Plosives—denoting consonants that are produced by stopping the airflow by using the lips, teeth or palate, followed by a sudden release of air, the misspelling of PLOSIVS is intentional. In audio recording it refers to the loud, vocal pop created by the hard consonant that overwhelms the microphone and causes it to distort. So what does this have to do with a new, angular and melodic punk band from San Diego? Perhaps their affection for this anomaly is celebrated and is symbolic of their appreciation for imperfection. Or maybe the word just sounds cool to them. Although PLOSIVS is a new outfit of very young, handsome men, personally, they have accomplished much in their early careers.

Vocalist / guitarist Rob Crow is known for being in Pinback, Heavy Vegetable, Thingy, Physics and hundreds more. The length of drummer Atom Willard’s résumé rivals a CVS receipt and is a who’s who of alternative rock royalty: Against Me!, The Offspring, Rocket From The Crypt, Danko Jones, Social Distortion and Angels And Airwaves. Jordan Clark played bass with Mrs. Magician and guitar for The Frights and The Soaks. And prior to PLOSIVS, guitarist John Reis was and still is associated with Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu, Rocket From The Crypt, Night Marchers, The Sultans.

Together, they independently isolated during what then seemed like the height of the pandemic (October 2020). After a short duration of ideas passed back and forth, they convened as a group for the very first time at Singing Serpent Studio in San Diego with Ben Moore at the controls and recorded this ten-song self-titled record. A foundation of guitar dissonance, velocity and harmonic interplay is the basis for its concept in creating tension and release. The rhythm section is not content to merely fortify the bedrock. Instead, jet propelled, accents lash and Earth is moved. Crow’s voice is the guide that illuminates the implied melody. His easy tone contradicts the hectic atmosphere yet its compatibility invents the entire mood. Together, PLOSIVS is something only this assemblage of “road dawgs” could develop and create during these uncertain times.

TRACK LISTING

1. Hit The Breaks
2. Rose Waterfall
3. Thrown Clear
4. Never Likely
5. Broken Eyes
6. Pines
7. See You Suffer
8. Iron Will
9. Pray For Summer
10. Bright

Rewriting the history of music, Pere Ubu continue to confound convention and shift personnel. The next box set in Fire Records’ reissue series, ‘Nuke The Whales’ houses 4 LPs originally released between 2006 and 2014 –
'Why I LUV Women’, 'Carnival Of Souls’, ‘Lady Of Shanghai’ and Long Live Pere Ubu!’

‘Nuke The Whales,’ is a nod of respect to a couple in Cleveland who would daub such messages over the big news stations’ advertising boards. “Very few bands display such dedication to constant self-reinvention as Pere Ubu” The Quietus.

All four albums have been remixed and remastered by original Pere Ubu member David Thomas. ‘Why I LUV Women’, originally released on Glitterhouse in 2006, gains its first vinyl release. "Spews 11 tunes of arcane lyrics and dense music” shrieked The Cleveland Gazaette.

It’s joined by ‘Long Live Pere Ubu’ a soundtrack to a musical adaptation of the play. “Skronking, squalling rhythms and melodic snippets undulating round a pulsating soundscape." Record Collector

And ‘Lady From Shanghai’, their Fire debut for Fire in 2013. Originally released on the 35th anniversary of the group's debut, ‘The Modern Dance’, a latter day re-evaluation of the unprompted dance genre.

And its follow up ‘Carnival Of Souls’, a haunting “underscore’ to a tale of alienation, it “combines metallic percussion, spare guitars and David Thomas' muttered vocals into something rustic and rickety, yet threatening at a moment's notice.” AllMusic.

TRACK LISTING

Disc 1 - Why I LUV Women
A1 Two Girls (One Bar)
A2 Babylonian Warehouses
A3 Blue Velvet
A4 Caroleen
A5 Flames Over Nebraska
B1 Love Song
B2 Stolen Cadillac
B3 Mona
B4 Synth Farm
B5 Texas Overture

Disc 2 - Lady From Shanghai
C1 Thanks
C2 Free White
C3 Feuksly Ma'am, The Hearing
C4 Mandy
C5 Musicians Are Scum
C6 Another One
D1 And Then Nothing Happened
D2 Road Trip Of Bipasha Ahmed
D3 Lampshade Man
D4 414 Seconds
D5 The Carpenter Sun

Disc 3 - Carnival Of Souls
E1 Golden Surf II
E2 Drag The River
E3 Irene
E4 Road To Utah
E5 Throb Array
F1 Visions Of The Moon
F2 Dr Faustus
F3 Bus Station
F4 Carnival
F5 Moonstruck

Disc 4 - Long Live Pere Ubu!
G1 Ubu Overture
G2 Song Of The Grocery Police
G3 Banquet Of The Butchers
G4 Tear Your Eyes Out
G5 March Of Greed
G6 Big Sombrero
G7 Bring Me The Head
G8 Alienating The Audience
H1 Road To Reason
H2 Slowly I Turn
H3 Watching The Pigeons
H4 The Story So Far
H5 Snowy Livonia, Pt 1
H6 Elsinore & Beyond

WHO CARES? was made in close partnership with musician Benny Sings, over the course of a few sessions in Sings’ Amsterdam studio. After spending the bulk of 2020 quarantined back home in the UK due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Rex made the trek to Amsterdam that fall to record with Sings. What started as sessions without expectations turned into an incredibly productive 48-hour window of recording with Benny, prompting a follow-up trip to Amsterdam.

The subsequent 10 days of work together produced his fourth album, made in close partnership with Benny, that is a playful record by an artist in a playful mood. The album also finds Rex reunited with Tyler, The Creator, who contributes a verse to "OPEN A WINDOW," which marks the first time the two have collaborated since Tyler's 2017 album Flower Boy.

TRACK LISTING

1. Keep It Up
2. Open A Window (Feat. Tyler, The Creator)
3. Worth It
4. Amazing
5. One In A Million
6. If You Want It
7. 7am
8. The Shade
9. Making Time
10. Shoot Me Down
11. Who Cares?

RIYL: The Heads, Loop, Popul Vuh, Parson Sound, Amon Duul, Neu!, Spacemen 3, Harmonia, Moon Duo, Carlton Melton, Fripp and Eno.

kandodo was invited to play at the 2015 Roadburn Festival as part of The Heads residency. Robert Hampson from Loop/MAIN was also going to be at the festival and so it seemed a good opportunity for him to join kandodo for this gig along with Wayne and Hugo from The Heads (who are also the Loop rhythm section as well as part of kandodo). Rehearsals were set up in Bristol and the gig in Roadburn was a couple of nights later and that is the recordings gathered here for "Burning The (Kandl)" with running order changed to help fit over these 2 hefty slabs of vinyl. So get ready for a total immersive trip through a psychedelic vortex . A glorious head nodding voyage into inner space where the vast churning of fuzzy guitars / keys / bass and drums phase in and out of focus with your inner core.

Released in an edition of 500 and pressed on heavy black vinyl - Burning The (Kandl) is presented in a special lenticular effect outer sleeve.

We here at Castle Face dig a good trance. Hypnosis, mesmerization, and brain trickery are some of our favorite results of deep listening and it is a suggestive, ritualistic and dreamlike vibe that Bronze ooze like pheromones all over their excellent new record. Absolute Compliance is a truly hypnogogic group of tunes from Bronze on their best and weirdest behavior and it hits all my favorite things about them immediately and repeatedly: Insistently strange synth voicings emanating from Miles Friction's mad scientists lab worth of equipment controlled by a homemade-looking oversized knob; Brian Hock’s throbbing, woolly, hall of mirror grooves; and above it all Rob Spector’s thousand yard croon the vaguely familiar touchstone amongst the Lynchian, mutated surroundings…these are songs of dreams and nightmares, hidden rituals observed, futuristic coliseum entertainments displaced in time, sci fi jams of an uncertain future. Bronze are one-of-a kind great and if you’re unfamiliar you should go find their other records (including their great live record for us) and get caught up. They are real-deal weirdo kings of San Francisco and their spell is not easily dissipated once cast. 

TRACK LISTING

1. New Mexico
2. Crack In The Surface
3. Bad Brad
4. People Watching People
5. Power
6. 2 Is A Letter
7. Sweating Man
8. Swell

“Often when music is constructed with synths and other electronically generated sound makers, their level of exactitude and control is such that the vocalist will either wittingly or otherwise seek to emulate the relative artifice of the soundscape. This is often done to great effect, think Kraftwerk. But what if there was a unit whose music was synth-generated but the vocals were coming from a hot-blooded, singing-for-the-cheap-seats approach? If done well, it’s a case of two great tastes that taste great together, which brings me to System Exclusive.

Their multi genre/time period collision is like a car accident where all parties walk away not only unscathed but sure they had a great time, like two different recording sessions sharing the same space and making it work. Vocalist Ari Blaisdell (previously of Lower Self, The Beat Offs) co-exists excellently amidst the driving beats and synth waves and her guitar further helps to jailbreak the tunes from the often sterile entrapments that synths provide. Matt Jones (previously of Male Gaze, Blasted Canyons, and continuing Castle Face behind-the-scenesman)’s smart use of live drums bring great juxtaposition against the machines. Ari’s irony-free sincere delivery is the perfect closer on this very cool record, recorded ably by Enrique Tena Padilla (Osees, Wand, Beach House) in their backyard studio mid-pandemic and adorned with original artwork by Miles Wintner (L.A. Takedown, Mr. Elevator, Devon Williams). If you don’t get this slab of goodness, well, that act of non-compliance will confirm you as the pain-in-the-ass that many have described you to be in great detail during Zoom chats. How dare they! Prove them wrong! Reduce their snark to mere pseudo-intellectual piffle! Your lifeline arrives in March. Grab it.” - Henry Rollins.

TRACK LISTING

1. We Follow
2. Close Encounters
3. In An Instant
4. Game Of The Fool
5. Magdalena
6. Inline Online
7. Carole Anne
8. Stay With Me
9. Not Too Late
10. :59
11. Maybe It's Better

Roy Montgomery, a pioneer of the NZ underground, believes there is always new sonic terrain to investigate. His latest series of albums for Grapefruit marks forty years of rigorous exploration in which he has managed to navigate disparate genres, scenes, and atmospheres, always at the forefront of experimental independent music. To commemorate, Grapefruit will be releasing four new Montgomery albums in 2021, which can be purchased individually or via subscription. For his fourth album, appropriately named Audiotherapy, Montgomery builds his compositions from the subconscious, breaking down form and inviting in new techniques. “

Audioramble” features call-and-response singing between him, Emma Johnston and Arnie Van Bussel, both of whom act as a Greek chorus to Montgomery’s reflections. “Occlusione” sets a sturdy musical bed under Maria Eleanora C Mollard’s whispered spoken word, like a voice in one’s head that risks getting drowned out in the noise. For the sublime “Audiotransport,” guitars shimmer up the sides and weave through one another, reconciling the inner voices of doubt and worry into a meditation on the beauty of existence. The last track, “Imperfect Intense”, builds on disbalance as Johnston’s vocals meet Montgomery’s in broken harmony; both singers move at their own pace despite the other, embodying how uncertainty lies at the heart of how we live.

Audiotherapy is the most intuitive and experimental entry of Roy Montgomery’s 2021 (and—cough—2022) releases, closing out the series with introspection and transcendence.

TRACK LISTING

1. Audioramble
2. Occlusione
3. Audiomemory
4. The Expedition Across Your Skin
5. Audiotransport
6. Imperfect Intense

Whether folk, rock, jazz, electronica or hip hop, Stroud's musical innovators are united by a love of improvisation, experimentation and collaboration. This record is the first attempt to capture the key sounds of the scene and features acts as diverse as the haunting electronica of Orbury Common, the post-punk jazz of Mermaid Chunky, the etherial cello of Simon McCorry and glitchy hip-hop of Fidel Cutstro. The record also features a track from Blancmange legend Neil Arthur in his Near Future guise as well as the first ever recorded track by Wooolheads, a collaboration between Sound Records' own Sean Roe and artist Uta Baldauf. Other acts involved are Mahon Sounds, Little Metropolis, Unicorn Ship Explosion and Phonsonic.

The record is limited to just 500 copies and is likely to become a collectors item given the interest in the project. Artwork is by locally respected artist Adam Hinks (Good on Paper) and insert sleeve notes are written by music journalist Rupert Howe

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1/ Orbury Common - Ectos Chasm
2/ Unicorn Ship Explosion - Noisy Flag Kid Guitar
3/ Simon McCorry - Pieces Of Mind
4/ Phonsonic - 4th Of June
5/ Near Future - Ideal Home
Side 2
1/ Fidel Cutstro - Coyote
2/ Mahon Sounds - Ron
3/ Mermaid Chunky ( Feat Rorshack/JSSO ) - Slabs
4/ Wooolheads - Invisible Systems
5/ Little Metropolis - Ghosts

Over the course of the decade, Meatbodies’ Chad Ubovich has been a perennial candidate for MVP of West Coast’s fertile rock scene. The LA native could be seen peeling off guitar solos in Mikal Cronin’s backing band, supplying the Sabbath-sized low end for Ty Segall and Charlie Moothart as the bassist for Fuzz, and, of course, fronting his own Meatbodies. Today the recently dormant experimental noise / freak-rock outfit has announced their return with 333—a corrosive stew of guitar scuzz, raw acoustic rave-ups, and primitive electronics that charts Ubovich’s journey from drug-induced darkness to clear-eyed sobriety. 333 simultaneously reflects on how the world he re-entered was still pretty messed up—if not more so. “These lyrics are dark, but I think these are things that a lot of people are feeling and going through” he says. “Here in America, we’re watching the fall of U.S. capitalism, and 333 is a cartoonish representation of that decline.”

In mid to late 2019, the band—Ubovich and drummer Dylan Fujioka—had a new album in the can, ready to be mixed. But when COVID hit, like so many other artists, they put their release on hold as they rode out the pandemic’s first wave. During that idle time, Ubovich discovered a cache of demos that he and Fujioka had recorded in a bedroom back in the summer of 2018, and he really liked what he heard. In contrast to Meatbodies’ typical full-band attack, it was deliriously disordered. “It sounded gross, like a scary Magical Mystery Tour,” he recalls proudly. After subjecting them to some mixing-board freakery, Ubovich fast-tracked the songs into becoming this third release of theirs, 333. It proves Meatbodies have greatly expanded their palette, opening new portals to explore. And for an album that wasn’t supposed to exist, 333 is the ultimate testament to Meatbodies’ renewed vitality.

TRACK LISTING

1. Reach For The Sunn
2. Let Go (333)
3. Nighttime Hidden Faces
4. Cancer
5. Eye Eraser
6. Hybrid Feelings
7. The Hero

Discovered by friends of Martin Hannett recently and with input from one of his relatives, these recordings give a rare insight into his production ideas for Joy Division and his relationship with the band - the strange things, sound effects - they recorded in the studio together. The studio chit chat and interplay between Hannett, Gretton and Joy Division members is all here as Martin left his own tape machine running throughout studio sessions. On this album we have rare alternative mixes of Joy Division that were Martin's personal favourites and he had the forethought to get the band members to give him control of these recordings. Includes alternative mixes of "Autosuggestion", "Heart And Soul", "24 Hours", "Passover", "The Eternal" (2 mixes), "From Safety To Where" and "Decades" (3 mixes). An essential item for all Joy Division fans.

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
From Safety To Where
Autosuggestion
Heart And Soul
Side 2
N 4 Europop (Decades)
24 Hours
Passover
Side 3
N 4 Europop (Decades)
N 4 Europop (Decades)
Synth Tone
Hannetts Lift Recording 1
Joy Division Keyboard Doodles
Hannetts Lift Recording 2
Organ Doodles
Side 4
The Eternal
The Eternal
Chit Chat And Cup Smashing
Hannett Speaks. 

RIYL: Felt, The Wake, The Servants, Sarah Records, Rat Columns, The Reds, Pinks and Purples. Jolly In The Bush is David West's fourth eponymous record, following Drop Out Of Collage (2014), Peace Or Love(2016) and Cherry On Willow (2017).

David is an underground pop musician from Perth, Western Australia and has been in numerous interesting and more-or-less obscure acts over the decades - some include Rat Columns, Rank/Xerox, Total Control, Lace Curtain, Liberation, Burning Sensation and Scythe. His solo works allow him free reign to follow various classic and sideways pop rainbows to their illogical conclusions. On Jolly In The Bush, he is graced by the angelic presence of stellar musicians, such as Louis Hooper from Rat Columns, Bob Jones from Eaters/P.E, Mikey Young from Total Control/Green Child/Eddy Current Suppression Ring, and Richard Ingham from Taco Leg/Mink Mussel Creek.

Jolly In The Bush is a homage to shaggy indie dorks, sub-tropical singer-songwriters, robotic melancholia and the pre-Cold War 'grown and sexy' aisle at the Marina Safeway. The first side of the record sees DW straddle the indie rock horse, indulging in lyrical detours into historical fiction (‘1816’), naughty words (‘The Poet Of My Dreams’) and mumbling (‘Sleeping Head’). 'Sleeping Head' features a startlingly egotistical self-sampling of David and compatriot Bob Jones' atmospheric electronics project, Scythe, and their tune of the same name. Idea glut, or deficit? DW and his team challenge the seemingly pervasive professional competence rife in today's indie rock world. 'Keep indie rock shambolic' seems to be a theme close to his heart. However, a disturbingly serious side emerges in the middle of the record with two minimal, acoustically-minded numbers, 'Not That Lonely Yet' and 'Letters From Home'; light in feel, depressing in subject matter.

A pleasing but perhaps formulaic shift in atmosphere guides us into Side B. Keyboards are deployed, synthesizers twinkle, beats hit us at a steady, head-nodding pace. 'Prove Your Love' sentimentally shimmies in the light bouncing off the marina's placid waters, 'You Must Be My Friend' is a downtempo electronic paean to illusions lost. 'You Saved My Life' sees our weary traveler finding fleeting succor in jazzy changes and a stranger's touch. Lest it all get too much, 'So We Ran Away' dusts off the glam boots worn on the Cherry On Willow LP but takes them down to a sub-basement chintz floor for a prancing romp through romantic insanity. Please, join us and become Jolly In The Bush! 

