heaped upon the complexity and introspective nature of Nas' lyrical content, the top-tier production from veterans like Large Professor, DJ Premier, L.E.S., and Trackmasters, and hard-hitting guest appearances from AZ, Mary J. Blige, and Amerie. Stillmatic would see release on December 18th of 2001, right as Nas was caught in the middle of a highly publicized feud with fellow New York rapper Jay-Z. As such, the record features one of the feud's most intense apexes in the form of its second track "Ether", a ruthless Ron Browz-produced diss track. A response to Jay-Z's own diss "Takeover", "Ether" savaged the Brooklyn-native, accusing him of brown-nosing to get ahead, of plagiarizing earlier rappers such as Notorious B.I.G. and KRS-One, and dismissing his street cred. To this day "Ether" is considered one of the best and most potent diss tracks ever recorded, a major turning point in the Nas/Jay-Z feud, a standout among the already critically acclaimed Stillmatic, and is even credited with boosting Jay-Z's career by proxy. 

TRACK LISTING

A1. Stillmatic (The Intro)
A2. Ether
A3. Got Ur Self A…
A4. Smokin'
B1. You're Da Man
B2. Rewind
B3. One Mic
B4. 2nd Childhood
C1. Destroy & Rebuild
C2. The Flyest (feat. AZ)
C3. Braveheart Party (feat. Mary J. Blige & Bravehearts)
C4. Rule (feat. Amerie)
D1. My Country (feat. Millenium Thug)
D2. What Goes Around (feat. Keon Bryce)
D3. Every Ghetto (feat. Blitz)

The first new album in over a decade from world-renowned singer-songwriter, Nina Nastasia.

Produced by Steve Albini.

Riderless Horse is my first solo record, and it’s the first record my former partner, Kennan Gudjonsson, didn’t produce.

I haven’t made an album since 2010. I decided to stop pursuing music several years after my sixth record, Outlaster, because of unhappiness, overwhelming chaos, mental illness, and my tragically dysfunctional relationship with Kennan. Creating music had always been a positive outlet during difficult times, but eventually it became a source of absolute misery.

Riderless Horse documents the grief, but it also marks moments of empowerment and a real happiness in discovering my own capability. Steve Albini produced this record with me, and Greg Norman assisted. It was exactly the right environment to work on this record. We all had meals together, cried, laughed, and told stories. It was perfect. It made me realize how much I love writing, playing and recording music.

Terrible things happen. These were some terrible things. So, what to do – learn something valuable, connect with people, move the fuck out of that apartment, remember the humor, find the humour, tell the truth, and make a record. I made a record.

TRACK LISTING

1. Cork And Pour (0:12)
2. Just Stay In Bed (2:12)
3. You Were So Mad (2:53)
4. This Is Love (3:10)
5. Nature (2:57)
6. Lazy Road (2:45)
7. Ask Me (3:41)
8. Blind As Batsies (2:35)
9. The Two Of Us (2:37)
10. Go Away (2:19)
11. The Roundabout (2:09)
12. Trust (3:20)
13. Afterwards (2:34)
14. Creek And Chimes (0:33)

On The Blackened Air (her second album but first for Touch and Go, originally released in 2002), Nina Nastasia and her band are not content to just support a vocal melody; they pry it apart and look down its throat. The stringed and wind instruments (viola, cello, mandolin, accordion, bowed saw, acoustic and electric guitars) reach up out of the songs into rarefied territory. Little stories of Peeping Toms and the police lights they bring with them, grave- yards and impolite family, epigrams against disaster, depression, simple forgetfulness, all delivered so effortlessly that the precision of the delivery registers long after its substance has left its mark. When she sings “I’m not hiding anything / I’m not trying to fool you at all,” in a song titled “That’s All There Is,” it is all the truth.

A generation-plus of young troubadours pine for things they never has to lose, as if sadness and depression were inevitable consequences of being alive. Nina Nastasia’s music is an antidote to all of that. The Blackened Air is a darkish record not just in title, but by examining everything without caving in to decadence or solipsism, it is a rejuvenating experience. It is informed, without affect, unique, and succinct. Above all, it is beautiful to hear and a pleasure to have in one’s home.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Run, All You...
I Go With Him This Is What It Is Oh, My Stars All For You
So Little
Desert Fly
Ugly Face
Side B
In The Graveyard Ocean
Rosemary
The Same Day Been So Long
The Very Next Day Little Angel
That’s All There Is

Straight out the gate, Nas dropped a classic. Since the release of the seminal ‘Illmatic’ album in 1994, critics and fans have been wondering if Nas peaked too early and if anything in his subsequent catalogue could be held up against this masterpiece.

To be fair, it’s hard to follow up something this flawless, a project that allied his most insightful, pitch-perfect heartfelt rhymes with the work of the best hiphop producers on the east coast.DJ Premier, Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest and Large Professor all take their turns on the album, along with the unsung L.E.S.,but it’s Pete Rock in his prime who provides the stunning backdrop for the cinematic ‘The World is Yours’.

It’s a perfect nugget of a single, weaving in the brashness of Scarface, the repetition of a snatch of T La Rock’s early Def Jam gem ‘It’s Yours’ and piano courtesy of Ahmad Jamal’s ‘I Love Music’ from his own timeless ‘The Awakening’ album (1970).Presented for the first time on 7”, the vocals of the album version and the instrumental on the flip provide the perfect opportunity to enjoy and compare the work of two masters at the top of their game.

Pete Rock’s seamless weaving of disparate samples into a compelling whole, the then little-known Nas’ statement of intent. With a maturity beyond his tender years, Nas put himself straight at the top of the pile, this Queensbridge chronicle hinting at the ambition and greatness he harboured within himself.

TRACK LISTING

The World Is Yours (Album Version)
The World Is Yours (Instrumental)

A superb 12” slab of rare South London British Jazz-Funk, originally released in the UK in 1984 by Jamaican-born producer Tony Williams, the man behind the seminal Funk Masters’ jazz-funk masterpiece, ‘Love Money’.

Nat King Cool’s stunning in-demand one-off single release ‘Checking Out’ sounds like a blend of MFSB’s ‘Mysteries of the World’ meets UK Brit- Funk, complete with very cool flip-side instrumental. Originally released on the tiny Tai Wan label, this track sounds fresh.

An absolutely essential 1980s Brit-Funk 12” tune, fully remastered from tapes, bespoke exact reprolabels, pressed on pristine vinyl and housed in groovy Soul Jazz / Funk Masters house bag.

TRACK LISTING

1. Checking Out
2. Checking Out (Instrumental)

Nation of Language hail from Brooklyn, New York.

The band self-released their debut album ‘Introduction, Presence’ in May 2020.

‘A Way Forward’ marks their first album since signing to Play It Again Sam.

Pristine synth-infused pop, with a heavy 80s vibe. Think OMD, A Flock Of Seagulls etc.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: From the shuffled cosmic thump of 'Across That Fine Line' to Kreidler-adjacent instrumental sub-bass rhythms behind chorused guitars and stadium riffage, 'A Way Forward' provides a perfectly measured and impeccably manicured electronic wooze. Lovely.

TRACK LISTING

In Manhattan
Across That Fine Line
Wounds Of Love
Miranda
The Grey Commute
This Fractured Mind
Former Self
Whatever You Want
A Word & A Wave
They’re Beckoning

Nation of Language release a limited edition 7” single covering the classic single ‘Androgynous’ by The Replacements. Presenting an entirely reimagined interpretation, Nation of Language have delivered an 80s new wave production built on playful synths and punctuating drum programming. Ian Devaney’s vocals bring the unmistakable Nation of Language take on contemporary indie electronic which they are growing to define. The B-side is a new Nation of Language recording called Again & Again which is released for the first time on this 7”.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Androgynous
B1. Again & Again

From Brooklyn, Nation Of Language have made a name for themselves creating music from another lifetime. On new single ‘From The Hill’ singer Ian Devaney says, “'From the Hill' is a song reflecting on times when friendships fall apart over romantic entanglement, accompanied by the sensation that you're somehow watching it happen from above with a more zoomed-out perspective. It can feel at times like certain parts of life are a story with which you're just following along - the characters enter, they play their role, and then they leave. Often it'll feel sudden and catch you off guard, and other times you’re able to see that it's the only way things could have played out despite what you may have wanted.”

He adds, “For us, we’re in a moment right now where it feels good to get this out into the world. It’s one that didn't really feel like it fit the vibe of A Way Forward, nor is it any real indication of where the next record is likely heading. When that situation arrives we like to use these 7” releases to step outside the larger framework that the albums provide and just release a track that we love, so this is us doing that once again.”

TRACK LISTING

From The Hill
Ground Control

Nation of Language announce the release of their new album, Strange Disciple. Out September 15th on Play It Again Sam, following performances at Primavera Sound, Pitchfork Festival, Outside Lands and dozens more of their biggest headline shows to date, the Brooklyn band’s third LP is one that is meant to invoke wandering, wondrous walks through city streets both foreign and familiar. In the three short years since their acclaimed debut, 2020’s Introduction, Presence, Nation of Language have sustained an increasing ascent from small, hyperlocal scenes to international stages and late-night television, while their musical evolution has embodied three distinct modes of moving through the world: lead singer and songwriter Ian Devaney imagines the band’s first album, Introduction, Presence, as taking place in a car, whereas second album A Way Forward occurred on and as a locomotive, influenced by the chugging sound of krautrock. Now, as their first record to be fully created and released outside the confines of a pandemic-instilled lockdown, Strange Disciple is centred around groove-driven songs and bouncing basslines that feel ambulatory and wayfaring, informed by the excitement of exploring new places the band never thought they would see on tour.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's easy to hear a lot of influence here, the echoic vocals of Tears For Fears, or the percussive skitter of OMD, but all rendered in Nation Of Language's own unique indie-rock palette. Arm-raising balladry and slowly building walls of sound, pieced together arp by arp.

TRACK LISTING

Weak In Your Light
Sole Obsession
Surely I Can't Wait
Swimming In The Shallow Sea
Too Much, Enough
Spare Me The Decision
Sightseer
Stumbling Still
A New Goodbye
I Will Never Learn

Just for the record, The National Jazz Trio of Scotland don't play jazz, nor are they a trio. And while their status as national ambassadors is not exactly official, acclaimed pianist Bill Wells has however worked with many of the key players in the Scottish indie scene from the likes of Isobel Campbell and Future Pilot AKA to the magnificent collaboration with former Arab Strap vocalist Aidan Moffat "Everything's Getting Older" on Chemikal Underground recently.

