Gary Bartz (alto & soprano sax, vocals) - Charles Mims (piano, syntheziser) - Curtis Robertson (electric bass, back vocals) - Howard King (drums). A fantastic live recorded in Bremen on 8th November 1975 set from reedman Gary Bartz – captured here with his ultra-hip NTU group – who you might know from their classic albums on Milestone in the 70s! 1 hour and 46 minutes of free and spiritual jazz.

TRACK LISTING

1. Nation Time (Live)
2. Ju Ju Man (Live)
3. Medley: Rise / Celestial Blues / The Sounding Song / Incident / Uhuru Saga (Live)
4. Peace And Love (Live)
5. Sifa Zote (Live)
6. I've Known Rivers (Live)
7. Sweet Tooth

Julianna Barwick’s revelatory third album, ‘Will’, is the Brooklyn experimental artist’s most surprising left turn to date. Conceived and self-produced over the past year in a variety of locations, the compelling ‘Will’ departs from the weighty lightness of 2013’s ‘Nepenthe’.

If ‘Nepenthe’ conjured images of gentle fog rolling over desolate mountains, then ‘Will’ is a late afternoon thunderstorm, a cathartic collision of sharp and soft textures that sounds ominous and restorative all at once.

‘Will’ comes after Barwick’s busiest period to date in her career following ‘Nepenthe’ - a spate of activity that included playing piano for Yoko Ono, performing at the 25th annual Tibet House Benefit Concert alongside such kindred spirits as The Flaming Lips and Philip Glass, releasing the ‘Rosabi’ EP and delivering a reimagining of Bach’s ‘Adagio’ from Concerto In D Minor.

Her life over the past several years has largely been lived in transit and as such the genesis of ‘Will’ was not beholden to location; Barwick reflects on this cycle of constant motion. “You’re constantly adjusting, assimilating, and finding yourself in life-changing situations.” That sense of forward propulsion is largely owed to ‘Will’s synth-heavy textures, an ingredient she was inspired to add to her vocal loop-heavy formula after demoing a new prototype analogue sequencer for Moog.

Another new wrinkle ‘Will’ introduces in Barwick’s sound: Mas Ysa’s Thomas Arsenault, who lends his richly complex vocals to ‘Same’ and ‘Someway’.

The beguiling, beautifully complicated ‘Will’ is the latest proof yet of Barwick’s irresistibly engaging talent as a composer and vocalist.

Julianna has recently collaborated with Moog and MoMa, lending her prestige as both a musician and artist as a whole.

TRACK LISTING

St. Apolonia
Nebula
Beached
Same
Wist
Big Hollow
Heading Home
Someway
See, Know

Four years on from the release of her last, critically acclaimed LP, Julianna Barwick returns with “Healing Is A Miracle”.

A distinctive meditation on sound, reverb and the voice, “Healing Is A Miracle” is a record built on improvisation and a close affinity to a couple of trusted items of gear, from which she spins engrossing, expansive universes. Additionally, Barwick draws on the input of three collaborators with whom she has nurtured deep friendships with over the years: Jónsi (Sigur Rós), Nosaj Thing and Mary Lattimore; who each gently nudge out at the edges of her organically-evolved sound.

Recorded in the wake of a seismic shift in her life following a move from New York—where she had lived for 16 years—to Los Angeles where she is now based, the title of the record came to her after thinking about how the human body heals itself, of the miraculous processes we pay little attention to: “You cut your hand, it looks pretty bad, and two weeks later it looks like it never happened… That’s kind of amazing, you know?” It’s a sentiment that feels particularly apt for the moment. From there, she conceived of the record’s simple statement title, ran it past a couple of friends, and it was settled. Like with the record itself, and all of her work, it’s about following her gut, and seeing where it takes her.

“Healing Is A Miracle” began life in spring of last year, when Barwick sat down with her vocal looping set-up and began sketching out some ideas for new solo material. “It had been so long since I had done that,” she recalls, “making something for myself, just for the love of it… it was emotional, because I was recording music that was just from the heart, that wasn't for an 'assignment' or project… it brought me to tears a little”.

Part of the joy also came from a small but significant switch up to her recording process: the addition of some studio monitors—a birthday gift from Jónsi and Alex (Somers)—having previously recorded all of her music on headphones. “The first song I remember making with those was the first song on the album, Inspirit.” she explains, “When I added the bass I really felt it in my body, you know, in a way you just wouldn’t with headphones… it was kind of euphoric and fun. I got really excited about making the record in that moment, and I think that really had an impact on the sounds I ended up making.”

Excitement too came from the chance to work with three dream collaborators. Her connection to Jónsi began via producer Alex Somers, when Barwick flew to Reykjavík to record some sessions with him for her 2013 record “Nepenthe”, a trip which would begin a long-standing affinity with Iceland and the people she connected with there. “I think he has the best voice in the world,” she says, “and hearing my voice with Jonsi's is one of the joys of my life.” Nosaj Thing—the highly respected electronic producer and stalwart of the LA scene who has worked with the likes of Kendric Lamar—had gotten in touch to express his affection for her 2011 album “The Magic Place”, and they’d since been trying to find a way to work together. Barwick and Lattimore had struck up a friendship over many years performing live together, and had moved to LA around the same time. Finding herself in the same city as all three for the first time, it felt natural to include them in her process, and added to the feeling of newness, support and friendship she had while producing the record.

Beyond her records, Barwick’s impressive live shows have gained incredible praise over the years from the likes of The Guardian—who described her performance as “exquisite in its eloquence, reflection and compassion” in their 5* review—The New York Times, NPR, and more. She has also supported and performed with an amazing array of artists including Bon Iver, Grouper, Explosions in the Sky, Sigur Rós, Sharon Van Etten, Angel Olsen, Perfume Genius, Mas Ysa, and Nat Baldwin.

Barwick has additionally been involved in some head-turning collaborations over the years. In 2015 she took part in The Flaming Lips’s Carnegie Hall show, performing music from their reimagining of “Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band”, alongside Phillip Glass, Debbie Harry, Laurie Anderson and Pattie Smith. That same year she was invited to play two shows with Yoko Ono, one at MoMA (“my favorite thing ever”) and one in Central Park. In 2012 she released a collaborative album with Helado Negro as OMBRE, and has also released a collaborative single with Rafael Anton Isarri, on the super-limited Thesis label, and most recently, the “Command Synthesis” EP, on RVNG Intl. sub-label Commend There, which employed AI to build five tracks that responded to the airborne environment outside a hotel room. In 2019 she teamed up with Doug Aitken on his nomadic art project, and created stunning performances in the Massachusett wilderness.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: 'Healing Is A Miracle' is an absolute triumph of majestic instrumentation, perfectly balanced atmospherics and tasteful collaboration. 'In Light' with Jónsi couldn't have been a more perfect fit, with both of their voices coalescing into one grand, sonic gesture. Stunner.

TRACK LISTING

Inspirit
Oh, Memory Ft. Mary Lattimore
Healing Is A Miracle
In Light Ft. Jónsi
Safe
Flowers
Wishing Well
Nod Ft. Nosaj Thing

Having toured together over the years, Lattimore and Barwick now join forces to co-write and record this full-length album. Their creative synergy brings together harp, voice, and analog synths in a deeply emotional, immersive sound journey. The album was recorded at the Philharmonie de Paris with co-producer Trevor Spencer (Fleet Foxes, Beach House). This album continues a unique series of collaborations between the label and the Musée de la Musique, featuring historical instruments in contemporary composition. Since 2017, InFiné and the Philharmonie de Paris have co-developed a series of albums designed to highlight the extraordinary instrument collection of the Musée de la Musique. Following the albums 'InBach' by Arandel (2020) and 'Saturn 63' by Seb Martel (2022), this third release is a meeting of two iconic contemporary ambient voices: Mary Lattimore and Julianna Barwick. The project offers the artists full access to the museum’s playable instruments for recording, sound conservation, and creative reinterpretation.

'Tragic Magic' brings together Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore, two of contemporary ambient, experimental and electronic music’s most celebrated composers, for a unique collaboration at the Philharmonie de Paris, with extraordinary access to the Musée de la Musique’s instrument collection, in partnership with the French label InFiné. The album features seven immersive, evocative compositions guided by the human spirit – intimate, grounded in friendship, both earthly and cosmic – and part of a greater continuum, reflecting the solace and transformative power of artistry across generations.

Co-produced by Trevor Spencer (Fleet Foxes, Beach House), 'Tragic Magic' was created in just nine days, a testament to the “musical telepathy” that has developed between Barwick and Lattimore over years of touring and friendship. Arriving in Paris from Los Angeles shortly after the 2025 wildfires, their sessions combined improvisation with the emotions and experiences they carried, in a setting both inspiring and deeply supportive. Lattimore selected harps tracing the instrument’s evolution from 1728 to 1873, while Barwick chose several iconic analog synthesizers, including the Roland JUPITER and Sequential Circuits PROPHET-5. In freeform dialogue between voice and instrument, they create a meditation on tragedy, wonder, and the restorative power of shared experience.

The duo, often joined by Spencer, also explored the city, sharing meals and visiting museums and landmarks, each encounter leaving an impression on their next session. The experience allowed them to work intimately with rare instruments, blending their personal sensibilities with centuries of history, resulting in music that honors the past while remaining a deeply authentic expression of the present.

Throughout 'Tragic Magic', Barwick and Lattimore find something beyond themselves: a sense that while everything may not be okay, beauty persists. Their approach – transforming life into music, observing, feeling, and creating – continues a lineage of creative expression and visionary invention, embodied in the very instruments they employed for this project.

TRACK LISTING

1. Perpetual Adoration
2. The Four Sleeping Princesses
3. Temple Of The Winds
4. Haze With No Haze
5. Rachel's Song
6. Stardust
7. Melted Moon

"The Magic Place is music for a specific constellation of feelings. They are real, many people share them, and this album owns them completely". - Pitchfork Best New Music 2011.

Originally released in 2011, Julianna Barwick's debut full length The Magic Place is a nine-piece full-length album of magic and solace, bursting joy, and healing tones. Julianna's mostly acapella music is built from her multi-tracked and looped voice, with backing instrumentation, but it's the vocals-soaring high in reverb-drenched, wordless harmonies-that matter most here. Layered fragments and pieces become an intricate pattern through electronics; it's the sound of a rising thing, a big group harmony as a splash of sunlight through a car window, a sound that feels like hope and ascendance and patience and intimacy.

Out of print for years, this 2024 version has been fully remastered by Heba Kadry, and is available through Julianna's Florid Recordings, the imprint she started in 2006 to self release her earliest recordings.

There's a very particular joy in listening to Barwick's music. Free of the constraints of narrative and traceable language, it's the same joy in giving yourself over to opera in a foreign language, of letting go of your pesky rational mind and allowing the feeling to come through in the voices and performance. The title track is next, a reverb-y beauty queen that soars to Promethean heights and builds its own kind of safe haven in the clouds. Even the gaps between songs are essential to the album's listening experience-a sigh between stories or silence-as-drone, each second important.

The New York Times called the pauses between Julianna's songs, "the small pleasure of a chance to breathe between the greater pleasures of not Wanting to have to." Meet The Magic Place. It's a great place to be...

Four years in making, Voyeurs In the Dark is Toronto artist Barzin’s fifth studio album. That the album is more cinematic in its scope and conceptual in feel than his previous studio albums can be attributed to the time he spent over the past several years composing the soundtrack for the independent film, Viewfinder. Voyeurs In the Dark retains that cinematic quality, and at the same time infuses the music with elements taken from Jazz, electronica, rock and pop. Having primarily explored the quiet side pop and folk in his previous four albums, Barzin has expanded his musical palate, broadening his sound towards a more an experimental direction, while still retaining his preoccupation with exploring the internal landscape. The uniformity of sound that characterized the previous albums has been abandoned for the expression of differing aspects of the self that at times hold opposing views and desires.

This is best represented in the image chosen for the cover of the album, which depicts three figures in one body. The album seems to be the expression of not one unified self, but the various aspects of the self. Voyeurs In the Dark sees the artist plot a seductive, contemplative route through city haze, shuttling between graceful glimmering interludes, with wonderfully atmospheric songs at every stop. From opener Voyeurs In the Dark’s first guitar strums and the fizz of its drum machine, the record envelopes itself in a glorious shadow, as shown in the slow waltz of I Don’t Want To Sober Up, dancing around its own swirling guitar chords. On Watching, Barzin plunges himself deeper into a wash of cyclic bass, guitar and synth riffs, as the gloom grooves into light. It’s Never Too Late To Lose Your Life has a much more affirming and urgent tone, shade turning into shapes and motion, while To Be Missed In the End builds its own smoke in a cloud of saxophone and sparse guitar notes, closing out a record full to the brim with scatterbrain beauty and eclectic dusk.

TRACK LISTING

1. Voyeurs In The Dark
2. Born Yesterday
3. Knife In The Water
4. Watching
5. Golden Stairs
6. I Don’t Want To Sober Up
7. Impossible Voice
8. It’s Never Too Late To Lose Your Life
9. Forever Arriving
10. To Be Missed In The End
11. Distant Memories

Limited edition red vinyl reissue with DL card of the agit pop four-piece’s second album, Baby U Know. A heady collision of Raincoats-esque indie and ESG-paced rhythms fed through a kaleidoscopic pagan folk filter. The follow up to their critically acclaimed 2018 debut Yes I Jan, this release is a wordy slice of state-of-the-art social commentary wrapped in a perfectly-balanced soundscape that veers from funky minimalism to baroque dream pop.

With a hint of Ari Up styled vocals backed by a harmonious chorus of concern touching on everything from incantations, essential causes and systematic shopping, all underpinned by a raking violin and bewitching electronic hum.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
A1 Progressive Causes
A2 Sex Cult
A3 All Forgotten
A4 My Incantations, Herbs & Art Have Abandoned Me
A5 Vision Of Change
Side B
B1 Shopping In A New City
B2 You Have Bewitched Me
B3 Baby You Know
B4 Too Good To Be True
B5 Profile Picture – OTO Version

Bas Jan return with a polished and poignant collection of perfectly-crafted pop songs that retains their authentic indie edginess. ‘Back To The Swamp’ is a heady tussle between their incorrigible DIY ethics and new responsibilities.

Serafina Steer, Charlotte Stock, Emma Smith and Rachel Horwood cast an examining eye over modern times, lost love, Tarot intuition and long days in an everyday swamp. Awash with lush chorale effects, orchestral hewn loops, pin sharp electronic beats and sublime harmonies. Back To The Swamp is filled with thought-provoking stories, it’s a reflective worldview. It’s a polished and poignant collection of perfectly-crafted pop songs that retains their authentic indie edginess.

These new studio recordings feature more accomplished pop production; filled with cerebral one-liners that pluck at the senses. And, there’s a nod to an eclectic mix of influences; The Pet Shop Boys, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Kate Bush, Heaven 17 and Jon Hassell by way of Brian Eno.

Witches, Tarot readings, road signs, Salt-N-Pepa namechecks and a river all cried out, welcome to the swamp…

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
A1 At The Counter
A2 No More Swamp
A3 Credit Card
A4 Ding Dong
A5 Margaret Calvert Drives Out
SIDE B
B1 Back To The Swamp
B2 Singing Bar
B3 Cried A River
B4 Tarot Card

Partly formed out of the Art Department of London's Island Records HQ in 1978, Basement 5 were an innovative and highly original black post punk group who created a kind of politically charged, futurist dub. Their lyrics were an attempt to reflect the situation of young people in Britain in the era of Thatcherism, high unemployment, strikes, racism and working class poverty. The seething resentment, dub noise and sheet metal riffage was welded into a mighty sound by Hannett that stands the test of time.

In an unparalleled age of crate digging and reissue programs, Basement 5 is one of the few remaining great untold stories of its time. Vinyl has been out of print for over 30 years. 

“You have to play it very loud to enjoy it fully. It was the most difficult production, I must say, the heaviest. It was eighteen degrees in the shade, the end of August. As I recall it has been the most physical album that I’ve ever done. Made me feel like I’d been carrying bricks around. Heavy work. Putting the bass lines in the right place. But it was good.” - Martin Hannett, 1981

"Crazy Itch Radio" certainly scratches the spot, with Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton swerving from all-out drama on the operatic intro straight into the jet-packed kaleidoscopic pop of the future hit single "Hush Boy" which features live collaborator Vula Malinga, last heard on "Oh My Gosh". Rammed up next, "Take Me Back To Your House" is a sexy, energetic moment of what they're calling 'banjo house'. There's also Balkan folk woven into vocals from Swedish pop sensation Robyn on "Hey U", a hyper grime tune cussing vain boys from East London's Lady Marga, titled "Run 4 Cover" (previewed on one of their Stop label 10"s), and "Lights Go Down", a Wil Malone-scored beauty with legendary British singer Linda Lewis.

The Jaxx are back with an LP packed to the brim with punk-electro-soul-funk-house-clash joints that switch effortlessly between in-yer-face pogo-disco and sneaky under-your-skin melody. There's a wide ranging set of guests, including Siouxsie Sioux (playing bagpipes...only joking!), Meshell N'degeocello, Dizzee Rascal, Lisa Kekaula, JC Chasez etc.

The third BASEMENT JAXX album KISH KASH features an array of stellar guest vocalists including punk icon Siouxsie Sioux on the title track, London grime superstar Dizzee Rascal on “Lucky Star”, the mighty pipes of Rock n’ Soul diva Lisa Kekaula (of LA”s “The Bellrays” ) on “Good Luck” and rounds off with the mellow tones of Meshell Ndegeocello.

Released on XL Recordings in 2004, the album subsequently won the inaugural GRAMMY award for “Best Dance/Electronic Album” and was nominated for the UK’s prestigious Mercury Prize.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Good Luck (ft. Lisa Kekaula)
A2. Right Here’s The Spot (ft. Meshell Ndegeocello)
A3. Petrilude
A4. Supersonic Ft. Totlyn Jackson
B1. Benjilude
B2. Lucky Star (ft. Dizzee Rascal)
B3. Plug It In (ft. JC Chasez)
C1. Living Room
C2. Cish Cash (ft. Siouxsie Sioux)
C3. Tonight (ft. Phoebe)
D1. Hot ‘n’ Cold
D2. Cosmolude
D3. If I Ever Recover
D4. Feels Like Home (ft. Meshell Ndegeocello)

Remedy is Basement Jaxx’s joyous debut album from 1999. It was one of the most assured, propul-sive full-lengths the dance world had seen since Daft Punk’s Homework. A set of incredibly diverse tracks, Remedy is indebted to the raw American house of Todd Terry and Masters at Work, and even shares a penchant for Latin vibes (especially on the horn-driven “Bingo Bango” and the opener, “Rendez-Vu,” which trades a bit of salsa wiggle with infectious vocoderized disco).

