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

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

Wanyamana Mapambazuko
Na Tu Penda Sana
Vita
Pygmy

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

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

Fresh from their celebrated UK tour, featuring a stand-out performance at London Jazz Festival, Ishmael Ensemble return with ‘Reasons’ the lead single from their forthcoming EP ‘New Era’, a collaborative project with lyricist and MC Rider Shafique.

Ishmael Ensemble’s Pete Cunningham says: “I first came across Rider Shafique about 6 years ago after I heard his piece “I-Dentity” via Bristol’s Young Echo collective & was immediately struck by his powerful way with words. A true master of his craft.This record was an opportunity to lean into the more bass-heavy side of my music taste. I’ve always been a massive fan of dub in all its forms & producers like King Tubby, Adrian Sherwood & Pinch have been a constant source of inspiration over the years. This sound palette coupled with a voice like Rider’s is something I’ve always wanted to make so I’m super happy with what we’ve produced here.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Intro (name Tbc)
A2. Polestar
A3. New Era
B1. Salm
B2. Reasons

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

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

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

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

Originally called 'Love Island' - until "Linus didn't make the audition process so we jumbled it around" (or, possibly, for legal reasons) - Third Man London's first signing settled instead on 'Island of Love'.

For the label, an island within the UK music scene is exactly what Karim, Linus and Daniel are: feedback-fuelled adolescents with a depth of songwriting unheard since Teenage Fanclub's formative 'Catholic Education', and late '80s Dinosaur Jr. So mind-bendingly good are the group that Third Man co-founder and owner Ben Swank presented an offer approximately thirty seconds after they played the opening weekend of Third Man's new Soho digs (...new to the extent that the drummer left the stage with paint up his back).

Bonded by playing in various punk, hardcore and metal bands in their hometown of London, Island of Love's now double frontmen, Linus and Karim, would write and share demos between their family homes. The lo-fi, fuzzy fruits of these sessions melded into 2020's seven song 'Promo Tape', followed by 2021’s Third Man EP ‘Songs of Love’. Now, no longer a bedroom project, they present their adrenaline-filled debut, awashed with guitar distortion, Linus and Karim's dark harmonies and contemplative lyrics beyond their teenage years. This special release is sure to go down in both the TMR history books as well as mosh pits nationwide

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Island Of Love's debut is a roaring mix of 90's grunge, huge walls of sound and sharp distorted riffs twist under an undeniably tempering vocal performance from both guitarists. 'Grow' is the quintessential mid-point between grunge, pop-punk and indie, full of grit and swimming with earworm melodies.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Big Whale
2. Fed Rock
3. Grow
4. Blues 2000
5. Sweet Loaf

Side 2
1. I've Got The Secret
2. Losing Streak
3. Weekend At Clive's
4. Charles
5. Never Understand
6. It Was All Ok Forever

Ghastly and hallucinatory -"Last Liasse" is a sign of the times, an alternative synth-pop record by Helen Island. Within this debut album, the artist captures the saccharine gaze of digital escapism through characteristic filtered high notes, cut-up genres, and processed vocals. Providing a comprehensive overview of Helen Island’s self-distributed initiatives, with the ethos of the Parisian Simple Music Experience collective, the twelve tracks set a solid musical score that resonates with the age to come. 

TRACK LISTING

U In The Red
Its So Easy
Goosebumps
Blazing
Its So Cool
Dressed To Shine
No Witness
My Bestie
Thank You
Marian 323
The Mirror Dance
Alice Dj

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

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

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

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

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

STAFF COMMENTS

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

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

STAFF COMMENTS

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

A

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

B

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

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

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

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

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

STAFF COMMENTS

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

Isokratisses (Greek for "women who sing the "iso" or "drone") is a vocal ensemble comprised of eight women who carry the ancient tradition of polyphonic songs from Epirus: a region in northern Greece and southern Albania. Born and reared in the Greek speaking villages around Deropoli and Politsani in Albania, the women of Isokratisses have sung these songs since childhood. The group ranges in age from 19 to 56 with some sisters in the group as well as an aunt. They were nurtured by this archaic music, listening and singing it with their family and friends. The songs were passed down from generation to generation. The group started its artistic activity in 2015, after the singer Anna Katsi took the initiative to encourage the younger members to perform regularly. The communal nature of polyphonic singing is a way of revitalizing an art that has declined in recent years and to reassert the primacy of female voices in the southern Balkans. Singing these songs builds an invisible bridge that connects the present with the past, the memories of childhood travel with the immediacy of daily life. On Oct 14, 2022, Third Man Records will release a full album of these solo polyphonic songs, with Grammy-winning producer Christopher King. "It is social music, woven into the fabric of poor, marginalized, and disenfranchised communities. Many of the songs are variations of mirologia (songs of fate, songs of morning) that used to be sung throughout the southern Balkans but have largely disappeared on an informal cultural level except for Epirus. Structurally, the songs are pentatonic (five notes with no semitones) and are composed of three or four distinct melodic voices that weave together in an organic yet unexpected way. The remaining members of the group provide the iso or “drone” that is the low tonic note of the melody." - Chris King.

TRACK LISTING

1. You've Put A Spell On Me
2. Between The Three Seas
3. Rina, Katerina
4. On Deropoli's Plain
5. The Ballad Of The Handkerchief
6. All Day Long
7. Little Apple Tree On The Cliff
8. Five Months Married
9. My Basil
10. Bitter Orange
11. Verginada
12. Last Night's Dream
13. Nani Nani

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

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

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

STAFF COMMENTS

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

TRACK LISTING

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

The first few months of 2024 has seen IST IST’s growing popularity expand further. Now a full-time band, they played to over 8,000 people across the UK and Europe including a first visit to Scandinavia and the sell-out signs going up at multiple German and Dutch shows including the 1,100 capacity Doornroosje in Nijmegen.

‘Light A Bigger Fire’ will be the follow-up to ‘Protagonists’, which reached number 41 in the Official Album Chart on release in March 2023 as well as securing them their third set of top ten positions in the vinyl, independent and physical charts as well as the number one download in the week of release.

Frontman Adam Houghton is clear on what to expect from the album and from IST IST in the remainder of 2024 and beyond: “The album title isn’t cryptic in the slightest. Everything we’re doing and have been doing for a while now is going up a level. Live shows have always been our calling card but this record puts our studio output on a par with them. We played five of the new tracks on the recent tour and the reception they got told us that people are going to love this record.

We’ve always been proud of every album we’ve released but sometimes you come away and wonder whether you’ve left anything in the studio and whether you could have dragged something extra out of some of the songs. Not with this one. Right now this is the best version of us.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's a huge joy to get more material from the commonly requested post-punk monolith, IST IST and boooy has it been worth the wait. Huge, throbbing basslines and machinated percussive slabs, soaring synths from one of the greatest filter wranglers in the business, and those unmistakeable vocals. It's superb, and goes to show that IST IST are still one of the bands heavily fuelling the 2020's post-punk boom.

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

Originally released in 1986, Life Is Hard Then You Die was the debut album from Liverpudlian indie-pop band It's Immaterial - now reissued and repackaged by Last Night From Glasgow.

Simon Braithwaite of Smash Hits wrote that Life's Hard and Then You Die shows that It's Immaterial "write jolly good pop songs - In fact everything else here is just as inspired and original as their recent hit."

In a retrospective review, Michael Sutton of All Music wrote, "Musically, the LP is all over the place - new wave country, blues, folk, and synth pop - Somehow the smorgasbord of styles works, because the band members aren't being eclectic just for the sake of it; they simply have a wide canvas, keeping the album fresh from beginning to end."

TRACK LISTING

Driving Away From Home
Happy Talk
Rope
The Better Idea 
Space 
The Sweet Life 
Festival Time 
Ed's Funky Diner 
Hang On Sleepy Town 
Lullaby

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

Collection' puts together Italia 90's first three EPs (2017-2019) originally released on very limited cassette runs. A chance to hear the South London radical post-punk purveyors at their rawest and most intense. Think The Fall, PIL, Uk Subs meets Wire with high doses of agit-pop and razor wire guitars. Italia 90: "This LP is a collection of the three EPs we released on cassette from 2017 to 2019. They were our first three releases and they sketch the development as a band in its early years. We released these EPs ourselves and each cassette had a very limited run of only 50 copies, so we’re really pleased to have them remastered and available on vinyl for a wider audience.

We hope that some of these tracks will be granted a new lease of life and will be fresh discoveries for people that enjoyed our debut album, Living Human Treasure, but who haven’t heard our earlier work. There are also some tracks here that we’d rather forget all about: it’s fair to say that on this LP you can hear some of our best and worst music. We’ll let you work out which is which. In the interests of full disclosure, it’s all here."

RIYL: Folly Group / M(h)aol / The Murder Capital / LIFE / Crack Cloud / Squid / CROWS

Italia 90 release their debut album Living Human Treasure on Jan 20th on Brace Yourself Records. The London based 4-piece have released a number of singles and EPs since their breakthrough and have steadily built a cult following in England and mainland Europe. Italia 90 have received critical acclaim from publications such as DIY Magazine, The Quietus, So Young as well as extensive coverage at BBC 6music - with Steve Lamacq in particular offering continued support. Across the album, tracks from the band’s earliest days (New Factory, Competition) sit side by side with newer tracks, in a breadth of new styles for the band. "We consciously drew on elements from other genres, like new wave, goth rock, post-hardcore, jazz, jungle and ranchera that have inspired us but which we hadn't incorporated into our music previously”.

To record the album, the band decamped to the residential Echo Zoo studio in Eastbourne. With five days booked – far longer than the band had ever recorded for in the past – the whole album was tracked within two days with producer Louis Milburn. For the rest of the allotted time, they explored the nooks and crannies of the building and the bounty of unusual instruments lying around to add mystical textures to the bones of the songs.

Italia 90's songs aim to be timeless. Like the painting on the album’s cover, which shows a crowd of people all facing away from the viewer, the idea of the collective takes precedence over the individual. “I care deeply about the things that I’m singing about,” says singer, Les Miserable, “but I don’t think that it needs to be me that is saying it. I have my point of view, and think that the ideology that I’m forwarding in the songs is correct, and very important, but it’s not important that it’s me saying them. If I did, I would already be contradicting the things that I am saying in the songs.”