Indeed a host of Glasgow's finest have contributed to the new NJTOS album Standards Volume Two with Norman Blake from Teenage Fanclub responsible for additional studio work and lending his voice to Winter Breaks And Back To Spring. Belle & Sebastian's Chris Geddes and Stevie Jackson also helped with recordings But what sets the National Jazz Trio of Scotland apart is the vocal performances by Lorna Gilfedder, Aby Vulliamy and Kate Sugden, with the songs walking a fine emotional line between melancholy and optimism. Though the majority of the songs on Standards Volume Two are written and composed entirely by Bill Wells, there are 2 covers including a version of the traditional Scottish folk song Mary of Argyle and a delightful cover of the Moondog tune My Tiny Butterfly with Gilfedder, Vulliamy and Sugden singing in a round to great effect.

"It's kind of a double bluff calling it the National Jazz Trio Of Scotland," says Bill Wells of a group that is famously neither a jazz band or a trio. "I was trying to be kind of perverse about it, calling it jazz and then deliberately not having anything that actually related to jazz."

On their latest album, Standards Vol. IV, the National Jazz Trio continue their engagement with classic and outsider pop traditions. In addition to the ten Bill Wells originals and a new version of the Aidan Moffat collaboration 'Far From You', Standards Vol. IV features a cover of Richard Youngs' "Summer's Edge" from the latters's 2005 masterpiece Summer Wanderer.

Fifth Album by the Bill Wells project feat. words by Aidan Moffat A masterclass in nuance, interpretation and the purifying power of the human voice, Standards Vol. V represents another captivating chapter in the career of a singular figure in contemporary music. For his fifth album as the mischievously named National Jazz Trio Of Scotland, the prolific jazz outsider Bill Wells posits yet another collaborator in the diffuse light cast by his tender chord shifts and understated arrangements. The voice on Standards Vol. V is that of Black, whose other musical activities include the band Babe, Francois And The Atlas Mountains, Rozi Plain and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

TRACK LISTING

I Know Where I'm Going (1:59)
Sigh No More Ladies (2:35)
Vox II (3:33)
Sunrise, Sunset (4:42)
Set Firee To Silver Light (0:51)
So Much Power (3:18)
Gradual Inclination (3:30)
The King Tailors (2:15)
Of Thee I Sing (4:46)
Gradual Inclination (reprise) (1:10)
A Quiet Goodbye (2:28)

* First ever anthology
* Remastered from original sources
* 2xLP housed in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket with 20-pg book, and download card full full anthology
* Vinyl cut by John Golden and pressed at RTI
* CD housed in a deluxe gatefold tip-on jacket with 48-pg book
* Scholarly liner notes by Punk In Africa director Keith Jones
* Unseen photos, flyers, and band ephemera

The South Africa of the late 1970s was neither the right place nor time to launch a mixed-race punk band. Yet, following the student-inspired Soweto Uprising of 1976, it was also exactly the right conditions to foster a band like National Wake, one formed in an underground commune, and one whose very name exists in protest at the divisive, racist apartheid regime. Never before collected together, Light In The Attic is set to release National Wake’s full body of work as Walk In Africa 1979-81.

Featured heavily in the Punk In Africa documentary, National Wake played punk, reggae and tropical funk, equally at home in the city’s rock underground and the township nightclub circuit. Ivan Kadey started the band with two brothers, Gary and Punka Khoza. The three were from different worlds –while Ivan was an outsider, a Jewish orphan born in the traditional Johannesburg immigrant neighborhood, Gary, Punka and their family were forcibly moved to the troubled township of Soweto under the apartheid regime. Later joined by guitarist Steve Moni, the whole band grew up against a backdrop of township unrest, social upheaval and suburban tedium that characterized apartheid-era South Africa.

National Wake released just one album, in 1981. It sold approximately 700 copies before being withdrawn under government pressure. The band subsequently disintegrated, but their influence could be traced in the racially mixed post-punk underground centered around Rockey Street in Johannesburg throughout the 1980s, their legacy transmitted through fanzines and underground cassette trading.

Sadly, Gary and Punka Khoza both passed away in their 40s. Kadey now works as an architect in Los Angeles, but his attention eventually turned back to the band as their legacy grew in the digital era, with the emergence of specialized music websites and Punk In Africa leading to their rediscovery. Czech State Radio memorably described the band as “perhaps the most dissident music scene of the 20th century: a multi-racial punk band in a fascist police state.”

In 2011, Kadey re-released the band’s self-titled album, but spoke about having more than 20 tracks that had never seen the light of day –until now. “All of these recordings put together they speak of the whole evolution of the band,” he has said. “From a sort of naive, almost belief that we could miraculously change everything to realizing what a struggle it was, and what the country was going through and what it would go through.”

TRACK LISTING

1. International News
2. It's All Right
3. Walk In Africa
4. Time And Place
5. Corner House Stone
6. Mercenaries
7. Wake Of The Nation
8. Supaman
9. Speed It Up
10. Beat Up The Lights
11. Black Punk Rockers
12. Stratocaster
13. Everybody
14. Vatsiketeni

Anchored by evocative melodies and an enthralling lyrical narrative, First Two Pages of Frankenstein signals a thrilling new chapter in the band’s beloved discography. The 11-song album was produced by The National at Long Pond Studios in upstate New York and features guest appearances by Taylor Swift, Phoebe Bridgers and Sufjan Stevens.

The follow-up to 2019’s top five hit album I Am Easy To Find, First Two Pages of Frankenstein was initially stalled while lead singer Matt Berninger navigated “a very dark spot where I couldn’t come up with lyrics or melodies at all, and that period lasted for over a year. Even though we’d always been anxious and argued quite a lot whenever we were working on a record, this was the first time it ever felt like maybe things really had come to an end.” Instead, The National “managed to come back together and approach everything from a different angle, and because of that we arrived at what feels like a new era for the band,” according to guitarist/pianist Bryce Dessner, whose bandmates also include his brother Aaron (guitar/piano/bass) as well as brothers Scott Devendorf (bass, guitar) and Bryan Devendorf (drums).

First Two Pages of Frankenstein channels the group’s revitalized chemistry into a body of work that beautifully balances elegant musicality with the National’s more idiosyncratic impulses. Tracks such as “Grease in Your Hair” and “Ice Machines” were road-tested in 2022 before they were recorded, allowing the band to hone the material in real time (another song, “Weird Goodbyes” featuring Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, was released as a standalone track last August). “To me the power of this record has to do with the intentionality and structure of the music meeting with a lot of accidental magic,” says Aaron Dessner.

Swift duets with Berninger on the luminous “The Alcott,” continuing her recent string of collaborations with members of The National on her chart-topping albums folklore and evermore and Aaron Dessner’s Big Red Machine project. The song finds Berninger and Swift inhabiting the roles of a couple attempting to resurrect a troubled relationship, forging a finely drawn story nearly novelistic in scope. “It’s about two people with a long history returning to a place and trying to relive a certain moment in time,” says Berninger. “It’s got the feeling of a last-ditch effort to hold onto the relationship, but there’s a hint of something positive where you can see the beginnings of a reconnection.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Succeeding on from the beautiful yet gut-punching 'I Am Easy To Find', 'First Two Pages Of Frankenstein' is another exquisite slice of moving and expansive indie from Berninger and co. Boasting huge guest spots from Taylor Swift, Sufjan Stevens and Phoebe Bridgers, this record further cements The National as the generational talent we've always known them to be!

TRACK LISTING

Once Upon A Poolside (feat. Sufjan Stevens)
Eucalyptus
New Order T-Shirt
This Isn't Helping (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
Tropic Morning News
Alien
The Alcott (feat. Taylor Swift)
Grease In Your Hair
Ice Machines
Your Mind Is Not Your Friend (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
Send For Me 

The surprise companion to The National's April release First Two Pages of Frankenstein, Laugh Track is the band's most freewheeling, all-hands-on-deck album in years. If Frankenstein represented a rebuilding of trust between group members after 20+ years together, the vibrant, exploratory Laugh Track is both the product of that faith and a new statement of intent. Reveling in the license to radically upend its creative process, The National honed most of this material in live performances on tour, and captured those invigorated versions in impromptu sessions at producer Tucker Martine’s Portland studio. Two nights later in Vancouver, the nearly eight-minute album closer “Smoke Detector” was recorded during soundcheck, completing a body of work bristling with spontaneity and vintage rock energy that makes a perfect complement to the songs found on its more introspective predecessor.

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: Released as a companion album to ‘First Two Pages Of Frankenstein’, ‘Laugh Track’ was written during the same sessions but feels more dynamic, largely due to Bryan reverting to ‘real’ rather than programmed drums. After all, it’s his fluid, scatter-shot drumming that has always been the perfect foil for Matt’s melancholy. This LP sounds much more like The National we love and closing track “Smoke Detector” possibly hints at the future direction of their evolution.

TRACK LISTING

Alphabet City
Deep End (Paul’s In Pieces)
Weird Goodbyes Feat. Bon Iver
Turn Off The House
Dreaming
Laugh Track Feat. Phoebe Bridgers
Space Invader
Hornets
Coat On A Hook
Tour Manager
Crumble Feat. Rosanne Cash
Smoke Detector

These five Cincinnati friends recorded two albums and a mini album for Brassland before signing to Beggars Banquet. Their last effort, "Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers", was touted as one of the year's best by Rolling Stone and other magazines.

The National contains two pairs of brothers - Aaron Dessner (guitars, bass) and Bryce Dessner (guitar), Scott Devendorf (guitar, bass), Bryan Devendorf (drums) and singer Matt Berninger. Matt's potent baritone intones about matters fraught and funny and sad; about record collections, missing persons and medium-sized American hearts. The songs are intense, and emotive but generally quite restrained, but on one or two tracks, this intensity spills out into a superbly abrasive blast of emotion, before ebbing back into mellowness. Wonderful!

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: An absolutely awesome album - one of my albums of the year in 2005 when it was originally released. Although it's perhaps a little less 'polished' than "High Violet" it still has that same compelling, claustrophic intensity too it.

TRACK LISTING

1. Secret Meeting
2. Karen
3. Lit Up
4. Looking For Astronauts
5. Daughters Of The Soho Riots
6. Baby, We'll Be Fine
7. Friend Of Mine
8. Val Jester
9. All The Wine
10. Abel
11. Geese Of Beverly Road
12. City Middle
13. Mr. November

The National's 2005 album "Alligator" saw them fulfil the promise shown on their previous two albums, and set the bar impossibly high for their follow up.

However, with "Boxer" they've created something quite stunning, in fact the opening three tracks, "Fake Empire", "Mistaken For Strangers" and "Brainy" are possibly their best songs ever. A taut rhythm section is present throughout, and complements the languid vocals and lush string arrangements perfectly. Although the strings and Matt Berninger's distinctive drawl create a solemn mood, there are plenty of upbeat moments here too, creating a rich anthemic album with just the right amount of melancholy.

