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

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

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

Wayonwayon present the first-ever official reissue of Rold Lebo - "Dansez Otiere" - a folk-jazz treasure from 1986, originally released in the Republic of Congo on vinyl and cassette (self-released on small quantities). This vinyl gem revives the energy and elegance of a rare record, now brought back into the light - a timeless work, finally restored to its full glory.

This album alternates between the call to celebrate the ancestral homeland and cultural identity and poignant ballads about love, exile and homesickness. It is a work that is both intimate and cosmic. Finally restored to its full glory, it returns on vinyl for the first time since its initial release.

This is an essential restoration —- a sophisticated synthesis of Congolese folk-jazz, subtle soul, and deeply introspective rhythms. Recorded in the 80s, the album channels a timeless spirit, exploring multilingual themes of ancestral identity, the melancholy of exile and the delicate games of love.

Rold Lebo’s music is a profound emotional capsule - once overlooked, now revived for a new generation of listeners eager to explore the sophisticated sounds and resonant stories of the Republic of Congo.

TRACK LISTING

A1.Souvenir
A2.Tika La Vie
A3.Nostalgie

B1.Dansez Otiere
B2.Mamphouo
B3.vonne
B4.Pessimisme

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

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

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

Swedish producer Robert Leiner’s landmark 1994 album ‘Visions Of The Past’ finally gets a vinyl LP reissue on Apollo, the ‘ambient division’ of R&S Records. Long regarded as one of the pivotal ambient/electronic long players, the album has stood the test of time and serves as a reminder on how potent the early ambient techno releases were.

Leiner was a central figure in the early European techno and ambient landscape, carving out a distinctive sound that bridged atmospheric depth and rhythmic intensity. Known for his releases as The Source Experience and contributions to the R&S/Apollo catalogue, as a producer and engineer, Leiner’s work resonated across the underground, earning him a reputation for visionary, emotionally charged productions that stood apart from his contemporaries.

'Visions Of The Past’ captures this duality perfectly with expansive ambient passages that drift into hypnotic techno, while layers of intricate sound design and pulsating low end create a timeless and immersive listening experience. Tracks unfold with patience and precision, like the 12-minute-long marine epic ‘Aqua Viva’, balancing introspection with kinetic dance energy, and the new age ambience of ‘Dream Or Reality’ and ‘Northern Dark’ embodying the forward-thinking ethos that defined Apollo’s golden era.

Three decades on, this long out of print album finally returns on vinyl format, freshly remastered and restored, reaffirming its status as an essential document of electronic music’s evolution and Robert Leiner’s enduring influence.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Out Of Control 
A2. Visions Of The Past 
B1. Interval 
B2. To Places You've Never Been 
B3. Aqua Viva 
C1. Full Moon Ritual 
C2. Zenit 
C3. Dream Or Reality 
D1. From Beyond And Back 
D2. Northern Dark 

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

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

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

English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rachel Love began her musical career in the late 70s with the legendary Dolly Mixture, a group of three teenage friends who subverted pretty much every rock cliche imaginable with their bright, energetic DIY pop music and created the template for countless non-dude bands since. No one used the words post-punk or indiepop back then, but Dolly Mixture are in the DNA of both. Post Dolly Mixture, Rachel kept busy writing and playing music in various groups, leading in 2021 to 'Picture In Mind', an elegantly pastoral sunshine/folk/indie pop album co-produced with her late husband Steve Lovell.

Rachel's 2024 album 'Lyra' was written and recorded as she processed Steve's passing, joined by her sons David and Syd as players, with David also co-producing. Musically 'Lyra' is very much of a piece with 'Picture In Mind', surveying intimate folk-tinged pop, elegant atmospheres and gentle melodicism that perfectly complements the stately, sorrowful tunes. Songs like 'Without You', 'Fly Me Away' and 'April Love' are beautifully-effecting chamber pop, lush and dreamy odes to love, loss and family.

TRACK LISTING

1. Without You
2. Why
3. Sad And Lonely
4. Fly Me Away
5. Lyra’s Theme
6. April Love
7. I Lost Myself
8. What Was It For
9. Alone
10. All Across The World

English singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rachel Love began her musical career in the late 70s with the legendary Dolly Mixture, a group of three teenage friends who subverted pretty much every rock cliche imaginable with their bright, energetic DIY pop music and created the template for countless non-dude bands since. No one used the words postpunk or indiepop back then, but Dolly Mixture are in the DNA of both.

After Dolly Mixture wrapped-up in 1984 Rachel continued writing and playing music, but it wasn't until 2021 that she released the first record under her own name. 'Picture In Mind' is packed with lush, dreamy pop that sits comfortably between 60s sunshine pop and and the mod-ish sounds of groups like Saint Etienne and Broadcast. Tunes like 'Primrose Hill', 'Wandlebury' and 'Borrowed Time' drift by like daydreams, foregrounding Rachel's lovely voice and melodies. Co-produced with her late husband, Steve Lovell (Blur, Julian Cope), 'Picture In Mind' is minimal but never overly spare; rather it basks in a warm simplicity that feels like a tonic in these hectic times.

TRACK LISTING

1. Primrose Hill
2. Down The Line
3. No More
4. Dreaming
5. The Long Way Round
6. Far Away
7. Borrowed Time
8. Wandlebury
9. Easter Song
10. Look For The Gold

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

TRACK LISTING

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

Exclusive to Invada Records and released in association with Netflix, the incredible score to the critically acclaimed Yance Ford’s documentary 'Power' scored by Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe (Candyman / Telemarketers / Grasshopper Republic). The album was mixed by the legendary Randall Dunn at his studio Circular Ruin and mastered by Invada’s own James Trevascus.

TRACK LISTING

1. 54321
2. Pathway To Power
3. Defund Now
4. Social Control
5. Primer
6. Incarceral Logic
7. A Police Film
8. Protest Culture
9. Radical Fear Pt. 1
10. Radical Fear Pt. 2
11. The Kerner Report
12. Presidential Montage
13. Nilesh
14. The Chokehold
15. Violence
16. History Return
17. The Shadow
18. Force
19. History Of Violence

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

STAFF COMMENTS

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

TRACK LISTING

Faz Tanto Tempo
Sambaloo

‘Poems & Non-Fiction’ is the debut album by Newcastle’s Ruth Lyon - a powerful songwriter who weaves deeply evocative narratives and potent meditations, with an artistry that balances delicacy and strength. Forged by her experiences as a disabled woman and a life-long sense of otherness, she explores the beautiful mess of existence, challenges social norms and ignites a journey towards self-acceptance, empowerment and perhaps most importantly, hope.

Working with acclaimed producer John Parish (PJ Harvey, Aldous Harding) and influenced by artists like Adrienne Lenker, Fiona Apple and Moondog, the songs are rich with poetic nuance and the unconventional insight of a young life lived to capacity. A mesmerising blend of analogue and angular indie-folk that gives as much attention to silence as sound, with understated yet muscular grooves. Musically the album is gently driven, with dreamy clarinets and melancholic strings sitting diffused like sea light on top of the mesmeric groove of piano, bass and drums.

Shimmering between the abstract, the archetypal and the naked truth, meaning lingers just beneath the surface, with Lyon daring listeners to both reach out and dig deep; to give emotion a solid, tangible shape. She says that “I surprised myself with the raw honesty in these songs and I hope these stories inspire healing and growth.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Artist
2. Wickerman
3. Books
4. Perfect
5. Hill
6. Confetti
7. Ceasar
8. November
9. Cover
10. Weather
11. Seasons

Richard Lysons started buying singles in 1970 and was fascinated by the ones that did not make the charts. Flops On 45 is a highly original and readable look at the records that somehow got away. It looks beyond the chart successes of everyone from Kate Bush to Suzi Quatro, from David Bowie to The Hollies.

In September 2024, Rob J Madin reached out to us with a collection of instrumental covers he had created. Immediately drawn in, we loved both the musical approach to these covers and the fact he tastefully selected these tracks to cover. Following up, we asked Rob, an accomplished musician, if he had any original compositions in a similar style.

The result is "MONSTRO", six instrumental slabs of jazz-funk heat! Produced primarily in Rob's attic studio in Sheffield. Rob showcases his talents on guitar, bass, keys, and percussion, with each track built around iconic drum samples. Listeners can expect spacey synths, silky electric pianos, and irresistible hooks. Think BADBADNOTGOOD meets Mildlife with a side plate of Herbie Hancock.

From the kick-your-door-down energy of "Callisto Disco" to the slow-burning allure of "Heartbreaker" and optimistic sunny day feel of "Cherryade" to the fully grown earworm synth lines of "Bouquet Garni". In addition to four original songs, the collection features two cover versions from that initial SoundCloud link: Michael Miglio's "Never Gonna Let You Go" and Rupa's "Ayee Morshume Be-Reham Duniya." Both are rare early-80s gems, wonderfully reimagined by Rob.

TRACK LISTING

1. Bouquet Garni
2. Never Gonna Let You Go
3. Cherryade
4. Callisto Disco
5. Ayee Morshume Be-Reham Duniya
6. Heartacher

‘Rivière Noire’ is Reginald Omas Mamode IV’s first album on Cologne imprint, Melting Pot Music and his first solo project since 2022.

Reginald Omas Mamode IV is an Anglo-Mauritian vocalist, producer and musician, born and raised in Britain whilst maintaining a firm connection to his father’s African island. From South London to the Mascarene Islands where Reginald’s family roots lay. Music runs deep in the Mamode family, with his brothers being recording artists and also their relatives contributing to the ‘Electric Sega’ recordings in Mauritius during the 1970s.

Reginald’s music is informed by golden era Hip-Hop, Jazz, Soul, Afro, Funk, Sega and Maloya, Africa, the Caribbean, South London and the Blues of The States, with echoes of J Dilla and D’Angelo, as well as clear influences from Sly Stone, Shuggie Otis and Lee Perry - four solo albums on Five Easy Pieces and a string of collaboration projects.

Reginald has been instrumental in shaping the UK beat and jazz sound / scene of today - 2012 marked the start of Gilles Peterson’s ongoing support, playing Reginald’s music for over a decade now.

Along with his brothers Mo Kolours and Jeen Bassa and friends and collaborators Al Dobson Jr and Tenderlonious, Reginald has helped forge the 22a co-operative that The FADER called “a kaleidoscopic patchwork of hip-hop, house, and groove investigations bound by one thread: a timeless belief in rhythm as a universal language.”

‘Rivière Noire’ is somewhat of a rebirth or an evolution for Reginald. The album sees him take a step back from sampling records and rather performing all the instrument and vocal parts himself. He creates his sounds and grooves with a vast array of instruments, performed, recorded and mixed in his modest studio, with live drums, drum machines, various percussion instruments, guitar, Fender Rhodes and synths.

In his music, Reginald attempts to evoke feelings of universal love and compassion. It draws influence from the current state of the world as much as it does from everyday life. As we witness rising poverty, global events, political and ethnic divisions, these factors prompt some of Reginald’s themes and call for humanity to recognise we are all interconnected.

“We are all related. We’re all brothers and sisters with common ancestry, common history and a common origin regardless of race, geographic location or belief systems. Love and compassion are universal feelings / practices we all should embrace and apply to all aspects of our lives, our interactions and our relationships, regardless of the kinship.”

TRACK LISTING

Black River (Introduction)
It’s Out World
Make It Right
Through Our Veins
No Harm (Intermission)
I Can’t Believe
No Maybes
Message From A Creole (Interlude)
Freedom Song
Grandmamaland
Can’t Let Them
Throw Your Woes Away
Free (Interlude)
Just Keep On
More Love
Whole Hearted
Rivière Noire Decolonise Your Mind
No Time To Waste

"Addicted To Drama" is Rob Marr's debut. Produced by Lou Reed's musical director Rupert Christie and Gorillaz bassist Al Mobbs, these four stunning tracks offer up a thick slice of Rob's unique take on love triangles, safety pins and dirty weekends. With its dynamic use of piano-based melodies, soaring harmonies and eloquent lyrics, "Addicted To Drama" is as crisp as a freshly laundered pillow case.

This is the first re-release on 7 inch vinyl single of the early Reggae classic “She Caught The Train” by Ray Martell released in 1970 on the Trojan sublabel Joe in the UK and later covered by UB40 in 1983. This original song, a huge hit, has featured on many compilations but has never been repressed as a single, until now… It was initially released with the track “Tea House From Emperor Roscoe” by Dice The Boss on the B side. On this release, Harlem Shuffle chose to showcase a super rare Ray Martell song, the gorgeous “Cora” initially released on Attack in 1970.

TRACK LISTING

She Caught The Train
Cora

Ricardo Eddy Martinez's Expreso Ritmico from 1978 is a prized album fusing funk, disco, and orchestrated influences with Afro-Cuban percussion, Latin breaks, and lush vocal harmonies.

Whilst maintaining its distinctive Cuban identity, Expreso Ritmico is one of the more American / Western-influenced Cuban titles of the time drawing inspiration from jazz funk, disco, and library music. The album was directed, written, and orchestrated by keyboardist and drummer Ricardo Eddy Martinez, who was also the mastermind behind the orchestration of the Los Reyes 73 album (that was recently reissued by Mr Bongo). Martinez would later go on to work with international musicians and singers such as Gloria Estefan, Jose Feliciano, Chick Corea, and many more, whilst also working as a sound engineer in the US. Produced by Adolfo Pichardo, who worked on much of Areito's output, Expreso Ritmico is packed with gold. The opening title track carries a loose, breezy Latin- disco- funk vibe that breaks into a brilliant Afro- Cuban workout. 'Que La Tristeza Se Fue' was expertly sampled and looped by Jazzanova on their 2008 song 'Look What You Are Doing To Me, featuring Phonte from the hip hop group Little Brother.

Elsewhere, 'Tambo Iya' has an Afro- funk, Soul Makossa- esque groove, while tracks such as 'Te Quedas', 'Mi Conga Es La Que Es' and 'La 132' run with a heavy pulsating Latin-funk sound. Head to the sultry psych funk of 'Este Tumbao' for a spacey journey that blends and morphs through genres.

A record that was ahead of its time, Expreso Ritmico is a superb and unique album that merges western influence with Cuban flair. It comes housed in a replica of its original Cuban sleeve design.

