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LaRombé is one of the most talented songwriters I have come across in my years of working for Jazzman and Athens of the North. Having gone through much of his tape archive it obvious what a powerhouse of song writing and composition this man is. LaRombé music is of the strongest calibre all the way, from his first release in 1979 to present day. All of his Soul, Disco & R&B stands the test of time. It's easy to have one record that with luck ends up great but another thing to write record after record with great hooks you can't leave alone. Athens of the North is very proud to present 'From Philly', Vinyl and CD comes with sleeve notes featuring interview and photos.
It's album release time for this Madrid-based soul/jazz organ trio who have been burning up stages and festivals throughout 2019 and who have already had a successful single out on Rocafort Records. Beat Bronco Organ Trio have not rewritten the Hammond musical handbook, but they do what it says on the tin rather splendidly – a Road Trip that grooves, swings and sashays around the familiar but much loved funky jazz theme.
Although it's impossible to listen to the album without summoning up the ghosts of Jimmies McGriff & Smith and the like, nearly all tracks here are originals and shout out personality, verve and respectful homage to the tradition. Featuring the usual leitmotifs: Shaftish film sountrack, lo-fi lounger, gospel-tinged toe-tapper, the hip shaker and much wah-wah frenesi, there's nothing not to like if the genre is your bag.
The steaming horn section on "Hard Play" thickens the sauce à la JBs and the Meters, aided along by a unique orchestra of handclaps. Vocalist and guitarist Alberto Palacios Anaut storms in with "Hey Hey", an old Dave Bartholomew classic from New Orleans, just to remind us where Fats Domino and Ray Charles got it all from. Chip Wickham makes two welcome appearances on flute, adding an extra jazzy touch to "Squirtly" and "Electro Pi" – the latter a fabulous trippy, spacious head-nodder that demands in our opinion some kind of a wigged out drum'n'bass remix. Every track is clearly dominated by variations on the vintage keyboard, be it Hammond, Clavinet or Minimoog; all roads lead to that sexy, sacred sound.
Spain is already prominent on the modern-day Funk map thanks to groups like The Sweet Vandals, Speak Low and Mighty Vamp – and it comes as no surprise that our hero trio featured at various times in all these bands. Gabri Casanova (keys), Lucas de Mulder (guitar, percussion) and Antonio "Pax" Alvarez (drums, percussion) have been busy reviving the funk gospel for some time now. Road Trip is an elegant culmination of their efforts in keeping alive a revered and timeless tradition that still today serves as a reference to where all the good stuff came from: The Church!
Although it's impossible to listen to the album without summoning up the ghosts of Jimmies McGriff & Smith and the like, nearly all tracks here are originals and shout out personality, verve and respectful homage to the tradition. Featuring the usual leitmotifs: Shaftish film sountrack, lo-fi lounger, gospel-tinged toe-tapper, the hip shaker and much wah-wah frenesi, there's nothing not to like if the genre is your bag.
The steaming horn section on "Hard Play" thickens the sauce à la JBs and the Meters, aided along by a unique orchestra of handclaps. Vocalist and guitarist Alberto Palacios Anaut storms in with "Hey Hey", an old Dave Bartholomew classic from New Orleans, just to remind us where Fats Domino and Ray Charles got it all from. Chip Wickham makes two welcome appearances on flute, adding an extra jazzy touch to "Squirtly" and "Electro Pi" – the latter a fabulous trippy, spacious head-nodder that demands in our opinion some kind of a wigged out drum'n'bass remix. Every track is clearly dominated by variations on the vintage keyboard, be it Hammond, Clavinet or Minimoog; all roads lead to that sexy, sacred sound.
Spain is already prominent on the modern-day Funk map thanks to groups like The Sweet Vandals, Speak Low and Mighty Vamp – and it comes as no surprise that our hero trio featured at various times in all these bands. Gabri Casanova (keys), Lucas de Mulder (guitar, percussion) and Antonio "Pax" Alvarez (drums, percussion) have been busy reviving the funk gospel for some time now. Road Trip is an elegant culmination of their efforts in keeping alive a revered and timeless tradition that still today serves as a reference to where all the good stuff came from: The Church!
Athens of the north is not just here to release great music but to support our artist development and experimentation, to this end we always try to bring good people together to work on new music. This LP fuses two massive talents, for the first time to AOTN we introduce House and Techno legend Linkwood, joining him is one of the |UKs most respected Jazz Artists Greg Foat, who will need no introduction to AOTN fans
'Linkwood & Foat' is the first LP to be recorded in the new 'Athens of the North Studio', which was designed and built specifically for our artists so that they can create without the time pressures or expenses of studio hire elsewhere. With no fixed plans, no rules or expectations, the pair relaxed in the new studio and started making music. The result is very special indeed
Linkwood had just returned from walking in the wilds of an Ibiza summer and Greg had similarly been immersed on the sun drenched south coast of the Isle of wight. This freedom and sense of space saturates the grooves of the LP juxtapositioned against a deeper late night basement club feel they both love so much, the pull between nightlife and the freedom of nature. It's extroversion and introversion, the freedom and escapism of the two seemingly opposing environments permeates this recording.
'Linkwood & Foat' is the first LP to be recorded in the new 'Athens of the North Studio', which was designed and built specifically for our artists so that they can create without the time pressures or expenses of studio hire elsewhere. With no fixed plans, no rules or expectations, the pair relaxed in the new studio and started making music. The result is very special indeed
Linkwood had just returned from walking in the wilds of an Ibiza summer and Greg had similarly been immersed on the sun drenched south coast of the Isle of wight. This freedom and sense of space saturates the grooves of the LP juxtapositioned against a deeper late night basement club feel they both love so much, the pull between nightlife and the freedom of nature. It's extroversion and introversion, the freedom and escapism of the two seemingly opposing environments permeates this recording.
Henry Hicks AKA Horatio Luna is a Melbourne based improviser, composer, bassist and producer.
A founding member of hip-hop/soul community "30/70 collective", he is an active member of the Australian beatz, jazz and soul music scene.
After parting with 30/70 in 2019, Horatio featured on the Gilles Petersons Brownswood compilation 'Sunnyside Up', released a 12" 'Print It, Run It, Send It', Remixed Moodyman approved Jitwams music and focused his sights on working and collaborating with the younger generation of players in Melbourne, serving as the musical director on 'downundaground' and joining Antiphon among many other groups.
A founding member of hip-hop/soul community "30/70 collective", he is an active member of the Australian beatz, jazz and soul music scene.
After parting with 30/70 in 2019, Horatio featured on the Gilles Petersons Brownswood compilation 'Sunnyside Up', released a 12" 'Print It, Run It, Send It', Remixed Moodyman approved Jitwams music and focused his sights on working and collaborating with the younger generation of players in Melbourne, serving as the musical director on 'downundaground' and joining Antiphon among many other groups.
Sometimes, looking back to the tracks that have been most inspirational yields very interesting results. In the last couple of years these four tracks stood out and share a deep sonic connection. All artists produced music in the early/mid 80s, played in post-punk, experimental and EBM/industrial bands and transitioned naturally into the techno, ambient and trance sounds of the early 90s, while maintaining an elemental early 80s live feel in the process. It’s no coincidence that these tracks date back to 92-94, a time defined by rapid technological change and a major political landslide.
The fall of the Berlin wall seemed to herald the dawn of a new era of peace and prosperity. The Cold War thawed, a sense of relief took hold, the West appeared victorious and the future looked bright. The emergence of rave culture seemed to embody this world of endless technological possibility and future optimism, techno-optimism indeed. Fast forward to 2019 and this optimism has obviously faded into oblivion, where the dream of universal freedom turned out be the empty promise of free market hypercapitalism beneficial to a small elite only. But thirty years ago rave culture was the product of that change and felt like a new home for those who discovered it. All these tracks are a precursor to sounds we hear today, an integral part of an ongoing cycle of trends where successive generations take over from previous ones. Rediscovery of that moment in time and sound is what Transition is all about, a collection of penultimate tracks that define that era.
The fall of the Berlin wall seemed to herald the dawn of a new era of peace and prosperity. The Cold War thawed, a sense of relief took hold, the West appeared victorious and the future looked bright. The emergence of rave culture seemed to embody this world of endless technological possibility and future optimism, techno-optimism indeed. Fast forward to 2019 and this optimism has obviously faded into oblivion, where the dream of universal freedom turned out be the empty promise of free market hypercapitalism beneficial to a small elite only. But thirty years ago rave culture was the product of that change and felt like a new home for those who discovered it. All these tracks are a precursor to sounds we hear today, an integral part of an ongoing cycle of trends where successive generations take over from previous ones. Rediscovery of that moment in time and sound is what Transition is all about, a collection of penultimate tracks that define that era.
Birthed at the turn of the ‘80s, synth and wave music has remained a constant force over the last four decades, with a recent spike in interest in the sound offering further proof of its’ timeless, out-of-this-world quality. It’s against this backdrop that Dutch DJ Interstellar Funk presents his celebration of the style, “Artificial Dancers – Waves of Synth”.
A bumper compilation bristling with obscure and hard-to-find gems, the set sees the Artificial Dance label founder joining the dots between synthesizer and drum machine-driven tracks in a variety of subtly different styles. It’s the result of hundreds of hours spent digging through dusty old records, tapes, and the Bandcamp accounts of DIY musicians who have been active since the sound’s first boom in the early 1980s.
The 11-track set draws on tracks made and released at different times over the last 40 years, with the earliest cut committed to tape in 1978 and the most recent in 2018. While the tracks date from the ‘80s, ‘90s, noughties and 2010s, the showcased cuts are united by a primitive but futuristic quality that makes dating them difficult. In many cases, it’s hard to tell which tracks were made in the early 1980s and which were conjured up in 21st century studios.
As you’d expect, highlights are plentiful with a number of the most unknown or sought-after cuts appearing on vinyl for the first time. In this category you’ll find the Human League’s odd but inspired early number “4JG”, a near mythical 1982 live version of Liasons Dangereuses’ “Dias Cortas” (previously only available on a VHS video) and Chris and Cosey’s “Hybrid C”, a brilliant mid-’90s cut plucked from their CD-only album “Skimble Skamble”. You’ll also find a rare demo version of Clan of Xymox’s Dutch darkwave classic “Stranger”, which became a club smash across Europe in 1983.
Interstellar Funk has also chosen to showcase tracks by a range of DIY producers and lesser-known artists. These include Californian band Batang Frisco, who self-released a sole private press album in 1986 (their contribution, “Sewing Machine”, is dedicated to founder member Bill DiMichele, who passed away this year), Matthias Schuster’s Im Namen Des Volkes project – which contributes the previously unreleased 2014 track “Alles Ist Gewinn” – and Zahgurim, a short-lived early ‘80s act who reunited in 2018 to record their first new material since 1983.
If that wasn’t enough to set pulses racing, the compilation also showcases a solo track by sadly departed Psyche member Stephen Huss. Nobody is quite sure when Huss recorded “Infinity Sign”, but we can confirm this is the first time that one of his solo productions has ever appeared on vinyl.
A bumper compilation bristling with obscure and hard-to-find gems, the set sees the Artificial Dance label founder joining the dots between synthesizer and drum machine-driven tracks in a variety of subtly different styles. It’s the result of hundreds of hours spent digging through dusty old records, tapes, and the Bandcamp accounts of DIY musicians who have been active since the sound’s first boom in the early 1980s.
The 11-track set draws on tracks made and released at different times over the last 40 years, with the earliest cut committed to tape in 1978 and the most recent in 2018. While the tracks date from the ‘80s, ‘90s, noughties and 2010s, the showcased cuts are united by a primitive but futuristic quality that makes dating them difficult. In many cases, it’s hard to tell which tracks were made in the early 1980s and which were conjured up in 21st century studios.
As you’d expect, highlights are plentiful with a number of the most unknown or sought-after cuts appearing on vinyl for the first time. In this category you’ll find the Human League’s odd but inspired early number “4JG”, a near mythical 1982 live version of Liasons Dangereuses’ “Dias Cortas” (previously only available on a VHS video) and Chris and Cosey’s “Hybrid C”, a brilliant mid-’90s cut plucked from their CD-only album “Skimble Skamble”. You’ll also find a rare demo version of Clan of Xymox’s Dutch darkwave classic “Stranger”, which became a club smash across Europe in 1983.
Interstellar Funk has also chosen to showcase tracks by a range of DIY producers and lesser-known artists. These include Californian band Batang Frisco, who self-released a sole private press album in 1986 (their contribution, “Sewing Machine”, is dedicated to founder member Bill DiMichele, who passed away this year), Matthias Schuster’s Im Namen Des Volkes project – which contributes the previously unreleased 2014 track “Alles Ist Gewinn” – and Zahgurim, a short-lived early ‘80s act who reunited in 2018 to record their first new material since 1983.
If that wasn’t enough to set pulses racing, the compilation also showcases a solo track by sadly departed Psyche member Stephen Huss. Nobody is quite sure when Huss recorded “Infinity Sign”, but we can confirm this is the first time that one of his solo productions has ever appeared on vinyl.
UFO Inc. starts the new decade with fast, dark improv-techno tracks by the New York DJ, producer and singer Heidi Sabertooth. The four tracks on UFO4 are an impressive testimony to her passion for vintage gear and are the result of an interplay of mainly three machines with which she also plays live: Roland SH-101, Korg ESX2 Electribe and Yamaha DX200 - Sabertooth knows her tools inside and out by heart and tried on this EP to sound as "live" and spontaneous as possible. She plays her machines like instruments and want them to have some life and breath in them because she grew up playing all kinds of wind and string instruments and played in bands many years before she became a DJ. Her approach to making tracks is to capture as much live experimentation and weirdness as possible, while still making something that grooves and kicks on the dancefloor. She is not so concerned about making things perfect, in fact sometimes she intentionally try to disrupt things if it starts sounding too polished or square: ,,I like things to be human. I think you can feel it in the recording when the hands are touching the machine - it is human/machine/spirit connection.?This is why I named the EP as such - With The Void - this is how I like to create: jump into outerspace, into the unknown, with my machines and we all have an experience together - a cosmic electric dance - and that's when I hit the record button." On UFO4 you can definitely hear the fun she and her machines had in the recording process.
After Nu Guinea’s LP, Nuova Napoli, and Napoli Segreta first compilation, NG RECORDS follows up with an exploration into the unknown groovy side of Naples by releasing Napoli Segreta Vol.2.
Famiglia Discocristiana, DNApoli and Nu Guinea team up again selecting more tracks from their archives, for a new compilation containing 9 mysterious Neapolitan tracks, found in the most hidden corners of remote flea markets around the Vesuvius.
But forget classical Neapolitan songs, "'O Sole Mio" or "Luna Rossa"... Forget about what you expect to find once you land in town… oh and also forget about Google maps. Take a dodgy local guide, keep your eyes open, and follow it to enter the secret downtown, the underground, the routes that no satellite can detect, but beware there is no easy way out.
Napoli Segreta Vol.2 is a musical journey into the sonic landscapes of Naples that you have never heard of before. A variety of genres merging soul, disco, funk, blues, new wave, afro-beat and boogie, including lyrics in Neapolitan urban slang, instrumental tracks with progressive flavour, and also some unexpected covers!
Famiglia Discocristiana, DNApoli and Nu Guinea team up again selecting more tracks from their archives, for a new compilation containing 9 mysterious Neapolitan tracks, found in the most hidden corners of remote flea markets around the Vesuvius.
But forget classical Neapolitan songs, "'O Sole Mio" or "Luna Rossa"... Forget about what you expect to find once you land in town… oh and also forget about Google maps. Take a dodgy local guide, keep your eyes open, and follow it to enter the secret downtown, the underground, the routes that no satellite can detect, but beware there is no easy way out.
Napoli Segreta Vol.2 is a musical journey into the sonic landscapes of Naples that you have never heard of before. A variety of genres merging soul, disco, funk, blues, new wave, afro-beat and boogie, including lyrics in Neapolitan urban slang, instrumental tracks with progressive flavour, and also some unexpected covers!
“This is an examination of madness and loss,” says Brian Christinzio, the inimitable force behind BC Camplight. “I hope it starts a long overdue conversation.”