TRACK LISTING

A1. Romeo
A2. Breakaway
A3. SFM
B1. Jus 1 Kiss
B2. Broken Dreams
B3. I Want U
C1. Get Me Off
C2. Where’s Your Head At
D1. Do Your Thing
D2. Freakalude
D3. Crazy Girl
D4. All I Know

Named after their infamous Brixton club night, Basement Jaxx’s second album Rooty saw Basement Jaxx continue to push the boundaries of pop and club music. The album mixes classic house with generous lashings of punk, funk, R&B, jazz, hip hop, 2-step and pop song-craft in a mad genre crash that works like a charm. It features the massive tracks “Where’s Your Head At”, “Romeo” and “Do Your Thing”.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Romeo
A2. Breakaway
A3. SFM
B1. Jus 1 Kiss
B2. Broken Dreams
B3. I Want U
C1. Get Me Off
C2. Where’s Your Head At
D1. Do Your Thing
D2. Freakalude
D3. Crazy Girl
D4. All I Know

Basement Jaxx are back with their fifth long player, "Scars". The set features a host of special guests including Yoko Ono, Sam Sparro, Santigold, Kelis and Chipmunk, and is as innovative in its sound as it is in its vision. Their sound still remains as urgent and as impactful as ever – there's no need for Basement Jaxx to try and embrace any kind of retro outlook to their music. From the Top 20 smash hit summer anthem of "Raindrops" featuring Felix's twisted vocals, to the string-drenched, grime-esque title track "Scars2 and the gorgeous "My Turn", which features Lightspeed Champion on vocals, Basement Jaxx deliver an album that outshines any dance act in the UK.

Heavy Eyes is the debut album from Canadian indie-rock trio Basement Revolver. There’s an air of weariness pervading the album, with the sleepy title Heavy Eyes summing up a general exhaustion right down to the bone, as well as hinting at a heavier direction as they deftly merge 90s infused indie rock with fuzzy dreamy pop and poignant, yearning lyrics. Unable to disguise the emotion in her voice, songwriter Chrisy Hurn shares intimate stories and personal wounds from her past, revealing a deeply affecting and rewarding set of songs.

Bringing together the talents of Chrisy Hurn (vocals, guitar), Nimal Agalawatte (bass, synth) and Brandon Munro (drums), the band hail from Hamilton, Ontario and were named Basement Revolver due to Chrisy’s basement apartment, rather than any trigger happy leanings. Their ascent to the spotlight has been a steady trajectory, capitalising on the success of their debut single “Johnny” in 2016. The track garnered endorsements from DIY Magazine and Exclaim! as well as respected tastemakers Gold Flake Paint, who hailed it a “‘favourite song of the year” contender. They had stumbled across a sound that is capable of stripping listeners of inhibition, yet heavy hitting enough to leave a lasting impression.

On the back of “Johnny”, they were signed by Memphis Industries’ UK sub-label fear of missing out records, who released their debut self-titled EP in 2016 with “Johnny” and their second single “Words” reaching the higher echelon of the Hype Machine chart and the EP flagged up in several end of year lists. They followed this up with the Agatha EP in 2017 where the single “Bread & Wine” reached the B-list on Radio BBC 6 Music and also garnered support from John Kennedy at Radio X. The band have racked up over one million plays on Spotify across the two EPs.

In a relatively short time, Basement Revolver have successfully encapsulated the yearning and hopefulness of their generation, whilst harnessing a unique, yet familiar soundscape.

TRACK LISTING

1. Baby
2. Johnny
3. Dancing
4. Friends
5. Knocking
6. Johnny Pt. 2
7. Words
8. Wait
9. Tree Trunks
10. You’re Okay
11. Heavy Eyes
12. Diamonds

Recommended If You Like: Regina Spektor, Dolly Parton, Fleet Foxes (or something like Fleet Foxes), Jeff Tweedy, Dougie Poole, The idea of Kishi Bashi going Americana.

Over the last several years, the critically acclaimed composer and adventurous multi-instrumentalist Kishi Bashi has travelled frequently to Montana and Wyoming to work on Omoiyari, a “song film” about Japanese internment during WWII. The experience was potent for Kishi Bashi, who conducted research for the film (and 2019 album of the same name) by speaking to internment camp incarcerees and descendents. These conversations led to him reflecting on his own identity as a Japanese-American while laying the foundation of his forthcoming Emigrant EP.

Along with the brutal history and harsh climate of the American West, Kishi Bashi also sensed a hope and potential, compassion, and resilience. In Emigrant EP, he celebrates these qualities. Arranged and recorded over the last year, the six tracks serve as a time capsule of the 2020 condition and a continuation of the concepts explored in Omoiyari. What’s more, they find Kishi Bashi rewriting musical tradition in the image of his own experience, further embracing his love for roots music and violin fiddling. Meditating on the anxieties of the COVID-19 pandemic, the comforts of nature, the pains of resource-fueled conflicts, and the resiliency that emerges from struggle, Emigrant EP is steeped in the past while it looks to the future. “I want to understand the history, but also dive in and really try to humanize it,” he says. “I’m trying to show how we’re all the same type of human being. We have the same desires and needs, to protect our loved ones and also to celebrate the everyday.”

TRACK LISTING

1 Cascades
2 Wait For Springtime
3 Laughing With
4 Early Morning Breeze
5 Those Days Are Gone
6 Town Of Pray

The latest full-length from Kishi Bashi, 'Kantos' is a work of exquisite duality: a party album about the possible end of humanity as we know it, at turns deeply unsettling and sublimely joyful. In a sonic departure from the symphonic folk of his critically lauded 2019 LP 'Omoiyari' a career-defining body of work born from his intensive meditation on the mass incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II the Seattle-born singer/songwriter/producer’s fifth studio album encompasses everything from Brazilian jazz and ’70s funk to orchestral rock and city pop (a Japanese genre that peaked in the mid-’80s). Informed by an equally kaleidoscopic mix of inspirations the cult-classic sci-fi novel series Hyperion Cantos, the writings of 18th century enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant, a revelatory trip to ancient ruins on the island of Crete Kantos ultimately serves as an unbridled exaltation of the human spirit and all its wild complexities.

During the earliest stages of creating songs for the album, Ishibashi’s main intent was to return to his highly eclectic musical roots, in part by tapping into his jazz background and by delving into the dance-rock-leaning sensibilities he previously embraced as co-founder of Brooklyn-bred indie band Jupiter One. But not too long into the songwriting process, he stumbled upon an AI-equipped website capable of composing catchy song hooks based on a Prompt a turn of events that quickly catalyzed the existential inquiry at the heart of 'Kantos'.

Although his ruminations on AI, transhumanism, and humanity’s troubled fate indelibly guided the making of Kantos, Ishibashi nonetheless views the album as “less of a warning about this kind of hubris but more a celebration of the very characteristics that make us human: desire, passion, empathy, and love.” “If there’s anything I want people to come away with when they hear this record, it’s a feeling of excitement about the possibilities of human-created art,” he says. “Even as we’re learning more about all the amazing things AI can do, I think humans will always be one step ahead in terms of our creativity and innovation. There’s still no limit to what we have to offer.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Violin Akai
2. Chiba Funk
3. Late Night Comic
4. Colorful State
5. Escape From Knossos
6. Icarus IV
7. Hollywood Intermission
8. Lilliputian Chop
9. Analógico Brasil
10. Make Believe
11. Call It Off
12. Tokyo Love Story (Love Story Wa Totsuzen Ni)

RIYL: Ra Ra Riot, Thao, Regina Spektor, Andrew Bird, Typhoon.

"Omoiyari" means to have empathy and consideration for others, and act on it. This fall, the American indie-folk multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Kishi Bashi is set to release the companion album to his forthcoming documentary song film, titled Music from the Song Film: Omoiyari. Consisting of two LPs "The Songs" and "The Score" the release showcases what is essentially the soundtrack to Omoiyari, the feature-length motion picture co-directed by Kishi Bashi, aka Kaoru Ishibashi or "K," which is being released via MTV Documentary Films in November.

Focusing on K's own six-year journey of discovery surrounding his research of the incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans that followed the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the film is part social justice documentary and part song-film experiment. The album includes K's live improvisations, which are featured in the documentary, many recorded on the sites where the concentration camps stood. Written during and about the artist's transformational dive into his personal identity and serving as a broad survey of the Japanese American experience as well as the incarceration Music from the Song Film: Omoiyari serves as an evocative musical accompaniment to the lessons of empathy and compassion portrayed in the film and highlights the process and power of one of modern indie's most talented musicians. 

TRACK LISTING

Intro At The Piano
Red, White, And Blue
Improvisation At Heart Mountain
Summer Of ‘42 (orchestral Edition)
Improvisation In The Root Cellar
ļ

A decade ago, Kishi Bashi found himself creatively and emotionally depleted after years of touring behind his acclaimed albums '151a' and 'Lighght'. The orchestral exuberance that once defined his sound had begun to fade, leading him to question his artistic purpose. Out of that exhaustion came 'Sonderlust' (2016), a deeply personal reinvention marked by vulnerability, analog warmth, and spiritual honesty. Stepping away from ornate violin loops, Ishibashi embraced vintage synths and stripped-down textures, creating a record that shimmered with soulful, human energy. Songs like 'Say Yeah', 'Honeybody', and 'Ode to My Next Life' captured both the ache and joy of self-discovery, grounding his lush imagination in lived experience.

Now, with its 10th anniversary reissue, 'Sonderlust' stands as a pivotal work—where Kishi Bashi’s dazzling playfulness gave way to introspection and connection. The new edition features refreshed artwork by original cover artist Ssin Kim, symbolizing growth and renewed perspective. “When you’re younger, the world can feel overwhelming,” Ishibashi reflects. “As you age, you start to see your place in it.” What began as an album of heartbreak has become a timeless meditation on empathy, creativity, and the enduring beauty of being human.

TRACK LISTING

1. M'Lover
2. Hey Big Star
3. Say Yeah
4. Can't Let Go, Juno
5. Ode To My Next Life
6. Who'd You Kill
7. Statues In A Gallery
8. Why Don't You Answer Me
9. Flame On Flame (a Slow Dirge)
10. Honeybody
11. Comin' To You
12. Harpsi Chords
13. M'Lover (Demo-arigato Version)
14. Hey Big Star (Demo-arigato Version)
15. Say Yeah (Demo-arigato Version)
16. Can't Let Go, Juno (Demo-arigato Version)
17. Ode To My Next Life (Demo-arigato Version)
18. Who'd You Kill (Demo-arigato Version)
19. Statues In A Gallery (Demo-arigato Version)
20. Why Don't You Answer Me (Demo-arigato Version)
21. Flame On Flame (a Slow Dirge) (Demo-arigato Version)
22. Honeybody (Demo-arigato Version)

It has been said that Robbie Basho's art was strongest in concert. To what extent the experience can be reconstituted is uncertain. Whatever the case, 'Snow Beneath the Belly of a White Swan' is the mother lode of Basho live recordings. On these five discs we are treated to some remarkable pieces that have never been published, as well as surprising renditions of old favourites. Compiled from Basho’s sprawling personal collection of master tapes (discovered during the production of Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho), and potentially encompassing his entire career, this edition represents a live companion to the studio set Song of the Avatars: The Lost Master Tapes (Tompkins Square, 2020). While the tapes have (in the main) survived incredibly well over the decades (against the odds), please note that some previously unpublished tracks with subpar to poor fidelity have been included.

TRACK LISTING

CD1:
1.Chung Mei - The Chinese Orchid
2. Some Summer Day
3. Sligo River Blues
4. Autumn Nocturne
5. In The Meadows
6. Snow Beneath The Belly Of A White Swan

CD2:
1. The Falconer's Arm
2. Himalayan Highlands
3. The Golden Shamrock
4. Bear Medicine
5. Charles Ives Paints Modern America
6. Portrait Of Fahey As A Young Dragoon

CD3:
1. Song Of God
2. Kowaka D'Amour
3. Pasha
4. Cathedrals Et Fleur De Lis
5. Cantos California

CD4:
1. Green River Suite
2. California Raga
3. Silver Curls
4. The Lady She Is A Waiting
5. Chaconne Fandango
6. Song Of The Stallion
7. A North American Raga (The Plumstar)

CD5:
1. Eagle Sails The Blue Diamond Waters
2. Kateri Tekakwitha
3. Orphan's Lament
4. A Song Of Kings
5. Moon Milk
6. Wonder Song

Bulat teamed-up with friend and collaborator Jim James of My Morning Jacket on the album’s production, driving 600 miles from her home in Montreal to La La Land recording studio in James’ hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. Bulat originally met James backstage at the Austin City Limits music festival; the two reconnected when she toured with him in the summer of 2013 and became friends. Good Advice is a departure from Bulat’s previous work, with her voice backed up by drums, bass, electric guitar and keys. James plays electric guitar, synth, saxophone and bass on the album; further Louisville guests including members of Houndmouth, Twin Limb, Seth Kauffman of Floating Action and more also join Bulat.

“Pop songs can take all those big statements and those big feelings that you have,” Bulat says. “You don't need to necessarily have everything so detailed because everybody understands. Everybody understands those feelings.” “Basia has something truly unique,” says James. The duo recorded the album over several visits Bulat made to Kentucky. “I knew immediately that it was the exact right place to be,” says Bulat. “To go so far from home, then to find that it felt like home.”
Of the sessions, James recalls, “The entire process was so amazing. Hearing her voice just exploding out of her soul brought us all to tears in the control room. Watching Basia come out of her shell with great power was an extraordinary thing to witness.”

Good Advice follows Bulat’s critically acclaimed Juno and Polaris Music Prize-nominated 2013 release, Tall Tall Shadow, which The Line of Best Fit calls “a brilliant and engaging pop record” and the Austin Chronicle praises for its “lovely, spectral musing that balances indulgence with homespun tendencies.” In the two years since, Bulat has played shows across North America and Europe with Sufjan Stevens, Destroyer, Daniel Lanois, Bahamas and more.

Since the release of her debut album, Oh My Darling, Bulat has shared the stage with artists including Arcade Fire, The National, Nick Cave, St. Vincent, Beirut, Andrew Bird, Tune-Yards, Sondre Lerche, The Tallest Man on Earth, The Head and the Heart, Owen Pallett, Devotchka and many more. Known for her talents on little-known instruments including the autoharp and charango, Bulat has also been tapped for tributes to Leonard Cohen and The Band.

STAFF COMMENTS

Millie says: ‘Good Advice’ is a breath-taking album which is filled with heartache. It begins with her deep soulful voice, it’s bold and resolute then the end of the album shows us an enchanting whimsical finish (the song Someday Soon especially) It’s very emotional; you need to listen to it!

TRACK LISTING

1. La La Lie
2. Long Goodbye
3. Let Me In
4. In The Name Of
5. Time
6. Good Advice
7. Infamous
8. Fool
9. The Garden
10. Someday Soon

Basic Rhythm follows up his album 'On The Threshold' with an EP that lays out the explicit connections between hardcore and footwork. A connection made even clearer by the inclusion of a rare remix by Chicago footwork originator RP Boo. "2 Da Core"'s punchy rolling drums are levelled up against rough samples and a vocal hook pitched up and down in classic hardcore style. "Get Up" runs a tubby bass under hazy vocal samples and weird sound effects. RP Boo's remix of "2 Da Core" disassembles the track into pieces, building a stalking helicopter-like rhythm which plays hide and seek with the samples, while the closing track "Nuh Ramp" rounds off the EP with tumbling micro-edited rhythms and a melody built from small colourful sounds that draw on the Caribbean roots of this music. 

TRACK LISTING

A1. Da Core
A2. Get Up
B1. Da Core (RP Boo Remix)
B2. Nuh Ramp

Basic Rhythm returns to his Jungle roots for his final release with Planet Mu. Harking back to the golden era of the mid 90s, but with a contemporary slant, Basic Rhythm hands in three dance floor killers, with a remix from the grim reaper himself, Loxy. The titular track, Cool Down The Dance, opens with a jittery fragmented drum pattern and wooshing stereo effects, lending a slightly disorienting feel to the intro before the well known vocal refrain leads into a monster amen drop. Deep subs, amen breaks and steely stabs roll out this dance floor banger.

This is followed up with an absolute behemoth of a track. Horse Mout’ utilises an infamous vocal sample in a fresh way, building upon the intro with waves of dubwise effects before launching into a devastating onslaught. With support from scene stalwarts DJ Storm and Flight this one has been smashing up dance floors! The third track is a remix of Cool Down The Dance by Loxy, bringing his inimitable cool production style to the fore, stripping away the amen layers to reveal something for the darker corners of the dance. One for the head noders and the eyes down crew. The final track, Satta, is a nod to the dub of Augustus Pablo, King Tubby, and On U Sound. A slow boiling minimal intro that drops into the extreme minimalism of just a kick drum and sub bass line belies the swagger of the eventual drop. Swinging drums in an almost military pattern tumble and stagger around the core line of kick drum and sub bass, lending this an almost drunken air.

TRACK LISTING

A:

1/Cool Down The Dance
2/Horse Mout'

B:

1/Cool Down The Dance (Loxy Remix)
2/Satta 

Anthoney Hart returns with his second Basic Rhythm album for Planet Mu. 'Electronic Labyrinth' is a maturing of his sound that draws a line under his work as Basic Rhythm thus far. The title itself conveys the overarching theme of the album, evoking the journey through a musical labyrinth that Hart has undertaken over the last 30 years or so, following a path through to the centre where these disparate strands have coalesced and solidified into a coherent whole.

The underlying themes are of a more personal nature, intimated by the cover photo of St Fabian Tower where Hart first joined the now infamous Rude FM in the late 90s, the sometimes misleading directness of the track titles, as well as explicit references to books such as Wilson Harris’ Palace of the Peacocks, the ontological promiscuity of Harris’ writing mirrored here in Hart's own musical endeavours. What you end up with is an album that not only draws upon a wide range of influences from both the musical and literary worlds, intertwining them within a deeply personal context that imbues the music with a depth of meaning, but that is also somehow more coherent despite such a wide range of references and hidden meanings. It is at once both an album of subtexts open to interpretation, and a cohesive whole that fits together perfectly.

TRACK LISTING

A:

1/Craft
2/Hayward Road
3/Acid Track
4/Larkin Around

B:

1/Electronic Labyrinth
2/Techno
3/Palace Of The Peacock
4/The Secret Ladder

BASIC is a mind-meld between Chris Forsyth, his frequent running partner (and formidable 6-string thinker) Nick Millevoi, and Mikel Patrick Avery (Natural Information Society).

"This Is BASIC", their debut album, is a complex and entrancing instrumental LP recasting forgotten scraps of guitar history into a moving mosaic of strings, skins and electronics.

Taking inspiration (and their name) from the 1984 Robert Quine/Fred Maher album ("Basic"), Forsyth and Millevoi got together for a run of low-key jam sessions using an Alesis drum machine for rhythm tracks and forging a collaborative language from angular polyrhythms, pulsing baritone-guitar lines, and shimmering chorus-pedal washes (another stylistic nod, this time to the glistening post-punk of the Durutti Column and numerous 4AD bands).

