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Cover of Portico Quartet & Hania Rani by Portico Quartet & Hania Rani.

Portico Quartet & Hania Rani

Portico Quartet & Hania Rani

Gondwana Records

Portico Quartet / Hania Rani brings the singular Polish pianist and composer, Hania Rani, and East-London based widescreen minimalists, Portico Quartet, together for a unique collaboration.

Label mates, they met when Hania Rani performed at the Gondwana 10 event at the Roundhouse in October 2018, an event that Portico Quartet headlined and which marked Rani's UK debut ahead of the release of her breakthrough album, Esja.

The idea was simple, each artist would select and then rework one of each other's tunes. The result is a beautiful collaborative work that feel less like a pair of straight forward remixes and more like a new recording that brings the two acts distinctive sound worlds to a new place.

The first track is Hania Rani - Nest (Portico Quartet remix), which finds Portico Quartet reworking a track from Rani's most recent album Home. Portico Quartet saxophonist and keyboardist Jack Wyllie says:

'We've been fans of Hania since her first album album Esja, so it was a pleasure to get to work with her. Our remix took fragments of her voice and piano, and from that we extrapolated and composed an almost entirely new piece of music. The result was (hopefully) that her sound world became another instrument in the band…'

On the flip is Portico Quartet – With, Besides, Against (Hania Rani remix), which Rani recrafts with the addition of piano and her own unique vocals.

"Imagine being asked to make a remix for one of your favourite bands? I felt excitement and… mild panic. The idea for this one little rework took me a couple of months! I chose the track With, Beside, Against, which is a beautiful peaceful and broad piece of music with an energetic movement in the middle part. I tried to add a vocal line to it, reminding me of one of Portico's tracks called "Steepless" from their album released back in 2011. The result turned out to be satisfying. I felt it worked really nicely, matching the music in a natural way"

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Cover of Art Of The Acoustic Steel String Guitar 6 & 12 - Repress by Robbie Basho.

Robbie Basho

Art Of The Acoustic Steel String Guitar 6 & 12 - Repress

Gnome Life

    Originally released in 1979, "Art of the Acoustic Steel String Guitar 6 & 12" was Robbie Basho's 15th record, and his magnum opus of solo guitar. It is the culmination of his life's effort to usher guitar music into a new artistic paradigm, and to "establish the steel string as a concert instrument indigenous to America. This album represents Basho’s most technically fine guitar work. In both composition and performance, the album is enormously complex and yet conveys an effortlessness unique to Basho. As he famously espoused, “My philosophy is quite simple: soul first, technique later.” The richness of Basho's soul emanates from this record as distinctly as each note ringing from his steel strings. Only one song on the record (“Pasha II”) features Basho’s enigmatic voice, but it may be his most extraordinary vocal performance – his voice calling out through a shimmer of strings, singing ancient syllables with timeless emotion. The remaining ten instrumental songs roam through Eastern and Western modalities, dark and light meditations, wild and restrained expression. With "Art of the Acoustic Steel String Guitar 6 & 12", Basho summons rich allusions, hallucinations and delicately numinous passages. As he said, "It's not about going far out, it's about going far in. It's about a deeper feeling." These are deep waters indeed, as substantial and enriching today as they were 35 years ago.

    Remastered from the original tapes. Artwork is presented in very much the same fashion as the original release with a few minimal changes made to include new information. Paper stock (heavy reverse-board) and pressing weight (140 gram) have been upgraded. New vinyl masters were cut by the excellent John Golden. A download for high quality Mp3's and FLAC is included.

    "All the highlights of Basho’s work are found here: eccentric tunings, modal playing and a keen ear for Eastern music (which he studied and incorporated into his music), and a spirituality that could neither be outshined by the technical flashiness nor the (unavoidable?) exotic undertones." – TINY MIX TAPES.

    FORMAT INFORMATION

    LP Info: Repress.

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    Cover of Requiem by Goat.

    Goat

    Requiem

    Rocket Recordings

    In a culture obsessed with content, saturation, and continual exposure, it’s rare to find artists who prefer to lurk outside of the public eye. Thomas Pynchon is perhaps the most notable contemporary recluse—a virtually faceless figure who occasionally creeps out of hiding to offer up an elaborate novel steeped in history and warped by imagination—but for crate diggers and guitar mystics, Sweden’s enigmatic GOAT may qualify as the greatest modern pop-culture mystery. Who are these masked musicians? Are they truly members of the Arctic community of Korpilombolo? Are their songs part of their isolated communal heritage? Their third studio album, Requiem, offers more questions than answers, but much like any of Pynchon’s knotty yarns, the reward is not in the untangling but in the journey through the labyrinth.

    Western exports may have dominated the consciousness of international rock fans for the entirety of the 20th century, but our increasing global awareness has unearthed a treasure trove of transcendental grooves and spellbinding riffage from exotic and remote corners of the planet. GOAT’s previous albums World Music and Commune were perfect testaments to this heightened awareness, with Silk Road psychedelia, desert blues, and Third World pop all serving as governing forces within the band’s sound. But GOAT’s strange amalgam isn’t some cheap game of cultural appropriation—it’s nearly impossible to pinpoint the exact origins of the elusive group’s sound. The fact that they pledge allegiance to a spot on the periphery of our maps bolsters the nomadic quality of their sonic explorations. With Requiem, GOAT continue to rock and writhe to a beat beholden to no nation, no state.

    GOAT’s only outright declaration for Requiem is that it is their “folk” album, and the album is focused more on their subdued bucolic ritualism than psilocybin freakouts. But GOAT hasn’t completely foregone their fiery charms—tracks like “All-Seeing Eye” and “Goatfuzz” conjure the sultry heathen pulsations that ensnared us on their previous albums.

    Perhaps the most puzzling aspect of Requiem comes with the closing track “Ubuntu”. The song is little more than a melodic delay-driven electric piano line, until we hear the refrain from “Diarabi”—the first song on their first album—sneak into the mix. It creates a kind of musical ouroboros—an infinite cycle of reflection and rejuvenation, death and rebirth. Much like fellow recluse Pynchon, rather than offering explanations for their strange trajectories, GOAT create a world where the line between truth and fiction is so obscured that all you can do is bask in their cryptic genius.

    FORMAT INFORMATION

    Coloured LP 2 Info: Red Flame Vinyl repress.

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    Cover of Typhoons by Royal Blood.

    Royal Blood

    Typhoons

    Warner Records

      The latest evolution in Royal Blood's sound melds their fiery rock riffs with danceable beats influenced by Daft Punk, Justice, and Phillipe Zdar of Cassius. It's a small yet immediately refreshing reinvention, that pulsates throughout their new single 'Typhoons'. Frontman Mike Kerr's spiralling bass riff casts an hypnotic allure as it grows in intensity, while his vocals switch at will between a raw rock roar and a soulful falsetto. It's underpinned by Ben Thatcher's thundering beats, his taut rhythms infused with groove-laden hi-hats.

      'Typhoons' will be released digitally on the evening of Thursday, January 21st with a limited edition 7" black vinyl available the following day. The vinyl's b-side features an etching of a lyric from the song.


      FORMAT INFORMATION

      Ltd 7" Info: One sided 7", etching on the B-Side.

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      Cover of Electrically Possessed (Switched On Volume 4) by Stereolab.

      Stereolab

      Electrically Possessed (Switched On Volume 4)

      Duophonic

        The fourth in the Switched On series that compiles non-album tracks and sought after deep cuts by the groop. Following on from the first volume released in 1992, 1995's Refried Ectoplasm, and 1998's Aluminum Tunes, the long-awaited fourth installment spans 1999 - 2008 in the Stereolab story and collates 3 LPs worth of material, all remastered from the original tapes and overseen by the band. It features all the tracks from out-of-print and sought after mini-album The First Of The Microbe Hunters, one-off and impossible to find tour 7"s, compilation tracks, art installation work and a couple of unreleased outtakes from the Mars Audiac Quintet and Dots and Loops recording sessions

        FORMAT INFORMATION

        Deluxe LP Info: Mirriboard sleeve edition, very limited.
        Vinyl comes in bespoke gatefold sleeve with download card, housed inside a polythene wallet.

        LP Info: Vinyl comes in bespoke gatefold sleeve with download card, housed inside a polythene wallet.

        Deluxe CD Info: Mirriboard sleeve edition, very limited.

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        Cover of At George's Zoo by Cool Ghouls.

        Cool Ghouls

        At George's Zoo

        Melodic Records

          Cool Ghouls - a band fledged in San Francisco on house shows, minimum wage jobs, BBQ's in Golden Gate Park and the romance of a city’s psychedelic history turns 10 this year. What better a decennial celebration than the release of their fourth album, At George's Zoo!

          How did San Francisco's fab four arrive at George's Zoo? The teenage friendship of complimentary spirits Pat McDonald (Guitar/Vox) and Pat Thomas (Bass/Vox) serves as square one. The Patricks were munching on Eggo-waffle-sandwiches and downing warm vokda in suburban Benicia (San Francisco bay) years before McDonald would hear George Clinton address his fans as "Cool Ghouls". The boys played their debut gig as Cool Ghouls at San Francisco's legendary The Stud in 2011, but there's no doubt the musical moment cementing the band's trajectory was much earlier at the 18th birthday party for boy-wonder Ryan Wong (Guitar/Vox) - at the Wong household.

          You might remember the Ghouls' earliest days... McDonald’s hair hung luxuriously past his waist, Thomas dreamt of no longer having to crash on friends' couches to call SF home and Wong looked forward to turning 21. Cool Ghouls' Pete Best, Cody Voorhees, thrashed wildly – but briefly - on the drums and Alex Fleshman (Drums), who still claims he's not really "a drummer", turned out to be a really good drummer. Thomas would sleep pee on tour. Those were golden days!

          Flash forward to today and everything is up in flames. No shows, parties or bars. Cool people are streaming out of SF. It's been 2 years since the last time Cool Ghouls have even played. The STUD is gone, The Eagle Tavern is for sale and The Hemlock has been demolished for condos. Your boss is an app. Fascism is no-knocking down the door. There's a pandemic.

          Fortunately for us, the Ghouls got an album in before it all went to shit, and they made it count. At George's Zoo includes 15 of the 27 tunes they managed to eke out while simultaneously working through major life moves. It was a 5-month, all out, final sprint down the homestretch (to Ryan's moving day) with affable engineer Robby Joseph, at his makeshift garage studio in the Outer Sunset (pictured on the cover). Instead of recording the entire album over a few consecutive days - like they'd done with Tim Cohen, Sonny Smith and Kelley Stoltz for the first three LPs - the band took it slow by working through a few songs each weekend after rehearsing them the week before. Robby would cue up the tape, McDonald would throw some steaks on the grill and they'd get to work - much to the neighbor, George's, chagrin.

          These guys have a real commitment to elevating as songwriters, musicians and ensemble players. It's always been for the music with Cool Ghouls and this long-awaited self-produced outing is a track by track display of the ground they've covered and heights they can achieve. Their vocals and trademark harmonies are front and center and out-of-control-good. Ryan's guitar solos are incredible. The horns by Danny Brown (sax) and Andrew Stephens (trumpet) hit in all the right places. Maestro, Henry Baker (Pat Thomas Band / Tino Drima), plays keys throughout. There's even a mesmerizing string section ("Land Song") by sonic polyglot, Dylan Edrich.

          None of this growth is to the detriment of the fun, natural, feeling that fans have come to expect from the band. This is a fully realized Cool Ghouls album. It paints a remarkable portrait of SF's homegrown heroes and the many corners they've explored over the last decade. The songwriting, harmony and playing are nothing if not solid. The lyrics are keen. Robby's recording and mixing sound great start to finish and even better after mastering by Mikey Young. It's a triumphant addition to their catalogue. Recommended for Stooges and Beach Boys fans alike. Listen and see!

          Yes, many things have changed since 2011. Who knows what the 20's will have in store for life on Earth, let alone the Cool Ghouls? We at least know that 2021 has At George's Zoo for us, a beautiful keepsake from the Before Times when we used to stand in living rooms together while bands played.


          FORMAT INFORMATION

          Coloured LP Info: Transparent red vinyl.
          Limited to 300 copies for Europe.

          Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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          Cover of Tape Music 1980 - 1984 by Psyclones.

          Psyclones

          Tape Music 1980 - 1984

          Notte Brigante

          TIP!!

          Since the early 1980s the California based duo Psyclones freak out in music. They created created a body of work, that flirts with Ambient, experimental industrial sounds, New Wave, Post-Punk, Synth-Pop, and all that electric jazz. Now, Notte Brigante is dropping “Tape Music 1980 – 1984” – a detailed compiled sampler on Psyclones early output, that was scattered over diverse tape releases. 

          Since the early 1980s the Eureka, California based duo Psyclones freak out in music. As one of the most long-standing DIY duos, Brian Ladd and Julie Frith created a body of work, that flirts with Ambient, experimental industrial sounds, New Wave, Post-Punk, Synth-Pop, and all that electric jazz. Now, Notte Brigante is dropping “Tape Music 1980 – 1984” – a detailed compiled sampler on Psyclones early output, that was scattered over diverse tape releases. A nine tracks long trip into the work of a highly underrated band, that never lost their drive to explore new avenues in sound. 

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          Cover of Pianosequenza Vol.1 by Panoram.

          Panoram

          Pianosequenza Vol.1

          Union Editions

            Not all music can cope with physical reality. Instruments can be pushed until they lose grip. Eventually, they will slip so far that their untethered voice is all that remains. Panoram engages in eleven excursions into playing the part of the piano that doesn't exist, coaxing out inarticulate feelings in lieu of familiar characteristics. Sounds and rhythms resulting from thoughts that can't be put into quite the right word

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            Cover of Young Blood by Basic / Cabasa.

            Basic / Cabasa

            Young Blood

            Intramuros Records

            After the brilliant E-Unity’s CD-ROM-1, Intramuros invite 2 new artists on a perfect split EP for eclectic DJ’s. 4 different vibes & tempos.

            On A-side, Basic from Positive Education / St Étienne (FR) with 2 fresh & untemporal bass music anthems, he opens with Blaze, a loud bass roller, and kills you with 66 Order, his personnal vision of dubstep.

            On B-side, Cabasa from Eclipse Tribez / Brussels (BE) opens with Good Trauma, a sublime deep electro track, then Algo Mod Arp, a crazy track exploring fields between metallic & mental drummy sounds and Aphex Twin, for the 170 BPM crew.

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            Cover of Imlookin4thedoor by NY Graffiti.

            NY Graffiti

            Imlookin4thedoor

            Peace Anthem

            NY Graffiti’s imlookin4thedoor is a gritty, dubby, angst-ridden exercise in dance. The inaugural release by Peace Anthem Records features four tracks by the artist. On the A side, two tripped-up, smoke-laden tracks move the needle in hypnotic and hallucinatory fashion. On the B Side, Arco, inspired in equal parts by UK hardcore and the sight of Paolo Soleri’s utopian architecture, moves at a glacial pace, scribing a path along the liminal edge of futures past.

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            Cover of AMOR/LEMUR by AMOR/LEMUR.

            AMOR/LEMUR

            AMOR/LEMUR

            Night School Records

            “The earth shall rise again...”

            AMOR/LEMUR finds the Glasgow quartet AMOR in partnership with Norwegian improvising ensemble LEMUR to hopeful and ecstatic effect. Conceived before the onset of Covid 19 but finished during spring lockdown, their eponymous EP is the most loose, alive and elevated recording in AMOR’s catalog. AMOR/LEMUR takes the template of throbbing avant disco expanded upon on previous recordings for Night School and lifts it into new territories, with new tonalities and unexpected turns on the journey. More than anything, the expanded, near- cinematic expression of human connectivity feels like a lightning new energy to grasp in the dark.

            Following a revelatory concert in Glasgow in January 2020 wherein the two sets of musicians met and performed together for the first time, a recording session was arranged the following day, resulting in the most elevated permutation of AMOR’s art to date. Each track was built upon a rhythmic bedrock of percussion and drums performed by Paul Thomson and samples/synthesizer by Luke Fowler. Thomson used bamboo Javanese gamelan (most notably on For You) and scrap metal, as well as traditional percussion and drums while Fowler incorporated processed ambient field recordings recorded in enclosed acoustic spaces around Glasgow. Singer/pianist Richard Youngs contributes some of the most bright and mindful work of his career. Acoustic bass player Michael Francis Duch, whose lush playing as ever provides the elastic spine to each song, scored the string parts for LEMUR on piano at home in Norway. The addition of swelling strings and drones fills out the AMOR sound significantly, lending a sonorous tone to 8 minute, epic closer For You or an ascending melodic introduction to Stars Burst that feels like a new morning dawning on a world saved from certain death.

            With the circumstances of lockdown forcing the musicians to work differently, a thread of optimism and utopia grounded in the moment weaves through these tracks. Unravel reveals a spine tingling vocal from Youngs. It’s a song about the simultaneously grounding and ecstatic effect of love, feeling connected to others. It’s a simple message, “I’m finding myself in your smile, always unravels me” speaks of ego death, the dissipation of the material into a nirvana of pure energy, the power of surrender. This isn’t a quasi-religious message, this is the power of each other, a love song to connection in a temporary age of isolation. Stars Burst is a play on the inner and outer cosmos, with narrator Youngs exploring wonder to a pounding galloping rhythm and snake-charming synth. It’s an open dance, with the group locked in together for the wild ride. Fear is the centerpiece of the record, starting with drones and scraped overtones before swirling synth notes filter upwards to meet reverberating minor chords. Over 8 minutes of tight but loose playing, Youngs is the shaman instructing us to use Fear as a celebration of the moment, embrace it and jump into the unknown. The only way to overcome your fear is to feel it, use it as an energy. The use of the studio as an instrument throughout side 2 is particularly important, with the dubbing and mixing prowess of engineer Paul Savage (who mixed unattended due to lockdown restrictions) and tape manipulations performed by Jason Lescallet coming into play. For You closes out with a largely instrumental, evolving composition that uses many of the abstract and novel aspects of this permutation to aid the trance. It’s massive, an unfurling creature with unexpected tonalities and serious heft.

            AMOR/LEMUR was recorded at Glasgow’s Green Door studios, mixed at Chem 19 by Paul Savage and mastered by Rashad Becker at Clunk.

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            Cover of Another Day by Los Hermanos.

            Los Hermanos

            Another Day

            Mother Tongue Records

            Los Hermanos bring the soul back to the house on their first vinyl release in more than a decade - essential 

            With this Ep for Mother Tongue Gerald Mitchell really shows what Soul is all about. The first Los Hermanos Ep on vinyl in over a decade brings it back to Church and then some!
            From the Gospel tones of the dancefloor smasher ‘Another Day’, to the electric techno-jazz of ‘Binary Funk Infusion’ featuring Bob Rogue [think of Herbie’s Dedication meeting Axis] and finally closing [and melting] with ‘Let Love Live’ featuring the incredible voice of Billy Love…it was definitely worth the wait.

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            Cover of Luv Fantasy EP by Kai Alcé.

            Kai Alcé

            Luv Fantasy EP

            NDALT

            NDATL continues with the latest offering from label honcho himself, Kai Alcé. Alcé known for his smooth deep sound again doesn't disappoint. EP starts off with Heaven's driving drums & chord focus to keep the dancer in trance. Next the title track "Luv Fantasy" delves truly into NDATL territory with punchy chord hits & snappin MPC drums demonstrating less is best. We round the 12" with uplifting "Stars" cuz we can all need a little uplifting in these times! PLAY LOUD!