TRACK LISTING

1. Fake Empire
2. Mistaken For Strangers
3. Brainy
4. Squalor Victoria
5. Green Gloves
6. Slow Show
7. Apartment Story
8. Start A War
9. Guest Room
10. Racing Like A Pro
11. Ada
12. Gospel

Previously unreleased live version of the bands Boxer album performed in full - recorded at Forest National, Brussels, Belgium, 09 November 2017

TRACK LISTING

Fake Empire (Live In Brussels)
Mistaken For Strangers (Live In Brussels)
Brainy (Live In Brussels)
Squalor Victoria (Live In Brussels)
Green Gloves (Live In Brussels)
Slow Show (Live In Brussels)
Apartment Story (Live In Brussels)
Start A War (Live In Brussels)
Guest Room (Live In Brussels)
Racing Like A Pro (Live In Brussels)
Ada (Live In Brussels)
Gospel (Live In Brussels)

Released a year before The National broke through with their third album Alligator, 2004’s Cherry Tree EP is a thrilling record which - thanks to its collection of delicate ballads and anthemic crowd-pleasers - sums up what they do best in under 30 minutes. Now a firm fan-favourite, among Cherry Tree’s seven tracks are now National classics ‘About Today’ and ‘All The Wine’, plus a thrilling live version of ‘Murder Me Rachael’ that reminds of the band’s fearsome early live performances. Cherry Tree can be seen as the record that marks the moment when The National had truly found themselves, a bridge from what went before to a band ready to conquer the World.

Having been remastered at Abbey Road Studios, the 2021 represses stay faithful to their original artwork while their stunning new masters help make these much-loved records sound as vital as ever, further emphasising the early signs of the sound that would go on to make them one of the fi nest and most beloved alternative bands of their generation.

TRACK LISTING

1. / A1. Wasp Nest
2. / A2. All The Wine
3. / A3. All Dolled-Up In Straps
4. / A4. Cherry Tree
5. / B1. About Today
6. / B2. Murder Me Rachael (Live)
7. / B3. Reasonable Man (I Don’t Mind)

The album opens with the slow drums and mournful vocals of “Terrible Love” but from the start there’s a simmering intensity that builds and eventually explodes into crashing cymbals, pummelling drums, distorted guitars and layered vocals.
A dramatic entrance to The National’s fifth album. But it’s not all this heavy, as with their previous releases it’s an album of mood swings. Where “Terrible Love” was explosive, second track “Sorrow” is mournful and melodic.
And while the album changes mood and tempo, at times warm and intimate at others dramatic, propelled by off beat drum rhythms, there’s always a palpable intensity. I read recently that they find it hard to finish songs, with one or other band member frequently rejecting material. Whether the atmosphere created here is the cause or result of this I don’t know, but either way it works perfectly. Despite Matt’s melancholy, there’s something really uplifting about this collection of beautifully crafted mini epics.

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: A bona fide classic, and possibly the summit of The National's already majestic canon. Moody, introspective and deeply involving, "High Violet" manages to be both clever and inventive and at the same time focused in it's somewhat bleak expression. A work of troubled genius whose (very) high points, "Afraid of Everyone", "Bloodbuzz Ohio" and the sublime "Conversation 16" would grace pretty much any album, ever. It is really that good.

TRACK LISTING

1. Terrible Love
2. Sorrow
3. Anyone’s Ghost
4. Little Faith
5. Afraid Of Everyone
6. Bloodbuzz Ohio
7. Lemonworld
8. Runaway
9. Conversation 16
10. England
11. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks

The album opens with the slow drums and mournful vocals of “Terrible Love” but from the start there’s a simmering intensity that builds and eventually explodes into crashing cymbals, pummelling drums, distorted guitars and layered vocals. A dramatic entrance to The National’s fifth album. But it’s not all this heavy, as with their previous releases it’s an album of mood swings. Where “Terrible Love” was explosive, second track “Sorrow” is mournful and melodic.
And while the album changes mood and tempo, at times warm and intimate at others dramatic, propelled by off beat drum rhythms, there’s always a palpable intensity. I read recently that they find it hard to finish songs, with one or other band member frequently rejecting material. Whether the atmosphere created here is the cause or result of this I don’t know, but either way it works perfectly. Despite Matt’s melancholy, there’s something really uplifting about this collection of beautifully crafted mini epics.

TRACK LISTING

High Violet
Terrible Love
Sorrow
Anyone’s Ghost
Little Faith
Afraid Of Everyone
Bloodbuzz Ohio
Lemonworld
Runaway
Conversation 16
England
Vanderlyle Crybaby
Geeks

Bonus Disc
Terrible Love (Alternate Version)
Wake Up Your Saints
You Were A Kindness
Walk Off
Sin-Eaters
Bloodbuzz Ohio (Live On The Current)
Anyone’s Ghost (Live At BAM)
England (Live At BAM)

I Am Easy To Find is the band’s eighth studio album and the follow-up to 2017’s GRAMMY®-award winning release Sleep Well Beast. A companion short film with the same name will also be released with music by The National and inspired by the album. The film was directed by Academy Award-nominated director Mike Mills (20th Century Women, Beginners), and starring Academy Award Winner Alicia Vikander. Mills, along with the band, is credited as co-producer of the album, which was mostly recorded at Long Pond, Hudson Valley, NY with additional sessions in Paris, Berlin, Cincinnati, Austin, Dublin, Brooklyn and more far flung locations. The album features vocal contributions from Sharon Van Etten, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, Lisa Hannigan, Mina Tindle and more.

I Am Easy to Find is a 24-minute film by Mills starring Alicia Vikander, and a 68-minute album by the National. The former is not the video for the latter; the latter is not the soundtrack to the former. The two projects are, as Mills calls them, “Playfully hostile siblings that love to steal from each other”—they share music and words and DNA and impulses and a vision about what it means to be human in 2019, but don’t necessarily need one another. The movie was composed like a piece of music; the music was assembled like a film, by a film director. The frontman and natural focal point was deliberately and dramatically sidestaged in favour of a variety of female voices, nearly all of whom have long been in the group’s orbit. It is unlike anything either artist has ever attempted and also totally in line with how they’ve created for much of their careers.

As the album’s opening track, ‘You Had Your Soul With You,’ unfurls, it’s so far, so National: a digitally manipulated guitar line, skittering drums, Berninger’s familiar baritone, mounting tension. Then around the 2:15 mark, the true nature of I Am Easy To Find announces itself: The racket subsides, strings swell, and the voice of long-time David Bowie bandmate Gail Ann Dorsey booms out—not as background vocals, not as a hook, but to take over the song. Elsewhere it’s Irish singer-songwriter Lisa Hannigan, or Sharon Van Etten, or Mina Tindle or Kate Stables of This Is the Kit, or varying combinations of them. The Brooklyn Youth Choir, whom Bryce Dessner had worked with before. There are choral arrangements and strings on nearly every track, largely put together by Bryce in Paris—not a negation of the band’s dramatic tendencies, but a redistribution of them.

“Yes, there are a lot of women singing on this, but it wasn't because, ‘Oh, let's have more women's voices,’ says Berninger. “It was more, ‘Let's have more of a fabric of people's identities.’ It would have been better to have had other male singers, but my ego wouldn't let that happen.”

TRACK LISTING

1. You Had Your Soul With You
2. Quiet Light
3. Roman Holiday
4. Oblivions
5. The Pull Of You
6. Hey Rosey
7. I Am Easy To Find
8. Her Father In The Pool
9. Where Is Her Head
10. Not In Kansas
11. So Far So Fast
12. Dust Swirls In Strange Light
13. Hairpin Turns
14. Rylan
15. Underwater
16. Light Years

Side 5 On Deluxe Triple – Contains 22 Minutes Of Music From The I Am Easy To Find Original Film Score – EXCLUSIVE To This Format.
Side 6 On 3LP - Etching.

The National’s second album, Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers (2003) proved a leap forward from 2001’s eponymous debut, showing a band adept at delivering warm embraces and gut punches in equal measure.

With word of mouth now spreading on the band, critics proved equally enthusiastic... Pitchfork in their glowing review called it a “Gorgeous train wreck” that “Lives up to its blunt title (with) Matt Berninger’s self-effacing barbs matched by the band’s equally potent hooks,” while Uncut also became early champions saying the album was “A genuine treasure... Livid as a bruise, this is brave, desperate, beautiful music.”

No longer a secret among those that know, Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers is an important record in The National’s discography with this new remaster showing that it’s more than standing the test of time.

Having been remastered at Abbey Road Studios, the 2021 represses stay faithful to their original artwork while their stunning new masters help make these much-loved records sound as vital as ever, further emphasising the early signs of the sound that would go on to make them one of the fi nest and most beloved alternative bands of their generation.

TRACK LISTING

1. / A1. Cardinal Song
2. / A2. Slipping Husband
3. / A3. 90-Mile Water Wall
4. / A4. It Never Happened
5. / A5. Murder Me Rachael
6. / B1. Thirsty
7. / B2. Available
8. / B3. Sugar Wife
9. / B4. Trophy Wife
10. / B5. Fashion Coat
11. / B6. Patterns Of Fairytales
12. / B7. Lucky You

The National return with their much anticipated seventh album, produced by Aaron Dessner, with additional production by Matt Berninger and Bryce Dessner. The album was mixed by Peter Katis and recorded at Aaron’s Long Pond studio in Hudson Valley, NY.

While in some ways it’s typically National-sounding, they’ve definitely added some new elements to their sound. Opening track “Nobody Else Will Be There” is a stripped back ballad with melancholic piano, and Matt’s distinct vocals, but the electronics pulsing away in the background are a sign of what’s to come with the album.

All the usual elements are there, intricate guitars, delicate piano keys, scatter-shot drums and of course Matt’s mumbling/crooning baritone, but a new layer of electronics bubbling away in the mix adds a new dimension to their sound.

As with the last couple of albums, it features mostly fairly downtempo ballads but they do ramp things up from time to time: “Day I Die”, “They System Only Dreams In Total” and the big rock-out track of the album, “Turtleneck”. It’s taken a few listens to get into it, but as a fan I’m certainly not disappointed.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Nobody Else Will Be There
A2. Day I Die
A3. Walk It Back
B1. The System Only Dreams
In Total Darkness
B2. Born To Beg
B3. Turtleneck
C1. Empire Line
C2. I’ll Still Destroy You
C3. Guilty Party
D1. Carin At The Liquor Store
D2. Dark Side Of The Gym
D3. Sleep Well Beast

Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2021, The National’s self-titled debut album of sozzled Americana is a thing of beauty, laden with heavy hints that this was a special band in the making.