Avery was soon enlisted on drum kit a setup that quickly morphed into a single drum, bell, and a bespoke electronics rig of his own creation. The trio quickly flowered into an improvisational swirl of disorienting electronics, hypnotic throb, and dense flanged-guitar harmonics: three unique voices spinning a complex conversation of textures and rhythms.

TRACK LISTING

For Stars Of The Air
Nerve Time
Positive Halfway
Last Resort Of The Gambling Man
Versatile Switch
New Auspicious

43°C, the debut LP by French electronic producer Basile3, is the result of a decade of cultivating a musical identity that focuses on hybridization, sonic recycling, and playfulness. The enigmatic title "43°C" signifies a haze of bliss (4+3=7, the producer's lucky number) backdropped by the ecological state of a world that’s grown slightly but surely warmer.

In this anticipation fiction, Basile3 offers a soundtrack that is an exploration of club music, electronica infused with r&b and ambient synths. The French producer warmly invites listeners to his state of mind, blooming with genre-bending floating soundscapes.

Featuring TelmaCappelo, Daisy Ray, Loydfears, Lucy Sissi Miller and Minor Science.

TRACK LISTING

1. Wire Rise Feat. Lloydfears
2. Air Quality
3. Grateful, After All
4. U Stole The Summer
5. Secret Gathering
6. Love Machine Feat. Daisy Ray
7. 4Friends
8. My Window Feat. Lucy Sissy Miller
9. In The Clouds
10. Sirens Feat. Thelma Cappello
11. …And Tuning (Stereo Mix)

The first new release by iconic composer, William Basinski, since the hugely acclaimed Lamentations (2020). September 23rd is the first release in William Basinski's new Arcadia Archive series. Recorded in September 1982 in his first loft in the pre-gentrified DUMBO neighbourhood in Brooklyn, New York, September 23rd is a recently unearthed early entry in what has become a hugely inspirational and influential catalogue. Built from a piano piece that Basinski composed in high school in the mid-1970s, September 23rd quickly evolved into a vastly different work.

As Basinski explains: "The original piano recordings were made on a piano belonging to my downstairs neighbour, John Epperson – later known more famously as world-renowned drag artist, Lypsinka – at 351 Jay Street aka Casa Degli Artisti, our first loft in New York. It was recoded with a little portable (probably Radio Shack) cassette deck sitting on the piano as I improvised a piece I had been working on since high school. It was pretty terrible, but when I did the John Giorno/William Burroughs cut-up technique, suddenly I had something to put through the Frippertronics loop and feedback loop tape delay system – and boy did I get results. A very prolific time for a young, wacked-out queen in NYC."

“At its best, William Basinski’s music inspires the sort of rapturous testimony usually reserved for peak experiences, cult leaders and the dead.” – Pitchfork. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A wonderfully immersive piece from Basinski that has some of the hallmarks of his legendary 'Disintegration Loops' series, but with a more melancholic edge. Flickering echoes and building ambient washes coalesce together into a river of piano-adjacent echoes and barely perceptible atmospheres.

TRACK LISTING

1. September 23rd (40:11

Since the turn of this century, perhaps no other modern composition has had a more resonant healing effect than The Disintegration Loops. Composer William Basinski’s deteriorating analog tape loops evolved from melodic symphonies to melancholic silence over a span of time that uncannily turned passing minutes into pensive lifetimes. In her foreword for the new box set reissue of The Disintegration Loops, the pioneering multimedia storyteller Laurie Anderson describes the impact of this transformation in poetic detail: “These dissolving sounds, this emptying space, has gained my complete confidence. They are taking me somewhere. I am willingly following these sounds, becoming more and more transparent.” The Disintegration Loops – Arcadia Archive Edition is an expansive new box set that includes the entire 5-hour suite of iconic work. Newly remastered from the original recordings by Josh Bonati, the hefty package includes eight vinyl records (or four CDs for the less analog-inclined) in sturdy full-color jackets featuring the restored original artwork, and a new 1000-word foreword by Laurie Anderson – all housed in a striking heavyweight, case-wrapped box. It is the ideal encapsulation of one of the 21st century’s most truly transcendent works. As Anderson concludes in her foreword, “this music has created another world, a world to be carried away in.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Dlp 1.1 (1:03:35)
2. Dlp 2.1 (10:50)
3. Dlp 2.2 (32:41)
4. Dlp 3 (41:53)
5. Dlp 4 (20:12)
6. Dlp 5 (52:19)
7. Dlp 6 (40:32)
8. Dlp 1.2 (20:41)
9. Dlp 1.3 (12:02)

Following his acclaimed LP on Punch Drunk ‘Reeling Sideways’, Ralph Cumbers' Bass Clef now joins other Bristol imprint Idle Hands and brings us two brand new tracks.

"Dawn Chorus Pedal" is a deep, acidic house track, but with one foot planted in the UK bass production soundscape; the combination of drum breaks lifted from the jazz sphere, a killer compressed electronic bassline and some lush synths will have you harking back to the early UK techno sound. "You Don't Know Don’t Know You" has more of a wonky-hop / fractured beats style. Stuttering, halfstep percussive breaks, sleazy bassline throbs and 8-bit synth lines are the order of the day here.

John Barrett returns with his second full length for LA label Innovative Leisure as Bass Drum of Death. Elevating Bass Drum of Death from the scrapheap of garage rock challengers fighting for attention, 'Rip This' is BDoD’s most impressive record yet, combining the best elements of the American rock underground with a raw approach that’s original and exciting.

Bass Drum of Death’s appeal has always transcended the band’s roots in the local Oxford, Mississippi touring circuit where John Barrett first cut his teeth. Since his debut 7-inch on Fat Possum back in 2008, he’s realised this potential again and again, most notably with his genre-bending collaboration with Odd Future’s Mellowhype and a slot on the infamous Vinewood Boulevard radio station on the GTA V videogame. But it’s with 'Rip This' that Barrett has really hit his stride.

The process has been markedly different throughout. For previous albums 'Bass Drum of Death' (Innovative Leisure, 2013) and 'GB City' (Inflated Records, 2011), Barrett wrote all the material himself at home and recorded it on a basic GarageBand setup. This time around, he enlisted drummer Len Clark as a fulltime member and collaborator and UMO bassist Jacob Portrait as producer. Over a two-week stint at Prairie Sun Studios in Sonoma County, California the trio created the first BDoD studio album.

TRACK LISTING

1: Electric
2: Left For Dead
3: For Blood
4: Everything's The Same
5: Sin Is In 10
6: Black Don't Glow
7: Burns My Eye
8: Lose My Mind
9: Better Days
10: Route 69 (Yeah)

One of the three outrageously talented Deenmamode brothers (Mo Kolours & Reginald Omas Mamode IV), Jeen Bassa has carved out a reputation as one of the leading beat-tape producers in the game today. His warm and woozy productions mix up slo-mo, mechanised funk with hues of neon soul and blue, jazz notes. An artist that clearly stands out in a world that’s saturated with bland Dilla and Madlib-esque pastiches.‘All My People’ takes listeners on an electronic journey through hip hop, soul, jazz, funk and pan african sounds, hugely influenced by Bassa’s Mauritian roots.

TRACK LISTING

Audio Visual
Herb & Rhythm
Dramatise
Poets House
My People
Body Talking
The Landscapes
Do The Do
Latin Fingers
Cocoa Lotion
Ode To The Funk
Outro

An acoustic show recorded in Poland and featuring the Camel bassist on fine form in front of a rapturous audience.

Shirley Bassey's album 'Never, Never, Never' is a mesmerising showcase of her incomparable vocal prowess and emotional depth. Released in 1973, this iconic collection of songs sees Bassey interpreting classics with her signature style and unparalleled flair. From the title track's stirring declaration of resilience to the hauntingly beautiful rendition of 'Killing Me Softly with His Song', Bassey's commanding voice captivates listeners, drawing them into a world of passion and drama. With each track, she effortlessly traverses a spectrum of emotions, leaving an indelible impression that resonates long after the music fades.

TRACK LISTING

1. Never, Never, Never
2. Baby I'm-a Want You
3. Someone Who Cares
4. The Old Fashioned Way
5. I Won't Last A Day Without You
6. Somehow
7. There's No Such Thing As Love
8. Killing Me Softly With His Song
9. Going, Going, Gone
10. No Regrets
11. Together
12. Make The World A Little Younger

Dario Bassolino is pianist, producer and composer born in Naples, where he currently resides. With an eclectic taste and an genre-defying musical ability, he has produced for and played alongside alt-R&B vocalist LNDFK, jazz-funk legend Nicola Conte, Early Sounds boss Pellegrino and has collaborated with Nu Genea, Kurtis Rosenwinkel and rapper Pink Siifu to name a few. Inspired by the Brazilian funk greats Hermeto Pascoal and Airto Moreira and their Italian counterparts such as Franco Califano, Lucio Battisti, Panella, Enzo di Domenico and Gennaro D'Auria. Bassolino’s live show has a very organic form and is inspired by jazz, funk and disco improvisation, having extensive experience playing to enthusiastic international audiences as a session musician at prestigious festivals Primavera Sound, Montreux Jazz festival, Dour Festival and We Out Here.

Bassolino's new release is located where the sea begins and the sky ends. Two tracks that carry the horizon drawing a straight line between Naples, Tunisi and Beirut. A thin but tangible line that unites the Mediterranean poles. Hence the concept of "Popoli del Mare", the multiform sound waves intertwine a composition with an incessant rhythm: the Afro contamination of Charif Megarbane finds a fit with the Italian and dreamy harmonies of Bassolino. Baid Alik is a song of love and hope. The sound, purely inspired by the research of Habibi Funk, evokes the memory of an ancestral past shared by Bassolino with the Tunisian singer Marzouk Mejri.
His voice, halfway between proto-rap and melodic, mix perfectly to the disco-cinematic instrumental.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: I'm getting sick of Naples now! Is everyone there a musician or what? Particularly irking seen as they have a similar population to us, yet keep throwing up more artists and bands than I can keep up with. Chuck a few musicians our way Naples!

TRACK LISTING

Baid Alik (with Marzouk Mejri)
Popoli Del Mare

Through the reflective and introspective multi-mood journey of its 19-tracks, this album spans psychedelic-chamber-funk, warped anti-ballads, cinematic instrumentals, Ethio-jazz & ethereal ambience.

Part soundtrack, part beat-tape, part memoir, this is a dreamlike soundscape sewn together from half-forgotten memories & late night breakdowns.

Entirely sample-free, this album is full to the brim with musical experimentation, with Keb's compulsion to make all the individual pieces of music independently; combining strings, harps, saxophones, theremins, clarinets, flutes and trumpets.

He signals to the fuzzy, nostalgic nebulous of mid '90s skate videos, as well as harking back to the scores & moods of movies like The French Connection, Taxi Driver, The Warriors and La Haine. There are whispers of sounds in the air from jazz clubs, street preachers & Turkish restaurants.

Keb describes the sonic experience of this album simply as this… "You're half awake, and half asleep, but you're warm…"

For this 19-track opus, Keb is joined extensively by Malik Ameer Crumpler; a poet, composer, editor and professor based in Paris, who's been involved in numerous albums while writing for various forms of experimental media.

A multi-instrumentalist originally from the Midlands, Bastien Keb (aka Sebastian Jones) previously released his highly-acclaimed album '22.02.85' on First Word back in 2017; this new album being a very welcome return to the Worldwide Award-winning UK independent label.

His music has been widely supported across BBC Radio in the past by DJs including Gilles Peterson, Huey Morgan, Huw Stephens, Jamie Cullum, Lauren Laverne, Mary Anne Hobbs, Nemone and Tom Ravenscroft. This is in addition to glowing press reviews from the likes of Pitchfork, The Guardian and The Line Of Best Fit.

He's built up a steady fanbase through his extensive catalogue over the years, with material for labels like Def Pressé, Gearbox, One-Handed Music and most recently for Shabaka Hutchings' Native Rebel Recordings imprint, on a collaborative project with South London's Confucius MC (Speakers Corner Quartet).

Keb concludes "this record is for anyone feeling lost in a world that seems to have lost itself without knowing it. It's for the people who know that the world is missing the beauty of the lights in the distance, whilst being distracted by new shoes and flashy phones..."

TRACK LISTING

1. Prologue (feat. Malik Ameer Crumpler)
2. Nighthawks
3. Play Dead (feat. Malik Ameer Crumpler & Mark Millington)
4. Queen Of Cats
5. The City Is Beautiful (feat. Malik Ameer Crumpler & Mark Millington)
6. Nightbus 3AM
7. Organ / Lucid (feat. Malik Ameer Crumpler)
8. Apres Minuit (feat. Mark Millington)
9. West (feat. Malik Ameer Crumpler)
10. Chapter 1 - A Boy
11. Ghouls
12. North
13. Chapter 2 - A Party
14. Chapter 3 - A Girl
15. A Ghost's Lament (feat. Malik Ameer Crumpler)
16. Chapter 4 - A Monster
17. Moonlight
18. Chapter 5 - A Home
19. Orca / Burial

Doom Days, Bastille’s grippingly confident third album, is a record of hope for turbulent times. Made by Dan Smith with bandmates Kyle Simmons, Will Farquarson and Chris ‘Woody’ Wood, and producer Mark Crew, it sees the Grammy nominated, Brit winning four-piece stretch out and open-up like never before.

Doom Days marks something of a shift in perception from its widely acclaimed No.1 predecessor ‘Wild World’, which confronted the world and the actions of those in power. Recorded throughout 2018 at the band’s South London studio, “One Eyed Jacks”, the new album captures the need to temporarily switch off and escape whilst taking the listener on a big night out in search of distraction from the surrounding apocalypse; be that screaming along to the radio in the back of an Uber careering through the city (the electric Quarter Past Midnight), getting loved up in the company of good friends (future classic 4AM), a casual hook-up (Another Place) or the end-of-night longing to be with somebody (the captivating Those Nights). It revels in the bad decisions we make both personally in our relationships and collectively on a macro scale (Bad Decisions), tells a relatable tale of being cornered into a deep discussion about the world’s problems when all you want to do is have a good time (Million Pieces), and wryly confronts modern anxieties, taking side-swipes at phone addiction, porn addiction, fake news and climate change denial (the uncompromising Doom Days).

Doom Days finds Bastille at their most lyrically provocative, most accomplished, and most vital. It taps into globally felt worries whilst also working on a much more intimate level. Setting the album over the course of one night allows the band to hold a mirror up to the world using personal, relatable situations.

TRACK LISTING

Quarter Past Midnight
Bad Decisions
The Waves
Divide
Million Pieces
Doom Days
Nocturnal Creatures
4am
Another Place
Those Nights
Joy

London four piece Bastille return with their long-awaited second album ‘Wild World’, following their worldwide number 1, multi-platinum debut album ‘Bad Blood’ which spawned the humungous chart and radio hit singles ‘Pompeii’, ‘Things We Lost In The Fire’ and ‘Of The Night’. Bastille toured the world many times over in support of ‘Bad Blood’ writing and recording ‘Wild World’ along the way. Wild World retains the vivid, rich, filmic song-writing of its predecessor but pushes the band’s distinctive sound in exciting new directions.

Bat For Lashes’ mesmerising debut 'Fur and Gold' returns in 2026, newly remastered at Abbey Road Studios. First released in 2006, the album introduced Natasha Khan’s visionary blend of myth, emotion and cinematic pop, earning widespread acclaim and a Mercury Music Prize nomination. Featuring signature songs 'What’s a Girl to Do?', 'Horse and I' and 'Trophy', 'Fur and Gold' remains a defining statement of imagination and artistry.

TRACK LISTING

LP Tracklisting:
1. Horse And I (2025 Remaster)
2. Trophy (feat. Josh T. Pearson) (2025 Remaster)
3. Tahiti (2025 Remaster)
4. What's A Girl To Do? (2025 Remaster)
5. Sad Eyes (2025 Remaster)
6. The Wizard (2025 Remaster)
7. Prescilla (2025 Remaster)
8. The Bat's Mouth (2025 Remaster)
9. Seal Jubilee (2025 Remaster)
10. Sarah (2025 Remaster)
11. I Saw A Light (2025 Remaster)

2CD Tracklisting:
1. Horse And I (2025 Remaster)
2. Trophy (feat. Josh T. Pearson) (2025 Remaster)
3. Tahiti (2025 Remaster)
4. What's A Girl To Do? (2025 Remaster)
5. Sad Eyes (2025 Remaster)
6. The Wizard (2025 Remaster)
7. Prescilla (2025 Remaster)
8. The Bat's Mouth (2025 Remaster)
9. Seal Jubilee (2025 Remaster)
10. Sarah (2025 Remaster)
11. I Saw A Light (2025 Remaster)
12. Carrie (Demo)
13. Healing Fire (Demo)
14. Rosie (Demo)
15. Dark Time (Demo)
16. Howl (Demo)
17. Blood Red Shoes (Demo)
18. Circle Song (Demo)
19. What's A Girl To Do? (BBC Live Lounge Version)
20. Tahiti (BBC Rob Da Bank Session)

‘The Dream Of Delphi’ is an ode to motherhood created in LA, Natasha’s second home, during the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s a sonic archive of a time when Natasha birthed her daughter Delphi earth side. The record weaves together ten song poems, documenting the polarity of navigating both an exterior world that was seemingly turning upside down, whilst also experiencing theprofoundly personal and transformational early moments of mothering Delphi, named after the Greek Oracle, the ancient future teller. The music became Natasha’s sanctuary, born out of stolen trips to the studio, where each track was improvised and completed in a few hours and chronologises her diary like offerings over a period of two years; from “TheMidwives Have Left”; to writing a “Letter To My Daughter”; and all the way through to “Waking up”, as well as a cover of her daughter’s favourite song, “Home”.

While the storytelling behind Bat For Lashes’ previous albums have traditionally used otherworldly narratives and female lead characters (e.g. ‘Laura’, ‘Daniel’ and ‘The Bride’), for the first time, ‘The Dream Of Delphi’ is about Natasha’s personal experience of themagical and sometimes melancholy intimacy of early motherhood. This record creates a more private form of mythology around the music than her previous work. ‘The Dream Of Delphi’ touches on more of an instrumental “Bat For Lashes” world, and shows Natasha to be both a confident composer and craftswoman of intimate landscapes. While the music creates a more womb-like, ambient space for the listener, it still leaves ample room for her signature dream pop songwriting to vibrate through. Natasha has worked with Brad Oberhofer, Mary Lattimore and Jack Falby on this record.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A grand, beguiling epic from Natasha Khan, with sweeps of orchestration and soaring instrumental hooks working beneath her always-beguiling vocals. This time sees the narrative a little more personal, with her lyrics focused on her motherhood and feeling during the pandemic.