TRACK LISTING

Poet Of My Dreams
6am Style
1816
Sleeping Head
Not That Lonely Yet
Letters From Home
Prove Your Love
You Must Be My Friend
You Saved My Life
So We Ran Away

RIYL: Explosions in the Sky, This Will Destroy You, Do Make Say Think, Mogwai.

Defying expectations is standard operating procedure for El Ten Eleven. Seriously, who would expect two instrumentalists to create such a large and complex sound? But thanks to inventive arrangements and a masterful use of looping, Kristian Dunn (bass/guitar) and Tim Fogarty (drums) developed a pulsating sound full of atmospheric intensity. They’ve also crafted an incredibly durable career, and the duo credit the ongoing interest in their debut album as the foundation for that success. The music of El Ten Eleven has been embraced by fans of many genres - from math rock, to jazz, to lo-fi hip-hop. The duo's sound is sharply evocative in mood and feeling, yet simultaneously abstract and meditative.

The combination of these qualities has stimulated the imagination of the group's fans, and gives space for listeners to assign their own value and meaning to the sounds. "I'm aiming for emotional impact when I come up with songs," Dunn explained. "Does it move me? Does it make me feel something? Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's technically interesting but it doesn't make me feel anything. But I don't want music that's interesting. I want music that's emotionally resonate." 

TRACK LISTING

1. New Year’s Eve
2. Meta Metta
3. The Time Knife
4. Isn’t Everything Enough?
5. Sixteen Circles
6. A Reflection Of A Reflection

The Kooks sixth studio album, '10 Tracks To Echo In The Dark', is a fresh sounding, electronic-tinged evolution of their iconic sound.

TRACK LISTING

1. Connection
2. Cold Heart
3. Jesse James
4. Closer
5. Sailing On A Dream
6. Beautiful World
7. Modern Days
8. Oasis
9. 25
10. Without A Doubt

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Intro
2. The Seaside
3. The Island
4. Tangerine
5. Hippo
6. Starting Over

SIDE B
1. Fuzz Jam
2. Nobody Taught Me
3. Trance
4. Where's My Brain???
5. Imaginary Girl
6. Cheesy Love Song

‘Social Graces’ is the debut album from Australian post-punk outfit Loose Fit. Made up of Kaylene Miller, Anna Langdon, Max edgar and Richard Martin, Kaylene & Anna met in fashion school & instantly bonded through their love of experimental music. After toying with lo-fi bedroom recordings, the pair recruited Max edgar on guitar and Richard Martin on bass and started making some actual noise.

Kaylene is also behind the cult knitwear brand WAH-WAH Australia with items worn by Noel Fielding, Courtney Barnett and even Kim Gordon. The band’s rhythm-heavy sound contains echoes of UK post-punk titans such as PiL and A Certain Ratio.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Social Graces
2. Cool Change
3. Stupid Drama
4. Cut Your Teeth
5. Exhale

Side B
6. Mosquito
7. Colours For The Walls
8. Best Face Forward
9. On Land
10. Enemies
11. Potential Things

When the whole world is asleep and it feels like it’s just you, on your own, it can be wonderfully calm or horribly isolating. Although the band have been in different locations this year, HÆLOS have often found themselves in the same sleepless state. Lotti navigating the early days of motherhood, Dom struggling with tinnitus and Daniel working nocturnal hours.

In this twilight search HÆLOS began exploring white noise and sharing ambient albums, gathering a palette of sounds that would form the basis of Somnum. Creating a standalone piece of music to coincide with World Sleep Day, Somnum is a mostly instrumental offering from HÆLOS. The band maintain their trademark cinematic soundscape whilst employing a more improvisational tone where the individual sounds are laid bare.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Noctis
A2 Somnum
B1 Luna
B2 Aurora

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

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

TRACK LISTING

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

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

The Wake formed in Glasgow (Scotland) in April 1981, after singer/ guitarist Caesar teamed up with drummer Steven Allen and a bassist, Joe Donnelly. Previously Caesar had played guitar in Altered Images, writing first single Dead Pop Stars and appearing on the first two John Peel sessions, but left the group shortly before they crashed into the mainstream pop charts with Happy Birthday.

With few opportunities to play large live shows the new group financed a single on their own Scan 45 label, coupling upbeat indiepop number On Our Honeymoon with Give Up, a darker song featuring a keyboard line picked out by band friend Robert ‘Bobby’ Gillespie.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
On Our Honeymoon
Side B
Give Up

Colin Vearncombe may be forever associated with the worldwide hit ‘Wonderful Life’ but 6 years earlier Black released this incredible single.

Evocative of The Smiths (although this was released years earlier) it contains all the elements of a classic indie single.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Human Features
Side B
Electric Church

The Monochrome Set were something of the unsung heroes of the post-punk world; they fitted into absolutely no category whatsoever and their puckish take on spaghetti western soundtracks meets lounge jazz via the twisted lyrical imagery of vocalist Bid was as singular as it was unique.

Comprising a couple of ex-Ants in Andy Warren and Lester Square, with singer / guitarist Bid and drummer JD Haney, their filmic, playful material found favour with many, including John Peel although they failed to match this with commercial success.

The Jet Set Junta was originally released on Cherry Red in 1983 with its urgent, ringing guitars surrounding Bid’s lyrics telling of dodgy arms dealings and armoured limos as Lester Square’s Ennio Morriconetwang bends and reverbs as a counterpoint.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
The Jet Set Junta
Side B
Love Goes Down The Drain, Noise (eine Kleine Symphonie)

This version is A brand new band approved stereo mix of the only single by Liverpool cult legends The Wild Swans

Due to studio inexperience, the single originally ended up being perhaps the only 12′′ in history with the A-side recorded in mono and the B-side, God Forbid, in stereo. Despite this , The 12′′ received rave reviews, becoming single of the week in numerous music papers. John Peel played it to death and it quickly gained cult status by ending up as the last record ever released on Bill Drummond’s cult label Zoo Records (Drummond himself went on to proclaim it “the best single we put out on Zoo”).

TRACK LISTING

Side A
REVOLUTIONARY SPIRIT
Side B
GOD FORBID

At the start of 2021 I realized I hadn't paid much attention to my own productions lately, rather spending time doing remixes or mixdowns for others or like many others, worrying over what the future will bring.

I started going through tracks and ideas I had started on but not completed and now as another annus horribilis nears the end I have 2 albums ready for 2022 release, entitled "8" and "9".

Although I promised myself to never say it I personally think they're my best work so far and I hope someone else will get the feeling of "a light at the end of the tunnel" when listening to these tracks just like I feel when listening back to them.

There are contributions from the very capable hands of Bugge Wesseltoft("8") and John Carroll Kirby(on both "8" and "9"), besides that it's just me.

TRACK LISTING

1."Kjære Mamma" 08:33
2."Salto Mortale" 06:30
3."Cool Coronas" * 05:11
4."Sunroof Down" ** 07:28
5."Cala Llonga" 07:25
6."Film 001(Slapp Finale)" 05:05
7."Evig Ung" 04:00
8."Layback Rollout" 06:02
9."Earthbound" * 06:49
10."Film 005" 00:52
11."I Love U" 05:33
12."Tåke Over Fjorden" 09:28
13."Film 006" 04:01

At the start of 2021 I realized I hadn't paid much attention to my own productions lately, rather spending time doing remixes or mixdowns for others or like many others, worrying over what the future will bring.

I started going through tracks and ideas I had started on but not completed and now as another annus horribilis nears the end I have 2 albums ready for 2022 release, entitled "8" and "9".

Although I promised myself to never say it I personally think they're my best work so far and I hope someone else will get the feeling of "a light at the end of the tunnel" when listening to these tracks just like I feel when listening back to them.

There are contributions from the very capable hands of Bugge Wesseltoft("8") and John Carroll Kirby(on both "8" and "9"), besides that it's just me.

TRACK LISTING

* Tracklist LP:(Part 2 Of A 2 LP Album (Tracks 1.-6. See Part1 = PTM008))
7."Evig Ung" 04:00
8."Layback Rollout" 06:02
9."Earthbound" * 06:49
10."Film 005" 00:52
11."I Love U" 05:33
12."Tåke Over Fjorden" 09:28
13."Film 006" 04:01

Debut single for another hugely tipped young London based producer on the legendary R&S record label, showcasing that the label is once again a serious force to be reckoned with. James Blake is making some of the most startlingly original music to have emerged from London in 2010 and is a real star in the making. In between studying Popular Music at Goldsmiths and writing a debut album that will take a lot of people by surprise, he has released amazing singles on Hemlock & Hessle, pushing the boundaries of what is expected of ‘dubstep’ music. This underground introduction has made him a star on influential blogs and websites and has now pricked up the ears of more mainstream press. With features to be published before the release of this EP in Dazed & Confused, NME and Pitchfork. CMYK is a club anthem in the making and one of the most in demand tracks on the dubstep scene. The further three tracks take a more introspective approach, and aren’t strictly aimed at the dancefloor, but are equally heavy tracks that drip with funk and reveal themselves fully after repeated listens. Also an in demand DJ and remixer his remixes of Untold and Mount Kimbie are classics on their scene. This 12” release is likely to become both a James Blake and R&S collectors item.

TRACK LISTING

A1 CMYK
A2 Foot Notes

B1 I'll Stay
B2 Postpone

Having already solidified his reputation within the past year, gaining praise from key publications including Dork and Gigwise, alongside spins on the BBC Radio 1 (Jack Saunders) and BBC 6 Music (Shaun Keaveny, Huw Stephens) airwaves, Jaws the Shark is certainly swimming in a sea of potential, and with support slots for Dinosaur Pile Up imminent, his presence across the indie landscape is primed to become even bigger in the months to come.

Produced by Theo Verney (FUR, FEET, Lazarus Kane, English Teacher).

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Another Day In Paradise
Cold Feet

Side B
Erase Myself
Still Young

Rheinzand are back with their electrifying new album

Upon turning on 'Atlantis Atlantis', the oh so welcome spectre of recently departed Maria Mendola - the airy chanteuse of the beloved Bacchara - seems to appear. Charlotte Caluwaerts, a voice of similar purity proffers the message: “We’ll be alright” on their first single, offering a salve to the troubles the world has faced in recent years.

As with their previous work, melody is key. Rich arrangements abound, with Reinhard Vanbergen’s light and funky crevices detailing a home that feels cozy, inviting the listener into the best, most unexpected club around; the one in their living room with all their closest friends. The “Max Berlin” of the group, Mo Disko, is no stranger to bringing this kind of intimacy to his events and freewheeling DJ sets for decades in Gent, Belgium. Once again his spirit pushes the record into that inviting place where inhibition dissolves, (aka you can really freak out).

Much of Reinhard Vanbergen’s recent output for Music for Dreams has expertly traversed the forgotten worlds of virtuoso led experimental records; full lengths with tracks that maestros like DJ Harvey undoubtedly treasure. There are glimpses of these danceable instrumental improvisational landscapes such as ”Orange Bun”.

One thing about Rheinzand is that they are musicians driven to make dance music that harkens back to a moment when real players appeared on dance music records. These were musicians devoted to their instruments, the kind who made love to them on stage, unafraid of modulations, bombast, histrionics even (cue Elefantasi). Slower subdued numbers reiterate the “journey to Atlantis” we are on, such as the a cover of “Love Games” an honest low slung boogie take on the track.

One of the biggest takeaways from 'Atlantis Atlantis' is the excavation of the real fun that was had in dance music before the advent of loop based technology. Epic chord progressions, singing songs in multiple languages - these are musicians exploring the colour palette of the entire Pantone spectrum, not only shades of grey and black. Are you up to see the world in colour, brave enough for a journey to Atlantis? Welcome aboard, Rheinzand are here to invite you to do so.

TRACK LISTING

A 1 Better
A 2 Orange Bun
A 3 La Nuit
A 4 We Love You But You Are Late Again (Single Edit)

B 1 We'll Be All Right
B 2 Atlantis Atlantis
B 3 Electrify Me

C 1 The Gift Of Love
C 2 Love Games
C 3 Facciamo L'Amore

D 1 Elefantasi (Original Version)
D 2 Hotel Carthago
D 3 Dudo

The 39th release in Speedy Wunderground’s singles series is from Rotterdam indie-rock stalwarts Lewsberg – consisting of Arie van Vliet (guitar & vocals), Michiel Klein (guitar), Shalita Dietrich (bass guitar & vocals) and Marrit Meinema (drums).

‘They’re probably the band that over the years we’ve wanted to work with the most’ says label co-runner Pierre Hall. ‘Me and Dan (Carey) were completely obsessed with that first album (Lewsberg, 2019). For me they were like the nearest thing to a modern-day Velvet Underground I’d ever heard/seen – and we watched them a couple of times on that tour and were just blown away. Especially by the guitarist. They had that feel of a band that was just yours, a secret – that only a few people knew about – which is why I suppose we didn’t really pursue them at first. They seemed kinda perfect. Plus we were probably scared they’d say no’.

Eventually fortunes did cross and the label decided to reach out at the start of 2020. After a few gushing emails and a clear common DIY aesthetic – the band agreed to partake, but then COVID hit – meaning –due to the band’s location, recording couldn’t commence until almost two years later. For a label that prides itself on being ‘speedy’ it wasn’t ideal. ‘It was so annoying’ continues Hall, ‘but not the end of the world in the grand scheme of things. Plus we felt like we had this this little golden egg in the bag – waiting to hatch.’

And hatch it has. Following on from the bands softer (but no less effecting) recent gem of a mini-album ‘In Your Hands’ – ‘Six Hills’ harks back to classic first-album Lewsberg – conveying all the attributes that made the label fall in love with them in the first place. Motorik drums, simple immediately-catchy guitar riffs, understated production with otherworldy guitar solos – hitting all the right reference point – Velvets, Television, Jonathan Richman – wrapped up in something that is completely their own. Coupled of course with those detached, deadpan, but engaging vocals, Arie (van Vliet) sharing duties on this occasion with the band’s bass player Shalita (Dietrich).

Of the track – the band philosophise in their own sardonic wit – ‘When you keep fighting over things that are really important to you, you could decide to stop arguing with people, and try killing them with kindness instead. You might find out this works. Then, accidentally, you might also find out that you don’t even have to kill. You might just as well just be kind. But it’s a thin line. Sometimes, it can even be kind to kill someone.’

Lyrical prowess and a devastating turn with a couplet are a power the band have in spades – even clearer here with lines such as ‘you meant to enter like a lion / but then you walked in like a lamb.’ The visceral imagery of the bands writing paired with the let-loose, ragged, it-could-all-fall-apart-at-any-minute-but-it-doesn’t nature of the music makes for a completely compelling listen – and a stone-cold addition to the label’s already stellar canon of singles.

Sometimes the old cliches are best: Good things come to those who wait.

Lined up next on Cosmocities is a special delivery and direct nod to our formative years’ loves - in this very case, trance music. Fruit of 90s cross-channel outfit Prism, the collaborative endeavour of French producer Pascal Eloy and UK-based Grant Wilkinson, the three-track EP “CMSR006” mixes unreleased music (Refraction), a 1996-issued goodie (Rain) and an exclusive remix from SYO, better known for his ambitiously retro-futuristic output under the S.O.N.S moniker.

Originally released as part of Planet Dog’s 1996 compilation “Feed Your Head”, “Rain” retains all of its original mystique and soulful use of modern production tools - letting a cascading flow of arpeggiated synths, stealth bass onslaughts and 303-borne trippiness pour down as a fully immersive digital shower for the senses.

An unheard gem from the vault, initially written and recorded in 1995, “Refraction” pulls further dynamic traction from a bubbling drum programming and damp, urban jungle-y atmosphere - beaming us straight back in the rave’s most compelling heyday with its feverish maelstrom of fluttering bleeps, spiralling tribal motifs and faux-organic, Neo-Easternmost harmonics.

Adding his ever innovative spin to the table, SYO cuts into the flesh of the original to deliver a further syncopated and spacious version, flush with complex rhythmic sleights of hand and subtle melodic trickery throughout, bound to keep you on the edge with every bar. 25 years on since it was first designed, Prism’s lasting relevancy shines bright on this all-road, bold-to-the-full trance epic that’s lost nothing of its flair.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Refraction
B1. Refraction (SYO Remix)
B2. Rain

For Reflection 3 we give a warm welcome to Suddi Raval who has had releases previously as one part of Together on FFRR, Thumbs Up Magic, Gorgeous Records and his own imprint T-Wax Records. He has always been involved in the music scene over the years and although known for his love of Acid House, here we see him delve in to the world of Electro.

Suddi re-ignites his passion and serves up 2 Electro jams that are packed with heavy beats, bleeps, big basses, modulated leads and have that authentic original 1980s Hashim-like feel.

Scott works his magic on 2 Electro cuts with rich pads, reverses, modulated leads, crisp drums, panning keys, warm basses, eerie soundscapes, processed and gated vocal samples, Mantronix-esque bass sequences and rolling toms.

All 4 cuts reflect on how Electro was in the 80s and remain as pure as the stuff being made then.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Suddi Raval - NineNights
A2. Suddi Raval- AirRaid
B1. Scott Hallam- Zeph
B2. Scott Hallam- Nancy Thompson

Third iteration in OEW’s VA series, WITNESS03 brings over a fresh new quartet of heaters from another of its carefully curated cast of up-and-rising producers. Delving in the vaults of 90s rave, and spanning all things from atmospheric techno to spine-tingling bass, via electro, acid and further afield electronics.

Engaging first, CLJL flings a brick of breaksy sedition into the matrix with the mighty “System Research”. Fusing 303-emulated traction with jaw-crushing freq shifts, ruff snares and fluttering synth spirals gone astray, this one is pure woofer-busting material. Second in line, Naone “Silhouette” is an aggressive slice of dopey, bass-heavy cosmonautics, tailored to have the listener zoning out into a magnetic field of alien echoes, delays and reverbs.