Their first release, The National arrived two years after The National formed, a time when they were juggling bandlife with needing to hold down full-time jobs. And while nods to the alt. rock artists that inspired them (Pavement, Silver Jews) can be heard, so too are the beginnings of something all their own – Matt Berninger’s stunning and unexpected lyrics being pinned to melodies that stop you in your tracks.

The National marks the start point for one of the best bands of their generation with its new master helping elevate it to new levels. A great primer to a great band.

Having been remastered at Abbey Road Studios, the 2021 represses stay faithful to their original artwork while their stunning new masters help make these much-loved records sound as vital as ever, further emphasising the early signs of the sound that would go on to make them one of the fi nest and most beloved alternative bands of their generation.

TRACK LISTING

1. / A1. Beautiful Head
2. / A2. Cold Girl Fever
3. / A3. The Perfect Song
4. / A4. American Mary
5. / A5. Son
6. / A6. Pay For Me
7. / B1. Bitters & Absolut
8. / B2. John’s Star
9. / B3. Watching You Well
10. / B4. Theory Of The Crows
11. / B5. 29 Years
12. / B6. Anna Freud

The National’s self-titled debut album marks the start point for one of the best bands of a generation.

Released in 2001, ‘The National’ landed two years after they formed and came during a time when they were having to juggle band life with full-time jobs.

And while nods to the alt. rock artists that inspired them (Pavement, Silver Jews) can be heard, so too are the beginnings of something all their own - Matt Berninger’s stunning and unexpected lyrics being pinned to melodies that stop you in your tracks.

For National Album Day 2022, the band reissue the album on white vinyl.

TRACK LISTING

Beautiful Head
Cold Girl Fever
The Perfect Song
American Mary
Son
Pay For Me
Bitters & Absolut
John’s Star
Watching You Well
Theory Of The Crows
29 Years
Anna Freud

This is the sixth studio album for the Brooklyn band, and follows 2010’s High Violet, which was No 2 in our Albums of The Year, that year.

In an interview with UK’s Uncut Magazine, front man Matt Berninger described the songs as more “immediate and visceral” than their previous work. Trouble Will Find Me possesses a directness, a coherency and an approachability that suggests The National are at their most confident.

After a 22-month tour following the release of High Violet the band returned home. Regardless of plans to wait to record new music for another year or two, guitarist Aaron Dessner began working on sketches of new songs that the other members were too inspired by to not fully realise. Matt confesses, “For the past ten years we’d been chasing something, wanting to prove something. And this chase was about trying to disprove our own insecurities. After touring High Violet, I think we felt like we’d finally gotten there. Now we could relax—not in terms of our own expectations but we didn’t have to prove our identity any longer.” The results are simultaneously breakthrough and oddly familiar, the culmination of an artistic journey that has led The National both to a new crest and, somehow, back to their beginnings—when, says Aaron, “our ideas would immediately click with each other. It’s free-wheeling again. The songs on one level are our most complex, and on another they’re our most simple and human. It just feels like we’ve embraced the chemistry we have.” The album was recorded at Clubhouse in Rhinebeck, NY. Trouble Will Find Me was self-produced and mixed by Craig Silvey with additional mixing from Peter Katis and Marcus Paquin.

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: With every album The National have pushed on and made a more ambitious album, constantly upping the ante with bigger arrangements and a bigger sound. So how on earth were the going to follow High Violet?
Well, it seems they’ve finally come to terms with who and where they are as a band and made an album that reflects that. The Dressner brothers intricate arrangements are still there, as are the distinctive scatter-shot drum patterns (described perfectly by film director DA Pennebaker as “like rain falling through the leaves of a tree”) and of course Matt Berninger’s rich baritone rolls effortlessly over it all, but “Trouble Will Find Me” is a more relaxed, streamlined collection, and this stripping back gives the songs room to breathe and emphasises just how good they are at what they do. There may be less angst here than in the past, but the romanticism and melancholy are still there and for me, once again they've come up with one of the best albums of the year.

TRACK LISTING

1. I Should Live In Salt
2. Demons
3. Don't Swallow The Cap
4. Fireproof
5. Sea Of Love
6. Heavenfaced
7. This Is The Last Time
8. Graceless
9. Slipped
10. I Need My Girl
11. Humiliation
12. Pink Rabbits
13. Hard To Find

Live CD, recorded on a four-track 1/2" tape machine, in September '92, at the Embassy in Washington D.C.

Inspired by warm climates but shaped in a rainy city, Native Cruise's "Desert Theory" opener "Late Nights" is a relaxed jam filled with crispy drum-machine percussion and nu-new age pads with delicate nature sounds in the background. The energy rises towards the title track, a marching rhythm characterised by chugging wooden drums and floaty pan flutes. "Bermuda Clouds" brings you onto shore presenting a dreamy boogie-house romp with excessive FM bass line, atmospheric pads and a wave of ocean sounds. The journey ends with "Whispers" which evokes an imaginary 80s digital world vaguely influenced by the aesthetic of labels like Innovative Communication or Les Folies Art and sounding a little like if Art Of Noise quaffed a load of cubensis in a wooden area off the Dalmatian coast...

TRACK LISTING

A1. Late Nights
A2. Desert Theory
B1. Bermuda Clouds
B2. Whispers

An antidote to the tough-guy hardcore spreading from CBGB’s, emo outliers Native Nod’s unique genre juxtaposition of damaged art-rock, daring/naive songwriting, and raw, poetic vocals have set them apart from the glut of early-’90s post-hardcore. Compiled here are the band’s trio of seminal 7” EPs for the Gern Blandsten label, with liner notes by Jenn Pelly and scores of unseen photographs and ephemer a.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Bread
High Tide In Alaska
Back To Mimsey

Side B
Answers
Crossings
Tangled
Lower GI Bleed
Runner

It wasn't long before Awesome Tapes would snaffle up some more hot amapiano sounds. the genre seems to have well and truly exploded from its native South Africa and has hit a massive point of global adoration. I'm sure other cities and urban areas must be replicating what's happening here in Manchester too - with the sound a constant up-and-coming soundtrack with the youth, trend setters and club goers alike - keen for new sounds with authentic heritage; and like its predecessors kwaito and gqom it comes with style in abundance.

Hitting a cool 110BPM territory, gliding in on Reese basslines and punctuated with 808 subs; tense strings and dark synthlines make up this midtempo, late night dance music which glows with dipped neons and oozes electronic soul.

19 and 18 respectively, Kgothatso Tshabalala & Zakhele Mhlanga (DJ Zakes) are born after the onset of democracy ('ma2000') and ride a wave of youthful excitement and creativity around the Gauteng province of SA where many believe amapiano was first birthed.

"Teenage Dreams" is twelve tracks which capture both the sound of amapiano, the energy of late teenage South Africa and the excitement of merging modern production technology with fierce creative spirit. It's no wonder everyone from your mate down Moss Side, to the hippest DJs on NTS are championing this sound right now. It's fully genuine, a little bit gangsta, and is aimed squarely at the hips - a pocket rocket of fresh fire for the clubs, jeeps and yards. Check! 

TRACK LISTING

1. The Beginning (7:44)
2. Way To Cairo (6:12)
3. The Journey (7:51)
4. Teenage Dreams (7:12)
5. Rejoice Feat. TapSoul (6:51)
6. Ambassador Feat. Ubuntu Bros. (6:05)
7. Long Lasting (8:20)
8. Dead Sangoma (6:57)
9. Burning Desire Feat. Blaq K (6:22)
10. United As One (7:25)
11. Letter To Kabza De Small (5:36)
12. End Of Time (5:57)

Beedles' about, and he's formed some jagged dancefloor choonz to keep us all entertained on these long cold summers. Sidechained technoid synthery with shimmering pads and punishing sub-bass grooves. Rhythmically intricate but perfectly measured, with melodic phrases and build-ups akimbo. Richly harmonic, and heart-warmingly pristine future-techno stormers. A++

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Well this is great isn't it? Fiery and melodic percussive passages intersperse with glacially cut synths and shimmering pads. Ducking and blooming like a confused flower. Also, much like a flower, it's very good.

TRACK LISTING

1. Skewed Proof
2. Quel
3. Adrenal
4. Cto_224788397

Scenic Route follow up their now classic Nourished By Time album with the debut 7" from London's Natty Wylah. Tip for fans of Cobey Sey / Curl, Young Fathers and Wu Lu.

This year Natty Wylah has been cementing himself in London’s rich contemporary music scene with festival performances at Glastonbury, We Out Here with Silhouettes Project and a headline Southbank show as part of Nabihah Iqbal’s ‘Glory To Sound’ series. As well as contributions to Rhythm Sections, compilation ‘Shouts’ all in the run up to his next EP, "Willowisp".

"Moth Wings / FB Trap" is the perfect introduction to Natty’s world where magic, slime and reality all mix together. With his cinematic lyrics on "Mothwings", Natty conjures up the imagery of celestial moths, who when seeking the moonlight end up stuck chasing flickering artificial light bulbs. The track features the unmistakable characteristics of Natty’s sound: traipsing across hip-hop, the psychedelic and punk, all adorned with ethereal vocals and woozy synths from Poppy and Finn Billingham.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Scenic Route continue to scout out the hottest new sounds from the underground. After slaying us with that Nourished By Time album earlier in the year they now turn the spotlight on the charismatic Natty Wylah.

TRACK LISTING

A. Moth Wings
AA. FB Trap

Originally hailing from Nashville, Tennessee, Natural Child are a quartet whose good and greasy style is informed by Southern rock, vintage country-rock, laid-back Laurel Canyon sounds, ’70s-style boogie, a dash of hard rock, and most likely a careful balance of liquor and bong hits. Be M’Guest, their eighth studio album, has been hailed as a return to form for the group, packing eleven stylistically unique hits into the grooves of this forty-five minute LP. Produced by Cooper Crain of Bitchin Bajas and featuring Oakley Munson of The Black Lips, this is unquestionably the greatest rock and roll record one is going to hear this year.

TRACK LISTING

1. Mexican Adderall
2. Tell Me I'm Wrong
3. Little Magic
4. Check The Mirror
5. Margaritas In The Moonlight
6. Scootin'
7. Lost And Found
8. Swanee
9. Me And George
10. Gin And Wine
11. American Con Carne

The artist formerly known as Matt Pond PA returns with the self-titled debut album from The Natural Lines. At once clearly Pond’s work yet a huge leap forward in its measured songcraft, melodic immediacy, collaborative detail and wryly questioning lyrics, the result is a gorgeous album of intimate reflections from a relocated, renamed, revivified talent.

Pond-watchers might wonder why the album took so long to arrive since Matt Pond PA’s last album proper, Still Summer (2017). But The Natural Lines was not a project to be rushed. Recorded with close collaborators and friends over a period that saw Pond make vital adjustments to his life, its stealth emergence reflects his desire to set a fresh pace for himself and come from somewhere new, somewhere more open.