Fired by his ongoing battle with mental illness, Shortly After Takeoff is the final, and finest, chapter of what Christinzio calls his “Manchester Trilogy”, following 2015’s “How To Die In The North” and 2018’s “Deportation Blues”. All three albums were created after the native Philadelphian had moved to Manchester. Like Deportation Blues, Shortly After Takeoff spans singer-songwriter classicism, gnarly synth-pop and ‘50s rock’n’roll, with Christinzio’s similarly distinctive, flexible vocal carrying a fearless approach to lyrical introspection, but the new album is a major leap forward in songwriting sophistication and lyrical communication.
“It’s important to stress that this isn’t a redemption story,” he says. “I'm a guy who maybe lives a little hard and I’m in the thick of some heavy stuff. But as a result, I think I've made my best record.”
The “heavy stuff” has come thick and fast for Christinzio. Just days before How To Die In The North was released, he was deported and banned from the UK because of visa issues. Estranged from his new home, his girlfriend and his dog, unable to promote his album and back home with his parents, Christinzio sunk deep into the dark. An Italian passport, care of his grandparents, eventually allowed him to re-settle in Manchester, but then just days before Deportation Blues was released, his father Angelo unexpectedly died.
“I went into a spiral that was worse than any time since my twenties,” he recalls. Hence the title Shortly After Takeoff: the feeling of being suddenly thwarted by what life throws at you. Making matters worse was a neurological disorder that returned after years in remission: “I see TV static, and it messes with how my brain interprets everything from sound to my own feelings.”
One way to process tragedy is comedy, which elevates Shortly After Takeoff to a heightened plateau, from grief-stricken vulnerability to armoured bravado, from the black dog of depression to gallows humour. None more so than ‘Ghosthunting’, which opens with an extraordinary (fabricated) passage of Christinzio doing a stand-up routine, centring on the memory of hallucinating his father’s ghost. “I want to drag the listener into this world and hopefully they question why they feel uneasy,” he explains.
“I also wanted to make a record totally free of whimsy and irony, that was just clear and open and honest. I don’t think you really heard the chaos in Deportation Blues, but in Shortly After Takeoff, I can hear I’m finding undiscovered places to go, only because I was so lost. Lyrically, I wanted people to hear and understand me this time. Before, if I would have written about my father dying, I would have made up some weird bullshit, like an analogy about a tree shedding leaves or something. That Brian is gone. I have a direct line to the listener now. I have a direct line to myself too. It’s a benchmark moment for me.”
Shortly After Takeoff ends with the gorgeously tender 93-second ‘Angelo’, “a little fleeting moment for my dad. I wanted his name on the album, and something that sounded like a goodbye. It ends with the drums, like a heartbeat stopping…”
That’s Christinzio and Shortly After Takeoff: his best, most honest, open and frequently heartbreaking record.
Fired by his ongoing battle with mental illness, Shortly After Takeoff is the final, and finest, chapter of what Christinzio calls his “Manchester Trilogy”, following 2015’s “How To Die In The North” and 2018’s “Deportation Blues”. All three albums were created after the native Philadelphian had moved to Manchester. Like Deportation Blues, Shortly After Takeoff spans singer-songwriter classicism, gnarly synth-pop and ‘50s rock’n’roll, with Christinzio’s similarly distinctive, flexible vocal carrying a fearless approach to lyrical introspection, but the new album is a major leap forward in songwriting sophistication and lyrical communication.
“It’s important to stress that this isn’t a redemption story,” he says. “I'm a guy who maybe lives a little hard and I’m in the thick of some heavy stuff. But as a result, I think I've made my best record.”
The “heavy stuff” has come thick and fast for Christinzio. Just days before How To Die In The North was released, he was deported and banned from the UK because of visa issues. Estranged from his new home, his girlfriend and his dog, unable to promote his album and back home with his parents, Christinzio sunk deep into the dark. An Italian passport, care of his grandparents, eventually allowed him to re-settle in Manchester, but then just days before Deportation Blues was released, his father Angelo unexpectedly died.
“I went into a spiral that was worse than any time since my twenties,” he recalls. Hence the title Shortly After Takeoff: the feeling of being suddenly thwarted by what life throws at you. Making matters worse was a neurological disorder that returned after years in remission: “I see TV static, and it messes with how my brain interprets everything from sound to my own feelings.”
One way to process tragedy is comedy, which elevates Shortly After Takeoff to a heightened plateau, from grief-stricken vulnerability to armoured bravado, from the black dog of depression to gallows humour. None more so than ‘Ghosthunting’, which opens with an extraordinary (fabricated) passage of Christinzio doing a stand-up routine, centring on the memory of hallucinating his father’s ghost. “I want to drag the listener into this world and hopefully they question why they feel uneasy,” he explains.
“I also wanted to make a record totally free of whimsy and irony, that was just clear and open and honest. I don’t think you really heard the chaos in Deportation Blues, but in Shortly After Takeoff, I can hear I’m finding undiscovered places to go, only because I was so lost. Lyrically, I wanted people to hear and understand me this time. Before, if I would have written about my father dying, I would have made up some weird bullshit, like an analogy about a tree shedding leaves or something. That Brian is gone. I have a direct line to the listener now. I have a direct line to myself too. It’s a benchmark moment for me.”
Shortly After Takeoff ends with the gorgeously tender 93-second ‘Angelo’, “a little fleeting moment for my dad. I wanted his name on the album, and something that sounded like a goodbye. It ends with the drums, like a heartbeat stopping…”
That’s Christinzio and Shortly After Takeoff: his best, most honest, open and frequently heartbreaking record.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Clear vinyl.
The 6th release on BLKMARKET MUSIC is a new collaboration between electro producer Gosub and label head Taimur.
On the A side, Gosub & Taimur go techno with two versions of their track ‘THE CONTROLLER.’ The A1 is a deeper 135bpm version that takes you into outer orbit. The A2 ‘THE CONTROLLER (DARK PATH MIX)’ focuses on a faster 145bpm darker and more tripped out version of A1.
The B side focuses on the after-hours side of things. On B1 they kick things off with ’SAFE,’ an electro track that turns into a druggy four on the floor tune, with haunting vocals that chant ‘You think you’re safe.’ On B2 their track ‘PHI’ is more on the techier side of things.
Concepts powered by dusty machines. Made in Florida.
On the A side, Gosub & Taimur go techno with two versions of their track ‘THE CONTROLLER.’ The A1 is a deeper 135bpm version that takes you into outer orbit. The A2 ‘THE CONTROLLER (DARK PATH MIX)’ focuses on a faster 145bpm darker and more tripped out version of A1.
The B side focuses on the after-hours side of things. On B1 they kick things off with ’SAFE,’ an electro track that turns into a druggy four on the floor tune, with haunting vocals that chant ‘You think you’re safe.’ On B2 their track ‘PHI’ is more on the techier side of things.
Concepts powered by dusty machines. Made in Florida.
As peaktime rollers go this little limited edition hand stamped number is about to take the crown as the flushest of them all.
A thumping beat, a heavyweight bassline and a vocal that’s got more sass than you can shake a stack of dollar bills at.
It’s big, bad and about to storm every club with a sound system heavy enough to handle it.
Very limited Handstamped, one sided vinyl biz that’s bang on the money.
A thumping beat, a heavyweight bassline and a vocal that’s got more sass than you can shake a stack of dollar bills at.
It’s big, bad and about to storm every club with a sound system heavy enough to handle it.
Very limited Handstamped, one sided vinyl biz that’s bang on the money.
STAFF COMMENTS
Matt says: Big funky / tech house refix here as Cardi B chart smasher "Money" finds the club with a pinging, pounding mainroom groover. Wiggle!
What do we hold on to from our past? What must we let go of to truly move forward? Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield spent much of 2018 reckoning with these questions and revisiting her roots for answers. The result is Saint Cloud, an intimate journey through the places she’s been, filled with the people she’s loved.
Written immediately in the period following her decision to get sober, the album is an unflinching self-examination. This raw, exposed narrative terrain is aided by a shift in sonic arrangements as well. While her last two records featured the kind of big guitars, well-honed noise, and battering sounds that characterized her Philadelphia scene and strongly influenced a burgeoning new class of singer-songwriters, Saint Cloud strips back those layers to create space for Crutchfield’s voice and lyrics. The result is a classic Americana sound with modern touches befitting an artist who has emerged as one of the signature storytellers of her time. Many of the narratives on Saint Cloud concern addiction and the havoc it wreaks on ourselves and our loved ones, as Crutchfield comes to a deeper understanding of love not only for those around her but for herself. This coalesces most clearly on “Fire,” which she says was literally written in transit, during a drive over the Mississippi River into West Memphis, and serves as a love song to herself, a paean to moving past shame into a place of unconditional self-acceptance.
Over the course of Saint Cloud, which was recorded the summer of 2019 and produced by Brad Cook (Bon Iver), Crutchfield peels back the distortion of electric guitars to create a wider sonic palette than on any
previous Waxahatchee album. It is a record filled with nods to classic country, folk-inspired tones, and distinctly modern touches. To bolster her vision, Crutchfield enlisted Bobby Colombo and Bill Lennox, both of the Detroit band Bonny Doon, to serve as backing band on the record, along with Josh Kaufman (Hiss Golden Messenger, Bon Iver) on guitar and keyboards and Nick Kinsey (Kevin Morby) on drums and percussion. Saint Cloud marks the beginning of a journey for Crutchfield, one that sees her leaving behind past vices and the comfortable environs of her Philadelphia scene to head south in search of something new. If on her previous work Crutchfield was out in the storm, she’s now firmly in the eye of it, taking stock of her past with a clear perspective and gathering the strength to carry onward.
Written immediately in the period following her decision to get sober, the album is an unflinching self-examination. This raw, exposed narrative terrain is aided by a shift in sonic arrangements as well. While her last two records featured the kind of big guitars, well-honed noise, and battering sounds that characterized her Philadelphia scene and strongly influenced a burgeoning new class of singer-songwriters, Saint Cloud strips back those layers to create space for Crutchfield’s voice and lyrics. The result is a classic Americana sound with modern touches befitting an artist who has emerged as one of the signature storytellers of her time. Many of the narratives on Saint Cloud concern addiction and the havoc it wreaks on ourselves and our loved ones, as Crutchfield comes to a deeper understanding of love not only for those around her but for herself. This coalesces most clearly on “Fire,” which she says was literally written in transit, during a drive over the Mississippi River into West Memphis, and serves as a love song to herself, a paean to moving past shame into a place of unconditional self-acceptance.
Over the course of Saint Cloud, which was recorded the summer of 2019 and produced by Brad Cook (Bon Iver), Crutchfield peels back the distortion of electric guitars to create a wider sonic palette than on any
previous Waxahatchee album. It is a record filled with nods to classic country, folk-inspired tones, and distinctly modern touches. To bolster her vision, Crutchfield enlisted Bobby Colombo and Bill Lennox, both of the Detroit band Bonny Doon, to serve as backing band on the record, along with Josh Kaufman (Hiss Golden Messenger, Bon Iver) on guitar and keyboards and Nick Kinsey (Kevin Morby) on drums and percussion. Saint Cloud marks the beginning of a journey for Crutchfield, one that sees her leaving behind past vices and the comfortable environs of her Philadelphia scene to head south in search of something new. If on her previous work Crutchfield was out in the storm, she’s now firmly in the eye of it, taking stock of her past with a clear perspective and gathering the strength to carry onward.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Indies only coke bottle clear LP
‘I’m learning how to say goodbye / to let you go and face the tide / to wrap my feelings in a song,’ sings Dana Gavanski on the title track of her debut LP, Yesterday Is Gone. To wrap her feelings in a song: this is the task Dana has dedicated herself to with this record. It’s a goal common to many songwriters, but few approach it with such aplomb. By turns break-up album, project of curiosity, and, as Dana puts it, ‘a reckoning with myself’, Yesterday Is Gone is her attempt to ‘learn to say what I feel and feel what I say’: an album of longing and devotion to longing, and of the uncertainty that arises from learning about oneself, of pushing boundaries, falling hard, and getting back up.
Born in Vancouver to a Serbian family, Dana has always harboured a desire to sing. In her final year of university in Montreal, she picked up the guitar left by her ex-partner and decided to re-learn. But with a father in film and a painter mother, other art-forms clamoured for her attention. She spent a summer as her producer father’s assistant in the Laurentians, in a derelict hotel-turned-office that looked like something out of The Shining. The long days behind a computer cemented her desire to make music, ‘because it was so impossible to play that I needed to, in order to feel like it was real.’ The income she saved that summer funded a year of writing religiously, leading to EP Spring Demos in September 2017, which Dana describes as ‘whatever was coming out of me. A flood.’
Following Spring Demos, Yesterday Is Gone reflects Dana’s aim ‘to make something bigger, more thought through’. Steeped in determination and uncertainty in equal measure – ‘I just wanted to write a good song’ – the album took shape after she returned from a writing residency in Banff, Alberta. She left the residency resolved not to worry about her songs being ‘too obvious’. She’d begun to learn the art of empty time, of being alone with her emotions, losing herself in a landscape. She thought of Vashti Bunyan, riding for hours and writing, writing, writing. She considered how she might use writing to make sense of her life after the tumults of a break-up and a new city. Adrift in Toronto, Dana struggled to feel at home and connected to people, but the solitude also allowed her to ground herself in writing. She kept office-style hours at her bedroom desk every day until she started to understand the writing process, to see that ‘transforming a burning desire into something clear and tangible is a vulnerable and delicate act. You have to be able to let things happen, to accept losing control.’
The record is a co-production between Dana, Toronto-based musician Sam Gleason, and Mike Lindsay of Tunng and LUMP. While Sam helped Dana bring out the tunes, Mike’s input marked ‘the beginning of developing a sound that was closer to what I had in my head’. Though excited by the other elements of a song introduced during production, Dana and Mike were keen on ‘finding essential things, not overblowing, keeping things bare and letting the elements speak for themselves’. Not that the sheer variety of sounds and instruments didn’t overwhelm. ‘But you have that feeling,’ Dana says, ‘then you just pick up an instrument. At the base, you do know what you want. It’s about how to chip away at what you don’t want.’
The album shapeshifted as it passed through the hands of Dana, Sam, and Mike, taking on different tastes, feelings, and visions. When Dana performed the songs with a band, they found new form again. She was intrigued by performers like David Bowie and Aldous Harding, who inhabit different personalities on stage, physically tuning themselves to their music. ‘Watching these kinds of performances,’ Dana says, ‘I feel my body longing to express myself in exaggerations … to leave behind self-consciousness and become this energy.’ But a three-month trip to Serbia in autumn 2018 really pushed performance to the forefront of Dana’s mind. She took singing lessons to learn how to sing with the resonance that defines traditional Serbian song. Stirred by the bombast of fifties, sixties, and seventies music, including the high-energy kafana, or café music, as rooted in expressive pouts as it is vocal resonance, the trip incited a yearning to completely inhabit herself on stage. ‘I often feel we’re all just these controlled bodies,’ she says. ‘Sometimes I just want to make a snarl with my lip and keep it there.’
Stood on a crowded train last spring, Dana sang the Macedonian song Jano Mome to an audience of cheery Scottish ladies. The moment, brief but beautiful, lays bare Dana’s craving for live spontaneity. But it also reflects her injection of stylish drama and vivid emotion into the folk landscape that inspires her, from contemporary singers H Hawkline and Julia Holter, to stalwarts Fairport Convention, Anne Briggs, Connie Converse, and Judee Sill. Expressive urges run all through Yesterday Is Gone. Moments of beguilement splinter a backdrop of tenderly picked guitar, bass, synth, and poppier elements, which commune to produce her own kind of wall of sound. Each component is meticulously placed, yielding a deeply sincere response to the chaos of human emotion. ‘Often we have to go a little far in one direction to learn something about ourselves,’ Dana says. The months of solitary writing and self-doubt testify to this, but they’ve led to Yesterday Is Gone: an optimistic, steely-eyed gaze into the future.
Born in Vancouver to a Serbian family, Dana has always harboured a desire to sing. In her final year of university in Montreal, she picked up the guitar left by her ex-partner and decided to re-learn. But with a father in film and a painter mother, other art-forms clamoured for her attention. She spent a summer as her producer father’s assistant in the Laurentians, in a derelict hotel-turned-office that looked like something out of The Shining. The long days behind a computer cemented her desire to make music, ‘because it was so impossible to play that I needed to, in order to feel like it was real.’ The income she saved that summer funded a year of writing religiously, leading to EP Spring Demos in September 2017, which Dana describes as ‘whatever was coming out of me. A flood.’