Flip sides and here is LVCA and Sidd taking over your brainwaves with “Stranger” - a squelchy joint connecting the dots between Bochum Weltian spaciousness, pop-laced ethereality and a propulsive programming bound to astral project yourself into a whole other dimension. Last but not least, N-GYNN’s “Fire Rave” engineers a jagged and easy-going carnival of funkster machine talk, weird organic noises and sleazy boogie.

TRACK LISTING

A1. CLJL - System Research
A2. Naone - Silhouette
B1. LVCA & Sidd - Stranger
B2. N-GYNN - Fire Rave

From the mind of Caserta comes a brand-new imprint. God Hour picks up where Bridge Boots left off putting Caserta right back to work doing what he’s come to be best known for; turning old school joints, usually not meant for the dance floor, into modern day heaters.

'Playa' takes a '70s ballad about the one who got away and makes it a little less heart wrenching and a lot more danceable! The A side features the full vocal surrounded by the driving bass, drums and horns any good disco record should have. With lush Rhodes, strings and synths to warm things up and make you wonder where things went awry even while you’re 2 stepping the night away.

For those of you who cant come to grips with the fact that that special someone is gone or just plain hate lyrics then flip-er on over for a classic Caserta Dub.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Playa (OG Mix)
B1. Playa (Dub Mix)

Mantha, the mind-blowing EP from avant-rock trio ODD CIRCUS, will see release on deluxe blue vinyl February 11th via UK-based Airbag Records.

Operating out of Orlando, Florida and Washington, DC, the fittingly monikered ODD CIRCUS explores the suspension of space and time through sound. The band’s music navigates a boundary-less sonic landscape that embraces the unknown and welcomes the bizarre. The result is an experimental style of psychedelic art-rock that weaves its way into garage, fusion, krautrock, no wave, post-rock, noise, hard psych, and sci-fi prog.

Compiled from free improvisations performed live and originally released independently last spring, Mantha was recorded by the band, mixed by Crews Carter and ODD CIRCUS, and mastered by Joseph Carra at Crystal Mastering (Melbourne, Australia) with cover art by Katharina Maisenbacher.

Comments the band, "Airbag Records has come out of the gate dedicated to boundary-pushing experimental music, and we're thrilled to be a part of that with this deluxe version of Mantha on LP. In some ways, vinyl feels like the perfect format for the way we operate: We work hard to make our records flow in a way that makes a start-to-finish listen the ideal experience, and the LP encourages you to do just that. Drop the needle, sink in, and enjoy the trip."

TRACK LISTING

1. Dybukk
2. Gezora
3. Amarok
4. Wendigo
5. Venadek
6. Djinn
7. Maniac (Vinyl Bonus Track)

After meeting on Mr Oizo ’s "All Wet" album, Mr Oizo and his Italian mate Phra went back to studio.

6 years after, this time as an unexpected duet, they wrote and composed together a 9 song "Italian Hip Hop" mini album, also reminding the spirit of mixtapes such as done by Madlib.

Mr Oizo aka Quentin Dupieux, one of the most exciting French music producer & move director, offers a new musical direction. Mainly mid-term, different from some classic powerful French Touch 2.0.

FTHC is the ninth solo album from British punk and folk artist Frank Turner. Initially striking out as a vocalist in the punk rock band Million Dead, Turner then turned his focus towards a folkier, acoustic-based solo career. Since that time, he has reached international acclaim as a chart-topping, award-winning singer-songwriter. Taking inspiration from early '80s US hardcore band logos, FTHC stands for Frank Turner Hardcore.

Toronto-born, London-based artist Tess Parks will return with her long-awaited new album ‘And Those Who Were Seen Dancing’ on May 20th 2022 via Fuzz Club Records. Following years of international touring and a lengthy list of critically-acclaimed collaborations with Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcombe in recent years (most recently the duo’s self-titled 2018 LP), the new album will be Parks’ first full-length solo offering since her much-loved debut album, ‘Blood Hot’, was released back in 2013 on Alan McGee’s 359 Music label.

“In my mind, this album is like hopscotch”, Parks says: “These songs were pieced together over time in London, Toronto and Los Angeles with friends and family between August 2019 and March 2021. So many other versions of these songs exist. The recording and final completion of this album took over two years and wow - the lesson I have learned the most is that words are spells. If I didn’t know it before, I know it now for sure. I only want to put good out into the universe.” A growing disillusionment with the state of the world paired with an injury that stopped Parks from being able to play guitar and piano for months meant the album was nearly shelved.

“I really felt discouraged to complete this album”, she recalls: “I stopped listening to music for honestly about a year altogether and turned to painting instead. I really had to convince myself again that it’s important to just share whatever good we can - having faith in ourselves to know that our lights can shine on and on through other people and for other people. The thought of anyone not sharing their art or being shy of anything they create seems like a real tragedy to me. Even if it’s not perfect, you’re capturing a moment.” Recorded over a two year period but with songs, lyrics and ideas dating back over a decade in some form, ‘And Those Who Were Seen Dancing’ is an album full of such moments, people and places.

TRACK LISTING

1. WOW
2. Suzy & Sally's Eternal Return
3. Happy Birthday Forever
4. We Are The Music Makers And We Are The Dreamers Of Dreams
5. Brexit At Tiffany's
6. Old Life
7. Do You Pray?
8. Good Morning Glory
9. I See Angels
10. Saint Michael

Toro y Moi’s seventh studio album, Mahal, is the boldest and most fascinating journey yet from musical mastermind Chaz Bear. The record spans genre and sound—encompassing the shaggy psychedelic rock of the 1960s and ‘70s, and the airy sounds of 1990s mod-post-rock—taking listeners on an auditory expedition, as if they’re riding in the back of Bear’s Filipino jeepney that adorns the album’s cover. But Mahal is also an unmistakably Toro y Moi experience, calling back to previous works while charting a new path forward in a way that only Bear can do. Mahal is the latest in an accomplished career for Bear, who’s undoubtedly one of the decade’s most influential musicians. Since the release of the electronic pop landmark Causers of This in 2009, subsequent records as Toro y Moi have repeatedly shifted the idea of what his sound can be. But there’s little in Bear’s catalog that will prepare you for the deep-groove excursions on Mahal, his most eclectic record to date.

The second the album begins we’re immediately transported into the passenger seat, jeep sounds and all, ready for the ride Chaz and company have concocted for us. Seeds of some of Mahal’s 13 songs date back to the more explicitly rock-oriented What For? from 2015. MAHAL was mostly completed last year in Bear’s Oakland studio with the involvement of a host of collaborators, Sofie Royer and Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Neilson to Neon Indian’s Alan Palomo and the Mattson 2.

“I wanted to make a record that featured more musicians on it than any other record of mine,” he explains. “To have them live on that record feels grounded, bringing a communal perspective to the table.” As a result, Mahal is lush and surprising at every turn, from the cool-handed “The Loop,” which recalls Sly and the Family Stones, to the elastic psych rock of “Foreplay” and the dizzying Mulatu Astatke-recalling of “Last Year.”

Lyrically, the album zooms in on generational concerns, picking up where the Outer Peace standout “Freelance” effectively left off. Bear seems to be surveying the ways in which we connect with technology, media, each other, and what disappears as a result. Cuts like the squishy “Postman” and “Magazine” take a deep dive into our relationship with media in a changing digital world. “It’s interesting to see how we adapt to this new age. We’re so connected, but we’re still missing out on things,” Bear ruminates while discussing the album’s themes. It’s not all introspection. Bear cools things down near the album’s end with the Mattson 2-featuring “Millennium,” a laid-back jam with tricky guitar licks about ringing in new times even when everything else seems upside down. “It’s about enjoying the new year, even when it’s been shitty,” Bear explains. “There’s nothing else to do.” Finding a sense of joy in the face of adversity is embedded in MAHAL’s DNA, right down to the jeepney that literally and figuratively brings the music out into the community. “We know that touring is messed up for now, and large gatherings are a fluke,” he explains. “It’s about the notion of us going out to the people and bringing the record to them.” And with the wide-open atmosphere of Mahal, Toro y Moi stands to connect with more listeners than ever before.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A:
1. The Medium
2. Goes By So Fast
3. Magazine (feat. Salami Rose Joe Louis)
4. Postman
5. The Loop
6. Last Year
7. Mississippi

SIDE B:
8. Clarity (feat. Sofie)
9. Foreplay
10. Déjà Vu
11. Way Too Hot
12. Millennium (feat.
The Mattson 2)
13. Days In Love

Ghostly Kisses is the work of French-Canadian singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Margaux Sauvé. Playing the violin since the age of 5, it was almost 20 years later that she began to write and sing her first songs. Now working with Louis-Étienne Santais - composer, producer, and pianist - together they create Ghostly Kisses’ haunting yet ultimately soothing sound; beautiful compositions wrapped around Margaux’s delicate vocal.

Ghostly Kisses has spent the last year working on her first full-length album, due for release in February 2022 via Akira Records. A powerful accumulation of all that's come before, Heaven, Wait is an intricate, moving body of work.

TRACK LISTING

Heartbeat
Heaven, Wait
Don't Know Why
Blackbirds
A Different Kind Of Love
Clay
Carry Me
Play Dead
Green Book
Your Heart Is Gold

Jameszoo (Mitchel van Dinther) returns to Brainfeeder with a new album – “Blind” – embarking on further adventures on the fringes of jazz and electronica. Imbued with the same spirit of adventure and experimental outlook as his previous work on the label, the recordings were shaped by van Dinther’s studio sessions at Willem Twee Studios – the specialist analogue studio in Den Bosch (Netherlands) with an unrivalled collection of vintage synthesizers – amongst other locations.

“In music and other arts there is a heavy emphasis on the artist,” says Mitchel. “Which composer, which soloist, which performer and the shifting emphasis between them all colours what we hear. Is it possible to create something that bypasses this? A project that forces active objective listening?”

These were the questions that Mitchel was pondering as he embarked on making “Blind”. Was he successful in his endeavour? “I didn’t even come close to be completely honest,” he laughs. “But all these (sometimes silly) attempts became the backbone for this new album.”

Mitchel started by trying to bypass himself as the protagonist, beginning by remotely recording musicians and collaborators reshaping his initial ideas and concepts, step by step morphing the music as if repainting a portrait again and again. “I tried to stop force-feeding my own preconceived notions of what music should sound like. Instead I would politely impose new ideas to the compositions, crossing fingers it wouldn't reject these ideas like a failed organ transplant. Then something special started to happen, where the music seemed to grow almost self aware. I really enjoyed this process of letting loose and actively listening!”

Fascinated by the idea of a non-existent soloist, Mitchel recorded all sorts of motorised instruments to attempt to embody this idea. For example, the Disklavier (motorised piano) which allowed for precision and the execution of passages unplayable by the human hand. “It really helped me aesthetically detach from the human aspect,” he says. “The Disklavier started to embody the music’s characteristics.”

“Blind” exists as an album and a short film directed by Sven Bresser and Mitchel van Dinther himself. The film stemmed from conversations that Mitchel had with the fantastic performer Saïd Gharbi who is blind and who was kind enough to share his experiences on translating his senses to something he can only partly experience himself. “We talked about his process of exploring and engaging with his other senses after losing his sight,” explains Mitchel. “Through these conversations we decided on making a short movie together to accompany the album, portraying Saïd’s and my own experience of this music and our senses.”

Finally, in an ultimate attempt to transform into music itself Mitchel asked the cult Chilean-French filmmaker and artist Alejandro Jodorowsky the question: ‘how do I shape-shift?’, with Alejandro answering the question via a recorded tarot reading. “He had no more than a few minor details about me and was guided by his cards to formulate his response, which was a dazzling 14 minute long answer where I felt like he could see me and my world without me physically being anywhere near him,” says Mitchel smiling.

Supported by a cast of exceptionally talented friends on “Blind” who share van Dinther’s passion for improvisation and invention, Mitchel once agains links with his long term writing partner and keyboard whizz Niels Broos, Swedish bassist Petter Eldh and drummers Richard Spaven and Julian Sartorius, all of whom contributed to van Dinther’s debut album “Fool” (2016). Violinist Diamanda La Berge Dramm, pianist/organist Kit Downes (ECM), visionary trumpeter Peter Evans, trailblazing British saxophonist Evan Parker (a pivotal figure in the European free jazz movement), drummer Christian Lillinger, Brainfeeder label mate Oliver Johnson (Dorian Concept), saxophonist John Dikeman and the acclaimed sound explorer Matthew Bourne also contribute.

Recorded to tape on an 8-track tape recorder at the 'analog mecca' Toe Rag Studios in London, the worldwide famous studio where The White Stripes penned "Elephant", "S.P.A.C.E." is the fifth studio album by Calibro 35. Forget about the gripping noir atmospheres of their previous full lengths, with this album the Milan combo escapes from planet earth and lands on their own satellite to write the perfect funk soundtrack of an imaginary sci-fi movie directed by Sergio Leone. They've thrown away the balaclavas and embraced a bunch of synthesizers in their new instalment where Calibro 35 explores fresh new territories.

From the storming imaginary main title notes of the title track "S.P.A.C.E." to the percussive effects and creepy organ of "Serenade for a satellite", with incursions into cosmic afrobeat ("Ungwana Bay Launch Complex"), lunar funk ("Bandits On Mars") and trippy atmospheres ("Something Happened on Planet Earth"), in "S.P.A.C.E." Calibro 35 sound as cinematic and groovy as ever. Captured live and direct to tape with no overdubbing or editing facilities by Tommaso Colliva (Muse/Franz Ferdinand), the sound is tough, warm and super tight and confirms the unique musicianship of the band able in few years to gain followers worldwide.

Active since 2008, CALIBRO 35 enjoy a worldwide reputation as one of the coolest independent bands around. During their fourteen-year career, they were sampled by Dr. Dre on his Compton album, Jay-Z, The Child of lov & Damon Albarn; they shared stages worldwide with the likes of Roy Ayers, Muse, Sun Ra Arkestra, Sharon Jones, Thundercat and Headhunters and as unique musicians they collaborated with, amongst others, PJ Harvey, Mike Patton, John Parish and Stewart Copeland and Nic Cester (The Jet). Described by Rolling Stone magazine as "the most fascinating, retro-maniac and genuine thing that happened to Italy in the last years", Calibro 35 now count on a number of aficionados worldwide including VIP fans such as Dj Food (Ninja Tune), Mr Scruff and Huey Morgan (Fun Lovin' Criminals) among others.

TRACK LISTING

1. 74 Days After Landing
2. S.P.A.C.E.
3. Bandits On Mars
4. Brain Trap
5. Ungwana Bay Launch Complex
6. An Asteroid Called Death
7. Thrust Force
8. A Future We Never Lived
9. Universe Of 10 Dimensions
10. Across 111th Sun
11. Something Happened On Planet Earth
12. Violent Venus
13. Neptune
14. Serenade For A Satellite

'Radiate Like This' - Warpaint’s much anticipated new record, not to mention their first in almost 6 years - arrives with its own very modern mythology intact, continuing the strange, brilliant, beautiful story of the band and quite neatly picking up where 'Heads Up' left off. If the previous album was the coming of age, 'Radiate Like This' presents Warpaint mk II in all their glory, a luminous coalescence of sound and vision which stubbornly belies its genesis, with the quartet of Kokal, Theresa Wayman, Stella Mozgawa and Jenny Lee Lindberg all recording their parts separately in various cities.

“It’s the first time we’ve ever made an album like that, but in a weird way, it made us take our time with everything”, muses Kokal. “The process felt more meditative, less rushed”. This new sense of quiet confidence can be heard all through the album, in the hushed, slow build of first single “Champion” the beguiling push pull of “Proof”, the delicate intricacy and complexity of tracks like “Melting” and the winking “Send Nudes”. It’s an album that pulsates with ideas, energy and- most crucially – gorgeous melodies. Listen on in wonder.

TRACK LISTING

1. Champion
2. Hips
3. Hard To Tell You
4. Stevie
5. Like Sweetness
6. Trouble
7. Proof
8. Altar
9. Melting
10. Send Nudes

Ribbon Around The Bomb is the first new music from Blossoms since their ‘vibrant single’ (NME) Care For, which was released in 2021. 

Speaking about the new album and single, Blossoms’ Tom Ogden says:
‘While on tour in 2019 in Mexico, I visited Frida Kahlo’s house. Looking at her paintings on show, someone had described one of them as being like a ‘ribbon around a bomb’. I immediately thought that it was a great title for a song and album because of the imagery that it evoked in my mind. I thought about how lots of things in life could be described as being a ribbon around a bomb in the sense that as people we often dress things up which have a darkness lying beneath them’.

The band’s new album is produced by their consistent and renowned collaborators James Skelly and Rich Turvey and revolves around a central character ‘The Writer’. 

Tom Ogden explains:

"The more songs I wrote, the more I realised that the writer referenced in the songs was in fact me. Having been so busy for the past eight years I and the band have never really had the chance to step back and reflect on what we’ve achieved. You’re so focused on the future; write the next album then tour. Your life is usually mapped out at least two years in advance".

Standout tracks on the record include Ode To NYC, described by Tom as ‘a love letter to my favourite city, as well as my wife’, The Writer which deals with the fear of and frustration associated with writers block and Everything About You, one of the album’s only love songs, which Tom says is ‘as honest as they come’. Visions meanwhile contains one of the album’s key lyrics ‘Was I complete at 23’, as Tom explains. ’At 23 I had just had a number 1 album and begun my relationship with my now wife Katie. Reflecting on what I’d achieved at such a young age left me wondering, what now?’ 