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            Cover of Fir Wave by Hannah Peel.

            Hannah Peel

            Fir Wave

            My Own Pleasure

              Hannah Peel announces the release of a new album, ‘Fir Wave’, out on 26 March 2021 via her own label imprint, My Own Pleasure.

              The new album, a sonic shimmer of textures and pulses that switches between raw atmospheric edges and environments, arrives with a fascinating history. As Peel explains, “The specialist library label KPM, gave me permission to reinterpret the original music of the celebrated 1972 KPM 1000 series: Electrosonic, the music of Delia Derbyshire and the Radiophonic Workshop.” This process of re-generation and finding fresh inspiration in pioneering, experimental electronics from the early 1970s is at the core of the album. Peel has made connections and new patterns that mirror the Earth’s ecological cycles through music.

              Peel explains, “I’m drawn to the patterns around us and the cycles in life that will keep on evolving and transforming forever. Fir Wave is defined by its continuous environmental changes and there are so many connections to those patterns echoed in electronic music - it’s always an organic dis-covery of old and new.” As Delia Derbyshire revealed in 2000 to BBC sound engineer, journalist and academic Jo Hutton: “I like new things that don’t seem new . . . as though they’ve always been there.”

              Known more recently for curating and presenting on BBC Radio 3’s Night Tracks, the Northern Irish Emmy-nominated composer and producer’s work is ambitious and forward-looking, adapting and re-inventing new genres and hybrid musical forms. Recent albums include the solo electronic and pop work of Awake But Always Dreaming, which became an ode to her grandmother’s mind as she lived with dementia; the electronic ruralism of Chalk Hill Blue, an album recorded with the poet Will Burns; and the space and the unparalleled vastness of Mary Casio: Journey to Cassiopeia, scored for synthesisers and a 30 piece colliery brass band. In 2019 she composed and recorded the soundtrack for Game of Thrones: The Last Watch which earned her an Emmy nomination for ‘Outstanding Music Composition For A Documentary Series Or Special (Original Dramatic Score)’. 


              FORMAT INFORMATION

              Dinked Edition LP Info: • Blue Vinyl *
              • 4 x 120x120mm Postcard Set *
              • Hand-Numbered Sleeve in PVC Wallet *
              • Limited Pressing of 375 *

              *Exclusive to Dinked Edition

              LP Info: Black vinyl edition.

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              Cover of The Problem Of Leisure: A Celebration Of Andy Gill And Gang Of Four by Various Artists.

              Various Artists

              The Problem Of Leisure: A Celebration Of Andy Gill And Gang Of Four

              Gill Music

                The Problem of Leisure: A Celebration of Andy Gill and Gang of Four is a double album of tracks written by Andy Gill and Gang of Four, all newly reinterpreted and recorded by artists whose own unique contributions to music were enriched by listening to Gang of Four.

                The album features songs from across Gang of Four’s 40-plus year career, each individually chosen by the artists who covered them.

                Andy Gill originally conceived of the album to mark the 40th anniversary of the release of Entertainment! in 2019.

                His widow, Catherine Mayer, explains that this plan had already changed by the time of Andy’s death in 2020, after some artists chose tracks from different albums and periods.

                “Andy was massively excited about this project,” Mayer says. “It wasn’t of course conceived as a tribute album, but it’s comforting to me that he lived to see artists he hugely admired enthusiastically agreeing to participate, signalling that the admiration was mutual.”

                The album artwork has been created by English artist Damien Hirst, a long-time friend of Andy’s.

                FORMAT INFORMATION

                2xColoured LP Info: Double yellow vinyl in a gatefold sleeve.

                2xDeluxe CD Info: Limited edition casebound book version.

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                Cover of Today We're The Greatest by Middle Kids.

                Middle Kids

                Today We're The Greatest

                Lucky Number

                  The Sydney-based three-piece Middle Kids, formed of lead singer and songwriter Hannah Joy, multi-instrumentalist Tim Fitz and drummer, Harry Day, will release their second album, Today We’re The Greatest, on March 19th 2021 via Lucky Number. Recorded and produced in Los Angeles by Lars Stalfors (St. Vincent, Soccer Mummy, Purity Ring), the follow-up to the band’s award-winning 2018 debut, Lost Friends, is their most personal and courageous effort to date. Moving away from lyrics of a more conceptual nature, Today We’re The Greatest is the open, uninhibited product of fearless collaboration. Showing a real vulnerability, Joy is pulling directly from her own experiences and breaking down barriers she had previously set for herself. About the new record, she said: “I want to make music that loves its listener. Music that makes people feel seen, seen in the tiny little places that hide away in their hearts. I want people to hear our music, and feel a sense of love. And when I say love, it can be challenging, intense and tough. But it’s in the guts.” She added: “It can be easier to live dualistically, splitting the world in two. We want to be able say it’s this or it’s that, but sometimes it’s both -- and can we hold both? Can we hold the brokenness? Can we hold the beauty? That has definitely been a defining bit of this album, the fragility in that dance.

                  The album includes "nervy Strokes-esque floorfiller" (The Guardian) “R U 4 Me?” and their monumental new single, “Questions”, a charged three-minute odyssey which sees Joy struggle poetically with concepts of honesty and intimacy over an explosive rhythm section and a stunningly orchestrated brass-filled climax. As Joy explains, “Questions” is about the fallacies of intimate relationships; “I used to drink a lot and most of my previous relationships revolved around this. I don’t think I ever really knew them or they me as a result. Questions is about people being around each other but not being close. People who are in intimate relationships can stop asking questions of each other because they are uncomfortable and confusing.”

                  Other tracks like “Run With You”, were written when Joy was a few months into pregnancy with her and Tim Fitz, her husband and bandmate’s, first child. They recorded her 20-week sonogram, and wove the gentle, rapid thump of their baby boy’s beating heart into the last 20 seconds of the track -- an exuberant declaration of devotion. Joy’s journey to motherhood and her marriage with Fitz has imbued her songs with a vibrancy that’s unabashedly romantic yet free of clichés. There’s also “Stacking Chairs,” with its unique allegories and Joy’s sunny vocals, that strikes this delicate balance beautifully: it’s a testament to her deep connection with Fitz and the new, “infinitesimal” love that transformed their lives with their son’s arrival.

                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                  Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive transparent tangerine coloured vinyl.

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                  Cover of Kiri Ra! by Kiri Ra!.

                  Kiri Ra!

                  Kiri Ra!

                  OONA Recordings

                    The debut album from Kiri Ra! is an intuitive journey through landscapes of spectral otherness with colors of post classical minimalism, ambient folk and spiritual jazz.

                    Starting as cross Baltic improvisation group in 2014, Kiri Ra! found form in the winter of 2016 when Finnish experimental artist Lau Nau, Finnish jazz saxophonist Linda Fredriksson, and Swedish pianist Matti Bye were commissioned by The Swedish Film Institute to create music for experimental amateur documentary films from its archive. Their debut album is made up entirely of improvised live studio recordings that stemmed from this film-scoring effort. With meticulous attention to detail and a sense of wonder, the players are collective witnesses to what can unfold between three musicians in a room. As illustrated on the tracks "Happlo’os" and "))Glänta//", softly played piano ostinatos, field recordings and bowed percussion set a visceral foundation for the saxophone to carve melodic tones of tingling melancholia. This warmth and sense of intimacy prevails throughout the album, as illustrated on the serene track "Linnesöndagen Gynnas Icke", whilst "Kites Över Gärdet" is an almost supernatural unfolding of timelessness.

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                    Cover of I Am Greta - Original Soundtrack by Rebekka Karijrord & Jon Ekstrand.

                    Rebekka Karijrord & Jon Ekstrand

                    I Am Greta - Original Soundtrack

                    OONA Recordings

                      OONA Recordings is thrilled to announce a limited edition environmentally conscious vinyl pressing of the ‘I Am Greta’ soundtrack by Rebekka Karijord and Jon Ekstrand. Manufactured at RPM Records in Denmark, every step in the production process was carefully considered in order to achieve the most environmentally friendly product possible. The records are made of 100% recycled PVC, and the covers printed on wood free 350 gsm 100% recycled uncoated card stock using plant-based inks. The records are protected by a 100% recycled 250 gsm paper inner sleeve and the cover is sealed with a sticker printed on recycled material. No plastic or shrink wrap will be used in the packaging or production apart from the recycled PVC in the vinyl record itself. One can read more about the process and the drive to create more sustainable productions at www.rpm.dk/eco.

                      'I Am Greta', the intimate Hulu documentary by Swedish director Nathan Grossman, tells the story of teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg through compelling, never-before-seen-footage. Starting with her one-person school strike for climate action outside the Swedish Parliament, Grossman follows Greta - a shy student with Asperger's - in her rise to prominence and her galvanizing global impact as she sparks school strikes around the world. The film culminates with the extraordinary wind-powered voyage across the Atlantic Ocean to speak at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York City. The synergy between the two composers with very different backgrounds as well as the blend of classic instrumentation and usage of electroacoustic elements led to a unique, compelling score: The score consists of a string octet, modular synthesizers and a voice instrument built by Rebekka of 25 unique singers sampled in their full range.”Rebekka and Jon’s dynamic score to 'I Am Greta' is huge and intimate, uplifting and melancholic, and manages to carry the emotional nuance of Greta's story. The score forms a musical parallel to Greta's journey and narrative voice throughout the film. It’s energy, urgency and emotional depth reminds us that the time for climate action is now.” - Nathan Grossman, director of 'I Am Greta'.

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                      Cover of The Times by Neil Young.

                      Neil Young

                      The Times

                      Warner Records

                        'The Times' is a moving and topical solo acoustic performance, a unique collection of songs, recorded by Neil Young at home during lockdown as part of the raw and personal, 'FIRESIDE SESSIONS' series.

                        The songs include his updated 'Lookin' For A Leader - 2020,' ‘Alabama’ from the seminal ‘Harvest’ album, the Young penned CSN&Y classic ‘Ohio’, the brilliant ‘Southern Man’ from the ‘After The Gold Rush’ album, and Bob Dylan's 'The Times They Are A-Changin' closing with 'Little Wing' from the latest Reprise release, 'Homegrown'.


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                        Cover of Believer by Smerz.

                        Smerz

                        Believer

                        XL Recordings

                          Norwegian duo Smerz have announced the release of ‘Believer’, their forthcoming debut album that pushes Smerz far beyond their previous EP releases, 2017’s Okey and 2018’s Have Fun. Since releasing the ‘Believer’ trailer back in October 2020 followed by a video for the tracks ‘I don’t talk about that much/Hva hvis’, the duo of Catharina Stoltenberg and Henriette Motzfeldt have slowly revealed a new auditory world. The duo meld sonic touchstones from their youth, like musicals and classical music, with swirling, trance-indebted synth lines and hip-hop plus R&B vocals that is distinctly Smerz.

                          Last fall the duo performed at Oslo’s Ultima festival; in early 2020 they scored a performance by Carte Blanche, the Norwegian national company of contemporary dance, as well as performed at Mira festival in collaboration with legendary visual maverick Weirdcore.




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                          Cover of Green To Gold by The Antlers.

                          The Antlers

                          Green To Gold

                          Transgressive

                            Highly anticipated record from New York's beloved act The Antlers, their first new music in seven music Perhaps what distinguishes Green to Gold from the rest of The Antlers’ canon is its arrival at a kind of quiet normalcy after a number of rather anxious records. Conceived and written almost entirely in the morning hours, Green to Gold is the easily their most luminous record to date. Following 2014’s Familiars, it looked unsure as to whether there would even be another Antlers album, after the onset of singer and primary songwriter Peter Silberman’s auditory problems.

                            Affecting his left ear, it was a condition that left him struggling to cope with commonplace noises. He was subsequently diagnosed with lesions on one of his vocal cords, requiring surgery for their removal and vocal therapy to retrain his voice to sing. Following a relocation to upstate New York and the 10th anniversary tour of 2009's 'Hospice', Silberman was rejuvenated and rediscovered the impulse to create new Antlers music. Of Silberman’s unique vocals, The Guardian wrote “His multi-octave voice is as intense as Jeff Buckley’s or Anohni’s, but it’s vulnerable without being precious or cloying” The first LP pressing is on ltd edition gold vinyl (represses will revert to black vinyl) September 2021 tour TBA, including two shows at EartH, London plus shows in Manchester and Edinburgh

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                            Cover of Sorry For Laughing + The TV Art Demos by Josef K.

                            Josef K

                            Sorry For Laughing + The TV Art Demos

                            LTM

                              LTM presents a clear vinyl edition of Sorry For Laughing, the legendary first album by cult Scottish guitar group Josef K, recorded for Postcard Records but destined to become the great ‘lost album’ of the post-punk era.

                              Recorded at Castle Sound Studios (Edinburgh) in November 1980, Sorry For Laughing should have been issued as Postcard 81-1, but was shelved after the band and label boss Alan Horne decided the 12-song set sounded too polished. Perhaps two dozen white-label copies in unmade sleeves exist, and have sold for as much as £1,000 amongst collectors. Josef K issued their second stab at a debut album, The Only Fun In Town, in July 1981 – only to split after completing a promotional tour.

                              This remastered edition of Sorry For Laughing replicates the original Robert Sharp artwork (a solarised portrait of the band atop Calton Hill, printed in silver pantone), with detailed sleeve notes on the inner bag, and the added bonus of a 12 track CD, The TV Art Demos, featuring all tracks from the band’s very first recording sessions in 1979.

                              ‘They were The Sound of Young Scotland, together with Orange Juice, whose guitars were also radiant and brittle, whose rhythms were also scrubbed and blunt, whose vocals were also proud and serious, but who sounded like another group entirely’ (Paul Morley); ‘In retrospect, their aborted attempt at a debut album feels much superior to what was finally released. The early versions of the songs sound superbly coiled and keen, the sublime poise of Endless Soul their truly timeless blaze of glory’ (Simon Reynolds)

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                              Cover of Roll Top Record Bag - Caramel by Piccadilly Records.

                              Piccadilly Records

                              Roll Top Record Bag - Caramel

                                Super stylish roll top record bag.

                                Holds 25/30 records. 

                                Padded laptop compartment. padded back and base. 

                                Front zipped pocket. 

                                Padded adjustable shoulder straps and sturdy grab handle. 

                                Adjustable clasp closure. 

                                Made from tough polyester fabric. 

                                Dimensions 32 x 44 x 13cm.

                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                Record bag Info: Caramel with bronze embroidered logo.

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                                Cover of The Obvious I by Ed Dowie.

                                Ed Dowie

                                The Obvious I

                                Needle Mythology



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                                  Cover of Volume 2 by Gotts Street Park.

                                  Gotts Street Park

                                  Volume 2

                                  Blue Flowers

                                    The leeds-based trio - josh crocker (bass, production), tom henry (keys) and joe harris (guitar) - met through various music studies and friendship networks. individually their tastes are diverse: from north indian classical to experimental jazz, soul to alternative hip hop but their vision is united: “the idea of doing things live in one room has always been important,” remarks josh. “that’s how they used to do it. our identity evolved from that.”

                                    The inception of the collective goes back to around 2012. there have been minor line up tweaks - they currently record with a rotating list of drummers - but the philosophy has stayed the same: an ongoing pursuit to capture the raw, unparalleled vibe that comes from recording music together, usually as one take, sometimes to analogue tape.

                                    That approach is a deliberate call back to the methods made famous by legendary studios like sun and stax in memphis, or fame and muscle shoals in alabama and their in-house bands. that’s why for years, gsp set up their own studio in a shared house in a tough (but, crucially, affordable) corner of west leeds, armley. gotts park (historically the home of industrialist benjamin gott) was close by - the group’s name was a nod to their local geography but also the fact it sounded like an area plucked straight out of some of their favourite east coast hip hop releases.

                                    Their work was quickly noticed, and it was from that base where they began working with an eye catching list of collaborators: rejjie snow, kali uchis, cosima, yellow days, chester watson, greentea peng and benny mails. tom also played keys in mabel’s band. early on, while performing as a band for hire for those artists, they were simultaneously honing their own sound; a deliberately retro “heavy, saturated” atmosphere that married the languid vibe of traditional soul with the pin sharp clarity of contemporary hip hop. old leanings, sure, but upcycled with their own modern twist. “we’re constantly trying to build a catalogue,” says tom. “writing new stuff and sending it out to people.” that’s why after the release of their debut ep, ‘volume one’, in 2017 the invitations kept coming; most notably from brits rising star award winner celeste, with whom they recorded two tracks on her debut ep ‘lately’.

                                    ‘Volume Two’ once again features an impressive raft of vocalists - all female - from established names to fresh talent. this time, musically, the overall tone is lighter; less gritty, more optimistic. “it’s definitely not as gloomy,” says josh. “still though, there is this kind of dark, mysterious thing that we do a lot that works,” he continues. “like the song we’ve done with grand pax, for example - it’s got that kind of witchy darkness to it. i think if you do a really straight male soul voice, it can be a bit cheesy and sound like you’ve heard it a million times before.”

                                    Their collaborations might be some of the freshest of 2020 but make no mistake: gotts street park are out there looking to create something timeless.

                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                    2xCD Info: Includes Volume One as bonus disc.

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                                    Cover of Sound Ancestors (Arranged By Kieran Hebden) by Madlib.

                                    Madlib

                                    Sound Ancestors (Arranged By Kieran Hebden)

                                    Madlib Invazion

                                      Gil Evans to Miles Davis…. Holger Czukay to the ensemble known as Can….Jean Claude Vannier to Serge Gainsbourg on Histoire de Melody Nelson. That’s the only way to explain the specificity of Four Tet and Madlib’s collaboration, in this special album that showcases a two-decade long friendship that has resulted in an album that follows Madlib’s classics like Quasimoto’s The Unseen, Madvillainy and his Pinata and Bandana albums with Freddie Gibbs.

                                      “A few months ago I completed work on an album with my friend Madlib that we’d been making for the last few years. He is always making loads of music in all sorts of styles and I was listening to some of his new beats and studio sessions when I had the idea that it would be great to hear some of these ideas made into a Madlib solo album. Not made into beats for vocalists to use but instead arranged into tracks that could all flow together in an album designed to be listened to start to finish. I put this concept to him when we were hanging out eating some nice food one day and we decided to work on this together with him sending me tracks, loops, ideas and experiments that I would arrange, edit, manipulate and combine. I was sent hundreds of pieces of music over a couple of years stretch and during that time I put together this album with all the parts that fitted with my vision.” Kieren Hebden AKA Four Tet.

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                                      Cover of Great Spans Of Muddy Time by William Doyle.

                                      William Doyle

                                      Great Spans Of Muddy Time

                                      Tough Love

                                        It’s nearly a decade since William Doyle handed a CD-R demo to the Quietus co-founder John Doran at a gig, who loved it so much he set up a label to release Doyle’s debut EP (as East India Youth). Doyle’s debut album, Total Strife Forever, followed in 2014, as did a nomination for the Mercury Music Prize. A year later, he was signed to XL, touring the world and about to release his second album – all by the age of 25.

                                        After self-releasing four ambient and instrumental albums, Doyle’s third full-length record – and the first under his own name – Your Wilderness Revisited arrived to ecstatic reviews in 2019: Line of Best Fit described it as “a dazzlingly beautiful triumph of intention” and Metro declared it an album not only of the year, but “of the century”. Just over a year later, as he turns 30, Doyle is back with Great Spans of Muddy Time.