Following Spring Demos, Yesterday Is Gone reflects Dana’s aim ‘to make something bigger, more thought through’. Steeped in determination and uncertainty in equal measure – ‘I just wanted to write a good song’ – the album took shape after she returned from a writing residency in Banff, Alberta. She left the residency resolved not to worry about her songs being ‘too obvious’. She’d begun to learn the art of empty time, of being alone with her emotions, losing herself in a landscape. She thought of Vashti Bunyan, riding for hours and writing, writing, writing. She considered how she might use writing to make sense of her life after the tumults of a break-up and a new city. Adrift in Toronto, Dana struggled to feel at home and connected to people, but the solitude also allowed her to ground herself in writing. She kept office-style hours at her bedroom desk every day until she started to understand the writing process, to see that ‘transforming a burning desire into something clear and tangible is a vulnerable and delicate act. You have to be able to let things happen, to accept losing control.’
The record is a co-production between Dana, Toronto-based musician Sam Gleason, and Mike Lindsay of Tunng and LUMP. While Sam helped Dana bring out the tunes, Mike’s input marked ‘the beginning of developing a sound that was closer to what I had in my head’. Though excited by the other elements of a song introduced during production, Dana and Mike were keen on ‘finding essential things, not overblowing, keeping things bare and letting the elements speak for themselves’. Not that the sheer variety of sounds and instruments didn’t overwhelm. ‘But you have that feeling,’ Dana says, ‘then you just pick up an instrument. At the base, you do know what you want. It’s about how to chip away at what you don’t want.’
The album shapeshifted as it passed through the hands of Dana, Sam, and Mike, taking on different tastes, feelings, and visions. When Dana performed the songs with a band, they found new form again. She was intrigued by performers like David Bowie and Aldous Harding, who inhabit different personalities on stage, physically tuning themselves to their music. ‘Watching these kinds of performances,’ Dana says, ‘I feel my body longing to express myself in exaggerations … to leave behind self-consciousness and become this energy.’ But a three-month trip to Serbia in autumn 2018 really pushed performance to the forefront of Dana’s mind. She took singing lessons to learn how to sing with the resonance that defines traditional Serbian song. Stirred by the bombast of fifties, sixties, and seventies music, including the high-energy kafana, or café music, as rooted in expressive pouts as it is vocal resonance, the trip incited a yearning to completely inhabit herself on stage. ‘I often feel we’re all just these controlled bodies,’ she says. ‘Sometimes I just want to make a snarl with my lip and keep it there.’
Stood on a crowded train last spring, Dana sang the Macedonian song Jano Mome to an audience of cheery Scottish ladies. The moment, brief but beautiful, lays bare Dana’s craving for live spontaneity. But it also reflects her injection of stylish drama and vivid emotion into the folk landscape that inspires her, from contemporary singers H Hawkline and Julia Holter, to stalwarts Fairport Convention, Anne Briggs, Connie Converse, and Judee Sill. Expressive urges run all through Yesterday Is Gone. Moments of beguilement splinter a backdrop of tenderly picked guitar, bass, synth, and poppier elements, which commune to produce her own kind of wall of sound. Each component is meticulously placed, yielding a deeply sincere response to the chaos of human emotion. ‘Often we have to go a little far in one direction to learn something about ourselves,’ Dana says. The months of solitary writing and self-doubt testify to this, but they’ve led to Yesterday Is Gone: an optimistic, steely-eyed gaze into the future.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive orange vinyl.
Manchester’s The Slow Readers Club release their fourth album, The Joy Of The Return.
Opening to an energetic blend of driving drums and infectious guitar lines, the opening track builds through evocative verses and anthemic choruses, imbued with their idiosyncratic brand of insightful and confronting lyricism and set against relentlessly danceable and energy-provoking instrumentation. “‘All I Hear’ is about a lack of agency and an inability to affect change. That there’s something happening, and you have no choice but to go along with it,” explains singer Aaron Starkie.
Throughout the album, the band explore a vast swathe of sonic territory, from the passionately delivered ‘All The Idols’, to the poppier tones of ‘Jericho’ that power through with bright indie guitar lines and ethereally melodic choruses.
Recorded at Parr Street Studios in Liverpool and produced by long-standing collaborator Phil Bulleyment, The Joy Of The Return marks a significant change in the band’s process, with their extensive touring allowing them time to write and develop tracks and arrangements through soundchecks and back-of-van jams.
“I think it’s definitely our most interesting and accomplished record musically,” says singer Aaron Starkie. “Lyrically the album covers love, alienation, the rise of right wing populism and comments on algorithm driven propaganda. And as always, I try to deliver those lyrics with uplifting melody.”
The dark power-pop that defined their previous releases holds a strong influence, with the brooding ‘No Surprise’ providing a powerful dose of evocative lyricism amid immersive soundscapes, while the unsettling ‘Paris’ is an undulating exploration of observational songwriting and eclectic musicality.
The swelling, arena-sized ‘Zero Hour’ displays the enormity of The Slow Readers Club sound and sets the precedent for their incredibly exciting future, while ‘The Wait’ closes the album with a beautifully absorptive combination of atmospheric synths flipping the pace of the record on its head to intoxicating effect.
• Exclusive Dinked Edition Art print (Numbered & Signed).
• Exclusive Sleeve Design (Dinked edition).
• Limited to 400 copies.
Coloured LP Info: Magenta coloured vinyl.
Opening to an energetic blend of driving drums and infectious guitar lines, the opening track builds through evocative verses and anthemic choruses, imbued with their idiosyncratic brand of insightful and confronting lyricism and set against relentlessly danceable and energy-provoking instrumentation. “‘All I Hear’ is about a lack of agency and an inability to affect change. That there’s something happening, and you have no choice but to go along with it,” explains singer Aaron Starkie.
Throughout the album, the band explore a vast swathe of sonic territory, from the passionately delivered ‘All The Idols’, to the poppier tones of ‘Jericho’ that power through with bright indie guitar lines and ethereally melodic choruses.
Recorded at Parr Street Studios in Liverpool and produced by long-standing collaborator Phil Bulleyment, The Joy Of The Return marks a significant change in the band’s process, with their extensive touring allowing them time to write and develop tracks and arrangements through soundchecks and back-of-van jams.
“I think it’s definitely our most interesting and accomplished record musically,” says singer Aaron Starkie. “Lyrically the album covers love, alienation, the rise of right wing populism and comments on algorithm driven propaganda. And as always, I try to deliver those lyrics with uplifting melody.”
The dark power-pop that defined their previous releases holds a strong influence, with the brooding ‘No Surprise’ providing a powerful dose of evocative lyricism amid immersive soundscapes, while the unsettling ‘Paris’ is an undulating exploration of observational songwriting and eclectic musicality.
The swelling, arena-sized ‘Zero Hour’ displays the enormity of The Slow Readers Club sound and sets the precedent for their incredibly exciting future, while ‘The Wait’ closes the album with a beautifully absorptive combination of atmospheric synths flipping the pace of the record on its head to intoxicating effect.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Dinked Edition LP Info: • Exclusive Clear Vinyl with Magenta Splatter.• Exclusive Dinked Edition Art print (Numbered & Signed).
• Exclusive Sleeve Design (Dinked edition).
• Limited to 400 copies.
Coloured LP Info: Magenta coloured vinyl.
“Soul Is My Salvation" is a collection of dance friendly gospel songs. The mission is to simply uplift your spirit through music and word. Dance floor’s around the world mirror the reactions of Churches from the 70’s and 80’s when experiencing these recordings.” - Tone B. Nimble.
Released as a series of eight limited vinyl-only 45, when assembled together the covers reveal a beautiful design courtesy of designer Charlotte McCrae. A true collectors item.
Chapter 1 includes the brilliant but incredibly tough pull, Rev L. Weaver’s rendition of a Sister Sledge classic. Side two is an Al-Tone extended version of The Pink Family’s Don’t Give Your Life Away.
Released as a series of eight limited vinyl-only 45, when assembled together the covers reveal a beautiful design courtesy of designer Charlotte McCrae. A true collectors item.
Chapter 1 includes the brilliant but incredibly tough pull, Rev L. Weaver’s rendition of a Sister Sledge classic. Side two is an Al-Tone extended version of The Pink Family’s Don’t Give Your Life Away.
New Detroit House and Techno from Big Strick's youngest kid ButterBandz
It is truly a family affair over at 7 Days Entertainment. Butterbandz, the youngest son of 7 Days Entertainment label head Big Strick, gives us his debut EP titled Legacy. This freshman EP of the youngest of the Strickland clan is nothing short of what you would expect from a family member deeply rooted in dance music from Detroit. The first song off of the EP is a vocal track from BBZ with help from the artist Marc, who is a rising vocal talent from Detroit associated with the 7 Days imprint. If You Don’t Dance is slated to be an anthem among the scene for years to come. It evokes you to get out there and move your body. It brings the energy from start to finish with excited high hats, a grumpy bass and an admirable synth pattern. Things slow down for a more relaxed groove on Free Roaming, a laid back chiller with a smooth synth and a mellow bass of pure delight. Its reverbed synths take you on a never-ending journey through your own mind. Hellraiser is a straight high-octane pure adrenaline rush. It has the soul of true Detroit techno. The unforgiving drum and percussion pattern shines brightly over an acid bass line and catchy synth keys. The last song on the debut EP, Monkey See, closes the project out with a bang. An offset drum knocks on top of an offset synth and warm pianos. The flute is complementary and the percussion ties it all together nicely. Butterbandz shows unparalleled promise for more top-notch projects in the future.
It is truly a family affair over at 7 Days Entertainment. Butterbandz, the youngest son of 7 Days Entertainment label head Big Strick, gives us his debut EP titled Legacy. This freshman EP of the youngest of the Strickland clan is nothing short of what you would expect from a family member deeply rooted in dance music from Detroit. The first song off of the EP is a vocal track from BBZ with help from the artist Marc, who is a rising vocal talent from Detroit associated with the 7 Days imprint. If You Don’t Dance is slated to be an anthem among the scene for years to come. It evokes you to get out there and move your body. It brings the energy from start to finish with excited high hats, a grumpy bass and an admirable synth pattern. Things slow down for a more relaxed groove on Free Roaming, a laid back chiller with a smooth synth and a mellow bass of pure delight. Its reverbed synths take you on a never-ending journey through your own mind. Hellraiser is a straight high-octane pure adrenaline rush. It has the soul of true Detroit techno. The unforgiving drum and percussion pattern shines brightly over an acid bass line and catchy synth keys. The last song on the debut EP, Monkey See, closes the project out with a bang. An offset drum knocks on top of an offset synth and warm pianos. The flute is complementary and the percussion ties it all together nicely. Butterbandz shows unparalleled promise for more top-notch projects in the future.
Not so long ago...in the long winter of 2016–2017. The debut of Jackie Lynn. It was a year of bright lights and alien love, and an undercurrent of undisguised tension too. It fed the music, what can you say. Then suddenly one night, one gig was just the last. For awhile. Until now. Now it’s a new year beginning, and Jacqueline is the album of that year, bringing Jackie fully back in front of us, larger than life, her arms reaching out farther into the glittering darkness than before.
Jacqueline finds Jackie Lynn down the road apiece, having broken in and out of the glare of American days and nights. A casino queen in Missouri now, a stranger in a short black dress in Odessa tomorrow—another track, another rich slice of the life for our femme long-haul truck driver. Each one flowing with the whitehot bursts of NEW as it unfurls itself around her. The process of realizing is palpable, as we watch Jackie roll her wheels across the wrecked frontier. Removed from the urban play that made her first songs hum with onyx-black edges, Jackie is an agent of her own agency this time around, alone and together with herself, as big-sky perspective flashes through the windshield over and over: dreamlike passing flares, white-line beats, twilight falling silk on the horizon.
Jackie’s trip is an analog evoking, among other things, the spiraling times of a traveling musician. The conversation with yourself just keeps coming back around. Every night with a peak and a valley. Practical things that are fun are also fault lines with existential depths opening up underneath. Is going forward getting somewhere, or is the road just crumbling behind you? Jacqueline blooms expansively from the synthetic rhythms of her debut, blowing up their bone structure with bigger stakes in sight. Jackie Lynn, comprised of Cooper Crain, Rob Frye and Dan Quinlivan of Bitchin Bajas and Haley Fohr of Circuit des Yeux, approached the material as a group, drawing together the journey over time, inspired collectively to find the right notes, sounds and settings to open the landscape for Jackie—and alter it inexorably
Jacqueline finds Jackie Lynn down the road apiece, having broken in and out of the glare of American days and nights. A casino queen in Missouri now, a stranger in a short black dress in Odessa tomorrow—another track, another rich slice of the life for our femme long-haul truck driver. Each one flowing with the whitehot bursts of NEW as it unfurls itself around her. The process of realizing is palpable, as we watch Jackie roll her wheels across the wrecked frontier. Removed from the urban play that made her first songs hum with onyx-black edges, Jackie is an agent of her own agency this time around, alone and together with herself, as big-sky perspective flashes through the windshield over and over: dreamlike passing flares, white-line beats, twilight falling silk on the horizon.
Jackie’s trip is an analog evoking, among other things, the spiraling times of a traveling musician. The conversation with yourself just keeps coming back around. Every night with a peak and a valley. Practical things that are fun are also fault lines with existential depths opening up underneath. Is going forward getting somewhere, or is the road just crumbling behind you? Jacqueline blooms expansively from the synthetic rhythms of her debut, blowing up their bone structure with bigger stakes in sight. Jackie Lynn, comprised of Cooper Crain, Rob Frye and Dan Quinlivan of Bitchin Bajas and Haley Fohr of Circuit des Yeux, approached the material as a group, drawing together the journey over time, inspired collectively to find the right notes, sounds and settings to open the landscape for Jackie—and alter it inexorably
Waves of Anzac / The Journey is Mick Harvey's first soundtrack release in over 10 years. The album features two recent soundtracks to powerful subject matters recorded by Mick Harvey. The first, Waves of Anzac looks at Sam Neill’s personal family history interwoven with the history of the First World War and the Anzacs through to the modern era while the second, The Journey, is a four-part composition released in support of #KidsOffNauru, a campaign working for the child refugees and people seeking asylum who find themselves in offshore detention.
Waves of Anzac is a 10-track score, created for the ABC documentary on forgotten war stories and lives lost, a personal history by the actor Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, The Piano) set against a contemporary increasingly divided political backdrop. ‘Why Anzac? with Sam Neill’ (Dir. KrivStenders, 2015) is named for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) who served together in the Gallipoli Campaign, their first engagement in World War I and continued as a military unit until after WW2. The film is a look at this pivotal point in our shared history, and the impact it still has on a personal and on a geopolitical level. Harvey recently examined this period via the prism of a fictional soldier/poet for his collaboration with Christopher Richard Barker, The Fall and Rise of Edgar Bourchier and the Horrors of War.
The Journey is a four-part composition, recorded with The Letter String Quartet, in support of people seeking asylum who have found themselves in Australia’s offshore detention program. The piece was composed as a study of the hardships endured by the detainees on Nauru, Manus Island and Christmas Island before and during their internment and as an expression of hope for a humane outcome to their plight.
Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.
Waves of Anzac is a 10-track score, created for the ABC documentary on forgotten war stories and lives lost, a personal history by the actor Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, The Piano) set against a contemporary increasingly divided political backdrop. ‘Why Anzac? with Sam Neill’ (Dir. KrivStenders, 2015) is named for the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzac) who served together in the Gallipoli Campaign, their first engagement in World War I and continued as a military unit until after WW2. The film is a look at this pivotal point in our shared history, and the impact it still has on a personal and on a geopolitical level. Harvey recently examined this period via the prism of a fictional soldier/poet for his collaboration with Christopher Richard Barker, The Fall and Rise of Edgar Bourchier and the Horrors of War.
The Journey is a four-part composition, recorded with The Letter String Quartet, in support of people seeking asylum who have found themselves in Australia’s offshore detention program. The piece was composed as a study of the hardships endured by the detainees on Nauru, Manus Island and Christmas Island before and during their internment and as an expression of hope for a humane outcome to their plight.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Clear vinyl.Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.