TRACK LISTING

1. The Writer’s Theme
2. Ode To NYC
3. Ribbon Around The Bomb
4. The Sulking Poet
5. Born Wild
6. The Writer
7. Everything About You
8. Care For
9. Cinerama Holy Days
10. Edith Machinist
11. Visions
12. The Last Chapter 

Live At Sefton Park - Deluxe CD Bonus Disc:
1. Intro Live At Sefton Park
2. Your Girlfriend Live At Sefton Park
3. There’s A Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls) Live At Sefton Park
4. I Can’t Stand It Live At Sefton Park
5. Getaway Live At Sefton Park
6. My Swimming Brain Live At Sefton Park
7. Paperback Writer Live At Sefton Park
8. Blown Rose Live At Sefton Park
9. Honey Sweet Live At Sefton Park
10. Sunday Was A Friend Of Mine Live At Sefton Park
11. If You Think This Is Real Life Live At Sefton Park
12. Oh No (I Think I’m In Love) Live At Sefton Park
13. At Most A Kiss Live At Sefton Park
14. Charlemagne Live At Sefton Park 

Welcome to Uffie’s new album Sunshine Factory – an alternate reality that is only accessible to those yearning for escape. A nod to the ballroom scene, it is a place where you can be your most authentic self. Inside this trippy wonderland, you’ll meet Uffie, dancing amongst the lights of your hallucinations. Sunshine Factory is a wonderfully restless record. It’s a joyride through the club, hurtling into the forest, and crowd surfing into the arms of a lover… and yet it’s also the sound of waking up to a heap of champagne soaked jeans, the bass of your heart still throbbing along to last night’s melodies.

A decade after her first record, which included–debatably–the internet’s first viral hit, the electro smash “Pop The Glock,” Uffie “the French-American singer/rapper/DJ/fashion designer who took the internet by storm” (Brooklyn Vegan) is most definitely back. Raised between Florida and Hong Kong before moving to Paris with her British father, the now Los Angeles-based Uffie is undeniably a “child of the world;” unsurprisingly, the making of this record clocked up a few air miles as well. Birthing what would become the Sunshine Factory in Fonte da Telha, Portugal collaborating with Norwegian savant Lasse Lokøy, Uffie soon found a home for these songs back in California with Chaz Bear of Toro y Moi–who co-produced several of the tracks–and his Oakland-based label, Company Records. The resulting album is one of intricate production, sonic experimentation, and subtle poetic brilliance amongst a few Fleabag glances to the camera.

Amidst double entendres galore, her record exists in a curious space between punk and pop, which can be heard in the ska-meets-fashion week “dominoes.” Contrarily, “sophia” – which marked the advent of Uffie and Chaz’s creative partnership several years ago – poises Sunshine Factory as an otherworldly dance record one would hear in Berlin’s famous Berghain nightclub. She is the party girl who is at her most vulnerable in the chaotic “where does the party go?” where she reckons with facing who she truly is when she’s all alone. It’s in these dualities and juxtapositions that the joy of Uffie writhes.

The album also has a cameo or three, including the one and only Peaches. And after finding kinship and admiration in the genre-defying NNAMDÏ, she tapped him for the record’s sole feature on “month of mondays.” It is at this point in the record that the beloved je ne sais quoi that Uffie has always possessed really emerges. When the comedown begins and the insatiable few remain on the dancefloor, “a month of mondays” is the knowing nod to a stranger signaling the night’s shift in course. With Sunshine Factory, it’s a pop-up party wherever you can find some speakers. Cool.

TRACK LISTING

1. Mvp
2. Where Does The Party Go?
3. Peaches (interlude)
4. Domines
5. Prickling Skin
6. Queen Ilona (interlude)
7. Anna Jetson
8. Sophia
9. A Month Of Mondays (feat. NNADMÏ)
10. Giants
11. Teddy <3 (interlude)
12. Cool
13. Crowdsurfinginyoursheets

Since the release of his last album – 2017’s Finding Shore, a collaboration with Brian Eno – pianist and singer-songwriter Tom Rogerson’s life has undergone a number of dramatic transformations. While writing his new album Retreat to Bliss, Rogerson had a child, lost a parent, and received his own diagno[1]sis of a rare form of blood cancer. The new decade brought him from Berlin to the Suffolk of his childhood, composing profound pieces of minimal songwriting in the church next to his parents’ home.

Rogerson studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music under mentors like Harrison Birtwistle, and he made his live debut as an improvising pianist in 2002, before releasing an improvised record with Reid Anderson (Bad Plus) and Mike Lewis (Happy Apple, Bon Iver) in 2004. He formed the band Three Trapped Tigers in 2007, expertly blending elements of electronic, jazz and noise rock into a cohesive whole. The band earned a reputation for innovative live shows and went on to perform and collaborate with artists like Brian Eno, Deftones, and the Dillinger Escape Plan. It was working with Eno, another Suffolk native, that eventually led Rogerson back to his roots and back to a place where he could write Retreat to Bliss, his solo debut album.

“All my life, the piano has been my constant companion, my confessor, my best friend, and my worst enemy,” Rogerson explains. “I’ve always written music on and for the piano, but it felt too personal, too private to release.”

Indeed, listening to Retreat to Bliss feels almost like eavesdropping, as though you’re crouched in the belfry of a Suffolk church, bearing witness to a form of musical bloodletting. For the first time in his noteworthy career, Rogerson has combined masterful piano playing and subtle electronics with the texture of his own voice, an attempt to express deeply private emotions that were difficult to articulate using instrumental music alone.

“The last few years have brought some struggle, some joy, and a lot of change. My response has been to retreat to what I trust the most: the piano, my voice, and the landscape I grew up in. That’s how the album got its title, and how I came to be ready finally to release a solo record.”

The eleven tracks that make up Retreat to Bliss were recorded by Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno, David Byrne, Grace Jones) over the course of just a few days, a process that emphasized spontaneity and the artist’s own commitment to improvisation.

Secular yet devotional, intensely personal yet profound, the experience of listening to Retreat to Bliss seems to evade characterization. It’s physical and emotional, a glimpse into the mind of an artist who has chosen exposure over withdrawal, who uses his command of the piano to chart an unflinching path forward, never looking back.

TRACK LISTING

01. Descent [5:22]
02. Oath [4:36]
03. Buried Deep [3:31]
04. Toumani [4:04]
05. Drone Finder Part 2 [2:25]
06. Chant [4:32]
07. Rapture 1 [4:08]
08. Open Out Span Wide View [3:47]
09. A Clearing [4:01]
10. Retreat To [6:10]
11. Coda [1:37]

Mute releases I Start Counting’s Re-fused on CD for the first time. Initially produced on the now sold out limited edition cassette for the 2021 Independent Label Market alongside Ejected, these two albums contain unreleased I Start Counting tracks and demos recorded in 1985 and 1986 for their albums My Translucent Hands (1986) and Fused (1988).

The duo consisting of David Baker and Simon Leonard came together to form I Start Counting in 1982. Signing to Mute in 1984, the release of their first singles ‘Letters to a Friend’ and ‘Still Smiling’ were quick to follow, both produced by Daniel Miller. My Translucent Hands and Fused established a cult following for the duo, originating amongst American suburban teens who were discovering Depeche Mode and Kraftwerk for the first time. By the early 1990s, Baker and Leonard had evolved into Fortran 5, releasing three albums for the label before returning as Komputer in 1996. Their three incarnations finally met in 2011 through the release of Konnecting…, a record that showcased the duo's pure pop junctures.

TRACK LISTING

1 Talk About The Weather
2 You And I
3 625
4 Grass Snake
5 Pretty Too
6 Birmingham
7 The I Can't Express
8 Lose Him
9 Say Something 

Mute releases I Start Counting’s Ejected on CD for the first time. Initially produced on the now sold out limited edition cassette for the 2021 Independent Label Market alongside Re-fused, these two albums contain unreleased I Start Counting tracks and demos recorded in 1985 and 1986 for their albums My Translucent Hands (1986) and Fused (1988).

The duo consisting of David Baker and Simon Leonard came together to form I Start Counting in 1982. Signing to Mute in 1984, the release of their first singles ‘Letters to a Friend’ and ‘Still Smiling’ were quick to follow, both produced by Daniel Miller. My Translucent Hands and Fused established a cult following for the duo, originating amongst American suburban teens who were discovering Depeche Mode and Kraftwerk for the first time. By the early 1990s, Baker and Leonard had evolved into Fortran 5, releasing three albums for the label before returning as Komputer in 1996. Their three incarnations finally met in 2011 through the release of Konnecting…, a record that showcased the duo's pure pop junctures.

TRACK LISTING

1 Charlie
2 Modern Sunbathing
3 Is She On Her Own
4 Cooler Than Calcutta
5 Red Car
6 My Sister's Friend
7 Million Headed Monster
8 I'm A Murderer
9 You Can't Write That Down
10 Rawhide 

BBC Maida Vale Sessions - Four BBC sessions recorded at the Maida Vale studios between October 1996 and August 2003.

TRACK LISTING

John Peel - 6th October 1996
1. The Note [Message From Home]
2. Untitled [City In Progress]
3. Forget Every Time
4. World Backwards

Evening Session - 1st March 1997
1. Come On Let’s Go
2. Look Outside
3. The Book Lovers
4. Lights Out

John Peel - 9th February 2000
1. Long Was The Year
2. Echo’s Answer
3. Where Youth And Laughter Go

John Peel - 19th August 2003
1. Pendulum
2. Colour Me In
3. Minim
4. Sixty Forty

Originally released as 3" tour only CDs in 2003 and 2005, the albums have been compiled and remastered.

TRACK LISTING

01 Microtronics 01
02 Microtronics 02
03 Microtronics 03
04 Microtronics 04
05 Microtronics 05
06 Microtronics 06
07 Microtronics 07
08 Microtronics 08
09 Microtronics 09
10 Microtronics 10
11 Microtronics 11
12 Microtronics 12
13 Microtronics 13
14 Microtronics 14
15 Microtronics 15
16 Microtronics 16
17 Microtronics 17
18 Microtronics 18
19 Microtronics 19
20 Microtronics 20
21 Microtronics 21

Mother Is The Milky Way - Originally released as a tour only CD in 2009, the album has been remastered.

TRACK LISTING

01 Creation Day The Travel Flute Way
02 In Here The World Begins
03 Elegant Elephant
04 Through The Gates Of Yesterday
05 Milling Around The Village
06 The Aphid Sleeps
07 Growing Backwards
08 I'm Just A Person In This Roomy Verse
09 Never Trust A Rusty Bolt
10 Innocence In Orbit
11 Mother's Milk Means Music [At Home In The Universe]

Unlearning, the breathtaking debut from Glasgow’s Walt Disco, is steeped in metamorphoses, a stage show in two acts. It covers flings and romances, identities and bodies and change, profound familial love, and - of course - Hollywood glamour. The album plays out like a musical, with an emotional arc and even an instrumental interlude, winkingly titled ‘The Costume Change’.

While the themes of the album are universally relatable, Walt Disco’s gift is in the unique experience of discovery and heartbreak between queer people - something that frontperson James explores in depth on songs such as ‘Weightless’, ‘Be An Actor’ and ‘Hold Yourself As High As Her’. In Walt Disco’s eyes, it’s never too late to become what you might have been and there are plenty of possibilities to explore on Unlearning.

TRACK LISTING

1. Weightless
2. Selfish Lover
3. How Cool Are You?
4. Cut Your Hair
5. Timeline
6. Be An Actor
7. The Costume Change
8. Those Kept Close
9. Hold Yourself As High As Her
10. My Dear
11. Macilent
12. If I Had A Perfect Life

Nowadays, voice memos, videos, and pictures chronicle our lives in real-time. We trace where we’ve been and reveal where we’re going. However, Suki Waterhouse catalogs the most intimate, formative, and significant moments of her life through songs. You might recognize her name or her work as singer, songwriter, actress but you’ll really get to know the multi-faceted artist through her music. Memories of unrequited love, fits of longing, instances of anxiety, and unfiltered snapshots interlock like puzzle pieces into a mosaic of well-worn country, ‘90s-style alternative, and unassuming pop.

She writes the kind of tunes meant to be grafted onto dusty old vinyl from your favorite vintage record store, yet perfect for a sun-soaked festival stage. Her first album for Sub Pop, I Can’t Let Go, is a testament to her powers as a singer and songwriter. In Suki’s words: “The album is called I Can’t Let Go because for years it felt like I was wearing heavy moments on my sleeve and it just didn’t make sense to do so anymore. There’s so much that I’ve never spoken about. Writing music has always been where it felt safe to do so. Every song for the record was a necessity. In many ways, I’ve been observing my life as an outsider, even when I’ve been on the inside. It’s like I was a visitor watching things happen.”

Growing up in London, Suki gravitated towards music’s magnetic pull. She listened to the likes of Alanis Morissette and Fiona Apple, and Oasis held a special place in her heart. She initially teased out this facet of her creativity with a series of singles, generating nearly 20 million total streams independently.

Nylon hailed her debut track, “Brutally,” as “what a Lana Del Rey deep cut mixed with Joni Mitchell’s ‘Both Sides, Now’ would sound like.” In addition to raves from Garage, Vice and Lemonade Magazine, DUJOR put it best: “Suki Waterhouse’s music has swagger.”


Suki is constantly consuming artists of all stripes, and, in the lead-up to making I Can’t Let Go, she was particularly drawn to the work of Sharon Van Etten, Valerie June, Garbage, Frazey Ford, Lou Doillon, and Lucinda Williams. After falling in love with Hiss Golden Messenger’s Terms of Surrender, she reached out to its producer Brad Cook (Bon Iver, War On Drugs, Snail Mail, Waxahatchee) to help define the sound of I Can’t Let Go.

On I Can’t Let Go, Suki not only catalogs her life up to this point, but she also fulfills a lifelong ambition. “When I’ve been stuck or feel out of touch with a sense of inner meaning and outer purpose, I’ve found both through searching my memories and finding those events buried in the shadowy areas of the psyche where they were ignored,” she says. “So many times of change in my life have required return visits—especially at the transitions through to the next stages. The album is an exploration of those moments when there is nothing left to lose. What is left and can’t be thrown away is the self.”

TRACK LISTING

Moves
The Devil I Know
Melrose Meltdown
Put Me Through It
My Mind
Bullshit On The Internet
Wild Side
On Your Thumb
Slip
Blessed

One year after the release of Ignorance, The Weather Station returns with How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars. The album is intended to be heard as a companion piece to Ignorance; songs written at the same time that connect thematically and emotionally, songs that reveal the vulnerability at the heart of the body of work. Recorded live in just three days, How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars is achingly intimate; full of breath, silence, and detail.

How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars was written in the same fruitful winter of songwriting that gave rise to Ignorance, but were songs that Lindeman felt were too internal, too soft to fit on the album she had envisioned.

Not long after completing Ignorance, Lindeman decided to make this album on her own terms, fronting the money herself and not notifying the labels. She assembled a new band, and communicated a new ethos; the music should feel ungrounded, with space, silence, and sensitivity above all else.

On this record, there are no drums, no percussion; in the absence of rhythm, time stretches and becomes elastic. Lyrically, many of the songs return to what has often been a hallmark of Lindeman’s writing; a description of a single moment and all the meaning it might encompass. And this dilation of the moment occurs musically too; as the band moves through music so ephemeral it often incorporates stretches of near silence, and breaths, single notes, and brief solos take on greater importance in the absence of other sound. Whereas the recordings on Ignorance leaned towards ambition and grandeur, here the band reaches towards a different goal; grace perhaps.

How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars was recorded from March 10 - 12, 2020. When the band entered the studio, Covid-19 was a news item, not front of mind, but by the time they left, just three days later, everything had changed. Somehow, the music captures that instability; it is ungrounded and diaphanous, it floats and drifts. It is an album of immense sensitivity, a recording of a band and a person daring to reach towards softness without apology.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Marsh
2. Taught
3. Ignorance
4. To Talk About
5. Stars
SIDE B
1. Endless Time
2. Song
3. Sway
4. Sleight Of Hand
5. Loving You

One of the year’s most exciting new acts HighSchool are joining forces with Dinked to release their acclaimed debut EP (‘Forever at Last’) for the first time on vinyl.

The tipped Melbourne trio, who recently upped sticks to move to London, have been making a name for themselves with a brilliant indie-pop sound full of stylish, gothic excess - DIY nailed it when calling their tracks “deliciously dark dance numbers that’ll be stuck in your head for days.”

‘Forever at Last’ is an infectious six-track introduction to the band that features the singles ‘Frosting’, ‘New York, Paris and London’ and ‘Sirens’. Surfacing digitally late-last year, the band are delighted to finally being announcing the EP’s first vinyl pressing with Dinked. This first press is being limited to just 300 copies, coming on clear vinyl complete with an exclusive numbered print signed by the band and die cut sticker.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Frosting
2. New York, Paris And London
3. De Facto
Side B
1. Sirens
2. Jerry
3. Forever At Last

A reawakening for the Swedish visionaries, Sincere solidifies their impressive trajectory in a fuzzed out haze of dark and arresting shoegaze pop. An expansive trip through noisier, bittersweet pop realms that recalls My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and Deerhunter.

Underpinning everything there’s a continuing sense of drama throughout; richly textured crescendos, chiming guitars and delicate melodies are guided by Caroline Landahl’s tender yet sharpened vocals. Sincere is joyously effervescent, but with a dark underbelly where fury manifests in a swirl of entrancing and propulsive percussion.

A gorgeous and dazzling piece of aching romanticism, destined to feature on a thousand mixtapes.

Recorded last year in Malmö, Hater welcomed two new band members and those early day sparks saw them quickly turning demos into fully-formed new songs that appear on the record. Sincere was produced by long-time collaborator Joakim Lindberg and was mixed and mastered by John Cornfield, whose credits include Ride, The Stone Roses and Robert Plant.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
A1 Something
A2 I'm Yours Baby
A3 Bad Luck
A4 Proven Wrong
Side B
B1 Brave Blood
B2 Far From A Mind
B3 Summer Turns To Heartburn
B4 Renew, Reject
B5 Hopes High

Leon Vynehall follows his second album Rare, Forever that landed in many of 2021’s Best Album charts with a spot on the ‘fabric presents’ series. His mix bursts with exclusives from collaborators Skee Mask, Or:la, Gaunt, Avon Blume and Ehua, and his own ‘Sugar Slip (The Lick) that merges a garagey bassline with euphoric moments of 90s trance. The compilation opens with a spoken word introduction from Wesley Joseph, and proceeds effortlessly through ambient from artists Zebrablood and Newworldaquarium, hip-hop (from Wax), breakbeat, the dense dub of Mala and the Afro-Portuguese edge of house with tracks from Bubas Produçoes and A.k.Adrix. Vynehall displays his unique ability to weave together different genres and textures in a way that is technically fascinating while still warm and very listenable.