TRACK LISTING

The Dream Of Delphi
Christmas Day
Letter To My Daughter
At Your Feet
The Midwives Have Left
Home
Breaking Up
Delphi Dancing
Her First Morning
Waking Up
The Dream Of Delphi (Extended Strings Version)

RIYL: William Basinski, Wolf Eyes, Gas, Tim Hecker, Emeralds, Yellow Swans, Flying Saucer Attack. Steve Bates is an artist and musician known for his work with post-rock ensemble Black Seas Ensemble, duos with Timothy Herzog and Sophie Trudeau of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, amongst others, as well as a series of digital-only sonic explorations on his own label, The Dim Coast. All The Things That Happen is his first full-length album for Constellation. For this album, Bates pursued a more stripped down exploration of the noisier terrain of the cheap timbre and tonality of the much-loved Casio SK-1 keyboard sampler. These sounds were fed through a variety of electronics, effects, amps, cassettes recorders to shift into their current form heard on these tracks.

Steve notes that all the tracks started off as ambient, "but I always kept reaching for more texture and noise." Getting reacquainted with the Casio SK-1 was the initial focus on developing the music here. Processed and manipulated during the recording and mixing stages, these initial SK-1 sessions became the foundation of this body of music. Working within the rich world of experimental electronics, these tracks have a core melodicism to them and maybe even a melancholy, as distortion and overtones saturate and spray the music in various directions, while feeling whole and integrated as a body of sound. A fixture of Winnipeg's burgeoning anarcho-punk and social justice community in the 80s-90s, Bates played in hardcore and indie rock bands (XOXO, Bulletproof Nothing) while contemporaneously continuing to fiddle obsessively with the shortwave radio his father bought him as a child — sensibilities that continue to meld and inform his sound work to this day. Bates founded the Send + Receive Festival in 1998, a crucial development in putting Winnipeg on the map for avant music and experimental sound art, which he helmed for seven years. Moving to Tiohti:áke/Montréal in 2005 he took on the Sound Coordinator position at Hexagram (Concordia University), released solo and duo work on ORAL_records and two albums with his Black Seas Ensemble on The Dim Coast, while pursuing myriad other ongoing audio research, installation and collaborative projects. His exhibition and site-specific works have been presented throughout North America and Europe, Chile and Senegal. 

TRACK LISTING

A1 Groves Of…everything!
A2 These Problems Are Multiplied By The Difficulty I Have In Front Of A Tape Recorder
A3 Glistening
A4 Covered In Silt And Weed
B1 Destroy The Palace
B2 Glimpse An End
B3 Bring On Black Flames
B4 We Do Not, Nor To Hide
B5 September Through September

Marina proudly present: The long-awaited reissues of all three classic Marina albums by The Bathers - “Lagoon Blues” (1993), “Sunpowder” (1995) and “Kelvingrove Baby” (1997). In new beautiful deluxe editions - all remastered plus enhanced artwork. And on vinyl for the first time ever!

The Bathers (aka Chris Thomson) from Glasgow are somewhat of a Scottish national treasure. Listen to these albums, and you’ll know why. Enter a musical universe of intricate arrangements, lush orchestrations, swoony vocals and songs of deep emotional beauty. With nods to Van Morrison, Tom Waits, David Bowie, Tim Hardin and Leonard Cohen. Moody wurlitzers and mesmerising pianos are joined by violins, accordians and acoustic guitars to create a hypnotic, totally unique sound. Chamber pop at its very best.

Liz Fraser of The Cocteau Twins contributes vocals on a couple of songs on “Sunpowder”. A match made in heaven with the music of Chris Thomson. James Grant of Love & Money - Thomson’s fellow musician in legendary 80s pop band Friends Again - supplies backing vocals and guitar on “Kelvingrove Baby”. Isobel Campbell from Belle & Sebastian plays cello on “Lagoon Blues” and “Kelvingrove Baby”.

Turn the lights down low - turn up the volume - and get on a trip with these very special, truly cinematic and, yes, quite spectacular albums.

The LP editions are limited to 690 copies each. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Lagoon Blues Pt. 1
2. Venice Shoes
3. Gracefruit
4. Never Too Late
5. Fermina Fair
6. Easter – For Edda Van Heemstra
7. Pissoir / The Ornella Mutiny
8. Through The Old Holmwood
9. Sweetheart Sessions
10. Lolita
11. Via D’Oro
12. Ave The Leopards
13. Carnival
14. Easter Sorbonne
15. Lagoon Blues Pt. 2

Mixing classical and contemporary sound, Mario Batkovic seeks to explore the sonic possibilities of the accordion, without effects or loops, rather through a mutualist symbiotic relationship between man and instrument. Challenging, hypnotic and grandiose; Batkovic’s symphonic vision is unique and he has received widespread critical acclaim, including Rolling Stone magazine who voted his self-titled debut album in the Top 10 ‘Best Avant Albums of 2017’

‘Introspectio’ is a self-questioning, self-examination of society and the meaning of sound. Featuring collaborations with electronic sorcerer James Holden and former BEAK> member Matthew Williams aka MXLX, in addition to drummer Clive Deamer (Radiohead/Portishead/Robert Plant/Roni Size), saxophonist Colin Stetson and concert choir Cantus Domus, Batkovic questions the place of sound, clichés and prejudices, taking the listener on a journey through infinite universes of sound.

Musical contrasts run throughout the album. Sound aesthetics versus compositional ethics play out, it all about creation and destruction as our sound researcher creates his very own macrocosm of music and sound. Whether solo or in collaboration, ‘Introspectio’ invites us on a rhythmically pulsating trip somewhere between dissolution and new beginnings.

TRACK LISTING

SANATIO
REPERTIO (w/ Clive Deamer & MXLX)
CHOREA DUPLEX (w/ James Holden)
QUIS EST QUIS (w/ Colin Stetson)
SURROGATUM
PRIMORDIUM FINALE

New Zealand indie rock royals, The Bats, have recently had their heads down recording new music and have just announced their 11th full-length album, ‘Corner Coming Up’.

The Bats are Robert Scott, Kaye Woodward, Paul Kean and Malcolm Grant, the much-loved indie rock band from Aotearoa. Since their inception in Christchurch in 1982, The Bats’ music has earned a devoted following around the world, and they remain one of New Zealand’s most cherished and enduring exports. Their music is a perfect blend of bittersweet beauty and deceptive simplicity, and the band has a phenomenal ability to create melodies that linger long after the record has stopped spinning.

The new album strikes a very distinctive and familiar chord that exists in the hearts of fuzzy-loving hearts of fans all round the world. Throughout their 40 plus years of existence, and now with album number 11 ready to share with the world, The Bats have stayed true to their roots, creating timeless music that continues to resonate with fans old and new.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Gown
2. Lucky Day
3. A Line To The Stars
4. Corner Coming Up
5. A Song For The End
6. A Crutch A Post
7. Nature’s Time
8. Smallest Fall
9. Tidal
10. Eyes Down
11. Loline

A sonic portal to a parallel universe where neon-soaked dreamscapes transform the stark realities of a post-pandemic world. Music for a forgotten future, where echoes of the 80s cast long, enigmatic shadows through a rich tapestry of emotion that charts a journey from isolation and fear towards healing and hope. This is the journey of Season One and Season Two, the debut companion albums for the solo project of Italian composer Battaglia, both out this fall on Four Flies Records.

In 2020, as the world retreated onto itself due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Battaglia entered the recording studio. Driven by a desire for experimentation, she decided to focus on the classic synths that have made history to create a sonic and emotional alchemy that reimagines the 80s to resonate with our current experiences and sensibilities.

Drawing inspiration from the cinematic magic of iconic early-80s films, and especially the haunting soundtracks of Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter, she crafted a soundscape that goes beyond nostalgia to capture the spirit of a generation navigating uncertain times.

Season One and Season Two explore the complexities of a world grappling with lethal pandemics, climate catastrophes, and nuclear disasters through themes such as longing, fear, and hope, set against a scenario that blends elements of dystopian and post-apocalyptic science fiction and, at times, horror.

Season One delves deeper into the darker aspects of this new reality, evoking a sense of unease and uncertainty, occasionally interspersed with soothing flashes of light. In Season Two, while darkness still lingers, the sonic landscape is infused with a sense of optimism and determination, offering glimpses of a possible salvation.

With Battaglia's signature blend of dark wave, synth-pop, suspenseful electronica, and cinematic vibes, Season One and Season Two create a sonic world that is at once hauntingly familiar and utterly captivating -- the perfect soundtrack, one is tempted to say, for the countless sci-fi/horror-fantasy series that have been flooding streaming platforms in the last decade.

The covers of both albums were designed by Eric Adrian Lee, who conceived them as two sides of the same image, two versions of a world in crisis but whose ruins contain the potential for rebirth.

TRACK LISTING

1. Fight
2. Escape
3. Computer Lab
4. Chemical
5. Prisoners
6. White Flower
7. Survivors
8. Rebel Alliance
9. Evil
10. A Quiet Place
11. Underground
12. Arrival
13. After Hours

A sonic portal to a parallel universe where neon-soaked dreamscapes transform the stark realities of a post-pandemic world. Music for a forgotten future, where echoes of the 80s cast long, enigmatic shadows through a rich tapestry of emotion that charts a journey from isolation and fear towards healing and hope. This is the journey of Season One and Season Two, the debut companion albums for the solo project of Italian composer Battaglia, both out this fall on Four Flies Records.


In 2020, as the world retreated onto itself due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Battaglia entered the recording studio. Driven by a desire for experimentation, she decided to focus on the classic synths that have made history to create a sonic and emotional alchemy that reimagines the 80s to resonate with our current experiences and sensibilities.

Drawing inspiration from the cinematic magic of iconic early-80s films, and especially the haunting soundtracks of Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter, she crafted a soundscape that goes beyond nostalgia to capture the spirit of a generation navigating uncertain times.


Season One and Season Two explore the complexities of a world grappling with lethal pandemics, climate catastrophes, and nuclear disasters through themes such as longing, fear, and hope, set against a scenario that blends elements of dystopian and post-apocalyptic science fiction and, at times, horror.


Season One delves deeper into the darker aspects of this new reality, evoking a sense of unease and uncertainty, occasionally interspersed with soothing flashes of light. In Season Two, while darkness still lingers, the sonic landscape is infused with a sense of optimism and determination, offering glimpses of a possible salvation.


With Battaglia's signature blend of dark wave, synth-pop, suspenseful electronica, and cinematic vibes, Season One and Season Two create a sonic world that is at once hauntingly familiar and utterly captivating -- the perfect soundtrack, one is tempted to say, for the countless sci-fi/horror-fantasy series that have been flooding streaming platforms in the last decade.


The covers of both albums were designed by Eric Adrian Lee, who conceived them as two sides of the same image, two versions of a world in crisis but whose ruins contain the potential for rebirth.

TRACK LISTING

1. Rescue
2. Neon Drive
3. Contact
4. Like An Island
5. China
6. No Fear
7. Hope
8. New Romantic
9. Glitter
10. Cure
11. A New Home
12. Shadows

Steven Clark (a.k.a Sci-Fi Steven from disco/punk legends bis) returns with his one-man-band project Batteries what seems like seconds after last year's self-titled snappy New-Wave debut. The debut's dystopian potential future themes remain, but this time both the musical and lyrical safety nets have been removed. With the "Devo plays Queens Of The Stone Age or vice versa" mantra still a loose guide, The Finishing Line opens with the vague reassurance of lost Punk 45 "The Fall-In-Love Club" before the safety is removed for the unhinged journey ahead. Remnants of Bill Nelson's Red Noise, Cardiacs and early Blur b-sides abound in "Mutual Enemies" and "Hidden Tracks" while there's edgy American metallic synth punk in "Pigs", "Pankhurst" and "Children Be Normal" which recalls Jesus Lizard and Brainiac. It's a restless itchy record, fleeting pop melodies are crushed by industrial strength guitars, but one that is a cohesive reward and illustrates Steven's unique musical vision. 

TRACK LISTING

1. The Fall-In-Love Club
2. Pankhurst
3. Hidden Tracks
4. Pigs
5. The Rules Are Wrong
6. Mutual Enemies
7. Future Studies
8. Children Be Normal
9. Data Intercourse
10. Gather By The Sea
11. Business As A Euphemism
12. The Finishing Line

TRACK LISTING

A1. Once In A Plastic Time
B1. Coffee Kiss

Produced by Gareth Jones (Interpol, Wire, The Futureheads, Nick Cave), the explosive dynamics of "Children" provide a further teaser of the sounds of the debut album that will follow in August.

New York six-legged rhythmic juggernaut Battles are one of the most exciting and respected alternative bands of recent years and they return with their second album ‘Gloss Drop’.

The album ranges from lead track ‘Ice Cream’, a “grunty, squelchy, jubilant freakout” according to the NME, and Radio 1’s The Hottest Record In The World - a calypso tinged rhythmic juggernaut powering through the airwaves of Radio 1, XFM and 6Music, through to denser, more industrial tracks (‘My Machines’, featuring Gary Numan, is a prime example) – at times playful, at times hard-edged, but always unmistakably Battles.

Outgoing member Tyondai Braxton’s vocals have made way for a host of guest vocalists, ranging from Numan to Kazu from Blonde Redhead and Eye from Boredoms.

TRACK LISTING

Africastle
Ice Cream (ft Matias Aguayo)
Futura
Inchworm
Wall Street
My Machines (ft Gary Numan)
Dominican Fade
Sweetie & Shag (ft Kazu Makino)
Toddler
Rolls Bayce
White Electric
Sundome (ft EYE)

Battles return with their fourth album "Juice B Crypts" on Warp Records to follow their complex, mind-bending predecessors "Mirrored", "Gloss Drop, Dross Glop" and "La Di Da Di". Their latest album is a sensory overload of information that throws everything you thought you knew about Battles into flux once again. John Stanier's percussive power drives the LP through motorik, jazz and post rock, while the cubist keyboard and guitar melodies of Ian Williams capture the fractal pop majesty the group have made their own over the past decade or so.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: While Battles' previous outing definitely tread more through the math rock spectrum, and sometimes suffered cohesion losses through it's jagged momentum, 'Juice B Crypts'leans slightly more towards the free-jazz end of things, with loungey grooves and deep rolling basses keeping a solid backline behind their characteristic madness.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Ambulance
A2. A Loop So Nice...
A3. They Played It Twice (featuring Xenia Rubinos)
B1. Sugar Foot (featuring Jon Anderson And Prairie WWWW)
B2. Fort Greene Park
C1. Titanium 2 Step (featuring Sal Principato)
C2. Hiro 3
C3. Izm (featuring Shabazz Palaces)
D1. Juice B Crypts
D2. The Last Supper On Shasta (featuring Tune-Yards)

Battles, New York City’s preeminent experimental rock duo, drop a slick 12” of remixes from DJ Dairy & DJ Orient (black midi), Delroy Edwards, Shed, and DJ Nigga Fox.  The release sees the aforementioned artists using an array of sounds from across the spectrum of Battles’ latest LP "Juice B Crypts", released late last year. In utilizing the wide array of sounds, the remixers have created work that is not singularly indebted to one song or another, rather inspired by the sonic world of the album and serving as an extension of it. The remixers have utilized this creative freedom to the fullest, delivering a collection of songs that occupy distinctly different spaces of the electronic music landscape while retaining a shared connectivity to the original work. 4 uniquely individual remixes, remixing one of the uniquely individual bands of the new millennium, tied together by experimental spirit and a shared musical perspective. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: One of Warp's highly celebrated acts of late hauls in an imperative who's who of electronic music talent. A hype-list rightly deserved of their cult statuses - not a single one disappoints.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Stirling Bridge (DJ Dairy & DJ Orient (black Midi) Remix)
A2. IZM (Shed Remix)
B1. Juice B Crypts (Delroy Edwards Remix)
B2. Carnaval Supremo (DJ Nigga Fox Remix)

‘La Di Da Di’ is a bold opus of post rock and virtuosic instrumentals, cementing Battles firmly amongst the most influential alternative bands of the 21st century.

On their third album the rhythmic core of Battles is as full as ever. Opener ‘The Yabba’ is a gradual unravelling of math rock motifs that eventually explodes into the glitchladen ‘Dot Net’.

The atypical ‘breather’ moment that comes with ‘Cacio e Pepe’ is an exploration in harmony anchored by Battles’ characteristic repetition, whilst tracks like ‘FF Bada’ and ‘Summer Simmer’ are examples of the thick textural richness that can be found throughout the album. ‘La Di Da Di’ humbly parades the many weapons of Battles’ musicianship for which they are so well revered.

"Tendency" is the second release for Battle on Transgressive Records, following the single "Demons", which sold out its 1500-only limited pressing in half a day, and the first fruits from sessions for their 'Debut Album of the Year' contender, recorded with Gareth Jones (Wire, The Futureheads, Nick Cave, Interpol and Einsturzende Neubauten) who has seamlessly managed to accommodate the epic scope of Battle's songwriting with their edgy and experimental tendencies, creating a track that you feel you've known your whole life, yet feel compelled to listen to repeatedly.

NYC's Battletorn's debut single sold out in a week, and their ten minute sets are becoming stuff of legend around NYC. Lead vocalist Beverly is one of the best female vocalists in the game, recalling the aggression of a female Jello Biafra. Fans of The Comes or Sin 34 or even JFA should take notice.

BATTS is the project of Melbourne based singer-songwriter and producer, Tanya Batt. After collaborating with NASA on her debut record ‘The Grand Tour’, Batt turned her sights back to Earth collaborating on this record with American artists - Sharon Van Etten & Deep Sea Diver. It was made in the Australian bush with her band members and honounary sixth member Alex O'Gorman engineering, surrounded by horses and lorikeets often joining the band for lunch.

The Nightline’s open-book honesty traces the contours of grief, trauma and living with disabling chronic illness, following Batt’s diagnosis with Vestibular Migraine and PPPD. Her unflinching ability to deal with deeply emotive subject matter, and her ambitious vision as a producer. After the passing of her father-in-law in 2019, Batt focused on making an album he would have loved.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Nightline
2. All That I Need
3. Summer In London
4. Blue Feat. Sharon Van Etten
5. Call It What It Is
6. Broken Toes
7. Reassess The Marks
8. Warm Wine
9. Temporary Selfish Behaviour
10. Free
11. Linger Feat. Deep Sea Diver
12. Keeping On

‘In The Flat Field’ (Re-mastered in 2008): Few debut albums ever arrived so nearly perfectly formed. That ‘In The Flat Field’ practically single-handedly invented what remains for many as the stereotype of goth music - wracked, at times spindly vocals about despair and desolation of many kinds, sung over mysterious and moody music - demonstrates the sui generis power of both the band and its work. This said, perhaps the best thing about the album isn’t what it’s supposed to sound like, but what it actually does - an awesomely powerful, glam-inspired rock band firing on all fours, capable of restraint and complete overdrive, fronted by a charismatic, storming frontman. ‘In The Flat Field’ started off Bauhaus’ album career with a near-perfect bang.