Bon Iver’s Blood Bank EP was originally released in early 2009, hot on the heels of the beloved album ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’. The EP was a harbinger of a new sound for Bon Iver: a movement away from the acoustic guitar-led instrumentation of the debut and the beginning of an exploration into the experimental sounds that have evolved but defined Bon Iver ever since. The reissue of this seminal EP is coupled with brand new live renditions of all the EP tracks.
A reflection on the Blood Bank EP by Ryan Matteson: "When I reflect on the songs that make up the Blood Bank EP, I am drawn to mantras, both musical and lyrical. The driving and pulsating rhythm of the title track is held steady by the repeated refrain, I know it well, before it eventually yields to a beautiful array of guitar distortion and noise. These moments are significant through all four songs. When the steel guitar makes its entrance on “Beach Baby,” it’s transportive. A blissful, breezy feeling sweeps into the room and that puts you within the moment. Close your eyes and you can feel it. “Babys” follows perfectly. A piano guides your mind to the new beginnings that come with the changing of seasons. The awareness of time passes and makes way for another day. Then there’s “Woods.” A flawless finale. Foreign and new. Not just a new direction but a new beginning entirely. A place where boundaries don’t exist. It was a signal change of things to come, laying the groundwork for new collaborations. A decade later, the song says so much in just three lines. Most significant to me are the words, “I’m building a sill to slow down the time.” Time doesn’t slow down, it races."
A reflection on the Blood Bank EP by Ryan Matteson: "When I reflect on the songs that make up the Blood Bank EP, I am drawn to mantras, both musical and lyrical. The driving and pulsating rhythm of the title track is held steady by the repeated refrain, I know it well, before it eventually yields to a beautiful array of guitar distortion and noise. These moments are significant through all four songs. When the steel guitar makes its entrance on “Beach Baby,” it’s transportive. A blissful, breezy feeling sweeps into the room and that puts you within the moment. Close your eyes and you can feel it. “Babys” follows perfectly. A piano guides your mind to the new beginnings that come with the changing of seasons. The awareness of time passes and makes way for another day. Then there’s “Woods.” A flawless finale. Foreign and new. Not just a new direction but a new beginning entirely. A place where boundaries don’t exist. It was a signal change of things to come, laying the groundwork for new collaborations. A decade later, the song says so much in just three lines. Most significant to me are the words, “I’m building a sill to slow down the time.” Time doesn’t slow down, it races."
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Red Vinyl.
Dungen Live is a document of a band playing with and beyond time, passionately reviving a slowly storied history of sound. A captivating ride captured and collaged from two shows in their native Sweden and assembled into one piece of continuous music by producer Matthias Glava. Dungen Live covers all the peaks and valleys, the moments of intuition and inspiration, and the cosmic connectivity between a family of musicians that makes each Dungen show a spiritual shift.
The source material for Live was recorded, in late November 2015, at Stora Teatern in Gothenburg and Victoriateatern in Malmö. Joined by Swedish sax deity Jonas Kullhammar (who brought his skills to Allas Sak), these were undoubtedly some massive experiences. Live drops us into moments where Dungen’s right at the edge of the cliff, right at the point where they’re getting out of the time machine to bust into John Anthony’s studio right when Affinity is cutting their album for Vertigo, right at the point where you discover the break on a record that snaps into place over some hip hop track you’ve been listening to for years, and you play it over and over.
Entirely instrumental (including a footstompin’ cover of Doug Jerebine’s “Ain’t So Hard to Tell” – check with our buds over at Drag City for the full story on that one), Live showcases what Dungen does best: create a vibe where none existed, build a mood out of circumstance, attack the music with a fan’s soul and a master’s scorching virtuosity. It extends moments out of their catalogue that seemed like they were already explored and breathes new life into them, at times graceful, at others rambunctious, and sometimes a little of both. It stirs memories of when those first import copies of Ta det lungt hit the record store, how we listened in awe and watched the customers turn around, that first shock of awareness, that anxiety over trying to take home what appeared
The source material for Live was recorded, in late November 2015, at Stora Teatern in Gothenburg and Victoriateatern in Malmö. Joined by Swedish sax deity Jonas Kullhammar (who brought his skills to Allas Sak), these were undoubtedly some massive experiences. Live drops us into moments where Dungen’s right at the edge of the cliff, right at the point where they’re getting out of the time machine to bust into John Anthony’s studio right when Affinity is cutting their album for Vertigo, right at the point where you discover the break on a record that snaps into place over some hip hop track you’ve been listening to for years, and you play it over and over.
Entirely instrumental (including a footstompin’ cover of Doug Jerebine’s “Ain’t So Hard to Tell” – check with our buds over at Drag City for the full story on that one), Live showcases what Dungen does best: create a vibe where none existed, build a mood out of circumstance, attack the music with a fan’s soul and a master’s scorching virtuosity. It extends moments out of their catalogue that seemed like they were already explored and breathes new life into them, at times graceful, at others rambunctious, and sometimes a little of both. It stirs memories of when those first import copies of Ta det lungt hit the record store, how we listened in awe and watched the customers turn around, that first shock of awareness, that anxiety over trying to take home what appeared
Cable Ties are a fierce, tense rock’n’roll trio. They take the three-minute punk burner and stretch it past breaking point to deliver smouldering feminist anthems. Post-punk and garage rock hammered together by a relentless rhythmic pulse. Jenny McKechnie channels her struggles into songs that resonate deeply, giving voice to feelings often buried in modern life.
Shauna Boyle and Nick Brown are a rhythm section anchored in Stooges primitivism, relentlessly hammering out a bedrock for McKechnie’s guitar pyrotechnics and vocal wallop. Three friends summoning a rhythmic tide to deliver anthems that turn latent anxieties into a rallying cry. The band has been committed to an inclusive feminist and political outlook since its inception in 2015, exploring issues of gendered violence, colonialism, and sexual assault. The band members have been involved in benefit shows, organized DIY festivals, and volunteer with Girls Rock!, a not-for-profit organization that aims to empower female, trans, and gender non-binary youth in music.
Shauna Boyle and Nick Brown are a rhythm section anchored in Stooges primitivism, relentlessly hammering out a bedrock for McKechnie’s guitar pyrotechnics and vocal wallop. Three friends summoning a rhythmic tide to deliver anthems that turn latent anxieties into a rallying cry. The band has been committed to an inclusive feminist and political outlook since its inception in 2015, exploring issues of gendered violence, colonialism, and sexual assault. The band members have been involved in benefit shows, organized DIY festivals, and volunteer with Girls Rock!, a not-for-profit organization that aims to empower female, trans, and gender non-binary youth in music.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Indies-only Black and orange swirl vinyl
Within A Western Circular lies an exciting and varied crew of guest artists including MF DOOM, Samuel T. Herring (Future Islands), Sudan Archives, and Laura Groves, all contributing vocals to his rich, dexterous compositions. These collaborations are the by-product of several years of writing and producing. Recently, he’s appeared extensively on the debut albums by Sudan Archives (writing the lead single, 'Confessions', no less) and Nilüfer Yanya (contributing seven songs), alongside work with Celeste, and another writer and production credit on Jessie Ware’s Devotion.
An album that’s been in the works for the past half-decade, A Western Circular is a bold, reflective piece that directly relates to Archer’s personal experiences of life and death, centered on one particular week where they breathed with equal intensity. The record’s themes of greed, love and loyalty all relate back to that specific time. Inspired by author John Fante, A Western Circular is a spiritual voyage through life’s pushing and pulling: finding beauty in the rough, sadness in the bright. Ostensibly, it’s a poignant reflection on the duality of the human condition.
On the record, Archer has uncovered new depths and forged an invigorating singular sound - supple and multi-layered, honouring his acoustic heritage and influence, while building a sonic universe that commands contemporary references to everything from Frank Zappa to Yasuaki Shimuzu, Robert Wyatt to Arthur Russell.
Deluxe LP Info: Album on clear vinyl, comes with white label 12” of Last Sniff featuring MF Doom on black vinyl.
An album that’s been in the works for the past half-decade, A Western Circular is a bold, reflective piece that directly relates to Archer’s personal experiences of life and death, centered on one particular week where they breathed with equal intensity. The record’s themes of greed, love and loyalty all relate back to that specific time. Inspired by author John Fante, A Western Circular is a spiritual voyage through life’s pushing and pulling: finding beauty in the rough, sadness in the bright. Ostensibly, it’s a poignant reflection on the duality of the human condition.
On the record, Archer has uncovered new depths and forged an invigorating singular sound - supple and multi-layered, honouring his acoustic heritage and influence, while building a sonic universe that commands contemporary references to everything from Frank Zappa to Yasuaki Shimuzu, Robert Wyatt to Arthur Russell.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Indies exclusive clear vinyl.Deluxe LP Info: Album on clear vinyl, comes with white label 12” of Last Sniff featuring MF Doom on black vinyl.
Half a century ago, vast numbers of British working-class youths adopted a style that reflected both their attitude and tastes. Dubbed by the country’s media as ‘skinhead’, the look starkly contrasted with that of the country’s largely middle-class ‘hippy’ population, drawing heavily on the smart, practical and stylish fashions introduced to the UK by the Windrush generation. The Caribbean influence was even more evident in the music that provided the soundtrack to the skinhead scene: reggae.
To finally set the record straight about this greatly mis-understood sub-culture, celebrated writers, Paul 'Smiler' Anderson and Mark Baxter have penned a brand new book, ‘Scorcha! Skins, Suedes and style from the Streets - 1967 to 1973’. In addition, the pair have also compiled a companion 7” vinyl box set of the same title, comprising ten 45s, each featuring a pair of reggae classics favoured by first generation skinhead record buyers.
Pressed on high quality vinyl and presented in sturdy reproduction Trojan-branded sleeves, the singles are accompanied by an insert featuring a fascinating essay on the music and those on the scene by the book’s co-author, Paul Anderson.
To finally set the record straight about this greatly mis-understood sub-culture, celebrated writers, Paul 'Smiler' Anderson and Mark Baxter have penned a brand new book, ‘Scorcha! Skins, Suedes and style from the Streets - 1967 to 1973’. In addition, the pair have also compiled a companion 7” vinyl box set of the same title, comprising ten 45s, each featuring a pair of reggae classics favoured by first generation skinhead record buyers.
Pressed on high quality vinyl and presented in sturdy reproduction Trojan-branded sleeves, the singles are accompanied by an insert featuring a fascinating essay on the music and those on the scene by the book’s co-author, Paul Anderson.
Studio Electrophonique is the solo musical venture of James Leesley. Bright eyed, tousle-headed and with a look halfway between penitence and innocence, James conjures a sound akin to the dream where Bill Ryder-Jones fronts The Velvet Underground with echoes of Cherry Ghost drifting in there for good measure. Cinematic, melodic, warm - efficient in arrangement yet intricate in detail. On hearing the song "Jayne", Richard Hawley invited Studio Electrophonique to open for his band in London and Holmfirth in May 2019. Studio Electrophonique’s debut elp album “Buxton Palace Hotel” was released on 10” vinyl on Violette Records on 20 September 2019. Almost by word of mouth alone the record sold out within a fortnight capturing the admiration of audiences, journalists and musicians alike. Etienne Daho’s love of the record extended to a personal invite to James to perform as his special guest and open his show at the famous L’Olympia in Paris in January 2020. Studio Electrophonique will be playing live throughout 2020 including festival performances at Glastonbury, End of The Road and The Green Man.
Primo are a quartet from Melbourne writing up-tempo, terse, chorus and verse with two guitars, bass, drums and a shared group vocal sensibility to adorn their enquiries into deconstructed punk. Their songs chime and charm, sounding at times bountiful, at others brittle, always buoyant with attention to detail. Primo songs are inquisitive, chasing down questions for answers hurrying away, amidst minimalist shuffle beats and ringingout chords. The group’s debut album ‘Amici’ (2018) was a triumph of the underplayed, its small details pulling focus, allowing the album to treat us to unexpected truths in plain sight. Primo's newest member since ‘Amici’ was recorded is Amy Hill, who also plays in Terry and Constant Mongrel, on bass. Outside of Primo, Xanthe and Violetta both have lent their guitar skills to Terry and The Shifters respectively, whilst Suzanne works in film. 2020 sees Primo return with their second album of prudent delights entitled ‘Sogni’, from the Italian for ‘dreams’. Using the same musical lexicon and internal logic developed through their debut, ‘Sogni’ reflects on themes of decision-making, change, time, heartbreak, the practicalities of work and daily life.
The songs came together as a way of making sense of the times - offering a way through. Tracks were demo-ed quickly by early 2019, then developed collectively through the year in the rehearsal room, played live and finally recorded onto 8-track in late 2019 by Al Montfort in a number of home studios across Melbourne. Vocal duties were largely shared throughout the record, which has the same post punk sensibility and minimal approach as in previous recordings, but here imbued now with electronic flourishes and expanded instrumentation that sees Primo’s sound growing bolder. ‘Sogni’ will be released through Upset the Rhythm on March 20th.
The songs came together as a way of making sense of the times - offering a way through. Tracks were demo-ed quickly by early 2019, then developed collectively through the year in the rehearsal room, played live and finally recorded onto 8-track in late 2019 by Al Montfort in a number of home studios across Melbourne. Vocal duties were largely shared throughout the record, which has the same post punk sensibility and minimal approach as in previous recordings, but here imbued now with electronic flourishes and expanded instrumentation that sees Primo’s sound growing bolder. ‘Sogni’ will be released through Upset the Rhythm on March 20th.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Indies only opaque orange vinyl.
'Cerrone’s 17th album -DNA -opens with The Impact, a throbbing track of bendy entanglements all with an environmental stance. Halfway through, we’re treated to an excerpt of a speech from Jane Goodall, the world-famous primatologist and ethnologist: “Every single day we make some impact on the planet. We haven’t inherited this planet from our parents. We’ve borrowed it from our children. If we get together, then we can start to heal some of the scars that we’ve inflicted.” It’s hard not to draw comparisons with Supernature, in which Cerrone declared his first warning about man’s impact on the planet, 43 years ago.
This nine-track concept album is built on wandering contours and magnetic sparkle, from which bursts saturated oppressive synth pads (Obsession), a nod to PinkFloyd (DNA), and dramatic soundscapes (Close To The Sky, Experience) and clammy atmospheres that are delightedly languid. “What if I told you that the idea for Air Dreaming came to me after watching a video of a parachute jump featuring naked parachutists? When people ask me whether I’m still inspired by love and sex today, naturally my answer is yes.” Cerrone doesn’t deprive himself either of pushing Kraftwerk’s logic of unleashing robots on the dance floor (“I’ve got a rocket”, ”Let Me feel”), as his songs appeal to both the intellect and the body’s desire to move. “Let me dream, let me see, let me feel.”What better mantra for bringing this album full circle.
This nine-track concept album is built on wandering contours and magnetic sparkle, from which bursts saturated oppressive synth pads (Obsession), a nod to PinkFloyd (DNA), and dramatic soundscapes (Close To The Sky, Experience) and clammy atmospheres that are delightedly languid. “What if I told you that the idea for Air Dreaming came to me after watching a video of a parachute jump featuring naked parachutists? When people ask me whether I’m still inspired by love and sex today, naturally my answer is yes.” Cerrone doesn’t deprive himself either of pushing Kraftwerk’s logic of unleashing robots on the dance floor (“I’ve got a rocket”, ”Let Me feel”), as his songs appeal to both the intellect and the body’s desire to move. “Let me dream, let me see, let me feel.”What better mantra for bringing this album full circle.
'Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and collaborator; the mighty Ásgeir returns with highly anticipated third album ‘Bury The Moon’. The Icelandic artist returns to his folk roots for lead single ‘Youth’ written in collaboration with his admired poet father, the song documents his childhood growing up in his small Icelandic town, unburdened by worry and full of unbridled joy. The stunning new track swells with horns and hushed acoustic guitars, Ásgeir’s unmistakable honey-soaked vocal soaring across weaving instrumental melodies, culminating in a anthemic peak that exudes nostalgia. ‘Bury The Moon’ will be available via One Little Indian 7th February 2020.
Also releasing 'Sátt', the Icelandic language version, on the same day.
Also releasing 'Sátt', the Icelandic language version, on the same day.
'Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and collaborator; the mighty Ásgeir returns with highly anticipated third album ‘Bury The Moon’. The Icelandic artist returns to his folk roots for lead single ‘Youth’ written in collaboration with his admired poet father, the song documents his childhood growing up in his small Icelandic town, unburdened by worry and full of unbridled joy. The stunning new track swells with horns and hushed acoustic guitars, Ásgeir’s unmistakable honey-soaked vocal soaring across weaving instrumental melodies, culminating in a anthemic peak that exudes nostalgia. ‘Bury The Moon’ will be available via One Little Indian 7th February 2020.
Also releasing 'Sátt', the Icelandic language version, on the same day.
Also releasing 'Sátt', the Icelandic language version, on the same day.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Indies Exclusive LP Info: Indies exclusive silver LP
'Legendary genre-bending, multiple Grammy and Emmy-winning artist and producer Robert Glasper releases his newest project, Fuck Yo Feelings. It is the result of a 2-day session in which Glasper invited musician friends to stop by the studio and organically create together, the final result being this mixtape which sonically documents the lost art of improv and on the spot collaborations that can only come from authentic relationships and true artistry.
The hypnotic, delicate strum of the kora, the harp-like instrument strung on a halved gourd, has been a trademark of West African music for centuries.
‘Gambian Griot Kora Duets’ (1979), featuring the master player Alhaji Bai Konte and his equally influential son Dembo Konte and Ma Lamini Jobate, is a remarkable recording that documents an evolution in the kora’s use in the traditional music of the Gambia. The album, made in Dembo and Alhjai Bai Konte’s living space, shows the musicians incorporating complex, polyrhythmic arrangements, inspired by kora recordings from Mali introduced to them by producer Marc Pevar. Though these musicians are intrinsically linked to the Jali tradition of griot families in West Africa, in which kora players are the historians and record keepers of local cultures, these recordings, with their stylistic innovations, marked a new beginning for international interest in the kora. Dembo Konte went on to tour internationally, performing on John Peel’s legendary BBC program in 1989 and collaborating with the influential group Mustaphas 3. This reissue is part of Smithsonian Folkways Vinyl Reissue Series, bringing to light hidden gems from the extensive collection and revisiting some of the most iconic and influential albums released by the label. This album is being released alongside other international classics ‘Tuareg Music of the Southern Sahara’ and ‘Calypso Travels’ by Lord Invader.
Short, targeted PR campaign with LP promo mailings to key industry/press influencers. These releases rebrand the series as a mode of discovery for adventurous listeners, a guide through the legendary Folkways catalog and other labels in our collection to highlight culturally relevant, but perhaps little known, recordings.
‘Gambian Griot Kora Duets’ (1979), featuring the master player Alhaji Bai Konte and his equally influential son Dembo Konte and Ma Lamini Jobate, is a remarkable recording that documents an evolution in the kora’s use in the traditional music of the Gambia. The album, made in Dembo and Alhjai Bai Konte’s living space, shows the musicians incorporating complex, polyrhythmic arrangements, inspired by kora recordings from Mali introduced to them by producer Marc Pevar. Though these musicians are intrinsically linked to the Jali tradition of griot families in West Africa, in which kora players are the historians and record keepers of local cultures, these recordings, with their stylistic innovations, marked a new beginning for international interest in the kora. Dembo Konte went on to tour internationally, performing on John Peel’s legendary BBC program in 1989 and collaborating with the influential group Mustaphas 3. This reissue is part of Smithsonian Folkways Vinyl Reissue Series, bringing to light hidden gems from the extensive collection and revisiting some of the most iconic and influential albums released by the label. This album is being released alongside other international classics ‘Tuareg Music of the Southern Sahara’ and ‘Calypso Travels’ by Lord Invader.
Short, targeted PR campaign with LP promo mailings to key industry/press influencers. These releases rebrand the series as a mode of discovery for adventurous listeners, a guide through the legendary Folkways catalog and other labels in our collection to highlight culturally relevant, but perhaps little known, recordings.
In the 21st century, the music of the Tuareg people, a diverse group spread across the Sahara encompassing Mali, Niger, and beyond, has reached an unprecedented international audience.
Groups including Bombino, Mdou Moctar, Tinariwen, and Les Filles de Illighadad have incorporated the mesmerizing, repetitious qualities of the region’s folk music into rollicking, full-band rock and roll, bringing countless new ears to these styles developed in the African desert. ‘Tuareg Music of the Southern Sahara,’ originally released on Folkways in 1960, traces the origins of these sounds and styles, focusing on the ecstatic vocalizations and singing accompanied by sparse instrumentation.
These raw, extemporaneous recordings offer a glimpse at the musical traditions dating back hundreds of years from many tribes and localities from throughout the Sahel. This reissue is part of Smithsonian Folkways Vinyl Reissue Series, bringing to light hidden gems from the extensive collection and revisiting some of the most iconic and influential albums released by the label. This album is being released alongside other international classics ‘Gambian Griot Kora Duets’ by Alhjai Bai Konte, Dembo Konte, and Ma Lamini Jabote and ‘Calypso Travels’ by Lord Invader.
Short, targeted PR campaign with LP promo mailings to key industry/press influencers. These releases rebrand the series as a mode of discovery for adventurous listeners, a guide through the legendary Folkways catalog and other labels in our collection to highlight culturally relevant, but perhaps little known, recordings.
Groups including Bombino, Mdou Moctar, Tinariwen, and Les Filles de Illighadad have incorporated the mesmerizing, repetitious qualities of the region’s folk music into rollicking, full-band rock and roll, bringing countless new ears to these styles developed in the African desert. ‘Tuareg Music of the Southern Sahara,’ originally released on Folkways in 1960, traces the origins of these sounds and styles, focusing on the ecstatic vocalizations and singing accompanied by sparse instrumentation.
These raw, extemporaneous recordings offer a glimpse at the musical traditions dating back hundreds of years from many tribes and localities from throughout the Sahel. This reissue is part of Smithsonian Folkways Vinyl Reissue Series, bringing to light hidden gems from the extensive collection and revisiting some of the most iconic and influential albums released by the label. This album is being released alongside other international classics ‘Gambian Griot Kora Duets’ by Alhjai Bai Konte, Dembo Konte, and Ma Lamini Jabote and ‘Calypso Travels’ by Lord Invader.
Short, targeted PR campaign with LP promo mailings to key industry/press influencers. These releases rebrand the series as a mode of discovery for adventurous listeners, a guide through the legendary Folkways catalog and other labels in our collection to highlight culturally relevant, but perhaps little known, recordings.
Lord Invader was one of the most iconic and well-regarded calypso musicians of the mid-20th century. Coming from humble beginnings in the musical hotbed of Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, Invader gained notoriety for his unique voice and lyrical prowess. ‘Calypso Travels,’ his final album released just before his death, was produced in New York in 1960 by Folkways founder Moses Asch.
The album showcases Lord Invader’s talent for biting lyrics that reference contemporary happenings, such as the rise of Fidel Castro, his experience at the 1956 World Fair in Belgium, the arrival of the Little Rock Nine in 1957 desegregating the public schools in the United States, and his touring experiences in Europe in the 1950s. An icon of Caribbean music, and one of the major forces exporting it to the world, Lord Invader epitomizes the spirit of calypso - boisterous, acerbic, and joyful. This reissue is part of Smithsonian Folkways Vinyl Reissue Series, bringing to light hidden gems from the extensive collection and revisiting some of the most iconic and influential albums released by the label. This album is being released alongside other international classics ‘Gambian Griot Kora Duets’ by Alhjai Bai Konte, Dembo Konte, and Ma Lamini Jabote and ‘Tuareg Music of the Southern Sahara’.
Short, targeted PR campaign with LP promo mailings to key industry/press influencers. These releases rebrand the series as a mode of discovery for adventurous listeners, a guide through the legendary Folkways catalog and other labels in our collection to highlight culturally relevant, but perhaps little known, recordings.
The album showcases Lord Invader’s talent for biting lyrics that reference contemporary happenings, such as the rise of Fidel Castro, his experience at the 1956 World Fair in Belgium, the arrival of the Little Rock Nine in 1957 desegregating the public schools in the United States, and his touring experiences in Europe in the 1950s. An icon of Caribbean music, and one of the major forces exporting it to the world, Lord Invader epitomizes the spirit of calypso - boisterous, acerbic, and joyful. This reissue is part of Smithsonian Folkways Vinyl Reissue Series, bringing to light hidden gems from the extensive collection and revisiting some of the most iconic and influential albums released by the label. This album is being released alongside other international classics ‘Gambian Griot Kora Duets’ by Alhjai Bai Konte, Dembo Konte, and Ma Lamini Jabote and ‘Tuareg Music of the Southern Sahara’.
Short, targeted PR campaign with LP promo mailings to key industry/press influencers. These releases rebrand the series as a mode of discovery for adventurous listeners, a guide through the legendary Folkways catalog and other labels in our collection to highlight culturally relevant, but perhaps little known, recordings.
Various Artists
Back From The Canigo - Garage Punks Vs Freakbeat Mods: Perpignan 1989-1999
Staubgold
The Liminanas have been international stars since 2010. A few years earlier, the Hushpuppies were in the spotlight. Two groups from North Catalunya who have written some of the most beautiful pages of French rock thanks to their garage and neo-sixties style. Two groups born from the flourishing sixties style punk and mod scene of the 1990s in Perpignan. Back from the Canigo explores that decade, which saw the emergence of more than twenty groups from different scenes that were to fuse together in the end. Through more than thirty tracks, many of which are released here for the first time, this album brings to light the pioneering work of Les Gardiens du Canigou and of The Ugly Things, as well as eleven other groups who make worthy heirs to the former. From savage garage revival to sixties punk, from mid-sixties freakbeat to more psychedelic sounds.
Humanist, the expansive and ambitious project orchestrated by guitarist and producer Rob Marshall, features new single “Shock Collar”, with iconic Depeche Mode singer Dave Gahan.
The self-titled debut album is masterfully conducted by Rob Marshall (guitarist of Exit Calm and co-writer of Mark Lanegan’s celebrated “Gargoyle” and “Somebody’s Knocking” albums) who wrote, played and produced all the music here.
Humanist is a swirling Niagara of fuzzed-out industrial melody and noise, that has attracted an all-star cast of collaborators including Mark Lanegan (Queens Of The Stone Age), Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode), Mark Gardener (Ride), Carl Hancock Rux (David Holmes, Portishead), John Robb (The Membranes), Joel Cadbury (UNKLE), Ilse Maria, Ron Sexsmith and Jim Jones (The Jim Jones Revue, Thee Hypnotics).
New single “Shock Collar” featuring Dave Gahan offers a stirring insight into the world that Humanist soundtracks, and its accompanying video is a dizzying, emotive and luminous visual gateway into the song. Filmed in New York, directed by Derrick Belcham (Brian Eno) and designed by Tracey Maurice (Arcade Fire), the video the explores the psychology of a heartbroken and regretful figure and the dual symbol of the halo / shock collar as a guide.
Gahan comments; “It was a pleasure to be asked to be a part of Rob’s 'Humanist' project. Mark Lanegan asked me, and I liked the idea immediately… It’s a beast! I went for the vocal, with the visual of driving fast on an empty highway… We shot the video over a couple of days in New York, and it all came together”.
The self-titled debut album is masterfully conducted by Rob Marshall (guitarist of Exit Calm and co-writer of Mark Lanegan’s celebrated “Gargoyle” and “Somebody’s Knocking” albums) who wrote, played and produced all the music here.
Humanist is a swirling Niagara of fuzzed-out industrial melody and noise, that has attracted an all-star cast of collaborators including Mark Lanegan (Queens Of The Stone Age), Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode), Mark Gardener (Ride), Carl Hancock Rux (David Holmes, Portishead), John Robb (The Membranes), Joel Cadbury (UNKLE), Ilse Maria, Ron Sexsmith and Jim Jones (The Jim Jones Revue, Thee Hypnotics).
New single “Shock Collar” featuring Dave Gahan offers a stirring insight into the world that Humanist soundtracks, and its accompanying video is a dizzying, emotive and luminous visual gateway into the song. Filmed in New York, directed by Derrick Belcham (Brian Eno) and designed by Tracey Maurice (Arcade Fire), the video the explores the psychology of a heartbroken and regretful figure and the dual symbol of the halo / shock collar as a guide.
Gahan comments; “It was a pleasure to be asked to be a part of Rob’s 'Humanist' project. Mark Lanegan asked me, and I liked the idea immediately… It’s a beast! I went for the vocal, with the visual of driving fast on an empty highway… We shot the video over a couple of days in New York, and it all came together”.
FORMAT INFORMATION
2xLP Info: Heavyweight black vinyl.
Formerly a musician, cinematographer and lighting designer with The Residents and a student of “Blue” Gene Tyranny, Philip Perkins issued this astounding release on his own Fun Music label in 1983.
Perkins often worked in topographical realms, crafting environment-enriching soundscapes, albeit on a micro level.
Taking cues from minimalism, environmental field recordings and home-baked ceremonial mantras, King Of The World is a meditation on the lives of three ancient kings who believed themselves to be the ruler of all mankind.
The post-Hassell currents of Fourth World music unavoidably come to mind. King Of The World sits comfortably amongst the backwards-referencing style of more recent producers - but Perkins was a contemporary of the famed trumpeter and he alchemises a DIY spirit and sound art aesthetic into his own unique province of Magic Realism. Off-centre loops of African hand percussion are overlaid with a palette of water trickles, bird calls and mutant Casio synthesizer forming deceptively simple rhythmic and textural collages, always at a level just above subliminal.
Remastered in Brooklyn by Josh Bonati and with new sleeve artwork by the internationally acclaimed book designer Luke Bird.
Perkins often worked in topographical realms, crafting environment-enriching soundscapes, albeit on a micro level.
Taking cues from minimalism, environmental field recordings and home-baked ceremonial mantras, King Of The World is a meditation on the lives of three ancient kings who believed themselves to be the ruler of all mankind.
The post-Hassell currents of Fourth World music unavoidably come to mind. King Of The World sits comfortably amongst the backwards-referencing style of more recent producers - but Perkins was a contemporary of the famed trumpeter and he alchemises a DIY spirit and sound art aesthetic into his own unique province of Magic Realism. Off-centre loops of African hand percussion are overlaid with a palette of water trickles, bird calls and mutant Casio synthesizer forming deceptively simple rhythmic and textural collages, always at a level just above subliminal.
Remastered in Brooklyn by Josh Bonati and with new sleeve artwork by the internationally acclaimed book designer Luke Bird.
Sports Team today share their anthemic new single ‘The Races’. Recorded at Livingston Studios in London and produced by longtime collaborator Burke Reid (Courtney Barnett, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever), ‘The Races’ is built on a driving bassline, with their trademark swagger in full focus. Lyrically it continues to play with middle english characters recognisable from the band’s back catalogue, this time delving into dodgy politics and misguided patriotism.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd 7" Info: Indies only Limited Edition 7"
Despite its often warm and near-funky feel, "Interface" has been cited as an influence on key industrial and noise musicians including Wolf Eyes and Merzbow. "A lot of people told me that 'Interface' and bands like Throbbing Gristle started the initial so-called industrial music but I was not aware of this at the time. But if you tell me it's pre-industrial music I'm okay with that, of course", Pinhas says in the liner notes of our release. Spoiler alert. A brilliant moment occurs right at the end of 1977's Interface. The album's final song, its side-long title track, builds up slowly into a roaring tornado of fiercely mutating drum patterns, effervescent synth work, and guitar licks that wail into the atmosphere like an abandoned astronaut. Then, after nearly nineteen minutes of highly futuristic avant-garde space rock, this ultramodern music fades out and is replaced by a concluding few seconds of traditional blues-rock guitar. "We were finishing the track, the tape was rolling, and I started to play a normal boogie or whatever," remembers Heldon leader Richard Pinhas. "I think it was a good idea to keep it. It just came naturally, at the end."
This event acts as a reminder of just how far rock 'n' roll had been transformed since its earliest incarnations. This blueprint had been jolted and nudged down all kinds of unexpected avenues after players like Chuck Berry and Bill Haley first found fame. The genre had branched out into every manner of mutated form. It had given rise to misshapen clones and had shifted into unrecognisable shapes, like a beautiful alien creature from one of the science fiction tales that were fondly admired by so many experimental rock musicians, Pinhas included.