TRACK LISTING

CD:
1. Leon Vynehall - Climb Into The Cistern Ft Wesley Joseph [Vynehall Ltd]
2. Zebrablood - Whatcomesup96 [Youth]
3. Newworldaquarium - Star Power [NWAQ]
4. Low Jack - Virgin Traff 22 [Editions Gravats]
5. Lady Blacktronika - Good Dick [Kinda Soul Recordings]
6. Mute - Never [Running Back]
7. Louise Bock - Horologic [Geographic North]
8. Or:la - Allaballa [Or:la]
9. Pole - Überfahrt [Pole]
10. Gombeen & Doygen - D'Americana
11. Round Four - Found A Way [Main Street]
12. Woo - Wah Bass [The Sunshine Series]
13. Mosca - This Branch Is Weak [Twin System]
14. Steevio - Syzygy [Wisdom Teeth]
15. A2 - Midsummer Misery [Them Vs Us Records / Cloud X]
16. DJ Deep & Traumer - La Valle La B (La Deep Mix) [Rekids]
17. DB Selective - Dub Train [VIP Records]
18. Wax - Switch [1up]
19. Hagan - FWD [Push & Run]
20. Bubas Produçoes - Padjinha Pt 3 [Club Yeke]
21. A.k.Adrix - FL Studio, Obrigado [Príncipe Discos]
22. Skee Mask - Untitled 279 [Skee Mask]
23. Avon Blume - South Bermo [Avon Blume]
24. Sector Y - Road To World Cup [Booma Collective]
25. Innersphere Aka Shinedoe - Phunk [Intacto Records]
26. Gaunt - Raw Cartoon [3 OH EN]
27. Piero Umiliani (Zalla) - Produzione [Liuto Edizioni Musicali]
28. Commodo - Scabz [Sector 7 Sounds]
29. Leon Vynehall - Sugar Slip (The Lick) [Vynehall Ltd]
30. Mala - Misty Winter Ft. Crazy D [I&I Music]
31. Ehua - Helios [Ehua]
32. N-ERGY - The Mad 808 [Global Warming Records]
33. Ana Roxanne - Suite Pour L'Invisible [Kranky]

Vinyl:
A1 - Leon Vynehall - Sugar Slip (The Lick)
A2 - Or:la - Allaballa
B1 - Skee Mask - Untitled 279
B2 - Ehua - Helios
C1 - Avon Blume - South Bermo
C2 - Gaunt - Raw Cartoon
D1 - Piero Umiliani (Zalla) - Produzione
D2 - Ana Roxanne - Suite Pour L’Invisible 

The South-London based musician TONE announces his debut album “So I Can See You”, due for release via Rhythm Section.

With a mixtape already under his belt, one that he says was thrown together on a whim; this new body of work was created during the pregnancy and subsequent birth of his daughter. TONE, real name Basil Anthony Harewood, was compelled to capture this significant moment, recording mostly at night, with his new life and old life in mind. The album is less a departure of who he was but an embrace of the future and the new life that arrives with beginning a family.

Across the 11 tracks, we hear tender guitar riffs and off-beat R&B elements press up against influences of dub and shoegaze leaving you with a woozy afterglow. TONE’s distinctive vocals are complemented by the familiar voices of Coby Sey on “So I Can See You”, Fran Lobo on “From the North” and Roxanne Tataei on “Make It Drop”. Having both Afro-Caribbean and Welsh heritage has informed the ways in which he sees things and the music he has been magnetized to, especially growing up in both a tiny village in the north of England in East Yorkshire as well as further afield in Europe.

Time spent in St Kitts and Nevis as a child opened his eyes and ears to calypso, reggae and dub and while back home in the UK, he fell in love with ska, punk and skinhead culture none of which he ever outgrew and to this day still informs his music practice.

Each track was recorded on a Tascam 38 tape machine in the studio he set up with Mica Levi and Coby Sey in Hither Green with the drums, played by Marc Pell (Good Bad Happy Sad) were recorded at Andy Ramsey’s studio (Stereolab).

Alongside, Levi and Sey TONE is a CURL collective member and was half of the short-lived punk-duo, Farai.

TRACK LISTING

A1. NICE
A2 .LIKE IT WAS YESTERDAY
A3. GOTTA GET MY LIFE RIGHT
A4. MOVE NOW
A5. SO I CAN SEE YOU (FT. COBY SEY)
B1. NAILED IT
B2. FROM THE NORTH (FT. FRAN LOBO)
B3. IN AND OUT
B4. MAKE IT DROP (FT. ROXANNE TATAEI)
B5. DAWN

New Star Creature LP and it's Ourra at the controls for a double disc excursion of high grade boogie and modern funk. Ouura is Simon Tappenden, located in West Bay down in Dorsit (not far from fellow boogie don Sven Atterton) and his tracks have been gathering serious momentum, getting plays on 6 Music and a variety of taste-making podcasts.

Smothered in thick, effervescent synthlines and powered with those piston boogie drum hits synonymous with Star Creatures' sound, this is real deal, hardware drivem, electronic soul music. There's a guest appearance by saxophonist Gary Barnacle. Moods and tempos vary, from Sunday afternoon downbeat jams to Italo-flavoured smoke machine tweakers; all executed with a sincere authenticity and inspired flair.

As usual, more unmissable modern jams from the unbeatable Star Creature camp, market leaders at this shit since 2015! 

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. The Climb
2. Star Control
3. Red Wave
Side 2
1. Take Me Home
2. Night Glider
3. Breaker Boogie
Side 3
1. Rekab's Azy
2. Musk At Dusk
3. Capri Memory
Side 4
1. Ghost Reflex
2. Sea Green Eyes
3. Game Over

Phwoooooar! We love a bit 'o Boo here at Piccadilly Records so imagine our excitement when news dropped of this fully packed, 10 track album spanning the legendary Chicago producer's early works on Relief, Moods & Grooves, Diaspora and Farris Wheel.

No-one quite swings it like Boo Williams, his hi-hat patterns set to hypnotize you into a rolling groove as angelic choirs, pads, celestial stabs and cheeky giggles encompass you in a loving groove that's all his own. Few have mastered the art of house music like Boo and it's because of this the producer's enjoyed such a long as well respected career.

A undeniably strong collection of some of the artist's most loved works including a beatless version "Home Town Chicago", "Smoking Acid" - a track so swung you'll most likely tumble into the speaker stacks and my personal late night favourite, "Piano Trance". 

TRACK LISTING

Side 1
1. Classic Fingers
2. Feeling Good
Side 2
1. Cyber Trans
2. Tickle Me
Side 3
1. Pleasant Dreams
2. Piano Trance
3. Midnight Trance
Side 4
1. Flashback
2. Smokin Acid
3. Home Town Chicago (Outro)

For RE:WARM 011 we present Bibbi ‘You Don’t Mind’. A four-track House infused dancefloor weapon. With hints of early 90s Euro House prime for those vintage Mediterranean sunset dance sessions after a few drinks under the parasol. All 4 tracks are sure-fire winners here. This is the only solo outing for Bibbi on vinyl with this release which is a real shame as she clearly had talent that somehow didn’t translate to capturing the interest of a wider audience.

The record was produced by ‘SUN’ Nkotsoe, formerly one half of Monwa & Sun and a popular solo act after his eponymous debut in 1990 and Looking For Love in 1991. He surely could have put his own name on this four-track e.p, given that the early house beats take centre stage. Recorded at the famous Shandel Studios, the home of many great South African popular acts of the time.

Originally released in 1992 on Diamond Music and officially licensed to RE:WARM records via Gallo Record Company.

TRACK LISTING

A1 You Dont Mind Feat 'SUN’
A2 I Dont Want No Body
B1 Get Into My Life
B2 Guns On Fire (Flame Mix)

OK, we know this one comes with a big price tag but it's an almight coup for Compassion Cuts. 2 house cuts with lashings off disco flavour taken from M-O-F's 1990 debut and only release, the "Natural Vibe" LP on the private press Future Step Sirkle label. Mega elusive and somewhat of a holy grail for early house collectors, this is the first time these tracks are released on 12" and there's only 400 of them to go around with absolutely no digital release to accompany it. Keeping this gem from spilling too much overground you've gotta salute Compassion Cuts for letting the attentive in on the action! 

You'll struggle to comprehend "My Opposite Sex" is from 1990. Ridiculously chunky, heavily swung and packing a serious punch, the rolling congas, playful childlike vocal hook and a flavour so punky-funky it'd make ACR and ESG reconsider their next career move this fist pumping proto-house bomb will tear the down the roof and have people dancing on tables in no time. 

"Trip City" rolls on even more of a disco groove, big timpani lines, wandering clavs, smarmy max and driving 4/4 drums all kettled under duress by a bossy slap bass line that takes noooo shit. One of those jams you'd expect Theo, MCDE or Young Marco to unleash to the masses, I've defo not heard this out and about much (and all?) making me think it's not totally blown up YET. (spoiler: it will).

TRACK LISTING

My Opposite Sex
Trip City

With their new album, If I Never Know You Like This Again, SOAK has finally shaken the hangover of their starry debut Before We Forgot How To Dream, and the pressures that came with it, hiding in the wings of their ambitious follow up album, Grim Town. Having come up through BBC introducing at the tender age of 15 before signing to Rough Trade Records as well as winning the RTE Choice Music Prize, The Northern Irish Music Prize and the youngest ever Mercury Prize nominee, SOAK has again and again been described as ‘the voice of a generation.’

Showing from a young age an intensely artistic awareness of the poetry of memory, Bridie Monds-Watson, aka SOAK, would incessantly photograph and video everything, documenting and organising the material so it was always there for them to revisit. ”I always want to remember exactly how I felt at a certain moment.” Now, at 25, SOAK’s third album ‘If I Never Know You Like This Again', is naturally made up of what Bridie intimately calls “song-memories”.

Working closely with Tommy McLaughlin (Villagers), with whom Bridie has been collaborating with since the age of 15, and armed with influences from Pavement, to Radiohead to Broken Social Scene, they wrote most of the album together before recording it with the rest of the band in Attica Studios, Donegal. Throughout the album SOAK pushes and pulls at melodies, but never milks their brilliance. Bridie masterfully glides their vocal melody slightly off-kilter above excitable compressed high hats and flourishing guitar lines. With the new direction of a grungier, more lo-fi production the swooning guitars are given a contemporary pop-edge, reflected in the rich and robust musicality of songs like ‘Bleach’, ‘Last July’ and ‘Pretzel’. There’s a constant pulsating beat at the album’s centre, propelling it towards a kind of dewy happiness, like the end credits of a 90s coming-of-age film. Bridie’s lyrics move through the songs almost as effortlessly and they sing them, and the songs when read, read like poetry. With this album Bridie is, as the title suggests, freezing time in the pursuit of truth: capturing their life into existence.

In the world of ‘If I Never Know You Like This Again’, a life is lived only because it's remembered.

TRACK LISTING

Purgatory
Last July
Bleach
Get Well Soon
Red-eye
Guts
Baby, You’re Full Of Shit
Pretzel
Neptune
Swear Jar

Psych-folk prog album by one of the most legendary bands of the early 1970s Chilean music scene.

Congregación crafted songs in an Andean style with ethnic atmosphere, we could say they made a kind of psychedelic folk with progressive leanings. This album has conquered new folk lovers around the world and the original LP is yet a very rare collector's piece.

First official reissue with remastered sound from the original master tapes, including a bonus 7" single with non-album tracks from 1972.

Very rare Chilean album that blends folk and rock in a similar way to one of the most successful bands on IRT: Los Jaivas.

A roster of very experienced and talented musicians, including some members of Aguaturbia, was recruited for this project and this self-titled album was finally released in 1973.

Fierce percussions, stunning guitar riffs and filtered voices create a unique sound across this only album by Panal.

First official reissue with remastered sound from the original master tapes.

Finding that luck, love and letting things roll works out for him just fine, Michael Head leads his Red Elastic Band into a fresh chapter with optimism and some of the best music of his career, announcing his new, Bill Ryder-Jones-produced album, Dear Scott via Modern Sky UK.  

Revered by heavyweight songwriting peers and discovered by new generations of discerning listeners, all enraptured by the fruits of Head’s winding, 40-year career, the Liverpool singer-songwriter enters a new age of creativity and collaboration with Dear Scott. Promising to be a shimmering jewel cast by the minds and hearts of Merseyside’s finest musicians, the 12-track album is dusted with both Ryder-Jones’ artistry and the heavyweight musicianship of The Red Elastic Band, which Head found had ‘stepped up’ following almost a year apart, forcing him to dig deeper himself.

Of slipping back into writing and recording in 2021, Head continues: “After being apart for a while, I went for a walk on the beach with the band and it was beautiful, literally and personally. Rehearsals followed and it clicked into place, with one thing leading to the next. It’s very much the ethos we’re working by, keeping things simple, but keeping the momentum. I’d met Bill a few times and he’s a lovely guy. Once we knew he was interested in producing the album we didn’t need to think about it again, it just progressed and became a completely natural thing.”

Dear Scott refers to novelist, F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose debt-ridden, down-and-out years captured the imagination of Head, specifically a postcard Fitzgerald addressed to himself upon checking in at Hollywood’s infamous Golden Age retreat, The Garden Of Allah Hotel. Head explains: “A decade after being the king of the jazz age, Fitzgerald arrived unfashionable and sober, ready to conquer Hollywood. His agent with a sense of humour booked him into The Garden Of Allah, where writers, movie stars and even Stravinsky sometimes lived. He famously picked up a postcard on checking in and addressed it to himself.”

The postcard read: Dear Scott, How are you? Have been meaning to come and see you. I have living at the Garden Of Allah. Yours Scott Fitzgerald

Head states that the formation of The Red Elastic Band in 2008 began with ‘whoever was available at the time’, primarily as a vehicle for live performance, producing one, previous album in 2017’s Adiós Señor Pussycat. The band has since developed into a cohesive, mutually-supportive and permanent line-up, with Phil Murphy on drums, Tom Powell on bass, Danny Murphy on guitars and Nathaniel Cummins on guitars and backing vocals being the musicians taking on the world in 2022 alongside Head.

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: Crystal clear, deep, 3D production from the wonderful Bill Ryder-Jones brings Mick's songs and stories right back to life on what has to be one of his greatest ever records and that's saying something. Album of the year contender!

TRACK LISTING

A1 Kismet
A2 Broken Beauty
A3 The Next Day
A4 Freedom
A5 American Kid
A6 Grace And Eddie
B7 Fluke
B8 Gino And Rico
B9 The Grass
B10 The Ten
B11 Pretty Child
B12 Shirls Ghost 

Alex Cameron has always been a great storyteller, finding his ways into the depths of the places where not many others are looking, and Oxy Music continues on that trajectory. It’s filled with stories of people who fall outside the system and exist in the grey areas of life. And much like 2017’s Forced Witness, Oxy Music is a work of fiction. In its design - its music, lyrics and tracklist - lies the journey a person can take, if the circumstances present themselves - down the road of heavy drug and alcohol abuse. Initially inspired by Nico Walker’s Cherry, Cameron was spurred into yet another commentary on American Life, this time about the opioid crisis that has taken over the country. Alex says about Oxy Music: “The album is a story, a work of fiction, mostly from the perspective of a man. Starved of meaningful purpose, confused about the state of the world, and in dire need of a reason to live - a person can, and according to the latest statistics, increasingly will, turn to opioids. This is one of those people.”

While Oxy Music could be dark, it’s instead brighter and more buoyant than much of Cameron’s previous work, a shift in mood first seen across 2019’s Miami Memory. It’s told from a place of optimism and through the lens of Cameron, in the way that only he can tell it.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A:
1. Best Life
2. Sara Jo
3. Prescription Refill
4. Hold The Line
5. Breakdown

SIDE B:
6. K Hole
7. Dead Eyes
8. Cancel Culture (feat. Lloyd Vines)
9. Oky Music (feat. Jason Williamson)

Mamas Gun animate the spirit of conscious ‘70s soul on bold and big-hearted new album, 'Cure The Jones'. Out ofthe turbulence of the last two years comes the fifth album from UK-based soul outfit Mamas Gun - a lush, nuancedand expansively contemporary meditation on a world turned upside down, embedded in the classic soul traditionof Bill Withers and Marvin Gaye.

Building on 2018 album Golden Days and the band’s status as a world-renownedlive act, 11-track opus Cure The Jones represents Mamas Guns’ most complete and powerful work to date - ajoyous and sophisticated exposition of song-craft, that explores themes of love, loss, life through the most pressingsocial and political issues of the day. Written and produced during the pandemic by Mamas Gun frontman AndyPlatts with additional intricate soundscaping from drummer Chris Boot, Cure The Jones was recorded direct to tapewith an array of analogue gear at Platts’ home studio in just three days, focussing the soulful energy of the bandinto a coherent gospel-tinged whole.

“Rather wonderful music that combines classic soul influences with a distinctly modern production approach” - Sunday Times.

TRACK LISTING

1. When You Stole The Sun From The Sky
2. Looking For Moses
3. Go Through It
4. Good Love
5. Reconsider
6. Party For One
7. Friends To Lovers
8. Cure The Jones
9. You're Too Hip (For MeBaby)
10. Winner's Eyes
11. Daffodils

Yoshino Shigihara came into 2019 needing a change. The Japanese artist had been based in Bristol ever since co-founding the now defunct Maloya-infuenced raucous psychedelia collective Zun Zun Egui. She then blossomed on her own across an EP and two albums of more meditative but no less territorially transcendent records as Yama Warashi. As in her music, though, Yoshino has always had a sense of wanderlust and it was perhaps no surprise that she’d eventually want to move again – this time to London.

“Moving to London gave me the chance to work with more diverse musicians” Yoshino says. “And I wanted to be here too because of the high creative energy, the diversity of the music and art here and the people who live here.”