‘Mask’ (Re-mastered in 2008): Managing the sometimes hard-to-negotiate trick of expanding their sound while retaining all the qualities which got them attention to begin with, on ‘Mask’ the members of Bauhaus consciously stretched themselves into newer areas of music and performance, resulting in an album that was arguably even better than the band’s almost flawless debut. More familiar sides of the band were apparent from the get-go - opening number ‘Hair Of The Dog’, one of the band’s best songs, starts with a double-tracked squalling guitar solo before turning into a stomping, surging flow. The energy wasn’t all just explosive angst and despair, though. The one-two punches of ‘Kick In The Eye’ and ‘In Fear Of Fear’ have as much hip-shaking groove and upbeat swing to them as portentous gloom. Elsewhere, numerous flashes of the band’s quirky sense of humour - something often missed by both fanatical followers and negative critics alike - make an appearance. Add to that three of the most dramatic things the band ever recorded - the charging, keyboard-accompanied ‘The Passion Of Lovers’, the slow, dark fairy-tale-gone-wrong ‘Hollow Hills’, and the wracked, trudging title track, where the sudden appearance of an acoustic guitar turns a great song into a near-perfect blend of ugliness and sheer beauty - and the end result was a perfect trouncing of the sophomore-slump myth.

‘The Sky’s Gone Out’ (Re-mastered in 2013): More fragmented in origin than it might appear on first glance (the lead off track, a phenomenal, nuclear-strength rip through Brian Eno’s ‘Third Uncle’, featuring some fantastic soloing from Ash, came from a BBC radio session performance), ‘The Sky’s Gone Out’ was caught between the expectations of an audience now thoroughly embracing the incipient goth genre, with all the built-in limitations such expectations often provide, and a band which wanted to please them while still following its own muse. ‘The Sky’s Gone Out’ feels more like a compilation than anything else. Piece by piece, though, the songs still often showed Bauhaus in excelsis.

‘Burning From The Inside’ (Re-mastered in 2013): ‘Burning From The Inside’ really was a collection of various recordings, due in large part to outside events - Murphy had fallen victim to a life-threatening illness, so the rest of the band began recording without him, which more than anything else foreshadowed both Bauhaus’ breakup and the trio’s future work as Love And Rockets. As a result, two songs ended up on the album, the piano led cinematic moodiness of ‘Who Killed Mr. Moonlight’ and the sweet acoustic drive of ‘Slice Of Life’, with David J and Ash on lead vocals respectively. The end result of all this was an album that was good in spots but not as strong throughout as it could be, while betraying the other performing and writing strains that would soon cause the band to call it a day. As before, though, when the band members were on, they were on with a vengeance, such as the medieval folk dance ‘King Volcano’ and the starkly beautiful ‘Kingdom’s Coming’.

‘Singles’: A compilation of the non album singles (excluding BBC recordings), this re-mastered set also included the first official release of the rare cover of ‘Spirit In The Sky’ (originally featured on an ultra rare, fan club only single) and the live-with-studio-vocals version of ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’.

‘Mask’: Managing the sometimes hard-to-negotiate trick of expanding their sound while retaining all the qualities which got them attention to begin with, ‘Mask’ sees the members of Bauhaus consciously stretch themselves into newer areas of music and performance, resulting in an album that was arguably even better than the band’s almost flawless debut.

More familiar sides of the band were apparent from the get-go; opening number ‘Hair Of The Dog’, one of the band’s best songs, starts with a double-tracked squalling guitar solo before turning into a stomping, surging flow, carefully paced by sudden silences and equally sudden returns to the music, while Murphy details cases of mental addictions in pithy phrases.

The energy wasn’t all just explosive angst and despair, though; the one-two punches of ‘Kick In The Eye’ and ‘In Fear Of Fear’ have as much hip-shaking groove and upbeat swing to them as portentous gloom (Ash’s sax skronk on the latter, as well as on the similarly sharp ‘Dancing’, is a particularly nice touch). Elsewhere, numerous flashes of the band’s quirky sense of humour - something often missed by both fanatical followers and negative critics both - make an appearance; perhaps most amusing is the dry spoken-word lyric beginning ‘Of Lillies And Remains’, as David J details a goofily grotesque situation as much Edward Gorey as Edgar Allen Poe. Add to that three of the most dramatic things the band ever recorded - the charging, keyboard-accompanied ‘The Passion Of Lovers’, the slow, dark fairy-tale-gone-wrong ‘Hollow Hills’, and the wracked, trudging title track, where the sudden appearance of an acoustic guitar turns a great song into a near perfect blend of ugliness and sheer beauty - and the end result was a perfect trouncing of the sophomore-slump myth.

‘Mask’ is packaged in a lavish gatefold cover.

STAFF COMMENTS

Sara says: I'm currently slightly obsessed with the darker side of 80's pop and Bauhaus are one of my favourite recent discoveries.

Late 2018 will mark the 40th anniversary of Bauhaus. To celebrate, Beggars Arkive is reissuing six records from the band’s catalogue on limited edition coloured vinyl.

Formed in 1978, The legendary and hugely influential quartet hailed from Northampton, England and is comprised of Peter Murphy, Daniel Ash, David J and Kevin Haskins. The dark, dramatic music that they made, possessed far more force, variety and playfulness than the "founding fathers of goth" tag that is always attached to them.

Bauhaus' landmark debut album, In the Flat Field, came out towards the end of 4AD's first eventful year. Following the plan at the time, the band then "moved upstairs" to Beggars Banquet, for whom they cut three further albums before dissolving in 1983. They charted with their cover of David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust”, they’ve been and namechecked by everyone from Nine Inch Nails, Sepultura, Janes Addiction, MGMT, Interpol, Bjork, Nirvana and more. They remain a huge cult concern, periodically reforming to wow their legions of dedicated followers.

Released in 1982, this is a live album, compiled from shows across the UK from 1981–82. Press the Eject… features a striking version of John Cale’s “Rosegarden Funeral Of Sores,” a particularly spooky run-through of “Hollow Hills” that out-creeps the studio version on Mask, and the punk rock fuzz-out of “Dark Entries”. Of course, “Bela…” appears here as well, in a luxurious nine-and-a-half-minute version. Washed in feedback and ever-so subtly accelerating and decelerating, this song is the true center of “Goth” mythology. This was mastered from HD audio files transferred from the original tapes.

TRACK LISTING

In The Flat Field (Live @ The Old Vic, London)
Rose Garden Funeral Of Sores (Live @ The Old Vic, London)
Dancing (Live @ The Royal Court, Liverpool)
The Man With X-Ray Eyes (Live @ Hammersmith Palais, London)
Bela Lugosi Is Dead (Live @ The Old Vic, London)
The Spy In The Cab (Live @ The Royal Court, Liverpool)
Kick In The Eye (Live @ The Royal Court, Liverpool)
In Fear Of Fear (Live @ The Royal Court, Liverpool)
Hollow Hills (Live @ The Old Vic, London)
Stigmata Martyr (Live @ The Royal Court, Liverpool)
Dark Entries (Live @ The Royal Court, Liverpool)
Terror Couple Kill Colonel (Live @ Le Rose Bon, Paris)
Double Dare (Live @ Le Rose Bon, Paris)
In The Flat Field (Live @ Le Rose Bon, Paris)
Hair Of The Dog (Live @ Le Rose Bon, Paris)
Of Lilies And Remains (Live @ Le Rose Bon, Paris)
Waiting For The Man (Live @ Fagins, Manchester)

Hamburg’s kosmische custodians at Bureau B proudly welcome legendary synth maestro Peter Baumann back into the studio for his first solo album since Machines Of Desire (2016). A defining force in the Berlin School of electronic music, both as a member of Tangerine Dream in their most essential era, and as a solo artist, Baumann has always bridged the cerebral and the cinematic.

With Nightfall, he embarks on another sonic odyssey, crafting an atmospheric album steeped in mystery and evocative storytelling. Baumann’s artistic vision has long been shaped by his exploration of the human condition. From his pioneering work with Tangerine Dream to his influential New Age imprint, Private Music, and his philosophical pursuits through the Baumann Foundation, his creativity and curiosity remain undiminished.

Nightfall is the latest chapter in his five-decade journey - a deeply emotional album that embraces impermanence to transport the listener into a series of shapeshifting soundscapes.

"The cover of Nightfall shows an imprint on a sand dune, symbolising the fleeting nature of our lives, our experiences, our existence," Baumann explains. "The track titles, as with much of my work, reflect the ephemeral, ungraspable nature of our existence."

The misty melancholia of opener "No One Knows" pairs hypnotic woodblock rhythms with desert guitars, while "Lost In A Pale Blue Sky" floats through celestial choirs and rolling timpani, evoking dreamlike introspection. Elsewhere, "On The Long Road" pulses with insect-like percussion and serrated synth tones, exuding a ritualistic energy. Tracks like "A World Apart" and "From A Far Land" build tension through cascading melodies and rhythmic precision, evoking distant horizons and uncharted territories. "Sailing Past Midnight" melds bass mallets with feedback-laden synths, conjuring a sense of movement and urgency, while "I'm Sitting Here, Just For A While" layers snaking saxophones and hand percussion into a mystical, arcane soundscape. The album closes with the title track, "Nightfall", a deeply atmospheric piece wrapped in choral textures and shadowy undertones.

"I love instrumental music because it bypasses any concepts, it is an expression that words can never capture," Baumann reflects. "We can’t hear music exactly the same way twice, it’s always experienced differently, sometime slightly sometimes substantially. Like a river, never exactly the same."

From the very beginnings of his career, Peter Baumann has infused his work with a sense of the beyond and Nightfall is no exception. Each track invites the listener to interpret, to feel, and to immerse themselves in its crepuscular beauty. “

For the better part of five decades in every music project I was involved in, I aimed to infuse it with a transcendent quality." Baumann states.

With Nightfall, the composer has created a shimmering doorway, just waiting for you to step through.

TRACK LISTING

A1 No One Knows
A2 Lost In A Pale Blue Sky
A3 On The Long Road
A4 A World Apart
B1 From A Far Land
B2 Sailing Past Midnight
B3 I'm Sitting Here, Just For A While
B4 Nightfall

From 1971 to 1977, Peter Baumann was a member of the legendary Berlin band TANGERINE DREAM. The group were pioneers of the so called Berliner Schule (Berlin School) which had such a profound impact on electronic music. He produced a number of momentous albums at his Paragon Studio (by the likes of Conrad Schnitzler, Cluster, Hans-Joachim Roedelius) and also enjoyed success as a solo artist. His first two solo works are now being reissued with extensive liner notes and rare photographs. The influence of Tangerine Dream can clearly be heard on "Romance 76", although the arrangements are comparatively minimalist-a state of affairs for which David Bowie can be held partially responsible (see below).

With Peter Baumann on board, Tangerine Dream grew into one of the most influential bands in electronic Krautrock, sited somewhere between experimental electronica and progressive rock. Open to new ideas, Baumann's positive aura and eagerness to experiment galvanized the band's music almost instantaneously. His catchy melodies, rich in positivity, propelled Tangerine Dream into the charts.

After five years of chart appearances and extensive touring through Europe and North America, punctuated by several albums-including "Atem", John Peel's nominated import album of 1973-Baumann called time on his solo career with "Romance 76". "We found some time between tours and record productions, so Edgar recorded a solo disc and helped Christoph and me to develop our own music too. 'Romance 76' resulted from the urge to create new music. I felt we had begun repeating ourselves in Tangerine Dream and I was keen to discover new things, to carry on experimenting. Improvisation had been common to us all, but on your own it isn't quite so simple. I started to work on my own pieces." This shift in focus led him to leave Tangerine Dream towards the end of 1977. He and a friend set up the Paragon Studio in Berlin, which would earn a prominent place in music production history, but that's another story.

Still a member of the band in 1976, Baumann rented a hall in the ufaFabrik, Berlin to record "Romance 76". Sonic similarities to Tangerine Dream can be explained by the fact that the group used the same space for gig rehearsals, giving Baumann access to their instruments. The distinctive sound of a modular synthesizer system christened "The Big One" can be detected on "Romance 76", for example, along with a Mellotron.

Some tracks on the album, such as "Romance" and "Phase By Phase", are relatively minimalist in character. This airiness lends the unusual synth sounds space to unfold in all their glory. A state of affairs for which David Bowie is partially responsible, as Baumann recalls: "We were in Berlin and met him for dinner, then he would call in while I was recording the album, listening carefully to what I was working on. I explained to him what still needed to be done, but Bowie suggested: 'Leave it as it is, there's enough there already.'" At which point Baumann decided to look at the tracks in question as finished.

TRACK LISTING

1. Bicentennial Presentation (4:52)
2. Romance (6:08)
3. Phase By Phase (7:41)
4. Meadow Of Infinity Part I (3:48)
5. The Glass Bridge (3:45)
6. Meadow Of Infinity Part II (6:45)

From 1971 to 1977, Peter Baumann was a member of the legendary Berlin band TANGERINE DREAM. The group were pioneers of the so called Berliner Schule (Berlin School) which had such a profound impact on electronic music. He produced a number of momentous albums at his Paragon Studio (by the likes of Conrad Schnitzler, Cluster, Hans-Joachim Roedelius) and also enjoyed success as a solo artist. His first two solo works are now being reissued with extensive liner notes and rare photographs. The influence of Tangerine Dream can clearly be heard on "Romance 76", although the arrangements are comparatively minimalist-a state of affairs for which David Bowie can be held partially responsible (see below).

With Peter Baumann on board, Tangerine Dream grew into one of the most influential bands in electronic Krautrock, sited somewhere between experimental electronica and progressive rock. Open to new ideas, Baumann's positive aura and eagerness to experiment galvanized the band's music almost instantaneously. His catchy melodies, rich in positivity, propelled Tangerine Dream into the charts.

After five years of chart appearances and extensive touring through Europe and North America, punctuated by several albums-including "Atem", John Peel's nominated import album of 1973-Baumann called time on his solo career with "Romance 76". "We found some time between tours and record productions, so Edgar recorded a solo disc and helped Christoph and me to develop our own music too. 'Romance 76' resulted from the urge to create new music. I felt we had begun repeating ourselves in Tangerine Dream and I was keen to discover new things, to carry on experimenting. Improvisation had been common to us all, but on your own it isn't quite so simple. I started to work on my own pieces." This shift in focus led him to leave Tangerine Dream towards the end of 1977. He and a friend set up the Paragon Studio in Berlin, which would earn a prominent place in music production history, but that's another story.

Still a member of the band in 1976, Baumann rented a hall in the ufaFabrik, Berlin to record "Romance 76". Sonic similarities to Tangerine Dream can be explained by the fact that the group used the same space for gig rehearsals, giving Baumann access to their instruments. The distinctive sound of a modular synthesizer system christened "The Big One" can be detected on "Romance 76", for example, along with a Mellotron.

Some tracks on the album, such as "Romance" and "Phase By Phase", are relatively minimalist in character. This airiness lends the unusual synth sounds space to unfold in all their glory. A state of affairs for which David Bowie is partially responsible, as Baumann recalls: "We were in Berlin and met him for dinner, then he would call in while I was recording the album, listening carefully to what I was working on. I explained to him what still needed to be done, but Bowie suggested: 'Leave it as it is, there's enough there already.'" At which point Baumann decided to look at the tracks in question as finished.

TRACK LISTING

1. Bicentennial Presentation (4:52)
2. Romance (6:08)
3. Phase By Phase (7:41)
4. Meadow Of Infinity Part I (3:48)
5. The Glass Bridge (3:45)
6. Meadow Of Infinity Part II (6:45)

Rayland’s new release ‘If I Was A Butterfly’ is his first new album in 4 years. The album is certainly his most experimental – diving deep into the indie psych space – but keeping the essence of Rayland’s beautiful songwriting. A couple years ago, Rayland released a Mac Miller tribute EP ‘Good Mmornin.’ Rayland was deeply inspired by Mac’s music but he approached it from an entirely different perspective. It was surely an experiment yet it really worked. His cover of “Small Worlds” has 11 million Spotify streams. It’s been incredible to see how this project connected with core Rayland fans and Mac fans alike – it expanded his following to a whole new space. The Mac Miller project was a bridge from Rayland’s last album ‘Wide Awake’ which came out in 2018. Since then, Rayland has been through a lot of heavy experiences. His father, the legendary pedal steel player Bucky Baxter (toured with Bob Dylan), died suddenly. Rayland went through heartbreak and found new love.

Thoreau had Walden Pond. Kerouac had Big Sur. Rayland Baxter? He had an old rubber band factory in Franklin, Kentucky, and it suited him just fine. As one of the hardest-touring artists on the road today, Baxter’s spent most of his professional life in transit, but ever since he was a kid, he dreamed of creative seclusion someplace lonely and isolated, somewhere he could sit still and devote his every waking hour to writing without interruption or distraction. When the opportunity finally presented itself in late 2016, the Nashville native pounced.

“I packed everything in my van and moved to Franklin for three months,” says Baxter. “It was the fist time I ever got to be alone and focus solely on songs like that. All I did was write, write, write all day every day. I was obsessed.”

By the time Baxter emerged, he’d penned more than 50 tunes and crafted a detailed blueprint for his spectacular new album, ‘Wide Awake.’ Deftly produced by Butch Walker, the record infuses Baxter’s easygoing, soulful sound with British Invasion melodies and rock and roll swagger, marrying lean, muscular songwriting with adventurous, inventive arrangements. It’s a cutting, insightful collection, one that takes a sardonic view the violence, greed, and division that seem to define the modern American landscape. Rather than point a finger, though, the music holds up a mirror, offering a sober reflection of the times thoughtfully bundled in bright, infectious hooks. There’s no judgment here, only keen observation, and Baxter implicates himself as much as his neighbor through it all.

“This is an album about decision making,” he explains. “It’s about being a human at the crossroads. Do I do good or do I do evil? Do I lie or do I tell the truth? Am I going to be happy or am I going to be sad? All of these questions and emotions are things I see in myself, and they’re the same things I see in everyone else no matter where I go.”

Baxter’s built a career on capturing those sorts of timeless, deeply human sentiments, bringing colorful characters to vivid life with equal parts humor and pathos. His debut album, ‘feathers & fishhooks,’ was a critical hit praised by Interview for its “well-worn maturity,” while NPR described “Yellow Eyes,” the lead single from his 2015 follow-up, ‘Imaginary Man,’ as “close-to-perfect.” Stereogum dubbed the record “an impeccable sophomore break-out,” and Rolling Stone hailed its pairing of “whimsical narrative with often deceptively complex arrangements.” The music earned Baxter festival appearances from Bonnaroo to Newport Folk in addition to tours with an astonishing array of artists, including Jason Isbell, The Lumineers, Kacey Musgraves, The Head and The Heart, Shakey Graves, Lauryn Hill, and Grace Potter.

“The six months leading up to the release of ‘Imaginary Man,’ that was the first time I really started playing electric guitar and performing with a band,” says Baxter. “We did my first headline run and toured that album for a year-and-a-half, and the experience really opened up this whole new sound for me. It helped me figure out more of who I was as an artist and a songwriter and a traveler and a human being.”

It was with that newfound sense of self that Baxter entered Thunder Sound, the abandoned rubber band factory-turned-studio in the cornfields of Kentucky that would become his home for three months of intensive soul searching and songwriting.