                                        Born from accident but driven forward by instinct, Great Spans’ was built from the remnants of a catastrophic hard-drive failure. With his work saved only to cassette tape, Doyle was forced to accept the recordings as they were – a sharp departure from his process on Your Wilderness Revisited, which took four long years to craft toward perfection. “Instead of feeling a loss that I could no longer craft these pieces into flawless ‘Works of Art’, I felt intensely liberated that they had been set free from my ceaseless tinkering,” Doyle says.

                                        “The album this turned out to be – and that I’ve wanted to make for ages – is a kind of Englishman-gone-mad, scrambling around the verdancy of the country’s pastures looking for some sense,” says Doyle. “It has its seeds in Robert Wyatt, early Eno, Robyn Hitchcock, and Syd Barrett.” Doyle credits Bowie’s ever-influential Berlin trilogy, but also highlights a much less expected muse: Monty Don, presenter of the BBC programme Gardeners’ World, Doyle’s lockdown addiction.

                                        “I became obsessed with Monty Don. I like his manner and there's something about him I relate to. He once described periods of depression in his life as consisting of ‘nothing but great spans of muddy time’. When I read that quote I knew it would be the title of this record,” Doyle says. “Something about the sludgy mulch of the album’s darker moments, and its feel of perpetual autumnal evening, seemed to fit so well with those words. I would also be lying if I said it didn’t chime with my mental health experiences as well.”

                                        Great Spans of Muddy Time is a beautiful ode to the power of accident, instinct and intuition. The result, however, is far from an anomaly: this celebration of the imperfect album is one that required years of honed craft and dedicated focus to achieve. “For the first time in my career, the distance between what I hear and what the listener hears is paper-thin,” Doyle says. “Perhaps therein reveals a deeper truth that the perfectionist brain can often dissolve.”


                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                        Dinked Edition LP Info: • 'Algal Bloom' Colour Vinyl *
                                        • Hand-Numbered *
                                        • Bonus 7” feat. 2 exclusive songs *
                                        • Edition of 500
                                        * Exclusive to Dinked Edition

                                        Coloured LP Info: 'Pelican white' vinyl.

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                                        Cover of Peach Fuzz / I Wanna Be Your Man by Prophet & Tyler, The Creator.

                                        Prophet & Tyler, The Creator

                                        Peach Fuzz / I Wanna Be Your Man

                                        Stone's Throw

                                          The latest addition to Stones Throw’s incredibly popular range of beautifully designed picture discs (previous bestsellers include a heart-shaped Mayer Hawthorne 7” and a Quasimoto-shaped disc).
                                          Designed by Jeff Jank.
                                          ‘Peach Fuzz’ features underground funk musician Prophet and GRAMMY winner Tyler, The Creator.
                                          Cutout animation of a peach emoji featuring Tyler, The Creator’s reworked version of Prophet’s ‘Wanna Be Your Man’ on the A side and the original track produced by Prophet, Mndsgn and Swarvy on the flip.
                                          ‘Wanna Be Your Man’ was also the title of Prophet’s 2018 album, his first in 34 years.
                                          For fans of Mndsgn, Frank Ocean, Earl Sweatshirt, DJ Harrison.

                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                          Picture Disc Info: Indies exclusive 10" shaped picture disc.

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                                          Cover of Soundboy by P-rallel.

                                          P-rallel

                                          Soundboy

                                          Different

                                            At just 21-years-old, p-rallel has cultivated a reputation that most can only ever dream of. He’s become a go-to producer in the scene and one of the most important polymaths of his generation, partly responsible for changing the future of the London clubbing and sonic landscape.

                                            His latest EP, ‘Soundboy’, oozes confidence and style as p-rallel delivers his strongest project yet.

                                            Features include Greentea Peng, Louis Culture, Nayana IZ, Lord Apex and Venna, as well as a remix from IZCO and an extended instrumental version of ‘soulboy’, exclusive to this vinyl format.

                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                            Coloured 12" Info: Indies exclusive green translucent 140g vinyl.

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                                            Cover of Death Engine Remix by I Break Horses.

                                            I Break Horses

                                            Death Engine Remix

                                            Bella Union

                                              Following the release of her album ‘Warnings’ in May 2020 via Bella Union, I Break Horses announces details of a remix 12” featuring The Field and Mythologen.

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                                              Cover of Quiet Life - 2021 Remaster (Deluxe Edition) by Japan.

                                              Japan

                                              Quiet Life - 2021 Remaster (Deluxe Edition)

                                              BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd

                                                That Japan’s breakthrough record Quiet Life was released in both 1979 and 1980 is uniquely fitting for a band who were about to step out of the glam rock, post punk shadows of the late 70s and deliver an as yet genre-less record that would come to define the 80s.

                                                Quiet Life was the third, final and most successful release on the Hansa Records label. A forerunner for the alternative/new wave sound of the new decade, the album would become one of the great classic British albums.

                                                The record is now the subject of a major new reissue featuring a brand new Abbey Road half-speed remaster of the original album, alt mixes, b-sides, singles, rarities and live material – including the sought after ‘lost’ Live at Budokan show from March 1980 previously only available as the 4 track EP ‘Live in Japan’.

                                                We are working directly with original band members Steve Jansen and Rob Dean, producer John Punter and with consultant advice from band biographer Anthony Reynolds and the Japanese Shinko archive.

                                                The release features newly restored original album artwork, new liner notes with contributions from band members and original producer, rare and unseen photography and memorabilia.

                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                Ltd Box Set Info: Deluxe 1LP & 3CD box set.

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                                                Cover of Quiet Life - 2021 Remaster by Japan.

                                                Japan

                                                Quiet Life - 2021 Remaster

                                                BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd

                                                  That Japan’s breakthrough record Quiet Life was released in both 1979 and 1980 is uniquely fitting for a band who were about to step out of the glam rock, post punk shadows of the late 70s and deliver an as yet genre-less record that would come to define the 80s.

                                                  Quiet Life was the third, final and most successful release on the Hansa Records label. A forerunner for the alternative/new wave sound of the new decade, the album would become one of the great classic British albums.

                                                  The record is now the subject of a major new reissue featuring a brand new Abbey Road half-speed remaster of the original album, alt mixes, b-sides, singles, rarities and live material – including the sought after ‘lost’ Live at Budokan show from March 1980 previously only available as the 4 track EP ‘Live in Japan’.

                                                  We are working directly with original band members Steve Jansen and Rob Dean, producer John Punter and with consultant advice from band biographer Anthony Reynolds and the Japanese Shinko archive.

                                                  The release features newly restored original album artwork, new liner notes with contributions from band members and original producer, rare and unseen photography and memorabilia.

                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                  Coloured LP Info: 140 gram red vinyl.

                                                  LP Info: 180 gram black vinyl.

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                                                  Cover of For The First Time by Black Country, New Road.

                                                  Black Country, New Road

                                                  For The First Time

                                                  Ninja Tune

                                                    Black Country, New Road is a new seven-piece: Charlie (Drums), Georgia (Violin), Isaac (Guitars/Vocals), Lewis (Saxophone), May (Synthesiser), Luke (Guitar) and Tyler (Bass). Latest stars from the burgeoning and famed Brixton Windmill scene, which also fostered the rise of contemporaries, black midi, Squid, Fat White Family and Shame.



                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                    Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive white vinyl. Inverted negative effect artwork, exclusive to this edition, printed on 350gsm cardboard 12” colour sleeve with matte finish.

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                                                    Cover of Music For Animations by Bis.

                                                    Bis

                                                    Music For Animations

                                                    Last Night From Glasgow

                                                      These recordings are all that remain of the animations experiment.

                                                      Some doubted they even existed at all but we are able now to bring you the 16 slices of pop punk perfection that many thought were lost forever.

                                                      So rare and top secret that we can tell you no more, other than that every single record will in some way be unique and likely of a completely different colour.

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                                                      Cover of Intruder by Gary Numan.

                                                      Gary Numan

                                                      Intruder

                                                      BMG Rights Management (UK) Ltd

                                                        Intruder is the first new music from the iconic and influential Gary Numan since 2017’s album Savage: Songs From a Broken World, which charted at #2 in the UK.

                                                        The forthcoming album, also titled Intruder, will be released in May 2021 - his 21st solo album. Intruder sees Gary reunite with producer Ade Fenton, who previously produced four critically acclaimed albums for Numan: Jagged, Dead Son Rising, Splinter and Savage.

                                                        With a career that has spanned nearly four decades, his approach to electronic music remains an inspiration to artists across genres and eras, from stadium goliaths such as Depeche Mode, Prince and Nine Inch Nails to alternative heroes such as Beck, Damon Albarn and Marilyn Manson. Even Kanye West owes him a debt, and David Bowie once credited him with “writing two of the finest songs” in British music.

                                                        Gary has had 23 top 40 singles and 15 top 40 albums in the UK. The British electro pioneer was also awarded the Inspiration Award for songwriting and composition at the Ivor Novellos in 2017.

                                                        2020 saw Gary release his critically acclaimed rollercoaster of an autobiography, (R)evolution.

                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                        2xColoured LP Info: Double red vinyl, RSD Stores Exclusive.
                                                        Includes bonus tracks "When You Fall and The End Of Dragons (Alt)" (13 tracks total).

                                                        Deluxe CD Info: Includes bonus track When You Fall (12 tracks total).

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                                                        Cover of Rare Dubs 1970-1971 by Augustus Pablo Meets Lee Perry & The Wailers Band.

                                                        Augustus Pablo Meets Lee Perry & The Wailers Band

                                                        Rare Dubs 1970-1971

                                                        Jamaican Recordings

                                                          The mighty Lee Perry was the producer many have said, that enticed the best work, both socially, politically and lest we forget musically from Bob Marley and the Wailers Band. This was in no short terms aided by the excellent musicians that would mutate from Lee Perry's own studio band The Upsetters into what would become The Wailers band itself.

                                                          This set of musicians originally grew out of a group called The Hippy Boys. The core of which consisted of Glenroy Adams on keyboards, Alva 'Reggie' Lewis on guitar and brothers Carlton and Aston 'Familyman' Barrett on drums and bass respectively. This quartet played on most of the Lee Perry produced Wailers material recorded between 1970 and 1971. When in 1972 Bob Marley needed to put together a touring band to promote his work in Europe the Barrett brothers left and became an integral part of the Wailers band.

                                                          So, this link between The Upsetters and the Wailers band would under the guidance of Lee Perry produce an outstanding body of music. Recorded at Randy's Studio 17, as at the time Lee Perry did not have a studio of his own, but on checking out the various studio's available, opted for Studio 17, liking the vibes it transmitted.

                                                          We have unearthed from this selection of work some rare dubs featuring the fabulous melodica playing of Mr Augustus Pablo, playing over these classic rhythms and adding a haunting additional feel to these already iconic tunes. On their initial release Lee Perry recognising the strength of the rhythm tracks, planned to release the vocal cuts as one album and the instrumental versions as another release. We at Jamaican Recordings believing in all thing’s rhythm, also think that these cuts in their dubbed form, with the additional flavour of some fine melodica playing, deserved to be listened to in their own right.

                                                          Respect Jah Floyd.

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                                                          Cover of Portable Radio by Portable Radio.

                                                          Portable Radio

                                                          Portable Radio

                                                          Crimson Crow

                                                            Heady power pop trio Portable Radio announce the release of their debut eponymous LP on March 12th 2021 on Crimson Crow Records. Lead track and first single Hot Toddy, out in February, introduces the album with its ethereal brooding pop arrangement.

                                                            Some years ago, the world started to go weird – and that’s when the then duo, Portable Radio, decided it was as good a time as any, to start making first steps.

                                                            Phil … and Mof … shared some messages and a love of melodies, and as a gift to friends and those feeling the weight of everything, recorded a version of Brian Wilson’s gorgeous opus, ‘Love & Mercy’. The result was enough for them to start writing songs, and the blueprint for Portable Radio was born – hope, empathy, fun, love, and mercy.

                                                            Phil had cut his teeth in the Beep Seals and Mof was a DJ and student of pop, and in each other they both wanted to make music that was a tonic for the times; what transpired was a clutch of songs that were filled with uplifting, rich harmonies – stirring power pop inspired by Todd Rundgren, Wings, Carole King, Electric Light Orchestra, NRBQ, Emitt Rhodes, ‘70s West Coast AOR, The Zombies, and of course, The Beach Boys.

                                                            The duo released their Baroque Pop debut single with You Are The Cosmos recordings – the double A-Side of ‘Seven Hills’ and ‘Parades’. A cult following started and some shows and radio sessions ensued, joined by extended family – tap room-Mozart Jim Noir, shed-pop wizard Aidan Smith, and Phil’s previous bandmate, the supremely talented Ian Smith (Beep Seals/Alfie).

                                                            Soon, Robyn Gibson (The Junipers/Bob Of The Pops) joined the ranks for their star turn and appearance on the ‘12 String High’ compilation. The two becoming a trio, the output cranked up, seeing the release of the debut Portable Radio EP (produced by Jim Noir) and the Christmas Selection Box, all loaded with killer hooks, washes of dreamy harmonies, and just a sprinkling of cynicism because no-one is impervious to the all-encompassing weirdness of the last couple of years.

                                                            All of these things were the groundwork for the imminent full-length, self-titled debut, out in March 2021. The LP (vinyl/download/streaming) is full to bursting with big choruses, reflective popsike, FM ready pop, melancholic ballads, with each song is treated like it’s going to be a single.


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                                                            Cover of Yeti Season by El Michels Affair.

                                                            El Michels Affair

                                                            Yeti Season

                                                            Big Crown

                                                              Fresh off of their 2020 offering Adult Themes, El Michels Affair is back with a new full-length release. Titled Yeti Season, this newest album has everything we've come to expect from EMA’s patented cinematic style of instrumental soul music. Where Adult Themes inspired a soundtrack to an imaginary film, Yeti Season brings us to a different place in time with new inspirations. Taken with Turkish-styled funk and an almost Mumbai-esque take on soul, El Michels Affair offers us a different kind of drama and imagination with Yeti Season. If you've been following along, this shouldn't be viewed as too far a departure for El Michels Affair.

                                                              The first single off of Yeti Season showed their hand back in 2018. A double-sided banger, that release brought the musical textures to the fore that dominate this record. The first song, titled "Unathi," is fully realized with the beautifully haunting-yet-hopeful vocals of Piya Malik, formally of 79.5 another Big Crown artist. Singing in Hindi, Piya's ethereal voice is telling us to work and strive together toward progress.

                                                              Even if you don't understand her language, you can still hear the urgency of purpose, creating a lasting vibe that sits on top of it all. Leon Michels explains that Piya had a vital influence on this record: "When Piya started singing in Hindi, she had a different voice, a different tone. I knew we had to do something together." And so Piya appears on three other songs on Yeti Season: "Zaharila," "Murkit Gem," and "Dhuaan." Each providing particular signatures to the album. "Zaharila" is a building and changing love song punctuated by blaring trumpets, driving drums, and Piya's pleading lyrics. While the more upbeat "Murkit Gem" opens with a fuzzed out, Wu-Tang-esque baseline that buoys Piya's stylings. The psychedelic guitar and Piya's changing tones and textures singing about an all-consuming love are what pushed "Dhuaan" on to the second single from Yeti Season.

                                                              There is also a vocal appearance from Shannon Wise of The Shacks, yet another Big Crown artist. Her song called "Sha Na Na," lies more in the familiar EMA vein: melodic, hypnotic, soulfully visual. But between Shannon's airy singing, the jumpy baseline, moody vibes, the active drum lines, it sounds like a pensive walk home after a strangely dramatic night. So what is Yeti Season? It could be more of a feeling than an actual place or time of year. It's a heavy album as evidenced by the signature musicianship and dramatic vocal expressions. But it's also a hopeful record, with phrasings, textures, and chord changes that hint at something better or fuller coming our way. You hear it in songs like "Ala Vida," with its stabby, pulsing chords laying a bedrock for EMA's bright, atmospheric horn lines. Or even in "Fazed Out," which leaves you with a feeling of determination, a striving for resolution even though the driving, march-like song structure should accompany some conquering army.

                                                              This persistence has to come from the fact that Leon Michels and company finished this record during the lockdown. It was a tough and troublesome time. But look at what has come of it: Yeti Season a record of high and heavy drama, but also one of hope and promise. It may take a year like 2020 behind us to find hope in a winter big footed creature like a Yeti, but that's where we are.

                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                              Coloured LP Info: Clear blue vinyl.

                                                              Deluxe LP Info: Red Vinyl, plus 50-page children's book inspired by the LP.

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                                                              Cover of The Pet Parade by Fruit Bats.

                                                              Fruit Bats

                                                              The Pet Parade

                                                              Merge Records

                                                                “The Pet Parade,” the title track to Fruit Bats’ newest album, might be a surprising opening track for longtime fans of Eric D. Johnson’s beloved indie folk-rock project. The six-and-a-half-minute tone poem smolders and drones over just two chords, inspired by the strange and silly community events that he saw growing up outside of Chicago, in La Grange, Illinois, in which people dressed up and showed off their pets. Decades later, The Pet Parade emerges in troubled times, living within what Johnson refers to as the beauty and absurdity of existence.

                                                                While many of the songs on The Pet Parade were actually written before the pandemic, it’s impossible to disassociate the record from the times. As an example, producer Josh Kaufman (Bob Weir, The National, and Bonny Light Horseman, in which he plays with Johnson and Anaïs Mitchell) was brought in for his deep emotional touch and bandleading abilities. However, Johnson, Kaufman, and the other musicians on The Pet Parade drummers Joe Russo and Matt Barrick (The Walkmen, Fleet Foxes), singer-songwriter Johanna

                                                                Samuels, pianist Thomas Bartlett (Nico Muhly, Sufjan Stevens), and fiddler Jim Becker (Califone, Iron & Wine) were forced to self-record their parts in bedrooms and home studios across America. Still, says Johnson, “The songs have enough intimacy that it doesn’t sound like it was made a million miles away.”



                                                                Such tension and turmoil also impacted the lyrics of The Pet Parade. While “Cub Pilot” and “Here For Now, For You” began as more traditional love songs from a personal “I” to a specific “you” Johnson quickly realized

                                                                that these songs needed to comfort broader audiences, changing the words to a more inclusive “we” and “us.” So too in “The Balcony,” a song ostensibly about a particular space in his grandmother’s apartment, but one that evolved into a metaphor on patience.



                                                                At times upbeat and reassuring (“Eagles Below Us”) and at times quietly contemplative (“On the Avalon Stairs”), The Pet Parade marks a milestone for Johnson, who celebrates 20 years of Fruit Bats in 2021. In some ways still a cult band, in other ways a time-tested act, Fruit Bats has consistently earned enough small victories to carve out a career in a notoriously fickle scene.

                                                                And Johnson himself who has played in The Shins, composed film scores, gone solo and returned back to the moniker that started it all, and most recently, earned two GRAMMY® nominations with Bonny Light

                                                                Horseman doesn’t take this long route of life’s pet parade for granted. “I’m still really excited to make records,” he says. “Lucky and happy and maybe happier that things went slower for me. I’m savoring it a lot more.”

                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                Coloured LP Info: Red & black swirl in clear base vinyl.