TRACK LISTING

Expreso Ritmico
Tambo Iya
Yeya Son
Te Quedas
Que La Tristeza Se Fue
Mi Conga Es La Que Es
Mas No Me Falta Fe
La 132
Este Tumbao
De Mis Razones

Rob Mazurek’s 'Alternate Moon Cycles' was Internantional Anthem's first ever release. The incredibly spare single-note-centered cornet, bass, and organ chant was recorded to tape at pint-sized Chicago bar Curio as part of a performance series that predates any notion of the label’s existence. Documenting this performance - highly unique even within the depths of Mazurek’s vast catalog - stirred those notions, and soon talks began of releasing the recording on a fresh imprint.

The music unfolds glacially amongst the gentle creaks, clinks, whispers, and scuffles of the active room. It’s difficult to imagine a more honest rendering of the two sidelong pieces of organic minimal music, and nearly impossible to separate the sounds from their performance context. It’s also difficult to imagine a more subtly striking way to introduce a new label to the world.

Now this long-gone gem of supernatural frequency excavation is back in print with fresh liner notes by Mikel Patrick Avery and obi design by Aaron Lowell Denton. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Waxing Crescent #1
2. Waxing Crescent #2

Recorded in the aftermath of Strawberry Switchblade's break up, the original "Sunflower Demos" included songs intended for the unrealised 2nd album. These songs posit an alternative future where McDowall pursued a Pop career instead of becoming an underground icon.

"In McDowall’s world, cake and chaos go hand in hand. She’s the witch at the door of the gingerbread house, beckoning you inside."
- Pitchfork

"One wonders what would have happened had these delirious songs made it to mainstream radio airplay. The exquisite nature of this slices of dappled pop genius is a joy to behold."
-The Quietus

Rose McDowall's Cut With The Cake Knife was originally reissued in 2015 by Night School Records and Sacred Bones. Since then, Rose McDowall and her previous band Strawberry Switchblade have only grown in cult status. Following a discovery by a generation of young, disaffected kids on social media of Strawberry Switchblade and McDowall's succeeding band Sorrow, Night School Records has remastered Cut With The Cake Knife and presents the album with a reimagined artwork that more closely recreates the original hand-made CD produced by McDowall.

Cut The With The Cake Knife was recorded by Rose McDowall in 1988/89 following the break up of her group Strawberry Switchblade. Produced with the aid of several musicians in several studios, the album features songs written for the fabled second Strawberry Switchblade album. More importantly perhaps it showcases the honest, direct and life-affirming songs of one of the greatest unsung songwriters of the modern pop era at a tumultuous time in her career.

Tibet opens the set and could be one of the best pop songs you’ve never heard. The innate sadness of the songs’ content – the loss of a friendship, impending sorrow – is heightened to heart-melting level by McDowall’s pop nous and melodic sensibility. Choruses and hooks are everywhere on Cake Knife, from the outsider take on stadium 80s pop in Wings Of Heaven to the spiraling, ecstatic So Vicious, a glorious anthem that highlights the human fragility in McDowall’s vocal performance, an instrument that has never lost the naïve purity it first exemplified in Strawberry Switchblade’s early 80s recordings. The centerpiece of the album, the title-track, is the greatest Switchblade pop chart hit that never was. Like the veiled melancholy of her former group’s hits, Cut With The Cake Knife hints at a darkness beneath the gloss, a darkness that saw McDowall delve into more esoteric territory with her subsequent recordings and collaborations. Cut With The Cake Knife serves as the bridge between the pop music McDowall had been making with her friends Jill Bryson, Lawrence from Felt and Primal Scream to what became a more extreme, deep sound informed by neo-folk and post industrial music.

Rose McDowall’s role in the canon has always been one of an outsider. Beginning in Glasgow’s East End in the avant proto-noise group The Poems, achieving fame briefly in the 80s and then disappearing into counter-cultural folklore, the emphasis in the internet-age has been skewed towards her image and cultural significance. Unseen to many, her solo work, her groups Sorrow and Spell and her collaborations with a whole host of underground luminaries have still touched lives. As McDowall elucidates: “They're real sad songs, about real life. I've had people come up to me to say I'd connected with them and helped them. I remember a gig in America when we made a whole room cry. It was bizarre. A couple at the front of the stage started crying and then these two boys beside and suddenly everyone was crying. And I thought, "that's power."

Night School’s issue of Cut With The Cake Knife includes unpublished photographs, extensive sleeve notes from Rose McDowall and 2 bonus tracks culled from the bootleg 7” “Don’t Fear The Reaper.” 

TRACK LISTING

Side A
A1 Tibet
A2 Sunboy
A3 Wings Of Heaven
A4 Sixty Cowboys
A5 On The Sun
A6 Cut With The Cake Knife

Side B
B1 Crystal Nights
B2 Soldier
B3 So Vicious
Don't Fear The Reaper 7" EP (Rio Digital 7RDS3)
B4 Crystal Days
B5 Don't Fear The Reaper (Written-By [Uncredited] – Blue Öyster Cult)

The Our Twisted Love E.P. constitutes the most contemporary recordings by Rose McDowall available, heralding her return to live performance and songwriting. Building on the groundwork laid by McDowall with her group Sorrow, and various collaborations with key figures in the post industrial landscape, it features a full band recording and long-form songwriting that draws heavily on both McDowall’s keen sense of pop melody and melancholy.

Breaking into a harmonium drone and Rose’s instantly recognisable, vocal, the epic title song unfurls at a glowing, glacial pace. Never hiding her love for the Velvet Underground, Our Twisted Love reminds the listener of 70s-era Nico, but McDowall’s fragile vocal has a spine-tingling fragility of its own. Guitarist Dru Moore provides shimmering chords that dress the melody, itself framed with multi instrumentalist Eilish McEvil’s plucked violin strings. Rose’s gorgeous twists with the vocal erupt into a full band jam, with bassist Clay Young, acclaimed cellist Jo Quail and drummer Lloyd James joining in for a neo-folk, dronist excursion that elevates the song into psychedelic territory.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A:

Our Twisted Love (8:10)

SIDE B:

This Calling (4:16)
Make It Easy On Yourself (4:18)

Ronnie McNeir’s self-titled debut album, released in 1972, showcases his soulful voice and songwriting talent, blending R&B, soul, and funk. In 1999, McNeir joined The Four Tops as their musical director and keyboardist. Ronnie McNeir is a soulful debut that captures the essence of early ‘70s R&B, partly due to the production by acclaimed Motown producer William “Mickey” Stevenson.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Extra, Extra
2. Daddy’s Coming Home
3. The Tears In My Heart
4. Gone Away
5. Troubles’ A Loser

Side B
1. Young Girl
2.You Better Make Sure
3. I’m So Thankful
4. In Summertime
5. Keep Your Hands Off My Lady
6. Girl You’re Gonna Lose Your

On "National Treasure" McTell pays tribute to the blues and guitar pioneers who influenced him in his youth. Played on a vintage National and a 1934 Gibson he really gets into the spirit of the times. He covers standards by Robert Johnson, Woody Guthrie, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Blake and Blind Boy Fuller amongst others and it shows that for McTell it was a real labour of love.

Hot on the heels of appearances at Exit festival in Serbia and in the final of the prestigious Red Stripe Music Awards, 21 year old Norwich troubadour Rory McVicar releases his highly anticipated debut album on Series 8 Records. Wielding a guitar, a spellbinding voice, yearning lyrics and sublime melodies, McVicar is ready to bring his sound to a bigger audience.

This classic Brazilian album from master drummer Ronald Mesquita was originally released in 1972 and features songs by Jorge Ben, Antonio Carlos-Jobim, Gilberto Gil, Edu Lobo and others. Mesquita is probably most well-known for playing with Luis Carlos Vinhas and his ‘Bossa Tres’ outfit, along with his own group, ‘Ronie E A Central Do Brasil’, that he formed after his return from the US in the early 1970s. He also played on several songs on Tenorio Jr.’s ‘Embalo’ album that Mr Bongo recently reissued. The killer track ‘Balanca Pema’ was very big in the Jazz Dance scene in the 90s and also featured on the Mojo compilation ‘Dancefloor Jazz Volume Four’. Madlib sampled ‘Balanca Pema’ on his Medicine Show Number 2 ‘Flight to Brazil’.

TRACK LISTING

Balanca Pema
Dabadeia
Aguas De Marco
Cancao Do Sal-Tema De
Tostao
Fechado Pra Balanco
O Gato
Tarde Em Itapoa
Casa De Campo
Quatro De Dezembro
Papagayo
Zanzibar

Fixed Abode label head Rainy Miller met Space Afrika through regular nights he runs at Salford’s The White Hotel, a hub for leftfield electronic music. What started out as an idea for a collaborative EP between Rainy and Space Afrika turned into a longer form project, with features from Mica Levi, Coby Sey, Richie Culver, Voice Actor and Iceboy Violet - amongst others.

A Grisaille Wedding is an immersive experience that fills the space these artists have come to dwell in during their creative journeys. It not only pushes the boundaries of music but also bridges regional dialects within the conversation of contemporary electronic music.

Rainy Miller: “A Grisaille Wedding is a project based in the personification of the semi-fictitious world that Space Afrika have come to build over the years. Using musique concrete and British soundscapes, I wanted to fuse the sonic with both noise and the contemporary.”

Space Afrika: “The record’s title figuratively describes the marriage of two similarly motivated perspectives, each affected by a common backdrop and familiar ground tread amongst the scrimmage of urban sprawl, sombre, a boisterous landscape and clouds of uncertainty.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Summon The Spirit / Demon
2. Maybe It's Time To Lay Down The Arms
3. 00-Down / Murmansk, 12
4. Sweet (I'm Free)
5. Shelter
6. HDIF
7. The Graves At Charleroi
8. 1-2-1
9. Let It Die
10. I Believe In God, When Things Are Going My Way 

Rainy Miller is at the forefront of UK electronic music and loosely spinning around the axis of storied Salford club The White Hotel.

Having established himself at the forefront of the new sound of the UK, spearheading the boundary-less scene of alternative music, and gaining continued critical acclaim over the past few years, Rainy Miller presents his most personal project, the culmination of five years of work. The release follows on from his breakout album 'Desquamation' (2022) and follow up, collaborative full-length 'A Grisaille Wedding' (2023).

Initially inspired by the 2003 documentary ‘Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus’, an exploration of the intersection between Christianity and country music in the American South, Rainy became entrenched in the parallel similarities between the stories in the film to the stark realities of his own surroundings, the North of England.

Internalizing these connections, and reflecting on his own lived experiences, Rainy created ‘Joseph’ in an aesthetic he coins the Northern Gothic, a quasi anthropological British pastiche of the American Southern Gothic realm of the early 20th century.

Visually, the project references the forgotten notion of storytelling and the feeling of community that is prevalent amongst everyday life in the post-industrial North of England. In its bleak and often antiquated surroundings, Rainy explores the inherited pragmatism and resilience of its inhabitants, interjecting his own struggles and conciliations.

TRACK LISTING

1. Mud In My Mouth. (Predetermined Definitions)
2. Toddbrook Dam, 2019.
3. An Obsidian Lake Spews Out Of Me.
4. Vengeance.
5. Marked, 2020.
6. An Angel! This Way Comes,
7. Then Casts Shadows, From Afar (A6 - Pendleton).
8. Please, Don't Walk Away Too Fast.
9. Chrome, Hallowed Be.
10. To Grieve A Man, Is To Grieve A Man Twice.
11. Mary Magdalene, As A Home.
12. The Fable / The Release.
13. Joseph, What Have You Done?

Sound trails, minimal structures built with pads, discreet electronic elements, slow, deep and enveloping bass lines, backgrounds of confused voices treated in reverse, circular movements alternating with liquid stasis and quiet...
Creaks on layered sound substrates of indecipherable nature, which seem to emerge from a thick blanket of fog that reveals fragments of real landscapes here and there, ready to disappear from view again after a few moments, once more hidden by clouds of steam in constant motion... A fantastic journey, almost “suspended” in a void, crossing immaterial, confused and evanescent landscapes.

TRACK LISTING

Pt.1
Pt.2

Winding through cavernous and dark meanders, amid gurgling water, rustling sounds, low and deep pulsations, incisive and impactful sound masses, floating waves, crystalline drips, sudden rays of light, electronic spirals, and unexpected openings onto almost soothing soundscapes and quiet environmental stasis, Rod Modell paints musical textures that are apparently abstract and contemplative, but in reality charged with pathos and drama, taking advantage of a spectacular, enveloping and surprising sound quality, in which every nuance and every small detail makes the listening experience even more intense and engaging. A new exciting masterpiece by Maestro Rod Modell.

TRACK LISTING

Pt.1
Pt.2

Island Of Lost Souls is the first of four new albums by Roy Montgomery coming out in 2021 to commemorate Montgomery’s forty years in music. His debut release was also Flying Nun’s first, the Pin Group 7-inch from 1981.

Roy Montgomery, a pioneer of the NZ underground, believes there is always new sonic terrain to investigate. His latest album for Grapefruit marks forty years of rigorous exploration in which he’s managed to navigate disparate genres, scenes, and atmospheres, always at the forefront of experimental independent music.

Island Of Lost Souls follows his acclaimed 2018 LP Suffuse—a novel departure in which he consigned all vocal duties to ambient / experimental peers Liz Harris (of Grouper), Julianna Barwick, Purple Pilgrims, Haley Fohr (of Circuit des Yeux), Katie von Schleicher, and She Keeps Bees. But the veteran evolves again. On this release Montgomery creates resounding, aerial compositions for guitar. Where some might be inclined to relax and lean into their legacy at this stage in a sprawling career, Montgomery’s new music continues to seek and challenge, moving like the eye of a storm.

This latest album cries out like a chorus, though there are no vocals on the record. Its tracklist instead builds upon the lonesome and polyphonic dimensions of guitar in order to express universal feelings of communion and isolation, resisting conclusion but never resorting to fatalism. Life is all about navigating these contradictions and everyone is with Montgomery on this island whether they’d like to admit it or not. Here, the artist has created a work of wisdom and grit, a searing beauty, a new masterpiece for an uncertain and restless time.