Now based in Kingston, New York, with his partner and wild dog Willa, Matt explains the album’s gestation thus. “It was something different from the start. I wanted to write as purely as I could. Instead of getting stuck in the ‘tour, write an album, release an album, tour’ cycle, which is not a natural way of writing or living, I wanted to write an album and when it was done I wanted to make sure it was done. I didn’t want this feeling of, ‘Oh, we didn’t have time’, or, ‘I don’t know whether I believe in the songs but it’s coming out anyway.’ I used to be always racing to the finish line, but I’m not anymore.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Monotony
2. No More Tragedies
3. Help
4. Alex Bell
5. My Answer
6. Spontaneous Skylights
7. A Scene That Will Never Die
8. Person Of Interest
9. Don't Come Down
10. Artificial Moonlight
11. Mahwah

The life of the solo electronic artist is equal parts privilege and loneliness. You hurtle across the sky to spend a few hours in a dark club, behind the decks or on stage at the microphone. A brief grasp at transcendence, then the lights are on. Afterwards, you chat with friends you made last month, last year, or an hour ago. Back on the train, the plane. A couple weeks of this, then home. Repeat. It was against this backdrop that Ana Roxanne and DJ Python (Brian Piñeyro) struck up a singular friendship and collaboration, culminating in the shared musical language of their new project, Natural Wonder Beauty Concept.

Brian and Ana met in New York City in the winter of 2020. They’d respectively put out critically acclaimed albums but due to extenuating global circumstances, the real-world implications of those records were yet to be seen. Ana’s debut LP, Because of a Flower, released in fall 2020, trades in both ethereality and directness, stretching timeless pop and R&B forms into shimmering ambient magic. When the Bay Area-born, Mills-trained artist sings, on record or live, time slows down and we enter a languorous yet ecstatic present. The second album from Queens-based deep reggaeton innovator DJ Python, Mas Amable, also subverts easy temporality. Released in spring 2020, Mas Amable floats in liminal space —not quite a dance record, a downtempo record, nor an ambient record—unfurling at a wistful pace, naturally suited for a strange period when each day felt the same yet wildly different.

Well-loved albums aside, no one was playing shows, and a general listlessness and disconnection prevailed. Roxanne had recently moved to New York, and while the pair had previously interacted online and expressed admiration with each others’ work, they were now able to meet in person for the first time. A quiet understanding developed between the two artists on their initial hangs – they drove around the outskirts of NYC, listening to Telegram by Björk, HTRK, Portishead, all manner of melancholy acoustic indie songs. They pulled over in Filipino neighborhoods to eat. Periods of volubility were punctuated by silence, laughter interspersed with wide-eyed pondering. For Brian and Ana, studio experimentation was the instinctive extension of a friendship finding its feet.

The duo’s preternatural communication was present from the start. In early, open-ended sessions at Gary’s Electric Studio in Greenpoint, they arrived on a moody, novel sound encompassing trip-hop, synth-pop, brittle IDM drums, and samples of classical music. Piñeyro threw out ideas at a breakneck pace. Ana impacted the sound with subtle, monumental chord shapes and textures, eventually singing over strange and beautiful beats. “There was lots of time to make music during the first year we worked on the project,” they remember. “The winter in New York felt quite vacuous, so we spent a lot of time reflecting on feeling too much and feeling nothing at all.”

Then, after a heady start on a prospective album, the world reopened. Roxanne and Piñeyro parted ways for most of 2021. Ana embarked upon her first headlining tours across Europe, North America, and Australia, quietly commanding large rooms. Python was a fixture in the sleepless European electronic club circuit. Ana moved away from NYC and back to the Bay Area. Alone again, they experienced the exhilaration and fatigue of the road. Their lives, and the project, were in flux.

After a smattering of sessions on the rare occasions they found themselves in the same city, Brian and Ana converged on Kranky label manager Brian Foote’s home studio in Los Angeles in the summer of 2022. They listened to tracks-in-progress while driving through the hills at night, lights flickering out in the expanse. The writing process was entirely collaborative. Ana sang, Brian sang. They dashed off lyrics together, reflecting an increasingly shared mental state. “You me you / falling in deeper blue / running through a circle that surrounds you / mango jelly flowers all around you.” Later that fall, the duo traveled back to Brooklyn for a last round of sessions with engineer and producer Al Carlson (Oneohtrix Point Never, Jessica Pratt). Their longtime friend CZ Wang (Parquet Courts, Huerco S.) mixed and finalized the songs in early 2023, and then a name for the project materialized. Natural Wonder Beauty Concept was “something Ana saw in the universe.”

The self-titled album does not resemble the previous work of either artist – Ana’s celebrated ~~~ EP and album; Piñeyro’s various releases as DJ Python and DJ Wey or his recent EP with Ela Minus. Instead, it’s a sui generis work built block by block over two years. It’s the longest DJ Python has ever worked on a record, and the shortest period of time Ana has ever dedicated to a project. Early on in Natural Wonder Beauty Concept, we hear Python singing for the first time, over a woozy, Actress-influenced beat. He’s a portrait of alienation. “Isn’t it strange that I kind of feel nothing at all,” he muses. Ana responds to Python’s call: “Wouldn’t you say that I’m a person… giving you the time…” By the song’s conclusion, Roxanne’s vocals are an enveloping force over a lilting street bass. “The project gave us a creative license of freedom,” the pair say. “It was an opportunity to try anything out, whatever we happened to be feeling or influenced by.” Python and Ana are both known for bittersweet, contemplative electronic music that feels like a companion in quiet times. With their new project, the two artists have found their natural, if unexpected, counterparts. Natural Wonder Beauty Concept is the sound of two brilliant artists learning to be alone, together

TRACK LISTING

1. Fallen Angel - Ana Roxanne
2. Sword - Ana Roxanne
3. III - Natural Wonder Beauty Concept
4. The Veil I - Natural Wonder Beauty Concept
5. Natural Wonder Beauty Concept - DJ Python
6. The Veil II - Ana Roxanne
7. Young Adult Fiction - Ana Roxanne
8. Driving - Natural Wonder Beauty Concept
9. Clear - DJ Python
10. World Freehand Circle Drawing - Ana Roxanne

Miles away from the current UK jazz scene, a mysterious composer from the Nottingham area cooks raw and noisy library music with groovy jazz fusion and beat-heavy funk breaks tackling themes of satanism and witchcraft.

Having previously released music with Jazzman Records, Stones Throw subsidiary Now-Again and French label BMM Records, The Natural Yogurt Band presents the 7th album of his discography that marks an experimental turn.

"Spores" takes us on an obscure sci-fi journey into extra-terrestrial territories where tropical flutes, pianos, guitars and organs melt under corrosive electronic sounds, modular bird chirps and vintage drum machines sounds.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Natural Yoghurt Band's deliciously free and experimental jazz / library project is a true feast for the ears. Incomparable and infectious; it's a wild, untamed beast of electronics and improvisation that you're gonna love.

TRACK LISTING

A1.Vital Signs
A2.Children Of The Black Planet
A3.Life Forms
A4.Strange Life On A Distant Planet
A5.Exotic Creatures
A6.First Contact
A7.Obscure Jungle

B1.Warning Signs
B2.Followers Of A New Moon
B3.Gas Narcosis
B4.We Are Alone
B5.Possible Danger
B6.Unknown Landscapes

Today The Natvral (Kip Berman, former frontperson of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart) returns with his second solo album, Summer of No Light, due 1st September on Dirty Bingo Records. On his second album as The Natvral - a spirited, beautifully observed collection of rough and ready songcraft - the former Pains of Being Pure at Heart frontperson was eyeing the past while dealing with an inescapable present. In 2020, in the early stages of lockdown, Berman began writing songs that reflected on a world that had seemingly ended – while contending with the needs of his young family seeking solace in the familiar.

“After putting my children to bed, I spent many a late night in the basement with my guitar and let my mind wander to the places where I could no longer go,” he says. “Initially, a lot of the songs were about getting as far away from the reality of my moment as possible.” He drew parallels with another tumultuous summer. “The record’s title, Summer of No Light, is taken from the climate crisis of 1816,” he says. Often referred to as The Year Without a Summer, that year a massive volcanic eruption in Indonesia darkened much of the world’s sky. The resulting ash brought dramatic global cooling and widespread famine, hitting Western Europe especially hard. While he initially sought escape from the isolation in which he found himself, soon the solace of home and family life began to seep its way into the music “The routines of domesticity were often unwelcome, and always exhausting - but probably mentally helpful. I was isolated, but not alone.” Despite the many graveyard romps that populate the record, it’s the moments that celebrate home that gives this album its heart. Summer of No Light is an album that’s born of a precise moment, yet revels in anachronism. Collapsing time to make a little bit of sense of this one, Berman feels artistically rejuvenated, drawing on histories large and small to breathe new life and perspective on his own. “It was a time that is now almost unspeakable – not because the tragedy was too profound or in any way trivial – but because we were all there.” 

TRACK LISTING

1. Lucifer’s Glory
2. Carolina
3. Summer Of Hell
4. The Stillness
5. A Glass Of Laughter
6. Stephanie Don’t Live Here Anymore
7. Your Temperate Ways
8. Wait For Me
9. Wintergreen

RIYL: Holy Hive, Dream Sitch, Reverend Baron, Whitney, Damien Jurado, Kevin Morby, Cotton Jones, Cut Worms. Michael Nau is set to release his fifth full length record under Karma Chief Records on Dec 8th. All 11 tracks come together to paint a beautiful picture. The lyrics invoke the listener’s imagination throughout. They’re introspective, but vague and open-ended. The indie rock backdrop shows signs of psych-soul influence with dry and punchy drums, lush synth lines, and tastefully verb-soaked vocal production. Nau’s vocal delivery falls somewhere between crooning to a crowd, telling stories to a loved one, and musing to himself. The singer-songwriter’s relaxed attitude toward making records is discernible in the sound. A while back, veteran producer and engineer Adrien Olsen (The Killers, Lucy Dacus, Fruit Bats), approached him about recording in his Richmond, Virginia-based studio. He called a few old friends that consisted of several long-time collaborators and musicians who had participated in Nau’s various recording and touring efforts over the years. Nau and the band spent five days at Montrose Recording and left with a plan to return and finish up a few months later.