The first material to come out of her relocation is a bold advancement of her sound, her third album Crispy Moon. Recorded at the Total Refreshment Centre in London with Kristian Claig Robinson, with most of the mixing coming from Hannes Plattmeire and mastering by Zun Zun Egui guitarist Stephen Kerrison, there are new contributing members, including Cathy Lucas of Vanishing Twin (with whom Yama toured with in 2021), Aletta Verwoerd on drums and Mermaid Chunky’s Moina Walker on sax. Compared to the more lo-fi, homespun feel of early releases such as Moon Zero and Moon Egg, there’s larger brush strokes at play, a bigger sound and an understated but self-assured grandeur.

Much of the move to London and Yoshino’s experiences of being in the capital have made their way into the themes of the record. For Yoshino, though, while the lyrics are important, they’re also largely personal. The drive for her is to get across the universality of her music, to keep an open ear and absorb everything that she can before returning it back out into the world. Moving to London has only strengthened that for her, with new collaborators, fresh experiences and altered perspectives. Crispy Moon is the colourfully brilliant end result.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Makkuroi Mizu
2. Dividual Individual
3. Saku Saku
4. Umi No Mon
Side B
1. Ha Ha No Uta
2. Makai No Keyaku
3. Dou Dou Meguri
4. Yuru Yuru

Jeff Parker is a lauded guitarist in rock, jazz and experimental music. Acclaimed for ground-breaking work with Tortoise, Isotope 217 and Chicago Underground, and as a collaborator with artists like Joshua Redman, Fred Anderson and Joey DeFrancesco. He is one of the undisputed rising stars of contemporary jazz.

‘The Relatives’, his 2004 sophomore album as leader, was included on numerous year-end Best Of lists, including The Wire, Magnet and The Guardian.

In the years since its release, ‘The Relatives’ has proved to be a revered pillar in the pantheon of Parker’s everexpanding music. Listening to the sheer breadth of the musical landscapes traversed throughout the album, there’s no mistaking why Parker is one of the most lauded players and sought after collaborators today.

Recorded with John McEntire at the legendary SOMA Studio (Yo La Tengo, Hamid Drake, Nobukazu Takemura, Jim O’Rourke).

Jeff Parker has been featured on the cover of The Wire magazine and appeared in Jazz Times, Jazziz as a solo artist and in everything from Rolling Stone and Spin to The New York Times and The New Yorker with groups he has worked with.

‘The Relatives’ features Sam Barsheshet, Chris Lopes and Chad Taylor, who’ve also worked together in the Jeff Parker Trio and Chicago Underground Orchestra.

TRACK LISTING

Istanbul
Mannerisms
Sea Change
When Did You Stop Loving
Me, When Did I Stop
Loving You
Beanstalk
The Relative
Toy Boat
Rang

Strut present the first compilation of legendary Afghan Ghazal singer Dr. Mohammad Sadiq Fitrat a.k.a. Nashenas, recorded at the Radio Afghanistan Studios and later released on singles by the Royal label in Iran.

Nashenas first made his move towards music aged 16 in 1951 when he approached Afghanistan’s national radio station, Radio Kabul, with an idea for a broadcast and, impressed with his language skills, they offered him a permanent job. “I was in close contact with some of the big names in Afghan music like Jalil Zaland,” Nashenas explains. “My father had a gramophone and we listened to other singers like Ustad Qasim Khan and Kundan Lal Saigal.” After unsuccessful initial forays into singing sessions for the station, he honed his skills as a writer, singer and musician, playing the harmonium. Inspired by a movie he had seen at the cinema, Nashenas wrote a new poem and sang on air again after the evening news, using the name ‘Nashenas’ (meaning ‘unknown’) for the first time. Following a wave of positive feedback from the public, he was given a new weekend slot and built his reputation through film song interpretations, famous poems set to music and his own compositions sung in Dari and Pashto.

Nashenas would witness turbulent times as Afghanistan found itself caught up in the Cold War and the early ‘90s civil war until it became too dangerous to stay in the country. Through a friend in the U.N., he was able to seek asylum for himself and his family and take up residence in London, continuing to work as a musician and giving concerts globally.

Most of Nashenas’ recordings during this period were only made for broadcast, later surfacing on singles through the Royal label in Iran. Life Is A Heavy Burden is compiled from these singles by Chris Menist and Mads Jensen. All tracks are remastered by The Carvery and both formats feature new liner notes including an interview with Nashenas. The album is part of the new United Sounds of Asia series curated by Chris Menist and Maft Sai of Paradise Bangkok.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Way I Love My Beloved
2. Your Sorrow Is Killing Me
3. Flower Had A Thorn
4. I Am Happy Alone
5. Life Is A Heavy Burden
6. O Beloved, The Sorrow Of Your Love Destroyed Me
7. The Author Of Destiny

Jeff Parker’s Forfolks — a new album of solo guitar works — was recorded by Graeme Gibson at Sholo Studio in Altadena, California (aka Jeff’s house) over two days in June 2021. It includes interpretations of Thelonious Monk’s “Ugly Beauty” and the standard “My Ideal,” plus six original compositions including "Four Folks," "La Jetée" (a tune he recorded with Tortoise in 1998), and four totally new loop-driven, stratiform works that marry melodic improvisation with electronic textures.

“It's a particular thing to hear Jeff play solo,” writes veteran Chicago musician and longtime Parker collaborator Matthew Lux in his liner notes for Forfolks. “He is an unusually selfless improviser, oftentimes laying out and highlighting the contributions of his band mates… On this recording, however, he is by himself, joined only by his own ideas, looped or frozen, to flesh out the music he's creating in his mind. Hearing him craft entire sound worlds on these eight selections gives us an opportunity to really see how Parker orders sound.”

Forfolks follows Parker’s critically acclaimed 2020 record Suite for Max Brown, which Pitchfork called an “effortlessly detailed album, full of tradition and experimentation that spans generations … It lives at the vanguard of new jazz music.” The album went on to debut at No. 1 on Billboard's Current Contemporary Jazz Chart.

TRACK LISTING

1. Off Om
2. Four Folks
3. My Ideal
4. Suffolk
5. Flour Of Fur
6. Ugly Beauty
7. Excess Success
8. La Jetée 

“The Body’s Chip King and Lee Buford have remained both consistently thrilling and impossibly prolific.” - Pitchfork

“The Body have become one of the most interesting and difficult to pin down groups in extreme music.” - Rolling Stone

In keeping with their penchant for veering in new directions, The Body’s work with producer OAA (aka AJ Wilson) doubles down on the duo’s sonic excavations at the nexus of electronic, noise and heavy music. On ‘Enemy of Love’, their percussive onslaught churns beneath a single mass of impossible magnitude that lurches and stutters as its gears grind in perpetual struggle.

The Body drummer Lee Buford’s signature obliterated volleys set a steady pace which Wilson bolsters with a multitude of rhythmic clicks, thuds and synthesizer squeals.

Guitarist and vocalist Chip King pours a cornucopia of volcanic noise-laden textures atop the throb, driving each piece to the absolute brink.

Wilson adeptly straddles the line between Buford and King, creating a provocative syncopating interplay as well as employing abrasive samples and synth that entirely blur the boundaries of King’s guitar and howl. The combination of the three is equal parts harrowing and intoxicating.

An exciting full-length collaboration following OAA’s appearance on The Body’s ‘Remixed’ from 2019.

Recorded in 2021 at Machines with Magnets by Seth Manchester (Liturgy, Battles, Mdou Moctar).

The Body have been an iconic force in heavy music for over two decades with a long history of collaborations. Recent collaborators include Full of Hell, Thou, BIG|BRAVE and Uniform.

TRACK LISTING

Devalued
Pseudocyesis
Hired Regard
Fortified Tower
Obsessed Luxury
Conspiracy Privilege
Barren Of Joy
Miserable Freedom
Ignorant Messiah
Docile Gift

Recorded over two studio sessions, As I Try Not To Fall Apart is White Lies’ most expansive record to date, taking in explosive rock, electro-pop bangers, prog-inspired invention, funk-tinged grooves and some of their most indelible hooks yet.

Working with Mittendorfer, formative versions of swaggering album opener Am I Really Going To Die and the airy rock of the title track were captured, whilst another round of songwriting at Buller’s house ahead of a second recording session really got them firing. “It got us on the same page,” says McVeigh. Soon a coherent album was emerging out of the mist, a record that streamlined everything great about White Lies from across their career: razor-sharp hooks, dark lyrical wit, defiant singalongs, airy soundscapes and dynamic instrumentation.

Throughout they meld their love of pop and prog - opener Am I Really Going To Die features a ruminative lyric on mortality inspired by the 2000 film Ivans Xtc and is one of the funkiest things they’ve ever done, Chic guitars and a lithe bassline building under McVeigh’s quickfire vocals. “Me and Charles are big prog fans,” says McVeigh. The title track, meanwhile, is a euphoric pop gem. “That’s a really important song for us,” says Lawrence-Brown. “I think it will define what the next chapter is. It’s the poppiest thing we’ve ever done.” The rattling stomp of I Don’t Want To Go To Mars was inspired by Elon Musk and the billionaire space race and Blue Drift combines acid-house grooves with widescreen 80s production. There’s a sonic gear change with The End, which sounds like an atmospheric Cure song being sent into space, and There Is No Cure For It – lyrically, a sequel to the opener – ends the record on a soaring, scintillating high.

It’s well over a decade since the band’s breakthrough single Death introduced a group for whom the fragility of human existence has been a constant touchstone. Now in his 30s, chief lyricist Cave’s outlook on the great unknown has evolved. “I think the side of death or mortality that I always find interesting is the fact we all know it’s going to happen,” he says, “and how different people navigate that.”

“We’ll probably never make an album in the way we made this one again,” says Cave. “I think this could be one of our best” says McVeigh. White Lies tested their resolve to get there, but they didn’t fall apart. They have emerged with their most vital collection of songs in years.

TRACK LISTING

1. Am I Really Going To Die
2. As I Try Not To Fall Apart
3. Breathe
4. I Don’t Want To Go To Mars
5. Step Outside
6. Roll December
7. Ragworm
8. Blue Drift
9. The End
10. There Is No Cure For It

The Twilight Sad’s third full-length, No One Can Ever Know, marks a sonic shift for the band. Freshly inspired by a listening diet of Cabaret Voltaire, Can, Liars, Magazine, Autechre, and Public Image Limited, the band turn to a dark, synth-heavy sound for No One Can Ever Know; the resulting LP shares thematic and sonic space with the most innovative offerings from Depeche Mode, The Cure, or even Nine Inch Nails. “We wanted to be a lot more spontaneous, get outside our comfort zone - not to fall back into repeating what we’ve done previously,” explains guitarist Andy MacFarlane. “So we moved to London for a month to record at The Pool and got Andrew Weatherall involved to bounce ideas off and to generally reassure us of the direction we were already progressing in – toward a sparser sound, with a colder, slightly militant feel.”

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Alphabet
2. Dead City
Side B
3. Sick
4. Don’t Move
Side C
5. Nil
6. Don’t Look At Me
7. Not Sleeping
Side D
8. Another Bed
9. Kill It In The Morning

São Paulo-based carnival collective and brass band combine retro horns with cumbia, baile funk, jazz, Michael Jackson & more

A Espetacular Charanga do França started as a political act, part of a recent movement which has seen the people of São Paulo reclaim their streets, turning their city into a revelation of Brazilian carnival. The group takes equal inspiration from the powerful charanga horn and percussion bands that stir the crowds at Brazilian football matches, and the expertly-arranged sounds of 60s samba, finding that sweet spot between musicianship and music that makes you lose your shit. And they do it with humour, clear as day in their covers of Michael Jackson and pagode pop hits, and the baile funk and Balkan rhythms that sneak their way in to the tunes.

Since forming in 2013 the group have become an iconic staple of São Paulo’s revived carnival, generating crowds 15,000 strong. Though COVID-19 put a stop to them hitting the streets this year, in 2020 they made their way to carnival with over 60 brass players and 30 percussionists, declaring their bloco an anti-fascist zone, their reply to a political climate in Brazil that is suffocating human rights, culture and any hope for equality.

“I like to think that Charanga is an oasis in the middle of all the shit that we live, where you don't have to be worried about who you are, what are your preferences, whether you can be comfortable. If you want to parade with us wearing a tea towel you can, you won't be harassed. And it's also about music, it's about listening to music. We do this thing the whole year, we rehearse all year, we do too much so that people can just get crazy and not care about the music.” Thiago França

The group is the brainchild of saxophonist Thiago França, best known as a founding member of Afro-punk explorers Metá-Metá, and one of São Paulo’s most in-demand horn men, with credits on influential albums by Criolo, Elza Soares, Céu and Lucas Santtana. A Espetacular Charanga do França is, without question, his most personal and powerful project to date. It maps his life and career: his time listening to the charanga (horn and percussion band) of his local football team, Atletico Mineiro; his formative years playing classic sambas and marchinhas in São Paulo nightclubs; the fervour of hearing frevo and maracatu at Recife-Olinda carnival; the cumbias he discovered in Colombia; his love for 60s samba sax players like Paulo Moura, Zé Bodega and the Sax Sambistas ensemble. All of these experiences flow into the group’s sound which, either as a 100-strong bloco or a smaller ensemble for recording, carries an urgent potency that could only arrive from a band designed to perform for thousands of people on the streets, reliant on their unamplified instruments and collective presence to unify the people in revelry and deliver a clear message of inclusion and respect.

“The idea of the charanga, to play acoustically to a lot of people, to get this vibe going on, is an energy thing. You have to play powerfully, you have to blow very hard to get heard. You know when you go to see a concert and people are playing really smooth and the arrangements are very intrinsic, the dynamics are very controlled so everything can sound right? The charanga is the opposite of this, you have to play as loud as you can. There was always something special in this concept. You had to really put yourself into it.” Thiago França

TRACK LISTING

A1. Hasta La Cumbia
A2. Carnaval Arco-Íris - Feat. Verônica Ferriani
A3. Vem Desacatar - Feat. Lucas Santtana
A4. Cadê Renan
A5. Eu Te Conheço - Feat. Suzana Salles
A6. Cheia De Manias **ALBUM EXCLUSIVE**
B1. O Capitão Do Sax - Feat. Juçara Marçal
B2. Cara Do Apetite - Feat. Tulipa Ruiz
B3. Shabab’La
B4. O Trombonista
B5. Hino Da Charanguinha - Feat. Verônica Ferriani
B6. Nao Para (Don’t Stop'Til You Get Enough) - **ALBUM EXCLUSIVE**
B7. Oba Ina

The follow-up to the critically acclaimed Revolution Of Mind, which was named among BBC 6 Music’s Albums Of The Year, is produced by Ross Orton (Arctic Monkeys, The Fall, The Kills, Working Men’s Club). 

Under the moniker She Drew The Gun, songwriter Louisa Roach began by playing solo gigs around Liverpool, she quickly caught the attention of The Coral’s James Skelly who she began working with at Skeleton Key Records, recruiting band members along the way. At first glance Roach’s fuzzy psych-pop may suggest that the Wirral born songwriter is another ‘Cosmic Scouser’ but then you’re drawn into the spirit of rebellion, songs that rally against injustice and food banks and celebrate outsiderdom.

Roach was late to music, releasing her first LP ‘Memories of the future’ after a decade of motherhood and studying at college. The second LP ‘ Revolution of Mind’, released October 2018, again produced by James Skelly, continued the fine work laid out on her 2016 debut. Announced in the top 10 albums of 2018 by BBCRadio6 Music, the record was one of the runaway indie successes of the year. In 2019 the band completed a sold out UK tour and played a string of UK festivals including main stage performances at Glastonbury and Blue Dot among others. In 2020 the band played virtual gigs to help raise money for Greenpeace and the Music Venue Trust among others and look forward to a proper return to live music.

TRACK LISTING

1. Origin Song
2. Next On The List
3. Behave Myself
4. Diamonds In Our Eyes
5. Cut Me Down
6. Class War
7. Innerspeak
8. Panopticon
9. All Roads To Nowhere
10. Roses Tale

Night Creature is the antidote to our collective recent experience, a slipstream into the alluring world that comes to life after dark. The album includes previously released singles ‘Got Me’ featuring Australian multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Julia Stone on vocals in an incredible first collaboration from the pair, as well as ‘Run To You’ and ‘True Love To The Grave’ both featuring Claudia Kane, which were brought together in an epic queer gothic female assassin short film across two music videos.

Written, produced, engineered, mixed and performed by Maya, Night Creature features a stellar line up of international guests alongside Julia Stone & Claudia Kane, including Berlin-based Lie Ning on ‘Hypnotised’ and Swedish-Norwegian Karin Park on ‘Light’.

On the album, Maya shared: “When it comes to my music making, I’ve pretty much always been a creature of the night. My creativity tends to work at its best during those peaceful hours when my surroundings are at a standstill and I feel completely in my own world. Then on the flip side, in the club, the night can shift into some of the most energetic and ecstatic moments in time. For me, Night Creature interweaves those moments, crossing over dark to light, melancholic to energetic, my favourite kind of music to make. The incredible guest vocalists totally elevate my music to a new level on this record and I’ve spent more time on it than any release I’ve ever worked on so I’m extremely excited to finally be able to share it with the world and hope that you all like it as much as I do! <3 Maya x”

TRACK LISTING

A1. Night Creature
A2. True Love To The Grave (feat. Claudia Kane)
A3. N31
A4. Run To You (feat. Claudia Kane)
B1. Die Hard
B2. Devil's Dance
B3. Hypnotised (feat. Lie Ning)
B4. Show Me Love (feat. Claudia Kane)
C1. Monday Mood
C2. Survival Mode
C3. Got Me (feat. Julia Stone)
C4. Need
D1. Come With Me (feat. Claudia Kane)
D2. Light (feat. Karin Park)
D3. Slooow Jam
D4. Ending

"We never seem to take the easy road and we never seem to fit in. We are never in step with what is going on, we’re always the weird kids, with our own weird ideas, following our own weird path." - Blood Red Shoes

TRACK LISTING

1. WATER
2. MISERY LOVES COMPANY
3. A LITTLE LOVE
4. CLOSER
5. XØXØ
6. ON THE HOOK

90’s reggae talent pool, Xterminator records was really quite revolutionary. Owner Philip Burrell and his largely Rastafarian clan of sessions musicians had an almost spiritual, gilded hand when it came to producing hits. If you recorded for Fatis, you went into the studio empty-handed - no lyrics - and put your trust in the Almighty. That was the rule and the artists who passed through Xterminator had to really feel what they were singing or deejaying about.