“I blanketed the windows so no one could see inside,” he explains. “I laid a mattress down next to an old Wurlitzer so I had somewhere to sleep. I had a guitar, a desk with a lamp and some paper and pencils, and that was it. For fifteen hours a day, I wrote.”

When it came time to record his mountain of new songs, Baxter relocated to Santa Monica, California, where he wrangled an all-star studio band that included Dr. Dog’s Erick Slick on drums, Butch Walker on bass, Cage The Elephant’s Nick Bockrath on guitar, and piano wizard Aaron Embry (Elliott Smith, Brian Eno) on keys. A producer and artist equally at home working with massive pop stars and indie stalwarts, Walker immediately embraced Baxter’s vision for the album, and the result is a sunny and altogether charming collection. Scratch beneath the surface, though, and you’ll find it’s populated by a cast of characters who project a vision of the good life as they struggle to keep it all together behind closed doors. On the punchy ‘Casanova,’ the singer reckons with debts he knows he’ll never be able to repay, while the volatile “Amelia Baker” charts the narrator’s descent into near-madness as he pines for a starlet perpetually out of reach.

“We have this society where we’re obsessed with celebrity and living on the top of the mountain,” says Baxter. “But what’s at the top? Maybe it’s a lonely place to wake up.”

Late 2016 was a particular tumultuous time in the country, and though Baxter did his best to isolate himself from the outside world while he wrote, it was inevitable that some of the chaos would seep in. On album opener “Strange American Dream,” a chiming piano and spare Motown groove give way to lush harmonies and unexpected melodic twists as Baxter sings, “I close my eyes and realize that I’m alive inside this strange American dream.” Meanwhile, the soaring “79 Shiny Revolvers” finds him reflecting, “you really wanna save the world, man / well, I wanna save it, too / we can blow ’em away / the American way.”

While ‘Wide Awake’ offers plenty of broad, wide-angle musings, some of its most arresting moments arrive bundled inside deeply personal memories and snapshots. The heartfelt “Everything To Me” is a tender tribute to family (Baxter’s father Bucky, who played pedal steel with Bob Dylan and Ryan Adams among others, contributes to the record), and the laidback “Let It All Go Man” is a reminder that there’s beauty in simply being alive.

“I actually started that song two years ago on a trip to South America,” says Baxter. “I was sitting on the porch of a house in this little town in Colombia, and I was all alone playing a gut string classical guitar, just staring out at the ocean and the beach in the middle of the night. It made me realize how much unnecessary stuff we hold on to, all the grinding away we do chasing success and money and missing the big picture. It made me realize what an incredibly beautiful gift it is to be human.”

That empty South American beach may have been a world away from the rubber band factory in Kentucky, but for Baxter, the effect was the same. The solitude offered a chance to observe, to reflect, to grow, to appreciate, and most importantly, to write.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Effortlessly melodic pop craftsmanship in a Southern/ West Coast easy stylee. This is the perfect album for the summer.

TRACK LISTING

1 Strange American Dream
2 Casanova
3 Angeline
4 79 Shiny Revolvers
5 Amelia Baker
6 Without Me
7 Hey Larocco
8 Sandra Monica
9 Everything To Me
10 Let It All Go Man

Each song on Bayonne’s Drastic Measures is orchestral in texture, unfolding in countless layers and kaleidoscopic tones. With great intensity of detail, the Austin-based artist otherwise known as Roger Sellers deepens that sonic complexity by weaving in elegantly warped samples of the field recordings he’s gathered for over a decade. But in its powerful melodies and pristine arrangements, Drastic Measures ultimately bears a pure pop lucidity even in its most grandiose moments.

Roger Sellers is a lot of things. He’s a minimalist composer with a knack for making hypnotic, enveloping songs from a few repeated musical phrases. He’s a gifted musician who is mostly self-taught, having abandoned formal study because it was draining the life from his work. He’s a self-described disciple of Phil Collins. What he is not, however -- despite multiple press reports to the contrary - is a DJ.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Swimming in reverb, soaring melodies are twisted together delicately below echoed vocals, rich percussion and slowly developing melodic counterpoint. It's a well balanced and beautifully accomplished suite of dreamers.

TRACK LISTING

A1. QA
A2. Drastic Measures
A3. Same
A4. Gift
A5. Enders
B1. I Know (Album-Version)
B2. Kind
B3. Uncertainly Deranged
B4. Abillia
B5. Bothering

This is the first album by BBQ since 2005’s Tie Your Noose on the historic Bomp! label. BBQ is Mark Sultan, who also has recorded many other albums and 45s, as well as playing in bands like The King Khan & BBQ Show, Almighty Defenders, Ding-Dongs and Les Sexareenos etc., etc. BBQ is his preferred monicker for playing as a very strict live-recorded one-man band.

This album serves as a little wink goodbye to any complexities past and a strong “welcome back” to the primitive, brusque and airy rock’n’roll which has made Sultan beloved since 2003. Forgoing lo-fi, BBQ is reinventing the one-man band, taking it back, for a loud, clear and raw sound; helmed by great songs, sung truly and passionately. Recorded by himself in his basement, live in one to two takes — twelve brand new killers.

“This is an examination of madness and loss,” says Brian Christinzio, the inimitable force behind BC Camplight. “I hope it starts a long overdue conversation.”

Fired by his ongoing battle with mental illness, Shortly After Takeoff is the final, and finest, chapter of what Christinzio calls his “Manchester Trilogy”, following 2015’s “How To Die In The North” and 2018’s “Deportation Blues”. All three albums were created after the native Philadelphian had moved to Manchester. Like Deportation Blues, Shortly After Takeoff spans singer-songwriter classicism, gnarly synth-pop and ‘50s rock’n’roll, with Christinzio’s similarly distinctive, flexible vocal carrying a fearless approach to lyrical introspection, but the new album is a major leap forward in songwriting sophistication and lyrical communication.

“It’s important to stress that this isn’t a redemption story,” he says. “I'm a guy who maybe lives a little hard and I’m in the thick of some heavy stuff. But as a result, I think I've made my best record.”

The “heavy stuff” has come thick and fast for Christinzio. Just days before How To Die In The North was released, he was deported and banned from the UK because of visa issues. Estranged from his new home, his girlfriend and his dog, unable to promote his album and back home with his parents, Christinzio sunk deep into the dark. An Italian passport, care of his grandparents, eventually allowed him to re-settle in Manchester, but then just days before Deportation Blues was released, his father Angelo unexpectedly died.

“I went into a spiral that was worse than any time since my twenties,” he recalls. Hence the title Shortly After Takeoff: the feeling of being suddenly thwarted by what life throws at you. Making matters worse was a neurological disorder that returned after years in remission: “I see TV static, and it messes with how my brain interprets everything from sound to my own feelings.”

One way to process tragedy is comedy, which elevates Shortly After Takeoff to a heightened plateau, from grief-stricken vulnerability to armoured bravado, from the black dog of depression to gallows humour. None more so than ‘Ghosthunting’, which opens with an extraordinary (fabricated) passage of Christinzio doing a stand-up routine, centring on the memory of hallucinating his father’s ghost. “I want to drag the listener into this world and hopefully they question why they feel uneasy,” he explains.

“I also wanted to make a record totally free of whimsy and irony, that was just clear and open and honest. I don’t think you really heard the chaos in Deportation Blues, but in Shortly After Takeoff, I can hear I’m finding undiscovered places to go, only because I was so lost. Lyrically, I wanted people to hear and understand me this time. Before, if I would have written about my father dying, I would have made up some weird bullshit, like an analogy about a tree shedding leaves or something. That Brian is gone. I have a direct line to the listener now. I have a direct line to myself too. It’s a benchmark moment for me.”

Shortly After Takeoff ends with the gorgeously tender 93-second ‘Angelo’, “a little fleeting moment for my dad. I wanted his name on the album, and something that sounded like a goodbye. It ends with the drums, like a heartbeat stopping…”

That’s Christinzio and Shortly After Takeoff: his best, most honest, open and frequently heartbreaking record.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Surely this must finally be the record which brings Brian Christinzio the attention he deserves. He is simply an incredible melodicist and creates tracks full of surprising twists and unusual turns. Dark, crazy but funnily inspirational lyrics are offset against the sweetest voice and catchiest songs you’ll hear all year. Just brilliant.

TRACK LISTING

1 I Only Drink When I'm Drunk
2 Ghosthunting
3 Back To Work
4 Cemetery Lifestyle
5 I Want To Be In The Mafia
6 Shortly After Takeoff
7 Arm Around Your Sadness
8 Born To Cruise
9 Angelo

Every BC Camplight album has a backstory every bit as compelling as its music.

A Sober Conversation is no different, as virtuoso songwriter and pianist Brian Christinzio documents the last two years of his life, finally confronting a shocking childhood trauma while embracing sobriety, to create his bravest and most revealing record. It's an enthralling, sometimes haunting quasi- concept record marked by ruthless tragic- comedic purging and sublime, intricate melody, knitting lyrical screenplays to dazzling arrangements.

It is BC Camplight at the height of his remarkable powers.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A superb, cinematic journey that's as instantly alluring as any album in his brilliant back-catalogue, but who's myriad sonic non-sequiturs make more sense every time you hear them. A beautifully warm, endlessly enchanting journey from one of the most capable and talented figures in the game. Brilliant.

TRACK LISTING

The Tent
Two Legged Dog
A Sober Conversation
When I Make My First Million
Where You Taking My Baby?
Bubbles In The Gasoline
Rock Gently In Disorder
Drunk Talk
Leaving Camp Four Oaks

Every BC Camplight album has a backstory every bit as compelling as its music.

A Sober Conversation is no different, as virtuoso songwriter and pianist Brian Christinzio documents the last two years of his life, finally confronting a shocking childhood trauma while embracing sobriety, to create his bravest and most revealing record. It's an enthralling, sometimes haunting quasi- concept record marked by ruthless tragic- comedic purging and sublime, intricate melody, knitting lyrical screenplays to dazzling arrangements.

It is BC Camplight at the height of his remarkable powers.

TRACK LISTING

The Tent
Two Legged Dog
A Sober Conversation
When I Make My First Million
Where You Taking My Baby?
Bubbles In The Gasoline
Rock Gently In Disorder
Drunk Talk
Leaving Camp Four Oaks

“You shouldn't have a tough time finding the angle to Deportation Blues,” claims Brian ‘BC Camplight’ Christinzio. “The past few years have been a fucking nightmare.”

But what a fucking great record he’s made off the back of his nightmare. His second album for Bella Union, Deportation Blues is an exhilarating, dynamic document of calamity and stress, relayed through richly melodic and bold arrangements spanning singer-songwriter classicism, gnarly synth-pop, ‘50s rock’n’roll and various junctures between, mirroring their maverick creator’s jarred emotions and fractured mindset.

For the full story, you have to head back to before Christinzio’s Bella Union debut, 2015’s How To Die In The North. Born in New Jersey, but living in Philadelphia, Christinzio had released two albums while battling addiction and mental illness. Both albums won rave reviews and earned Christinzio a reputation as one of independent music’s most forward-thinking artists. Soon after, however, as illness rendered him unable to function as a working songwriter, Christinzio retreated to a life squatting in an abandoned church. Despite some notable appearances as a session pianist (Sharon Van Etten) and occasional live work for Philly faves The War On Drugs (Robbie Bennett and David Hartley were in the original BC live band) he knew a sea change was needed in order to regain his career and sanity.

Feeling he’d be “dead or in jail if I stayed”, he acted on a friend’s suggestion to cross the ocean to Manchester. There, Christinzio found new inspiration, new friends, a girlfriend, a dog, and finally a new album (his first in eight years).

So, imagine his mood when he fell foul of UK immigration. “I’d had such high hopes for How To Die In The North, and I was told I was being deported two days after it came out, and banned from the UK. The next thing I know, I’m playing Pac Man in my parents’ basement, thinking, this is my life now.”

Occasional gigs in Europe, where his Manchester-based band could meet him, and extended sojourns in Dublin and Paris, broke up the monotony, but it was still like “living in a constant panic attack.”

But then the cavalry arrived! Courtesy of his grandparents, Christinzio secured Italian citizenship. It cost time, money and a portion of his sanity, “but after a year and a half I could finally shove my Italian papers in their faces at the airport and return to sunny Manchester. The thing is, despite being American, I feel Mancunian, and I couldn’t think about making another record, until I got back.”

To add insult to injury, “Brexit happened, like a day after I got back. Can I get a fucking break here, please?”

Once the dust had settled, Christinzio realised, “I didn’t feel any better, I had so much anger, I felt destroyed. The demons were back and had lost me friends, I’d drunk too much, and I felt nothing but dread and disease. I thought, I can’t wait to hear what this next album is going to sound like.”

Recording in Liverpool’s Whitewood studios, Christinzio locked himself in the windowless studio and recorded almost exclusively in the dark. “The thoughts and sounds that began to flow out of me were pretty scary. I’m pretty sure the engineer started carrying a shiv in his pocket after about the second day. Nothing playful sounding came out. If the last album had elements of whimsy, the thought of any on this album made me want to vomit.” “A couple of months later we had finished Deportation Blues and emerged from the studio like mole people”. Christinzio recorded the album mostly on his own, plus drummer Adam Dawson, occasional guitar by Robbie Rush, and a couple of session horn players. The lead track is ‘I’m Desperate’, “an ominous synth burner,” says Christinzio, with a Suicide-style throb and a haunting female vocal counterpoint that underlines the album’s manic, careering edge, fantastic hooks and instrumental verve. It’s an uncompromising way to introduce Deportation Blues, likewise the album’s title-track opener. Bookended by metallic power chords, cascading synths and a gorgeous downbeat mood lead into slower doo-wop complete with howling falsetto. “It’s instantly a different, darker record than How To Die In The North,” Christinzio notes. Deportation Blues is also noticeably more electronic than its predecessor. “I was feeling cold so every time something sounded pretty, I replaced it with something that sounded like an ice pick. The apocalyptic nuclear feel really appealed.” Throughout, Christinzio sounds as if he’s walking a knife-edge. Take second track ‘I’m In A Weird Place Now’, a heady conflagration of Spector and Springsteen, with Christinzio confessing “And there’s something about Manchester town / And the silly little things she makes me do.” “I like the oppressiveness of the weather in Manchester, it brings everyone down to my level” he explains. The fried mood continues on ‘Hell Or Pennsylvania’, splicing woozy noir jazz lounge-drunk cabaret by way of ‘50s legend Jerry Lee Lewis - Christinzio’s entry point to music through his mother’s record collection. “It’s the first time I’ve reflected that on a record,” he says. “Jerry Lee was this guy bashing at a piano who didn’t give a shit, and I didn’t give a shit.” The lyrical reference to “lemon twirls” meanwhile, represents Brian’s struggle with substance abuse: “The big choruses are a celebration of cocaine whilst the jazz sections represent the lament, the familiar loathsome aftermath.” The sudden changes of mood and style are also metaphorical. For example, ‘Am I Dead’ embraces cinematic horns, broody pop and synth-bass afro-funk. “I go through highs and lows and have trouble staying entertained,” he admits. “A musical part can state its purpose in fifteen seconds, sometimes it doesn’t need repeating. The trick is tying everything together without it sounding confusing.” ‘Am I Dead’ is segued between ‘When I Think Of My Dog’ and ‘Midnight Ease’, two plush, heart-aching piano ballads with rippling saxophone. After ‘Fire In England’, a greasy, nervy rocker, is a bitter ode to British PM – and former immigration controller (as Home Secretary) Theresa May (“dresses like a bus seat, doesn’t she?”). It’s a complex, bleak record I guess” Christinzio concludes. “As dramatic as it may sound, this album was made by a dude who wasn’t sure he’d be alive the next day. Nothing is there for any other reason than it’s the truth. It’s not trying to sound cool or get on the radio.” Though Christinzio points out “this is no redemption I-saw-the-light story,” he is allowing himself a little bit of hope for once: “I’ve never been as pleased with where I am artistically as I am right now.” On top, his new band, “is phenomenal.” Alongside trusted drummer Dawson is Luke Barton (guitars, synths), guitarist Tom Rothery and multi-instrumentalist/ backing singer Ali Bell. Leading them is a man that a bartender in Manchester recently described as “like Mozart and Tony Soprano had a kid." Brian Christinzio, and BC Camplight, genius and pain, may be here to stay at last.

TRACK LISTING

1 Deportation Blues
2 I'm In A Weird Place Now
3 Hell Or Pennsylvania
4 I'm Desperate
5 When I Think Of My Dog
6 Am I Dead Yet?
7 Midnight Ease
8 Fire In England
9 Until You Kiss Me

Lost treasure needn’t be found in the distant past; the 21st century hides many artists who disappeared into the great wide yonder. BC Camplight is one such example. The alter-ego of American songwriter Brian Christinzio released albums in 2005 and 2007, both gems of a certain psych-pop vintage, combining eloquent songwriting with a self-destructive bent. Christinzio certainly knew it – he’s described himself as, “the guy who blew it.”

But this sublime talent with the keening vocal and fearless approach to lyrical introspection has another chance. His new album ‘How To Die In The North’, recorded in his newly adopted home of Manchester, England, is a fantastically rich, stylistically diverse trip. From dramatic, layered pop to a haunted take on Sixties sunshine-pop, from blue-eyed soul to speedy surf-pop, from sparser piano balladry to psychedelic showstoppers and a grand finale that’s part Nilsson and part Broadway showtune.

Originally from New Jersey, Christinzio started playing piano aged just four, inspired by his mum’s Jerry Lee Lewis and Nilsson records and his Dad’s classical collection. Depression and crippling hypochondria clashed with captaining the football team and a penchant for boxing. Post-school, he fell in with people, “willing to go through shit to be a musician,” which saw him relocate to Philadelphia where he occasionally played live with Philly faves The War On Drugs and guested on Sharon Van Etten’s album ‘Epic’.

He’s already done two sessions for long-term fan Marc Riley at BBC 6 Music, which featured Christinzio’s band of Mancunians who he met at The Castle Hotel pub, a watering hole in the city centre particularly popular with musicians. Christinzio also heard John Grant’s album on the jukebox there, which encouraged him to approach Bella Union. Grant’s cocktail of depression and self-sabotage thwarted an outrageous talent, but he took his second chance. The same deserves to happen to Christinzio, a similarly outsize, sharp and funny personality with a non-conformist streak. Far from dying, BC Camplight has been reborn in the North!

A stone’s throw from the church where Desmond Tutu organised the escape of the most wanted anti- Apartheid activists of Soweto, BCUC rehearses in a shipping container-turned-community restaurant,

Where their indomitable outspokenness echoes in a whole new way. Like its elders, Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness sees its music as a hedonistic trance, but also as a weapon of political and spiritual liberation.

Bantu means people, Uhuru means freedom - the 7- pieces band led by vocalist Jovi Nkosi rekindle the freedom of awareness, giving contemporary voice to the ancestral traditions of indigenous peoples. Jazz sounds of 1970s and ‘80s productions replaced by hip-hop in!uences and punk-rock energy, taking the listener on an intriguing epic journey.