This philosophy is the sign of a band going against the grain and stopping to really consider their statements, both musically and lyrically, rather than hopping on trends. Across their debut album, Italia 90 step off the relentless, exhausting hamster wheel and create something fantastic with the abundance of ingredients already here, pointing a different way forwards.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Cut
2. Leisure Activities
3. Magdalene
4. Competition
5. New Factory
Side B
6. The MUMSNET Mambo
7. Funny Bones
8. Golgotha
9. Does He Dream?
10. Tales From Beyond
11. Harmony

DInked Edition Bonus 7":
Side A 7”
1. This Is Not My Fire (exclusive New Song)
2. Ghosts (Japan Cover)
Side B 7”
An Audio Story By Les Miserable And J Dangerous

"Second Horizon" is the follow up to "Heartware", voted as album of the year by more than 23000 readers of FAZE Magazine. The twelve tracks here are inspired by 80s music styles: EBM, Italo, acid, electro and dark wave and produced with a lot of original equipment from that era transferred into 2025. The album is also inspired by his relocation to Berlin, and the music reflects this shift, balancing gritty, industrial influences with shimmering, retro-futuristic tones.

Expansive and impressive album of modern electro & electro-disco that shudders with high voltage energy. Should appeal to fans of Cyberdance, I-F, Red Laser, Italorama Bar, Franz Scala and such like. TIP!

TRACK LISTING

A1: City Sights
A2: Memory Sync
A3: Digital Freedom
B1: Surveillance State
B2: Technology
B3: Heiss Oder Kalt
C1: Chasing Shadows
C2: Free To Move
C3: Black Gold
D1: Human Code
D2: I Am A Creator
D3: Tonight

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

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

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

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

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

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

TRACK LISTING

The Influencer
The Influencer (Gabe Gurnsey Remix)

Itibere Zwarg is an award-winning Brazilian bassist and the longest-serving member of Hermeto Pascoal’s ground-breaking ensemble ‘O Grupo’. Since their first meeting in 1977, the two have been closely collaborating to create a unique musical language: a genre-defying polyharmonic, polyrhythmic music, now widely studied by musicians and musicologists alike, known as ‘Universal Music’.

Back in 2001, Itibere led a workshop at Villa Lobos School of Music, with twenty-nine of Rio de Janeiro’s most exceptionally talented young musicians. The result was Pedra do Espia, an Amazonian orchestral masterpiece which is as difficult to categorise as it is fun to listen to. The record harnesses the pure creativity of youth and nature, creating a magical sense of innocence amongst the striking compositions and astonishing musicianship. Bringing the album to vinyl for the first time, alongside a full 16 track CD and digital release, Far Out Recordings are honoured to present this overlooked masterpiece from one of the greatest minds in Brazilian instrumental music. 

TRACK LISTING

CD

Disc 1:
Na Carioca
Bota Para Quebrar
De Cora O Aberto
Forr NoEncontro Dos Rios
Curupira
Arco-iris De Som
No Varal
Toada Cigana

Disc 2:
Doce
Vale De Luz
De Repente
Muito Natural
Ao P Da Lareira
Hora Da Prece
17 De Janeiro
Pedra Do Espia

LP

Na Carioca
17 De Janeiro
Forro No Encontro Dos Rios
No Var L
Vale De Luz
Bota Para Quebrar
Doce
Muito Natural
Ao P Da Lareira

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

It's no wonder that Lizzie Bougatsos and Sadie Laska sound great together. Hitting it off the first day of Art school, the two hung out for the first time at Laska's weed-dealing older brother's party, and the two have been close ever since. With her multi-instrumental and vocal work in the celebrated band Gang Gang Dance, Bougatsos found herself eager to focus more on drumming. She rang up Laska and the two set to work. The result - a blend of propulsive drumming and samples from all over the musical (and often non-musical) spectrum - is a visceral and moving experience.

Ivan The Tolerable Trio are back with an alternate version to the amazing Infinite Peace. 2 epic tracks to take you away into infinite space! "When we went in to ATA studios in Leeds to record the Infinite Peace LP - it was always the plan to have two versions of the album - a straight mix that documented what we actually recorded there in its pure form and another version that would rearrange everything into a new shape. Once the LP was out, I passed all the stems to my old pal/former bandmate and frequent collaborator Ajay Saggar (Bhajan Bhoy/King Champion Sounds/University Challenged) and asked him to remix it in a way that sounded nothing like the original record. Its a much more ambient and floaty affair - more Popol Vuh than Sun Ra a full drift spread across two 22 minute suites. This is what he did - infinite space - we hope you like it." Oli Heffernan, September 2024.

TRACK LISTING

1. Infinite
2. Space

Ivan The Tolerable returns with Chromophobia, an expansive new double album and his fourth for Riot Season after ‘Water Music’ & ‘Vertigo’ (both 2024) and ‘An Orphan Form’ (2025) Chromophobia carries with it a deep personal history. The earliest recording sessions date back to 2018 at the IDI in Middlesbrough, engineered by longtime collaborator Nigel Crooks over the course of three weekends. The material was left unfinished for years, shelved for reasons that accumulated and compounded - until the tragic passing of Crooks in 2023. His unfinished work lingered, and the desire to complete it became a mission.

“In the end, I finished this record for Nigel, above all else,” says Oli Heffernan (Ivan The Tolerable). “It always annoyed him that it never got done.”

To bring the album to completion, the original stems were passed to producer Hugh Major (formerly of Benefits) in early 2024. Across a year of meticulous experimentation - countless versions, radical reconstructions, entire songs torn down and rebuilt - the album transformed into something wholly new. The final collection spans 14 tracks, reimagined from the ground up yet still anchored to the spirit of the sessions that began it.

“It’s a very different beast from where it started,” Heffernan adds, “but I think Nigel would really like it - and be glad it was finally finished.”

Chromophobia stands as both a reinvention and a tribute: a document of persistence, creative overhaul, and the enduring impact of a lost collaborator.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Pale Dogwood (4:21)
A2. Field Drab (5:14)
A3. Ceda Chast (5:10)
A4. Wild Blue Yonder (8:39)
B1. Inchworm (6:23)
B2. Vetiver (3:50)
B3. Orange Crayola (7:37)
C1. Black Olive (5:19)
C2. Wild Strawberry (4:00)
C3. African Violet (6:39)
C4. Deep Sky (4:52)
D1. Permanent Geranium Lake (6:23)
D2. Carnelian (4:09)
D3. Helltrope (7:56)

Ivan The Tolerable is the alter ego solo project of Middlesbrough based musical wizard Oli Heffernan. Aside from his solo work as ITT, Oli has played in numerous bands over the years including Year Of Birds, King Champion Sounds with members of the Ex, Detective Instinct, and Shrug, and has collaborated with icons like Mike Watts of the Minutemen, and J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr.

Ivan The Tolerable started by accident in 2013 when Heffernan recorded a bunch of songs for his band at the time (Year Of Birds). These were a bit too left-field for a speedy garage band, so Oli decided to put them out on tape himself, and hasn’t looked back since with releases on Up In Her Room, Stolen Body Records and Library of the Occult to name just a few.

We are delighted to bring you our next entry from the Ivan The Tolerable archive reissue series, 2019’s ‘Wild Nature!’ Originally released on CD by Ack Ack Ack Records back in 2019, the album has now been remastered and repackaged, and will be released on super ltd edition orange wax. Here’s a bit about the album in Oli’s own words.

‘Wild Nature was originally recorded sporadically during the first half of 2019. It started life in one house, then I moved and it was finished in another. I remember screenprinting the original CD artwork on the sly at my old job during my lunch breaks and hand-assembled a small run of about 50 that are all long gone. I also remember walking around Albert Park early one morning in thick fog with a field recorder to capture the sounds that were then processed to form 23 Minutes Over Albert Park (condensed to 4 mins for the reissue due to time constraints). I think this was also the last album I recorded vocals on and also the last one I recorded completely by myself - all instruments, recording, mixing, mastering and artwork done by me at home. I know the first and last tracks were recorded as a birthday present for someone but I cant remember much about the other songs i'm afraid - 4 years is a long time in my speedy world. I've been asked a bunch over the years about a vinyl edition of this one - so here it is. Enjoy - especially everything that went through the delay pedal, which is sadly no longer with us.’
Peace,
Oli Heffernan,
Jan 2024

TRACK LISTING

A SIDE
1. Queen Of Quilts
2. The Contrarian
3. Black Ink

B SIDE
1. The Cat Song
2. 4 Minutes Over Albert Park
3. Rubbing Teeth
4. Queen Of Baths

Becoming Peter Ivers tells the story of the late Peter Ivers, a virtuosic songwriter and musician whose antics bridged not just 60s counterculture and New Wave music but also film, theatre, and music television.

Written and recorded in Los Angeles in the mid-to-late-1970s, Becoming Peter Ivers raises the curtain on this mischievous master of ceremonies, who, harmonica in hand, rarely missed a chance to light up an audience. Since his untimely death in 1983, Ivers’ short but storied life has been the subject of much research and remembrance. Becoming Peter Ivers is the most expansive effort yet to collect his archival recordings.

“Demos are often better than records,” Ivers wrote. “More energy, more soul, more guts.” The statement anticipates the appearance of Becoming Peter Ivers, which was assembled from a trove of demo cassettes and reel-to-reel tapes that Ivers recorded variously at his home in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, and Hollywood studios for a pair of major label albums in 1974 and 1976. While the two commercially released albums feature the resources of session musicians and state-of-the-art studio detail, Becoming Peter Ivers highlights the private moments of Ivers’ musical energy, frequently pared down to piano, drum machine, harmonica, and Peter’s ageless voice.

Though technically not Ivers’ debut album (in 1969 Epic Records released Knight Of The Blue Communion, Peter’s psychedelic jazz odyssey of sorts), Terminal Love was the A&R brainchild of music legend Van Dyke Parks. Already a masterful harmonica player (respectively mentored by blues legend Little Walter and jazz bassist Buell Neidlinger while he was a student at Harvard in the late 60s), Ivers wove his harp melodies through the sensuously coloured but unconventionally arranged pop compositions of Terminal Love and its self-titled follow up, which, like the New York Dolls at the same time, explored the libidinous, ironic, and artful possibilities of the rock template.