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                                                                Cover of In Ferneaux by Blanck Mass.

                                                                Blanck Mass

                                                                In Ferneaux

                                                                Sacred Bones

                                                                  What is the utility of pain? Can it do anything but fester? In Ferneaux explores pain in motion, building audio-spatial chambers of experience and memory. Using an archive of field recordings from a decade of global travels, isolation gave Blanck Mass an opportunity to make connections in a moment when being together is impossible. The record is divided into two long-form journeys that gather the memories of being with now-distant others through the composition of a nostalgic travelogue. The journeys are haunted with the vestiges of voices, places, and sensations. These scenes alternate with the building up and releasing of great aural tension, intensities that emerge from the trauma of a personal grieving process which has perhaps embraced its rage moment.

                                                                  An encounter with a prophetic figure on the streets of San Francisco presented the question of “how to handle the misery on the way to the blessing.” This is the quandary of the impasse we now all find ourselves in, trapped in our little caves, grappling with the unease of the self at rest – without movement, without the consumerist agenda of “new experiences.” The possibility of growth, always defined by our connections with others, held in limbo. Sartre said that “Hell is other people,” but perhaps this is the Inferno of the present: the space of sitting with the self.

                                                                  A blessing is often thought of as a future reward, above and beyond the material plane. With In Ferneaux, Blanck Mass wrangles the immanent materials of the here-and-now to build a sense of transcendence. Here, the uncanny angelic hymn sits comfortably beside the dirge. The misery and blessing are one.

                                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                  Coloured LP Info: Magenta LP

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                                                                  Cover of Tougher Than Leather - Coloured Vinyl Repress by Run DMC.

                                                                  Run DMC

                                                                  Tougher Than Leather - Coloured Vinyl Repress

                                                                  Get On Down

                                                                    Repressed On translucent blue vinyl! Too many people sleep on Tougher Than Leather, Run-DMC’s fourth album. But hear us out as we plead the case for this amazing LP. By 1988 there was a lot more competition in the rap game – Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. & Rakim, Ice-T and many more had given Hollis, Queens’ prodigal sons lots of competition. But Joe, Darryl and Jay were still at the top of their game, and hip-hop fans should never let this classic – chiefly produced by their Queens neighbor, DJ and multi-instrumentalist Davy D[MX] – get lost in their crates. For starters, the album’s first single, “Run’s House” b/w “Beats To The Rhyme” is arguably the most powerful one-two punch of the trio’s career, showing contenders to the rap throne that they could still destroy a beat, tag-teaming with power at any speed. Not to be lost in the shuffle, fans were also reminded on both sides that Jam-Master Jay remained one of the world’s best DJs, flexing the pinnacle of what would be called “turntablism” a decade later. Both songs show a musical telepathy between all three that has rarely been equaled.

                                                                    The second single, “Mary, Mary,” driven by an infectious Monkees sample, took a different approach, shrewdly ensuring that pop fans who jumped on the Raising Hell bandwagon had something to chew on. But, like “Walk This Way,” the song wasn’t just bubblegum – there was an edge to it, and the lyrical gymnastics were very real. It wasn’t selling out, it was allowing fans to buy in. “Papa Crazy,” driven in concept and by a sample from the Temptations’ “Papa Was A Rolling Stone,” followed a similar pop-leaning path. Overall, the lyrical content on the album was a step up from the group’s first three LPs. It’s easy to infer, looking back, that they were feeling the heat from their younger competitors in the rap game. The genre was changing fast, and they were up to the challenge. On cuts like “Radio Station” they bring substance to the grooves, by attacking Black Radio for its continual denigration of rap. “Tougher Than Leather” reminds the world that they were still the Kings of Rock, with hard guitars to drive the point home. And “They Call Us Run-DMC” and “Soul To Rock And Roll” both bring things back to their early days, with sure-fire park jam rhymes and killer cuts. Tougher Than Leather, which went platinum up against a lot of competition, perfectly bookends the ‘80s output of one of the decade’s most important groups. It encompasses the full range of the trio’s capabilities, and reminds us that Run-DMC should never be forgotten as both pioneers and party-rockers. And so, we say, long live Joe, Darryl and Jay!

                                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                    Coloured LP Info: Translucent Blue vinyl.

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                                                                    Cover of Run D.M.C - Coloured Vinyl Repress by Run DMC.

                                                                    Run DMC

                                                                    Run D.M.C - Coloured Vinyl Repress

                                                                    Get On Down

                                                                      Future archaeologists will discuss two periods in 1980s: before Run-DMC and after Run-DMC. It’s no exaggeration to say that the group changed the course of music in the ‘80s, bringing the old-school of rap into the new with one simple piece of flat, black plastic. Coming up in the rap world of the early 1980s under the wing of Kurtis Blow (group manager Russell Simmons managed Blow, and Run was, at one time, a DJ known as “Son of Kurtis Blow”) and Blow’s bassist and burgeoning super-producer Larry Smith, the trio – Joseph “Run” Simmons, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell – learned from the best, but created their own path. 1983 was the year that they first broke out. With only an Oberheim DMX drum program and some cuts by Jay, “Sucker M.C.s (Krush-Groove 1)” was a shot across the bow to the slick, post-disco pocket rap had settled into. It was raw, pure swagger and it took both New Yorkers and music aficionados around the world by storm.

                                                                      The song’s lyrics are a mandatory memorization assignment to this day by MCs learning their craft. “Two years ago, a friend of mine…” The group’s sound, which was laid out muscularly on Run-DMC, had a harder approach than their peers, thanks to producer Larry Smith’s use of live musicians who laid down grooves but didn’t soften the edges. Lyrically the group wasn’t just about brags either, with songs like “Hard Times,” “It’s Like That” and “Wake Up” (the first two were singles). Run’s and DMC’s overlapping tag-team approach to lyricism was powerful and immensely influential. “Rock Box,” another single and arguably the centerpiece of the album, was a nod to their hard edge, and a foreshadowing of their first worldwide smash, 1985’s “King Of Rock.” Jam Master Jay’s DJ work was stellar, knowing exactly when to jump in and put listeners’ ears in a headlock. The album was the first rap full-length to achieve Gold status, and as fans know, the group was just getting started – their next two LPs would take them to even higher status in the music world, critically and sales-wise. But this is where it all started, and it’s a classic that still sounds fresh today as it did more than 30 years ago. 

                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                      Coloured LP Info: Clear vinyl.

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                                                                      Cover of Dual Myths by Mainliner.

                                                                      Mainliner

                                                                      Dual Myths

                                                                      Riot Season

                                                                        The follow up to Mainliner’s 2013 comeback album 'Revelation Space' has been rumoured for many years. I've even heard tales of several attempts being finished and scrapped in the last five years. I guess that's how hard it is to run a band when all the members are based on different continents and in other very busy bands themselves (Acid Mothers Temple & Bo Ningen notably).

                                                                        But it's finally done. And if you're a fan, it's been worth the wait.

                                                                        In Kawabata's own words ... "This new album is the second chapter of this present Mainliner. Finally we could open to the next stage to break old customs since 1995"

                                                                        The killer trio from the 'Revelation Space' album is still intact, we have Kawabata Makoto (motorpsycho guitar), Koji Shimura (drums) and Kawabe Taigen (bass/vocals) and we're back to calling them just Mainliner once again ('Revelation Space' was issued as Kawabata Makoto's Mainliner)

                                                                        Q. What does 'Dual Myths' sound like ?
                                                                        A. Mainliner. Nasty!


                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                        2xColoured LP Info: (One record silver vinyl, one record black vinyl to match the sleeve artwork).
                                                                        Limited one off double vinyl pressing housed in a gloss varnished gatefold sleeve with black polylined inners.

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                                                                        Cover of Contempo by Keith Mansfield.

                                                                        Keith Mansfield

                                                                        Contempo

                                                                        Be With Records

                                                                          The creator of the romping tunes that became the iconic themes to the BBC’s Grandstand programme and their televised Wimbledon Tennis Championship coverage, Keith Mansfield was perhaps KPM’s most prolific artist from the mid 1960s right the way through the 1980s. As well as the sort of pop orchestral sound that is all over these classic library records, he could also turn his hand to raw, edgy rock and funk. Quentin Tarantino is a big fan, going as far as including some of Keith’s work on the soundtracks to Kill Bill and Grindhouse.

                                                                          Many library records are a game of two halves and Contempo is certainly one of those. The first side cooks on a high funk breaks flame whilst the flip is something altogether more tranquil, yet no less groovy. It lays back with dreamier, post-coital grooves.

                                                                          Rugged funk opener “The Fix” confidently displays its low slung languid grooves with heavy drums, horns and bass. Smokin’ in slow motion. The punchy “What’s Cooking” follows and has a lighter, more whimsical touch. But the drums still roll and the clavs wiggle in fascinating opposition to those horns. The dark and moody intro to “Cut To Music” gives way to a more inclusive, relaxed funk that’s all irresistible bass and stabbing horns. The mid-tempo “Man Alive” signals the time to really get down. A percussive monster jam. If you can’t strut to this then we really can’t help you! Closing out the A side, fresh guitar licks drip all over the slick drums of “Funky Footage”, with a New Orleans piano vibe coming on to really light a fire.

                                                                          Whilst the dramatic crime funk of the A side is enough on its own to have earned this record its place in the great library record canon, it’s undoubtedly the more smoothed out B side for which Contempo is rightfully adored and celebrated. It’s so chilled and mellow, with beautifully arranged, sweeping strings, sax solos aplenty and a real 70s soundtrack feel. Think Love Boat, CTI label, Bob James, Grover Washington Jr.-type jams.

                                                                          The super sleek and sexy jazz funk of “Breezin’” is as light and magical as you’d hope. An open-air masterpiece, its indulgent sound is just a taster of the sophisticated funk to follow. The elegant, romantic feels of “Good Vibrations” (used brilliantly by Odd Future’s Mike G for “Swiss Army”) is a string-drenched, wah-wah fuelled ode to living your best life. Nonchalantly. Whilst it keeps a very West Coast feel, the blaxploitation strut is certainly more Blackbyrds than Brian Wilson. “Sun Goddess” will blow your mind with the sensuous sound of glorious horns and beautiful keys. The luxurious “Love De Luxe” and its horizontal grooves have been much sampled, but here it proves that it doesn’t need any help to get you in an intimate mood. Closer “Snake Hips” is a cool mid-pace slouch. Just divine.

                                                                          Originally released in 1976 but, like the very best KPM records, wonderfully timeless, Contempo is also no mere LP-length collection of loosely related tracks. This is a rare example of a library record that is a genuinely great listen from start to finish.

                                                                          As with all of our KPM re-issues, the audio for Contempo comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. And as usual, the sleeve reproduction duties were handed over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity.


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                                                                          Cover of Vivid Underscores by Keith Mansfield.

                                                                          Keith Mansfield

                                                                          Vivid Underscores

                                                                          Be With Records

                                                                            The creator of the romping tunes that became the iconic themes to the BBC’s Grandstand programme and their televised Wimbledon Tennis Championship coverage, Keith Mansfield was perhaps KPM’s most prolific artist from the mid 1960s right the way through the 1980s. As well as the sort of pop orchestral sound that is all over these classic library records, he could also turn his hand to raw, edgy rock and funk. Quentin Tarantino is a big fan, going as far as including some of Keith’s work on the soundtracks to Kill Bill and Grindhouse.

                                                                            This is it. This is THE ONE for us: Keith “The Man” Mansfield’s Vivid Underscores from 1977. A sample freak’s wet dream and one of Be With Rob’s favourite ever KPM records. A must for fans of Brian Bennett’s Voyage (yes, THAT good). And no, we’ve no idea either why it took us this long to get round to tackling this monster of a record. But then again some things are worth waiting for.

                                                                            Attention! Calling all crate diggers, DJs, beat heads, Hip Hop junkies, MF DOOM fans! Behold! Vivid Underscores makes sampling easy. Prepare to be up all night, every night, chopping, looping and splicing these endless grooves and spacey synths. The highlights are too many and too mind-blowing so we’ll pull out a few particular highlights. Trust us, this library LP is just jaw-dropping.

                                                                            “High Velocity” sets the tone with its aggressive horns, wah-wah guitars, funky baseline and wobbly synth refrain. So good and so hypnotic that Memphis Bleek just had to swipe the ominous, frazzled intro for “What You Think of That” featuring Jay-Z. Also, for real drama, the 1985 Lakers retrospective “Return to Glory” used it to soundtrack the footage from the legendary game five of the NBA finals at the Forum. Heady days. “Crash Course” - Stetsasonic horn refrain? Beautiful - jazzy chase-funk, amazing warm keys, percussion and funky horns - all action.

                                                                            The more restrained “Matter Of Urgency” is an utterly amazing, brass-heavy underscore. The grandiose, uplifting “Dawn Of Aquarius” still sounds like the future with its tense, thundering drums, killer bassline and swirling synths. Version II loses the drums and percussion but is no less startling. “Staying Power” closes the first side with a relentless, pounding groove which *will* snap your neck. Be warned.

                                                                            “Trucking Company” is a pacey, synth-and-string masterpiece and its accompanying parts (a–c) mess with the formula to great effect. Part (a) adds echo delay to really dazzle and part (c) plays the breezy, beautiful middle section without the tension. “Hot Cargo” and “Espionage” are both tense spy-funk themes par excellence. “Interplay” is a quiet killer, with flutes over a glistening piano refrain just waiting to be looped. The intro to the menacing “Omen” might’ve been sampled by 7L & Esoteric for their classic “So Glorious” but the entire 5 minute track is a mini-drama masterpiece, one only Mansfield could create.

                                                                            Even though its a mix of short themes in-and-amongst longer, full-length tracks, Vivid Underscores is still thoroughly listenable from start to finish. That’s not something that can be said of all library records and it still manages to serve as rich resource to keep even the keenest samplers busy for a while.

                                                                            As with all of our KPM re-issues, the audio for Vivid Underscores comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. And as usual, the sleeve reproduction duties were handed over to Richard Robinson, the current custodian of KPM’s brand identity.


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                                                                            Cover of Obstacle Scattering by Rian Treanor.

                                                                            Rian Treanor

                                                                            Obstacle Scattering

                                                                            Planet Mu

                                                                              Rian Treanor's "Obstacle Scattering EP" arrives in a flurry of disorienting rhythmic bursts and de-purposed rave hallmarks. The four-track EP follows the Yorkshire producer's acclaimed "File Under UK Metaplasm", an album that welded elements from the UK's sprawling dance music history with genre-breaking sounds from further afield. Here, Rian goes straight for the jugular with four tracks assembled specifically for the dancefloor. Playing with "the idea of sound being an obstacle that you have to get your body around," each track on the EP presents a suite of complications for adventurous ravers. 'Obstacle 1' folds the influence of SND into a hi-nrg singeli framework, simmering lush FM synths in a broth of tangled kicks; 'Obstacle 2' was written for Rian's set at 2019's Aphex Twin-curated Warehouse Project and distills his early obsession with Planet Mu in hyperactive squelches that deftly flit between brutalist glitches and ear-pummeling bass. Meanwhile irradiant chords continuously refract a bouncing 4x4 groove on 'Obstacle 3', subtly shifting the focus as they alternate and interlock. Closer 'Obstacle 4' switches things up once again, deploying the idea of pause and effect with staccato stabs that follow whirls of modulated synth. These four obstacles are DJ tools with spikes - selected grooves that don't fit anywhere except together, mapping out Rian's constantly-shifting relationship with both the club and the legacy of boundary-pushing dance music. They feverishly demonstrate the outer limits of a streamlined sonic palette, devastating speakers and dancefloors in equal measure.

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                                                                              Cover of Percussion Spectrum by Barry Morgan And Ray Cooper.

                                                                              Barry Morgan And Ray Cooper

                                                                              Percussion Spectrum

                                                                              Be With Records

                                                                                Originally released in 1979, Percussion Spectrum was produced by the legendary percussionists Barry Morgan and Ray Cooper. With dope beats taking in diverse styles, from funk and soul and jazz through to Latin, Brazilian, samba and Afro-Cuban, this is an amazing sample source filled with killer drum-breaks and percussion flares. Unsurprisingly it’s one of the most sought-after records from the Themes catalogue.

                                                                                This library LP is a library in itself, with its mix of short themes of single beats, short breaks and some longer, more fully-formed DJ-friendly tracks. Trust us when we say that this is a box full of percussion firework ready to be thrown onto the dancefloor at the just right moment. We don’t have anywhere near enough space to describe all 34 tracks (there isn’t even enough room on the labels to list them all!) so we’ll pick out some favourites.

                                                                                Favourites like opener “Impulsion”, a percussive masterclass with drum upon drum upon drum making it feel like a neat prototype to the percussive underscores of Peter Lüdemann and Pit Troja’s eternal The Now Generation LP. And the dramatic “Fast Action” is exactly that, racing along on a rapid roll of congas, cymbal crashes and throbbing kicks. “The Chaser” is classic library cop-funk with dilapidated drum figures, and the outrageously funky “Heat On” is the perfect accompaniment to your wild action sequences.

                                                                                A real highlight is “Runaway”, and not just because it sounds like nothing else on the record. Here are drums and percussion in that tight funk style that just cries out to be sampled. “Percussion Power” is an extended, near-three minute suite of funky drum solo after funky drum solo that just aches to be looped: open drums to die for people! “Shivers” is a tense, apprehensive underscore with shock stabs that builds to a climax whilst “Drums On Parade” is a showcase of head-nod drums and cymbals in march time. Did someone say “funky”?

                                                                                Side B starts with a stroll down “Samba Street”. With the noise of the crowd in the background, this is riotous, authentically drawn samba that sounds like it’s been beamed straight in from Rio in full flow. Drop this at midnight and watch the cobwebs fly off any dancefloor. Prefer it without the fake crowd? “Samba Street (b)” has you covered.

                                                                                The simple, innocent “Child’s Themes” (all five of them) provide a nice, sweet respite from all the funk. Nursery sounds tinged with only a touch of melancholy. The gentle marimba solo of “Tropical Peace” only adds to the sense of serenity we get from the relatively calm second side. The album closes out with a veritable toolkit of tom toms, snare drum rolls, timpani, vibraphones and chiming bells.

                                                                                Percussion Spectrum is a joyous collection of sounds, as bright, beaming and downright funky as the vibrant cover. The Themes series is known for each record having its own particularly striking sleeve, which was unusual for library records at the time, and Percussion Spectrums’s multi-coloured drumsticks make for one of the most eye-catching.

                                                                                As with all of our other Themes re-issues, the audio for Percussion Spectrum comes from the original analogue tapes and has been remastered for vinyl by Be With regular Simon Francis. As usual Richard Robinson has taken the same care with restoring the original sleeve from archive scans. This is another one ticked off the list of library records that should be out there for anyone who wants a copy.


                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                LP Info: 2021 re-issue, 180g vinyl, remastered audio from the original tapes.

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                                                                                Cover of The Exciting Sounds Of Menahan Street Band by Menahan Street Band.

                                                                                Menahan Street Band

                                                                                The Exciting Sounds Of Menahan Street Band

                                                                                Daptone

                                                                                  MSB tracks have been the foundation for some of modern hip-hop's most successful beats; their music has been sampled by the likes of Eminem, Jay-Z, Kendrick Lamar, Travis Scott, 50 Cent, Curren$y, to name a few.