Heldon, surely, represented one of rock 'n' roll's most distant relatives; an innovative fusion of avant-garde rock sounds and synthesizer pulsations. At the same time, Interface's unexpected ending also tells us that such music, however improvisatory or fused with electronic elements, will forever have its roots in those early rock 'n' roll records that are responsible for so many varieties of aural exploration. Heldon's third LP, remember, despite combining heady synth throbs with expressive blasts of spacey guitar in a distinctly radical fashion, had been given the title It's Always Rock 'N' Roll. Three years and an equal number of albums later, Heldon was continuing to evolve rapidly. Thanks to the increased presence of drummer François Auger and synth/Moog man Patrick Gauthier, Pinhas' project had solidified into a harder and heavier unit. So much so that, as one reviewer on a popular online marketplace's website has put it, Interface might as well be called "In yer face".
Around the time of the album's release, the musician and composer Jean-Philippe Goude told Pinhas that because of its merging of synthesizer sounds with "real" instrumentation, "Interface will be recognized, in fifty years' time, as a great moment in music's development." Back then, Pinhas didn't believe his friend but he now has to admit the album has had real resonance. For instance, despite its often warm and near-funky feel, Interface has been cited as an influence on key industrial and noise musicians including Wolf Eyes and Merzbow. "A lot of people told me that Interface and bands like Throbbing Gristle started the initial so-called industrial music but I was not aware of this at the time. I was very alone in my world, with my friends. But we have never been classified, you know? If you tell me it's pre-industrial music I'm okay with that, of course. You can do this without risking a bullet in your head," Pinhas laughs.
Pinhas is now approaching his 70s. His music has not aged in the same way. "It still sounds modern," he says proudly. "It could have been recorded yesterday. Nothing gets old with this." That's rock 'n' roll for you.
This event acts as a reminder of just how far rock 'n' roll had been transformed since its earliest incarnations. This blueprint had been jolted and nudged down all kinds of unexpected avenues after players like Chuck Berry and Bill Haley first found fame. The genre had branched out into every manner of mutated form. It had given rise to misshapen clones and had shifted into unrecognisable shapes, like a beautiful alien creature from one of the science fiction tales that were fondly admired by so many experimental rock musicians, Pinhas included.
Heldon, surely, represented one of rock 'n' roll's most distant relatives; an innovative fusion of avant-garde rock sounds and synthesizer pulsations. At the same time, Interface's unexpected ending also tells us that such music, however improvisatory or fused with electronic elements, will forever have its roots in those early rock 'n' roll records that are responsible for so many varieties of aural exploration. Heldon's third LP, remember, despite combining heady synth throbs with expressive blasts of spacey guitar in a distinctly radical fashion, had been given the title It's Always Rock 'N' Roll. Three years and an equal number of albums later, Heldon was continuing to evolve rapidly. Thanks to the increased presence of drummer François Auger and synth/Moog man Patrick Gauthier, Pinhas' project had solidified into a harder and heavier unit. So much so that, as one reviewer on a popular online marketplace's website has put it, Interface might as well be called "In yer face".
Around the time of the album's release, the musician and composer Jean-Philippe Goude told Pinhas that because of its merging of synthesizer sounds with "real" instrumentation, "Interface will be recognized, in fifty years' time, as a great moment in music's development." Back then, Pinhas didn't believe his friend but he now has to admit the album has had real resonance. For instance, despite its often warm and near-funky feel, Interface has been cited as an influence on key industrial and noise musicians including Wolf Eyes and Merzbow. "A lot of people told me that Interface and bands like Throbbing Gristle started the initial so-called industrial music but I was not aware of this at the time. I was very alone in my world, with my friends. But we have never been classified, you know? If you tell me it's pre-industrial music I'm okay with that, of course. You can do this without risking a bullet in your head," Pinhas laughs.
Pinhas is now approaching his 70s. His music has not aged in the same way. "It still sounds modern," he says proudly. "It could have been recorded yesterday. Nothing gets old with this." That's rock 'n' roll for you.
The 1920s “classic era” of recorded blues was dominated by women who lived and performed in the cities. This Rough Guide explores its glitzy heyday when singers such as Bessie Smith and Ma Rainey became the first real stars of the blues.
This is an album which revives the memory of the largely forgotten 1920s blues queens and explores the hugely significant and often overlooked role that women have played in the story of the blues. Highlights the first wave of blues singers who inspired the likes of Billie Holiday, Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone and Janis Joplin. The tracks were lovingly remastered using pioneering restoration techniques.
An album which revives the memory of the largely forgotten 1920s blues queens. Includes many lesser-known gems by artists shrouded in mystery The original blues divas were responsible for recording the first ever blues songs. Pioneering artists who developed the blues tradition and took it to the popular stages. Following on from the success of other blues titles in the Rough Guide range. Bringing to the fore hidden gems that deserve to be heard. Lovingly remastered using pioneering restoration techniques
This is an album which revives the memory of the largely forgotten 1920s blues queens and explores the hugely significant and often overlooked role that women have played in the story of the blues. Highlights the first wave of blues singers who inspired the likes of Billie Holiday, Mahalia Jackson, Nina Simone and Janis Joplin. The tracks were lovingly remastered using pioneering restoration techniques.
An album which revives the memory of the largely forgotten 1920s blues queens. Includes many lesser-known gems by artists shrouded in mystery The original blues divas were responsible for recording the first ever blues songs. Pioneering artists who developed the blues tradition and took it to the popular stages. Following on from the success of other blues titles in the Rough Guide range. Bringing to the fore hidden gems that deserve to be heard. Lovingly remastered using pioneering restoration techniques
A collection devoted to rare and lost recordings from '20 to '60's.Is it really possible to imagine what modern music would sound like if a few pioneering geniuses had not had the idea of electrifying their instruments, especially guitar and harmonica, between 1945 and 1950? Some purist will regret this evolution, but, in the '50s, the new sound will be heard in all the studios and night clubs of the United States; it will become a staple on the radio, in stores, at weddings, and private parties. It will radically transform the music scene and allow hundreds of artists to express themselves, create, hope, and innovate.
This collection pays tribute to about thirty artists, some of which later became known, like Albert Collins, Jack Dupree, Homesick James, Sam Myers, Dr. Ross, and Joe Hill Louis. However, the real treat is having an opportunity to hear fabulous unknowns who all, one day, had the chance to be recorded, either in a studio, on the street, or on a back porch, before going back to anonymity shortly after. Almost all of the artists presented here hailed from the south of the USA. Some of them stayed there their whole life, other emigrated toward the north, moving up the Mississippi, or toward the west to settle in California. The music included here is part of the foundations of all the modern music that would take the world by storm up to our time.
This collection pays tribute to about thirty artists, some of which later became known, like Albert Collins, Jack Dupree, Homesick James, Sam Myers, Dr. Ross, and Joe Hill Louis. However, the real treat is having an opportunity to hear fabulous unknowns who all, one day, had the chance to be recorded, either in a studio, on the street, or on a back porch, before going back to anonymity shortly after. Almost all of the artists presented here hailed from the south of the USA. Some of them stayed there their whole life, other emigrated toward the north, moving up the Mississippi, or toward the west to settle in California. The music included here is part of the foundations of all the modern music that would take the world by storm up to our time.
Rejoicer is a Tel Aviv-based musician making cosmic jazz-tinged electronica. He has collaborated with Mndsgn, Georgia Anne Muldrow and Dudley Perkins, as well as being a member of the band Buttering Trio and running the Raw Tapes label. Several tracks on ‘Spiritual Sleaze’ include vocals, with featured guests including iogi, KerenDun, Nitai Hershkovits, Jenny Penkin and Sam Wilkes. Rejoicer cites Sun Ra, Aphex Twin, Steve Reich, Dabrye, Eric Satie, Wu Tang Clan and Scientist among his musical inspirations.
For fans of Kiefer, Mndsgn, Teebs, Flying Lotus, BADBADNOTGOOD, Thundercat, Shigeto.
For fans of Kiefer, Mndsgn, Teebs, Flying Lotus, BADBADNOTGOOD, Thundercat, Shigeto.
Kollington Ayinla’s celebrated 1978 album ‘Blessing’ is a rare lost classic of Nigerian Fuji music and features Ayinla’s sharp political lyrics together with his new band Fuji ’78. ‘Blessing’ blends the heavily percussive style of Fuji music with a stunning array of modern instruments, including synthesizers, Bata drums and guitars, to create one of the most forward-thinking and heavily danceable sounds ever to come out of Nigeria - a highly successful mixture of profound Fuji rhythms and Fela Kuti-style Afrobeat.
Kollington Ayinla ranks alongside his friend and competitor Ayinde Barrister as the two most important artists to dominate Fuji music from its inception in the 1970s through to the 1990s by which time it had grown to become one of the most popular dance genres in Nigeria. At the start of the 1980s Ayinla started his own record company, Kollington Records, to release his music and remains to this day an extremely prolific artist, having recorded over 50 albums, most of which have never been released outside of Nigeria.
Kollington Ayinla ranks alongside his friend and competitor Ayinde Barrister as the two most important artists to dominate Fuji music from its inception in the 1970s through to the 1990s by which time it had grown to become one of the most popular dance genres in Nigeria. At the start of the 1980s Ayinla started his own record company, Kollington Records, to release his music and remains to this day an extremely prolific artist, having recorded over 50 albums, most of which have never been released outside of Nigeria.
A need for experimentation, exploring new sounds and new ways of making music - the inspiration driving Mute’s newest signing HAAi, the Australian-born London-based DJ who continues an incredible couple of years by announcing her first EP on the prestigious label. Inspired by a chance trip to Berghain, HAAi started DJing by digging into a wealth of music on the psychedelic spectrum from around the globe. Her Coconut Beats parties in Dalston led to shows on Rinse FM and Worldwide FM and eventually to a prestigious residency at the London club Phonox where Throssell played Saturday nights for two years. As her residency came to end, BBC Radio 1 broadcast her Essential Mix which went on to win the accolade of the Best Essential Mix Of The Year, alumni of which include Helena Hauff, Caribou, Nicolas Jaar and Ben Klock. HAAi was then granted a monthly Radio 1 slot, which continues into 2020.
The new release, ‘Systems Up, Windows Down’, feels like an evolution from the previous releases on her own label. With a more mature, dancefloor focused sound, full of heavy basslines, breaks and crisp percussive electronics, she has experimented more and pushed the boundaries of her production. The opening track includes the revving of her stepdad’s 60s Mustang engine on ‘It's Something We Can All Learn From’ she uses an almost forgotten artefact from a trip to Marrakech and ‘CHONKIBOI’ is grounded in an earwormy ritualistic vocal. ‘6666’ was initially composed for the Genesis stage at Glastonbury and has since grown to be a monster of a tune, adding a tougher element to the EP. The closing track is a ten-minute burner which has been garnering love over the summer festivals.
The new release, ‘Systems Up, Windows Down’, feels like an evolution from the previous releases on her own label. With a more mature, dancefloor focused sound, full of heavy basslines, breaks and crisp percussive electronics, she has experimented more and pushed the boundaries of her production. The opening track includes the revving of her stepdad’s 60s Mustang engine on ‘It's Something We Can All Learn From’ she uses an almost forgotten artefact from a trip to Marrakech and ‘CHONKIBOI’ is grounded in an earwormy ritualistic vocal. ‘6666’ was initially composed for the Genesis stage at Glastonbury and has since grown to be a monster of a tune, adding a tougher element to the EP. The closing track is a ten-minute burner which has been garnering love over the summer festivals.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd 12" Info: Neon orange vinyl.
Today's Active Lifestyles, the second full-length by North Carolina rockers Polvo, did exactly what a sophomore LP is supposed to do: It expanded the ideas put forth in the first album, gave them a new spin and shine, and presented the "where we are now" to the world. Produced and recorded over four heady days in December 1992 by former Bostonian and ex-Volcano Suns bassist Bob Weston (around the time he started in Shellac), Today's Active Lifestyles hit record store shelves in April 1993.
From the whizzing crunch of "Thermal Treasure" to the loping, connective "My Kimono" to the 7-minute-plus blowouts "Stinger (Five Wigs)" and album closer "Gemini Cusp," the album asserted its place as a most worthy successor to Cor-Crane Secret. The foreboding title of a particularly screechy, fuzzy jam, "Time Isn't on My Side," proved to be nonsense; Today's Active Lifestyles has aged beautifully. “The band experiments with several ideas throughout the album, and each concept is successful. The album ranges from cascading guitar solos in “Stinger (Five Wigs)” to the straightforward “Tilebreaker” to the catchy, rolling, keyboard-punctuated “Time Isn’t On My Side.” Overall an excellent album with many layers.”
Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.
From the whizzing crunch of "Thermal Treasure" to the loping, connective "My Kimono" to the 7-minute-plus blowouts "Stinger (Five Wigs)" and album closer "Gemini Cusp," the album asserted its place as a most worthy successor to Cor-Crane Secret. The foreboding title of a particularly screechy, fuzzy jam, "Time Isn't on My Side," proved to be nonsense; Today's Active Lifestyles has aged beautifully. “The band experiments with several ideas throughout the album, and each concept is successful. The album ranges from cascading guitar solos in “Stinger (Five Wigs)” to the straightforward “Tilebreaker” to the catchy, rolling, keyboard-punctuated “Time Isn’t On My Side.” Overall an excellent album with many layers.”
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Red & Yellow VinylColoured LP includes MP3 Download Code.
In January 1992, fresh off the glory that was the band's 1991 double-7" debut, Polvo headed into Duck Kee Studios in Raleigh, NC - aka the place where a lot of early Merge stuff was recorded - to track what became their debut full-length. CorCrane Secret was released in July of that year, the same month as Sonic Youth's Dirty and Danzig's Danzig III: How the Gods Kill. (Sadly, a triple bill never happened.)
Opening with a new take on "Vibracobra," a bit of alternately languid and shuddering guitar churn that had appeared on a single the year before (a perfect way to bridge the Polvo of "then" and "now"), Cor-Crane Secret, with songs such as the herky-jerky "Kalgon" and the youthful-yet-complex "In the Hand, In the Sieve," established the first iteration of that Polvo sound: intricate guitar melodies, Mr. Bowie's plain-spoken vocals politely deep beneath the guitar waves, and cool ideas of how guitars could go together all over the place. In an era where guitar bands seemed to be blooming like wildflowers in a particularly fertile cow pasture, Cor-Crane Secret was a complicated bloom indeed. But Polvo was just getting started.
Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.
Opening with a new take on "Vibracobra," a bit of alternately languid and shuddering guitar churn that had appeared on a single the year before (a perfect way to bridge the Polvo of "then" and "now"), Cor-Crane Secret, with songs such as the herky-jerky "Kalgon" and the youthful-yet-complex "In the Hand, In the Sieve," established the first iteration of that Polvo sound: intricate guitar melodies, Mr. Bowie's plain-spoken vocals politely deep beneath the guitar waves, and cool ideas of how guitars could go together all over the place. In an era where guitar bands seemed to be blooming like wildflowers in a particularly fertile cow pasture, Cor-Crane Secret was a complicated bloom indeed. But Polvo was just getting started.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Limited White & Blue VinylColoured LP includes MP3 Download Code.
After being discovered by music industry legend Seymour Stein (who famously signed Madonna, The Ramones, Talking Heads and many more,) Lottery Winners have spent the last two years recording tracks for their debut album….a complete labour of love, with a longer than planned delay due to the well-trodden path of record label disputes and the lengthy process of taking back control. The album was produced by TristemIvemy (Frank Turner, The Holloways, Beans On Toast) and mastered at Abbey Road.
Starting in the pubs and working men’s clubs of Lancashire (including the legendary Phoenix Nights) this fierce foursome has truly grafted to reap the rewards. Now signed to Modern Sky UK , 2019 has already seen Thom, Kate, Rob and Joe winning over a slew of new fans, winning the hearts of audiences across the UK and Europe, with support slots for the likes of Catfish and the Bottlemen, Madness, Larkins, The Libertines, Circa Waves, Sleeper, Cassia, Paul Heaton, and a storming Glastonbury debut in June.
Lottery Winners is made of real flesh and bones. It’s made of working-class Britain. It’s made of self-deprecation, dire deprivation and true dedication. Their live shows explode from the stage and stay in the minds of the audience, buried in there forever. They always come back. This is your new favourite band, whether you know it yet or not.