A studious artist, Ivers recorded hundreds of writing and rehearsal sessions onto reel-to reel and cassette tapes, but notes were either scarcely kept or have since been lost. RVNG Intl. collaborated with Ivers’ long-time friend and supporter Steven Martin, as well as his lifelong companion Lucy Fisher, to tell an intimate story of Peter’s creative journey through this untold music. The collection includes tracks that recurred in Ivers’ ouvre over the years; “Alpha Centauri,” “Eighteen And Dreaming,” “Miraculous Weekend.” And, of course, “In Heaven” – the song co-written with David Lynch and commissioned by the filmmaker to be featured in a now-iconic scene of Eraserhead. An accomplished Yogi by the late 70s, Ivers was as spiritual as he was playful. Accentuated by his cherubic face and compact height, Ivers’ vitality and curiosity became a part of his poetic sensibility, a quality that also characterizes his singing voice. Fisher remembers Ivers calling his days holed up in the studio as “snowy days,” as if he had been cut from school and let free to roam on his own. “No one knows what Peter Ivers does on a snowy day,” he would say.

In 1980, Ivers became involved with the Los Angeles-area public access show New Wave Theatre, serving as its host and paternal misfit. Ivers would introduce a new generation of groups like Fear, Dead Kennedys, and Suburban Lawns while playing a kind-of “straight” man, deliberately baiting the punks with square questions and frocked fashion. His signature question to guests was delivered deadpan: “What is the meaning of life?” Ivers died, tragically, the victim of a violent homicide in 1983 that remains unsolved. A shock to his community, his death all but fazed the LAPD, who treated the investigation with less than minimum care. A labor of love that took RVNG Intl. over five years to complete, Becoming Peter Ivers re-frames Peter’s music as the centerpiece of his captivating story, concentrating on the work he made during his numerous retreats into art, or, as he put it, during his snowy days. 

TRACK LISTING

01. Take Your Chances With Me
02. Eighteen And Dreaming
03. Love Is A Jungle
04. Conference Call At Four
05. Peter
06. Even Stephen Foster
07. I’m Sorry Alice
08. Deborah
09. Miraculous Weekend
10. Holding The Cobra
11. Audience Of One
12. Alpha Centauri
13. I’ve Seen Your Face
14. My Grandmother’s Funeral
15. In Heaven
16. My Desire
17. The Night You Didn’t Come
18. Untitled
19. Love In Flight (Piano Overture)
20. Ain’t That A Kick
21. Jamaica Moon
22. Happy On The Grill
23. Window Washer (w/ Van Dyke Parks)
24. You Used To Be Stevie Wonder 
25. Nirvana Cuba Walt

"Many Worlds" Interpretation is a collection of cosmic Americana for electronics, guitar, and percussion culled from Jon Iverson’s extensive home-studio archive.

1984, Los Osos, California. In a small cinderblock cottage, hand-painted with bright psychedelic flora, Jon Iverson created vibrant new worlds. He spent long days and nights immersed in sound, perfecting home recording on his 8-track reel-to-reel, combining his love for kosmische and Berlin School electronics with an infatuation with ethnographic sounds and expansive guitar music. In a duo with fellow sonic traveler Thomas Walters, Iverson released missives from the studio on a self-titled LP released on country legend Guthrie Thomas’ Eagle Records. That release featured three electro-acoustic compositions (“Naningo”, “River Fen”, and “Fox Tales”) as well as a gathering of guitar duo tapestries. "Many Worlds Interpretation" re-imagines those interplanetary works alongside several unreleased compositions that also feature synthesizer, guitar, and percussion, creating a re-visioned album which leans into Iverson’s electronic studio wizardry.

All songs have been carefully transferred from analog tape to high resolution digital, retaining their vintage studio warmth, but mixed and mastered for modern ears and audio systems. The album is pressed at 45rpm, further enhancing the audiophile experience.

RIYL: Innovative Communication, Eblen Macari, Priscilla Ermel, Popol Vuh, Steve Tibbetts

---

Artist Statement

I worked in a Harley Davidson parts warehouse in the summer of 1976 in the San Francisco Bay Area. The goal was to save enough money to buy transportation for college and a Teac 4 track 1/4" reel to reel tape machine. By September there was a rusting monkey-vomit green car in the driveway and shiny new Teac with a Sony condenser microphone in the bedroom. At this point I had been playing guitar for a dozen years and like most children of the sixties, dreamed of joining a band.

Went to college instead to study business.

But all was not lost. 1978-1979 was spent as Weird Al Yankovic's roommate and we recorded and created enough songs to play shows around San Luis Obispo, California, where we were attending college. Many of those recordings have yet to be heard by the public, including the first performances of My Bologna and many other parodies of pop songs of the day. We sent tapes to Dr. Demento, we auditioned for The Gong Show and were barred from playing at the local college after one memorable performance. Wild times.

I, however, was more intent on working on "serious" music, with albums from Vangelis, Tangerine Dream and Jean Michel Jarre providing inspiration. DJing at the local college radio station and then public radio outlet provided exposure to an endless stream of obscure albums (Sky Records from Germany was a particular favourite). Most of them would never make it to the air, but my buddies and I would pass them around like exotic treasure.

Fast forward a couple more years and I had picked up a Mini-Moog and eventually a Prophet V synthesizer as well as starting a collection of instruments from around the world. The Teac and synths formed the basis for a growing DIY studio that had taken over a modest-size garage (pictured on the cover) that had been converted into a two room cottage in Los Osos, California.

The Teac was eventually joined by a rented Otari 1/2" 8-track and then finally a vintage MCI JH-100 2" 16-track. The compositions on this album were recorded on these three machines between 1982 and 1989. At some point an Apple II computer with Alpha Syntauri sound card and keyboard were added and then later the first personal computer sampling hardware/software kit, the Decillionix DX-1. The DX-1 forms the rhythm track for “Fox Tales” and the Alpha Syntauri was programmed to create the pulsing synth for “Naningo”. “River Fen” was tracked with both the Alpha Syntauri and the Prophet V.

I knew this music wasn't commercial, but didn't care. It was inspiring working with the first computer-based synths and semi-pro gear. Home studios were still rare in the early 80s until the Tascam Portastudio blew the DIY door wide-open. But I was more interested in sound quality so stuck with reels of tape instead of lower fidelity cassettes.

During the time these songs were recorded, I was also collaborating with my good friend and mandolinist, Tom Walters. “River Fen”, “Naningo” and “Fox Tales”, were solo recordings that also ended up on the first Iverson & Walters album, First Collection. The other four pieces on this new LP were never fully finished or released until now.

— Jon Iverson, September 2022

Written, played, recorded and mixed by Jon Iverson.
Mastered by Brandon Hocura
Design by Alan Briand

TRACK LISTING

1.Danaus 03:08
2.Neo Gets Wise 02:10
3.Fox Tales 05:13
4.Sands Of Tycho 04:35
5.Naningo 05:47
6.Nyx And The Night Owl 03:53
7.River Fen 06:05

With Adam Schlesinger’s untimely passing from COVID-19 in 2020, the IVY trio never thought there would be another album. But the band had actually been storing a large trove of unfinished songs and demos in a Rhode Island storage locker dating back to their beginnings. In 2023, while prepping the recent vinyl releases of their catalog, Andy Chase and Dominique Durand took a trip to Rhode Island and listened to the tapes they had left there all those years ago; tapes labeled with notes like 'Adam’s Wacky Idea 1997', 'Stupid Cat 2005' or 'This one might be good for Shallow Hal'.

The pair, along with their longtime friend Bruce Driscoll (Freedom Fry), decided to return to the studio and flesh out the bones of those recordings. While they would never feel right about putting out an album under the IVY moniker without Adam, they realized they didn't have to. Adam had already written and recorded his parts - he is on every song. The trio also enlisted friends that had been involved with making Ivy’s records through the years to join them in the studio to bring these songs to life. 'Traces of You' encapsulates everything that we love and have always loved about Ivy. Could there be more to come? (Yes, there could.)

TRACK LISTING

1. The Midnight Hour
2. Fragile People
3. Mystery Girl
4. Traces Of You
5. The Great Unknown
6. Say You Will
7. Heartbreak
8. Lose It All
9. Wasting Time
10. Hate That It’s True

Manuela Iwansson is a force of nature. Beginning as vocalist in now-defunct Swedish punk group Terrible Feelings, Iwansson's solo music harnesses the doomed romance of early 80s post-punk with a leather-bound flourish of late-70s hard-as-nails rock music. No one really believes in Rock 'n' Roll any more, not in these times of eroded faith and disillusionment but we still believe in the redeeming power of the night. Manuela Iwansson's music soundtracks the drama of the nocturne; grimy bars that breathe acrid smoke like veils over lovers parting, the paranoia of the illicit, the thrill of darkness, the transformative power of holding hands against the storm, doomed and righteous. Strangers on a Train surges forward on a taut post-punk beat and aching Cult-like guitar riff, Iwansson's narrator lamenting an ending, stations whirring past her field of vision.The chorus feels like a stadium of fists held aloft in unison, belying the cloying tale, perhaps, of an awkward break up. It's an unabashed anthem caught between leather and lace.

On the flip, Blank Surface is a bona fide AA track. Tight drums and an elastic bassline make the song feel like a lost 80's goth pop single, Iwansson's lyrics feel like the self dissolving into a thrilling melancholy, the narrator's very selfhood evaporating with the dry ice. Much of Blank Surface reminds the listener of The Cure mixed with a kind of DIY stadium rock rendered with the perfect charm by Iwansson's vocal performance, a tool which manages to sing of vulnerability with an enviable confidence. Rock n Roll is dead, good riddance; we're creatures of the night.

Debut full-length here from Birmingham's Iwarriyah (you might have caught a couple of early 10" dubplates & a dub album also arriving this week...). Authentic, UK roots reggae with a much more traditional reggae sound than his second, more digi-dub flavoured offering. The lyrical content covers the usual subjects of oppression, segregation and good ganja, with Iwarriyah's delivery relaxed, confident and, most notably, empowering. Recorded at Outpost Music Workshop (Hampton VA), Ghettoroots NYC and King Alpha here in the UK, it features a tight set of backing musicians, excellent drums and some excellent skills behind the desk. In short, a UK reggae classic. Recommended. 