                                                                                  Menahan Street Band, a veritable supergroup of some of today's most prolific songwriters, arrangers, and producers return with this beat-forward, cinematic masterpiece.

                                                                                  Their unique brand of instrumental soul has not only been the foundation for some of modern hip-hop's most successful beats, it has also become the perennial soundtrack and veritable vibe-generator for countless parties, art shows, and restaurants throughout NYC and abroad.

                                                                                  While this album carries the aesthetic torch that MSB has skillfully woven into the tapestry of their DNA, it also delves deeper into the experimental, exotic sounds that fill many of the coveted Sound Library and Soundtrack LPs of the late sixties and early seventies - an amalgamation of moog synths, electric pianos, drum machines, and a bevy of analog instrumentation, that ebb and flow in lush swells of Morriconian grandeur.


                                                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                  Coloured LP Info: Vintage green coloured vinyl.

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                                                                                  Cover of Future Me Hates Me by The Beths.

                                                                                  The Beths

                                                                                  Future Me Hates Me

                                                                                  Carpark Records

                                                                                  The Beths from New Zealand occupy a warm, energetic sonic space between joyful hooks, sun-soaked harmonies, and acerbic lyrics. Their debut album Future Me Hates Me, forthcoming on Carpark Records, delivers an astonishment of roadtrip-ready pleasures, each song hitting your ears with an exhilarating endorphin rush like the first time you heard The Breeders/Jale/Veruca Salt..

                                                                                  Front and center on these ten infectious tracks is lead singer and primary songwriter Elizabeth Stokes. Stokes has previously worked in other genres within Auckland’s rich and varied music scene, recently playing in a folk outfit, but it was in exploring the angst-ridden sounds of her youth that she found her place. “Fronting this kind of band was a new experience for me,” says Stokes. “I never thought I had the right voice for it.”

                                                                                  From the irresistible title track to future singles “Happy Unhappy” and “You Wouldn’t Like Me,” Stokes commands a vocal range that spans from the brash confidence of Joan Jett to the disarming vulnerability of Jenny Lewis. Further honeying Future Me Hates Me’s dark lyrics that explore complex topics like being newly alone and the self-defeating anticipation of impending regret, ecstatic vocal harmonies bubble up like in the greatest pop and R+B of the ‘60s, while inverting the trope of the “sad dude singer accompanied by a homogenous girl-sound.”

                                                                                  All four members of The Beths studied jazz at university, resulting in a toolkit of deft instrumental chops and tricked-out arrangements that operate on a level rarely found in guitar-pop. Beths guitarist and studio guru Jonathan Pearce (whose other acts as producer include recent Captured Tracks signing Wax Chattels) brings it all home with an approach that’s equal parts seasoned perfectionist and D.I.Y.

                                                                                  “There’s a lot of sad sincerity in the lyrics,” she continues, “that relies on the music having a light heart and sense of humor to keep it from being too earnest.” Channeling their stew of personal-canon heroes while drawing inspiration from contemporaries like Alvvays and Courtney Barnett, The Beths serve up deeply emotional lyrics packaged within heavenly sounds that delight in probing the limits of the pop form. “That’s another New Zealand thing,” Stokes concludes with a laugh. “We’re putting our hearts on our sleeves—and then apologizing for it.” The result is nothing less than one of the standout records of 2018.


                                                                                  STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                  says: The antipodean onslaught continues with New Zealand's The Beths. 'Future Me Hates Me' is the shortest, sharpest most bittersweet collection of three minute pop songs we've heard this year.

                                                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                  Coloured LP 2 Info: Brand new colour pressing on neon yellow splatter vinyl.

                                                                                  Coloured LP 3 Info: Jelly bean green vinyl repress.

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                                                                                  Cover of Serve To Serve Again by Vintage Crop.

                                                                                  Vintage Crop

                                                                                  Serve To Serve Again

                                                                                  Upset The Rhythm

                                                                                    Vintage Crop serve to serve again. Over the last four years the Geelong group have become a burgeoning force in the Australian punk scene. Their burly, brusque yet supple songs have evolved from the garage rock of 2017’s ‘TV Organs’ album into the post-punk panic attack of last year’s ‘Company Man’ EP. Now they’ve sculpted their sound further, the barrage now offset with robust songwriting, their full-pelt bounce tempered with flailing guitar lines and sardonic commentary. Bringing to mind Wire tackling tracks from early 7”s by The Yummy Fur, it’s an inspired approach, both striking and effortlessly mirthful. Vintage Crop still dish-up plenty of commanding stomp, their lyrics remain as keen-eyed as ever, but now they’re unafraid to mess with the tempo and drive their point home.

                                                                                    ‘Serve To Serve Again’ is Vintage Crop’s third full-length album. It was recorded by Mikey Young after a year of playing solid shows, including tours in Europe and the UK alongside Louder Than Death and URSA and some of the band’s biggest shows to date in Australia with Amyl & The Sniffers, R.M.F.C. and The Stroppies.

                                                                                    This allowed Vintage Crop to nail the songs live before committing them to tape, pulling and pushing ideas, stretching them into new-found territories. ‘First In Line’ races off the blocks with its sawtooth riff and splintered beat, all jagged edges and ragged vocals. Quickly follow a pair of totemic bruisers in the guise of ‘The Ladder’ and ‘The North’, both brimming with a nigh anthemic quality, confident in their faculty to rouse the rabble. ‘Jack’s Casino’ is a lurching romp about gambling, ‘Streetview’ is similarly propellent, only choosing to meander and divert itself with cryptic trips around the neighbourhood: “He only moved to that side of town because the postcode is worth it’s weight in gold”.

                                                                                    There’s no better poised nod to frustration than ‘Gridlock’ - “the hustle and bustle of inner-city traffic is driving me nuts because the radios on static”. Guitar lines entwine and wriggle wildly free from the song’s pouncing rhythm and potent vocal, making for the most vigorous of rackets. ‘Just My Luck’ prowls with a shared thrumming verve, whilst ‘Everyday Heroes’ closes out the album with measured flair. Skewed and fervent, rangy at times yet always assured in its intent ‘Serve To Serve Again’ is long-legged leap for Vintage Crop into the delirious now. These songs strive to make sense of futility, they criticise the chain of command, question privilege and most importantly make us want more from life. Now all we have to do is turn up the volume!


                                                                                    FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                    Coloured LP Info: Limited edition opaque white vinyl (180g) – 500 copies wordwide.

                                                                                    Coloured LP 2 Info: Light blue vinyl repress of 500 copies worldwide.

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                                                                                    Cover of BL_CK B_ST_RDS (Deluxe Edition) by KMD.

                                                                                    KMD

                                                                                    BL_CK B_ST_RDS (Deluxe Edition)

                                                                                    Metal Face Records

                                                                                      MF Doom’s first group and their controversial sophomore release Bl_ck B_st_rds now available as a double CD containing the full the album with a second disc of bonus material including rare cuts, remixes and instrumentals, and a 32-page booklet of liner notes and rare photos compiled by Brian Coleman, featuring interviews with MF DOOM, Pete Nice, Dante Ross and Bobbito Garcia. The words “lost classic” get thrown around from time to time, but KMD’s sophomore album, Black Bastards, truly fits the bill. Originally scheduled for release in the spring of 1994, their label unceremoniously shelved it at the eleventh hour due to controversy over the provocative cover art. Surviving group member MF Doom (then known as Zev Love X) – as fans know, his younger brother Subroc was killed in 1993 tried to release the album on other labels, but met more dead ends. Sadly, it languished in hip-hop purgatory until six years later.

                                                                                      Even then, the album had only a limited release via small indie labels. Beyond the fact that the controversy surrounding the cover featuring the group’s long-standing mascot being hanged by a makeshift gallows was unfair, the group’s fans being denied access to this album only compounded the injustice. Because musically and lyrically, it was a truly amazing record, full of youthful creativity, tinged with the stress of growing up as black men in urban America. Unlike on the group’s 1991 debut, Mr. Hood, Subroc had fully come into his own as both a producer and an MC on Black Bastards, and his untimely death made the album’s shelving that much more tragic. Heavily influenced by the mind-bending spoken word album Blue Guerrilla by Gylan Kain (from 1970), songs like “What A Nigga Know” (the only single released from the album), the slippery, bass-driven “Get U Now” and the album’s title track explore black consciousness viewed through young-but-experienced eyes. Musically alternating between bouncy and raw many times both concurrently the tracks gave both MCs the springboard they needed to express themselves clearly, whether on the catchy, more lighthearted “Sweet Premium Wine,” the psychedelic, abstract “Suspended Animation” or the intricate mash-up of television samples heard on the instrumental “Garbage Day #3.

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                                                                                      Cover of Black Angel Drifter by Morton Valence.

                                                                                      Morton Valence

                                                                                      Black Angel Drifter

                                                                                      Cow Pie Records

                                                                                        The purveyors of 'Urban Country", Morton Valence release their dark 7th album on legendary UK label Cow Pie, established in 1978 by BJ Cole. ’Black Angel Drifter’ is an album of unorthodox ’country’ music and unlike anything you’ve heard before. This, the seventh studio offering from Urban Country duo Morton Valence (Anne Gilpin and Robert ‘Hacker’ Jessett), started life as their experimental side-project back in 2016. Notwithstanding more recent events, 2016 was quite a year, and whilst the band were preoccupied with other ventures Black Angel Drifter would bide its time. Fast forward to 2020 - a year that will unquestionably go down in the annals of history - and ‘Black Angel Drifter’s extraordinary sentiment could not resonate louder.

                                                                                        Legendary UK country label Cow Pie Ltd’s - established in 1978 by BJ Cole and Hank Wangford - sensibilities were especially tweaked and they were convinced it was time this spectacular album finally got the airing it has always deserved, remastered and repackaged for a new era. The album features ten tracks. From the explosive intro of ‘Skylines Change / Genders Blur’, coming at you like the illegitimate lovechild of The Jesus and Mary Chain and Ennio Morricone, to the down-at-heel ‘Black-Eyed Susan’, replete with sweaty priest and bullwhips, Morton Valence also flirt with the blues on ‘Sister Pain’, deliver sorrowful, divine love songs like ‘The Visit’ & ’Hymn Four’ and breathe fresh discordant life into the late 80s Bob Dylan classic, ‘The Man with the Long Black Coat’. As antithesis to a no regrets-type torch song, ‘If I Could Start Again’, where a man recounts his misspent life from a prison cell, could have been penned by Merle Haggard. The unrelenting ‘Trail of Tears’ is more akin to late-70’s Martin Rev robotics than anything ever created on a guitar. Alongside Gilpin and Hacker, Alan Cook’s sublime pedal steel guitar is omnipresent throughout the album. ‘Black Angel Drifter’ is an alt-country album that puts the rulebook through the shredder and starts again, set to put Urban Country on the map and give UK Alt-country an authentic new voice of its own, a voice that is genuinely original, new and exciting

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                                                                                        Cover of Cool Dry Place by Katy Kirkby.

                                                                                        Katy Kirkby

                                                                                        Cool Dry Place

                                                                                        Keeled Scales

                                                                                          Cool Dry Place is Katy Kirby’s long-awaited debut album. The 9 songs here are equal parts driving indie-pop and artful folk songwriting in the vein of Waxahatchee, Lucy Dacus, and Frankie Cosmos. Intimate, vulnerable lyrics give way to anthemic choruses, true earworm, and memorable vocal melodies. Katy Kirby is a Texas-based songwriter and indie rock practitioner with an affinity for unspoken rules, misunderstanding and boredom. She was born, raised and homeschooled by two ex-cheerleaders in small-town Texas and started singing in church, amidst the pasteurised-pop choruses of evangelical worship.

                                                                                          Like many bible belt late-millennials, Katy grew up on a strict diet of this dependably uncool genre and accordingly, Cool Dry Place finds her dismantling it. “I can hear myself fighting that deeply internalized impulse to make things that are super pleasant or approachable,” she says. Though Katy hasn’t fully overcome the itch to please, it’s to a listener’s benefit. Instead of eradicating the pop sensibilities of her past, she warps them, lacing sugary hooks with sneaky rage, twisting affectionate tones into matter-of-fact reproach, and planting seemingly serene melodies with sonic jabs. The fun is in the clash. The nine tracks that make up Cool Dry Place are miscellaneous in subject (motherhood, late capitalism, disintegrating relationships) but unified by the angle from which they’re told: from a person re-learning to process life with intense attention. Each song is a catalogue of fragments, the number of segments in an orange or the cut of an obsessively-worn shirt, distilled into meditations on the bizarre and microscopic exchanges that make up modern life - a relationship splintering, an uncomfortable pause, an understanding finally found. These emotional dioramas are moderated by the angular storytelling that unites Gillian Welch and Phoebe Bridgers, a favour for the conventions of short fiction over confession.

                                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                          Coloured LP Info: Coke Bottle Clear.

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                                                                                          Cover of Gozando by Al Valdez.

                                                                                          Al Valdez

                                                                                          Gozando

                                                                                          Vampisoul

                                                                                            One of the 'holy grails' of 1960s Cuban music was not recorded, produced or released in Havana or New York; in fact it was made in Lima, Peru. Pianist Alfredo "Alfredito" Valdes Jr. (May 31, 1941, Havana - January 23, 2016, New York), one of the most important figures in Latin music, came from an illustrious musical family in Cuba. In 1956, he emigrated to New York with his family, making him one of the forerunners of Cuban-based salsa music in the US. Overall, the swinging MAG sessions sound like a long lost record by Cachao and Tito Puente if they led an orchestra with Charlie Palmieri on piano and Tito Rodriguez on vocals (and played pachangas like Machito's Afro-Cubans 'with flute to boot'). Always an extremely rare collector's item, Gozando!! will now be able to reach a wider vinyl-loving audience with this first-time ever faithfully reproduced facsimile edition. 

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                                                                                            Cover of The Dept. Of Discontinued Lines by The William Loveday Intention.

                                                                                            The William Loveday Intention

                                                                                            The Dept. Of Discontinued Lines

                                                                                            Damaged Goods

                                                                                              A boxed set of 4 CDs featuring the recent studio albums by The William Loveday Intention! For the first time on CD we present the recent studio albums by The William Loveday Intention in a clamshell box set complete with booklet. The four albums in the set are - People Think They Know Me But They Don’t Know Me Will There Ever Be A Day That You're Hung Like A Thief? Blud Under The Bridge The Bearded Lady Also Sells The Candy Floss For the uninitiated, The William Loveday Intention is the latest band put together by Billy Childish. The four album project includes guest appearances by James Taylor (The Prisoners, JTQ), Dave Tattersall (The Wave Pictures) and Huddie Hamper (The Shadracks) amongst others.

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                                                                                              Cover of Paracon (the Paragon Session Outtakes 1978-1979) by Conrad Schnitzler.

                                                                                              Conrad Schnitzler

                                                                                              Paracon (the Paragon Session Outtakes 1978-1979)

                                                                                              Bureau B

                                                                                                These entirely instrumental recordings were created in the late 1970s at Peter Baumann's Paragon Studio. tTis stellar period gave rise to his finest works: the Con, Consequenz and Con 3 albums, These recently discovered pieces take the aforementioned albums a stage further. Sounds complement each other as they are reprised, whilst continuing to exist in their own cosmos. As you listen, you feel as if you have been transported back into the studio itself while the sessions are happening. Schnitzler is electronica in its purest sense. He succeeds in rendering the unconscious audible. This goes far beyond "music to listen to", it is music which works on different levels, music to move you.

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                                                                                                Cover of The Bearded Lady Also Sells The Candy Floss by The William Loveday Intention.

                                                                                                The William Loveday Intention

                                                                                                The Bearded Lady Also Sells The Candy Floss

                                                                                                Damaged Goods

                                                                                                  The fourth in a series of FOUR brand new studio albums by The William Loveday Intention! This Winter sees the release of four albums by The William Loveday Intention. They will be staggered, one a month beginning in October with People Think They Know Me But They Don’t Know Me. This is the fourth album in the series, entitled The Bearded Lady Also Sells The Candy Floss. For the uninitiated, The William Loveday Intention is the latest band put together by Billy Childish. The four album project includes guest appearances by James Taylor (The Prisoners, JTQ), Dave Tattersall (The Wave Pictures) and Huddie Hamper (The Shadracks) amongst others. 

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                                                                                                  Cover of Aspects by STR4TA.

                                                                                                  STR4TA

                                                                                                  Aspects

                                                                                                  Brownswood

                                                                                                    Gilles Peterson has partnered with Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick to reinvigorate the loose, protean energy of the early-80s Brit-funk scene. STR4TA sees them mine new musical possibilities outof that shared formative era. On “Aspects”, they revisit that important period and the spirit that guided it: self-taught, DIY vitality, and a raucous energy built on live performance. Bringing a fresh slant to a sound first developed by groups like Atmosfear, Hi-Tension, Light of the World and Freeez – with Maunick, it should be noted, also a member of the latter two bands – it’s the first material that Maunick and Peterson have released together in over a decade.

                                                                                                    It’s an idea that had been in the works for a while, but which was encouraged by a surprising catalyst: the award acceptance speech by Tyler, the Creator at the 2020 Brit Awards, where he shouted out the influence of “British funk from the 80s”. It was an acknowledgement of the particular sound that Maunick and his peers had honed, where their US influences were reoriented through their own circumstances. “Like everybody else who plays music, we tried to emulate our heroes,” Maunick says. “But we didn’t have the tools, we hadn’t studied music: were all playing by ear, and we were coming off bits and pieces that we liked off certain records.” This record is guided by the same ethos. An array of musical touchpoints have fed into the album’s direct, no-frills entries: each track’s parts are cut back to the bare bone. In writing and recording the album, the pair of them would work together to strike upon the point of departure – more naive, less considered – that had produced that killer Brit-funk sound. Peterson would dig out records that showed particular flashes or moods as jumping off points, and Maunick would then work with collaborators to build new directions out of those prompts or suggestions.

                                                                                                    It’s the latest chapter in a story that started with Peterson interviewing Maunick in his parents’ garden shed, the first interview that the former had ever conducted. Later, they would reconnect to put out a string of celebrated Incognito albums on Peterson’s pioneering, now-defunct Talkin’ Loud imprint. Now, linking up once more, they unpick an under-appreciated flashpoint in a vital musical lineage, one which each of them has been instrumental in shaping.

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                                                                                                    Cover of Chemtrails Over The Country Club by Lana Del Rey.

                                                                                                    Lana Del Rey

                                                                                                    Chemtrails Over The Country Club

                                                                                                    Universal

                                                                                                      Today Lana Del Rey releases her new song and visual ‘Chemtrails Over The Country Club’. The song is co-written by Lana Del Rey and Jack Antonoff, with the visual being directed by BRTHR.

                                                                                                      Following the success of her 2019 GRAMMY®-nominated album Norman Fucking Rockwell, Lana has announced that March 19th, 2021 is the official release date for her highly anticipated seventh studio album Chemtrails Over The Country Club.

                                                                                                      FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                      Coloured LP Info: Yellow vinyl. 1LP gatefold, indies-only.

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                                                                                                      Cover of Take A Seat by Nia Wyn.