TRACK LISTING

1. Cowboy Mouth (For Sam Shepard)
2. Soundcheck (For Adrian Borland)
3. Unhalfmuted (For Peter Principle)
4. The Electric Children Of Hildegard Von Bingen (For Florian Fricke)

Ron Morelli's "Laughter Taker" is taken off the "Disappear" LP from 2018. Now the label owner enlists a crack squad of remixers for a super limited, highly collectable LIES outing!

Noise makers Mick Harris (Scorn, Fret), Parrish Smith and Overlook are called in to demolish and demonize the track starting with Mick Harris cataclysmic hurricane on side B, Parrish Smith's fast paced hi-tech-booty jam on side B and Overlook concluding proceedings with a pitch black event horizon populated with ghostly choirs and sinister energy.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Hold onto your underpants pop pickers! Big Ron's poised waiting to rip 'em clean off yer buttcheeks the cheeky scoundral! A rip-roaring noize fest for the muscular dancefloor inhabitants. Scared me shitless.

TRACK LISTING

A. Mick Harris
B1. Parrish Smith Remix
B2. Overlook Remix

Moumneh (Jerusalem In My Heart) and Oberland (Oiseaux-Tempête) consolidate a long history of cross-collaboration on this debut studio album as a duo: a compelling synthesis of their respective and shared sensibilities. Blending juddering electronics with acoustic instruments like buzuk, rababa, clarineau and saxophone, peppered with Moumneh’s Arabic singing, the album is forged in outrage and lamentation over our suprematist and genocidal political present.

Morphing between the sensory and the suppressed, Radwan Ghazi Moumneh and Frédéric D. Oberland’s debut album summons a poetic musical proclamation of transfigured reality and social amnesia. These seven tracks evolved collaboratively over two years, beginning as a series of duets that Moumneh instigated at Montréal’s Hotel2Tango studio in summer 2023. The Arabic title of 'Eternal Life No End' translates more literally as “A dark, cursed night, like the seekers themselves” and the album is an outcry amidst the oceans of injustice flooding the SWANA region, haunting the lives and visions of vast populations.

Like Dante and Virgil in Dante’s Inferno, Oberland and Moumneh’s compositions chart an emotional vortex, as dream-time seeps into trancelike percussion and hypnotic melodies, channeling collective urgencies that ripple through the currents of Radwan’s voice and Arabic lyrics. Oberland’s passages of saxophone and clarineau evoke shamanic exhortations of evil, while Moumneh’s buzuk strums and swarms, often through electronic processing, with tempestuous mourning about unfolding tragedies. An array of instrumentation fleshes out the wider soundscapes: daf (a Middle Eastern frame drum) and bongos, a modified electric rababa, shuddering bass and other synthetic filigree from Oberland’s Buchla and Deckard's Dream synths.

TRACK LISTING

1. Squeal Of Swine
2. Dagger Eyes
3. A Silence With No Ceiling
4. A Shadow With No Silhouette
5. The Serpent
6. A Dream That Never Arrived
7. Walked And Walked

‘Take Her Up To Monto’ is the follow up to Róisín’s critically acclaimed Mercury Prize nominated album ‘Hairless Toys’ and is billed as her most daring and creative yet.

Never an artist to stand still, ‘Monto’ features everything Murphy has always done but seen afresh, boasting disco fancy, dark cabaret, the sonorities of classic house and electronica and the joy and heartbreak of pure pop drama resulting in her most magnificent song structures so far.

The follow on from Roisin’s Mercury Prize nominated ‘Hairless Toys’ album last year, Róisín is at her most creative peak yet.

Released on embossed CD / double LP with digital download.

One of music’s most innovative artists, Queen of Electronic Music and the Avant-Garde, Róisín Murphy is back with a much anticipated new album - her sixth - in collaboration with the legendary producer DJ Koze. Hit Parade sees the idiosyncratic trailblazer masterfully spanning genres such as disco, soul, pop and house. Róisín Murphy is a multifaceted and Mercury nominated singer, songwriter, producer, fashion icon, creative director, podcast host and screen actor 

TRACK LISTING

1. What Not To Do
2. CooCool
3. The Universe
4. Hurtz So Bad
5. The House
6. Spacetime
7. Fader
8. Free Will
9. You Knew
10. Can’t Replicate
11. Crazy Ants Reprise
12. Two Ways
13. Eureka

"Róisín Machine" is the culmination of a rich, decades long partnership between Murphy and one of her most trusted collaborators Crooked Man aka DJ Parrot. Although packed to the rafters with masterclass singles, including “Simulation”, “Jealousy”, “Incapable”, Narcissus” and “Murphy’s Law”, it is also an ingeniously and seamlessly edited listening experience, designed to be listened to in one uninterrupted sitting, from start to dazzling finish.

From the intoxicating disco-funk of “Incapable”, to the quintessential “Narcissus” which crystallised New-Disco and established a high watermark for the genre, to “Murphy’s Law”, a 70s inflected stomper, “Roisin Machine” offers up everything you could ask for on an exquisite plate. Added to the familiar tunes are five new songs, including the Dalek-funk of ‘We Got Together’ and the fantastical “Shellfish Mademoiselle”. An album that works perfectly on the home sound system but also comes alive in a basement sweatbox, it impeccably sits alongside Murphy’s stellar cannon of work released across 25 boundary pushing, trailblazing years, a career encompassing iconic music, directorial, art and fashion moments.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: Róisín Murphy has always had that certain indefinable something; a self-assured demeanour that although grandiose never seems pretentious. Perky and eccentric, but always charming - someone you can look up to in an artistic way but equally just want to take out for a pint and a bit of banter. Add to her showmanship, incredible voice and pop sensibility the musical genius of long-time collaborator Richard Barratt aka Crooked Man / DJ Parrot and you end up with an irresistible mix of shimmering disco strut, pulsating synths and thumping club beats.

‘Róisín Machine’ seems like the culmination of and logical conclusion to Murphy's 25-year career - from her time as one half of Moloko through to collaborations with the likes of Boris Dlugosch, Maurice Fulton and Crooked Man - but at the same time feels new and exciting and oozes with confidence, as if Murphy is only just getting started. “I feel my story is still untold, but I'll make my own happy ending...” are the revealing opening words of the album which has been a decade in the making.

Even though every song on the record is a standalone winner that would feel at home on most dancefloors, the album also works extremely well as a whole, with one track seamlessly blending into the next. It therefore equally lends itself to an afternoon on the sofa - headphones on, choice of drink in hand and dreaming of a time when we can finally hear it blasting through the speakers of our favourite clubs. Luckily, there is a wealth of lockdown video content by Murphy herself that will keep us entertained until then!

TRACK LISTING

Simulation
Kingdom Of Ends
Something More
Shellfish Mademoiselle
Incapable
We Got Together
Murphy’s Law
Game Changer
Narcissus
Jelaousy

Re-press of 2020’s hugely successful and critically acclaimed LP “Róisín Machine” in limited edition 2LP gatefold splatter vinyl for National Album Day 2021 release by Skint Records.

2020’s Róisín Machine” was Murphy’s first full-length project since 2015’s Mercury Nominated “Hairless Toys” and 2016’s equally revered “Take Her Up to Monto” and perhaps her best yet if the adulatory reviews are anything to go by. The likes of Guardian and the Independent garlanded the record with Album of the Week sobriquets, while Metro, The Arts Desk, Daily Star and NME gave it a full 5 stars and everyone from Uncut to Classic Pop to Evening Standard giving breathless 4-star reviews. “Roisin Machine” was universally recognized as one of the albums of the year, further cemented by 6 (SIX!) consecutive A-list records at BBC6 and slots at Sunday Brunch and – most hallowed of all – Graham Norton where she performed “Murphy’s Law” on the premiere episode of his 28th season.

TRACK LISTING

LP 1
Side A:
Simulation
Kingdom Of Ends
Side B:
Something More
Shellfish Mademoiselle
Incapable

LP2
Side C:
We Got Together
Murphy’s Law
Game Changer
Side D:
Narcissus
Jealousy

Roisin Murphy’s ‘Take Her Up To Monto’ stands out as an adventurous exploration, showcasing Murphy’s ability to both expand her sonic palette and maintain her distinctive style.

In this album, Murphy presents ‘Mastermind’, a disco epic that mirrors the expansive, shapeshifting quality of ‘Toys’ and echoes the grandeur found in her 2012 marathon single, ‘Simulation’. Despite the brevity of ‘Whatever’, it retains the intimate allure that distinguished her previous work.

Unlike the seamless journey of ‘Hairless Toys’, ‘Take Her Up To Monto’ offers a wilder ride. Murphy surprises listeners by steering them in diverse directions with little warning. The track ‘Thoughts Wasted’ encapsulates this diversity, seamlessly transitioning from sleek to lush to lamenting.

Throughout, Murphy pushes her signature sounds to extremes, delivering an engaging and unpredictable experience.

TRACK LISTING

1. Mastermind
2. Pretty Gardens
3. Thoughts Wasted
4. Lip Service
5. Ten Miles High
6. Whatever
7. Romantic Comedy
8. Nervous Sleep
9. Sitting And Counting

"Disiniblud", the thrilling new collaborative album project from the composers/producers/multi-instrumentalists Rachika Nayar and Nina Keith.

Rachika and Nina meet on complementary but seemingly disparate musical grounds. On her 2022 breakout LP 'Heaven Come Crashing', Rachika departed from her usual ambient guitar in favor of maximalist synths, sub-bass, and flickers of Amen breaks. Her distinct fusion of post-rock and electronica earned her accolades as Pitchfork's Best New Music, on several best of the year lists (The New York Times, Stereogum, Fader, GQ, Bandcamp, etc), and as the opening act on tour with M83. Nina, meanwhile, is best known for her self-trained approach to composition, as evident on her 2019 debut 'MARANASATI 19111' and its delicate medley of cello, piano, clarinet, and flute, used to explore a personal history marked by community tragedy and paranormal incidents.

On 'Disiniblud', the two’s self-described “wordless conversation,” orbits such themes as mortality, reinvention through destruction, and sublimating fractured histories into music—all resulting in a work that suggests sweeping transformation can come from embracing old wounds with childlike wonder. Nina envisions this as she and Rachika's younger selves packing a satchel, holding hands, and daring one another to run away into a place of "wounds and wonder," only to discover an unforeseeable magic in an amalgam of post-rock, glitchy indie electronica, ambient, and pop genres in this co-created realm.

'Disiniblud' features guest appearances from Julianna Barwick, Tujiko Noriko, Cassandra Croft, ASPIDISTRAFLY, Katie Dey, June McDoom and Ponytail's Willy Siegel.

TRACK LISTING

1. Give-upping (ft. Julianna Barwick)
2. Blue Rags, Raging Wind (ft. Amigone)
3. Serpentine (ft. Cassandra Croft)
4. No More To See (ft. June McDoom)
5. [it Could Happen]
6. It's Change (ft. Willy Siegel, Katie Dey & Julianna Barwick)
7. Traces In The Window (ft. ASPIDISTRAFLY)
8. Whole30 Fight Club
9. Disiniblud
10. [as Is Most (bimbo It Out)]
11. My Flickering Gift To You (ft. Tujiko Noriko)

Golden Lion Sounds enlist the talents of no other than Richard Norris for their latest 7". The Grid and Psychic TV star gifts us a driving, Balearic-rock classic - with an almost War On Drugs-like sensibility. Moving, evocative vocals (by Findlay Brown), swirling keyboards, gentle guitar strums and a motoric beat coalescing to form an understated but highly engrossing four minutes of song writing prowess.

Rude Audio is the alias of Mark Ratcliff and collaborators (sometimes including Dan Wainwright with whom he constructed the "Psychedelic Science" release with), and they take care of B-side duties with a galloping analogue synth workout. Slightly wonky and jarring, the concentric arpeggio rotates off-center, making for a slightly discombobulating listen eschewing the smooth and silky for something a bit more raggedy and gritty. It's brilliantly constructed; with just a few simple elements working in tandem to create a dazzling, wide-screen synth scape.

As usual - top draw music from the Yorkshire underground. Limited copies in purple and black vinyl. Check!

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Richard Norris and Rude Audio are the latest converts to the church of the The Golden Lion, with the Todmorden based hub casting its net far and wide to deliver the best from the independent underground.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Richard Norris - This Song's For You (feat Findlay Brown) 

Side B
1. Rude Audio - The Grinning

After a host of well received ambient releases, Richard Norris is back with the motorik, trance inducing electronic groove of 'Hypnotic Response'.

Influenced by German 70's music, psychedelia, hypnotic repetition and an old Korg 55 drum machine, these tracks veer from the expansive eleven minute workout 'Arca' to the mesmeric sequences of 'In Flight', from the propulsive Kosmishe rhythm of 'Free Ride' to the electronic lullaby 'La Lune'.

A widescreen and mesmerising set, with accompanying retina altering artwork and vinyl. Dive in deep.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Aaah, Richard Norris. I am a huge fan of his 'Elements' release from last year, so it's a huge joy to have his latest collection of snappy cosmic beats and spine-tingling arpeggios to wrap the ears around. It seems like there's no stopping Norris at the moment, with all of his monthly 'Music For Healing' releases providing vital relaxation during lockdown only adding to the excellence of his physical output. 'Hypnotic Response' is a triumph in every way.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. In Flight
2. Arca
3. Free Ride

Side B
4. Gamma & Delta
5. Reflections Of Kyoto
6. La Lune

The latest in the 'Music For Healing' series of ambient records from Richard Norris, 'Colours Volume Two' includes four ten minute pieces for deep listening. Turn on, tune in, unwind...

TRACK LISTING

1. Cornflower
2. Cornsilk
3. Rust
4. Imperial

Music For Healing is a series of long form tracks to aid stress and anxiety relief in these challenging times.

Now available on vinyl for the first time this edition collects The Longform Series 5-8.

The series totals four hours of listening time. Use them as background ambience, as immersive deep listening, in combination with meditation or any other practice. Music For Healing tracks are crafted and recorded in real time with no Artificial Intelligence involved.

Music For Soundtracks is an album of ten ambient, atmospheric pieces Richard Norris has recently created for film and TV.

They feature in BAFTA winning director Kieran Evans’ recent Sky Arts documentary ‘Cold War Steve Meets The Outside World’, as well as Marc Issacs’ latest film ‘The Filmmaker’s House’. The tracks range from widescreen electronic dance to immersive deep listening cuts, all with a marked sense of space and landscape. Dive in…

A memoir by one of the most influential and ubiquitous underground British musicians of the past thirty

Leafy St Albans is an unlikely starting point for one of the great psychedelic/acid house musicians of his generation, but, like so many others who brought radical change to the counterculture, Richard Norris' story starts in the suburbs.