TRACK LISTING

1 Babylon Will Suffer
2 Suffer Dub
3 Valley Of D.C.Zhan
4 D.C.Zhan Dub
5 *Dem Demon
6 Dub Dem
7 Five Were Wise
8 Wise Dub
9 Scatter The Clouds (Remix)
10 Dub Horizon (Remix)
11 Afrikan Princess
12 Warriyah Prayer
13 Wonderfull Counselor
14 Wonderfull Dub

Early dub plate pressha from Birmingham's Iwarriyah available once again here. Four-track 10" showcasing his powerful, digi-dub, steppers style perfectly. Recorded at King Alpha studio, home to many modern dub / reggae artists; the sound is crisp & soundsystem ready, gliding sub bass garnished with echo-laden piano stabs and squelchy synthlines lying in the recess. Each arresting vocal cut also comes with a dancefloor slaying dub - accentuating the lower frequencies and coating Iwarriyah's most memorable of vocal stylings in layers and layers of tape delay and reverb. A truly UK flavoured set, with this sound particularly favoured in Manchester as well as his native Birmingham - think Dub Smugglers / Freedom Masses / Iration Steppers etc etc. Mega.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Iyah Warriyah
A2 Restitution Dub
B1 Clash Of The Titans
B2 Gideon Dub

The second entry on Dance Data is the debut album by Izapa, who has been a fixture in LA’s modular synth community for some time now, so it’s a treat to get a glimpse into the sounds he’s been honing in his private world. The record showcases his sensibilities for a wide variety of rhythmic structures / styles, from angular hi-tek drum-n-bass to half time electro zoners, there is a little something for anyone that’s looking for dance music that prioritizes feel over function (while still retaining the latter). Featuring a swirling acidic remix from Buttechno.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Cranium-splitting electronix from this LA-based modular wizard. Taking in everything from jungle to downbeat and back again; all welded together by mainframe sorcery.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Group Inc
A2. CTRL
A3. 808ish
A4. EEI
A5. Midas Hypnosis
B1. ONOX68
B2. Digital Signatures
B3. Lab Tester
B4. XB098
B5. ONOX68 (Buttechno Remix)

As Alex Izenberg was piecing together the sweeping, psychedelic opuses on his full-band debut Alex Izenberg & The Exiles, the Los Angeles artist was focused on a simple goal: making something built to last. At the heart of his songs are bold ideas that take inspiration from the heady musings of philosopher Alan Watts, the multi-layered storytelling of King Crimson, and the imagistic vistas of Fleet Foxes. While the subject matter may feel esoteric—“My unconscious named the tongue/Of the lights of closed eyes” goes a characteristic lyric—Izenberg and his band let the music drift pleasantly to earth. The melodies are romantic and warm, and the arrangements are invitingly expansive, making expert use of a new ensemble formed around the strongest songs of his career.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Gospel Of Exiles
2. An Obscured Odyssey
3. The Wraith Behind Our Eyes
4. Drinking The Dusk Away
5. Dreams Of Déjà Vu
6. Threaded Dances
7. Only The Moon Knows
8. Pareidolia
9. United States (of Mind)
10. Apophenia
11. As The Dawn Serenades The Dark

Following a four-year silence, enigmatic LAoutsider Alex Izenberg presents his sophomore album ‘Caravan Château’ via Weird World / Domino.

Recorded largely at Tropico Beauty with Greg Hartunian (Young Jesus) and Derek Korat, and with the help of a handful of collaborators including Chris Taylor (Grizzly Bear), Jonathan Rado (Foxygen, Whitney, Lemon Twigs), Ari Balouzian (Tobias Jesso Jr) and others, Izenberg creates songs that are easy to adore but hard to define. Izenberg’s sharp songs are the bait that first brings you into ‘Caravan Château’ but that deliberate ambiguity is what brings you back repeatedly, hoping to tease out the riddles of being inside these stunning tunes.

TRACK LISTING

Requiem
Sister Jade
Anne In Strange Furs
Disraeli Woman
Saffron Glimpse
Dancing Through The
Turquoise
Bouquets Falling In The
Rain
December 30th
Lady
Revolution Girls
Caravan Château

Weird World introduce Los Angeles’ Alex Izenberg and his debut album, ‘Harlequin’.

‘Harlequin’ may be Izenberg’s debut album proper but it also marks the culmination of over five years of highly prolific writing and recording under a variety of pseudonyms.

‘Harlequin’ is almost a study in distraction - a restless, feverish dream sequence which variously invokes Scott Walker’s obtuse, off kilter worlds of sound, Simon and Garfunkel’s psychedelic yet practical string arrangements, the vaudevillian pomp and preening of Wild Beasts’ early material and Grizzly Bear’s pastoral early steps. All this is cut through with moments of total silence, patches of noise, found sound and countless dynamic leftturns and moments of non-sequitur.

TRACK LISTING

The Farm
Grace
Libra
Archer
Hot Is The Fire
Changes
To Move On
A Bird Came Down
The Moon
Waltz Of The Roots
People

‘I’m Not Here’ inhabits the shaggy, world-weary mode of Alex Izenberg’s favorite 1970s artists, folks like Harry Nilsson, John Lennon, Randy Newman, and Lou Reed.

Recorded at Tropico Studios, produced by Izenberg and Greg Hartunian in Los Angeles, CA, the album’s swelling string and woodwind arrangements - courtesy of collaborator Dave Longstreth of Dirty Projectors - bring to mind the technicolour sweep of Van Dyke Parks.

TRACK LISTING

1. Ivory
2. Gemini Underwater
3. Egyptian Cadillac
4. Breathless Darkness
5. Broadway
6. Our Love Remains
7. Ladies Of Rodeo
8. Sorrows Blue Tapestry
9. Juniper & Lamplight
10. Sea Of Wine

A majestic biography of two young geniuses who merged their talents to create one of the greatest bodies of music in history. John & Paul begins in 1957, when two teenagers in suburban Liverpool meet and decide to play rock n'roll together.

It ends twenty-three years later, when one of them is murdered. In between, we see them become global stars, create countless indelible songs, and play a central role in shaping the modern world. Lennon and McCartney were more than friends, rivals or collaborators.

They were intimates who both had the fabric of their world ruptured at a young age, and who longed to make emotional connections; with each other, and with audiences. The pop song was a vessel into which they poured feelings of grief and euphoria and everything in between. When they couldn't speak what they felt, they sang it.

After the break-up of their group, they maintained a musical dialogue at a distance, in songs full of recrimination, regret, and affection. Ian Leslie traces the twists and turns of their relationship through the music it produced and offers rich insights into the nature of creativity, collaboration and human connection. Drawing on recently released footage and recordings, this is a startlingly fresh take on two of the greatest icons in music history.

Leslie's majestic and wildly enjoyable biography will make us see and hear Lennon and McCartney anew.

Infamous Nymphs front woman Inger Lorre celebrates how vital her songs still sound today, with a live recording of a sold-out show at the legendary Viper Room. The set includes classic Nymphs tracks, ‘Sad & Damned’, ode to a serial killer ‘The Highway’ and the mourning swirl of ‘Imitating Angels’, with the addition of a cover of Siouxsie & The Banshees ‘Monitor’. This live album is raw and primal; tribal, glamorous, witch-y, grunge-y, punk. Inger states, “These songs are the sound of me walking through fire…”

Lorre’s cult following has grown in strength of late, with the seminal self-titled debut album re issued by Rock Candy Records and 2 new songs released for Record Store Day. Encouraged by the interest she is recording a new album, tentatively planned for an autumn release. Often seen as musician’s musician (once dubbed by Jeff Buckley as ‘The Patron Saint of Fucked-Over Musicians’) and having worked with the likes of Iggy Pop and Henry Rollins, sadly Inger’s notoriety often eclipsed her darkly beautiful music. Haunted by the infamy of a band that burned brightly all too briefly, before imploding in a devastation of bereavement, addiction, mental health issues and misguided record company dealings.

No one will ever forget the desk pissing incident. Inger Lorre is a music industry legend. These days Inger Lorre has mostly conquered her own demons - exorcised through art, music and time to heal. What comes next will no doubt be unique as the women herself. “Inger retains her strength as a songwriter and performer without losing any of her sensitivity, fragility and danger. I always look forward to what she does, it never disappoints” – Henry Rollins / "The Nymphs were a very original underground band with a unique sound and GREAT songs

TRACK LISTING

Rumble
Alright
Death Of A Scenester
Sad And Damned
7B; Snowflake
Hate In My Heart
Wasting My Days
2 Cats 
The River
Imitating Angels
The Highway 
Monitor 

Iraina’s singular pop vision will be known to regular listeners of 6 Music, where her singles ‘Undo The Blue’, ‘Deep End’, ‘Shotgun’ and ‘Do It (You Stole The Rhythm)’ have all been enthusiastically embraced. Iraina's obsession with music stretches back into her early childhood, much of which was spent absorbing her parents’ collection of old 45s, in particular her dad’s Northern Soul records – an alternative education which meant that, by her early 20s, she was a familiar presence in the DJ booth at many discerning London club nights. Her love of French ye-ye, British freakbeat, Brazilian bossa nova, soul, and Turkish psych will be well-known to regular listeners of her Soho Radio show. Having always sung from a young age, Iraina embarked on a string of collaborators such as Jagz Kooner (Sabres Of Paradise), Sunglasses For Jaws (Miles Kane) and Simon Dine (Paul Weller, Noonday Underground) which truly saw her find her metier as a songwriter, conjuring melodies that stand shoulder to shoulder alongside her impeccable influences.

Iraina describes her first single for Needle Mythology ‘Cannonball’ as “a celebration of that moment when you meet someone you really fall for and it knocks you for six. It can be a bit scary, but you’ve just got to go with what your intuition is telling you.” Written with Simon Dine, the vertiginous heart-in-mouth abandon of the song perfectly mirrors the circumstances that brought it into being. Iraina cites Jacqueline Taïeb’s 1967 single 7h du Matin as an early inspiration for the song: “There’s such a great energy about that song. Her vocal is amazing and all those stops and starts that grab your attention.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Deep End
2. Cannonball
3. Sugar High
4. Undo The Blue
5. Do It (You Stole The Rhythm)
6. My Umbrella
7. Shotgun
8. What You Doin’ [featuring Miles Kane And Kitty Liv]
9. Need Your Love
10. Take A Bow

Needle Mythology, the label founded by music writer, author and broadcaster Pete Paphides, is thrilled to announce the signing of the eagerly anticipated debut album by London singer-songwriter and renowned DJ Iraina Mancini. Iraina’s singular pop vision will be known to regular listeners of 6 Music, where her singles ‘Undo The Blue’, ‘Deep End’, ‘Shotgun’ and ‘Do It (You Stole The Rhythm)’ have all been enthusiastically embraced. Iraina's obsession with music stretches back into her early childhood, much of which was spent absorbing her parents’ collection of old 45s, in particular her dad’s Northern Soul records – an alternative education which meant that, by her early 20s, she was a familiar presence in the DJ booth at many discerning London club nights. Her love of French ye-ye, British freakbeat, Brazilian bossa nova, soul, and Turkish psych will be well-known to regular listeners of her Soho Radio show.