“After the first session, I took a copy of the recordings with me to overdub a few things at my spot,” Michael shared. “Then, I dumped the whole thing onto a cassette as one long stream of songs.” With the record mostly complete ,the final session at Montrose would consist of some simple overdubs and finishing touches. But somehow, in the months between, he lost the overdubs. “Going into the second session, all I had was the cassette,” Michael explained. The band got back together and performed another batch of songs. At the end of their second session, they had enough music to pick and choose from for the new full-length. “The songs, as they appear on the album, are basically how they were recorded as a live band.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Brittle ballads that are both tenderly delivered and unerringly emotive, with Nau's perfectly reverb-laiden vocal covering it all like a blanket. Mournful in points but always a joy to listen to.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sharp Diamonds
2. Painting A Wall
3. Tiny Flakes
4. Shiftshaping
5. And So On
6. One Morning In Vibrato
7. Relearn To Boogie
8. Accompaniment
9. Comes To Pour
10. Long Distance Driver

‘Michael Nau & The Mighty Thread’ is the follow-up to last year’s critically acclaimed album ‘Some Twist’ and its extension ‘The Load’ EP (feat. Natalie Prass).

The sprawling new album was recorded in guitarist Benny Yurco’s one-bedroom apartment in downtown Burlington, Vermont. Nau and his collaborators had a cool little set up going in Yurco’s spot — drums and bass took over the bedroom, the guitar amp in the bathroom, Nau’s vocals and piano in the living room, and a vibraphone in the kitchen. It’s the first time one of Nau’s records happened all in one place, and “it feels most like a band record than ever before”. Nau and this particular group of musicians held it down together as a true team, which is why Nau named the record in their honour. The songs on this layered record sound sunny and familiar, like sharing stories and worries with a close friend on a late summer day. In a gorgeous and natural way, he contemplates his own process, those feelings of uncertainty. “Making it too hard just comes easier,” Nau croons on ‘Funny In Real Life,’ an exquisite meditation on creation and self. “Truth is such a beautiful force/And every time we find the chorus/There’s no second-guessing the real/I don’t ever know how I feel.” 

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: The Richard Hawley of Americana returns with another swoonsome collection of mellow classics-in-waiting. Superb, as ever.

TRACK LISTING

1. Less Than Positive
2. Shadow On
3. When
4. What's A Loon
5. Far The Far
6. No Faraway Star
7. Funny In Real Life
8. On Ice
9. Funny Wind
10. Can't Take One
11. Smudge

For Fans Of… Richard Swift, Jim James, Kevin Morby, Nathaniel Rateliff..

Singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Michael Nau crafts reflective indie rock tinged with folk and psychedelic influences. He was known for leading the like-minded projects Page France and Cotton Jones in the mid-2000s to early 2010s before beginning to record under his own name in 2016. Nau's newest single on Colemine Records' Karma Chief imprint finds him not only playing the lion's share of the music, but also pushing the psych-folk vibes more in a soul leaning direction. Just as catchy, slightly more upbeat, and timeless as ever. Nau crafts songs that transcend time, but always have a space.

Michael Nau returns with his new album, Some Twist, on Full Time Hobby. Some Twist is the follow up to 2016’s Mowing and its announcement comes amidst a flurry of recent activity. Two weeks ago, Nau debuted songs from Some Twist on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic and headlined two sold out shows on back-to-back nights in Los Angeles. He has received extensive BBC radio play and been selected as a “6 Music Recommends” pick. Oneoff single “Love Survive” cracked the top 50 on Spotify's Global Viral Chart and Elton John has played Nau on his Beats1 show.

The first single from Some Twist is “Good Thing”. Bright piano and fingerpicked guitar weave together throughout the song with a chorus that swells with feedback fuzz and crashing percussion. Nau’s ever-present sense of humor, one of the hallmarks of his songwriting, gives the song a wry sense of purpose amidst its reflection.

“His masterful instinct for arrangement, along with his reedy voice, earns Nau a place in the rock’n’roll underdogs’ Hall of Fame.” - Pitchfork

"A beguiling debut - a warm bath of baroque pop, country and Hazlewood-like balladry" - Uncut

“Recalls cadences of 1970s Ned Doheny and solo David Byrne, with a hint of Brian Wilson” - The Fader

"A breezy, laid-back union between country, folk, and classic pop" The Line of Best Fit

"Intimate and inviting" Q

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: This gorgeous LP was made in the heat, to be listened to in the heat. Michael Nau is an American singer-songwriter who’s previously been in a couple of bands, but went solo in 2016 with his lovely debut record, ‘Mowing’. It was all good and garnered decent praise, but ‘Some Twist’ is a brilliant progression and something you absolutely need in your life! Conjuring warm, 70s, analogue sounds in a country, folky, gently psychy style, these are supremely melodic songs, beautifully sung. Nau has the sweetest voice which glides between the fruity, deep croon of a more wistful Fred Neil and the light, flutey flightiness of a star-sailing Harry Nilson. Not bad, eh? But it's the texture of the album with its FX laden guitars, beat box grooves, echoes, horns, fuzz and static, which really entrances. You'll think you've stumbled upon a long-lost West Coast, classic LP. You have. But it's Nau!

TRACK LISTING

1. Good Thing
2. I Root
3. Wonder
4. How You're So For Real
5. Scumways
6. Oh, You Wanna Bet?
7. Waiting, Too
8. Scatter
9. Twelve
10. The Load
11. Done Wonder
12. Light That Ever

Iconoclastic Afghan-American street music project Naujawanan Baidar makes its long anticipated return with "Khedmat Be Khalq," its third album and first new release in three years. Originally planned as a "studio debut" in the classic sense, a veritable avalanche of setbacks tangled and delayed the recording process over a span of several years as compounded tragedies - both international and personal - disrupted the project's intended transition from simply being a ramshackle demo/home-recording outlet for founder N.R. Safi (The Myrrors, et al) into a properly working band. At the end of the day the process of assembling what would eventually become "Khedmat Be Khalq" became a lot like that of the previous two releases: gnarled and sun-baked tracks cut up and collated into a blown out collage of sound. If there is any obvious difference this time around it is perhaps to be found in the increased focus of the material. Whereas the group's previous two projects ran the gamut from sparse acoustic improvisations to tape-loop-inspired noise, "Khedmat Be Khalq" presents a more unified hybrid of Afghan folks styles and electric energy, further exploring Safi's "maximalist minimalism" approach. Tape-saturated and over-amplified Afghan rubab, armonia, and ghichak meet pounding multi-layered rhythms that at times hint at 1970s-1980s industrial music or the heady throb of German krautrock groups like Faust or Amon Düül. Perhaps nowhere is this unique combination more striking than in Naujawanan Baidar's swirling re-arrangement of the Afghan folk classic "Raftim Az Ayn Baagh" that closes the album. The rubab melody that serves as the song's core is warped into something that in all honesty wouldn't sound particularly out of place spun between early Savage Republic and Crash Worship. Lyrically the album moves away from the more abstract and impressionistic style of Safi's earlier material towards a concrete attempt to address the struggle of the Afghan masses from the complicated perspective of the international diaspora. The songs here work to draw out and examine the contradictions and challenges faced by a people once again locked in the talons of a sociopathic religious fundamentalism, connecting the country's position to the current global fight against imperialism, militarism, and resurgent fascism, and attempting to recover obscured historical fragments and lessons surrounding the proud radical history of Afghanistan's diverse population over countless decades of intensive struggle. It is here that Naujawanan Baidar's "street music" aesthetic blossoms into a sort of avant garde agitprop - a militant soundtrack angling at a revolution.

You must surrender. Because if you’ve followed Naum Gabo over the past 15 years – across various 12-inches, styles, and notable labels - and you’re listening to “F. Lux,” their first proper album, then you’re probably wondering how you wound up here, all the way down, barely able to see through the brain-clogging atmosphere and towering low-end. “F. Lux” is a deep, enthralling listen, alternating between moments of pounding, world-ending techno (“Schinokapsala” and “This 1”) and sharply imagined, surrealist scenes painted with metallic machines (“Aora” and “Haerstag”). There is light to be found in the darkness, but the only way out is through. Naum Gabo are Glasgow’s Jonnie Wilkes (also known as one-half of DJ duo Optimo) and James Savage (prolific mastering engineer). F. Lux was written and produced entirely by them at their Glasgow Hottrax Studios and mastered by James Savage. The album’s front cover artwork is a painting by cherished Scottish painter, Andrew Cranston. The vinyl was pressed at MPO in France using lacquers cut by Bob Weston in Chicago.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Aora
A2. Tolis
A3. Schinokapsala
A4. Hebust Cometh
B1. Haerstag
B2. This 1
B3. Nothing In My Hand
B4. Parasymptofelia

Announced in late 2016 with the single ‘All Because Of You’, described as “a future classic” (CJ Mackintosh) and “absolutely necessary” (Soul Clap), BBE are proud to present Kiko Navarro’s brand new solo album ‘Everything Happens For A Reason’. A highly respected artist for many years now, Kiko Navarro is a name synonymous with the Balearic House sound, thanks to his residencies at Space & Pacha as well as his countless productions and remixes.

‘Everything Happens For A Reason’ displays a dizzying array of musical flavours, with guest appearances from DJ Spen, Boris Dlugosch and multi-instrumentalist Gabriele Poso, whose compilation ‘The Language Of Tambores’ is coming soon on BBE. Within a framework of warm, soulful House music, Kiko explores afro-latin rhythms, broken beats, nu-jazz and straight up Chicago-inspired acid. A deep re-imagining of Maze & Frankie Beverly’s 80s classic ‘Twilight’, irrepressible floor-filler ‘I Can Show You The Way’ and a new orchestral version of 2007 classic ‘Soñando Contigo’ are among the immediate highlights, but this album is so much more than the sum of its parts. ‘Everything Happens For A Reason’ sees iko Navarro concentrating his wealth of experience curating and creating music into a highly potent and deeply personal soundtrack to his life and career so far.

TRACK LISTING

1. All Because Of You Feat. Julie McKnight
2. Twilight
3. Right On Feat. HanLei
4. I Can Show You The Way
5. What We Need Feat. Dj Spen & Dana Weaver
6. Black Is Back Feat. Boris Dlugosch
7. Everything Happens For A Reason Feat. Isis "Apache" Montero
8. Lo Siento Feat. Concha Buika
9. La Cosa
10. Ohashiah
11. Twi-Reprise
12. Cranc
13. Humanity Feat. D7
14. Soñando Contigo Feat. Concha Buika (Orchestral Version)
15. Painful Goodbye Feat. Paco Colombas & Gabriele Poso
16. Adolescence (Outro)

Seattle electronic duo NAVVI unveil their most captivating and fully realized work with their debut album Omni, coming out via Hush Hush Records. The collaborative vision of vocalist Kristin Henry and producer Brad Boettger, NAVVI’s music carries an instantly magnetic presence. First emerging with their debut single in 2013, their confident take on brooding, propulsive, darkly-lit synth-pop has been on display over a steady string of self-released singles, an inclusion on a compilation curated by the French label Kitsuné, as well as their excellent 2014 EP, II. Press outlets such as NME, Brooklyn Vegan, Impose, Line of Best Fit, and Jay-Z’s Life+Times have all been quick to praise their alluring sound, and they’ve been handpicked by the Capitol Hill Block Party and KEXP to perform on stages all across Seattle. All of these efforts now lead to the strongest and most expansive statement in their young career, Omni. A stunning, filler-free debut album that makes good on the promise of their initial high-quality self-released singles, Omni is yet another confident step forward for NAVVI. A dedicated DIY band that has largely done everything in a self-produced, self-managed, and self-designed fashion, this marks the first official label release for NAVVI. The album has found a fitting home on Hush Hush Records, an independent DIY label run and curated by KEXP DJ Alex Ruder that’s dedicated to an emotional, cinematic, and intimate sound. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Simpatico,
2. Close,
3. Polychrome,
4. Interstate,
5. What Reason Do We Need?,
6. In Gold,
7. Follow You,
8. Another Phase,
9. Sol, 10. Time,
11. From The End And Start.