                                                                                                      Nia Wyn

                                                                                                      Take A Seat

                                                                                                      Nia Wyn

                                                                                                        Nia Wyn grew up in Llandudno in North Wales where, despite the town’s breathtaking views, she found herself battling with demons relating to isolation, identity and mental health. In local junk shops she sought solace in old soul records, discovering the likes of Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan and Marvin Gaye as well as hip-hop artists such as Nas and Lauryn Hill. Growing up in a house with a dad who played a lot of northern soul, disco and reggae, Wyn took inspiration from a truly eclectic range. Her unique storytelling style, along with such distinctive and raw vocals, has made Wyn into one of the top emerging female artists now coming out of the UK, her classic influences filtering through her singular songwriting into an entirely modern sound. 

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                                                                                                        Cover of Nassau's Discos by Muchos Plus.

                                                                                                        Muchos Plus

                                                                                                        Nassau's Discos

                                                                                                        Kalita

                                                                                                          Kalita are excited to announce the first ever official reissue of Muchos Plus's highly sought-after 1979 12” reggae disco masterpiece 'Nassau’s Discos'! Over forty years after initial release, and long the envy of collectors, DJs and dance music connoisseurs, the time is now right to share the music and the group’s story once more.

                                                                                                          Originally privately released in a modest run on bandleader Rudy Mills’ own label U-Solo Records, the single features both the long and short versions of their devastating disco take on The Beginning of the End’s smash hit ‘Funky Nassau’, plus their own reggae funk slow jam ‘Love Misunderstood’.

                                                                                                          With original copies selling for up to £500 on the second-hand market, Kalita now come to the rescue, offering a loud and remastered 12” single for all. In addition, the record is accompanied by extensive liner notes based on interviews with Rudy, and never before seen contemporary photos.

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                                                                                                          Cover of Unité Africaine by T.P Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo De Cotonou.

                                                                                                          T.P Orchestre Poly-Rhythmo De Cotonou

                                                                                                          Unité Africaine

                                                                                                          Acid Jazz

                                                                                                            Two monumental full-side tracks from a pair of late 70s Orchestre Poly-Rythmo albums, Unité Africane isn’t exactly a compilation, more a combination of the standouts at a time when the band was at the peak of its powers. 

                                                                                                            Originally released in 1977, the title track is an infectious Afro-Latin workout that is interwoven with driving horn stabs by master trumpet player Tidiani Kone. Unité Africaine was recorded over the Nigerian border at the state-of-the-art EMI Studios in Lagos, yielding majestic sonic results. 

                                                                                                            Mede Ma Gnin Messe is taken from the 1978 Special 30 Novembre, and this time Poly-Rythmo wore their Afro-funk hat to deliver almost sixteen minutes of dancefloor fire. Propelled by Poly-Rythmo’s super-tight beats and underpinned by a relentless keyboard refrain, the magic is the stellar horn parts that take this track to another level. 

                                                                                                            As with much of the Albarika catalogue, copies of the original LPs are incredibly tough to locate in anything approaching reasonable condition, so this should be a gift.

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                                                                                                            Cover of Access by Major Murphy.

                                                                                                            Major Murphy

                                                                                                            Access

                                                                                                            Winspear

                                                                                                              Jacki plays bass and sings in Waxahatchee’s band. Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee, who wrote the album bio, describes lead single 'Access' as “a conduit for the grand and complex structures Bullard builds throughout the album. It’s as much a personal plea for patience and humility as it is a pep talk for setting the bar high and working hard to ascend.”

                                                                                                              Access, the second album by Major Murphy, out April 02, 2021 via Winspear, is an album born out of being at a crossroads. It’s also, without question, an album to blast at an unruly volume to soundtrack an experience one might have standing at that crossroads. It’s remarkably cohesive - a striking relic in an age where ardent and true “album-making” is a fading art form full of heavy rock’n'roll sounds and textured atmospheres fused with pro-idea, hyper-creative jittery warmth. In nine songs, it somehow takes a listener backwards and forwards at once, reckoning with intrinsic anxieties while conceptualizing a fantastical and vibrant happening, soothing in its familia familiar, occasionally childlike tone.

                                                                                                              Behind the sturdy and poetic architecture lies a story of new parents, navigating uncertainty and seeking a sense of agency in the new unknown. Throughout Access, songwriter Jacob Bullard recounts memories of teaching his young son to breathe through his nose and laments missing his son and his partner and bandmate Jacki Warren.

                                                                                                              On “In the Meantime”, Bullard expresses the timeless anxiety of recent parenthood, written in the wake of the terrifying experience of their son suffering from lead poisoning. While the title track “Access” is as much a personal plea for patience and humility as it is a pep talk for setting the bar high and working hard to ascend. Together with Brian Voortman and Chad Houseman, the Grand Rapids, Michigan four-piece makes a laudable case for pushing forward against a pervasive resistance. Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee).

                                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                              Coloured LP Info: Transparent Blue Limited Edition Colour Vinyl

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                                                                                                              Cover of Witch's Ladder by Dean McPhee.

                                                                                                              Dean McPhee

                                                                                                              Witch's Ladder

                                                                                                              Hood Faire

                                                                                                                "Witch's Ladder" is the fourth full length album from UK guitarist Dean McPhee, whose last LP "Four Stones" (2018) introduced a kick drum pulse, hypnotic loops and synth-like Ebow lines to his sparsely meditative, echo-laden solo guitar music.

                                                                                                                On this new album he uses his Telecaster, valve amp and effects to weave an even deeper spell, as fingerpicked melodies soar over hypnotic riffs, looped basslines and cosmic reverb trails. Recorded live with no overdubs and inspired by folklore, mysticism and the landscapes of the North of England, "Witch's Ladder" represents a significant evolution in his sound, while also retaining the unique sense of depth and space that has drawn comparison with the likes of Loren Connors, Dylan Carlson and Popul Vuh. The cover art to "Witch's Ladder" features the stunning 1933 painting "The Primal Wing" by Agnes Pelton, a visionary symbolist who was not widely known during her lifetime but is now being recognised as a pioneer of spiritual abstract art alongside the likes of Hilma Af Klimt and Wassily Kandinsky. "Witch's Ladder" is to be announced on the 8th January, 2021, which will coincide with the release of a video for the opening track "The Alchemist". Directed and filmed by Harry Wheeler (Architects of Harmonic Rooms and Records), the video features breathtaking footage of Dean performing on a misty hillside at Bolton Woods quarry near his home in Bradford, West Yorkshire. (click the image below to view an unlisted link which will be made public on 08/01/21). This album is the twelfth release on the Hood Faire label, a venture overseen by Sam McLoughlin (Samandtheplants/Tongues of Light), David Chatton Barker (Folklore Tapes) and Dean McPhee.

                                                                                                                The 180g vinyl version of the album (ltd 500 copies) was pressed by Vinyl Factory in the UK and mastered by Denis Blackham at Skye Mastering. “Over the course of the last decade, Dean McPhee has quietly and unhurriedly established himself as one of most compelling and unique solo guitar artists around, weaving gorgeously meditative reveries with a masterful use of ghostly delay effects” (Brainwashed)

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                                                                                                                Cover of When You See Yourself by Kings Of Leon.

                                                                                                                Kings Of Leon

                                                                                                                When You See Yourself

                                                                                                                Sony Music



                                                                                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                  2xColoured LP Info: Cream coloured vinyl.

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                                                                                                                  Cover of Gilded Palace Of Sin by Flying Burrito Brothers.

                                                                                                                  Flying Burrito Brothers

                                                                                                                  Gilded Palace Of Sin

                                                                                                                  Universal

                                                                                                                    The Gilded Palace of Sin is the first album by the country rock group the Flying Burrito Brothers, released in 1969. It continued Gram Parsons’ and Chris Hillman’s work in modern country music, fusing traditional sources like folk and country with other forms of popular music like gospel, soul, and psychedelic rock.

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                                                                                                                    Cover of Street Pulse Beat by Special Interest.

                                                                                                                    Special Interest

                                                                                                                    Street Pulse Beat

                                                                                                                    Nude Records

                                                                                                                      Following the release of their album 'The Passion Of...' In 2020, New Orleans-based punk band Special Interest have announced a new 12" release 'Street Pulse Beat', which features remixes from Boy Harsher, Ruth Mascelli and DJ Haram. The record is set for release on Jan 29th via Nude Club Records.

                                                                                                                      All proceeds for the release will go to House of Tulip (https://houseoftulip.org), which was co-founded and is currently co-led by 2 Black transgender women. House of Tulip provides trans and gendernonconforming communities in New Orleans, Louisiana with economic stability and safety through zero barrier permanent housing and pathways to education, healthcare, employment, and homeownership.

                                                                                                                      "This remix of 'Street Pulse Beat' came from the depths of springtime lockdown. In a bleak and uncertain world, Special Interest was keeping our creative spirit alive. This remix was made entirely with the OB-6, SH-101, and the JV-1080. Trading in distorted guitars for plucky bent synths, Boy Harsher's remix offers their signature melancholy sound. Ali Logout' confidently controls the energy, reminding us that synthwave can still have a backbone and can hang with the punks.” - Boy Harsher

                                                                                                                      Adding to this, Special Interest vocalist Alli Logout said the track is "A ballad for lovers delusions of grandeur in the depth of the terror that is codependency."

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                                                                                                                      Cover of Live At St. Helens Technical College '81 by The Fall.

                                                                                                                      The Fall

                                                                                                                      Live At St. Helens Technical College '81

                                                                                                                      Castle Face Records

                                                                                                                        "I’ve had the pleasure of being a Fall fan since I was a teen.

                                                                                                                        I was lucky enough to have some guidance from my local record shop stoner-lords.

                                                                                                                        They turned me on to many of my heroes, but once I heard my first slanted and barky Fall song, I was part of the army for life.

                                                                                                                        The word prolific gets tossed around a lot.

                                                                                                                        It almost seems like a slag-off in the press, as if they wish the artist would produce less so they wouldn’t have to do their self imposed job of judging releases for the rabble.

                                                                                                                        The Fall is subjected to this lazy word often.

                                                                                                                        Yet I can honestly say that I am SO thankful for any nugget of Fall that lands at my feet and in my brain.

                                                                                                                        Live Fall performances are always a pleasure because they seem to take what already made the Fall great and push it even a bit more into the rough and bloody uncharted wasteland that is drug scorched proto-punk and heady political poetry.

                                                                                                                        So, it is with great pleasure that we introduce this Fall bootleg soundboard recording to you.

                                                                                                                        Recorded during one of the many strong points in the bands vast and mighty history.

                                                                                                                        They really burn bright here and bring every ounce of what you expect from this formidable force.

                                                                                                                        We have reached out to every surviving member of the band, the sound person, the bootlegger who recorded it and the photographer and received their blessings & help piecing it all together.

                                                                                                                        Castle Face will be donating 50% of our profits to Centrepoint which helps the homeless in the Manchester area get back on their feet, so the local and deserving Fall fans get a little, and give a little back, too.

                                                                                                                        Nothing but the hits here folks and as raw as you dig it.

                                                                                                                        This one really is exceptional in terms of live sound for The Fall.

                                                                                                                        All the stars were aligned over St. Helens that eve.

                                                                                                                        And it wouldn’t be complete with a bit of Fall fan saltiness so, fuck you too, Jason.” - John Dwyer

                                                                                                                        FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                        Ltd LP Info: 12” and a 7” in a gatefold jacket, including a digital download.

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                                                                                                                        Cover of Manifesto by Shape Of Space.

                                                                                                                        Shape Of Space

                                                                                                                        Manifesto

                                                                                                                        Shape Of Space

                                                                                                                        Manifesto is the first release on the new label Shape of Space Records. It is a Balearic inspired chugfest with guitars and a killer acid bassline. Written and produced by Paul Greendale and Chris Stevenson who have been working together for 25 years on various projects. The AA side is a remix which strips it down to the basics, whilst keeping the essence of the original. Both mixes were played extensively at the club A Love From Outer Space and the Convenanza Festival Autumn 2019 by both Andrew Weatherall and Sean Johnston. It is now available as a limited edition run of 200 vinyl and there will be no re-press so when they’re gone they’re gone.

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                                                                                                                        Cover of Live At Levitation by The Black Angels.

                                                                                                                        The Black Angels

                                                                                                                        Live At Levitation

                                                                                                                        The Reverberation Appreciation Society

                                                                                                                          The Black Angels - Live at Levitation has been given deluxe treatment, mind melting vinyl available to Indie Stores in the USA and UK/EU. The LP captures a slice of the early days of the festival, and the band as a psychedelic rock powerhouse with tracks from The Black Angels 1st two LPs - with 6 tracks recorded at Austin Psych Fest 2010, 2011 and 2012.

                                                                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                          Coloured LP Info: Heavy seafoam splatter vinyl.

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                                                                                                                          Cover of Never EP by Jesu.

                                                                                                                          Jesu

                                                                                                                          Never EP

                                                                                                                          Avalanche

                                                                                                                            Limited 5-track EP of new music from Jesu, to accompany new album "Terminus". In contrast to Justin K.Broadrick's music under the Godflesh moniker, Jesu blurs the lines between electronic music and shoegaze. "...it's very loosely speaking pop/rock/metal/electronica ... I'm intentionally writing what I consider to be coherent 'pop' songs".

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                                                                                                                            Cover of Song Of Co-Aklan by Cathal Coughlan.

                                                                                                                            Cathal Coughlan

                                                                                                                            Song Of Co-Aklan

                                                                                                                            Dimple

                                                                                                                              Cathal Coughlan is the co-founder and singer of acclaimed 80s/90s pop-rock groups Microdisney and Fatima Mansions, and widely considered to be one of Ireland's most revered singer/songwriters, beloved by fans of caustic literate music in the vein of Wilco, Robert Forster and Mark Eitzel. He's released four acclaimed solo albums and this will be his first new music in 10 years. Features and reviews are already set for Mojo and The Wire and expect plentiful support from BBC6 Music.

                                                                                                                              Enclosed in a stunning sleeve by award-winning Bruce Brand (The Darkness and White Stripes) with an eye-catching portrait by outsider artist Cristabel Christo. The new record not only has his usual backing musicians, The Necropolitan String Quartet, but also Luke Haines (Auteurs/Black Box Recorder), Sean O'Hagan (Microdisney/High Llamas), Rhodri Marsden (Scritti Politti) , Aindrías Ó Gruama (Fatima Mansions), Cory Gray (The Delines) and Dublin singer-songwriter Eileen Gogan..

                                                                                                                              Loosely conceptual, and based around the persona of Co-Aklan, the LP is melodic and inventive. Twelve fabulous new songs showcasing Cathal's signature caustic wit and smoky baritone, which has earned him comparisons to Scott Walker; three singles taken from the album will have promotional videos from Marry Waterson and Andy Golding of the Wolfhounds.

                                                                                                                              "Coughlan's intelligence and passion are a rebuke to a vapid music industry, his chronicles of disaffection and disgust an inspiration." - David Peschek, The Guardian

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                                                                                                                              Cover of Vince Montana Tribute - RickLou Retouch by Louie Vega.

                                                                                                                              Louie Vega

                                                                                                                              Vince Montana Tribute - RickLou Retouch

                                                                                                                              Nervous Records

                                                                                                                              The “Vince Montana Tribute” (Louie Vega and Rick Wilhite from Detroit Rework) is a heartfelt and masterful production in which 2021 Grammy Award Nominee Louie demonstrates his appreciation for the disco sounds that he grew up on in the iconic borough of Bronx, NYC. The inspiration came about through an edit Rick sent to Louie. Louie added some of his own editing touches, and the resulting track got big response whenever Louie played it at his headlining sets. Given Louie’s longtime love and respect for Vince Montana, he decided to create an even bigger musical project. Bringing in Elements of Life band members Gene Perez (Bass), Axel Tosca (Fender Rhodes) and Luisito Quintero (Congas), and then adding a piano line himself, Louie was able to bring out the most authentic disco elements of this superlative groove but rework them so they are exactly in the pocket for today’s dancefloors worldwide.



                                                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                              7" Info: Yellow Vinyl

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                                                                                                                              Cover of Still In Love - Inc. The Reflex / Kyodai / DJ Spen Remixes by Shuya Okino Featuring Navasha Daya.

                                                                                                                              Shuya Okino Featuring Navasha Daya

                                                                                                                              Still In Love - Inc. The Reflex / Kyodai / DJ Spen Remixes

                                                                                                                              Glitterbox

                                                                                                                              A swelling, string-drenched slice of soulful disco, Kyoto Jazz Massive co-founder Shuya Okino’s 2011 release ‘Still In Love’ remains a hugely in-demand cut for discerning selectors, thanks to its life-affirming vocal provided by Navasha Daya and lush instrumentation. Now Glitterbox Recordings deliver a specially curated 12” package of this record box essential, as this enduring modern-day classic is given a number of re-works from dance’s A-List. This package features mixes from true DJ’s DJ The Reflex, Berlin duo Kyodai, and house legend DJ Spen, which are joined by the blissful original, illustrating the versatility of a truly special record.

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                                                                                                                              Cover of Gold Teeth by Tunnelvisions.

                                                                                                                              Tunnelvisions

                                                                                                                              Gold Teeth

                                                                                                                              Disco Halal

                                                                                                                              Diving headfirst into the new year, Dutch duo Tunnelvisions return to Disco Halal with a brand new EP of unique dance floor flavours.

                                                                                                                              A three-track release, ‘Gold Teeth’ opens with an extended version of the title track, an infectiously feelgood house number, characterised by driving synths, busy percussion and catchy vocals. Next up, ‘Hyperfocus’ is a slow-burning progressive house cut that unfurls steadily across its six minutes. Closing things out, ‘Heat Wave’ harnesses an old school house vibe, characterised by deep bass and fluttering percussive elements.

                                                                                                                              A diverse collection of tracks, ‘Gold Teeth’ sees Tunnelvisions skilfully explore various shades and tones on the house music spectrum.

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                                                                                                                              Cover of Swing From The Sean De Lear by Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds.

                                                                                                                              Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds

                                                                                                                              Swing From The Sean De Lear

                                                                                                                              In The Red

                                                                                                                                Swing From The Sean DeLear is the new four song 12-inch by Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds on In The Red Records. It celebrates a dreamlike bridge between life and memory. Recorded and mixed with Jim Waters (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Sonic Youth, etc.) at Waterworks Recording in Tucson AZ, the track “Sean DeLear” is a tribute to the late, magical, and ubiquitous Los Angeles underground institution named Sean DeLear. This rocking song uses the metaphor of those passed on as swinging from a chandelier, a festive image everyone hopes is true! Side two of this 12-inch is a fourteen-minute psych, Chicano-groove titled “He Walked In.” The text is based on a visceral fever dream Kid had about his friend and Gun Club bandmate Jeffrey Lee Pierce, who passed away in 1996. Leading the listener back to the theme of feelings sustained between life and memory, the song dreams on as the band spreads their monkey bird wings, featuring Mark Cis-neros on flute, and guest tambourine-queen Cesar Padilla—lost in music but found in sound. In such uncertain times, one thing is most certain—Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds will always bring the party...and the other world.

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                                                                                                                                Cover of Weedpecker - Reissue by Weedpecker.