Strange Things Are Happening documents his journey from punk through the emerging DIY indie culture to producing the UK's first acid house album, Jack the Tab; being one of the only unsigned artists to grace the cover of NME, to being one of the first faces on the scene at Shoom and Spectrum during the 1988 Summer of Love; finding international fame with The Grid in the early 90s, to working with Joe Strummer and a cast of thousands as a remixer, writer and producer. Embracing a psychedelic lifestyle along the way, Strange Things Are Happening is a funny, improbable and frequently wild journey down the rabbit hole.

Richard Norris has been involved in almost every aspect of music and its business for many decades. This is an insider's tale of inspiration and collaboration, working with some of the most iconic artists in music and beyond. We travel to basement acid parties in London to ten thousand strong raves in Ibiza. From Amsterdam with Timothy Leary, to Tijuana with Shaun Ryder and Joe Strummer, on a bumpy ride in Joe's beat up 1955 Cadillac, to the customs hall at Heathrow with Sun Ra, Top Of The Pops, LA film sets, around the world and back again. Strange Things Are Happening is a celebration of creativity and passion, of chance meetings turning into lifelong friendships, and of what is possible with an independent spirit, with an open mind and heart. Not quite Do It Yourself, more Do It Yourselves - a testimony to how small groups of people can affect and change the cultural landscape; a story about doing what you love and being eternally curious; about the inevitable occupational dead ends and wrong turns that happen when you jump in headfirst, and what is learnt along the way.

Two slices of brilliant, Gospel disco from Reginald O'Neal Cuie. Originally released on 33rpm 7" (not the most wonderful format), Athens of the North scut the tape onto a loud 12 inch for the first time. A strong two sider, (500 12" only)

TRACK LISTING

1. I Can Do All Things Through Christ Jesus Which Strengthen Me
2. Let This Mind Be In You Which Is Also In Christ Jesus

Recorded between the chaos and bustle of a New York cinema on Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn and the windswept loneliness on the south-side of the Isle of Wight in the spring of 2017, I Can't Stand The Sound is the second album from Berlin based English/Irish songwriter Ryan O'Reilly. Produced by David Granshaw and in collaboration with Canadian, Tyler Kyte the album is an exploration in searching for meaning, the meaning in a fatal car accident, the beauty and darkness on the streets of Berlin, comprehending the American landscape at the end of 2016 and trying to filter out the noise of relentless opinions on 24 hour news TV and online.

Littered with snapshots from myriad conversations; A Grandmother's warning that ghosts are never as dangerous as humans, talking to a loved one after a terror attack, a fall from a horse, with a hangover whilst reading in the bath and the faceless people who blithely tell you to 'live your dreams' the characters and conversations restlessly change locations and perspectives.

I Can't Stand The Sound began life on the journey between New York and Tennessee in the aftermath of the American election in 2016, the long conversations, the search for conclusions and reasoning in a void of reason. Written on municipal Frisbee-golf course in East Nashville, a front porch in Hamilton, Ontario and along side the beautiful, dirty Spree in Ryan's adopted hometown of Berlin each place finds it's way into the heart of the album. In May 2017 Ryan, Tyler and Dave travelled back to New York. Joined by members of Toronto's Dwayne Gretzky and Ryan's European touring partners The O'Pears to begin recording of I Can't Stand The Sound in the Cinema/bar where the journey towards the album began six months earlier. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Don’t You Know That
2. Make It Holy
3. Never Be Afraid Of Ghosts
4. I Can’t Stand The Sound
5. People Tell You
6. The Modern World
7. Flesh & Blood
8. Conversation
9. Somethings Really Wrong
10. Till It Ends

Ryo Okumoto is a keyboardist with a rather impressive resume. He has worked with the likes of Phil Collins and Eric Clapton. He is also the keyboardist for Spock's Beard and this work is an extension of his work with the band with added jazz and fusion elements.

Welcome to the debut album by Richard Olson & The Familiars, A LP full of dreamy harmony laden melancholy and, dare we say it, Singer Songwriter Pop Music – though Pop Music in the sense that each track is a gorgeous ear worm that you can wrap yourself in and within. Richard was a member of the now-legendary Eighteenth Day Of May, before forming The See See who would then evolve into the much loved and revered The Hanging Stars.

On Richard’s debut LP we are treated to a record full of lush harmonies, acoustic guitars and strings as well as Richards most personal and reflective writing, Songs that are full of a hazy warmth and yearning that superbly capture the feel and sound that lies somewhere between The Byrds (think Easy Rider) and The Clientele. The plaintive gorgeousness of opening track ‘I Can’t Help Myself’ reflects the heart-rending, deep feeling that flows throughout the whole of Richard Olsen and The Familiars debut LP.

Richard has a great, expressive voice, capable of switching from harmonious and melodic to world-weary within a single song. Air is especially affecting and effective - gorgeously near-ambient kaleidoscope vibe of whispered vocals with pedal steel and slide guitar. ‘I’m A Butterfly’ blends a sumptuous bouncy riff with harmonica and tambourines into hazy dream of pop perfection. Inside Sunshine is the perfect song to close the LP, lilting into the sunset as Richard creates an wonderous retro hued filter - a filmic paean to love with Luke Barlow’s flute playing adding to the trance created.

Lucio Fulci directed this dystopian sci-fi epic in 1984. In 2072 the world is ruled by TV networks. Two of these networks are locked in a bitter rating battle and in finding more ways to outdo each other one of them decides to host a Roman centurion style battle to the death featuring convicted murderers fighting each other on motorcycles (wait is this a documentary?) As you would expect from Fulci it’s outrageous, silly, super entertaining and full of over the top violence. The score was composed by Maestro Riz Ortolani and here he delivers one of his most bombastic, striking (and fun) scores. Loaded with killer synth lines, chunky riffs and pounding synthetic drums.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Roma Imperial Rock (Titoli)
A2. I Guerrieri Dell'Anno 2072 (Love Theme)
A3. Roma Imperial Rock
A4. I Guerrieri Dell'Anno 2072 (Rock Fanfare)
A5. I Guerrieri Dell'Anno 2072 (Future Rome)
A6. The Fighter Centurions
B1. I Guerrieri Dell'Anno 2072 (Tension & Mystery)
B2. Roma Imperial Rock
B3. I Guerrieri Dell'Anno 2072 (Warrior's Action)
B4. I Guerrieri Dell'Anno 2072 (Labyrinth Of Death)
B5. The Fighter Centurions
B6. I Guerrieri Dell'Anno 2072 (More Tension)
B7. Roma Imperial Rock 

Wax Digits hits release number five with a tight and tidy two-tracker from the late veteran Robert Ouimet who passed a couple of years ago. Before then he cooked up these gems with his pal and production partner Dave Godin. They are being released as a tribute to the memory of Ouimet and a fine one they are too. 'Plenty' has a raw groove and big chords with jangling guitars adding hints of melancholy that counter the big stabs. Soulful vocals are a great finishing touch then 'Funky Together' is more loose and strident with big horns leading the way under psyched-out chords. Two quality party starters.

TRACK LISTING

Plenty
Funky Together

Roy Panton and Yvonne Harrison are central to understanding Jamaican music and its evolution. For some time, all over the world, thousands of followers and lovers of these Jamaican rhythms have tried, sometimes with luck and some with dismay, to get some of the recordings presented here today on vinyl, in what is the first compilation dedicated to Roy Panton & Yvonne Harrison.

Some of these you can find on this LP. Unfortunately, after Millie’s departure to England under the management of Chris Blackwell, Roy found himself without a partner. However, this should not be for long. In the autumn of 1962, discovered by TIP TOP Label’s Lynden Pottinger, Yvonne and Roy met for the first time at the West Indies Studios (WIRL) of Edward Seaga and recorded their first ever single, “Two Roads” with the B-side “Join together”. The magnificent performance of both, and perfect compatibility of their voices “joint together” Roy and Yvonne in what would be one of the most requested duets in the country. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Control Your Temper
2. The Chase
3. Join Together
4. Oh Shirley
5. Dearest
6. We’ll Meet
7. Since You Left Me.
8. Take My Hand
9. Danger
10. Endless Memory
11. In Your Arms Dear
12. The Mighty Ruler
13. No More
14. Beware Rudie
15. Go Your Way
16. Stand Up
17. Two Roads Before You

Richard Pinhas is one of the most important French electronic space rock musicians. Following five albums with Heldon, his band, he released solo records from 1977 on. His transition to 'solo' material gave the guitarist and synthesist an opportunity to work on material that was a little lighter and less constrained. 'Chronolyse' was his second solo album. At the time of "Chronolyse"’s gestation, Pinhas had been listening to a lot of classical music. Bach, Scarlatti and Wagner were key. So too were the new wave of American minimalist composers; Philip Glass in particular. After the out of this world "Variations" on the A-side, skip to the flip for the Dune inspired tone poem "Paul Atreides".

TRACK LISTING

A1. Variations I
A2. Variations II
A3. Variations III
A4. Variations IV
A5. Variations V
A6. Variations VI
A7. Variations VII
A8. Duncan Idaho
B1. Paul Atreides

Fourth solo album by French spacerock mastermind Richard Pinhas. 'East West' was his first and only album to be released by a major label (CBS). Some say it is his most commercial one, Pinhas doesn't see it that way. East West contained some surprises for those who were used to Heldon’s extended jams or the sparse and moody atmosphere of the previous year’s Iceland.

East West’s average track length is four minutes, indicating greater accessibility. It also has a David Bowie cover, although Pinhas naturally chose one of the thin white duke’s more avant-garde moments: the foreboding 'Sense Of Doubt' from Heroes. East West’s synth-centric tracks, resemble siblings to the groundbreaking work of Kraftwerk. Others evoke Brian Eno or Tangerine Dream but hold their own distinct flavour.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Houston 69: The Crash Landing (part 1)
A2. London: Sense Of Doubt
A3. Kyoto: Kyoto Number 3
A4. XXXXX: La Ville Sans Nom
A5. Home: Ruitor
B1. New York: West Side
B2. Paris: Beautiful May
B3. Keflavik: The Whale Dance
B4. Houston 69: Houston 69 (part 2)

Following the vaguely poppy shapes of 1980's album East West, his fith album L'Ethique saw ex-Heldon guitarist and synth wizard Richard Pinhas return to bigger and bolder band-like methods. After the release he disappeared from the limelight for nearly a decade and returned in the 1990s.

Interviewed by "Electronics & Music Maker" magazine in 1982, Richard Pinhas spoke in buoyant terms about the future of his recording career. Having just unveiled his fifth solo album, L'Ethique, he was already scheming towards its follow-up. The next record. It would see him shift from analogue-based methods to digital systems. He expected the album to arrive in 1984. Little did anybody know that the mooted record would not actually materialise.

The year after that interview took place, Pinhas was plunged into a long period of depression. "I stopped everything and didn't think I would ever come back to music," he remembers. "I decided music was no longer for me. I'd said what I had to wanted to say, and it was done. It was out of my head and out of my life." Thus, he sold all his synthesisers and tried to survive on their profits along with royalties from his back catalogue. L'Ethique now looked as though it was Pinhas' final artistic statement. It was a strong collection to go out on. L'Ethique saw Pinhas return to bigger and bolder band-like methods. His collaborators included bassist Bernard Paganotti and Clément Bailly, both of whom performed stints in the prog band Magma. Moog player Patrick Gauthier made a reappearance too. The line-up brought a phat and forceful feel to the crunching jazz-rock fusion of 'Belfast' and 'Dedicated To K.C.', a vibrant space-rock stomper that lurks on some distant planet between the extraterrestrial habitats of King Crimson, Pink Floyd and Hawkwind.

Part 1 of 'The Western Wall' has a particularly fast tempo. Interspersing these rockers sit some mellower moments. The title of the gorgeous synth rumination 'Melodic Simple Transition' seems far too modest. Despite its dark and brooding synth chords, the second instalment of 'The Western Wall' has a strangely calming effect on the senses. Pinhas disappeared from the limelight for nearly a decade under the weight of his depression. On the strength of this record, not to mention the works that preceded it, there's little wonder that so many labels and promoters were falling over themselves to persuade Pinhas to return to music, which he eventually did in the 1990s. "The real miracle is that I reconnected with the music-making process," says Pinhas on overcoming his reclusive years. "It is easy to fall, but very difficult to come back."

TRACK LISTING

A1. L'Ethique (part 1) 
A2. Dedicated To KC 
A3. Melodic Simple Transition 
A4. Belfast 
B1. L'Ethique (part 2)
B2. The Western Wail (part 1)
B3. L'Ethique (part 3)
B4. The Western Wail (part 2)
B5. L'Ethique (part 4)

What the hell is shoegaze? A scene? A movement? A sound? Back in the Nineties, many would have said the so-called genre was entirely fabricated. The term itself, an offensive piss-take given by the notoriously catty and scene-obsessed British music press, was plainly rejected by the absurdly small collection of bands to which it supposedly applied.

Today shoegaze is undeniable. As a descriptor and as a source of influence, it is used in more ways and by more bands than anyone could have dreamed of 30 years ago. Between those periods of invention and ubiquity, the term, along with the bands it first described, all but disappeared off the face of the earth.

In this ambitious oral history of a genre that has eluded definition for three decades, Ryan Pinkard unearths the first wave of shoegaze, following the core bands, their sounds, their influence, and their journeys in and out of obscurity. His analysis is woven through dozens of original interviews with artists, label heads, and critics. What he discovers is the unlikely odyssey of this esoteric, experimental music form, which nearly became a mainstream entity, only to be viciously killed off, forgotten, and rediscovered by a new generation that regards it as one of the most influential alternative music events since the Velvet Underground.

We all know the Boxer. The fighter who remembers every glove but still remains. That grisly, bruised American allegory who somehow gets up more times than he’s knocked down.

This is the fight that nearly broke The National. The one that allowed them to become champions. Released in 2007, The National’s fourth full-length album is the one that saved them.