High brow, introspective bedroom pop from Cynthia Nelson (Retsin, Ruby Falls)who plays drums, sings, plays guitar, recorder, melodica and newcomer Anna Padgett. They are joined by Tara Jane O'Neil (Retsin, Sonora Pine, Rodin) on guitar, bass & production.

Naytronix is the alter ego of multi instrumentalist Nate Brenner who spent much of the past four years touring the world as bassist for the mighty tUnE-yArDs. Consider Naytronix’s second full-length, ’Mister Divine’ (2015, City Slang), his treatise on the subject, which sees him turning from the disjointedly funky party dance anthems of his debut Dirty Glow (2012, Plug Research) to a surrealist stream of consciousness poignancy.

Conceived in tour busses, hotel suites, and basement studios initially as fodder for DJ sets, Mister Divine is the feeling of déjà vu between delirious post-show fevers and the road-torn sleep through the night on the way to the next city, driving the circumference of the Earth in nine weeks, dreams of Pangaea, of forever ago and infinity from now.

Imagine: impossibly, and without the recollection of flying, you’re in Europe maniacally driving through the pre-dawn to catch the first ferry to Belgium, to Spain, to Sweden. There is Dur Dur on the stereo, William Onyeabor, Khaira Arby, and Dizzy K, compilations and mixtapes of unknown origin and content. This too is a dream, and tomorrow you’re starting over, another opportunity to bask in the irrelevance of the present moment, “all we have,” while keeping one eye on the future and one on the past.

Brenner has digested a lot in the three years since introducing this world to Naytronix. tUnE-yArDs has turned into something of a perpetual motion machine, taking him to far corners of the Earth, as well as Carnegie Hall and the TV sets of Jimmy Fallon, Conan O’Brien, Jools Holland, and Austin City Limits. He did some recording and performing with music royalty Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon, got to collaborate and learn from Cibo Matto’s Yuka Honda, and even found some time to take the Naytronix band around the US and across the Atlantic, from London to Istanbul. His music as Naytronix keeps its characteristic reflection of the ‘70s of Onyeabor and Bootsy Collins, there is too a new face of the sincerity and vulnerability of the ‘70s of Arthur Russell he shows here amid the psychedelia, as if wishing to land the Naytronix Mothership down to stay with us for a bit.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: The product of a unique songwriter spending too many nights under the stars in Arthur Russell's Sleeping Bag, "Mister Divine" is the best off kilter pop album I've heard in years.

TRACK LISTING

1. Mister Divine
2. Starting Over
3. Dream
4. Back In Time
5. The Wall
6. I Don't Remember
7. Future
8. Living In A Magazine
9. Shadow

Originally from Nancy (France), NCY Milky Band is the project of 20something Louis Treffel and the BMM Backing band. Influences range from Mount Kimbie and BBNG to Thundercat mixed with 70's french soundtrack producers like JJ Perrey or Michel Colombier. Recorded during the tour following their debut LP Burn’IN, the prolific French quartet present their second album of hybrid jazz, inviting us in a cinematic, melodic and poignant universe. These 14 tracks, including two collaborations with Detroit rapper Quelle Chris and French producer FLUPKE, reflect sonic photographs of everyday moments with a psychedelic sound that pushes jazz out of its comfort zone.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: NCY Milky Band effortlessly combine nu jazz and electronica with orchestral ambient, hip hop elements and psych-y grooves. The list of genres they cruise could go on... What a trip!

TRACK LISTING

1. An Zéro
2. 54 Zeppelin
3. Le Cascadeur Fleuriste, Pt. I
4. Le Cascadeur Fleuriste, Pt. II
5. Damoiselle Pouly
6. 92 Ans
7. Le Cascadeur Fleuriste, Pt. III
8. Mr. Potato
9. Otite (feat. FLUPKE)
10 Nous Sommes
11. À La Recherche Du Temps Perdu
12. Back To Up (feat. Quelle Chris)
13. Les Fils Du Temps
14. 100 Ans

Johannesburg's best known vinyl spot continues its evolution into essential label here with a mega six-track anthology of South African singer Ntombi Ndaba, featuring 2 songs from 3 of her solo albums, "Mina Ngiljaji" (1988), "Mama Nature" (1989) and "Why Me" (1991).
Ntombi Ndaba first rose to fame in 1985 with Ntombi & Survival, becoming one of the most popular singers of the bubblegum era. After setting up the independent label Anneko with her producer A.T. ‘Rubber’ Khoza in 1988, she went solo. Following Khoza’s death in the early 1990s, Ndaba never recorded again.
Kicking off with the in-demand banger "Tomorrow", the six tracker serves up humid synthlines, infectious rhythms and smooth bass, all topped by Ntombi's mega vocals. Incorporating elements of early house, late disco and bubbling electro funk, this piece of SA dancefloor history is every bit as essential as it ever was.

TRACK LISTING

Tomorrow
Heart Attack
I've Got A Friend
Is This Love
In My Mind
Mina Ngilijaji

The Magic City is the third album in the Red Hot & Ra series - This entire album was imagined, produced & curated by Meshell Ndegeocello - The album a features Marshall Allen, Immanuel Wilkins, Deantoni Parks, Pink Siifu, Stuart Bogie and Justin Hicks.

It is a dreamlike strange & soulful interpretation of Sun Ra's composition, This record follows Ndegeocello's 2023 album The Omnichord Real Book, named the #1 jazz album of the year by NPR and nominated for Best Alternative Jazz Grammy.

TRACK LISTING

1. Solipsistic Panacea (Black Antiques)
2. Departure Guide Of The 7 Sisters
3. Bedlam Blues
4. #9 Venus The Living Myth
5. El- Soul The Companion, Traveler
6. LQ1TY - 29 Years
7. Yet Differently Not- Mars Hall All (in)
8. Reproductive Manatee - Sunny Said Up!
9. The World Of Shadow

A fat-basslined hip hop-soul gem with an introspective feel. Includes the ace tracks "Pocketbook" (inc. Missy Elliott remix), "Hot Night" and "Earth". Thoughtful, political, poetic.

Ndox Electrique results from the collaboration between François R. Cambuzat, Gianna Greco (also known for their work with Ifriqiyya Electrique), and the n'doëp community in Senegal. The project originated from the duo's quest to trace the origins of North African rituals, which led them to the Lebu community in Cap-Vert, an isolated region at Africa's westernmost point.

The album seamlessly blends the duo's electronically-infused avant-rock with the intense, ritualistic vocal chants and rhythmic percussion of the n'doëp community. It serves as a captivating bridge between these two musical worlds, capturing the essence of this cross-cultural collaboration.

The text also highlights the challenges of merging Western rock and experimental influences with the sensibilities of their Senegalese collaborators, ultimately resulting in a unique and powerful musical experience. "Ndox Electrique" transcends cultural boundaries, immersing listeners in the enchanting sounds and mystical narratives of Western Africa.

TRACK LISTING

1. Jamm Yé Matagu Yalla
2. Lëk Ndau Mbay
3. Ngor Diouf Ya Demon
4. He Yay Naliné
5. Indi Mewmi
6. Yaré Rirewé Bakora Ndoye
7. Ngor Diouf Né Du Wallé
8. Sam Sa Nga Mboro
9. Wali Namalé
10. Sango Mara Riré 

It is the simple thing that is so hard to do. This is the paradox that musician Lael Neale has lived within throughout her development as an artist. It is the reason she became enthralled with poetry. Poems are a distillation. Lael says, “this challenge to winnow away what is unessential is the most maddening and, ultimately, rewarding part of writing a song.” Lael’s new album Acquainted With Night is a testament to this poetic devotion. Stripped of any extraneous word or sound, the songs are lit by Lael’s crystalline voice which lays on a lush bed of Omnichord.

The collection touches on themes that have been thread into her work for years: isolation, mortality, yearning, and reaching ever toward the transcendent experience. Lael grew up on a farm in rural Virginia, but for nearly 10 years called Los Angeles home. Those years were spent developing her songwriting and performing in venues across the city, but the right way to record the songs proved more elusive. She says, “Every time I reached the end of recording, I felt the songs had been stripped of their vitality in the process of layering drums, bass, guitar, violin, and organ over them. They felt weighed down.” In a moment of illumination the solution presented itself: do the simple thing. In early 2019, in the midst of major transition, she acquired a new instrument, the omnichord, and began recording a deluge of songs.

Guy Blakeslee, who had been an advocate for years, set up a cassette recorder in her bedroom and provided empathic guidance, subtle yet affecting accompaniment and engineering prowess. Limited to only 4-tracks and first takes, Lael had to surrender some of her perfectionism to deliver the songs in their essence. The first song she recorded was “For No One For Now,” which calls to mind the agitated beat of driving fast on the freeway against the backdrop of the San Fernando Valley’s bent palms. The song contrasts romantic idealizations with the banality of folding sheets and toasting bread. It highlights her oft-thwarted attempts to enjoy the day to day while her mind wanders off toward the dream, the ideal.

While Lael returned to her family farm in April 2020, Los Angeles is a player on this album, and “Every Star Shivers in the Dark” is an ode to the sprawling city, the outskirts of Eden. One can envision her walking from Dodgers Stadium to downtown, observing strangers and her own strangeness but determined to find communion with others. “Blue Vein” is her personal anthem, a Paul Revere piece that gallops through the town as a strident declamation. It is an amalgam of thoughts, concerns, and lessons as she nearly speaks the words, unmasked by flourishes, ensuring the meaning cuts through. Normally a morning person, Lael recorded most of these songs in the darkening of the early evening, and so became Acquainted With Night.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Neale presents an album full of slow-rock melancholy, brittle honestly and down to earth observations, brilliantly wrapped in a shell of minimalistic instrumentation and flexible vocal performances. Sonically hypnotic and thoroughly enthralling.