                                                                                                                                Weedpecker

                                                                                                                                Weedpecker - Reissue

                                                                                                                                Stickman Records

                                                                                                                                  Moving backward in the catalog of stellar releases from Warsaw’s foremost psychedelic stoner rockers, Weedpecker’s self-titled debut album joins its older siblings II (2015) and III (2018) in a brand new reissue on Stickman Records. The wonderful thing about Weedpecker has always been their evolution of sound, giving each of their three fulllength albums its distinctive flavor and charms. Weedpecker was recorded in 2013 with the band’s original lineup featuring drummer Pan Falon (of Belzebong) and Jeso Alonzo and most prominently features the band’s affection for 70’s hard rock and grunge alongside the obvious stoner and psychedelic rock influences. One can imagine Alice in Chains meets Baroness and Elder as a good starting point for this album. Yet this does little to describe the unique writing style of brothers and guitarists Piotr and Bartek Dobry, whose melodies and riffs provide the perfect counterplay between dreamy psychedelia and headbanging fuzz. After years out of print and unavailable, this new version has been remastered for optimal sound and features reworked artwork in gatefold packaging.

                                                                                                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                  Coloured LP Info: Transparent green vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                  Cover of Me And Ennui Are Friends, Baby by Sarah Mary Chadwick.

                                                                                                                                  Sarah Mary Chadwick

                                                                                                                                  Me And Ennui Are Friends, Baby

                                                                                                                                  Rice Is Nice / Bad Da Bing!

                                                                                                                                    Me And Ennui Are Friends, Baby is the latest full-length from New Zealand-born, Melbourne-based singer-songwriter, Sarah Mary Chadwick, whose brutally honest songwriting has cast her contrary to the gentleness of most current music. Comprised entirely of minimal solo piano arrangements, the album is despondently clear-eyed and smirkingly self-deprecating, completing a trilogy of records that started with The Queen Who Stole The Sky recorded on Melbourne Town Hall’s grand organ, and her only outing to date featuring a full band, Please Daddy. Each record has followed Chadwick’s internal processing after a traumatic event, with Chadwick’s zeal for psychoanalysis front and center. On Ennui, Chadwick presents an exacting intensity with her choice to pare back to piano and vocals. It’s in this stark setting that she focuses on the attempt she made on her life in 2019. The methods Chadwick employed here contrast those of her previous full-band record, which thrust her into a very different world of rehearsal, planning, restraint and control as a functional tool. The result, 2020’s critically acclaimed Please Daddy, was her most aching and engaging achievement to date: “a raw, often unnerving experience,” which “delivers compelling and uplifting catharsis” (Mojo). Recording Ennui shortly after those sessions, Chadwick concludes her trilogy by returning to the most immediate compositional process she can muster, doing it alone, with less between her and the microphone than ever before. Joined by long time production collaborators, Me And Ennui was mastered by David Walker at Stepford Audio and mixed and recorded by Geoff O’Connor at Vanity Lair—both expertly bringing scale, subtlety and intangible ascendence to this recording. 

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                                                                                                                                    Cover of Leap Second by M. Caye Castagnetto.

                                                                                                                                    M. Caye Castagnetto

                                                                                                                                    Leap Second

                                                                                                                                    Castle Face Records

                                                                                                                                      Influenced by a life split between Lima, London, and Twentynine Palms, Peru-born M. Caye Castagnetto’s Leap Second is an intriguingly personal and hard to classify debut album. The album is a thick collage of samples Caye recorded with different artists and musicians, including Beatrice Dillon and the late Aileen Bryant, that spans five years in the making. There is something in Leap Second that tracks the speed of bodies, how they approach and retreat. The ten tracks are speedy and languid, thick ruffles, and dirges. In parts it feels like one’s stumbled upon a forgotten incredible ’70s folk record but that feeling gets broken quickly by clever sleights of hand. Caye’s balladry is angular, time is elastic. Each song is a fresh cape. How dandies really mean it, so masc- that it’s fay, how the only moment is this one and it’s just passed, etcetera.

                                                                                                                                      “While it doesn’t really sound like anything else, there are moments that feel like a Latin-flavored Nico, that’s edging its way towards some of the outings of the Sun City Girls. In my opinion it checks all the boxes, by checking none of them.” —Bjorn Copeland, Black Dice. 

                                                                                                                                      “A truly interesting conglomeration of loose inspirations and conjurings. A hard to decipher sound all together which makes it worth every moment...a sprinkling of Catherine Ribeiro, Dr. John, Terje Rypdal and Nico. Far-out sun-soaked odysseys and moon-dappled woodland night creepers...” —John Dwyer.

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                                                                                                                                      Cover of Dehumanisation by Crucifix.

                                                                                                                                      Crucifix

                                                                                                                                      Dehumanisation

                                                                                                                                      Kustomized

                                                                                                                                        Dehumanization is the only full length album from the band Crucifix. Recorded in 1983, it is considered a classic American hardcore album and a landmark of anarcho-punk.Dehumanization delivers a raging critique of war, violence, displacement, and the decimation of human rights and human dignity—themes at once global in scope and also completely endemic to Reagan-era America. The intensity of this message is matched only by the intensity of the sound: a heavy minimalist construction built on brutal guitar riffs, low-end distortion, hardcore fury and teenage speed. It is an album of pure raw power, a hot blast of personal and political outrage and musical adrenaline.Fusing California hardcore with metal and second wave British anarcho-punk, Crucifix carved out their own highly distinctive wall of sound on this release. Ignoring the rules of punk purism in favor of a well produced huge guitar sound, the album preceded much of the hardcore metal crossover of the mid-80s and played an influential but often unacknowledged role in the punk and metal subgenres that followed. “Annihilation,” the album’s opening track, has become iconic . Quoted often, it’s been sampled by Orbital and covered by A Perfect Circle and Sepultura. The original vinyl version of Dehumanization was released on the Crass Records offshoot label Corpus Christi in the UK, and has been out of print since the 1980s. This new Kustomized rerelease has been carefully remastered from an original vinyl source and adheres closely to the audio quality of the original. In addition, the six-panel foldout poster sleeve has been reproduced in its entirety. Taken together, the words, music and graphics of Dehumanization form a complete work and a resonant and enduring document of the period.

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                                                                                                                                        Cover of Kings Of The Valley by Kings Of The Valley.

                                                                                                                                        Kings Of The Valley

                                                                                                                                        Kings Of The Valley

                                                                                                                                        Wonderful & Strange Records

                                                                                                                                          Kings of the Valley are finally ready with their selftitled debut album! Three long years have passed since the band released their first EP. Norway’s friendliest band serves critically acclaimed retro prog and catchy stoner rock. Kings of the Valley plays music characterized by intense guitar riffs, melodic bass, pulsating drums and vocal harmonies. The band’s expression has strong common features with seventies rock, psychedelic rock, good old prog rock and stylish stoner rock. Like the EP from 2017, the album was mainly recorded in Brygga Studio in Trondheim by super technician and wonder producer Pål Brekkås and keyboardist and guitar hero Øystein Megård. The gorgeous album cover is designed by art legend Robert Høyem. In 2017, The Wilhelmsen said “Holy cow, these guys can play!”. Ida Jenshus recently stated that Kings of the Valley is “by far the most pleasant rock band in Norway!”, while the drummer’s mother says: “Nice music, but I think it’s a bit noisy.” The debut Kings of the Valley is comprised of a handful of shorter and several lengthy tracks which move thematically and genre-wise within 60s and 70s prog-rock, psychedelic rock and 90s stoner rock in the same vein as King Crimson, Sleep and Motorpsycho. Kings of the Valley is out September 18th on Wonderful & Strange Records and available in Europe from Stickman Records.

                                                                                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                          Ltd LP Info: 180 gram vinyl including a fold-out poster.

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                                                                                                                                          Cover of OST: The Vale by Everyday Dust.

                                                                                                                                          Everyday Dust

                                                                                                                                          OST: The Vale

                                                                                                                                          Castles In Space

                                                                                                                                            “The Vale” is in immersive electronic album of dark soundtrack work. It’s the first of several Everyday Dust releases scheduled for Castles in Space in 2021.

                                                                                                                                            Everyday Dust is RJ McConnell. Based in Scotland, RJ ditched piano lessons when he realised I had no interest in being an instrumentalist. Instead he wanted to create his own musical works from the ground up. He goes on, “I was much happier working my way through music theory books on my own and applying my learning to my own music. We had a little home studio when I was a child. My Dad was also a musician and was involved in local amateur theatre where he prepared and operated all the sound cues on reel to reel tape. So from an early age I was messing around with tape machines, making tape loops and recording music. For years I tried to make the most interesting tones I could from a Yamaha home keyboard by passing it through my Dad’s guitar pedals, or recording to tape and playing it back at different speeds etc. My first proper synth was the Roland SH101.” He went on to study music and sound for theatre and worked for many years as a theatre composer before branching into larger events and eventually film and documentary work.

                                                                                                                                            The Vale story starts in 2018. RJ again, “I was brought in as composer for an independent horror short that was being filmed in Istanbul. The film was a vampire movie, very atmospheric and beautifully shot. I was aware of being a Scottish composer on a Turkish film and therefore didn’t want to attempt in any way to make anything that sounded traditionally Turkish. I wanted to represent the idea of these ancient beings who had existed in one of the oldest cities in the world for centuries. I wondered how I could imply this “ancient” world with the instruments I had to hand. I recorded various old metal whistles, which were slowed right down to become eerie arcane horn blasts that sounded like they had come from another time. I also recorded lots of melodica, which was again slowed down to sound like wheezing old harmonium drones. I spent another day recording inside an old piano, plucking individual strings and also hammering them percussively with wooden beaters. Using synthesizers and effects as the “glue” to bring these sounds together I started to work on the cues for the film. I had scored most of the film by the time I heard it was being cancelled. The concept and story had been taken over by a streaming site who wanted to make it into a series - with a drastically different tone and style.

                                                                                                                                            “Later that same year I had worked on a project that incorporated the folklore of a celtic water sprite who kept the waterfalls and streams running smoothly so they could turn the mills of the local village. In return the villagers would bring the water sprite bannocks (Scottish flatbreads) each day. I started to daydream about a darker, Lovecraftian twist on this story. Some Ancient One dwelling in the forests and controlling the water - the very life essence of the village - in return for offerings of the soul. The concept was filed away in the back of my mind for some months.

                                                                                                                                            “The following year I was on a flight to visit my friend in Bodrum. He had been the producer and editor on the original disbanded Vampire film, and I found myself thinking about the project again. I wondered if the sound cue files were still on my laptop, which they were. It had been a year since I’d even heard them. Hearing the eldritch folk-tinged sounds of the whistles and plucked strings my mind instantly returned to the idea of the Lovecraftian folk horror story. I started jotting down notes and musical ideas and by the time I landed in Bodrum I already had the album title - The Vale. Having the album concept and prototype ideas to work with was a huge head start in making the album. Although all of the original cues were so dramatically developed and transformed that they really just served as the initial clay on the wheel.

                                                                                                                                            “I used a Doepfer A100 modular synth to create the animalistic yelps, conches and horns that were improvised over the original cues as a response to the arcane “folk” world of the acoustic instruments. This half-acoustic half-modular landscape was the sonic scene-setter I needed to move onto the composition and musical journey of the album. I composed and developed most of the musical parts on an Oberheim Matrix 6 synthesizer. However all the percussion, rhythmic sequences and ornamental synth sounds were created from improvised modular sessions multitrack recorded. A lot of editing later, the soundtrack to the movie in my mind was finally there.

                                                                                                                                            This is The Vale.”

                                                                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                            Coloured LP Info: Limited red vinyl with insert.

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                                                                                                                                            Cover of Eternal Return by Kieran Mahon.

                                                                                                                                            Kieran Mahon

                                                                                                                                            Eternal Return

                                                                                                                                            Castles In Space

                                                                                                                                              St Leonard’s premier manipulator of drones, loops and echoes delivers his most buzzed out, kosmische and beat driven work to date in a deluxe white vinyl album release for Castles in Space.

                                                                                                                                              Here, Kieran explains the genesis and production of his masterwork:

                                                                                                                                              “Eternal Return was unusual for me in that I actually set out to make an album, rather than find myself with a set of tunes that evolved into a project.

                                                                                                                                              The “Eternal Return” is a concept I have been inspired by before. However it clicked with me in a more profound way recently. Far from seeing the prospect of living life over, unknowingly, on an endless loop as depressing, I suddenly felt amazing comfort in the theory. The Stoic emperor Marcus Aurelius said, “Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.” Far from being trapped in the loop I am elated to feel that it's simply about living the best life you can. One that you wouldn't fear having to live again.

                                                                                                                                              To place the album in context against this newly realised perception, I think of the Side One as the battle to get to that realisation and enlightenment and Side Two represents the acceptance and the decision on how to proceed. The turning point is from thinking about the things I love most and what I would want to experience over and over again. I hope it is an uplifting listening experience. As it happens, the album originally had a darker ending. I think I actually learned a bit about my point of view during the process. There are drums, which wouldn’t often feature in my music (there are in fact more drums on this LP than in my combined output over the last 8 years) and the pieces are noticeably shorter, more focussed and concise than my usual longer form work.

                                                                                                                                              Musically this album is probably the least clearly influenced by anything I regularly listened to. The main outcome was wanting to challenge myself and to add whatever the pieces needed and go with that. I think I was also probably pushed on by the wealth of amazing music being made by my peers across Bandcamp and social media. 2020 was an incredible year in this particular sphere of electronic music. The album was made as I started to transition from a semi-modular to a modular synth set up. I think that this was a key driving force, since a lot of the time I didn’t know exactly what I was doing. It is nice to be surprised by what you’re creating.

                                                                                                                                              Finally, whilst this is in no way a “lockdown album”, the period of time in which much of it was recorded definitely had a bearing on how it sounds. For one thing I spent a lot more time around my studio space when working from home. In keeping with the album's theme, the lockdown also helped consolidate my feelings on what is important in life and what isn’t. One piece was in fact sketched out as a first draft while I sat on mute during a Zoom meeting.

                                                                                                                                              Time well spent.

                                                                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                              Coloured LP Info: White Vinyl w/Eternal Flexagon Insert.

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                                                                                                                                              Cover of Key Of Sea by Gee Dee.

                                                                                                                                              Gee Dee

                                                                                                                                              Key Of Sea

                                                                                                                                              Planet Trip

                                                                                                                                                PT005 sees NYC based Gee Dee deliver the fifth physical disc on Planet Trip, following his recent EP on Superior Elevation Greg D presents the "Key of Sea EP”. A freaky four tracker of cosmic influenced melters, effortlessly moving through hazy and dub influenced housey cuts, balearic tinged earworms and oddball downtempo trips. Suitable for sunsets with friends or late nights with strangers, a record with a tune for all hours of the dance.

                                                                                                                                                Limited to strictly 300 copies, no repress.

                                                                                                                                                STAFF COMMENTS

                                                                                                                                                says: Gee Dee splits the difference between proto and Italo house on this paradisiacal four tracker, creating a balmy and blissed out sound reminiscent of early Young Marco, Andras Fox or Larry Heard's 'Sceneries Not Songs'. Highest recommendation from me!

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                                                                                                                                                Cover of Ongoing Dispute by Yung.

                                                                                                                                                Yung

                                                                                                                                                Ongoing Dispute

                                                                                                                                                PNKSLM

                                                                                                                                                  The Danish quartet Yung returns with their second full-length Ongoing Dispute, their first with PNKSLM Recordings (ShitKid, Hollow Ship, Les Big Byrd etc).

                                                                                                                                                  Arriving 5 years after their acclaimed debut A Youthful Dream on Fat Possum, Ongoing Dispute finds Yung leaping forward, with stronger and more confident songwriting and a broader sonic palette.

                                                                                                                                                  After the receiving the attention of Pitchfork, NPR, Stereogum and more with the debut, Yung took a step back after returning home following multiple tours around the world and after reassessing themselves and the band they started working on what would become Ongoing Dispute, delivering on the early promise and firmly establishing themselves as one of the premier bands in their genre.

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                                                                                                                                                  Cover of Maggot Brain (Issue #3) by Third Man Books Present.

                                                                                                                                                  Third Man Books Present

                                                                                                                                                  Maggot Brain (Issue #3)

                                                                                                                                                    We’re back to print and stoked to bring you a Super-Packed special issue of our arts and music quarterly 'Maggot Brain’! For our cover story, we dive into the genesis and continued import of our namesake, with a lengthy feature by Detroit music journo Ana Gavrilovska on the mind-melting fifty year-old Funkadelic masterpiece 'Maggot Brain.’ We also have rare photos of the White Stripes live at Paychecks Lounge in Hamtramck Michigan from 1999 by noted photographer Doug Coombe.There’s a mini-roundtable discussion on gay rights pioneer Morris Knight and San Francisco's brilliant hippie queer activist pranksters the Cockettes and the must see pages with Rachel Leah Gallo's eight-page bio-comic on the delightful and obscure kitchen-folk singer Connie Converse.

                                                                                                                                                    • Dynamic photographs by Mike Galinsky from the late 1980s to early 1990s indie/underground music scene.
                                                                                                                                                    • RJ Smith dives deep on Fortune Records in a review of the 'Mind Over Matter' book.
                                                                                                                                                    • Murat Cem Mengüç documents the impromptu art show that sprung up around the White House at the start of the Black Lives Matter movement.
                                                                                                                                                    • Andy Beta on Brazilian composer, anthropologist, and musician Priscilla Ermel's gorgeous work.
                                                                                                                                                    • Instagram sensation Tara Booth in an intimate interview with Amy Gillfeather.
                                                                                                                                                    • Joshua James Amberson goes deep on poet Lydia Tomkiw and her stunning new wave band Algebra Suicide.
                                                                                                                                                    • Michael Gonzales on 1990s neo-soul singer Ephraim Lewis.
                                                                                                                                                    • Robert Gordon on Memphis' primitivist aesthete Tav Falco -- an excerpt from the final chapter to 'It Came From Memphis.'

                                                                                                                                                    Also Featuring:
                                                                                                                                                    Luc Sante on an unknown 1960s garage rock band! Australia's brilliant Stroppies! Reviews of cassette tapes! Dreams about Sam Elliott! A killer poem written by a fifteen year-old! Fiction by Mairead Case! Art by Nathaniel Russell, Davin Brainard, the Philadelphia Wireman, and Marc Bell! Tweets by John Brannon! Unseen photos of Detroit punk pioneers L-Seven!

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                                                                                                                                                    Cover of Groovy Beat - Inc. Jura Soundsystem Edit by The Pearls.

                                                                                                                                                    The Pearls

                                                                                                                                                    Groovy Beat - Inc. Jura Soundsystem Edit

                                                                                                                                                    Isle Of Jura Records

                                                                                                                                                      Following ‘On & On’ Isle Of Jura present the second reissue from The Pearls, the sought after ‘Groovy Beat / Groovy Rock’ originally released in 1980 on their Reality Hits label. Expect another fusion of Disco, Reggae & Rap influenced by the sounds coming out of New York at this time from the likes of Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flash, but with a distinctly Jamaican vocal delivery from Norman Watson and Stanley Shaw. Loose percussion, low slung bass and plenty of tape echo are the order of the day on the A2 dub version, while label head Jura Soundsystem combines both versions on the flipside  for an extended edit which includes snippets of studio chatter found on the original master tape.

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                                                                                                                                                      Cover of Searching by Ronald Langestraat.