For fans, Boxer is a profound personal meditation on the unmagnificent lives of adults, an elegant culmination of their sophisticated songwriting, and the first National album many fell in love with. For the band, Boxer symbolizes an obsession, a years-long struggle, a love story, a final give-it-everything-you’ve-got effort to keep their fantasy of being a real rock band alive. Based on extensive original interviews with the fighters who were in the ring and the spectators who witnessed it unfold, Ryan Pinkard obsessively reconstructs a transformative chapter in The National’s story, revealing how the Ohio-via-Brooklyn five-piece found the sound, success, and spiritual growth to evolve into one of the most critically acclaimed bands of their time.

Rozi Plain returns with new album ‘Prize’ on Memphis Industries. 

Don’t ask Rozi Plain to explain her spellbinding fifth album Prize. Its ten, magical tracks exist as if in another realm, where feelings matter more than meanings, where thoughts have room to roam and where you can live in the moment for as long as you like.

Rozi’s signature, free-floating sound was set with her 2015 breakthrough Friend and cemented with 2019’s globally adored What A Boost (‘Like slipping between cotton sheets’ was Pitchfork’s description). Prize builds on both, but takes its cues from elsewhere. By a stretch, it’s Rozi’s most upbeat and daring album to date.

References to disco and rave, saxophone treated to sound like strings, silly synths and harp all play a part. Economy is key – every sound has an impact out of proportion to its size, every texture pays dividends. Rozi’s bewitching vocals are bolder and brighter than ever before. Male and female backing vocals feel like friends dropping by.

Begun pre-pandemic and composed and recorded everywhere from Glasgow and the Isle of Eigg to a seaside village in French Basque Country, Margate and London’s legendary Total Refreshment Centre, Prize may sound effortless but creating each song was as industry intensive as spinning a spider’s web. A cast of 15 feature, including Kate Stables, with whom Rozi has toured for the past decade in This Is The Kit, contemporary jazz titan Alabaster De Plume and Minneapolis based saxophonist Cole Pulice.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Aaah, it's always lovely to hear some more Rozi plain, and 'Prize' is by far her most spellbinding and focused work yet. The perfect backdrop to Plain's airy vocals has always been the more off-kilter instrumental backing (Múm's perfectly chaotic brand of childlike electronica comes to mind), and here we get the syncopated rhythms and jangling guitars of old, but with a more layered, intricate core. It's both beautifully meditative and hugely uplifting, the perfect balance.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Agreeing For Two
Complicated
Help
Prove Your Good
Side B
Painted The Room
Sore
Spot Thirteen
Standing Up

Rozi Plain has been making music since her brother taught her a few chords on the guitar aged 13. Raised in Winchester, she spent a few years studying art and painting boats in Bristol, where she began collaborating with long-term friends Kate Stables (This Is The Kit) and Rachael Dadd among many others on a thriving local scene. It was there that Rozi made her first two albums, 2008’s Inside Over Here and 2012’s Joined Sometimes Unjoined, each works of deliciously sad and beautiful pop full of heart-wrenching harmonies dotted with unexpected instrumental flourishes. Released in April 2015 on Lost Map and featuring contributions from Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor among others her last album Friend was a deeply meaningful and wonderfully measured ode to memory, place, companionship and music’s remarkable power as an emotional salve. A companion album of remixes, unreleased tracks and radio sessions, Friend Of A Friend, was released in 2016.

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: Rozi Plain's distinctive, gentle delivery is the glue that binds this follow up to the sublime "Friends" together - it's a fuller, more coherent release than it's predecessor and no less gorgeous.

TRACK LISTING

1. Inner Circle
2. Swing Shut
3. Symmetrical
4. The Gap
5. Old Money
6. Conditions
7. Dark Park
8. Trouble
9. Quiz
10. When There Is No Sun

Rozi Plain’s 2019 ‘What a Boost’ is reissued on limited edition eco-vinyl via Memphis Industries on 14 July. The reissue is timely, following on from the breakthrough success of her 2023 album Prize. ‘What a Boost’ was self-produced with the help of a long list of musical friends including Kate Stables, Jamie Whitby Coles, Neil Smith (all This is the Kit), Chris Cohen, Joel Wästberg (Sir Was) and Sam Amidon.

Rozi Plain has been making music since her brother taught her a few chords on the guitar aged 13. Raised in Winchester, she spent a few years studying art and painting boats in Bristol, where she began collaborating with long-term friends Kate Stables (This Is The Kit) and Rachael Dadd among many others on a thriving local scene. It was there that Rozi made her first two albums, 2008’s Inside Over Here and 2012’s Joined Sometimes Unjoined, each works of deliciously sad and beautiful pop full of heart-wrenching harmonies dotted with unexpected instrumental flourishes. Released in April 2015 on Lost Map and featuring contributions from Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor among others her last album Friend was a deeply meaningful and wonderfully measured ode to memory, place, companionship and music’s remarkable power as an emotional salve.

Almost permanently on tour, Rozi has taken her joyous live show on the road countless times around Europe, the UK and the USA, and has toured with a host of alt-folk luminaries from Devendra Banhart to James Yorkston. She has appeared at festivals including SXSW, Iceland Airwaves, Glastonbury, End of the Road, Latitude, BBC 6Music Festival and Green Man. 2023’s album Prize was something of a breakthrough for Rozi seeing 4 star reviews in Uncut, Mojo and the Guardian and leading to an unlikely support slot with Paramore which saw her perform at mega domes around the UK. As bass player and backing vocalist in Rough Trade signed This Is The Kit, Rozi has been touring the world for years and features on the new album Careful of Your Keepers.

TRACK LISTING

1.Inner Circle
2. Swing Shut
3. Symmetrical
4. The Gap
5. Old Money
6. Conditions
7. Dark Park
8. Trouble
9. Quiz
10. When There Is No Sun

Reunited after some fourteen years, following the historic success of their first collaboration Raising Sand (2007), which reached #2 on the UK album chart, generated multi-platinum sales, and earned six Grammy Awards including Album and Record of the Year.

Like its predecessor, Raise The Roof was produced by T Bone Burnett, who worked with Plant and Krauss to expand their collaboration in thrilling new directions, accompanied by drummer Jay Bellerose, guitarists Marc Ribot, David Hidalgo, Bill Frisell, and Buddy Miller, bassists Dennis Crouch and Viktor Krauss, along with pedal steel guitarist Russ Pahl among others.

The album features twelve new recordings of songs by legends and unsung heroes including Merle Haggard, Allen Toussaint, The Everly Brothers, Anne Briggs, Geeshie Wiley, Bert Jansch and more. Other highlights include a Plant-Burnett original, “High and Lonesome,” and the Lucinda Williams classic “Can’t Let Go”. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Yet another superb outing from the joint minds of Plant & Krauss. Beautifully written and undeniably characteristic of both acts without being the sound of one alone. The quintessential collaborative endeavour.

TRACK LISTING

1. Quattro (World Drifts In)
2. The Price Of Love
3. Go Your Way
4. Trouble With My Lover
5. Searching For My Love
6. Can’t Let Go
7. It Don’t Bother Me
8. You Led Me To The Wrong
9. Last Kind Words Blues
10. High And Lonesome
11. Going Where The Lonely Go
12. Somebody Was Watching Over Me 

13. My Heart Would Know *** Deluxe CD Only
14. You Can’t Rule Me *** Deluxe CD Only 

From its embryonic, conceptual stages - well before any music materialized - the mere idea of "Raising Sand" held infinite fascination for both its creators and those around them. As word spread of an impending musical collaboration between Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, imaginations ran wild. Two artists, each at the pinnacle of their respective pantheons, Robert and Alison have seemingly little in common. But just below the surface, an elemental understanding flowed between them, waiting to be tapped. Mutual admirers for some time, Plant and Krauss first performed together at a concert celebrating the music of Leadbelly. That great man's sound - spry and playful, yet marked by an undercurrent of torment and loss - is a keyhole into the sound world unlocked on "Raising Sand". After their initial collaboration proved promising, Plant and Krauss brought producer T Bone Burnett into the fold to help them investigate a more sustained, full-scale project. Charged with selecting both supporting musicians and material that would illuminate the connection between these two unique artists, Burnett succeeded wondrously. Built on a shared core of modal blues and country soul, filtered through alternating layers of unadorned tenderness and thick, shifting textures, the sounds on "Raising Sand" extend well beyond anyone's expectations.

TRACK LISTING

1 Rich Woman 4:05
2 Killing The Blues 4:17
3 Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us 3:25
4 Polly Come Home 5:39
5 Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On) 3:34
6 Through The Morning, Through The Night 4:03
7 Please Read The Letter 5:55
8 Trampled Rose 5:34
9 Fortune Teller 4:32
10 Stick With Me Baby 2:51
11 Nothin' 5:35
12 Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson 4:02
13 Your Long Journey 3:55

Robert Plant’s 'Saving Grace' is the first album featuring a new band of distinguished players, which he calls “a song book of the lost and found”. The genesis of 'Saving Grace' began during the lockdown in “The Shire”, when Plant’s customary wandering was all but forbidden. While his recent adventures have centred around Nashville, having reunited with Alison Krauss for 2021’s chart-topping, multi GRAMMY-nominated 'Raise The Roof', it was in the English countryside that Robert Plant connected closely to this diverse group of musicians, who through their own experiences had a shared lean towards his much-loved corners of evocative song. Together, Plant and Saving Grace – vocalist Suzi Dian, drummer Oli Jefferson, guitarist Tony Kelsey, banjo and string player Matt Worley, cellist Barney Morse-Brown – have spent the past six years growing into a wide-ranging workshop of styles and personalities, weaving through time and circumstance with joy and abandon.

“We laugh a lot, really. I think that suits me. I like laughing,” Plant says. “You know, I can't find any reason to be too serious about anything. I'm not jaded. The sweetness of the whole thing… These are sweet people and they are playing out all the stuff that they could never get out before. They have become unique stylists and together they seem to have landed in a most interesting place.”

Following his previous acclaimed releases on Nonesuch Records – 2014’s 'Lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar' and 2017’s 'Carry Fire' – Saving Grace brings yet another chapter of Robert Plant’s ceaseless roar into the daylight. Produced by Robert Plant and Saving Grace – and recorded between April 2019 and January 2025 in the Cotswolds and on the Welsh Borders – 'Saving Grace' breathes fresh life into a collection of century-old music. A treasury of songs featured back in time by Memphis Minnie, Bob Mosley (Moby Grape), Blind Willie Johnson, The Low Anthem, Martha Scanlan, Sarah Siskind, and Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk’s Low. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Chevrolet
2. As I Roved Out
3. It’s A Beautiful Day Today
4. Soul Of A Man
5. Ticket Taker
6. I Never Will Marry
7. Higher Rock
8. Too Far From You
9. Everybody's Song
10. Gospel Plough

'Patching', the intimate debut LP from Minnesota-based singer and songwriter Runo Plum, gracefully captures the contraction, expansion and release of an intense period of emotional repair, in soft-edged, radiating indie rock. A lush debut statement born from heartbreak, 'Patching' is filled with rich sonic moments that balance out emotional vacancies, creating expansion from an ending. The record’s unbridled sincerity isn’t anything new for Runo Plum, who’s been writing and quietly sharing bedroom dispatches of her intricate folk for a half-decade. During the pandemic years, she steadily caught the ears of a widening circle of listeners and began independently releasing a series of singles and EPs, all while cutting her teeth on the live side supporting Searows, Angel Olsen and Hovvdy.

Cataloging the double edged sword of love and loss in an aching freefall of indie rock with the same unabashed candor of early Julia Jacklin and Big Thief records, 'Patching' was recorded in a cabin in rural Vermont over the course of two weeks. Together with Lutalo, the Minnesota-born, Vermont-based musician and producer and Runo’s collaborator, instrumentalist and girlfriend Noa Francis, the trio centered the honeyed, time-worn timbre of a centenarian acoustic guitar and the easeful warmth of runo’s voice. Across patching’s twelve tracks, Runo paints melodic arcs that swirl and tumble, crafting songs that capture both the hazy highs and the dark blue lows of all the natural cycles that make the world turn.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sickness
2. Lemon Garland
3. Alley Cat
4. Halfway Up The Lawn
5. Be Gentle With Me
6. Elephant
7. Locket
8. Pond
9. Gathering The Pieces
10. The Quiet One
11. Darkness
12. Outro (Angel)

On Oct 9, 2007, Robert Pollard simultaneously released two albums on Merge Records: Standard Gargoyle Decisions and Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love. Both now out of print, Pollard has reimagined and condensed the two as Our Gaze, a single fifteen song album. Because it’s better.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Killers
2. Pill Gone Girl
3. Count Us In
4. The Island Lobby
5. Rud Fins
6. Current Desperation
(Angels Speak Of Nothing)
7. Hero Blows The Revolution
8. Come Here Beautiful
9. Shadow Port
10. Miles Under The Skin
11. Folded Claws
12. Feel Not Crushed
13. Youth Leagues
14. When We Were Slaves
15. Our Gaze

Robert Pollard (of Guided By Voices fame) with a newly recorded (December 2002) seveen-track mini-LP steeped in pop gems and sound collages.

Robert Ponger is perhaps best known as the producer for Austria’s biggest pop sensation Falco. His unparalleled production skills are on full display in the iconic hit single “Der Kommissar”, and he is also the main man behind Falco’s legendary early albums “Einzelhaft” and “Junge Römer”. But Ponger deserves at least as much credit for his solo recordings. The most sought-after of these is Ponger’s 1979 self-titled LP, which Edition Hawara is honoured to re-issue. The album contains twelve disco-inspired pieces that are unabashedly playful, but also signal serious musical knowledge and finesse. Recorded in the vicinity of Mistelbach, a village even locals struggle to find on a map, Ponger’s LP breathes the vibe of Studio 54 – with the little special extra that only Mistelbach can add. A true Austrian classic.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Love Train
A2. Johnny's Discothek
A3. Nights In The City
A4. In The Middle Of The Night
A5. Hey Big Brother
A6. Jodel Funk
B1. Starbird
B2. Sea Of Stars
B3. You Are My Yesterday
B4. Lucy
B5. Catherine
B6. Firewalk

La Scimmia Records presents: "Planisfero" by Roberto Porzio.

Renowned Neapolitan keyboardist and composer Roberto Porzio (Parbleu, Psyché, Fitness Forever, The Funkin' Machine and others) makes his highly anticipated solo debut album with "Planisfero" - a breathtaking sonic journey where tropical rhythms, Mediterranean lyricism, and cinematic orchestrations collide, shaping an intimate and personal musical landscape.