Having always sung from a young age, Iraina embarked on a string of collaborators such as Jagz Kooner (Sabres Of Paradise), Sunglasses For Jaws (Miles Kane) and Simon Dine (Paul Weller, Noonday Underground) which truly saw her find her metier as a songwriter, conjuring melodies that stand shoulder to shoulder alongside her impeccable influences. Iraina describes her first single for Needle Mythology ‘Cannonball’ as “a celebration of that moment when you meet someone you really fall for and it knocks you for six. It can be a bit scary, but you’ve just got to go with what your intuition is telling you.”

Written with Simon Dine, the vertiginous heart-in-mouth abandon of the song perfectly mirrors the circumstances that brought it into being. Iraina cites Jacqueline Taïeb’s 1967 single 7h du Matin as an early inspiration for the song: “There’s such a great energy about that song. Her vocal is amazing and all those stops and starts that grab your attention.”

“This is an artist I absolutely love, one of our rising stars at 6Music.“ Lauren Laverne BBC 6Music.

“Iraina seizes on the best aspects of the past, blurring those impeccable 60s and 70s influences with a touch of modernity.” Clash.

“Full of femme fatale poise and swooning chanteuse flourishes.” The Times.

TRACK LISTING

1. Undo The Blue (Beyond The Wizards Sleeve Re-Animation)
2. Sugar High (Saint Etienne Remix)

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2013 EXCLUSIVE.

Limited to 750

Celebrating the release of Ian McCulloch’s new album ‘Pro Patria Mori’ this rare coloured 7” features two tracks from bonus live album in the package paying homage to the original Killing Moon 7” sleeve

TRACK LISTING

Killing Moon Pro Patria Mori

Idris Muhammad is a American jazz drummer and bandleader and is one of contemporary music's most sampled drummers. His resume includes nearly 500 recording credits that range across the genre spectrum and 12 studio albums as a bandleader, including the 1976 House Of The Rising Sun. The album is arranged by David Matthews, also known as leader of the Dave Matthews Band (DMB), and produced by Creed Taylor, founder of CTI Records. The track "Sudan" is arranged by jazz trumpeter Tom Harrell. The album features several guest performances by New York studio aces, including Joe Beck, Don Grolnick, David Sanborn, Fred Wesley and Michael Brecker amongst others.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. House Of The Rising Sun
2. Baia (Boogie Bump)
3. Hard To Face The Music
4. Theme For New York City

SIDE B
1. Sudan
2. Hey Pocky A-Way 

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

STAFF COMMENTS

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

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

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

'Fables' is the first widely distributed release for Isabel Pine after a series of self released EPs and singles on Bandcamp. Her label debut album arrives via Kranky. 

She studied classical music on viola from the age of 3 through into college where she was on a path to be a performer in a large ensemble, but eventually left after feeling frustrated and limited in a world that did not provide much of an outlet for individual creativity. But the doors of perception really opened when she moved to British Columbia and was exposed to the raw beauty of the wilderness there.

She began recording at home using a basic audio setup along with a cello, viola, violin and double bass, and spent time making field recordings of natural sounds in BC. Her next idea was to actually move into nature to record, curious as to “how it would sound if I recorded outside entirely, with the natural reverb and sounds of the environment in the recording from the very beginning. The rustling of the leaves or a raven’s beating wings were as integral to the music as whatever I played.”

'Fables' is a mix of pieces that were recorded in the fall of 2024, in a small, remote cabin and outside, primarily using stringed instruments. The result is a series of stunning vignettes, meditations patiently unfurling like gentle waves, slowly advancing and retreating.

TRACK LISTING

1. Wolves
2. Winnow
3. Untitled / Kindled / Waxing
4. Never Been Here Before
5. Wandering
6. Fables
7. West
8. Snow
9. A Flickering Light
10. Sun Dog
11. Hollow
12. Moonlight
13. Bare
14. Perennial
15. Butterfly Lands On A Flower

Iggy Pop is a singer, songwriter, musician, author, record producer, DJ, and actor whose epic body of work has earned him both worldwide critical acclaim and fanatic cult success.
Credited as “The Godfather of Punk”, spearheading the ‘70s punk and ‘90s grunge movements

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Iggy returns for his most incendiary, punky outing for quite some time. Brilliantly recalling both his early days and the more streamlined, produced skate-punk heft of the late 90's. With a whole host of guest start contributing to the sound too, it's clear that Iggy has easily retained his place as the undisputable king of punk. Superb.

TRACK LISTING

1. Frenzy
2. Strung Out Johnny
3. New Atlantis
4. Modern Day Rip-Off
5. Morning Show
6. The News For Andy (Interlude)
7. Neo Punk
8. All The Way Down
9. Comments
10. My Animus (Interlude)
11. The Regency

The first new Iggy Pop album since 2016’s Post Pop Depression.

While it follows the highest charting album of Iggy’s career, Free has virtually nothing in common sonically with its predecessor—or with any other Iggy Pop album. On the process that led Iggy and principal players Leron Thomas and Noveller to create this uniquely somber and contemplative entry in the Iggy Pop canon, Iggy says:
"This is an album in which other artists speak for me, but I lend my voice...By the end of the tours following Post Pop Depression, I felt sure that I had rid myself of the problem of chronic insecurity that had dogged my life and career for too long. But I also felt drained. And I felt like I wanted to put on shades, turn my back, and walk away. I wanted to be free. I know that’s an illusion, and that freedom is only something you feel, but I have lived my life thus far in the belief that that feeling is all that is worth pursuing; all that you need – not happiness or love necessarily, but the feeling of being free. So this album just kind of happened to me, and I let it happen."

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Iggy's back! One of the most recognisable figures in the punk community returns with his latest solo effort, shining with contemplative melodies and loungey percussive pieces, clearly showing a move towards a more freeform approach than his previous outings, with smooth jazzy horns and slow-burning developmental shifts. Lovely stuff, and perfectly illustrative of his mastery of a wide variety of disciplines.

TRACK LISTING

1. Free
2. Loves Missing
3. Sonali
4. James Bond
5. Dirty Sanchez
6. Glow In The Dark
7. Page
8. We Are The People
9. Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
10. The Dawn

Released less than a year after ‘The Idiot’, ‘Lust for Life’ is a return to the sloppy, sleazy, blues-y, swagger of the Stooges. Though the record is, again produced by David Bowie, he takes much more of a backseat musically, allowing for Iggy Pop to take centre stage in his return to form. His best solo album and an absolute classic from this legend. Now in limited blue vinyl.

Released less than a year after "The Idiot", "Lust For Life" is a return to the sloppy, sleazy, blues-y, swagger of the Stooges. Though the record is, again produced by David Bowie, he takes much more of a backseat musically, allowing for Iggy Pop to take center stage in his return to form. An absolute classic from this total legend.

Pop Music by Iggy Pop is the 1996 compilation featuring the 20 best tracks released through BMG between 1979 and 1981, including “Bang Bang”, “I Need More”, “I’m Bored”, “New Values” and “Five Foot One”. Iggy Pop was associated with Virgin Records for much of his post-Stooges solo career, but for a brief spell during the late ‘70s and early ‘80s he called Arista Records (BMG) his home. This era saw punk’s godfather stray away from the primal style he is known for, as he experimented largely with new wave sounds.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Loco Mosquito
2. Bang Bang
3. Tell Me A Story
4. Pumpin' For Jill
5. Take Care Of Me

Side B
1. I Need More
2. I'm Bored
3. Knocking 'Em Down (In The City)
4. I Snub You
5. Sea Of Love

Side C
1. Play It Safe
2. Dog Food
3. Happy Man
4. Time Won't Let Me
5. Five Foot One

Side D
1. Angel
2. Girls
3. New Values
4. Pleasure
5. Houston Is Hot Tonight

Two years on from the end of The Stooges, Iggy returned, older, wiser and perhaps a little more world weary. The Idiot is his debut solo album and the first of two LPs released in 1977 which Pop wrote and recorded in collaboration with David Bowie. Style-wise the album sits nicely alongside Bowie’s Berlin period albums, gone is the raw proto-punk of The Stooges, instead we have fractured guitar sounds and discordant keyboards, and whereas previously his vocals were delivered with a defiant snarly, he instead adopts his now trademark baritone drawl.

Originally released in 1977, this was the first album Iggy Pop made after the dissolution of the Stooges, several jailings and a self-imposed stay in a mental institution. Produced by David Bowie, and including music written almost entirely by him, this is Iggy's most introspective and heavy work. Much more mechanical than the sleazy proto-punk of the Stooges, The Idiot was a huge influence on the post-punk sound of folks like Joy Division and Magazine. An absolute classic.

Now in limited edition Transparent Orange vinyl.

TRACK LISTING

01. Sister Midnight
02. Nightclubbing
03. Funtime
04. Baby
05. China Girl

01. Dum Dum Boys
02. Tiny Girls
03. Mass Production

Oasis were a band like bands used to be. Hard-drinking and substance abusing. If they liked you, they loved you.

If they didn't, you had to be prepared for confrontation. Iain Robertson is used to tough jobs - after retiring from the Parachute Regiment, he took on jobs guarding George Harrison, Gary Moore and Johnny Rotten. But keeping Oasis on the rails after debut album Definitely Maybe ignited their rise toward global superstardom would be the toughest gig of them all.

Oasis would explode into public consciousness and have the world at their feet in the wake of their epic first album and a huge world tour. Iain was side-by-side as their road manager and minder, twenty-four hours a day, eight days a week, as they took on the world and won. No one was closer.

Now updated with new unpublished material ahead of the thirty year anniversary of Definitely Maybe, this story is the defining chronicle of life on tour with Oasis.

Temples of Jura enlist long serving Croatia polymath Ilija Rudman for his ninth LP entitled ‘The Great Beyond’. The concept of the album is the afterlife with words from Nikola Tesla, Slavoj Zizek, Jim Morrison, JF Kennedy, Charles De Gaulle, WH Auden, Azar Nafisi and Eleanor Roosevelt woven together to tell the story of ‘The Great Beyond’ and what may lie ahead for us all. The voice itself was created by AI (let’s call him ERIC) and is set beautifully to music that has a timeless cinematic quality. Ilija only uses pure analogue equipment in the creation of his music, resulting in a rich tapestry of basses, drums, chords and lead sounds. He’s been a prolific producer for over 20 years now with a discography that runs deep with more than 100 vinyl EP releases and 8 studio albums, but we feel he’s reached the pinnacle with this concept album. We’ll leave the final word to ERIC “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Philosophic musings merge with AI and lush, dreamy instrumentals in an ambitious concept album from Rudman. I'm sure there's some Timothy Leary titbits in there...