Starting in the pubs and working men’s clubs of Lancashire (including the legendary Phoenix Nights) this fierce foursome has truly grafted to reap the rewards. Now signed to Modern Sky UK , 2019 has already seen Thom, Kate, Rob and Joe winning over a slew of new fans, winning the hearts of audiences across the UK and Europe, with support slots for the likes of Catfish and the Bottlemen, Madness, Larkins, The Libertines, Circa Waves, Sleeper, Cassia, Paul Heaton, and a storming Glastonbury debut in June.
Lottery Winners is made of real flesh and bones. It’s made of working-class Britain. It’s made of self-deprecation, dire deprivation and true dedication. Their live shows explode from the stage and stay in the minds of the audience, buried in there forever. They always come back. This is your new favourite band, whether you know it yet or not.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Clear vinyl.
The UK’s cosmic, psychedelic-funk ensemble issue their first album on maverick producer Madlib’s label, Madlib Invazion. The Heliocentrics’ albums are all confounding pieces of work. Drawing equally from the funk universe of James Brown, the disorienting asymmetry of Sun Ra, the cinematic scope of Ennio Morricone, the sublime fusion of David Axelrod, Pierre Henry’s turned-on musique concrète, and Can’s beat-heavy Krautrock, they have – regardless of the label on which they’ve released their music - pointed the way towards a brand new kind of psychedelia, one that could only come from a band of accomplished musicians who were also obsessive music fans.
Drummer Malcolm Catto and bassist Jake Ferguson are the Heliocentrics’ masterminds and producers, and they are obsessive weirdos in today’s musical climate, searching, progressive humans who are often out-of-time with current trends. They have been playing together for nearly two decades and their collective drive is to find an individual voice. The Heliocentrics search for it in an alternate galaxy where the orbits of funk, jazz, psychedelic, electronic, avant-garde and “ethnic” music all revolve around “The One.” With Madilb’s label Madlib Invazion for Infinity of Now, the Heliocentrics have returned to develop their epic vision of psychedelic funk, while exploring the possibilities created by their myriad influences, Latin, African, and more
Drummer Malcolm Catto and bassist Jake Ferguson are the Heliocentrics’ masterminds and producers, and they are obsessive weirdos in today’s musical climate, searching, progressive humans who are often out-of-time with current trends. They have been playing together for nearly two decades and their collective drive is to find an individual voice. The Heliocentrics search for it in an alternate galaxy where the orbits of funk, jazz, psychedelic, electronic, avant-garde and “ethnic” music all revolve around “The One.” With Madilb’s label Madlib Invazion for Infinity of Now, the Heliocentrics have returned to develop their epic vision of psychedelic funk, while exploring the possibilities created by their myriad influences, Latin, African, and more
Kevin Krauter’s newest album, ‘Full Hand,’ determines to be a vulnerable and honest statement from an artist exploring the boundaries of their craft. Following his 2018 debut, Krauter’s second full-length album picks up where ‘Toss Up’ left off but at a noticeably more intentional pace. The epic and driving “Opportunity” opens the record with fluttering keys and distorted guitars lying underneath Kevin’s heavenly falsetto. Album highlight “Surprise” is a dreamy and distorted treat full of religious allegory and self-reflection. He sings on “Pretty Boy”: “Look ahead, say I see me now. Smiling at what used to stress me out,” wiser and brighter, ‘Full Hand’ reveals Kevin’s newfound sense of self-acceptance and personal growth." "...Having built upon his foundations, Krauter's debut points to a bubbling potential that is, once more, likely to outdo itself in the not so distant future." Loud & Quiet. //
On his sophomore album, Full Hand, Indiana musician Kevin Krauter tackles complicated emotional states and ideas through elliptical songwriting that is at once poetic and truthful. “A lot of the lyrics touch on how I was raised religiously, touch on me understanding my sexuality more and more in recent years,” Krauter says, “just growing up and becoming more confident in myself...that process of looking inward and taking stock of myself.” It’s not especially uncommon for artists to probe deep into their own psyche to uncover what makes them tic, but Krauter’s light touch feels like something all his own.
On the album’s first single, “Pretty Boy,” he sings, “Look ahead, say I see me now / Smiling at what used to stress me out / Cause it won’t be too long, but I’ll take my time with it / It won’t be too long till I come back home.” There’s a palpable sense of joy in Krauter’s acceptance of dire, stressful moments, and a liberation that comes from hearing him realize that the present will eventually be the past, and he’ll be able to look back and find peace.
On his sophomore album, Full Hand, Indiana musician Kevin Krauter tackles complicated emotional states and ideas through elliptical songwriting that is at once poetic and truthful. “A lot of the lyrics touch on how I was raised religiously, touch on me understanding my sexuality more and more in recent years,” Krauter says, “just growing up and becoming more confident in myself...that process of looking inward and taking stock of myself.” It’s not especially uncommon for artists to probe deep into their own psyche to uncover what makes them tic, but Krauter’s light touch feels like something all his own.
On the album’s first single, “Pretty Boy,” he sings, “Look ahead, say I see me now / Smiling at what used to stress me out / Cause it won’t be too long, but I’ll take my time with it / It won’t be too long till I come back home.” There’s a palpable sense of joy in Krauter’s acceptance of dire, stressful moments, and a liberation that comes from hearing him realize that the present will eventually be the past, and he’ll be able to look back and find peace.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Indies Only Transparent yellow LP.
The Glasgow quartet Catholic Action return with their sophomore album Celebrated by Strangers. The single One Of Us packs a fuzzed-out stomp alongside masterfully giddy melodies that sees lead singer and guitarist Chris McCrory recount “the welfare son of a welfare son”, taking aim at the billionaire-owned media and their Bullingdon Club ilk who shirk responsibility for sowing the division we see in the UK. It sets the tone for a record that asks both searching questions of the self, while pointing the finger at inaction in the wider world. Through a procession of skittish, off-kilter riffs and squawking saxophones, Celebrated by Strangers doesn’t just call for action, it demands it. Fizzing with invention, accusation, self-belief and creativity, it never stutters under the weight of its own message.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Khaki coloured vinyl.
After two well-received self-released records Mentira have hooked up with Harbinger Sound for the release of this mini-album which features six brand new tracks recorded over 2019. This Sao Paulo duo - although they now reside in Barcelona - produce more infectious tunes than those previous records hinted at. These fragmented minimalist tracks captured with just cheap keyboards, a bass and the occasional drum topped with some engaging vocals from Laura Lanca will please anyone one with an ear attuned to contemporary post-punk coming from further afield than London.
As a new decade dawns, it can be reassuring to be mindful of the manner in which a random discovery in the bargain bins of a second-hand record store or a charity shop can set off sparks of inspiration and untold fascination. Rare though it is to come across a new record in 2020 which conjures up the same sense of ‘other’ as such battered cryptic artefacts that have haunted the cult regions of yore. it seems that one is on the verge of crossing our transom; ‘Och’ - Swedish for ‘and’ - are poised to release their first album for Rocket Recordings.
This trio - of whom little is known other than a kinship to their labelmates Flowers Must Die - have created eight exploratory journeys in which the listener can plot out a psychic course that traverses the likes of the meditative trance-states of vintage Popol Vuh, the chemically-altered mania of Guru Guru. synth-driven propulsion akin to French iconoclasts Heldon and Lard Free, and naturally the bucolic raptures of the band’s erstwhile national forebears such as Trad Gras Och Stenar and Älgarnas Trädgård, not to mention more recent exponents of the same lineage such as Hills and Dungen, Yet the entire vision the band conveys on this delirious travelogue is both timeless and paradoxically fresh. Just as their name invokes an ampersand, so this record is no less than a gateway who knows where; proof positive that audial dimensions beyond the everyday - at the hands of Och - are as accessible in 2020 as ever they were, not to mention still more potent.
This trio - of whom little is known other than a kinship to their labelmates Flowers Must Die - have created eight exploratory journeys in which the listener can plot out a psychic course that traverses the likes of the meditative trance-states of vintage Popol Vuh, the chemically-altered mania of Guru Guru. synth-driven propulsion akin to French iconoclasts Heldon and Lard Free, and naturally the bucolic raptures of the band’s erstwhile national forebears such as Trad Gras Och Stenar and Älgarnas Trädgård, not to mention more recent exponents of the same lineage such as Hills and Dungen, Yet the entire vision the band conveys on this delirious travelogue is both timeless and paradoxically fresh. Just as their name invokes an ampersand, so this record is no less than a gateway who knows where; proof positive that audial dimensions beyond the everyday - at the hands of Och - are as accessible in 2020 as ever they were, not to mention still more potent.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Fluorescent Yellow/Black Splatter.
This 1963 set establishes Sun Ra's Arkestra as a New York band, sonically coupled to developments in the decidedly urbane downtown arts underground.The stargazing clamor of the music reflects the intensity of a cultural crossroads where concrete and dust pervade any skyward view, from East 3rd Street to Mars and beyond. One of Sun Ra's rarest releases, it had negligible circulation through shops. While most of the Saturn output couldn't get any rarer or mysterious than it already was, 'When Angels Speak of Love' was released in 1966, it was the most elusive and mysterious in the Sun Ra catalog. It's speculated that the record was issued in two micro runs, with estimates around 150 copies. Hard core collectors around the world had been searching for this gem to no avail until Evidence Records' released a CD of the music in 2000. This updated offering utilizes the actual master tapes and we get to hear the Arkestra in its cosmic mid-60's prime via mono and stereo fidelity. Features three additional stereo tracks, with liner notes by jazz historian Clifford Allen.
Foetus is the brainchild of acclaimed Brooklyn-based composer JG Thirlwell. Thirlwell is known for his solo sets with electronics, sound installations, composing string arrangements, remixes, commissions, and soundtracks, and has collaborated or arranged for a wide variety of artists including Karen O, Noveller, Zola Jesus, Melvins, Swans, Nine Inch Nails, Lydia Lunch, Coil, Z's, The The, Simon Hanes, Nick Cave and many more. DEAF was the first album by JG Thirlwell as Foetus. Originally released in 1981, it's a wild eccentric collision of ideas and mania from music concrete, funk, no wave to noise. DEAF was released on Thirlwell's Self Immolation label and has been out of print for 30+ years.
Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: First ever vinyl reissue. Remastered and pressed on red vinyl, comes with poster.Coloured LP includes MP3 Download Code.
Ella & Louis Again marks the second album produced by Norman Granz (on his Verve label), pairing Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. After recording a series of duets in the late 1940s for the Decca label, they were summoned by Granz in 1956 to cut sessions that would result in the memorable Ella and Louis. Such was the success of the LP, that the formula was repeated the following year with the making of Ella and Louis Again. (Their third and final album for Granz would be a version of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess). To get such marvellous results, Granz surrounded the stars by almost the same superb quartet that had backed them on their previous LP: Oscar Peterson on piano, Herb Ellis on guitar, Ray Brown on bass, and Louis Bellson replacing Buddy Rich on drums. While the first album only included duets, “Ella and Louis Again” was first issued as a double-LP set that also contained some songs performed individually by either Ella or Louis. This extended single-LP edition compiles all their duets from these sessions, while discarding all the songs on which either Ella or Louis sit out.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd LP Info: 180g vinyl.
Featuring an all-star group including Jimmy Knepper, John Handy, Booker Ervin and Curtis Porter (aka Shafi Hadi), Mingus Ah Um was Charles Mingus’ first LP for Columbia. By the mid-50s, Mingus had formed his own publishing and recording companies to protect and document his growing repertoire of original music. He also founded the “Jazz Workshop,” a group which enabled young composers to have their new works performed in concert and on recordings. One of those albums was “Mingus Ah Um”, an extremely personal work that once again showcased Mingus’ unique talent for breaking new ground. The composition “Fables of Faubus” is one of Mingus’s most explicitly political works, a song written as a direct protest against Arkansas governor Orval E. Faubus, who in 1957 sent out the National Guard to prevent the integration of Little Rock Central High School by nine African-American teenagers.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Ltd LP Info: 180g vinyl, newly remastered.
By 1960 Coltrane had recorded many sessions as a sideman for Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Kenny Burrell, and Tadd Dameron, among others. He had also taped quartet albums, some of which were issued under his own name while others were released under the name of pianist Red Garland. His next release as a leader, “Giant Steps”, was the confirmation of Coltrane’s importance in the jazz scene. There, for the first time, all of the tunes were his, and his personal style appeared completely developed. Coltrane Jazz was the next album to hit the shelves after “Giant Steps” and marked the transition from his experimental groups to his final classic quartet. Trane then recorded the music to be issued on “The Avant Garde” (with Don Cherry), “Coltrane’s Sound” and the all-time classic “My Favorite Things”, and after that he embarked on the making of “Coltrane Plays the Blues”, a thematic LP consisting of six tunes based on the blues. “Blues for Bechet”, one of the two pieces on this album on which Trane plays the soprano sax, is obviously dedicated to the jazzman who brought this instrument to jazz, Sidney Bechet. Pianist McCoy Tyner sits out on “Blues to Bechet” and both takes of “Blues to You”, reducing the band to a trio on those tracks.
FORMAT INFORMATION
LP Info: Limited Collectors’ Edition .
Trumpeter and composer Nick Walters returns to 22a with his second mini-album for the label - a free and spiritual journey of avant-garde leaning jazz. ‘Active Imagination’ is a result of the bringing together of musicians for a day in the studio, with minimal rehearsal, to collectively experiment and improvise in the moment - in contrast to the more composed and structured recordings of the Paradox Ensemble album ‘Awakening’ from January 2019. All musicians contributed their distinctive individual voices, creating a united force of spiritual, freeform jazz.
Each composition is based on a different mode, all with their own distinctive flavour: “So Long Chef” nod’s to Coltrane with its chords jumping by major thirds, before a more static middle section, offering a chance for Walters + Jeff Guntren (tenor sax) to explore the lydian mode. “Ahimsa” is a meditative reflection and group improvisation, based around a simple theme in the mixolydian mode, resulting in a spiritual journey steered by Rebecca Nash’s hypnotic piano solo. “Gordian Knot” was conceived as a vehicle for Ed Cawthorne (aka Tenderlonious) to cut loose on soprano sax in the phrygian mode, which he achieves with devastating effect, backed up by Nim Sadot’s infectious bass hook and complimented by an equally striking trumpet solo from the band leader. Finally, “Dansoman Last Stop” uses the dorian mode to channel the spirit of a bustling travel interchange in southern Accra, Ghana, conceived further by another exquisite trumpet solo from Walters.
Each composition is based on a different mode, all with their own distinctive flavour: “So Long Chef” nod’s to Coltrane with its chords jumping by major thirds, before a more static middle section, offering a chance for Walters + Jeff Guntren (tenor sax) to explore the lydian mode. “Ahimsa” is a meditative reflection and group improvisation, based around a simple theme in the mixolydian mode, resulting in a spiritual journey steered by Rebecca Nash’s hypnotic piano solo. “Gordian Knot” was conceived as a vehicle for Ed Cawthorne (aka Tenderlonious) to cut loose on soprano sax in the phrygian mode, which he achieves with devastating effect, backed up by Nim Sadot’s infectious bass hook and complimented by an equally striking trumpet solo from the band leader. Finally, “Dansoman Last Stop” uses the dorian mode to channel the spirit of a bustling travel interchange in southern Accra, Ghana, conceived further by another exquisite trumpet solo from Walters.
The Storm Sessions is the latest glowing proof that Elkhorn are one of the most durable and adventurous platforms of the new guitar age. Snowed in with their friend Turner Williams (Ramble Tamble, Guardian Alien) on the night of an emotionally important gig, the duo-plus-one turned it into a cathartic blizzard-bound collaboration and rumination -- and a new step for Elkhorn.
A powerful turn outside the duo’s comfort zone, The Storm Sessions consists of two side-long improvisations by guitarists Jesse Sheppard (12-string acoustic) and Drew Gardner (6-string electric) along with Turner’s rare and lovely vibrations (electric bouzouki on one side, shahi baaja on the flip). No strangers to improvisation or collaboration, The Storm Sessions is their most spontaneous studio work yet, and perhaps their most beautifully flowing. Formed by old friends Jesse Sheppard and Drew Gardner in 2013 and naming themselves ‘Elkhorn’ the following year, it’s the pair’s telepathic bond that has made them so much more than two dudes with guitars.