TRACK LISTING

1. Blue Vein
2. Every Star Shivers In The Dark
3. Acquainted With Night
4. White Wings
5. How Far Is It To The Grave
6. For No One For Now
7. Sliding Doors & Warm Summer Roses
8. Third Floor Window
9. Let Me Live By The Side Of The Road
10. Some Sunny Day

Lael Neale still has a flip phone and there were no screens involved in the creation of her new record Star Eaters Delight. The album is her second for Sub Pop and reveals an expansion of her sonic collaboration with producer and accompanist Guy Blakeslee. In April of 2020, in the wake of transformations both personal and global, Lael moved from Los Angeles back to her family’s farm in rural Virginia. Looking at the world from a distance and getting in tune with her own rhythms, she wrote and recorded steadily for two dreamlike years, driven by a need to make order out of chaos. Forged in isolation, Star Eaters Delight is a vehicle for returning, not just to civilization, but to celebration. She says, “Acquainted with Night (recorded in 2019, and released in 2021), was focused inward, amidst the loud and bright Los Angeles surrounding me. It was an attempt to create spaciousness and quiet reverie within. When I moved back to the farm, I found that the unbroken silences compelled me to break them with sound. This album is more external. It is me reaching back out to the world, wanting to feel connected, to wake up, to come together again.” Album opener and lead single “I Am The River” melts the ice with a dynamic explosion of minimalist transcendental pop clearly descended from the Velvet Underground’s branch of modern music’s family tree.

Blakeslee’s spare yet cinematic arrangements create an ambient space in which Neale’s clear and unaffected voice can explore familiar themes in an unexpected way. Subtle but potent references to Shakespeare, Emerson and the Bible (which she hasn’t read) swirl together with deeply personal musings and touches of wry humor, always more optimistic than cynical. While this is a record about polarities- country vs. city, humanity vs. technology, solitude vs. relationship - the deeper intention is to heal; to come to terms with our differences and put the broken pieces back together again. Lael’s affinity with the Transcendentalists has to do with her quest to hold onto sovereignty over her own mind. In a time when our devices are constantly flooding us with information, opinions and propaganda, Lael is intentional about what she takes in - hence the flip phone and the cassette recorder. Neale identifies as a minimalist “not because I don’t like things, but because I value freedom more.”

TRACK LISTING

I Am The River
If I Had No Wings
Faster Than The Medicine
In Verona
Must Be Tears
No Holds Barred
Return To Me Now
Lead Me Blind

Medical Records in collaboration with Crispy Nuggets blog is proud to present a compilation / reissue of the rare 4 song EP by Near Paris released in 1985 + 7 unreleased / unheard songs recorded during the same time.

Near Paris hailed from Columbus, Ohio and was composed of Gerald F. Nelson and Dana Riashi. Gerald and Dana (in addition to Robert Crise) had previously made up the band Post Industrial Noise before they disbanded in 1983. By 1985, Near Paris were quite popular in the Columbus music scene and had opened for such bands as Section 25. They made a name for themselves as Columbus’ only synth-driven pop duo and even won several local awards. They often played in art galleries as well as worked on original scores for local dance troupes and other art-related endeavors.

The band released one long out of print 12” EP which is included on this LP. The EP contains excellent new wave tracks such as “Visions” and “Ceiling” The 7 unreleased tracks (hand-picked by Gerald and Dana) follow the same style of deep/moody club-based synthpop and were culled from cassettes which were restored and remastered specially for this vinyl release with outstanding end results. Other standout tracks from the unreleased numbers include “Walk Like A Man” and “Everything Will Change”.

TRACK LISTING

1. Visions 05:36
2. Interlude 01:05
3. Why Baby 06:10
4. Everything Will Change 04:20
5. Believe Me 04:27
6. Shattered Glass 02:54
7. 9-7-9 01:45
8. Hey You 03:33
9. Walk Like A Man 04:42
10. He's Too Fine 03:00
11. Ceiling 03:56

For its next outing, the Nebraska label has curated a mini best-of EP that serves up a quartet of tunes that have been digital only until now. Side A opens with 'Senza Parole,' featuring a weird and wonderful vocal sound and some loose hand claps under Italo-infused disco-funk drums. 'Let Me Be The One' is a nice tripped out and slow motion 90s downtempo jam and 'Funkbraska' is an homage to French Touch with filtered synth loops fizzing with sugar goodness over a characterful bassline, and last of all is 'Love + Hate', another low slung house groove that oozes cool and has a fantastic bassline propping it up.

TRACK LISTING

Senza Parole
Let Me Be The One
Funkbraska
Love + Hate

Nebula release a collection of remixed EPs, and three brand new songs. Moving away from the stoner rock tag a little, and delving further into psychedelia, 70s rock and punk.

Austin Noise-Rock/PostPunk outfit Neckbolt are releasing their newest cut 'Dream Dump'. It's pretty hard hitting, circling similar realms to Jesus Lizard/, Scratch Acid, Gilla Band, Guerilla Toss & Thee Oh Sees.

It’s long believed that dreams are a way for our subconscious and conscious selves to interact. A chance meeting between cognitive thought and the expanse of imagination. Our dreams are often half remembered upon waking, leaving bits and shards of the story left to be pieced together. That process of pulling together fragments feels infused within Austin’s Neckbolt, a band with a radiant understanding of pairing disparate elements together to create something magnificent. Introduced back in 2021 with Midwestern Drawl, their self-released debut album, the duo of James Roo and Benjamin Krause formed the project with a specific energy and an alien sound. At its core, that record laid the blueprint for the band, a forward thinking mix of caustic noise rock and vivid psychedelic pop, combining to create something wild yet ingenious, reshaping common genre ideals.

At some point between the recording and release of their debut, Neckbolt expanded, reverse engineering their sound to form a live band that could pull off the music of their recordings. The line-up grew from a duo to the quintet, with Roo (vocals) and Krause (guitar) joined by longtime friends and collaborators, Bill Indelicato (bass), Brent Hodge (drums), and Kilyn Massey (guitar), forming an instant chemistry apparent in their earliest of live shows. With members split between Austin and Oklahoma City, the band adapted their approach to songwriting, opting to record in bits and pieces as they wrote, bouncing ideas back and forth, watching songs take shape in ways that none of the members had intended, but all were quick to embrace. Neckbolt are a freaky band and their second album, Dream Dump, seizes the opportunity to dial up the strange in their own vibrant way.

Due out on [09/22/2023] via Chicago’s Born Yesterday Records (Stuck, Lifeguard, Glow In The Dark Flowers), the album is personal, a reflection of Roo’s emotions and his residual dream imagery. He is the “character” at its center, searching for meaning among the scattered visions and hazy recollections. The band acts as “a synecdoche,” describing the process and themes as being constructed “alone together.” Recorded in pieces over the better part of a year, Neckbolt found a way to record wherever and whenever, setting up shop in living rooms, bedrooms, practice spaces, and traditional studios throughout Austin and Oklahoma City. The process allowed true freedom, picking up and recording ideas as they developed, engineered by the band with contributions from John “Hutch” Hutchinson and Connor Schmigle (who recorded separate in-studio drum sessions) as well as Jasper den Hartigh (who assisted in capturing the vocals and bringing the record to a state of coherence). The results are staggering, it’s an album that captures the band in their prime, raw and focused, subverting expectations at every turn.

Neckbolt strives to dismantle the overtly masculine pitfalls of noise rock. There’s no tough guy posturing. There’s no hyper-macho aggression. If anything, Dream Dump is a headtrip into the recesses of the unconscious mind, a reflection of dreams interpreted and reinterpreted, and the weirdness that results. The dream state is thick and dense. There are songs about sleep paralysis via Chinatown bus rides (“Fung Wah or Lucky Star”), talking rocks and malevolent off-screen entities (“Cicada”), and what might be the singular tree at the beginning of the world (“No Magic”). This is a stream of conscious songwriting from the framework of the unconscious. While Roo’s backlog of dreams lend inspiration to the lyrics and themes, the music pulls influence from the unique and distinguished sounds of Boredoms, Screaming Jay Hawkins, Mystic Djim & The Spirits, and Polvo, as well as modern day genre expanding acts like Thee Oh Sees, Palm, and Guerilla Toss. Neckbolt understands context and divergent sounds, their music is often swarming and easy to get lost in, amorphous and fervently interesting. The band are primed to re-contextualize noise rock, creating their own animalistic sound, a swirling, ground shaking mix of acid fueled structures, primal rhythmic force, and cosmic asides. The record convulses and spits with character rather than angst or anxiety, the sonic brutality is met with cartoonish glee and dynamic textures. Roo’s processed vocals wail, slither, and screech against fractured motorik boogie and disjointed grooves. Their music is energetic and dancefloor ready, juxtaposing loud and abrasive with hypnotic and fluid. They’ve adopted an atonal bliss, where dread is transposed into possibility. Anything can happen. Dream Dump feels like a celebration, the landscapes of our dreams have been brought out into the open, and now we’re all just scraping for our own meanings.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sort Of
2. Fung Wah Or Lucky Star
3. Marianne 05
4. Green Moon
5. Upward Beyond The Upstreaming
6. No Magic
7. Cicada
8. Wet Chunks Forever
9. Cat Blue Square
10. Cold Dog Nose
11. Goop Ocean

Sound-track to the prize-winning movie "The Boys". The Necks break with convention here and put several shorter pieces on one CD. All gems and all pared back to the imperfection that is the Necks' unique and glorious signature. This is a band that seems to be coming into its golden age.

Australia’s greatest cult band, The Necks, has a new piece to offer the world this summer, entitled Body. Different again to all previous Necks albums (20 in total), the band has chosen 10 words and phrases that summarize the four richly contrasting episodes of this hour-long, mesmerizing groove. They are as follows: Episodic, Driving, Dynamic, Layered, Celebratory, Soaring, Rocking out, Buoyant, Sustained, Perfectly paced. 

Previously on The NECKS:

'The greatest trio on Earth' (The New York Times),

'Among the world's greatest forces in music' (The Los Angeles Times)

'One of the most entrancing live acts in the world' (The Guardian).

On tour in March/April to synchronise neatly with this release.

Otherwise. This is a new Studio recording. And it's by the same band as it's been for the last 33 years 

Formed in Stourbridge, West Midlands, in November 1987, the band is best known for the tracks 'Not Sleeping Around', 'Happy' and 'Trust' all featured on this explosive Live album.

TRACK LISTING

Not Sleeping Around
Happy
Cut Up
Selfish
Capital Letters
Stuck
Trust
Intact
Until You Find Out
Kill Your Television
Grey Cell Green
Titch