TRACK LISTING

Anas Theme
River Cant Wash My Tears Down
In The End (Intermezzo Theme)
Heroinas Atom Heart
Dreams (Part I)
Dreams (Part Ii)

Huge plumes of thick black smoke drift over Manchester city centre. A sign perhaps that the recent troubles are not quite over. Police remain, patrolling the streets in vast numbers amidst a chorus of sirens as fire engines race to attend to this the latest in a long line of disturbances engulfing the city. A fire spreading rapidly through a derelict warehouse in nearby Salford is to blame. Nestled away in a basement rehearsal space just a stones throw from all the commotion are I See Angels. Formed in 2008 their music, with its surreal twisting soundscapes, dynamic highs and lows and enigmatic lyrics burning with frustration and desire, makes for a rather fitting soundtrack to the drama unfolding on the streets above them. Not that they know it. The band, Paul Baird (vocals, guitar, piano), Martin Cowan (bass) and Chris Norwood (drums) are busy rehearsing for upcoming shows to promote the release of their self-titled debut album. And it seems no riot or looting spree is going to stop them.

"I'm actually really angry that people think it's okay to behave this way. To see them trash parts of the city and disrespect the people and places we love sickens me." say's the bands songwriter/frontman Paul Baird. "I'm just glad we didn't run with our first choice of album cover now. It would have seemed tastleless I reckon. You won't believe it but it showed a young couple fucking in the middle of a riot!" A strange coincidence maybe. Thankfully artist Tash Willcocks (Elbow) presented the band with a better choice for the album cover.

Having received critical praise in publications including Music Week, Mojo and the Manchester Evening News, while being favourably compared to the likes of Pavement, Mercury Rev and early Radiohead, expectations for the band are riding high. “We are hugely excited to be working with I See Angels at this pivotal stage in their career.” states Brent Thurrell, Manager at Manchester independent record label Mimic This. “We all share a vision and a belief that this band will one day be a huge influence on the Northern music scene and beyond.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Dark but beautiful, introspective pop, like Elliott Smith's early work but with a full band. At times this is heavy, elsewhere it's fragile, but it's always powerful and straight from the heart. Really good stuff.

Returning with a new album less than a year since the release of the acclaimed 'Laughing Party', It Hugs Back continue to work at their own pace, in their own space and in their own way; satisfying their own desires and defining their own successes, working undeterred and alone in their tiny Kent countryside studio. ‘Recommended Record’ – as a title, it’s a confident statement for the band's third album, their most accomplished, instant and joyful so far; a side-step from the freewheeling jams of their previous release, leaping headlong into a more concentrated pop-group sensibility whilst still maintaining the twists, turns and swerves that characterise the bandʼs sonic adventures. Following the release of ‘Laughing Party’, the band took time off while singer & guitarist Matthew Simms was recording a new album with his “other” band, the historic and influential Wire.

Reconvening It Hugs Back in the summer with a sheaf of new songs at the ready, it quickly became apparent to the band that they had struck upon a new sound and direction, resembling Nirvana playing Steely Dan. Whilst the distinctive hushed vocals and intricate guitar interplay that have become the unmistakable I.H.B. identity remain intact, a fantastic convergence and melding of new influences has emerged; from the pounding garage rock of 'Go Magic!', to the Beatles-y groove of 'Lower', to the almost Kraftwerk-with-guitars style of 'Piano Drone', displaying little trace of the homemade, zero budget recording process.

TRACK LISTING

01. Sa Sa Sa Sails
02. Go Magic!
03. Sometimes
04. Piano Drone
05. Big Sighs
06. Teenage Hands
07. Lower
08. Waiting Room
09. Skateboard Rhythm
10. Recommend Records

Itch are a four-piece alternative indie rock band from Leeds, West Yorkshire. The band started in 1999. Drawing influence from bands like Sweep the Leg Johnny, Spy Versus Spy and The White Octave.
The band was never taken seriously until a small independent label called Happy Astronaut help release their first E.P "The Boy Who Cried Wolf!" in 2002. Followed by an album called "Well,Well,Well, Three Holes In The Ground" in 2005 on Big Scary Monsters, and with the success that followed they were able to tour in and around the UK numerous times, before releasing a single "The Bombshell" in 2007 on BSM again. Since then they've been busy growing up and writing a long over due album entitled "An Illusion Of Grandeur From A One Trick Pony".

Beautiful and warm acoustic nu-folk melded together with dark downbeats and topped off with Helene Gautier subtle vocals.

June Records presents their seventeenth release, "Diataxis" by Ioannis Savvaidis, which is comprised of 4 recordings and their accompanying texts.

"Diataxis" is an audio interplay between Optical Networks terminology and the main artwork of the release. The sound is transmitted throughout abstractly and emotionally structured spaces.

Recorded live in Savvaidis’ studio in Athens between July and December 2018.

Blanket thick atmospheres heavier than air smother the listener; whether its neutron heavy static, or red shifted solar winds, the result is far from ambient; impenetrable and haunting this is what it sounds like to be lost in space...

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Bloody love a bit of dark dark ambient I do, and this one's a corker. Think of a beatless Biosphere, all glacial ambience and cold, crystalline drone mixed with the churning low-end and organic development of Tim Hecker or Fennesz, and you're in the right area. Huge pads and face-melting cosmic drift complete the trifecta, helping to round out the pieces into a multi-layered and multi-faceted exfoliating audio bubblebath.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Diataxis
A2. Pulse Demodulator
B1. Transponders
B2. Polarization Mode Dispersion

Irmin Schmidt has announced 5 Klavierstücke, an album of five piano pieces recorded last year by the influential composer, musician and founder of Can. 
Irmin Schmidt explains, “The tracks are spontaneous meditations, only played once and recorded simultaneously - no edits or corrections. They are formed from an emotional memory in which Schubert, Cage, Japan (Gagaku) and Can are equally present.”

5 Klavierstücke, was recorded and produced by Gareth Jones in the South of France on Irmin Schmidt's two grand pianos. Schmidt partly prepared his Pleyel piano, in the way he was taught by John Cage himself, and the other piano - Irmin Schmidt’s 100-year-old Steinway - remained unprepared. Several pieces were recorded in one session on the prepared piano only, others contain recordings from both pianos. All ambient sounds were recorded on site - around Irmin Schmidt's studio - and there are no other instruments or electronics of any kind.

TRACK LISTING

1 Klavierstück I
2 Klavierstück II
3 Klavierstück III
4 Klavierstück IV
5 Klavierstück V

Live album from legendary founder of CAN.

Nocturne (live at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival) comprises three pieces performed live on a partly prepared piano, along additional pre-recorded soundscapes.

The live performance of ‘Klavierstück II’ is a pensive improvisation using essential elements of the original piece.

‘Nocturne’ starts with the ambient sounds whilst the piano seemingly melts into the soundscape and eventually grows into a long meditative piano solo.

‘Yonder’ is a much more dramatic piece, dominated by the overwhelming sounds of church bells, a sort of “dies irai”, radical, emotional and fiercely poetic.

TRACK LISTING

Klavierstück II
Nocturne
Yonder

Can founder's retrospective compilation album updated to include music from 5 Klavierstüke and released on vinyl for the first time. The compilation includes tracks such as Villa Wunderbar, Kick On The Floods and Bohemian Step, alongside remixes by Schmidt of two Can tracks, Alice and Last Night Sleep, as well extracts from his extensive soundtrack work. 

TRACK LISTING

A1 Dreambite
A2 Le Weekend
A3 Rapido De Noir
A4 Love
B1 Villa Wunderbar
B2 Time The Dreamkiller
B3 Fledermenschen
C1 Burning Straw In Sky
C2 Kick On The Floods
D1 Fuchsia's Song - Rainbow Party
D2 Ensemble: Joy
D3 Klavierstuck V
E1 Flavia Theme
E2 Quattrocanti (Dream Theme IV)
E3 Fresco & Finale (Flavia Theme III & IV)
E4 Zicke Zick
E5 Schneeland
E6 Dangerous
F1 Rote Erde (Titel Musik)
F2 Es Geht Ein Schnitter
F3 Bohemian Step
F4 Roll On Euphrates
G1 Solo
G2 Aller Tage Abend Walzer
G3 Morning In Berlin
G4 Geisterlied
H1 Verdi Prati Valse
H2 Messer Im Kopf
H3 Lied Vom Verschwinden
H4 Alice (artist Can, Remix By Irmin Schmidt)
H5 Last Night Sleep (artist Can, Remix By Irmin Schmidt) 

Legend’ is lofty praise that is often used lightly, however, Mike D from the Beastie Boys certainly is one in the truest of spirits. We are delighted after over 30 years of being involved in music to finally release a project involving such a hip-hop pioneer and icon as Mike.

In keeping with the maverick attitude of the Beastie Boys, you don’t always get what you expect. For this release there isn’t a hip-hop beat, instrumental-funk or hardcore-punk joint in sight, rather an electronic-African club banger. Mike took it upon himself to rework Malian artists Idrissa Soumaoro and L’Eclipse De L’I.J.A. and their track ‘Nissodia’, which is taken from the ‘Le Tioko-Tioko’ album originally released in 1978 on the German Democratic Republic (GDR) label ETERNA. The song was also featured on ‘The Original Sound Of Mali’ compilation released on Mr Bongo back in 2017.

It was November 2019 and the day before a Mr Bongo 30 years celebration event in Paris at the Pedro party in the ‘New Morning’ club, when out of the blue the remix landed in Dave Mr Bongo’s inbox. We loved it straight away and decided to road test it the next night in the club. Whether it be a remix/re-edit/ rework, it doesn’t matter, what does matter is that it works spectacularly in the club and had people jumping on the stage to dance at the party. A sensational track and one which leaves a beautiful memory of good-times from a night out in Paris (and one which is in retrospect is even more poignant as the late-great maestro Tony Allen was in the club that night), and we are sure it will light up many more dancefloors to come.

STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Check-ch-check-check - check-ch-check it out! Beastie Boy Mike D takes his scalpel to this Malian jam-a-thon from Idrissa Soumaora and twists it into a stomping Afro-electronic banger which has me begging for the clubs to re-open. Chuck in the OG on the flip and you got some must have wax on yo hands.