With only a few releases under their belt, BCUC took the world by storm with their mesmerising performances, winning crowds at festivals such as Glastonbury (West Holts), Roskilde, Dour, Worldwide, Womad, Fusion and Sziget to name a few, while collaborating with legends like Femi Kuti and Saul Williams.

‘Millions Of Us’ is their first full-length album and most ambitious work to date - distilling their magic on record, summoning mainstage festival-energy and stewing down, casting spells for the intimate audience. Recorded in Soweto, post dubbed and mixed in London the album is the coming together of this unique band and London’s On The Corner Records, a label that has been traversing underground sounds worldwide. 

TRACK LISTING

CD TRACKLIST:
1. The Woods
2. Thonga Lami (Cosmic LP Mix)
3. Ntuthwane (Extended Version)
4. Millions Of Us
5. Nkosi Message
6. Ntuthwane
7. Pieces Of Isht
8. Thonga Lami

LP TRACKLIST:
A1. The Woods
A2. Thonga Lami
A3. Ntuthwane
B1. Millions Of Us

Special fifth anniversary repress of the 2020 debut album by bdrmm. Named after a postcode in their native Hull, the HU5 Edition comes pressed on black and amber vinyl and features alternate artwork and a printed lyric insert. The almost self-titled Bedroom was hailed by The Guardian as a lockdown classic on its original release and ended up high in our own end of year chart in 2020!

TRACK LISTING

1.Momo
2.Push / Pull
3.A Reason To Celebrate
4.Gush
5.Happy
6.(The Silence)
7.(Un)Happy
8.If....
9.Is That What You Wanted To Hear?
10.Forget The Credits

While the world became socially distanced in 2020, Hull’s post-shoegaze, dream pop, heavy guitar effects quartet bdrmm made the kind of impact with their debut album any young band would dream about. Bedroom was hailed as “a heady, forward-thinking shoegaze distillation” by Clash magazine, the Guardian proclaimed “one of the underground hits of lockdown”, while NME awarded the album five solid stars and called Bedroom nothing less than “a modern day shoegaze classic.”

Now signed to Mogwai's Rock Action Records, the band return with I Don't Know, complete with their trademark effects-laden guitars and motorik Neu! grooves but now with added piano, strings, electronica, sampling and the occasional dance beat. Bdrmm fans will not be disappointed and the fans of Radiohead, Ride, Mogwai, The Cure that are yet to discover bdrmm would do well by blessing their ears with "I Don't Know".

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Following on from their shoegaze drenched debut LP, Hull's bdrmm are here for round 2 with their follow-up 'I Don't Know'. Whilst the shoegaze leanings are still ever-present ('Pulling Stitches' is as My Bloody Valentine the band have ever sounded), bdrmm also cover sonic ground that leans more towards the electronica and even Radiohead side of the post-rock spectrum. Transcendental, ethereal and dripping in textures, bdrmm once again show their one of the best bands around!

TRACK LISTING

1. Alps
2. Be Careful
3. It's Just A Bit Of Blood
4. We Fall Apart
5. Advertisement One
6. Hidden Cinema
7. Pulling Stitches
8. A Final Movement

“I think this is the best thing we've ever done, it's a proper step up.” It’s immediately clear that the Hull band have broken new ground on Microtonic. “The last album was essentially like a bridge between the two albums,” the band say of 2023’s I Don’t Know. “With that one we knew what we were trying to do but with this one we've fully cracked it.”

Bdrmm’s trademark sound hasn’t disappeared by any means, the band's more guitar-heavy beginnings a blueprint and influence on many of the groups breaking through in the here and now, a time when shoegaze is enjoying its strongest revival since its inception in the 80s, but those guitars are now incorporated into a broader, more expansive and varied sonic palette.

"Microtonic", recorded with long-term band collaborator Alex Greaves, features guest appearances from Working Men's Club and Olivesque of Nightbus.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: BDRMM aren't exactly afraid of pushing boundaries, and earned a lot more fans with their last LP 'Standard Tuning'. This time, the Hull foursome smash through a series of beautifully produced pieces, packed with industrial synths and woozy floating pads, shoegaze tentativeness and electronic bombast.

TRACK LISTING

1 Goit (featuring Working Men’s Club)
2 John On The Ceiling
3 Infinity Peaking
4 Snares
5 In The Electric Field (featuring Olivesque)
6 Microtonic
7 Clarkycat
8 Sat In The Heat
9 Lake Disappointment
10 The Noose

After the recent success of album "I Don't Know", bdrmm return with a 7” release of new track "Mud" and a remix of the recent album track “Be Careful”, which is reworked by fellow Hull outfit Fila Brazillia who have collaborated with everyone from Radiohead to Harold Budd, Black Uhuru, Twilight Singers, and The Orb. Recorded with long-time collaborator Alex Greaves (Working Men’s Club, Bo Ningen) during their album sessions at The Nave Studios in Leeds, “Mud” sees the band expanding further on their dynamic and sprawling sound, with oceanic production and atmospheric instrumentation, underpinned by the bands reverb heavy vocals.

bdrmm release a new EP, featuring their acclaimed recent single ‘Port’, alongside remixes by Daniel Avery, Working Men’s Club, A Place To Bury Strangers and more. The seven-track Port EP will be released digitally and on CD on April 8, with a limited-edition orange vinyl 12” version following later in the year. The EP is the Hull and Leeds-based band’s first major release since their debut album, Bedroom, which was hailed as a latter-day shoegaze classic when it came out in July 2020.

‘Port’, which was originally released as a single last October, marked a major step forward for the band. Sounding not unlike the Low of Double Negative or Hey What deconstructing The Temptations’ ‘I Know I’m Losing You’, it’s a much darker sounding song; its distorted drones and beats burst into life with frenzied guitar and howls of anguish. "It helped us consider the band in a much more fluid perspective,” says bassist and synth player Jordan Smith of the pivotal track. “Swapping instruments and redefining roles gave us time to spend working on new and more intriguing sonic ideas.”

This new experimental and more electronic approach was expanded as the standalone single release grew, almost accidentally, into a full EP, which features radical reworkings by Daniel Avery (a fearless, all guns blazing techno stomper); Working Men’s Club (New Order’s ‘Sub-Culture’ meets a long-lost early Warp Records classic); A Place To Bury Strangers (a feedback frenzy of total sonic annihilation); Tom Sharkett from Manchester krautpoppers W.H. Lung (DFA Records goes down to the death disco); Jonathan Snipes from LA-based experimental hip-hop trio Clipping (glitchy beats imploding into a wall of white noise); and Jordan himself, as Mouth Company, who brings proceedings to a close with a slow-mo trip-hop treatment.

“The idea originally stemmed from us joking about Daniel Avery remixing one of our tracks one day and we just kind of went from there,” explains singer Ryan Smith of the EP’s unusual genesis. “We’d arranged a remix swap with A Place To Bury Strangers and then somehow managed to gather all these other incredible remixes over the space of a few months, and it seemed ridiculous not to release them as one piece of work. It’s a real journey listening to them individually, but back-to-back it really is something.” He’s right, the seven tracks hang together perfectly, like the best kind of mixtape, despite each one being so different from the next. “I think the sparseness of the original mix gave a fair amount of versatility to whoever wanted to mess around with the stems,” adds Jordan. “I think that shows in the final EP – six completely idiosyncratic mixes that we all fell in love with.” “To have so many influential artists to us putting their own piece of DNA on what has become such an important track to us is so humbling,” gushes Ryan. “It’s brand new territory for us, and we just feel so lucky to have everybody involved.” The EP is being released ahead of bdrmm’s dates supporting shoegaze legends Ride in April and will be followed by their eagerly-awaited second album, which they are currently working on. “I am so excited to embrace the next chapter of bdrmm,” concludes Ryan. “It’s been a fucking tough ride, but one I never want to get off.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Superb band, brilliant song and LOOK at that list of remixers! Every single one is a wonderfully different take on the source material. The winner for me has to be the W.H. Lung remix by the superbly talented (and monolithically barnetted) Tom 'Sharky' Sharkett. Brilliant.

TRACK LISTING

1. Port
2. Port (Working Men’s Club Remix)
3. Port (W.H. Lung - Tom Sharkett Remix)
4. Port (Daniel Avery Remix)
5. Port (A Place To Bury Strangers Remix)
6. Port (Jonathan Snipes Remix)
7. Port (Mouth Company Remix)

Standard Tuning is the final song recorded at The Knave Studios, Leeds as part of the bdrmm's recording sessions for their acclaimed 2nd album "I don't Know" released last summer 2023. The 10" comes with a remix of album track "Alps" by Nathan Fake, an etched b-side and exclusive artwork by band member Jordan Smith.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A superbly atmospheric distillation of BDRMM's sound with a lot more propulsive electronics and airy shoegaze breeze. Backed with a lovely remix from Nathan Fake too! Nice.

TRACK LISTING

1. Standard Tuning
2. Alps (Nathan Fake Remix)

BDY_PRTS are a band hailing from Glasgow, Scotland comprising of two songwriters – Chicago-raised Jill O’Sullivan (of cult band Sparrow And The Workshop) and Jenny Reeve (of Strike The Colours and frequent Malcolm Middleton collaborator) - alongside drummer/producer Jonny Scott (The Kills, Chvrches and Marnie). Describing themselves as “electro future-pop” on record their music is a melody-driven, 80s-tinged indie-electro-pop fusion. Live BDY_PRTS sound is coupled with a unique and striking visual identity, aided by of the otherworldly and genre-defying costumes designed with visual artists Urara Tsuchiya and Lesley Anne Hepburn. On stage Jill and Jenny’s intertwining costumed limbs offer a visual feast whilst their vocals, melodies and full band set-up (with guitar and drums) one for the ear, creating a show full of sonic and theatrical flair. 

TRACK LISTING

1 IDLU
2 Welcome
3 Take It To The Top
4 Rooftops
5 Cold Shoulder
6 Breathe (In)
7 Breathe
8 Ghost In The Mae
9 Warrior
10 Shame 11 45 

In the mystical cycles of the sonic universe, every so often Manchester conjures up, seemingly from nowhere, an absolutely mind blowing LP; up there with anyone else the world over. Following in the footsteps of Moodymann's "Black Mahogany", Trus'me's "Working Nights", Floating Points' "Shadows" and more recently, Kyle Hall's "Boat Party" and llum Sphere's "Ghost's Of Them And Now", we have this expansive, full-vision of sound presented by our fair city's very own Garth Be. I don't make these comparisons lightly, but it's rare that something quite so perfect reaches our shop - and it's with great honour that I write these notes. "Marquis" opens with delightfully radiant pads and glowing licks that wrap around a bouncy, disjointed groove which Kyle Hall would be proud of. "Dreamline" retains that jazzy bounce and bright, optimistic keyboard work; joining the esteemed ranks of Vakula and all the aforementioned cats when it comes to sophisticated organic sound palettes. Then he flips the script. "Don't Want" is a PERFECTLY constructed MPC jam which should have Andres wetting his pants and Theo scratching his head. So onto the B-side and "Housekeysonbrandy" moves towards a 2AM dancefloor, rolling a tough mechanical train wreck across deep aquatic pads. The perfect pairing of hard edged tension coupled with blissful release. Smoothly inserting another smoky sample from the archives of Afro-American heritage. "Monday Club / Tuesday Nite" is possibly the elevated 'top ring of the pyramid', and aptly titled "On and On" - you won't want this beauty to end. Simple but ridiculously infectious, think "JB's Edit" on Theo’s SS001 - it really is that good. "GYB3" is the celestial workout you've been waiting for, and oh so perfectly timed! It's like Garth's some cosmic shaman, guiding us through our trip like a seasoned galactic explorer. In his own words - 'find your place in the cosmos and unwind your mind!' I felt like I'd been on a 250mics acid trip by the end of this track. Finally we have the most delectable of outro's with "Teakayo" - again working the MPC like Shane Warne works the reverse swing. Leaving you desperate for more, BE keeps things painfully tight and succinct, not a single groove on the record is wasted, and at least three of the tracks could well be extended across a whole side of a twelve inch. It's that Madlib-styled intensity which cuts each track at its very peak, keeping you riding the wave till the very end, with absolutely no room for boredom. Unrivalled.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: In the beginning there was Moodymann’s ‘Black Mahogany’, then came Trus'me and ‘Working Nights’, and the world of soul-infused crate-dug house music was good. Carrying on in the tradition of such luminaries we have our city's very own Garth Be, instantly making me draw comparisons to the aforementioned 'classics' of the genre, alongside more recent titles - Floating Points ‘Shadows’ and Kyle Hall's ‘Boat Party’. Distinctly informed by North England's rich dance music heritage, ‘The Seven Movements’ goes everywhere it's possible to go in seven tracks, from jazz-inflected house jams, celestial, meditative states and MPC grooves executed with all the style and finesse of a Shane Warne leg break. Garth Be is a cosmic shaman, guiding us through our trip with ease.
In his own words: "Find your place in the cosmos, and unwind your mind!" When the needle reaches the end of the record, you feel like you've been on one hell of a hallucinatory journey. A glorious story which ends perfectly with him securing Piccadilly’s coveted number two spot. Garth privately pressed the album himself at the start of the year, having no idea of the Earth-shaking, bar-raising potential hidden deep within the wax. It’s been an absolute pleasure both seeing the album gather momentum, writing the first set of sleeve notes and, most importantly, inflicting its mesmerising tones on our customers! Leaving you desperate for more, BE keeps things painfully tight and succinct, not a single groove on the record is wasted and it's that Madlib-styled intensity which cuts each track at its peak, leaving you riding the wave till the very end, with absolutely no room for boredom. Unrivalled.

Patrick says: We've been waiting for this to drop ever since we heard "Monday Club / Tuesday Nite" on the TP. Incredible, organic and soulful, this is the one.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Marquis
A2. Dreamline
A3. Don't Want

B1. Housekeysonbrandy
B2. Monday Club / Tuesday Nite
B3. GYB3
B4. Teakayo

The Nashville, Tennessee, garage rock group were signed as teenagers to the prestigious XL in the UK and Thurston Moore's Ecstatic Peace label in the US, with whom they released two widely acclaimed albums. They went on to tour with the likes of Arctic Monkeys, Sonic Youth, Le Tigre etc and have been cited as influences for groups such as Paramore and Big Joanie.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Be Your Own Pet are back! finally closing out a 15 year gap with the brilliant 'Mommy'. If anything, the sort of snarling indie-punk BYOP make is even more relevant now, with the current surge in garage punk and jagged indie-music perfectly aligning with the band's classic sound. A superb LP and a very welcome return.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1:
1. Worship The Whip
2. Goodtime!
3. Erotomania
4. Bad Mood Rising
5. Never Again
6. Pleasure Seeker
Side 2:
1. Rubberist
2. Big Trouble
3. Hand Grenade
4. Drive
5. Teenage Heaven

Critically acclaimed, award winning icon for her generation, beabadoobee returns today to announce her forthcoming second studio album Beatopia (pronounced Bay-A-Toe-Pee-Uh). Due for release on Friday 15th July via Dirty Hit, Beatopia is a fantastical yet deeply personal world that was formed in the imagination of a 7 year old beabadoobee and has been carried with her ever since.

Housing Bea's most impressive work to date, Beatopia marks a huge progression, in 14 songs she traverses fuzzy rock, classic singer-songwriter, psychedelia, midwest emo and outright pop whilst remaining undeniably herself throughout.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Undeniably melodic and warmly produced throughout, Beabadooobee crafts beautiful pop songs imbued with a lightness and orchestral sway rarely seen in modern pop. It's gorgeously evocative and a great listen.

TRACK LISTING

1. Beatopia Cultsong
2. 10:36
3. Sunny Day
4. See You Soon
5. Ripples
6. The Perfect Pair
7. Broken Cd
8. Talk
9. Lovesong
10. Pictures Of Us
11. Fairy Song
12. Don’t Get The Deal
13. Tinkerbell Is Overrated
14. You’re Here That’s The Thing

This Is How Tomorrow Moves finds Beabadoobee stepping up to a new level in her abilities as a songwriter, crafting arresting melodies and pushing herself to develop and explore new frontiers of vulnerability, both in her storytelling and her relationship with herself.

Produced by legendary producer Rick Rubin and long term collaborator and bandmate Jacob Bugden, Beabadoobee swaps her bedroom for his infamous Shangri-La studio in Malibu to create a deeply self-assured record with a vast sonic scope of rock and pop.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another selection of blistering pop-punk missives, airy synthy melodies and Beabadoobee's distinctive, soaring vocals. It's reminiscent of her earlier work, but with a clear sign of musical and emotional growth.

Beach Baby will release their much-anticipated debut album, 'No Mind No Money', on September 2nd. The band will be supporting Beaty Heart around the US in September, before playing their own series of headline dates across Europe Additional festival slots are still to come at Reading & Leeds and Festival Number 6, with across-the-board support at Radio 1, 6Music, Radio X and Spotify. Captured vividly across ‘No Mind No Money’, London four-piece Beach Baby have built up a tightly-sealed, vaguely surreal world of their own. Beach Baby’s touchstones have now evolved to include seminal acts on both sides of the Atlantic –from Parquet Courts and Mac DeMarco to Ariel Pink and cult lo-fi artist Cleaners From Venus. They each supported themselves throughout this creatively-intense period with make-ends-meet jobs, which included working in burger joints, ‘charity muggers', and - in perhaps the oddest of odd jobs - working as a script reader for production companies like Icon.

The aptly-titled ‘No Mind No Money’ touches frequently on those less-glamorous uncertainties of post-campus life: apathy, escapism, and the distance between your own future and the iconic bands or movies you grew up on. “One of the best new bands in Britain” Sunday Times Breaking Act. “Make no mistake, Beach Baby have every means of triumphing in the big leagues” DIY. “Captures the best of several genres – post-punk, baggy, shoe gaze, grunge –without sounding like a mess” Guardian. “That aching, inexplicable magic of college innocence is all here” Stereogum. “You’ll fall for this London foursome” i-D

The Beach Boys are one of the most successful bands of all time, with an undeniable heavy influence on rock music throughout their career, and music in general. With genius composer and later producer Brian Wilson, the undeniably talented Carl Wilson, and Dennis Wilson who were all three raised by their father Murry who contributed substantially to the production of this album, along with Brian himself despite the credit going to Nick Venet, and the other members of the band during this time; the ever so divisive Mike Love, and their neighbour David Marks, we get their first album, an album that broke the barrier of music, Surfin' Safari. Unlike most albums, and in a big difference to their releases to follow, their debut has a raw sound to it, almost garageband-like, and the members of the band themselves play almost all the instruments. The lead single off this album titled "Surfin" is a very great tune that was composed when Dennis told Brian about surfing getting big and having the brilliant idea to write a song about it. This song is widely also known for making the “California Sound" genre which was a music aesthetic around surfing, car culture, and innocence in youth years.