"Planisfero" blends salsa, samba, and vintage sound library aesthetics with the bold energy of an imaginary Afro-Cuban orchestra. Entirely written, arranged and composed by Roberto, the album is recorded completely live, with no digital shortcuts, becoming a manifesto to pure musicianship and analog authenticity - a rare gem in an era of synthetic production.

Step into a new musical geography where imagination knows no borders.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Modern, brilliant Latin-flavoured album that should appeal to fans of library records and samba dances alike. Another star of the Neapolitan scene Roberto Porzio introduces his sonic oeuvre in fine style.

TRACK LISTING

A1.Planisfero
A2.Fantastico Carnival
A3.Sem Carta
A4.La Lunga Rotta (Pt.1)

B1.La Lunga Rotta (Pt.2)
B2.Fanfara
B3.Instituiçâo Mental

The latest in a series of reissues spawned from Imaginational Anthem Volume 8 : The Private Press, following Tom Armstrong - The Sky Is An Empty Eye and Rick Deitrick - Gentle Wilderness/River Sun River Moon Reflections on Russell Potter by IA8 co-producer and poet, Michael Klausman : The two latest reissues to spin off from our acclaimed Imaginational Anthem Volume 8: The Private Press feature the solo guitar compositions of Russell Potter, recorded in the last waning days of the initial American Primitive explosion. A then obsessed teenaged devotee of John Fahey, Robbie Basho, and Leo Kottke at a time when Punk and New Wave were ascendant, Potter harnessed a similar DIY ethos to his own ends by starting his own label & self-publishing his first record, 'A Stone’s Throw’, while a freshman enrolled at Goddard College in Vermont in 1979.

Assembled at the legendary Boddie Records in Potter’s hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, and sprinkled liberally with references to his heroes, from the initial record label name of Fonytone (which more than a little recalls Fahey’s earliest record label, Fonotone), to the arcane song titles and references to obscure rags. Even as he looks to his elders, Potter’s debut release nimbly evinces a complete mastery of his form and is all the more remarkable for one of such tender years, as only the chutzpah of youth can account for such moves as successfully grafting one of your own composition to one of John Fahey’s, as he does here. There’s a very immediate, lovely, and real homespun quality to Potter’s chiming twelve-string compositions that puts it in the realm of those classic records that seem to simply exist outside of time. Shortly after ‘A Stones Throw’, Potter produced & released a 45rpm single by an Ohio bluegrass band featuring the cult singer songwriter Bob Frank performing a cover of Devo’s ‘Mongoloid’, before moving on to his second (and sadly final) album the following year, ‘Neither Here Nor There’. Following an independent study with a Goddard College ethnomusicologist, Potter’s compositions and performance only deepened on his second release — the recording quality steps up a little but loses none of the immediacy, the playing gets more exuberantly virtuosic —but then more reflective too, particularly on the tunes that are influenced by the gorgeous traditional Irish slow airs.

He’s still tipping his hat to Fahey occasionally as well, this time with an audacious electric guitar setting of the classic “Dance of the Inhabitant of the Palace of King Philip XIV of Spain.” Though these albums landed at a time when American Primitive guitar music’s 1960s & 1970s heyday was in the rear view mirror, they absolutely look ahead to the genre’s eventual 21st Century resurrection, anticipating both in form & content many of the same concerns you find in the great contemporary work of the last two decades by Jack Rose, Glenn Jones, Daniel Bachman, et al., and as such provide about as fine a stepping stone between these two eras as you’re likely to find

The latest in a series of reissues spawned from Imaginational Anthem Volume 8 : The Private Press, following Tom Armstrong - The Sky Is An Empty Eye and Rick Deitrick - Gentle Wilderness/River Sun River Moon Reflections on Russell Potter by IA8 co-producer and poet, Michael Klausman : The two latest reissues to spin off from our acclaimed Imaginational Anthem Volume 8: The Private Press feature the solo guitar compositions of Russell Potter, recorded in the last waning days of the initial American Primitive explosion. A then obsessed teenaged devotee of John Fahey, Robbie Basho, and Leo Kottke at a time when Punk and New Wave were ascendant, Potter harnessed a similar DIY ethos to his own ends by starting his own label & self-publishing his first record, 'A Stone’s Throw’, while a freshman enrolled at Goddard College in Vermont in 1979.

Assembled at the legendary Boddie Records in Potter’s hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, and sprinkled liberally with references to his heroes, from the initial record label name of Fonytone (which more than a little recalls Fahey’s earliest record label, Fonotone), to the arcane song titles and references to obscure rags. Even as he looks to his elders, Potter’s debut release nimbly evinces a complete mastery of his form and is all the more remarkable for one of such tender years, as only the chutzpah of youth can account for such moves as successfully grafting one of your own composition to one of John Fahey’s, as he does here. There’s a very immediate, lovely, and real homespun quality to Potter’s chiming twelve-string compositions that puts it in the realm of those classic records that seem to simply exist outside of time. Shortly after ‘A Stones Throw’, Potter produced & released a 45rpm single by an Ohio bluegrass band featuring the cult singer songwriter Bob Frank performing a cover of Devo’s ‘Mongoloid’, before moving on to his second (and sadly final) album the following year, ‘Neither Here Nor There’. Following an independent study with a Goddard College ethnomusicologist, Potter’s compositions and performance only deepened on his second release — the recording quality steps up a little but loses none of the immediacy, the playing gets more exuberantly virtuosic —but then more reflective too, particularly on the tunes that are influenced by the gorgeous traditional Irish slow airs.

He’s still tipping his hat to Fahey occasionally as well, this time with an audacious electric guitar setting of the classic “Dance of the Inhabitant of the Palace of King Philip XIV of Spain.” Though these albums landed at a time when American Primitive guitar music’s 1960s & 1970s heyday was in the rear view mirror, they absolutely look ahead to the genre’s eventual 21st Century resurrection, anticipating both in form & content many of the same concerns you find in the great contemporary work of the last two decades by Jack Rose, Glenn Jones, Daniel Bachman, et al., and as such provide about as fine a stepping stone between these two eras as you’re likely to find

Following on from the first KMS Sampler, PDD in conjunction with Armada Music & BEAT Music Fund return for Volume 2 in the series. Once again mining the delights in the expansive catalogue, Volume 2 showcases four more essential cuts. Up first is the classic MK Mix of R-Tyme’s – Use Me. Next up on the A side we have the legendary pairing of Chez Damier and Ron Trent with their remix of Inner City – Share My Life. On the flip, the D’Pac Dub of Dionne opens the B side and then rounding off the EP is the second Inner City track, this time remixed by another Detroit hero, Carl Craig.

Just like Volume 1, the audio has been lovingly remastered by AIR Studios and their team of celebrated engineers, fully utilising their mastering knowledge. Another brilliant volume from KMS!

TRACK LISTING

A1. R-Tyme - Use Me (MK Mix)
A2. Inner City - Share My Life (Chez N Trent's Vocal Dub)
B1. Dionne - Feel Da Rain (D'Pac Dub)
B2. Inner City - Till We Meet Again (Carl Craig Remix)

R. Elizabeth is the recording name of London-based artist and academic Rachael Finney. Every And All We Voyage On is her solo recording project’s second full length and is a focused distillation of her practice in sound art and her knack for pop minimalism. It follows a long sold out release on Where To Now? Records and a prolonged period in which she concentrated on artist residencies exploring her interest in recorded sound and voice. Immediate and natural, Every And All We Voyage On manages to sound joyful while tackling complex themes, handling everything with an improvisatory touch.
The songs are full of air and light; infectious, melodic and off-the-cuff.

Recorded using a single 80s Casio keyboard, reel-to-reel tape manipulation, piano and vocal, Finney’s practice with R. Elizabeth belies a studious attention to detail. Her academic work is often focused on analysing sounds – particularly voice and language – divorced from meaning and R. Elizabeth challenges the listener with overtly emotional tropes: sweeping portmento lap-steel guitar keyboard tones on Back From Ten suggest a nostalgic melancholy when it intersects with the narrator closing her eyes, realising she has nothing left to give. The lilting vocal cloaked in reverb is disarming, with an almost child-like surrender to the undertow of the song. On Tragedy And Trade there’s a rough grace to the mixing with visceral, manipulated tape sounding like the artists’ hands are literally in the speakers wrenching the melodies in mid-air. When it intersects with chants about the “gaps and the silences” it has an eerie, hauntological effect. R. Elizabeth is constantly playing with sound and song: a Wonderland of perceived emotion, the listener’s perception of what they’re hearing constantly in flux, it’s deceptively simple and deserving of repetitive listening.

Cut Piano opens the album and introduces a documentary-feel which the album upholds through-out. It’s the sound of the artist mangling a tape of her own piano recording, twisting it out of shape and suggesting a bend in reality. We’re listening to the artist becoming a ghost in her own machine, a 3rd or 4th generation copy of an emotion rendered a long time ago, chilling and playful at the same time. An Image Is Different bursts out of this with a sunny Casiotone beat, a melodic contrast that also introduces Finney’s vocal. It flitters between a gorgeous repetitive melody ruminating about the nature of reality and a seemingly careless, conversational tone. The effect is joyful, but you don’t really know why. The lyrics instruct someone (you? The artist?) to “go outside and break someone’s neck, make it feel so real” before ending with R. Elizabeth nonchalantly stating “I dunno, to be honest I don’t really care” as if on the phone to someone they’re bored with. It would be jarring if it wasn’t so catchy and uplifting. The title track is a slow-tempo meditation with droning synths providing the background to slow, dragging tape sounds and
grounding, just-out-of-focus vocals bunkering down in the mix. The methodology suggests the work of Broadcast: there’s a loping bassline that propels the track forward but the duet/duel between Finney’s haunted vocal and the soloing tape warble provides aural snakes for the listener’s ear to follow. Spiritual To Symphony is the brightest, most unabashed example of what R.Elizabeth achieves on Every And All We Voyage On. It’s utopian, bright and hypnotic: over a repetitive hook, a double tracked vocal intones a kind of post-structuralist, feminist manifesto: “A different kind of intimacy, a kind of female masculinity, I sense how to be, from vision to visuality.” It’s the perfect example of a piece of music that can be taken on its own terms, enjoyed as pure sound massaging the receptors in the brain or as something that can be dissected, it’s a microcosm of the album as a whole. Effortless and endlessly playful, the album is constantly shifting in and out of focus, from airy imagination to earthy reality. R. Elizabeth invites you to take the sound however you want it. Maybe she doesn’t really care, maybe she does. Who really knows? 

TRACK LISTING

1. Cut Piano
2. An Image Is Different
3. Back From Ten
4. Every And All We Voyage On
5. Spiritual To Symphony
6. Tragedy And Trade
7. Piano Cut

R. Missing is the enigmatic music project of New York based vocalist Sharon Shy and musician Toppy.previously known as The Ropes. Unsummering, the first release under their new moniker R. Missing, expands on The Ropes' previous palette of Morrissey tinged lyrics and darkwave, but manages to be even more isolated lyrically than their famously nihilistic previous work, fully embracing complete detachment. Musically, fraught guitar and synth textures paint an image of an unstable world, held together only by tightly quantized electronic drum beats.

You may know this South East London local under a different alias but here with a new mysterious moniker, R.Aldem steps up for Vol.1 on Camberwell Crime Syndicate. Three killer edits that you need in your life. A Camberwell Beauty indeed. From SE5 to the world!

TRACK LISTING

A1. Stone Faced
B1. The Shining
B2. Haunted

Brand new album from R.E.M. - what more can I say?!

When R.I.P. came crawling out of the sewers of Portland four years ago, their grimy, sleazy Street Doom was already a fully formed monstrosity that quickly infected the minds of everyone it encountered. At the time, none of us expected its depravity to take such fierce hold, and yet, here were are, sheltering in place and/or stealthily creeping through a nightmare dystopia that the 80s sci-fi/horror movies foretold. Dead End is, ironically, a recharge of the band’s sound, bearing influences ranging from John Carpenter films, post-apocalyptic grunge, pro-wrestling attitude and salty lo-fi hip-hop aesthetics to the band’s ferocious heavy metal. During the three years since the 2017 release of their sophomore album Street Reaper, R.I.P. has been busy tightening their sound and their line up while loosening their grip on sanity — touring the west coast with bands like Electric Wizard and Red Fang, and taking Street Doom overseas for the first time for a month long headlining tour of Europe. These years on the road and the addition of a more aggressive rhythm section have allowed the band to fully break free from their influences and deliver on the promise hinted at on their first two releases. For Dead End, R.I.P. worked with legendary producer Billy Anderson, interring onto wax their heaviest and most ambitious album yet. Continuing to move further away from their classic doom influences like Pentagram and Saint Vitus, the band offers a rare blast of originality in a scene rife with formulaic bands. Dead End is a fast and anxious ride where the very idea of doom is put to the test under duress of manic lyrics about death, insanity, and leather, and hook-laden guitar tracks that draw as equally from Nirvana as Black Sabbath.

TRACK LISTING

01. Streets Of Death
02. Judgement Night
03. Dead End
04. Nightmare
05. One Foot In The Grave
06. Death Is Coming
07. Moment Of Silence
08. Buried Alive
09. Out Of Time
10. Dead Of The Night

When R.I.P. came crawling out of the sewers of Portland, Oregon, last year, their grimy, sleazy street doom was already a fully formed monstrosity, quickly infecting the minds of everyone it encountered. Now, borne from the band’s declining mental health and an increased focus on songwriting, Street Reaper is even more unhinged and menacing than their debut In The Wind. Borrowing equally from ’80s Rick Rubin productions and Murder Dog magazine aesthetics, this latest album is a streamlined yet brutally raw manifesto of heavy metal ferocity hearkening to the era when both metal and hip hop were reviled as the work of street thugs intent on destroying America’s youth.

Throughout, Angel Martinez’s guitar and John Mullett’s bass are inextricably interlocked like a massive sonic steamroller, while drummer Willie D keeps the beat solid and simple for the most powerful impact. Plus, the band’s extensive touring and excessive virgin sacrifices have provided singer Fuzz evermore agile vocal chords to drive it all home with extreme precision. Operating on the belief that doom is not tied to a tuning or a time signature, but rather a raw and terrified feeling, R.I.P. eschews well-trodden fantasy and mysticism tropes of the genre and focuses on conveying the horror and chaos inherent in the everyday reality of the human mind.