TRACK LISTING

Nissodia (Mike D Edit)
Nissodia (Original)

Two tracks from the album were featured on our 2017 compilation 'The Original Sound Of Mali' (MRBLP135, still available), and we subsequently released the track 'Nissodia' on its own 12" (MRB12053 & MRB12053NO, both still available) in 2020, complete with a blistering dancefloor re-edit by Mike D of The Beastie Boys. 'Le Tioko-Tioko' is one of the rarest vinyl albums from the already scarce Malian vinyl discography, partly as the album was never released commercially, only independently distributed via the Malian Association for the Blind in Bamako. Though recorded at Radio Mali under the aegis of master engineer Boubacar Traoré; the album was originally released in East Germany.

The tapes had been taken by some Malian students to East Berlin as part of a student exchange program. It was then manufactured and released on the East German state owned label Eterna with only a few boxes of records being shipped back to Bamako. A true masterpiece, this legendary LP offers some devastating songs such as 'Djama' (society), 'Nissodia' (joy of optimism), and 'Fama Allah' (an ode to god). Hypnotic organ riffs and breakbeats convey an unknown funk quality in Malian music, it now stands as a loving tribute to an unsung Malian golden age. Sadly, like many of the other now desired and prized vinyl rarities, at the time of release, it almost immediately disappeared without a trace due to a lack of promotion, and distribution. So, it feels fitting to share this gem of a record again, and hopefully it with reach the wider audience it deserved over 45 years ago. A funky masterpiece packed with organ-driven riffs and incredible drum breakbeats. A sought-after rarity from the Malian golden age.

TRACK LISTING

1. Fama Allah
2. Djama
3. Beni Inikanko
4. Nissodia
5. Ben
6. Bimoko

BBE Music’s highly-acclaimed J Jazz Masterclass Series continues with an album that unites three J Jazz legends with a young musician beginning their professional career. Recorded and released in 1986, ‘Approach’ is both sophisticated and experimental in equal measure, balancing serene ambient moments with thunderous and dynamic explosions of energy. ‘Approach’ was originally issued on the Art Union label and sees bass uber-maestro Isao Suzuki, percussion and drumming icon Masahiko Togashi, and keyboard wizard Hideo Ichikawa join together with neophyte guitarist Akira Shiomoto to deliver a first-class showcase of contemporary jazz across five tracks, demonstrating their individual talents working as one unified ensemble. Suzuki’s deeply resonant and pliant basslines move sinuously across the album, supporting Togashi’s ebullient flashes of percussion and Ichikawa’s lush textures and colourations; topping it all off is the young Shiomoto’s guitar adding melodic texture and shine. Opening with ‘Make Trip’, Ichikawa’s gentle introduction makes way for a change of gear as Suzuki’s bass drives the band along before Togashi’s drum and percussion centrepiece solo leads to the outro. The plaintive and bluesy ‘Otari’ follows next, with Ichikawa’s piano flowing around and between the rhythmic undertow from Suzuki and Togashi. Things turn slightly more experimental on ‘Mysterious’ as Suzuki, the piece’s composer, turns to arco bass effects and Ichikawa employs synthesiser and electronic textures to add colour to the palette.

TRACK LISTING

1. Otari
2. Make Trip
3. Mysterious
4. Tornado
5. East Words
6. Long Straight Road

In writing Crush Crusher, Julia Medford, aka Ian Sweet, committed herself to exploring her own issues with self-image, self-respect/worth, and the responsibility she has felt to others. Album opener “Hiding” was one of the first songs she wrote for the record while living in a frigid Brooklyn apartment during a winter break amidst her gruelling tour schedule. In the song, Medford reflects on an interpersonal relationship that fell apart because of an inability to feel supreme comfort in sharing all the pieces of herself with someone. Nevertheless, a hopeful demeanour shines through on “Hiding” and in her writing across the album, with lyrics that embrace life’s hurdles and make them feel a little less scary. Much of Crush Crusher’s songs deal with Medford’s internalized pressure to become a caretaker in many of her close friends’ lives. As a defence mechanism for her own insecurities, Medford projects a sense of invincibility and benevolence to feel more deserving of the love received from others; we hear this on “Holographic Jesus” when she repeats the phrase “the sun built me to shade everybody,” characterizing the sacrifice and responsibility she feels in ways that could easily go unnoticed. “Holographic Jesus” ultimately represents a façade of strength that Medford has clung onto and, in true Taurus fashion, is stubborn to let go of. Musically, Crush Crusher is full of dissonant open chords and abnormal progressions, finding beauty in a level of conflict not seen on Shapeshifter.

To help achieve this expansive-but-focused sound, Medford enlisted the help of someone who was just as ambitiously experimental in their approach, producer and engineer Gabe Wax (Deerhunter, The War on Drugs, Soccer Mommy). Medford and Wax set up shop at Rare Book Room studios in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and completed the basic tracking with musicians Simon Hanes on bass and Max Almario on drums. “Coming into a space where some of my biggest inspirations like Bjork, Dirty Projectors, and Deerhunter had all once also recorded, I felt determined to push myself and test every boundary that I may have subconsciously created along the way. Gabe made me feel comfortable with attempting anything,” Medford says. By the end of the recording process, IAN SWEET wound up with an unconventional assortment of songs featuring disparate elements of psych-rock, trip-hop, and shoegaze that together forged a sound uniquely her own.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hiding
2. Spit
3. Holographic Jesus
4. Bug Museum
5. Question It
6. Crush Crusher
7. Falling Fruit
8. Borrowed Body
9. Ugly/Bored
10. Your Arms Are Water

“IAN SWEET’s indie pop packs the personality that [Hardly Art] is known for, spinning conventional rock band setups into output that is unconventional.” - Consequence of Sound.

“They’ve relocated across the USA, gone on three tours, eaten a lot of donuts, climbed rocks and worn crocs.” - Noisey. 

"The unmistakable voice of singer Jillian Medford is a force that stands all on its own." - Boston Hassle

“I have a way of loving too many things to take on just one shape,” Jilian Medford sings over and over again on the title track of the Brooklyn-based band IAN SWEET’s debut album, Shapeshifter, repeating it like a mantra. This is Medford’s thesis statement, a narrator to carry us through Shapeshifter, which is above all else a meditation on loneliness and displacement. It’s about losing love and your sense of self in the process, about grabbing at the little things in life that bring joy when nothing else is going according to plan. It’s also an ode to the bandmates, and the friends, that see you through. IAN SWEET started in 2014 with a string of text messages. Medford was a few days away from embarking on her first tour when the driver and drummer she recruited cancelled. Medford sent IAN SWEET drummer Tim Cheney -- whom she barely knew -- a series of desperate messages, asking if he knew how to drum and whether or not he would be willing to take two weeks off of life to go on tour. Cheney responded soon after with a simple: “Yes.” Accompanied by Cheney and bassist Damien Scalise’s playful instrumentation, Shapeshifter becomes a celebratory purging, an album that finds humor in self-deprecation and vice.

IAN SWEET’s debut interrogates capital-e Existence through a candy-coated lens, their mathy precision scaffolding the chaos of Medford’s personal neurosis and turning those anxieties into something hook-laden and relatable. And though the narrative of Shapeshifter clings to an ex-lover, the yearning felt on this album isn’t directed at a particular individual so much as it’s turned inward. “You know the feeling. When you really like someone, you forget to do anything for yourself, you forget all of the things that gave you your shape,” Medford says. “The things that form your absolute.”

Mesmeric and kaleidoscopic, shimmering with electrified unease, Show Me How You Disappear is both an exercise in self-forgiveness and an eventual understanding of unresolved trauma. Jilian Medford’s third record as IAN SWEET unfolds at an acute juncture in her life, charting from a mental health crisis to an intensive healing process and what comes after. How do you control the thoughts that control you? What does it mean to get better? What does it mean to have a relationship with yourself? Recorded with Andrew Sarlo (Big Thief, Empress Of) and Andy Seltzer (Maggie Rogers), among others, Medford approached this album as a curator. She handpicked the producers that fit each song, which explains the range and experimentation showcased. Medford then recruited Chris Coady to mix and tie everything together into one cohesive piece. Dizzying and enthralling, Show Me How You Disappear is the sound of someone coming apart and putting themselves back together — the moment an old mantra, repeated into the mirror time and time again, finally clicks. To look at your reflection, and finally feel seen.

TRACK LISTING

1. My Favorite Cloud
2. Drink The Lake
3. Sword
4. Dirt
5. Sing Till I Cry
6. Dumb Driver
7. Get Better
8. Power
9. Show Me How You Disappear
10. I See Everything

Irma Thomas, born Irma Lee and widely celebrated as the Soul Queen of New Orleans, is a Grammy-nominated artist who recorded her first single in 1959. Her second solo album, released in 1966, features the song “Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand),” co-written by Randy Newman and country music star Jeannie Seely. The single peaked at #52 at the Billboard Top 100 chart and this iconic track has been featured in multiple episodes of the acclaimed science fiction television series Black Mirror.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Take A Look
2. Teasing, But You're Pleasing
3. I Haven't Got The Time To Cry
4. You Don't Miss A Good Thing (Until It's Gone)
5. Some Things You Never Get Used To
6. Anyone Who Knows What Love IS (Will Understand)

Side B
1. It's Starting To Get To Me Now
2. Times Have Changed
3. He's My Guy
4. Baby Don't Look Down
5. What Are You Trying To Do
6. Wait, Wait, Wait

Ace Records are delighted to reissue Irma Thomas’ classic debut album “Wish Someone Would Care”.

Originally released in 1964, the album title was taken from her big R&B hit single ‘Wish Someone Would Care’ which got to #17 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1964.

Produced by Eddie Ray and arranged by H.B. Barnum it’s a stone cold soul classic featuring tracks such as ‘Please Send Me Someone To Love’. ‘Straight From The Heart’, ‘Another Woman’s Man’ and ‘Break-A-Way’ that was the B-side to ‘Wish Someone Would Care’.

As well as pressing the album on 180gm vinyl Ace are delighted to feature an interview with Irma discussing this part of her career with writer Garth Cartwright. 