The first chapter in this incredible label’s legacy is presented here with twelve iconic tracks recorded at the legendary studios. It’s to their eternal credit that the music they made over twenty years ago can still play in today’s reggae dancehalls, and that the lyrical messages continue to be of relevance. That’s the strength and beauty of these recordings, which Global Beats have now lovingly restored and represented anew.

TRACK LISTING

1. Luciano - Ulterior Motive
2. Sugar Minott - Run Things
3. Morgan Heritage - Bubble In The Struggle
4. Ini Kamoze - Hot Steppa
5. Gregory Isaacs - Make Me Prosper
6. Sizzla - Taking Over
7. Frankie Paul - Gimme That Portion
8. Sanchez - Praise Him
9. Cocoa Tea - Good Life
10. Capleton - Stand Tall
11. Jah Cure - Trod In The Valley
12. Beres Hammond - Hold On

“I’m always changing,” Esther Rose sings at the top of her sophomore album, You Made It This Far. The line is at once a promise and a plea, a concise distillation of her commitment to evolution as well as her dogged determination to meet every challenge in her path with unconditional acceptance. Laid-back yet deliberate, her delivery here marries old-school country and rural folk with a plainspoken philosophy that’s thoroughly modern, and the end result is a record that’s as joyful as it is restless, one that weaves fiddle and lap steel around profound revelations, late night conversations, and all the moments in between.

“There’s this theme of radical acceptance running through the whole album,” explains Rose, who recorded the album live to tape at Mashed Potato Records in New Orleans in just four days. “I didn’t realize it until after I’d finished writing the songs, but they all came from this place of trying to understand and truly accept myself and others in our most vulnerable moments of confusion or despair.”

A New Orleanian for the last decade, Rose first gained national prominence with the release of 2017’s This Time Last Night, an intoxicating debut that prompted Fader to praise her “honest, gorgeous country songs” and rave that “her voice has a pitched-up June Carter quality, her melodies are simple like Jimmie Rodgers’s, and her tone is reminiscent of bluesy, lovelorn greats like Rex Griffin and Patsy Cline.” The record earned Rose festival performances from Savannah Stopover to AmericanaFest alongside dates with The Punch Brothers, Pokey Lafarge, and The Deslondes, and it even caught the ear of fellow Detroit native Jack White, who was so taken with the music that he invited Rose to duet with him on his Boarding House Reach album and to share the stage for a live performance at Jazz Fest.

While writing the songs that would become You Made It This Far, Rose found herself working through a period of tumultuous change, grappling with a breakup, a move, and a family illness all at once. Splitting her time between New Mexico and New Orleans, she pondered what it takes to love and to be loved, to be vulnerable enough to let someone in and brave enough to face the pain when they’re gone.

TRACK LISTING

1. Always Changing
2. Handyman
3. Five Minute Drive
4. Only Loving You
5. Sex And Magic
6. Lower 9 Valentine
7. Three
8. Rio En Medio
9. You Made It This Far
10. Don't Blame It On The Moon

First new album from Urge Overkill in a decade. The alternative rock pioneers are best known for their cover of Neil Diamond's "Girl You'll Be a Woman Soon", which was popularized in the film "Pulp Fiction".

TRACK LISTING

1. Freedom!
2. A Necessary Evil
3. Follow My Shadow
4. How Sweet The Light
5. I Been Ready
6. A Prisoner’s Dilemma
7. Forgiven
8. Totem Pole
9. Litany
10. I Can’t Stay Glad@U
11. Won’t Let Go
12. Snow

The second album by Empath is full to brim with gems that stick in your head. The sound is chaotic and raw but totally locked in. If you imagine Alvvays or Veronica Falls but produced by one of the Elephant 6 Collective then, then this is Visitor by Empath. In other words magical!! Ask the members of Empath how things have changed since the release of their critically-acclaimed 2019 album, Active Listening: Night on Earth, and they’ll downplay it. Now, Empath release their sophomore full-length, Visitor, via Fat Possum, marking a seismic shift for the scrappy quartet who came up playing shows on Northeastern DIY circuits and now have just completed a tour with Modest Mouse. While the album holds steadfast to the careening, joyous noise Empath staked their name on, Visitor was produced by Jake Portrait, making it the first release the band has recorded with a producer in a formal studio.

TRACK LISTING

1. Genius Of Evil
2. Elvis Comeback
3. Born 100 Times
4. 80s
5. V
6. Diamond Eyelids
7. Passing Stranger
8. Bell
9. Paradise
10. Corner Of Surprise
11. House + Surprise

First-ever vinyl release of landmark Ziad Rahbani album recorded in 1985 and only released on cassette and CD in 1991

Mixing funk, jazz, boogie, it is released for the first time on vinyl with remastered audio and new liner notes by Lebanese DJ and curator Ernesto Chahoud. In the early 80's, Rahbani created a landmark album, 'Houdou Nisbi' now considered one of the best jazz funk albums from the Middle East. Featuring such cult tracks as "Rouh Khabbir", a remake of the Crusaders' "Soul Shadow" sung by Rahbani himself, the modern soul of "Bisaraha" and the Brazilian flavoured "For Sure", the album is both effortlessly groovy and steeped in Oriental music. Held as "one of Lebanon's best kept Musical treasures' by Ernesto Chahoud in his notes, the album is a certified Rahbani cult classic.

"Houdou Nisbi," which means "relatively calm", an expression used by news anchors on Lebanese TV to describe the mood during cease-fire in the civil war between 1975 and 1990 - has been remastered for vinyl from the original masters by David Hachour at Coloursound Studio in Paris. The artwork has faithfully been reproduced for the enlarged format. An iconic cover highlighting the strange life in war ravaged Beirut during the cease-fire and in line with the political stance of Rahbani, a self proclaimed non- religious leftist. Wewantsounds is delighted to bring the first-ever vinyl release of this iconic album to the world.

TRACK LISTING

Bala Wala Chi
Houdou Nisbi
Nafs Al Sheghlat
Yalla Kichou Barra
Ma Tfel
Bil Nisbi La Boukra
Bisaraha
5 To 7 PM
Rouh Khabbir
For Sure
Khalas
Finale

First new stuff since his 2020 album, "Are You Happy Now?" comes in the shape of this two track 7" single.

"How We Drift" is a punchy sub 3 minute pop blast, with choppy guitars and melodic vocals over a relentless drum rattle. But "Only Time Can Break Your Heart" is the one for me. Super-melodic pop reminiscent of Big Star or Teenage Fanclub, with gorgeous guitar jangles and a breezy vocal melody.

Lovely stuff!

TRACK LISTING

How We Drift
Only Time Can Break Your Heart

Reissue of Ella Fitzgerald's 1969 album of funky big-band cover versions, conducted by and featuring Tommy Flanagan on piano.

Ella Fitzgerald singing Eric Clapton's "Sunshine of Your Love", or the Beatles' "Hey Jude"? Something of a revelation for those who know Fitzgerald as purely a jazz singer. Ella's pristine clarity of earlier years, now tinged with a throaty worldliness, is a perfect foil to her choices from the world of rock and pop. It also adds new depth to such standards as "Give Me the Simple Life", "Old Devil Moon", and Burt Bachrach's "A House is Not a Home".

Recorded "live", the album is divided into a big band set and Ella with her longtime accompaniment, the Tommy Flanagan trio. Pianist Flanagan is simply one of the all-time greats. After listening to this, how can you not be a fan of Ella's?

Includes the original liner notes from Norman Granz, who produced this record.

TRACK LISTING

Hey Jude
Sunshine Of Your Love
This Girl's In Love With You
Watch What Happens
Alright, Okay, You Win
Useless Landscape
Old Devil Moon
Don'cha Go 'Way Mad
A House Is Not A Home
Trouble Is A Man
Love You Madly
Give Me The Simple Life

Dashboard Confessional's ninth studio album, All The Truth That I Can Tell, is both a remarkable renewal and fortunate step forward for the band's songwriter, front man, and founder, Chris Carrabba.

All The Truth That I Can Tell stands among Carrabba's finest – a strikingly potent musical look at himself through a rediscovered keyhole, both an achievement of vision and a vital burst of artistic clarity; less like reading someone's diary and more like reading their eyes.

TRACK LISTING

Burning Heart
Everyone Else Is Just Noise
Here's To Moving On
The Better Of Me
Southbound And Sinking
Sleep In / Me And Mine
Sunshine State
Pain Free In Three Chords
Young
All The Truth That I Can Tell

This collection brings together six pioneering figures whose legacies encapsulate the very essence of the Delta blues - the cornerstone of American popular music and the bedrock of rock'n'roll.

Like arrows through time, these seminal tracks belie the age in which they were recorded. Seminal recordings by six Mississippi Delta blues legends - Skip James, Tommy Johnson, Bukka White, Charley Patton, Willie Brown and Son House. Following on from the success of other blues titles in the Rough Guide range this is a must-have album for blues and guitar enthusiasts. All the tracks have been lovingly remastered using pioneering restoration techniques.

TRACK LISTING

Skip James - Devil Got My Woman
Tommy Johnson - Cool Drink Of Water Blues
Bukka White - Fixin' To Die Blues
Charley Patton - It Won't Be Long
Willie Brown - Future Blues
Son House - My Black Mama - Part 1
Skip James - I'm So Glad
Tommy Johnson - Canned Heat Blues
Bukka White - Shake 'Em On Down
Charley Patton - I'm Goin' Home
Willie Brown - M & O Blues
Son House - Walkin' Blues

On in february, Isik Kural works like a photographer of sound, documenting the passing and returning of time as if material snapshots of life’s temporality. Across the album’s twelve songs, each composed from chance loops and cocooned within the soft container of Isik’s memorable voice and melody play, time is held on to hopefully, impossibly, eternally.

Born in Istanbul, Isik studied music engineering at the University of Miami, alighted in New York City, and eventually settled in Glasgow, immersing in a sound design masters and audiovisual practice. While these paths guided him between different projects and cities, a voice was simultaneously growing inside the artist, informed by a vision of the world in its everyday luminosity. This voice was expressed in the lyrical and instrumental waves of 2019's As Flurries, a cassette collection for Italian label Almost Halloween Records.

It was during a brief trip home to Istanbul in 2019 that the invisible details of in february were first exposed. While assisting on a session at his old haunt Babajim Recording Studios, Isik happened upon a beautiful piano, the kind “in which you hear a melody with the touch of a single note.” A looped segment from a recording of improvised tinkering on the instrument formed the basis “pillow of a thought,” which christens Isik’s new album. A bed for a passing notion, image, moment.

Adopting this novel way of working, Isik produced another twelve passages made from loops of unexpected recordings, nothing over three minutes. Eschewing both compositional plans and live performance proclivities, which had informed previous creative explorations, Isik sought a more instantaneous effect. Minute nylon string refrains, lilting synthesizer hums, and a scrap of a chamber recital are collaged with sympathetic verse and synesthetic details captured around Glasgow and activated at Green Door Studios.

Literary images also accompany the sensory of in february, weaving wanderlust symbolism through these spiraling studio and field documents. At the center of the album, “lo si aspetta” and “che si aspetta,” are titled after a telling line from Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Long Road of Sand. Other word works are yoked to this promise. A verse by Turkish poet Gulten Akin, which connects the weather to lost friendship, meets a translation of Sophokles by Anne Carson in “yeniden,” one of three collaborations with vocalist Stephanie Roxanne Ward, pka spefy, on in February.

Isik treads lightly between the streams of poetry, sound and photography across in february, together impressing an imagistic lightness and immediacy. Although quick as the blink of a camera’s eye or the brush of two hands in passing, the brevity of these works should not be taken for granted: they whisper into each other with elaborate detail, intuitively papered over old and new stories of love and longing.

Isik Kural’s in february will be released on February 11, 2022 on vinyl, cassette, compact disc, and digital formats. On behalf of Isik, a portion of the proceeds from this release will benefit Turkiye Egitim Gonulluleri Vakfi, an organization that creates and conducts workshops, educational training programs and after school programs for children across Turkey.

TRACK LISTING

01. Pillow Of A Thought
02. Simdi Iki
03. Paperhat
04. Pineapples And Lime
05. Hopefullyhopefully
06. Coral Gables (feat. Spefy)
07. Lo Si Aspetta
08. Che Si Aspetta
09. Sevdiklerine
10. Yeniden (feat. Spefy)
11. Berceuse (feat. Spefy)
12. Slippin
13. Film Festival

“This area of the throat,” says Chelsea Jade, resting three fingers roughly where her neck meets her chest. “It’s particularly soft, and it's connected ... it's halfway between the heart and the mouth. And that's an interesting place of vulnerability.”

Soft Spot, the Los Angeles-based New Zealand artist’s second album, dwells somewhere between feeling and expression, certainty and doubt. It ventures beyond the exploration of delusions of grandeur that formed the focus of the critically acclaimed Personal Best (2018), and simultaneously promotes and undermines romance, specifically, in a more solemn way.

“Less glib,” offers Jade, who has opened for Lorde and Cat Power among others. Still deliciously glib in places: “Give your worst my best,” she sings on the wryly antagonizing, bass-heavy “Tantrum in Duet.” Soft Spot’s big pop tracks go hard on the interpersonal, physical and amorous, inviting the listener to entertain flirtation, lust, sex, even the experience, rare during its recording in 2020, of being in a room with more than three other people.

With the reinforcement of composition and arrangement by Leroy James Clampitt (Justin Bieber) and production by Brad Hale (Now, Now), Jade conjures up atmospheres conducive to feelings of place and potential. Created during a once-in-a-century pandemic, the album is an evocative assembly of found parts: recordings of sentences and asides delivered by friends, the sound of rain in LA, or the distant voice of bureaucracy against a backdrop of hold music. Seeming choruses were produced to give that impression, layered submission by individual vocal submission. On “Best Behavior,” the record’s danciest track, this illusory energy reaches its euphoric height.

The record transports the listener from speaker-side at a club, to wandering a party, to sitting at an open window with a pianist nearby. It shifts effortlessly from expansive sold-out-show sound to ethereal, twinkling detail. The writing on Soft Spot outwits even its clever, resourceful production, the lyrics a testament to the multi award-winning songwriter’s belief in the pop format as a venue for prose. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Soft Spot
2. Optimist
3. Superfan
4. Best Behaviour
5. Big Spill
6. Good Taste
7. Tantrum In Duet
8. Real Pearl
9. Night Swimmer

‘Alluvium’ is the fourth album from C Duncan, Glasgow’s classically trained multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter, released through Bella Union. After the haunting raptures of Architect (2015), the Twilight Zone-inspired reveries of The Midnight Sun (2016) and the richly melodic Health (2019), Alluvium is a sublime palate-refresher for Duncan (C for Christopher), brimming with revitalised fluency: a warming dispatch from the daylight zone, if you like.

TRACK LISTING

Air
Heaven
We Have A Lifetime
Bell Toll
Lullaby
Torso
Pretending
You Don’t Come Around
I Tried
Sad Dreams
Alluvium
Earth
The Wedding Song
Upon The Table

The established heavy hitting outfit, Nicepeople, kick things off for 2022 in true style. Dropping early next year is their latest slice of house heaven, the package comes in the shape of three originals from Gourment De Funk, and a nostalgic 'Chicago Boogie' trip with the legendary Roy Davis Jr. Sounds good already, right?

Title track 'A Love Supreme' initiates proceedings on the A side, slick percussion teases you into a journey of funk bliss, warm and infectious bass taking you on a cruise, with feel good strings all working in sweet harmony to make this a must have record. On a more driven tip is 'The Way You Move' another animated groove experience, and boasts some smooth sax action for the fans amongst us.

Roy Davis Jr’s 'Chicago Boogie' remix of 'The Way You Move' is an upbeat number for the peak time dance floors out there. The irresistible bass totally takes over your movements, you can not help but to move to a track like this, the veteran producer certainly not letting us down with this one, fitting the ethos of the label, and yet crammed with the signature sound we have all come to adore from Roy over the years. Closing off the EP is the 'Never Lost (GDF Morning Dub)' seductive deep house for the early morning dancers, crisp hi-hats brushing by as you feel yourself swallowed up into the clouds, one for the dreamers.

Nicepeople never seem to take the pedal off the gas, consistently pushing their brand and propelling top shelf house music from an array of inspiring producers of old and new, and they begin next year exactly as they mean to go on.

TRACK LISTING

A1. A Love Supreme
A2. The Way You Move
B1. The Way You Move (Roy Davis Jr. Chicago Boogie Mix)
B2. Never Lost (G.D.F Early Morning Dub)

Reissue number three for Heels & Souls Recordings combines the Balearic bliss of Paprika Soul’s, ‘Come With Me’, with Soft Sugar’s dream house gem ‘Métro’ and an unreleased version of the tripped-out groover ‘Swampin'. A cherry picking of the best of three rare and sought after ‘90s EPs from the minds of High Wycombe’s Alan Barnes, Andrew Spiller and Andrew Hughes.

As anthemic as they get, Paprika Soul's 'Come With Me (Sea Breeze)' is an otherworldly electronic interpretation of Tania Maria’s beloved Brazilian jazz funk classic from '83. Vocalist Sarah Newell's unique delivery combines with a euphoric blend of Barnes’ and Spiller’s crisp drum machine programming and cosmic synthwork. Complete with crashing waves and Balearic birds, it’s a timeless, endorphin-tingling track that feels even more relevant than ever. The A-side also features the brilliant street soul flavoured ‘The Chill’ mix and the ‘Bossa Mix’, the most true in form to the original.

On the flip you’ll find Soft Sugar’s dream house flavoured ‘Métro (Funk Mix)’, Barnes and Andrew Hughes’ homage to time spent cruising the Parisian train system. Barnes’ favourite of their joint-productions, it blends that riviera feel of classic M1 stabs and sweeping pads with a dreamy bassline and stuttering breaks. Flying under the radar at the time, it’s since become hot property for the eagle-eyed digger out there.