TRACK LISTING

Unmarked Grave
Street Reaper
Mother Road
The Dark
The Other Side
Shadow Folds
(CD Only TRACKS )
Brimstone
The Cross
The Casket
Die In Vain

'Cleaning Out The Empty Administration Building' is Ross Farrar's latest offering of raw, spoken word abstraction and experimental sound design, presentedhere as R.J.F. The front man for American bands Ceremony and SPICE realized his solo recording project initially as a challenge, to write songs from the ground up, learning the instrumentation and excavating his subconscious in the process. The point was not fluency in musicianship as much as vulnerability; to pull something honest from a moment, unguarded, unpolished, unapologetically amateur and pure. The collection finds Farrar engaged in open-ended poetic dialogue, crossing drum patterns and found sounds with stabs of guitar, bass, and keys. After over twenty years in the comfort and chaos of collaboration, Farrar sheds it all as a test. The results are distinctive and stirring.

Farrar’s punk pathos is present in traces of 'Cleaning...', while his clearest cues come from music built more through repetition: drone, no-wave, Avant-jazz, and beyond. His plainspoken prose nods to Lou Reed, Rowland S. Howard and other weirdo greats. His lyrics riff on love, addiction, fatherhood, and life in the modern world. “I wanted to make images that people can see clearly,”he says. Farrar used to teach writing and literature, and here he applies the simple principle heencouraged his students to follow: don’t overthink it. “I was just saying to myself, these songs should be fun. They shouldn't be stressful. Do a couple of different takes and call it, you know, don't obsess over the sounds of everything. Do whatever comes out naturally, and if you feel it, then print it”. Selected from hundreds of freeform songs he’s recorded on borrowed gear in recent years, the album presented itself over time. “It just kept coming”.

'Cleaning...’s tone has a way of bending time, displacing the listener through a hall of songs, each opening a different door into rooms that often feel eerily familiar. The gurgling bass of opener 'Advance' returns elsewhere, haunting tracks like 'Ovidian', a reference to Metamorphōsēs by the Roman poet Ovid, where Farrar waxes on the wonder of change over distant chimes. Instrumentals 'Gravity Hill', a flutter of buzzing synth and static, and 'Frogs', all strums and pots n’ pans percussion, serve as trance-inducing interstitials, adding to the power of the prosethat surrounds. 'Exile' looks back on fallouts he can no longer repair; “So much of your heart caught in my exile,” he sings with tender resignation, looping a lone piano refrain with ambling guitar chords for the collection’s most structured arrangement, a reminder of Farrar’s knack for melodic phrasings. The album ends on 'Traveling Light From Afar', a full step faster than anything that precedes it. Here, over a backbone of motorik pulses, Farrar addresses the crux of the project head-on. “I’ve been so young in my old age / Selfish & self-pitying / But that’s just narcissism–man.”It is this balance, between gritty self-interrogation and the clarity of self-awareness that comes with getting older, that the artist can make space for progress, emptying out the building, one line at a time. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Advance
2. The Solitude Of Victory
3. Ovidian
4. Gravity Hill
5. In Your City
6. Exile
7. Here Again W/ Birdy
8. Frogs
9. Strawberry
10. Traveling Light From Afar 

From Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo: '"In Pink" is the 3rd (r) album. I've worked on it for almost 2 years, both 'cause I've been very busy with Larsen and XXL as well as touring and working in the studio with other bands, and 'cause it came through troubled and sometimes painful, but anyway intense times. Whereas the previous "Under The Cables, Into The Wind" was a very warm and relaxed album, and also my favourite so far, "In Pink" is a pretty extreme one, swinging between joy and fear, introspective moody songs and explosions of - desperately optimistic - energy. Still it is more a diary than an exorcism, filled with songs about death and transfiguration, including my version of an Irish traditional theme (which also Johnny Cash interpreted on one of his American albums) and Joy Division's classic "Atmosphere" (which I list among the best songs ever written). It is also my most arranged and colourful album where my recent experiences as producer for other bands have converged, and the most 'band' oriented among my solos.

I was expecting this to be a shouty pop thing going off the name of the band (and the label to some extent) but it's actually nothing like that at all! Hailing from Syracuse, New York, Ra Ra Riot blend the fury of post punk with melodic orchestral sensibilities to create this sublime pop song full of gently distorted guitars and subtle violins topped with a vocal that swoops and soars beautifully. Very good indeed!

Ami Taf Ra is an LA-based artist of North African heritage who has a long held passion for musical and cultural fusion. Her latest work — ‘The Prophet and The Madman’ — is a musical interpretation of the timeless writings of Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist Khalil Gibran. Heralded for her seamless fusion of Arabic musical traditions like Moroccan gnawa with jazz and gospel, ‘The Prophet and The Madman’ is beautifully cinematic and epic in scope. Composed, produced and arranged by Ami Taf Ra and legendary saxophonist composer and frequent collaborator Kamasi Washington, the album features contributions from a stellar cast of musicians including: Ryan Porter, Miles Mosley, Brandon Coleman, Tony Austin, Cameron Graves, Ronald Bruner Jr., Allakoi Peete, Kahlil Cummings and more. Kamasi’s musical contribution infuses a rich lineage of spiritual jazz, afrocentric philosophy, and orchestral grandiosity.

TRACK LISTING

1. Speak To Us (Intro)
2. How I Became A Madman (feat. Kamasi Washington)
3. The Prophet
4. God
5. Love (feat. Ryan Porter)
6. My Friend (feat. Brandon Coleman)
7. Children
8. Gnawa (feat. Kamasi Washington)
9. Gibran
10. Khalil
11. Speak To Us (Outro)

Nuha Ruby Ra presents new EP Machine Like Me, featuring the singles Self Portraiture and My Voice. 2021’s How To Move EP, released to critical acclaim cemented Nuha as one of the most exciting and provocative new acts in the country. Live shows across UK and Europe followed - both as headliner and supporting the likes of Yard Act, Warmduscher, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard and Viagra Boys - and in 2022 her debut at SXSW in Austin, Texas. She’s also booked prestigious slots on home turf at the likes of Glastonbury and Bluedot, as well as European showcases at Left Of The Dial, Reeperbahn, Grauzone and more.

On this colossally ambitious new EP, Nuha’s drive is plain to hear. She played almost every instrument herself, holed up in a small Essex cabin, from the dirty bass drones of My Voice to Self-Portraiture’s squalling battles between synth and guitar, the lurching punk stomp of 6 In The Morning to the teeming electronics of Slicer, the manic industrial noise of Rise to You Never Know’s sudden strip back into moody ambience.

“The most important thing to me is that I do exactly what I want,” says Nuha Ruby Ra. “Not in a stubborn way, but in the way I need as a person.”

TRACK LISTING

1. My Voice
2. Self Portraiture
3. 6 In The Morning
4. Slicer
5. Rise
6. You Never Know 

Nuha Ruby Ra releases her double A-side 7” “My Voice / Eggshells” on 11 November 2022 via Zen F.C., the label run by Yard Act members James Smith and Ryan Needham. Having bonded during her special guest slot on Yard Act’s May UK tour, Zen FC couldn’t resist asking Nuha to be the next artist in their series of 7”s, following on from Baba Ali and Benefits, not to mention Yard Act’s own early releases.

Nuha says of the release: “Putting out My Voice on 7” with Eggshells on the flip side is a special little world at night in my head. They’re both purgatory in different ways. it’s a special song for me I wasn’t ready to part with. Until James asked me to be further a part of the Yard Act family and release something on Zen FC!

I was in the middle of more crazy touring after I left them and decided giving them Eggshells right now is like giving your new best friend your new favourite toy, to show them you really love them. I sort of forgot other people will hear it. Also the toy is a bit weird. My love for Yard Act, as artists and humans is deep! They’ve grown to mean so much to me over the big tour we did together. I’ve found a real kindred spirit in all of them. Not least to say It’s a real honour to be alongside the brilliant artists on Zen FC, Baba Ali, Benefits, Acid Klaus, Elton John.. I think they’re all very good.”

Yard Act’s James Smith says of the release: “I first witnessed the immense powers of Nuha Ruby Ra on the 31st July 2021, when we shared a new band bill together in the basement of YES Manchester. Covid restrictions had been lifted a week prior and the general etiquette of how to exist in crowded rooms was still being navigated. I watched Nuha's set from the back with a mask on, but the days of rubbing post-show shoulders in the green room were yet to return and so I became a fan, but not yet a friend.

Her debut mini album came through the post not long after and I listened to it relentlessly. I played it to the band, and we unanimously agreed that if she was up for it we would take her on tour with us. She was up for it. Cosmic. Every member of Yard Act and our touring crew made a friend for life in Nuha when we toured together earlier this year. The least we could do is help a friend and gain cool points by releasing such a banging record on our label. Long live Nuha Ruby Ra, the artist and the human.”

Råå spelar Pierce & von Euler (“Råå plays Pierce and von Euler”) is Råå’s third studio album, following the acclaimed Skånes järnvägar (2018) and Ljungens lag (2019). The A - side is comprised of two songs by Spiritualized, and the B - side contains dub - like versions of Stockholm based musician Henrik von Euler’s piano EP, Hemskogen.

“Two years ago, in the late summer, I got the idea to make cover versions of Henr ik von Euler’s EP, Hemskogen . What first sounded like hazy, hungover sketches of Nils Frahm were transformed in my mind into dub. So, I just had to ask his permission. It’s a rather unusual thing to make covers of a whole album, and that just made it even more appealing”, says Magnus Sveningsson. As everyone knows, four songs are rarely enough for an LP. So, it was time to dig up a few old favourites.

“I have loved Spiritualized ever since the release of their debut album, Lazer Guided Melodies , in 1992. I’m especially fond of the slow songs and their abysmal bass lines. “Take Your Time” is one of them, and the idea to make something with it has followed me for a long time. “I Think I’m in Love” is here translated into “Jag tror jag är kär”. The energy of it invites irresponsible late - night driving”, says Magnus Sveningsson.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Ok, it might not be Balearic - but we simply had to squeeze this into our weekly picks! A beguiling mix of kraut, psyche, dub and downbeat, given a quirky Swedish slant. Its beautifully enamoured covers of Spiritualized sit stylishly next to a side of laid back dubs and soundscapes rich enough for the KPMG libraries! Not only that, the artwork and sleeve design are fantastic. GET ON THIS!

TRACK LISTING

Jag Tror Jag Är Kär
Ta Din Tid
Hemskogen I D Moll
Hemskogen I G Moll
Hemskogenm I F Dur
Hemskogen I C Dur

For fans of Indietronic, Dreampop, Lofi.

Bio: Basically we know very little about Frank Rabeyrolles... a PHD in Philosophy, a endless love for funny analog drum machines and tambourines and many dedications in his albums to his beloved cats Leo & Elliot ...Anyway today he's putting the final touch to his 8th album so let's dig up some more about this discreet and unclassifiable French human character.

Discovered in 2004 with "Life Behind A Window " under the Double U alias, he manages to surprise and seduce the public and the press in France (teacher's pet of Les Inrocks) with his dreamy hybrid-pop/songwriting. International press (De bug, Xlr8r,Lodown...) fall as well for the charm of this other vision of "French touch". Frenetically productive, Frank R. keeps up the pace since then, releasing a new album every year, first with Double U then with Franklin, new name which translates his serious desire of continuous mutation.In 2006, he also creates his label Wool Recordings, releasing on vinyls exclusive tracks of Laetitia Sadier, Stereolab's grand lady, Castanets split EP and re-issueing rare sought-after 70's estonian vocal jazz, also inviting new talents like Peter Broderick, Benoit Pioulard...

Without a proper carrier plan, Frank Rabeyrolles manages anyway to remain the same but keeps surprising his followers: with " Artificial light " in 2011 a new step comes along, this solar album meets a better international exposure through a brilliant remix by Com Truise, his synthetic layers and dancing beats seducing as much fashion hipsters than geeky bloggers. Frank Rabeyrolles feels now ready to issue a piece under his own name, putting his soul out in the wild : poetic, fragile and pictural, this upcoming album "#8" loves playing with the rules of contemporary pop.

He says: "The idea of labelling the album with just its rank number in my production is like my own private joke to those who keep looking endlessly for the "next big thing" . Music is a lot more to me than a "genre". It has to be at the crossing of imaginary worlds and mine is somewhere between handmade "Songwriting" and playful electronic variations ...I hope many listeners could bond to those different universes."

TRACK LISTING

Trees 
Your Energy 
Instable Drive 
Listening To Tago Mago 
Cold Tropics 
Eggs No Eggs 
Dirty Window 
Cycling 
Seriously
DIY
Soap And Bubbles 
Black Cat 
Eastern

With the release of 'Communion', the follow up to his acclaimed EP (and Tri Angle debut) 'Baptizm', Rabit shows no signs of letting up. As a sound designer Rabit has continued to push himself into new and compelling territories, reshaping various ‘club’ sounds into something alien and unpredictable, but with the release of this album he’s heavily politicized his music in a way he’d only hinted at before.

The deeply personal aspect of his creative process, and what has been described as an “intangible something“ in his music, resonates with listeners on a gut level, both pushing and pulling the listener into a world of destruction and rebirth. ‘Communion’ is a complex, disorientating album, and one that feels especially timely considering it was primarily inspired by issues relating to sexuality, gender, ownership of our natural bodies, societal and governmental injustices, and media manipulations, the discussion of which have been so prevalent of late. Consequently ‘Communion’ runs the full gamut of emotions; confusion and bewilderment transforming into anger and confrontation, finally ending up in a place of possible hope; the sound of earthly chains on the soul being broken.

TRACK LISTING

1. Advent
2. Snow Leopard
3. Fetal
4. Artemis
5. Ox
6. Flesh Covers The Bone
7. Pandemic
8. Burnerz
9. Glass Harp Interlude
10. Black Gates
11. Trapped In This Body

Grammy-winning artist RAC (Andre Allen Anjos) returns with his highly anticipated new album “BOY”, released on Counter Records following his 2017 release “Ego”. Stand alone single is a cover of the iconic early 2000s hit “Never Let You Go” from Third Eye Blind featuring singer, songwriter, DJ and record producer Matthew Koma and his actress wife Hilary Duff.