TRACK LISTING

Side One
1. Wish Someone Would Care
2. I Need Your Love So Bad
3. Without Love (There Is Nothing)
4. Please Send Me Someone To Love
5. Another Woman's Man
6. Sufferin' With The Blues

Side Two
1. Time Is On My Side
2. While The City Sleeps
3. Straight From The Heart
4. I've Been There
5. I Need You So
6. Break-A-Way

Life’s a bitch, and so is the world... For Ike Turner at least. Neither his late and absurd Hall of Fame induction nor the release of compilations like this one will ever do justice to one of the KEY characters in the birth and development of R&R. That is why any album underlining his historical importance and artistic talent deserves plenty of attention. “Down and Out” - available on vinyl only - gathers the very best of Ike’s output as a solo artist and as the leader of the Kings of Rhythm during the fifties. This feast of raw R&B includes “I’m Lonesome Baby”, his legendary first 45, the killer instrumentals “Cuban Getaway” and “Cubano Jump”, as well as “Box Top”, the recording debut of a very young Tina.

Exquisite cover art, remastered sound, liner notes and discography by specialist Fred Rothwell, the man who is currently writing Ike Turner’s biography.

TRACK LISTING

1. I'm Lonesome Baby
2. You're Driving Me Insane
3. Cubano Jump
4. Troubles And Heartaches
5. Looking For My Baby
6. Cuban Getaway
7. I Wanna Make Love To You
8. Loosely
9. Boxtop
10. (I Know) You Don't Love Me
11. Go To It
12. Down & Out
13. Walking Down The Aisle
14. My Love

The Danish/Norwegian duo of Ida Urd and Ingri Høyland believe that music is an extension of one’s immediate sensory environment. Duvet, their collaborative full-length debut, explores the way that creating sounds together is intertwined with various quotidian actions: establishing surroundings, rearranging furniture, moving towards the light, collecting flowers or other objects for aesthetic and sensuous impulses. Through a quiet and attentive process, music becomes a way of nurturing space: a soft architecture for play, writing, care, or simply rest.

Sonically, Duvet feels like an extension of Høyland’s last album, 2023’s Ode to Stone, which also featured Urd along with ambient musician Sofie Birch and visual artist Lea Guldditte Hestelund. But where that album, created in response to an open call for work themed around Denmark’s national parks, suggested rolling landscapes and endless horizons, Duvet turns inward, countering chill winds with glowing warmth. Its eight tracks seek a balance between abstraction and melody, intention and happenstance.

“We had a truly inspiring and rewarding process working with Birk Gjerlufsen Nielsen from Vanessa Amara, who co-produced and mixed the album with us,” Ingri adds. “He approached the material with great care and sensitivity, while also bringing his own distinct presence and creativity into the sound.”

Høyland and Urd both studied at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, which has turned out many acclaimed artists over the past few years, including Erica de Casier, Astrid Sonne, and Smerz. Over many years, the two composers have developed a collaborative method based on connection and trust. A practice, they write, “where composing, or rather suggesting, sounds and melodies for one another is a way of carefully talking, mending emotions and obstacles. Saying yes to one another. The compositional space becomes a nest for entangling whatever emotions, thoughts, or barriers one of the composers brings to the given day or moment.”

Quiet and contemplative, Duvet is simple on the surface but rich in timbral, textural, and emotional complexity. Høyland and Urd sourced their sounds from an array of instruments and techniques—electronic devices, modules, pedals, and also electroacoustic treatments of various wind instruments.

Mixing primarily through analog tape units added further mystery and depth, weaving together wordless voices and unknown sounds—breathing, rustling, perhaps the coppery gleam of Urd’s electric bass—into a dynamic matrix. Like a nest, pull one twig and the whole thing unravels.

In the winter of 2023, Ingri Høyland and Ida Urd retreated to a summer house along the coast to create the album. Picture the scene: an abiding quiet all around. Gardens carpeted by snow; beach grass silvery against the silvery sky; a tendril of smoke rising from the chimney. Not another soul in earshot. This sanctuary was the perfect setting to yield this meditation on shelter, trust, and communication. The two composers hope the album can be a similar space for others—a temporary space of residence, it can represent a summerhouse, a cabin in the woods, your favorite bench or wherever you need to go. “The album also works really well when picking out apples in the supermarket” Urd laughs.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Melting Cubes
A2. Duvet
A3. Peaches
A4. Woe
B1. Nest
B2. Show Hide
B3. Chamber
B4. Sono

In 1984, pop came out of the closet - even if not all of the artists felt that they could - and, in the process, charted the course of the rest of the decade. In 1984: The Year Pop Went Queer, writer and musician Ian Wade charts where these artists, including Queen, George Michael, David Bowie, Pet Shop Boys, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Madonna - who all enjoyed chart success in 1984 - were during that epoch-making year. It studies the impact these groundbreaking musicians had before, during and after on the gay community and popular culture, and it demonstrates how they were able to break down barriers, raise consciousness and set in motion the first nascent ripples in a pond that are still being felt today. As a backdrop, it explores the strides made in the name of the cause and how the wider surrounding culture reacted with equal parts glee, bafflement and disgust.

'Men in Love' is a collaborative concept album by Irvine Welsh and The Sci-Fi Soul Orchestra, exploring the complexities of love, relationships, and the human condition. The album blends classic Motown and disco influences with contemporary electronic dance production, creating a unique and powerful sound that is both nostalgic and fresh.

From soaring anthems to intimate ballads, 'Men in Love' takes the listener on a journey through the highs and lows of romance, celebrating the power of connection, vulnerability, and the enduring search for love in a chaotic world.

The album will be released concurrently with Welsh's new novel, also titled 'Men in Love'. The book is a sequel to Welsh's seminal work, Trainspotting, and continues the story of Renton, Sick Boy, Spud, Begbie, and other beloved characters. The album serves as a sonic companion to the novel, with its themes, lyrics, and musical atmosphere reflecting the experience and inner turmoil of its characters. The album also introduces The Sci-Fi Soul Orchestra, a unique musical entity with their own unique music releases in the pipeline”

BUT, WHY DISCO?

“In uncertain times, dominated by the ascendancy of soul dead oligarchs, their corrosive technology and looting economics, the great positive constant for humanity remains our infinite capacity for love.

Music is still the medium by which we bypass their reductive, low frequency world, and if we can sing and dance and express our collective love in joy and rapture, we render their pathetic schemes the irrelevant sideshows they deserve to be.

One of the greatest musical forms in delivering that ecstasy has been discotheque music. No matter how confused our men (and women) have been in the quest for love, as we are forced to earn a living to pay for our fun, our real predilections are to party like it’s 2099. So don’t diss the disco, let’s dance away the heartache or die trying, because nothing else makes any sense.”

Irvine Welsh

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Absolute sweat-dripping, glitteRball spinning, tight-trouser wearing, arm waving disco from... :checks notes: Irvine Welsh & The Sci-Fi Soul Orchestra. Why not eh? Brilliant it is too.

TRACK LISTING

1. A Man In Love With Love
2. You Gotta Be Strong
3. Damn Straight
4. Saviour
5. Love At Last
6. Supply Lines Of Love
7. A Whole New Side Of Me
8. Dreams
9. Men In Love

It is the late 1980s, the closing years of Thatcher’s Britain.

For the Trainspotting crew, a new era is about to begin – a time for hope, for love, for raving. Leaving heroin behind and separated after a drug deal gone wrong, Renton, Sick Boy, Spud and Begbie each want to feel alive. They fill their days with sex and romance and trying to get ahead; they follow the call of the dance floor, with its promise of joy and redemption.

Sick Boy starts an intense relationship with Amanda, his ‘princess’ – rich, connected, everything that he is not. When the pair set a date for their wedding, Sick Boy sees a chance for his generation to take control at last. But as the 1990s dawn, will finding love be the answer to the group’s dreams or just another doomed quest? 

"Keep It Stupid Simple" is the first release for Scottish born singer songwriter Iain Wright now based in Adelaide. "Keep It Stupid Simple" highlights the beautiful melody of Iain's guitar and voice, whether it's the strut of the opening track "Bad Dreams" or the haunting quality of "Langdon Street" there enough in this little gem of an EP to keep you happy, yet leave you wanting more.

One of three monster New Orleans Funk 45s rereleased by Soul Jazz Records.

Only ever exclusively available on the Soul Jazz Records site and long out of print, these new 45s are pristine loud dancefloor fillers housed in a Soul Jazz recycled card house bag.

Inell Young’s searing vocal performance backed by the unbelievably funky James Black’s seriously awesome second-line syncopated drumming. The three funkiest drummers in the world are the Meters’ Zigaboo Modeliste, James Brown’s Clyde Stubblefield, and James Black.

An awesome Eddie Bo arrangement and production. 100% essential.

TRACK LISTING

The Next Ball Game
Part Of The Game

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

Here is our 2nd Killer New Orleans Funk £200+ Bomb!

Featuring Inell Young's searing vocal performance

+ James Black's seriously awesome drumming

+ Eddie Bo arrangement and production!

100% Essential!

Zajac’s strength as an artist lies in her ability to balance light and dark with startling ease. While songs like 'Bowls', 'Dilute' and 'Anton' anchor the record in raw explorations of violence and intimacy, elsewhere she lets surrealism and humour take centre stage. The dreamlike 'Chicken Supermarket' imagines hallucinatory encounters with Billy Connolly and seas of jelly, while the exuberant title track revels in sexual liberation with infectious, pop-fuelled guitar tones. This tonal dexterity - at once bruising and playful - places Zajac alongside kindred spirits such as PJ Harvey and Angel Olsen, artists unafraid to marry the intimate with the explosive.

Her commanding voice, honed on stages across the UK and Europe, has seen her tour with Mercury Rev, Arab Strap, Lankum, and Cassandra Jenkins, as well as joining Alison Moyet on her sold-out 2025 tour. Last year, she was invited to perform with The Pogues at their landmark reunion in Dublin, later touring with the band through packed shows at Brixton Academy, Manchester Apollo, and Glasgow’s Barrowlands. With her own headline shows on the horizon, Zajac’s reputation as one of the UK’s most vital new voices is only growing stronger.

'Bang' was recorded at Post Electric Studio in Edinburgh with producer Dani Bennett-Spragg, alongside Joe Taylor (drums), Ellie Mason (guitar, synths), and Ben Manning (bass). Drawing on influences from Sibylle Baier and Portishead to her Polish and Ukrainian heritage, Zajac weaves together intimate acoustic moments and full-band dynamism with an intensity that reflects her arresting live performances.

FFO: PJ Harvey, Patti Smith, Aldous Harding, Lankum

TRACK LISTING

1. Bowls
2. Bang
3. Dilute
4. Summer
5. End Of The Year
6. Anton
7. Salt
8. Chicken Supermarket
9. Murder Mystery
10. Ridiculous Hat
11. Interlude
12. Loving Is Rough