TRACK LISTING

Surfin Safari
County Fair
Ten Little Indians
Chug-A-Lug
Little Girl (You Re My Little Miss America)
409
Surfin
Heads You Win - Tails I Lose
Summertime Blues
Cuckoo Clock
Moon Dawg
The Shift
Luau

In honor of 50 years of The Beach Boys’ timeless and often underappreciated albums, Capitol/UMC will release an expansive 5CD box set titled Feel Flows – The Sunflower and Surf’s Up Sessions 1969-1971 on Aug 27 that chronicles and explores in depth this metamorphic and highly influential 1969-1971 period of the band’s legendary career. Assembled by Mark Linett and Alan Boyd, the team behind 2013’s GRAMMY® Award-winning SMiLE Sessions, the expansive collection features newly remastered versions of Sunflower and Surf’s Up and boasts 135 tracks, including 108 previously unreleased tracks, live recordings, radio promos, alternate versions, alternate mixes, isolated backing tracks and a capella versions, culled from the album sessions.

Housed in a book style package, the set is rounded out with a 48-page book loaded with unreleased and rare photos, lyric sheets, tape box images, recording artifacts, insightful new liner notes by noted radio veteran and Beach Boys afficionado Howie Edelson, and new and archival interviews from Al Jardine, Brian Wilson, Bruce Johnston, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Mike Love, and others. Feel Flows will also be released in abbreviated versions including 4LP on black vinyl, 2LP black vinyl and 2CD editions.

The best Beach Boys album, and one of the best of the 1960s. The group here reached a whole new level in terms of both composition and production, layering tracks upon tracks of vocals and instruments to create a richly symphonic sound. Conventional keyboards and guitars were combined with exotic touches of orchestrated strings, bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, Theremin, Hawaiian-sounding string instruments, Coca-Cola cans, barking dogs, and more. It wouldn't have been a classic without great songs, and this has some of the group's most stunning melodies, as well as lyrical themes which evoke both the intensity of newly born love affairs and the disappointment of failed romance (add in some general statements about loss of innocence and modern-day confusion as well). The spiritual quality of the material is enhanced by some of the most gorgeous upper-register male vocals (especially by Brian and Carl Wilson) ever heard on a rock record. "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "God Only Knows," "Caroline No," and "Sloop John B" (the last of which wasn't originally intended to go on the album) are the well-known hits, but equally worthy are such cuts as "You Still Believe in Me," "Don't Talk," "I Know There's an Answer," and "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times."

TRACK LISTING

1. Wouldn't It Be Nice
2. You Still Believe In Me
3. That's Not Me
4. Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)
5. I'm Waiting For The Day
6. Let's Go Away For Awhile
7. Sloop John B
8. God Only Knows
9. I Know There's An Answer
10. Here Today
11. I Just Wasn't Made For These Times
12. Pet Sounds
13. Caroline, No

The best Beach Boys album, and one of the best of the 1960s. The group here reached a whole new level in terms of both composition and production, layering tracks upon tracks of vocals and instruments to create a richly symphonic sound. Conventional keyboards and guitars were combined with exotic touches of orchestrated strings, bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, Theremin, Hawaiian-sounding string instruments, Coca-Cola cans, barking dogs, and more. It wouldn't have been a classic without great songs, and this has some of the group's most stunning melodies, as well as lyrical themes which evoke both the intensity of newly born love affairs and the disappointment of failed romance (add in some general statements about loss of innocence and modern-day confusion as well). The spiritual quality of the material is enhanced by some of the most gorgeous upper-register male vocals (especially by Brian and Carl Wilson) ever heard on a rock record. "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "God Only Knows," "Caroline No," and "Sloop John B" (the last of which wasn't originally intended to go on the album) are the well-known hits, but equally worthy are such cuts as "You Still Believe in Me," "Don't Talk," "I Know There's an Answer," and "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times."

TRACK LISTING

1. Wouldn't It Be Nice
2. You Still Believe In Me
3. That's Not Me
4. Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)
5. I'm Waiting For The Day
6. Let's Go Away For Awhile
7. Sloop John B
8. God Only Knows
9. I Know There's An Answer
10. Here Today
11. I Just Wasn't Made For These Times
12. Pet Sounds
13. Caroline, No

Building on the success of 2021’s Feel Flows and the Sounds Of Summer product suite, UMe will be releasing 4 new packages based on the 1972 recordings by The Beach Boys from the albums “Carl and The Passions” and “Holland” in November.

The project is expansive with 120 tracks, 80 of which are previously unreleased!

The band is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year and through 2023 and a number of tentpole events will build consumer excitement through next year.

Recommended If You Like: Wild Nothing, DIIV, Real Estate, New Order, WAVVES, Mac Demarco, Best Coast, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Craft Spells.

Brooklyn bedroom-pop trailblazers Beach Fossils’ new album 'Bunny,' is a triumphant return for one of the 2010s most influential NYC bands. 'Bunny' is a precise blend of the luscious dream-pop atmospheres they notoriously honed on their earliest projects, the post-punk vigor expressed on 'Clash the Truth,' and the warm, sophisticated songwriting of 'Somersault.' Composer Dustin Payseur peppers the album equally with descriptions of the joy of fatherhood and the existential pleasure of smoking cigarettes out of a car window with friends - 'Bunny' features Beach Fossils' most personal lyrics to-date. This is a collection of new favorite tracks for fans of every era of Beach Fossils. Releasing on Payseur and his partner Katie Garcia’s own label, Bayonet Records, 'Bunny' will prove to be the culmination of a decade's worth of growth and experience.

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Here at Piccadilly HQ, it's well known that we're purveyors of jangly indie - with Beach Fossils being one of the bands we've always come to champion over recent years. However, when we first heard 'Bunny' floating along the shop speakers, we knew we were in for something special.

Lead single “Don't Fade Away” is Beach Fossils at their very best - a perfect indie-pop track whose infectious melody you'll be humming non-stop. Similarly with “Sleeping On My Own” and “Tough Love”, tracks that have so much jangle they'll scratch any C86 (or should I say C23) itch. Elsewhere on the album, “Anything Is Anything”, “Feel So High” and “Numb” all skirt the line of treading into shoegaze, with the latter culminating in an expansive and rousing wall of sound. “Run To The Moon”s slide guitar results in Slowdive-meets-country (yes it works), whilst “(Just Like The) Setting Sun” is a shimmering slice of dream-pop. As for “Dare Me” and “Seconds”, both fit nicely into the garage/post-punky sound Beach Fossils carved out on their second record ‘Clash The Truth’.

With Beach Fossils' music in the past, there was always a sense that Dustin Payseur was making music that explored the nostalgia of a period he wasn't able to experience firsthand. But with 'Bunny', Payseur is able to look back at Beach Fossils as a whole and reminisce on a nostalgia that he himself created. In turn, this results in a flawless Beach Fossils record that is undoubtedly their best yet.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sleeping On My Own
2. Run To The Moon
3. Don’t Fade Away
4. (Just Like The) Setting Sun
5. Anything Is Anything
6. Dare Me
7. Feel So High
8. Tough Love
9. Seconds
10. Numb
11. Waterfall

“Clash the Truth is Payseur evolving, the band shifting in a direction that’s probably unlike what they previously imagined themselves moving toward.” CONSEQUENCE OF SOUND // “Beach Fossils have found a balance that’s better than anyone could have hoped for.” EXCLAIM // Beach Fossils’ sophomore album, Clash the Truth, is modern post-punk triumph that’s left a lasting impression on the music scene it was born out of. After releasing their self titled debut and the beloved EP, What a Pleasure, songwriter and composer Dustin Payseur began recording dissonant and introspective demos reflecting on his southern upbringing and young adulthood in New York. The tracks that would eventually make up Clash the Truth involved Payseur taking his songwriting in a new direction, employing jagged instrumentals, existential lyrics, and socially conscious subject matter. The darker themes of Clash the Truth still come out vibrant through bright guitar tones, locomotive drumming, and Payseur’s inventive home recording techniques. Referencing the sounds of Factory Records releases, New York’s no wave scene, and 90’s avant-pop, Beach Fossils expanded their sound past the perimeters of bedroom dream pop. 

TRACK LISTING

01. Clash The Truth - 2:03
02. Generational Synthetic - 2:45
03. Sleep Apnea - 2:26
04. Careless - 3:03
05. Modern Holiday - 1:21
06. Taking Off - 3:09
07. Shallow - 3:17
08. Burn You Down - 2:57
09. Birthday - 2:52
10. In Vertigo - 3:20
11. Brighter - 0:33
12. Caustic Cross - 2:41
13. Ascension - 1:30
14. Crashed Out - 3:25 (Demos)
15. Clash The Truth - 2:11
16. Generational Synthetic - 2:48
17. Sleep Apnea - 2:22
18. Burn You Down - 3:07
19. Birthday - 3:08
20. Caustic Cross - 2:37
21. Vertigo - 2:31

Inspired by a love of artists such as Bill Evans, Lester Young, Chet Baker and Vince Guaraldi, Dustin Payseur reimagines some of his greatest hits from the Beach Fossils catalog alongside a group of formally trained jazz musicians. A rich and mellow mix of piano, saxophone, upright bass and brushed drums explore the contours of familiar songs, soaring Payseur’s melancholic harmonies to new heights.

Recommended if you like: Chet Baker, Norah Jones, Kamasi Washington, BADBADNOTGOOD, Wild Nothing, DIIV, Kevin Krauter.

"improvisational jazz, classical music, and Stereolab... his songwriting owes more to loop-based composition than garage-bound woodshedding." – Pitchfork.

TRACK LISTING

01. This Year
02. May 1st
03. Sleep Apnea
04. What A Pleasure
05. Adversity
06. Down The Line
07. Youth
08. That's All For Now

The debut Beach Riot album is finally here. It’s safe to say that ‘Subatomic Party Cool’ is well worth the wait - a record that’s jam packed with quality songwriting and enormous riffs, one after another, and hits a wide range of musical touchstones along the way. Black vinyl in slip sleeve.

Full of an infectious energy with more horsepower than the South American farm that guitarist/vocalist Cami left aged just 18 to come to the UK to seek pop stardom (Argentinian horse farming’s loss is Alcopop!’s gain), Beach Riot are a slacker pop force to be reckoned with.

Beach Riot cite their influences as ice-cream, weird guitars, PJ Harvey, Mudhoney, 4am mozzarella sticks, dark comedy, dungeons and dragons, and Brighton beach hangover fry-ups. We totally get that.

“90s fuzz, big riffs and dreamy harmonies - what more could you want?” - LOUDER

“Great dynamics, tension and killer choruses” - MOJO

“Gritty indie-pop brilliance” -The iNewspaper

TRACK LISTING

B.A.D.
Wrong Impression
Good To Know (That I’m Still On Your Mind)
Modern Dinosaur
Wraith
Unrequited Love
Medicate For Success
Faze
Sofa Surfer
She’s A Hurricane
Blush
Serial Scruff

Beach Slang's second full-length is a crash-and-thunder collection of songs about what it takes to keep yourself going, to make it through the rest of the night—hell, through the rest of your youth—and beyond. Frontman James Alex wrote much of A Loud Bash Of Teenage Feelings on their first album’s support tour, during which he spent a lot of time with the kids who’d picked up the record.

“A lot of the songs [on Loud Bash] are the stories of the kids who got turned on to Beach Slang by the first album,” says Alex. “They’re autobiographical, too, but kind of at a remove—I’m not that young kid anymore, but I used to be. You know how it is; rock and roll is a new crop of 15-year-olds picking up guitars every year and having at it. There was something really cool about documenting someone elses life, but seeing myself in it. I suppose that’s why we connect. We’re all kind of one big gang.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Future Mixtape For The Art Kids
2. Atom Bomb
3. Spin The Dial
4. Art Damage
5. Hot Tramps
6. Punks In A Disco Bar
7. Wasted Daze Of Youth
8. Young Hearts
9. The Perfect High
10. Warpaint

Dream Violence, Michael Beach’s fourth full-length, is an epic album that explores the duality of the human condition. Or, as Beach himself puts it, the album is about “human futility, passion, desire, anger, frustration, and the struggle to maintain hope in a somewhat hopeless time.” Dream Violence, then, addresses the existential crisis of being an artist in 2020. Known for his work touring with the Australian guitar pop band Thigh Master and the late, brilliantly eccentric Israeli guitarist Charlie Megira, currently the focus of a number of reissues by the Numero Group, Beach is the architect of a sound that is both well-built and ramshackle, straightforward and indeterminably complex, out of the norm yet familiar in all the best ways. Dream Violence unfolds like a revelation, filled with sonic tumbleweeds that reference Neil Young’s On the Beach, Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, the Velvet Underground’s Loaded, and the Go Betweens’ Before Hollywood. Influences ranging from the enigmatic outlier Megira to Glenn Branca to the Oblivians are combined to create a new, exhilarating sound, part of the path that Beach has been on since 2008’s Blood Courses. A veteran of year-end indie rock round ups beginning with Golden Theft in 2013 and continuing with Gravity/Repulsion, released in 2017, Beach distills the best of those early albums and adds sharpened intent.

TRACK LISTING

1. Irregardless
2. De Facto Blues
3. The Tower
4. Metaphysical Dice
5. You Know, Life Is Cheap
6. Spring
7. Curtain Of Night
8. You Found Me Out
9. Dream Violence
10. Sometimes I Get That Cold Feeling

This 3-song 12” of recently discovered studio recordings from the classic 6 piece Beachwood Sparks line-up just had to be pressed onto vinyl.

Recorded by Rick Parker at his Sandbox Studios near the beginning of the new millennium, the band had previously worked with Rick for their debut single on Bomp! These recordings capture what was going on in Los Angeles in the late 90s long before the Cosmic American Music revival.

More than a collectible record, we wanted to release something for the DJs in clubs and on the radio to play...It’s Limited to 500.

TRACK LISTING

One Two Three, One Two Three
Time
Canyon Ride

Beachy Head Is The New Project From Christian Savill (Slowdive) With Help From Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), Matt Duckworth (Flaming Lips) , Steve Clarke (The Soft Cavalry) And Label Owner Ryan Graveface.

In 2019 Christian Savill found himself alone and with a year off from playing guitar for his grown up band Slowdive. He started writing and demoing songs with no particular plan. From 2001 he had recorded with longtime friend and collaborator Sean Hewson as Monster Movie releasing several albums on Graveface Records. These new ideas felt different in that they’re more personal and honest.

Christian sent these sketches to good friends and multi instrumentalists, Ryan Graveface (Dreamend / The Casket Girls) and Steve Clarke (The Soft Cavalry) and Beachy Head was formed. Ryan and Christian put flesh on the bones in Savannah just before Covid struck. Matt Duckworth (Flaming Lips) added drums. In between lockdowns back in the UK Steve added harmonies and other instrumentation. The final touch of recording was Rachel Goswell (Slowdive / Mojave 3 / The Soft Cavalry / Minor Victories) contributing vocals on a few songs.

Beachy Head is a chalk cliff in Sussex. It’s one of Britain’s most popular beauty spots...

TRACK LISTING

Warning Bell
Michael
Distraction
All Gone
Looking For Exits
October
Hiddensee
Destroy Us

"Albidaya" in Arabic means "The Beginning", which in the case of Beaini’s, might be the return to the beginnings, or the start of the path. The album is conceptually a revisiting of the traditional and early psychedelic Arabic music, all through distorted paths and instruments, remashed and deconstructed sounds, recreating patterns with diverse instruments to give a different perspective of the sound itself. Includes musicians from Upperground Piero Bittolo Bon and Tommaso Cappellato. Commissioned by Annihaya in Lebanon by Sharif Sehnaoui, Raed Yassin and Hatem Imam - includes artwork by Maria Kassab.

“Almost entirely recorded in a day, and featuring cello, saxophone and drums in addition to electronics, Albidaya doesn’t attempt to replicate Lebanese folk music. Instead, it articulates a point of contact between various worlds.” Rory Gibb for the Wire

Hot Krautrock infused rhythms from this new band featuring Geoff Barrow of Portishead. Beak> were formed in January 2009 by three Bristol musicians, Billy Fuller, Matt Williams and Geoff Barrow. The band have very strict guidelines governing the recording and writing process of their work. The music was recorded live in one room with no overdubs or repair, only using edits to create arrangements. All tracks were written over a twelve-day session in SOA Studio's, Bristol. Sometimes a band can be no more than the sum of it's parts, but Beak> are an equation in which it's impossible to define equivalents or totals. Instead the meeting of three talent's form a foundation from which idea's assimilate and propagate. Those talents are: Billy Fuller. Reared in Bristol, on an aural diet of anything and everything, facilitated later by his time working in the cities top independent record shop Replay Records, and also playing with handfuls of bands – including Invada's first signing: Fuzz Against Funk, as well as Massive Attack, Robert Plant, and Malakai. Billy is Beak>'s thoughtful pulse; his bass a forceful origin for their superlative narrative arcs. Matt Williams. Picked up a Yamaha keyboard aged three and never looked back, as Team Brick creates dissonance that immediately elucidates free forming thought, and impacts heavily on Beak>'s rolling landscape. He enjoys playing air drums whilst cycling, singing lines from a favourite Latin prayer and doesn't understand the music he makes himself. Geoff Barrow. Musician and producer born near Bristol. Best known for forming and producing popular music group Portishead and part owner of the independent record label Invada Records.

Two years in the making Kosmik Musik is a collaboration between artist Joe Currie, writer Ben Wheatley and musical group Beak>, who worked closely with the artists to provide a musical accompaniment for the graphic novel.

The soundtrack is pressed on 10" black vinyl and housed in a spined sleeve.

Ben and Joe met at art school in the 90s where they both were involved in a lot of comic book drawing and reading. It’s taken thirty years to finally get their acts together and create this book. In the meantime Joe has been sculpting and painting. Ben has been writing and directing films.

Kosmik Musik is melting pot of 2000ad, Metal Hurlant, Kirby tech, psychedelic 60s art, Doctor Who, Douglas Adams, Kraut Rock, Star Trek and Star Wars. A UK 70s English childhood basically.

The project comes with a sonic accompaniment by Beak> who have live dates on the horizon including Primavera Sound in LA

ABOUT KOSMIK MUSIK, THE GRAPHIC NOVEL: The galaxy is a big place–but not big enough for Mick and Eve as they are chased across it by cops, inter-dimensional plunderers, rogue artificial intelligences, middle-aged assassins and a third-tier superhero team. Come with us on a rip roaring, planet hopping adventure. Punches will be thrown, tears will be shed and music will be played on vinyl on vintage record players as Mick and Eve try to solve every sentient creature’s fundamental questions like why and what... and eh? Yes, dear reader, Kosmik Musik will unlock some of the more pressing mysteries of the universe. True Fact.

TRACK LISTING

KOSMIK MUSIK (Part 1)
KOSMIK MUSIK (Part 2)
KOSMIK MUSIK (Part 3)
KOSMIK MUSIK (Part 4)
KOSMIK MUSIK (Part 5)
KOSMIK MUSIK (Part 6)
KOSMIK MUSIK (Part 7)