Recommended if you like… Odesza, Classixx, Goldroom, St Lucia, Sigala, Rudimental, Tourist, Elderbrook, Big Wild, Jai Wolf, Sigma, Louis The Child

TRACK LISTING

LP:
SIDE A
A1. Rapariga
A2. Boomerang (ft. Luna Shadows)
A3. MIA (ft. Danny Dwyer)
A4. Passion (ft. Louis The Child)
SIDE B
B1. Sweater (ft. Maddie Jay)
B2. Next To You (ft. Emerson Leif)
B3. Toulouse (ft. Minke)
SIDE C
C1. Gomas
C2. Stuck On You (ft. Phil Good)
C3. Together (ft. Evalyn)
C4. Carefree (ft. LeyeT)
C5. Oakland (ft. Winnetka Bowling
League)
SIDE D
D1. Arcoíris
D2. Solo (ft. Gothic Tropic)
D3. Get A Life (ft. Instupendo)
D4. Change The Story (ft. Jamie Lidell)
D5. Dolores Park
D6. Better Days (ft. St. Lucia)

CD
1. Rapariga
2. Boomerang (ft. Luna Shadows)
3. MIA (ft. Danny Dwyer)
4. Passion (ft. Louis The Child)
5. Sweater (ft. Maddie Jay)
6. Next To You (ft. Emerson Leif)
7. Toulouse (ft. Minke)
8. Gomas
9. Stuck On You (ft. Phil Good)
10. Together (ft. Evalyn)
11. Carefree (ft. LeyeT)
12. Oakland (ft. Winnetka Bowling League)
13. Arcoíris
14. Solo (ft. Gothic Tropic)
15. Get A Life (ft. Instupendo)
16. Change The Story (ft. Jamie Lidell)
17. Dolores Park
18. Better Day

Race 'N Rhythm was originally a 12 member jazz group out of Oakland. The members were multiracial, which inspired the name.

The group was managed by jazz-master Rudolph Peters. He also owned the small Oakland based record label "Northstar Records." After playing the local jazz circuit for a few years, the group decided to put out their first and only 7" single. Luckily for Race 'N Rhythmthey were under the guidance of Harvey Scales's right hand "William Scott Harralson.", William was a brilliant soul pianist and songwriter. Aside from all the work he did with Harvey Scales, he also co-produced two amazing Bay Area record grails; 'Debravon Lewis - The Little Things" and 'The Stars - (We Are The Star's)'.

With the local success of the single, the group signed on to record a full album titled "Album One". Members Sharon Nance and Gerald Goudeau worked closely together, finding romance, and eventually they got married. They became the driving force behind the groups further success. For decades Race 'N Rhythm played and toured Japan, Canada and all the United States. Sharon and Gerald continued working together until Sharon's passing last October.

TRACK LISTING

1. Space Saver
2. Candybar Superstar

A group who thrive in their songcraft while picking apart the everyday to find the hidden relationships within, Aberystwyth’s Race Horses return with new album ‘Furniture’ and lead-off single ‘My Year Abroad’.

Indicative of the new album’s tight, compact songwriting, ‘My Year Abroad’ sees the band make their most defined steps forward yet and hone in on the pin-sharp pop that lead singer Meilyr Jones has cited as recent influences, such as Soft Cell, Dexy’s Midnight Runners and Queen.

‘My Year Abroad’ is typical of Jones’ lyrical perspective. It focuses on the tale of a businessman on a trip to Tokyo, but digs under the surface level to find, as he puts it, “the grim reality, not the glamorisation of excess, using things and people, cheap thrills.”

Features Welsh language B-side ‘Cysur a Cyffro’.

Limited to 500 bright yellow coloured 7”s with postcard and tracing paper insert. Includes business card with phone number - fans are invited to leave messages for the band.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Pin-sharp pop influenced by Soft Cell, Dexy’s Midnight Runners and Queen. Limited to 500 bright yellow coloured 7”s with postcard and tracing paper insert.

TRACK LISTING

My Year Abroad
Cysur A Cyffro

"Acid Or Blood" is Racebannon's most caustic, abrasive, fluid, and balls-out riff-heavy endeavor. Eleven tracks of unchecked emotion (recorded by Mike Bridavsky of Russian Recording and mastered by Bob Weston) unfurl as the band unleashes its working-class destruction without a care in the world for convention or marketability. Songs like "The Hard Way", "Terror And Dread", "Translucent Lifeforce", and "Vampyric Solution" showcase this killing machine at their most lethal and original. But just in case you didn't get the memo, Racebannon doesn't give a fuck what you think, and make sure you take your shoes off when you step on their carpet. Brace yourself for the impact of "Acid Or Blood", which will take no prisoners, and make no apologies.

Racebannon craft a sordid tale of woe, depression, excitement, accolade, fear, rise, fall, alpha and omega through a five part aural aria of the pleasures and pain of the rock'n'roll lifestyle. Tracks often go from a funeral dirge to defiant and pompous to a spaced out overdose. One for fans of The Melvins, Icarus Line and Jesus Lizard.

Daniel Rachel's second album "A Taste Of Money" has a glorious upbeat feel, with captivating, luscious string arrangements, fantastically catchy pop chorus' and beautiful, bitter-sweet ballads.

In 1979, 2 Tone exploded into the national conscience as records by The Specials, The Selecter, Madness, The Beat, and The Bodysnatchers burst onto the charts and a youth movement was born.

2 Tone was black and white: a multi-racial force of British and Caribbean island musicians singing about social issues, racism, class and gender struggles. It spoke of injustices in society and took fight against right wing extremism.

The music of 2 Tone was exuberant: white youth learning to dance to the infectious rhythm of ska and reggae; and crossed with a punk attitude to create an original hybrid. The idea of 2 Tone was born in Coventry, masterminded by a middle-class art student raised in the church. Jerry Dammers had a vision of an English Motown. Borrowing £700, the label's first record featured 'Gangsters' by The Specials' backed by an instrumental track by the, as yet, unformed, Selecter. Within two months the single was at number six in the national charts. Dammers signed Madness, The Beat and The Bodysnatchers as a glut of successive hits propelled 2 Tone onto Top of the Pops and into the hearts and minds of a generation. However, soon infighting amongst the bands and the pressures of running a label caused 2 Tone to bow to an inevitable weight of expectation and recrimination.

Still under the auspices of Jerry Dammers, 2 Tone entered in a new phase. Perhaps not as commercially successful as its 1979-1981 incarnation the label nevertheless continued to thrive for a further four years releasing a string of fresh signings and a stunning endpiece finale in '(Free) Nelson Mandela'.

Told in three parts, Too Much Too Young is the definitive story of a label that for a brief, bright burning moment, shaped British culture.

'Grip Your Fist, I'm Heaven Bound' is the debut album from Michigan based seven-piece band, Racing Mount Pleasant, formerly known as Kingfisher.

TRACK LISTING

1. Intro (Shannondale Road)
2. Annie
3. Reichenbach Falls
4. Talus (Song For John)
5. Holy Hell
6. Snowing, All At Once
7. Grip Your Fist
8. Regulate
9. Heaven Bound, Home
10. Do You Think I'm Pretty

Sophomore, self-titled album from Michigan based seven-piece band, Racing Mount Pleasant, formerly known as Kingfisher. Emotional, transcendental, and lush.

TRACK LISTING

1. Your New Place
2. Tenspeed (Shallows)
3. Heavy Red
4. Emily
5. Seminary
6. You
7. You Pt. 2
8. Racing Mount Pleasant
9. Call It Easy
10. Outlast
11. 34th Floor
12. Seyburn
13. Your Old Place

'Help Us Stranger' is The Raconteurs' third studio LP and first new album in more than a decade. It sees the mighty combo reassembled, stronger and perhaps even more vital than ever before as they continue to push rock 'n' roll forward into its future, bonding prodigious riffs, blues power, sinewy psychedelia, Detroit funk, and Nashville soul via Benson and White’s uncompromising songcraft and the band’s steadfast musical muscle. With 'Help Us Stranger' The Raconteurs have returned right when they are needed most, unified and invigorated with boundless ambition, infinite energy and a collectivist spirit operating at the peak of its considerable powers, once again creating a sound and fury only possible when all four of its members come together.

White and Benson wrote all the songs on 'Help Us Stranger' except one cover, “Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness),” which was written by Donovan. Recorded at Third Man Studio in Nashville, TN, the album was produced by The Raconteurs and engineered by Joshua V. Smith. Longtime friends and musical collaborators helped make 'Help Us Stranger', including keyboardist/multi-instrumentalist Dean Fertita (The Dead Weather, Queens of the Stone Age) and Lillie Mae Rische and her sister Scarlett Rische. The album was mixed by Vance Powell and The Raconteurs at Blackbird Studios in Nashville.

STAFF COMMENTS

Mine says: After focusing on his solo career and his label Third Man Records, Jack White is reuniting with his Raconteurs for their first studio album since 2008. They pick up where they left off (ish) and, taking it up a notch, create an album that feels more energetic than its predecessors. Fans of Jack White's latest solo album will probably dig this.

TRACK LISTING

Bored And Razed
Help Me Stranger
Only Child
Don’t Bother Me
Shine The Light On Me
Somedays (I Don’t Feel Like Trying)
Hey Gyp (Dig The Slowness)
Sunday Driver
Now That You’re Gone
Live A Lie
What’s Yours Is Mine
Thoughts And Prayers

Review from 2006:
I'm sure you know the score with these guys anyway, but just incase you don't: The Raconteurs consist of Jack Lawrence and Patrick Keeler from The Greenhornes, Brendan Benson and Jack White. While each of these four individuals have had successful careers with their own bands, the culmination of all of their talents is what truly makes The Raconteurs a force to be reckoned with. The quartet convened at Benson's East Grand Studio to lay down the basic tracks for "Broken Boy Soldiers". Work would continue whenever the boys could get together over the next year - although actual recording only took a couple of weeks in total. The album draws influences from early blues (as you'd expect from the line-up), along classic rock from the 60s to the present day. From the ready-made, radio-friendly quality built into songs like "Steady, As She Goes", to the explosive tenacity of "Store Bought Bones", all the way down to the lullabies that encompass the full length recording, The Raconteurs are more than capable of conquering any genre challenge or tale that they encounter. After all, a raconteur is, by definition, a deft storyteller. And now a new story is unfolding.

Review from 2008:
'With this release, The Raconteurs are forgoing the usual months of lead time for press and radio set up, as well as forgoing the all important 'first week sales'. We wanted to explore the idea of releasing an album everywhere at once and THEN marketing and promoting it thereafter. The Raconteurs would rather this release not be defined by it's first weeks sales, pre-release promotion, or by someone defining it FOR YOU before you get to hear it. Another purpose was to also allow people to have their own choice as to exactly which format they would like to hear the album in IMMEDIATELY, rather than having to wait for their favorite format to become available. The band are also not releasing any version of this record that contains bonus tracks. Musically this album will be the same as the band created it no matter what format it is purchased in (The sound quality of each format however, is a different story. The Raconteurs recommend hearing it on vinyl, but the choice is of course up to the listener).'
Sincerely, The Raconteurs.

Planet Mu presents ‘ADDLE’ – Bogdan Raczynski’s first album of new music in 15 years. Marking a change from the high-octane jungle tekno braindance for which he is most commonly known, here we find the Polish American musician in a more melodic and zen-like place of peace, which is ergonomic and decluttered, whilst also bittersweet and tinged with melancholy. ‘ADDLE’ is closest in spirit to 2001’s tender ‘myloveilove’, or the light-hearted ditties of this year’s ‘BANANS’ EP, but is also a markedly new milestone. A robust and bottom-heavy rhythm section juxtaposes with sad electronic tear jerkers, at points laced with the soft cooing wail of his vocals, which are loaded with a haunting, heavy and almost wounded emotion. Bogdan comments “Calm is great. You need to take a breather in the eye of the storm now and then. But the real growth happens in turbulence, when your feelings oscillate in and out of sync. It’s not dry land you’re after. You’re trying to build a new island while on a piddly raft. Beleaguered and weary you lay the foundation with your bare hands while the rain lashes your back; a new place for you and yours to moor yourself to until the next storm hits. ‘ADDLE’ is about that storm, its adjacent periphery, and what you look like, in and out, when you set foot. As space and time push against you, that process of adapting becomes an anchor. Among that state of being addled, out of flow, seemingly untethered, there is beauty.”

Although less unhinged and riotous than some of his previous work, ‘ADDLE’ is no less impactful. Lean, punchy and purposeful, this seemingly simple combination of beats and melody belies a razor sharp skill, which bursts with verve and virtuosity. Across its eight unique and moving tracks the listener experiences tenderness, feelings somewhere between unease and comfort, and a sense of reflection, with Bogdan seemingly gazing at twinkling stars, but with his view distorted by welling-up. Sonically, spaces range from razor-sharp choppage, juddering heavyweight head-nodders, bit-crushed siren squall and something akin to Philip Glass’ ‘Candyman’ score played through a high-tech-fairy-tale music box. There’s also a warming, life-affirming moment as close to deep house as Bogdan will ever comfortably get, neck-snapping metallic percussion, Casiotone on steroids and reverberant warehouse throb. Booming drum machines are a prominent factor too – reminiscent of early hip hop instrumentals – but spirited off somewhere, lost in purgatory. Bogdan Raczynski (born 1977) is a Polish-American electronic musician. Raczynski’s work draws inspiration from the chaotic breakbeats of jungle and hardcore rave as well as traditional Polish music and other sources. He has collaborated with Bjork, remixed Autechre, CLPNG and Jonsi from Sigur Ross, and toured with Aphex Twin, who commented how “his records are so underrated.” Bogdan was also a roster mainstay of Richard James’s seminal Rephlex label, with additional releases on Warp, Ghostly, Disciples and Unknown to the Unknown. A keen proponent of tech, he created a sample pack using pollution and recently collaborated with Polyend on a custom made banana-themed tracker.

TRACK LISTING

2LP
A:
1/LADDE
2/DLEDA
3/DLAED

B:
1/ELDDA
2/EADLD

C:
1/LDDAE
2/ADLDE

D:
1/ALDDE