                                                                                                                                                      Ronald Langestraat

                                                                                                                                                      Searching

                                                                                                                                                      South Of North

                                                                                                                                                        Self recorded in 1984 to 4 track tape. Rhythmical patterns meet well balanced distortion, shaping the music into a mirror of his character, creating a unique blend of lo fi blue eyed soul jazz.
                                                                                                                                                        Ronald was part of several Dutch Latin and Jazz bands, including Cascada and Ritmo Natural. With the latter he performed at Holland’s North Sea Jazz Festival. At this point Ronald is 78 years old, playing music every day.
                                                                                                                                                        Instruments: Acoustic Piano, Fender Rhodes Piano, Farfisa Organ, String Ensemble, Tenor Sax, Alt Sax, Soprano Sax, Clarinet, Alt Clarinet, Organ Bass, Micro Moog, Drums, Longa & Voices.

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                                                                                                                                                        Cover of Upward Bound / Treasure Every Sunset by Mad Honey.

                                                                                                                                                        Mad Honey

                                                                                                                                                        Upward Bound / Treasure Every Sunset

                                                                                                                                                        Space Grapes

                                                                                                                                                          Light the beacons and ring the alarm - INSTANT CLASSIC ALERT! The mysterious Mad Honey makes their debut on the freshly minted Space Grapes label with a sublime slab of disco goodness, which is all newly recorded, original material. The loose percussion, vintage synths and superior songwriting would lead one to believe this is P&P rarity, plucked from obscurity and sliced and diced for contemporary consumption, but no, it's brand new but in the classic style. ACE!

                                                                                                                                                          On the A-side, ''Upward Bound" establishes a glorious mid tempo groove out of nuanced percussion, a bum wiggling bassline and an irresistible rhythm guitar, then soars skywards with spaced out synth licks, sci-fi fx and a great vocal. Flip it for another optimistic slice of spacey disco funk on "Treasure Every Sunset", a more mellow journey into the fringes of the Balearic coastline.

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                                                                                                                                                          Cover of Les Fleur / Oh By The Way by Minnie Riperton.

                                                                                                                                                          Minnie Riperton

                                                                                                                                                          Les Fleur / Oh By The Way

                                                                                                                                                          Selector Series

                                                                                                                                                            On its 50th birthday this influential slice of soul is celebrated again.A 7" remastered, reissue of Minnie Riperton's iconic, majestic and much sampled 'Les Fleur' in a hand numbered, limited edition picture sleeve run of 1000.Favoured by the likes of Jurassic 5, Damu The Fudgemunk & Cut Chemist, famously covered by Dego and backed with the equally serene 'Oh By The Way'.With original copies selling for upwards of £60+ here's a chance to own this slice of soul perfection at a fraction of the price.

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                                                                                                                                                            Cover of The Future Bites by Steven Wilson.

                                                                                                                                                            Steven Wilson

                                                                                                                                                            The Future Bites

                                                                                                                                                            Caroline International

                                                                                                                                                              THE FUTURE BITES explores ways that the human brain has evolved in the internet era. Where 2017’s Top 3 album TO THE BONE confronted the (then) emerging global issues of post truth and fake news, THE FUTURE BITES places the listener in a world of 21st century addictions. It’s a place where on-going, very public experiments with nascent technology on our lives take place constantly; where clicks and Tiks have become more important that human interaction. THE FUTURE BITES is less a bleak vision of an approaching dystopia and more a curious and playful reading of a world made all the more strange and separated by the events of 2020.

                                                                                                                                                              Musically, THE FUTURE BITES positively gleams. Across the album, there’s tracks that deal in gorgeous electronics warped by human intervention (KING GHOST) and soaring acoustics that hit the stratosphere (12 THINGS I FORGOT); a ten minute treatise on the joys of oniomania laid out by Elton John over a Moroder-esque whirlwind (PERSONAL SHOPPER) and a relentless bass-driven Motorik groove that dives right into the murk of clickbait and online radicalisation (FOLLOWER). The album’s new recording, COUNT OF UNEASE, is a beautifully plaintive close to the album that floats out on a mix of piano and ambient sound. Together, the nine tracks form Steven’s most consistently brilliant work to date. THE FUTURE BITES was recorded in London and co-produced by David Kosten (Bat For Lashes, Everything Everything) and Steven Wilson. 

                                                                                                                                                              FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                              Coloured LP Info: White vinyl edition exclusive to indies.

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                                                                                                                                                              Cover of Wide Boys by Gemma Cullingford (Sink Ya Teeth).

                                                                                                                                                              Gemma Cullingford (Sink Ya Teeth)

                                                                                                                                                              Wide Boys

                                                                                                                                                              Outre Disque

                                                                                                                                                                Raised on a diet of Throbbing Gristle, Depeche Mode, New Order, Fad Gadget and A Certain Ratio, Gemma Cullingford's own trajectory has been equally impressive – from playing bass with Blast First/Mute signings Kaito, and more recently as one half of post-punk electronic dance duo Sink Ya Teeth. This solo offering further adds to her fine body of work.

                                                                                                                                                                2020 saw Sink Ya Teeth having to abandon many live gigs and promotion for their second album, so during the band's downtime Gemma worked purposefully in her home studio on solo works of a more personal nature, the first fruits being this double A sided single. An album entitled "Let Me Speak" will follow in the summer of 2021.

                                                                                                                                                                "Wide Boys" is a menacing disco call to action; "It's a message to the average man and woman on the street, many of whom seems to have been brainwashed by both those in power and by the far right. It's saying that every single one of us are being controlled as part of a big, sinister game. This is a response to my own awakening to that" she explains.

                                                                                                                                                                "104" is an instrumental electronic jam for feet, limbs and loose minds. "The idea behind 104 came from wanting to start off with real sounding drums that subtly evolve into pure electro over 3 or 4 minutes".

                                                                                                                                                                FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                Ltd 7" Info: 250 only for the World.

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                                                                                                                                                                Cover of Good Woman by The Staves.

                                                                                                                                                                The Staves

                                                                                                                                                                Good Woman

                                                                                                                                                                Atlantic Records

                                                                                                                                                                  It’s a decade since The Staves self-released their first EP and a lot has happened since then. Their third album Good Woman was written and recorded amid major upheaval, heartbreak and bereavement. The new-found boldness, loudness and lyrical directness on this record are indicative of lives forced to become a serious concern.

                                                                                                                                                                  In early 2020 the band resumed touring, unveiling their expansive and exhilaratingly powerful new sound, and previewing these emotionally affecting songs in intimate venues across the country; with tickets selling out in seconds. They ended the tour with a triumphant homecoming appearance at the 6 Music Festival.

                                                                                                                                                                  The Staves’ first album in five years is an accumulation of everything that life has thrown at them in that time.

                                                                                                                                                                  Emily: “You find strength in the vulnerability and you find beauty in the sadness and magic in the despair. We lost so much, but we found so much. And while the album is not all about mum, something shifted in us when she died that made us make the record in the way that we made it. We became more fearless.”
                                                                                                                                                                  Camilla: “It feels more about trying to take ownership of these events and not letting sadness or trauma rule you.”
                                                                                                                                                                  Jessica: “It’s a record about sisterhood, motherhood and daughterhood; love, loss, change and trying to be a good person, a good woman.”


                                                                                                                                                                  FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                  Coloured LP Info: Clear vinyl indie exclusive edition.

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                                                                                                                                                                  Cover of Station To Station - 45 Anniversary Edition by David Bowie.

                                                                                                                                                                  David Bowie

                                                                                                                                                                  Station To Station - 45 Anniversary Edition

                                                                                                                                                                  Parlophone

                                                                                                                                                                    Originally released 23rd January 1976, Station To Station was David Bowie’s tenth studio album. To celebrate its 45th anniversary Parlophone is proud to announce a special limited edition red & white vinyl pressing of the album.

                                                                                                                                                                    45 years on from its release 'Station To Station' is now seen as a musical bridge between the 'plastic soul’ of 1975’s 'Young Americans' and the experimental beginning of Bowie’s Berlin era that was 1977’s ‘Low'.

                                                                                                                                                                    The album’s first single 'Golden Years’ was a hit on both sides of the Atlantic and one of five singles released from the six-song album (though the title track was only released on 45 in France and ’Stay’ was a single exclusively in the USA).

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                                                                                                                                                                    Cover of Indaba Is by Various Artists.

                                                                                                                                                                    Various Artists

                                                                                                                                                                    Indaba Is

                                                                                                                                                                    Brownswood

                                                                                                                                                                      Fabled as the city where dreams come to thrive or die, Johannesburg is forever pumping out the life-giving force of criss-crossing sonic tributaries. As this collection of specially recorded new music shows, every generation must discover for itself what perfecting the alchemy of that expression entails. Indaba Is - produced and managed by pianist Thandi Ntuli and The Brother Moves On bandleader Siyabonga Mthembu, tackles that inquiry with refreshing insight.

                                                                                                                                                                      The act of gathering to record in a time of isolation becomes one of anchoring and care, creating an energy field and capturing a living culture of making music. It is one in which bands exist to birth musical concepts as opposed to being static monoliths. Mostly recorded at Dyertribe Studio in Centurion, outside of Johannesburg, Indaba Is propels a collective of South African bands into the precipice of a new frontier. Jazz becomes a departure point as opposed to a tether.

                                                                                                                                                                      “The magic was in the choosing of artists who kind of straddle different genres, different ideas and sounds,” says Ntuli. “We put together musicians who are not in that kind of straight-ahead place, even though some may have been in the jazz tradition or jazz-influenced styles of music.” The collection features eight tracks, attributed to Bokani Dyer, Lwanda Gogwana, The Brother Moves On, Thandi Ntuli, The Wretched, Sibusile Xaba and Iphupho likaBiko. Think of the names as thresholds through which ideas cross into the populace as opposed to being signifiers of strict ownership. For one, there is no mistaking the almost spectral presence of both Ntuli and Mthembu in and around the music. “Between me and Thandi, we pick up on the producer duties for four of the tracks,” says Mthembu. “Some of the bands came with already preconceived ideas of what they wanted to do and needed just facilitation on getting it done.” Overall, the pair also provided enabling briefs which harnessed the collective energy of scenes often seen as operating centrifugally to Johannesburg’s all-consuming pull, or a little further down in its tiers of visibility. There are several examples where this approach yields astounding results.

                                                                                                                                                                      Indigenous knowledge is perhaps at the root of it, and a reverence for its treasures is instant, but there is an overall sense that Indaba Is asks us to consider the heavy lifting that remains.

                                                                                                                                                                      Johannesburg, a city without a landmark water source, built on excavating the energy of its living dead, has never sounded so world-weary, and yet so ready to emerge out of the hold. With its unity of purpose, Indaba Is represents the crucible, untenable to the touch yet warm to the soul.

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                                                                                                                                                                      Cover of Sleepwalking by NINA.

                                                                                                                                                                      NINA

                                                                                                                                                                      Sleepwalking

                                                                                                                                                                      Aztec

                                                                                                                                                                        Produced by Oscillian, Richard X and Sunglasses Kid, 'Sleepwalking' creates the illusion of timelessness over eleven tracks as it rejuvenates an 80’s synthwave musical aesthetic while simultaneously presenting a modern pop vibe. NINA’s lyrical depth paired with instrumentals that are both dynamic and delicate create a quality sonic experience.

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                                                                                                                                                                        Cover of Calypso Drip FM by Gryff.

                                                                                                                                                                        Gryff

                                                                                                                                                                        Calypso Drip FM

                                                                                                                                                                        Aztec

                                                                                                                                                                          Calypso Drip FM is a journey of styles & influences that formed the varied musical landscape of its creator. Only known by the moniker of Gryff, the author wanted a project that reminded listeners of radio stations of decades past. Particularly the type you would have on GTA: Vice City.

                                                                                                                                                                          Gryff is a 90s kid, but the track list of his debut album plays like a greatest hits of a much mature songwriter and producer. Almost exclusively written by himself, requesting the help from Andrew Threlfo in production for 'Do You Feel Like This?', and with NY songstress Primo The Alien as guest and co-writer for Reverse, his undeniable talent is showing in spades. This incredible debut album is going to make waves in the scene and turn the young musician into a big player.


                                                                                                                                                                          FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                          Coloured LP Info: Pink vinyl.

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                                                                                                                                                                          Cover of A Common Turn by Anna B Savage.

                                                                                                                                                                          Anna B Savage

                                                                                                                                                                          A Common Turn

                                                                                                                                                                          City Slang

                                                                                                                                                                            City Slang is thrilled to announce the debut album of London based singer-songwriter Anna B Savage! Her 2015 EP was deeply intriguing and quickly drew the attention of Father John Misty and later Jenny Hval, both of whom brought Savage out on European tours.

                                                                                                                                                                            Anna B Savage’s first full-length record ‘A Common Turn’ is question mark music. Her songs are heavy with unanswered queries, with dilemmas and insecurities, or often just with wondering.

                                                                                                                                                                            Savage’s voice is endlessly warm, but producer William Doyle (East India Youth) consistently finds the iron in it. Even the darkest moments in this music don’t stick in their devastation, though – Savage’s fire burns too brightly. Her voice can drop to a whisper, but then it will open all the way up in a flash flood of cavernous guitar, echoes, and swelling strings that expand and then vanish just as suddenly as they arrived.

                                                                                                                                                                            Savage’s music is deeply vulnerable, without being submissive. She lays claim to her own fragility, and the stories she tells are of taking up space, finding connections, and owning the power in not knowing all the answers. Hers are songs for anyone who thinks hard, feels deeply, and asks big questions.

                                                                                                                                                                            Produced by William Doyle (East India Youth), ‘A Common Turn’ presents us a nest of fully-formed and room-filling artistry.


                                                                                                                                                                            FORMAT INFORMATION

                                                                                                                                                                            Dinked Edition LP Info: • 140g Yolk Vinyl (Transparent + purple).
                                                                                                                                                                            • 4 x postcards set.*
                                                                                                                                                                            • Numbered Sleeve.*
                                                                                                                                                                            • Download code.
                                                                                                                                                                            • Limited 300 pressing.
                                                                                                                                                                            *Dinked exclusive

                                                                                                                                                                            Dinked Edition LP includes MP3 Download Code.

                                                                                                                                                                            Coloured LP Info: Ltd 140g transparent dark blue vinyl.

                                                                                                                                                                            Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.

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                                                                                                                                                                            Cover of Kologo by Alostmen.

                                                                                                                                                                            Alostmen

                                                                                                                                                                            Kologo

                                                                                                                                                                            Strut

                                                                                                                                                                              “Kologo there before my mother, kologo music be the root…”

                                                                                                                                                                              Strut present the brand new album from Alostmen, led by Stevo Atambire, a band at the forefront of kologo music in Ghana.

                                                                                                                                                                              Formed by Stevo and Wanlov The Kubolor (Fok’n Bois) at the suggestion of co-producer Percy Yip Tong, Alostmen’s music is based around the Frafra traditions of the kologo, a stringed lute and uses purely traditional instrumentation in entirely new ways. “I always like to do something “out” with my instrument, I like to force it to work,” explains Stevo. “I’m a yout’man and into different kinds of music: commercial, rap music, reggae, Malian sounds. I add all of it to the band’s sound in different ways.” Wanlov continues, “The kologo is traditionally played a certain way but Stevo will play it at the shortest end of bridge and accentuate, almost Hendrix-style! He plays with a pedal sometimes and can keep it an octave down with a bass sound. He has evolved the instrument in his own way.”

                                                                                                                                                                              “I had been touring with Stevo in my band Afro Gypsy in 2017,” Wanlov continues, “and we began recording the tracks for this album on the road during one of our last tours to Uganda and the upper North West region of Ghana. I had a mobile studio unit and recorded him in his hotel rooms, in closets, wherever we could find that sounded good.” The band comprises Jo Ajusiwine, a brilliant goje (two-string fiddle) player and singer, talking drummer Aminu Amadu who has played in Ambolley’s highlife band and Sowah who plays heavy Ga rhythms on the gome box, djembe and conga. I play the kologo and give people the message. We don’t need anything else!” Stevo and Wanlov also invited selected guests to join the album sessions. Ambolley himself features on the driving ‘Minus Me’ while one of Stevo’s childhood friends and a national star, Yaa Pono, appears on the yearning ‘Fauziah’. “We just chose the right tracks for different guests and it all fit naturally,” continues Stevo. Medikal was a really nice guy with good vibes, now also a major artist, Villy is a great Nigerian singer based in Ghana and Eli Muzik has an unusual operatic vocal style. We play with him a lot. We didn’t just use ‘names’, just people that were great at their craft.”

                                                                                                                                                                              The band call themselves Alostmen “because we were lost in the street, the forgotten people,” explains Stevo. “My people listen closely to my lyrics so I never just sing anything. People at home see music as a teaching so I always try to send a good message. I talk of this region, how they used to live and what they experience today. I try to bring development, peace and unity to the community, to give them hope to achieve.” Wanlov continues: “The language of the music is Frafra, a Guruna language. The Frafra people are semi-nomadic, they deal with herds of cattle, they practice goje, kologo and a type of flute. The kologo players are similar to griots. Having already played dates across West Africa and Europe, Alostmen continue their journey with their superb debut album, ‘Kologo’, out on 29th January 2021, The album was mixed by DrumTalk and mastered at The Carvery. Cover artwork is courtesy of Lewis Heriz.

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                                                                                                                                                                              Cover of You Baby / Lost Summer Love by Jackie Trent / Lorraine Silver.

                                                                                                                                                                              Jackie Trent / Lorraine Silver

                                                                                                                                                                              You Baby / Lost Summer Love

                                                                                                                                                                              Outta Sight

                                                                                                                                                                                Casino Classics! It all starts with a great song and “You Baby” has it all! Penned by husband and wife team Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil with the magic touch of Phil Spector – what an awesome trio – and the bedrock of a future classic. The song was originally produced by Spector for the Ronettes, signed to his Philles label, and appeared on their 1964 breakthrough album ‘Presenting The Fabulous Ronettes’ featuring, of course, his wife to be Veronica Bennett. The song was also recorded in the U.S. by pop/rock band the Lovin’ Spoonful for their 1965 debut album ‘Do You Believe In Magic’. However, in January 1966 Pye Records unleashed Jackie Trent’s epic Northern Soul version produced by her husband Tony Hatch. Heralded by a pounding drum beat and trumpet blast it is no wonder that Jackie’s definitive cover shook the walls at Wigan Casino a decade later. And its popularity has never gone away, hence its current price tag of £300-400! Check out Jackie’s performance on the Morecambe and Wise Show on YouTube, what an intro! “You Baby” was also recorded in May ’66 by Cameo Parkway’s Lovenotes in a very similar vein and in November ’66 by the legendary Len Barry. Other notable cover’s include Sonny & Cher, the Bubblegum pop group Salt Water Taffy and, in 1975, John Holt’s reggae version.

                                                                                                                                                                                “Lost Summer Love” was originally recorded in 1964 by U.S. actress Shelley Fabares known for her long-running role as Mary Stone in the sitcom ‘The Donna Reed Show’ and as Elvis Presley’s leading lady in ‘Girl Happy’, ‘Spinout’ and ‘Clambake’. She also scored a No.1 pop hit in 1962 with the teen anthem “Johnny Angel”. But, as with our ‘A-side’, it was reborn as a Northern Soul classic when Pye Records picked the song up in 1965 and recorded it on their latest signing, teenager Lorraine Silver. Once again the stomping drum track, percussion and handclaps propel you to the dancefloor where you’re greated with an unforgettably catchy tune, a bevvy of backing vocals and Lorraine’s effervescent vocal. Two fabulous reasons to make this one of the top reissue 45s of 2020!

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