Closing out the B, an unreleased, alternate version of Soft Sugar’s slung-back ‘Swampin’ from their Basement Records House Department EP. Mesmerizingly smooth, the 110bpm house-groover busts the brain with wigged out chants and intoxicating arpeggiations.

Fully licensed from Alan Barnes and remastered by Cicely Balston, 20% of profits from Heels & Souls Recordings and Prime Direct Distribution will be donated to Zaatari Radio – a humanitarian collective working with war-affected communities around the world.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Paprika Soul - Come With Me (Sea Breeze)
A2. Paprika Soul - Come With Me (The Chill)
A3. Paprika Soul - Come With Me (Bossa Mix)
B1. Soft Sugar - Métro (Funk Mix)
B2. Soft Sugar - Swampin (Alternate Mix)

SlothBoogie Records welcomes Deep House maestro DJ Aakmael onto its roster this March with ‘The Hardbody Project’ EP, comprised of four original compositions from the Richmond, US-based artist.

Across the past decade and a half DJ Aakmael has unveiled an impressive back catalogue of soul-drenched, dynamic deep house via revered imprints such as Uzuri, Church, Scissor & Thread, Freerange and Second Hand Records amongst many more. Here we see his latest material perfectly interlace with SlothBoogie Records own impressive back catalogue of bumping house and raw deep cuts.

Leading the release is ‘Hardbody’, laid out across seven minutes with chopped brass samples, bright key sequences, modulating Moogesque resonant leads and shuffled drums before ‘Track 166’ shifts focus over to a deeper aesthetic via dubbed out chord swells, organic percussion and twinkling piano melodies.

The aptly named ‘Deepshyt’ opens the flip side, as the name would suggest employing an amalgamation of deep and entrancing synth work, crisp drums and spoken word vocal chants. ‘Strobe’ then rounds out the release with a more disco-tinged House feel, fusing together funk guitar licks, cinematic strings and a snaking bass groove atop Aakmael’s signature swinging rhythmic feel.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Hardbody
A2. Track 166
B1. Deepshyt
B2. Strobe

Robert Johnson stands at the crossroads of American music. He became the frst modern bluesman, evolving the country blues of the Mississippi Delta. Johnson was a songwriter of searing depth and a guitar player with a commanding ability that inspired every blues artist that followed in his wake.

This essential LP contains the most celebrated numbers of Robert Johnson. It compiles twenty master recordings waxed in San Antonio and Dallas, between 1936 and 1937. Highlights include "Sweet Home Chicago," "Come On In My Kitchen," "Love In Vain," "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom," and Johnson's biggest hit "Terraplane Blues," a popular song on jukeboxes throughout the South.

"The music of Robert Johnson has inspired a million riffs. The myth of Robert Johnson has inspired a million dreams." - Jimmy Page.

TRACK LISTING

Sweet Home Chicago
Come On In My Kitchen
Me And The Devil Blues
Love In Vain Blues
Preachin' Blues (Up Jumped The Devil)
Kind Hearted Woman Blues
I Believe I'll Dust My Broom
Drunken Hearted Man
Hell Hound On My Trail
Walkin' Blues
Cross Road Blues
Ramblin' On My Mind
They're Red Hot
Raveling Riverside Blues
32-20 Blues
Malted Milk
Stones In My Passway
When You Got A Good Friend
Terraplane Blues
From Four Until Late

Midlake are a relatively small indie band, so the level of ambition they display on ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’ is to be commended. From the opening track, ‘Roscoe’, with its laconic lyrics and slowly building chorus, they manage to recreate perfectly the sound of 1980s Fleetwood Mac, a band not known for thinking small.

And though the rest of the album doesn’t quite reach the heady heights of this opener, it’s not for a lack of trying (particularly on ‘Head Home’). The remainder of ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’ is considerably more downbeat, with distant flutes complementing the vocal harmonies of songs like ‘Bandits’ and ‘Branches’.

Where Midlake particularly excel, though, is when, like Grandaddy before them, they draw their inspiration from the classic rock that they seem to love so much, adapting and modernising it. So in addition to the anthemic ‘Roscoe’, they evoke the Gram Parsons-era Byrds or even The Band on ‘Van Occupanther’ and the road-ready ‘It Covers the Hillsides’.

‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’ is an album that's steeped in musical history yet possessing an identity all its own.

Released on 180g gold vinyl to celebrate a new Midlake album for 2022 and also the 15th anniversary of ‘The Trials of Van Occupanther’ last year.

TRACK LISTING

Roscoe
Bandits
Head Home
Van Occupanther
Young Bride
Branches
In This Camp
We Gathered In Spring
It Covers The Hillsides
Chasing After Deer
You Never Arrived

“The record was written from a place of wanting to escape the walls of my own apartment, I wrote it imagining freedom and dancing and people being able to hold each other again. I spent so much time on zoom day and night just writing words and melodies and before I knew it I’d written an albums worth of material. I felt a wild and animalistic feeling of needing and wanting to socialise again come out whilst writing and the feelings just didn’t stop. I felt like being in my apartment and being so isolated made me really dig deep into my mind and my imagination just ran wild. Most of the music is a celebration but some of the music comes from a painful place, of loss and heartbreak. I felt trapped and almost like my insides were dancing but I couldn’t express it, but in writing it allowed me to feel free again. This record feels like a new start and the ability to come back to life after such a strange time of us all being alone.” - Foxes.

TRACK LISTING

Sister Ray
The Kick
Growing On Me
Potential
Dance Magic
Body Suit
Absolute
Two Kinds Of Silence
Forgive Yourself
Gentleman
Sky Love
Too Much Colour

Daniel Rossen, the lead vocalist and instrumentalist of era-epitomizing act Grizzly Bear, announces his first-ever solo LP, You Belong There, via Warp Records. 

The landscape surrounding You Belong There is Daniel Rossen’s sophisticated and visceral consideration of what comes after the restless enthusiasm and public fanfare of your youth. It's a riveting 10-song reintroduction to a voice that sounds both entirely familiar and fully re-energized by the act of unfettered expression and newfound self-sovereignty. These songs explore the personally uncharted territory of adulthood, including the troubles left behind and the possibilities that wait ahead.

For nearly two decades, Rossen had been a crucial component of Grizzly Bear, whose shared harmonies and interlaced textures reimagined music of the early aughts. He is also a founding member of the acclaimed folk and electronica outfit Department of Eagles. Rossen left the close-knit nest of Brooklyn many years ago, first for an isolated patch of land in upstate New York and then for Santa Fe, where he slowly built the world that is You Belong There largely in his high desert home. Rossen bought himself an upright bass (one of his instruments as a kid), along with the cello and performed almost all of the parts on the album himself, with Chris Bear of Grizzly Bear contributing as a rare guest on “Tangle.” Best known as a guitarist, Rossen took up woodwinds, too, buying several cheap student models and learning just enough to understand the rudiments.

You Belong There follows Rossen’s 2012 EP, Silent Hour/Golden Mile, critically acclaimed and rated an 8.0 by Pitchfork, who called it a “majestic song cycle full of fingerpicked notes that babble like tributaries.”

TRACK LISTING

A1. It's A Passage
A2. Shadow In The Frame
A3. You Belong There
A4. Unpeopled Space
A5. Celia
B1. Tangle
B2. I'll Wait For Your Visit
B3. Keeper And Kin
B4. The Last One
B5. Repeat The Pattern

Emotional Eternal, the third studio album from Melody’s Echo Chamber, is a deeply human collection of songs full of prolonged moments of sonic transcendency – a record that clearly exhibits its maturity but still regards the world with a childlike wonder. Having swapped Paris for the clean air of the Alps, Melody hopes the record “has that uplifting quality. I made some big and impactful decisions and changes to my life. It took me to where it is peaceful, and I think the record reflects this.”

'Born Losers’ is Altameda’s strongest album to date. Recorded in Toronto, ON by Thomas D’Arcy (Neko Case, The Sheepdogs) and mixed in Portland, OR by Tucker Martine (My Morning Jacket, Whitney, REM) the newest offering shows immense growth, both musically and personally. Grappling with family tragedy, love lost, and the countless miles in between. The record is both lyrically nuanced and compositionally lush. It is clear that the band have a bright future ahead. It features the previous tracks ‘Dead Man’s Suit’ and ‘Wheel Of Love’.

It will be the follow-up to 2019’s Hasn’t Changed You. Full and resounding, cutting and dynamic, Altameda’s sophomore record is full of all that makes life a beautiful mess. Brought along by warm bass lines, bluesy rhythms and the sweet whir of the wurlitzer, vocalist Troy Snaterse’s lyrics burn with nostalgia and present desire, made vivid by his talk-like cadences and emotional peaks. It will lift you out of your seat—then all at once send you spiralling down to the kitchen floor.

TRACK LISTING

1. Dead Man’s Suit
2. Neon (& That’s Why)
3. Wheel Of Love
4. I’m Here For You
5. Sweet Susie
6. Everybody’s Gotta Bleed
7. Just Me & You
8. Born Losers
9. Nightmare Town
10. Ramona Retreat
11. In Time, They Say

The second album from Hatchie, ‘Giving The World Away’ is the truest introduction to the songwriter at the helm of the project, Harriette Pilbeam. Although her sound arrived fully-formed, a dazzling dream-pop and shoegaze tangle, it’s here that she distills the core of herself into a record.

“There's more to me than just writing songs about being in love or being heartbroken -- there's a bigger picture than that,” Pilbeam explains. “This album really just feels like the beginning to me, and scratching the surface – and even though it’s my third release as Hatchie, I feel like I’m rebooting from scratch.”

For Pilbeam, that bigger picture explored here includes confronting her anxieties after decades of compartmentalisation; realising her own self-confidence and self-esteem; taking control of her own narrative, and her place in both her professional and personal life. On ‘Giving the World Away,’ she held herself to higher standards, especially with personal lyrical precision. At the time she started working on it, she was caught in a strange headspace. When 2018 EP Sugar & Spice and subsequent debut LP Keepsake both arrived to critical acclaim and catapulted Hatchie into an international spotlight, she felt both unsure of herself and an intense, self-imposed pressure to keep going forward. Trapped in constant motion, Pilbeam was unable to be present or appreciative of herself, both professionally and personally.

She tackles that struggle directly in the moody single “Quicksand,” written with GRAMMY-nominated Olivia Rodrigo collaborator Dan Nigro. “I used to think that this was something I could die for / I hate admitting to myself that I was never sure,” she sings, inverting the thesis of one of her early break-out singles “Sure.” And then, a few lines later, she regains her footing -- in her musicality, and in herself: “It’s all I know, and I’m taking it back.”

“Quicksand is about dealing with the realisation that you'll never be satisfied” Pilbeam comments. “I started writing it when I was home between tours in 2019 before finishing it with Joe Agius and Dan Nigro the next year. I was feeling guilty and ungrateful for not being happy about a few different things in my life that were technically going well. I had to work through some tough learned thought processes and emotions that had been working away for years to try to understand how to be happy with my present, and stop fixating on my past and future. The video digs deeper into showing this juxtaposition of such sadness and anger despite being surrounded by glamour and grandeur."

Director Nathan Castiel adds: “For ‘Quicksand', I created a video that plays off of some tropes of Hollywood glamour in a melancholy and surreal way while giving Harriette room to perform and express the song's raw emotions. We leaned into a neon-tinged after hours aesthetic and shot on 16mm which added a griminess to the opulent locations and set pieces.”

“Quicksand” sets up the rest of the record; an album about self-confidence, about reclamation, about the strange time in young adulthood where you begin to finally be able to see yourself clearly.

Produced by Jorge Elbrecht, also recently GRAMMY-nominated and known for his work with Sky Ferreira, Japanese Breakfast, and Wild Nothing, ‘Giving the World Away’ is Hatchie’s most thunderous, sprawling work yet. Featuring extensive input from longtime Hatchie collaborator Joe Agius, it takes the celestial, shimmering shoegaze and pop sensibilities of her earlier releases, but with the volume knob cranked up tenfold. Built out with percussion from Beach House drummer James Barone, it’s synthed-out, sonic opulence, a more structured and ornate musicality with traces of ‘90s trip-hop and acid house influences.

Pilbeam initially intended for these songs to go in a higher-energy direction -- she had the distinct vision of a Hatchie show turned dance party, inviting more movement and vibrancy into her live shows. But then, between Covid and the lockdowns in Australia, Pilbeam retreated more into herself, and that introspection and self-discovery served as the true inspiration for the record. Again and again across ‘Giving the World Away,’ she returns to that same theme – dismantling internalized shame and finding gratitude and steadiness, and finally being able to trust herself. Pilbeam grew up the youngest in her family, a self-described “big baby,” but says the last year and a half gave her the space to understand herself better. After years of emotional avoidance, here she excavates her fears fully.

‘Giving the World Away’ is an album about self-confidence, about reclamation, about the strange time in young adulthood where you begin to finally be able to see yourself clearly. Incisive and probing, ‘Giving the World Away’ is the clearest look at Pilbeam yet, and a relic of the power and bravery that spring forth from embracing vulnerability and putting your heart on the line.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1) Lights On
2) This Enchanted
3) Twin
4) Take My Hand
5) The Rhythm
6) Quicksand
Side B
7) Thinking Of
8) Giving The World Away
9) The Key
10) Don't Leave Me In The Rain
11) Sunday Song
12) Til We Run Out Of Air

BONUS TRACKS On Download Card:
Back Into Your Arms (Hatchie's Version)
Don't Leave Me In The Rain (Demo)
Quicksand (Demo)
The Rhythm (Demo)

Kadi Yombo, published in 1989, is the most successful album in the quest for a fusion between tradition and modernity in Bwiti harp music of the Tsogho people of Gabon. Combining beating rattles with a layer of synthesizers, Papé Nziengui blends in a contrapuntal dialogue characteristic of harp playing: male song in appeal and female choir in response, male voice of the musical arc and rhythms of female worship. But above all it’s Tsogho ritual music and modern studio orchestration. The result is an initiatory itinerary of 10 musical pieces which are all milestones likely to be simultaneously listened to, danced, meditated on, and soon acclaimed. In the years since, Nziengui has traveled he world from Lagos to Paris, from Tokyo to Cordoba, from Brussels to Mexico City to become a true icon, the emblem of Gabonese music.

Like Bob Dylan, "electrifying" folk and Bob Marley mixing rock with reggae, some purists have criticized Nziengui for having distorted the music of harp by imposing a cross with modern instruments. They even went so far as to claim that Nziengui was just an average harpist covering his shortcomings with stunts that were only good for impressing neophytes; like playing a harp placed upside down behind his back or playing two or three harps simultaneously. Sincere convictions or venomous defamations, in any case, Nziengui never gave in to such attacks, imposing himself on the contrary to pay homage to the elders (Yves Mouenga, Jean Honoré Miabé, Vickoss Ekondo) while instructing the maximum of young people. He is thus the promoter of many young talents, the most prominent of which is certainly his nephew Jean Pierre Mingongué. In a conservative society where the sacred is confused with secrecy, exposing the mysteries of Bwiti in broad daylight can be punished by exclusion or even execution.

Papé Nziengui has always claimed that he faces such risks because he never felt enslaved to a community that governs his life, that regulates his conduct, that has a right of censorship over his activities. Like Ravi Shankar, the famous sitarist, Papé Nziengui is a man of rupture but also of openness, a transmitter of culture. As proof, he has established himself in Libreville, Gabo’s capital, as the main harpist for sessions and concerts, accompanying the greatest national artists (Akendengué, Rompavè, Annie-Flore Batchiellilys, Les Champs sur la Lowé, etc.) as well as foreign artists (Papa Wemba, Manu Dibango, Kassav', Toups Bebey, etc.). In 1988, he was the first harpist to release an album in the form of a cassette produced by the French Cultural Center (Papé Nziengui, Chants et Musiques Tsogho). At the same time, he created his own group (Bovenga), combining traditional music instruments (musical bow, drums, various percussion instruments, etc.) in the framework of a true national orchestra, which gave the first concert and the first tours of a traditional music that was both modern and dynamic, thus "democratizing" the harp, to the dismay of certain purists.

On the other hand, in modern music, dominated by the logic of profit or even commercialism, artistic creation must often be adjusted for a specific audience based on reason rather than heart. But instead of allowing himself to be distorted, Papé Nziengui has always tried to produce music that is not a caricature, worthy in its expression as in its content, of the sacredness and transcendence of the music of the Origins. This is what makes Nziengui not only the musician, but the man someone whose age hasn’t altered any of his freshness or authenticity

TRACK LISTING

1. Kadi Yombo (5:44)
2. Gho Mitsaba Na Voko (6:07)
3. Bossogho Akéti Na Missingui (6:54)
4. Moghogho (6:11)
5. Gho Minongo (5:52)
6. Ngondé (5:05)
7. Popedaka (6:52)
8. Niaghauliano Ghuni (5:18)
9. Kudu (5:19)
10. Gho Boka Nzambé (5:02)

This Woman's Work: Essays on Music is edited by Kim Gordon and Sinead Gleeson and features contributors Anne Enright, Fatima Bhutto, Jenn Pelly, Rachel Kushner, Juliana Huxtable, Leslie Jamison, Liz Pelly, Maggie Nelson, Margo Jefferson, Megan Jasper, Ottessa Moshfegh, Simone White, Yiyun Li and Zakia Sewell.

Published to challenge the historic narrative of music and music writing being written by men, for men, This Woman's Work seeks to confront the male dominance and sexism that have been hard-coded in the canons of music, literature, and film and has forced women to fight pigeon-holing or being side-lined by carving out their own space. Women have to speak up, to shout louder to tell their story - like the auteurs and ground-breakers featured in this collection, including: Anne Enright on Laurie Anderson; Megan Jasper on her ground-breaking work with Sub Pop; Margo Jefferson on Bud Powell and Ella Fitzgerald; and Fatima Bhutto on music and dictatorship.

This Woman's Work also features writing on the experimentalists, women who blended music and activism, the genre-breakers, the vocal auteurs; stories of lost homelands and friends; of propaganda and dictatorships, the women of folk and country, the racialised tropes of jazz, the music of Trap and Carriacou; of mixtapes and violin lessons.