With Sheppard’s rigorous 12-string acting like a meditative rhythm section for Gardner’s textured flights, the duo’s third voice emerges into a space that often borders on soulful cosmic jazz. Committed collaborators and community organizers in their vibrational corner of the world, both members of the band are deep students of the music. In 2018, Sheppard organized The 1000 Incarnations of the Rose, an already historic three-day festival in Takoma Park, Maryland--John Fahey’s hometown--that showcased generations of wideeared guitarists. Ambassadors to an often-hidden creative lineage as well as an often-hidden network of modern players, Elkhorn have hewn to the most sage advice Timothy Leary ever proclaimed: Find the others. Mark Fosson (who played the 1000 Incarnations of the Rose) was one such Other, forming a crossgenerational bond with Sheppard. Scheduled to play a New York show with Elkhorn in late 2018, the 68-year-old Fosson fell ill and passed away.
A rescheduled performance featuring Williams (another Other) turned into the extended session in Gardner’s home studio in Harlem. The Storm Sessions is filled with flickering textures that might create warmth on a cold day, or a bubble of human atmosphere inside a dreary dystopian vacuum, no matter the weather outside. Their sixth full-length in five years, Elkhorn are both well into their journey and have only just begun.
A powerful turn outside the duo’s comfort zone, The Storm Sessions consists of two side-long improvisations by guitarists Jesse Sheppard (12-string acoustic) and Drew Gardner (6-string electric) along with Turner’s rare and lovely vibrations (electric bouzouki on one side, shahi baaja on the flip). No strangers to improvisation or collaboration, The Storm Sessions is their most spontaneous studio work yet, and perhaps their most beautifully flowing. Formed by old friends Jesse Sheppard and Drew Gardner in 2013 and naming themselves ‘Elkhorn’ the following year, it’s the pair’s telepathic bond that has made them so much more than two dudes with guitars.
With Sheppard’s rigorous 12-string acting like a meditative rhythm section for Gardner’s textured flights, the duo’s third voice emerges into a space that often borders on soulful cosmic jazz. Committed collaborators and community organizers in their vibrational corner of the world, both members of the band are deep students of the music. In 2018, Sheppard organized The 1000 Incarnations of the Rose, an already historic three-day festival in Takoma Park, Maryland--John Fahey’s hometown--that showcased generations of wideeared guitarists. Ambassadors to an often-hidden creative lineage as well as an often-hidden network of modern players, Elkhorn have hewn to the most sage advice Timothy Leary ever proclaimed: Find the others. Mark Fosson (who played the 1000 Incarnations of the Rose) was one such Other, forming a crossgenerational bond with Sheppard. Scheduled to play a New York show with Elkhorn in late 2018, the 68-year-old Fosson fell ill and passed away.
A rescheduled performance featuring Williams (another Other) turned into the extended session in Gardner’s home studio in Harlem. The Storm Sessions is filled with flickering textures that might create warmth on a cold day, or a bubble of human atmosphere inside a dreary dystopian vacuum, no matter the weather outside. Their sixth full-length in five years, Elkhorn are both well into their journey and have only just begun.
Following the release of the debut solo album from the band’s founder Ed Wynne, entitled ‘Shimmer into Nature’ “this is Ozric Tentacles’ most cohesive and accomplished effort in almost 20 years and a highlight of a long and peerless career.” Echoes and Dust Combining atmospheric electronics, insistent grooves, virtuoso soloing, stirring melodies & divers world music influences, ‘Technicians Of The Sacred’ is the first Ozrics album since 2011’s ‘Paper Monkeys’ - and their first double album since their classic ‘Erpland’ release of 1990. Comprising eleven tracks, ninety minutes of music and tracks such as “Switchback”, “Rubbing Shoulders With The Infinite” and “Butterfly Garden”, this album is a brilliant example of the Ozrics musical art; pulsating rhythms and blissed-out tunefulness.
One of the most influential bands to emerge from the UK’s festival scene, the Ozrics layer ambient and ethereal landscapes with freeform dub trips, incredible rave grooves and psychedelic progressive rock. It’s an open exploration of music and the soul. For over 30 years, the Ozrics have experienced the vicissitudes of the rock and roll life. The band has flourished through several line-up changes, spawned several side projects, created their own record label, scored a hit record and sold over a million albums worldwide. And yet, the basic motivation behind the band’s existence has never wavered. Their signature blend of hippy aesthetics and raver electronics with spiralling guitars, textured waves of keyboard and midi samplers, and super-groovy bass and drum rhythms connects fans of progressive rock, psychedelia and DJ culture.
One of the most influential bands to emerge from the UK’s festival scene, the Ozrics layer ambient and ethereal landscapes with freeform dub trips, incredible rave grooves and psychedelic progressive rock. It’s an open exploration of music and the soul. For over 30 years, the Ozrics have experienced the vicissitudes of the rock and roll life. The band has flourished through several line-up changes, spawned several side projects, created their own record label, scored a hit record and sold over a million albums worldwide. And yet, the basic motivation behind the band’s existence has never wavered. Their signature blend of hippy aesthetics and raver electronics with spiralling guitars, textured waves of keyboard and midi samplers, and super-groovy bass and drum rhythms connects fans of progressive rock, psychedelia and DJ culture.
‘Ice Data Centre’ is the second track to be showcased from Victories At Sea's forthcoming second album, ‘Everybody’s Lost And All I Want Is To Leave’, released in January 2020. ‘Ice Data Centre’ continues Victories deserved reputation for elegantly crafted melody and deep dive lyricism, a sound characterised by Gigwise, in their premiere of the video for ‘Quiet House’, as ‘an ambitious, widescreen collage of moods and ideas’. ‘ Everybody’s Lost And All I Want Is To Leave’ has been two years in the making. Having made a name for themselves with debut album ‘Everything Forever’ and a string of releases for renowned independent Static Caravan, the trio elected to step off the promotional and release roundabout to focus on making a definitive album. Early recordings on the shores of Loch Fyne set the widescreen tone, whilst additional sessions and mixing back in the urban sprawl of their Birmingham hone town tempered the freedom felt in the Scottish highlands with the claustrophobia of modern city life.
FORMAT INFORMATION
7" Info: Limited & numbered indies exclusive.
Mark Kozelek with Ben Boye And Jim White 2 is, of course, a sequel to 2017’s Mark Kozelek With Ben Boye And Jim White, which saw him teaming up with Chicago multi-instrumentalist Boye and Dirty Three drummer White. Recorded and mixed in San Francisco, Buffalo, New Orleans, February through August 2019.
More expansive and ambitious than ever before, Sanctuary is the experimental alt-pop band’s finest body of work to date, a DIY triumph which welcomes old friend Jack Steadman of Bombay Bicycle Club as producer, adding his distinct brand of symphonic sparkle to Gengahr’s complex, layered sound and pushing the band further into all-out pop territory than they’d ever dared stray before. Recorded at the brand new Propagation House way out in Bude in Cornwall, the album also recaptures the magic that old school friends Felix Bushe, John Victor, Hugh Schulte and Danny Ward felt when they were making their debut. With mixing from the hugely in-demand Nathan Boddy (James Blake, Nilufer Yanya, Shame), additional production from John Victor and engineering from A Dream Outside’s engineer James Bragg, Sanctuary is vibrant, intoxicating, intimate and alive; the product of friends having a good time and seizing control of their own destiny.
Grammy-winning and BRIT and Mercury-Prize-nominated artist La Roux returns with her first new album since 2014’s ‘Trouble In Paradise’ is released on her own label Supercolour Records. From the cover to the contents, this is unequivocally the album Elly Jackson always wanted to make a claim that with some artists might ring alarm bells, but in this instance simply means that ‘Supervision’ sounds precisely, unmistakably, gloriously like La Roux.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Heavyweight white vinyl.
‘There are dreams that I still remember. Although it has been decades since I had those dreams, they continue to pulsate, circulating their pellucid blood, vital and fresh as if dreamt just last night’. Singing bowls, bronze bells and gongs resonate through the mindful layers of Japanese percussionist and ambient producer Kazuya Nagaya’s music. In Zen Buddhism, bells are believed to wash away the cares of the mortal world, as the listener follows the resonance of the bell into the silence and stillness within all beings. It is a penetration into the depths of one’s self.
Nagaya’s music is rooted in Buddhist (Zenzhu) philosophy and sensibilities unique to Japan. Concurrently, his work and interests are also contemporary and traverse a broad spectrum of cultures. ‘There are dreams that I still remember. Although it has been decades since I had those dreams, they continue to pulsate, circulating their pellucid blood, vital and fresh as if dreamt just last night. There is one thing I have known all along. Someday I will have to face the messages from my unconscious. I will have to decipher their meaning and change my life accordingly. The messages from my unconscious are like a knocking on the door of my mind. For many years the sound reverberated, but I payed it no attention’
Nagaya started out to pursue his talents in literature and is also an award-winning writer and a connoisseur on Japanese Literature, Buddhist Folktales and Zen Philosophical Works. These interests breathed life into his music, and the sensibilities and philosophical views which he developed during his literary years are now reflected in most of his music today. He spends half the week teaching courses at his University in Tokyo, and the other half composing and writing in his home in the Japanese Alps, where he resides with his wife, and many adopted cats and dogs. ‘Dream Interpretations’ was composed at a difficult time in Nagaya’s life. While he worked, he listened closely to the sound of the knocking that reverberated from the paths of his unconsciousness and transformed that into music. In other words, this music is his dream interpretation.
Nagaya’s music is rooted in Buddhist (Zenzhu) philosophy and sensibilities unique to Japan. Concurrently, his work and interests are also contemporary and traverse a broad spectrum of cultures. ‘There are dreams that I still remember. Although it has been decades since I had those dreams, they continue to pulsate, circulating their pellucid blood, vital and fresh as if dreamt just last night. There is one thing I have known all along. Someday I will have to face the messages from my unconscious. I will have to decipher their meaning and change my life accordingly. The messages from my unconscious are like a knocking on the door of my mind. For many years the sound reverberated, but I payed it no attention’
Nagaya started out to pursue his talents in literature and is also an award-winning writer and a connoisseur on Japanese Literature, Buddhist Folktales and Zen Philosophical Works. These interests breathed life into his music, and the sensibilities and philosophical views which he developed during his literary years are now reflected in most of his music today. He spends half the week teaching courses at his University in Tokyo, and the other half composing and writing in his home in the Japanese Alps, where he resides with his wife, and many adopted cats and dogs. ‘Dream Interpretations’ was composed at a difficult time in Nagaya’s life. While he worked, he listened closely to the sound of the knocking that reverberated from the paths of his unconsciousness and transformed that into music. In other words, this music is his dream interpretation.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: White vinyl, comes with poster.
Former member of A Forest Mighty Black and founder of Trüby Trio, Rainer Trüby presents his new compilation, Soulgliding, released on BBE Music. Starting life as a group on Facebook, ‘Soulgliding’ is a phrase coined by Rainer Trueby to describe the more languid, smoother side of 2-Step, Boogie, Modern Soul and even Jazz. This silky collection spans several decades and sums up what Soulgliding is all about: evocative airy music that feels like a dream-flight across a friendly sky. Or, as Patrick Forge puts it in his wonderful sleeve notes… “Soulgliding..... It’s all in that word, a stroke of genius, no explanation needed, I knew what it was about before I even read the rules. Anyway there was only one rule that really mattered, the speed limit, nothing beyond 110bpm. What I didn’t know when Rainer first convened the eponymous Facebook group was just how addictive it would be. Several months of sharing, liking, commenting, loving and frantic dives into Discogs later, and Soulgliding has become a thing. A genre? Well, almost. This selection lovingly compiled by Rainer himself goes a long way to solidify the notion and stake a claim on the territory. This set of gliders has all the elements; from the slow (enough!) boogie of Crystal Winds, to the jazzy excursions courtesy of Ambiance and Les Hooper, and a clutch of tunes that are closer to the original 2-Step blueprint from Demo Cates, Bridge, Cloud One and Donna McGhee. Then there are the eighties drum machine grooves of Patrice Rushen and Fifth Of Heaven and the ethereal beatless magic of Peter Brown’s “Without Love”. A selection that manages to amalgamate plenty of obscurities without losing the essence, a selection which shimmers, soothes, inspires……glides.”
Al Kent, Scotland's foremost Disco aficionado and founder of the Million Dollar Orchestra, returns to BBE Music with a 6th volume of his famed 'Disco Demands' compilation series. With all previous editions of 'Disco Demands' released as CDs on Al's 'Million Dollar Disco' label, in 2012 we were delighted to release 'The Best Of Disco Demands' across two glorious double vinyl albums. Taking the next step on the 'Disco Demands' journey in partnership, Volume 6 sees another incredible selection of obscure dance-floor soul selected and edited by Al Kent, fully licensed from the original artists, remastered and ready for a new generation of fans to discover. Recorded during the late 70s and early 80s, the records chosen for Disco Demands Part Six may be hard to find, but don't be confused: they have been selected solely for maximum dance-floor enjoyment. Al's love of powerful string arrangements and bass-line led grooves are evident not only in his picks, but also in his subtle edits; removing a hint of cheese here, extending a particularly effective instrumental section there.
"Most of the tracks I’ve chosen for this album have been with me for some time - I’ve played them on and off as a DJ for years. And though that might seem like a lazy or selfish option when compiling an album, it also fits nicely with the concept that the album is primarily aimed at DJs and dancers. I’ve seen first hand how a crowd reacts to these choices. I’ve bought the records, rearranged the best bits and tested them on a room full of dancing drunks so you can confidently do the same..." - Al Kent, 2019
"Most of the tracks I’ve chosen for this album have been with me for some time - I’ve played them on and off as a DJ for years. And though that might seem like a lazy or selfish option when compiling an album, it also fits nicely with the concept that the album is primarily aimed at DJs and dancers. I’ve seen first hand how a crowd reacts to these choices. I’ve bought the records, rearranged the best bits and tested them on a room full of dancing drunks so you can confidently do the same..." - Al Kent, 2019
Hilary Woods’ Birthmarks has been a labor of intensity and intuition, written over the course of two years. Recorded whilst heavily pregnant between Galway and Oslo in the winter of 2019, Woods explores the oscillating and volatile processes of selfhood and becoming, hidden gestational growth, and the birthing of the Self, amidst continuous social and personal change.
Birthmarks is a record that hunts for ways in which to revisit and caress wounds left by the memory of their scars. In its mystery and attentiveness to the art of alchemy and the world of the unseen, it is a journey through textural fog and feral density that gives way to passages of voracious sonic exorcism and poetic healing. Its eight songs traverse planes of visceral physicality, stark tender space, and breathtaking introspective beauty.
Spurred on and crafted by the impulse to create a more corporeal sonic tendon for her songs to inhabit, Woods took her vision and home recordings to Norwegian experimental noise producer and filmmaker Lasse Marhaug. The collaboration proved rare and fruitful and lies at the heart of this record. Field recordings, analogue bass synthesizers, hushed vocals, and the breath are underpinned with heavy noise processing, fierce and wide cello, rich percussion, sable saxophone, and electronics.
Birthmarks is inspired and informed by ideas of inner transmutation in the face of anxiety, post-war Japanese and wet-plate photography, early music, the secret life of trees, wolves, drone, the drawings of Francis Bacon, the images of Francesca Woodman, the films of Chris Marker, the experiential collapse of community, and the power of the lone human voice. It is a deeply powerful and enigmatic record that ultimately transcends its disquiet roots.
Birthmarks is a record that hunts for ways in which to revisit and caress wounds left by the memory of their scars. In its mystery and attentiveness to the art of alchemy and the world of the unseen, it is a journey through textural fog and feral density that gives way to passages of voracious sonic exorcism and poetic healing. Its eight songs traverse planes of visceral physicality, stark tender space, and breathtaking introspective beauty.
Spurred on and crafted by the impulse to create a more corporeal sonic tendon for her songs to inhabit, Woods took her vision and home recordings to Norwegian experimental noise producer and filmmaker Lasse Marhaug. The collaboration proved rare and fruitful and lies at the heart of this record. Field recordings, analogue bass synthesizers, hushed vocals, and the breath are underpinned with heavy noise processing, fierce and wide cello, rich percussion, sable saxophone, and electronics.
Birthmarks is inspired and informed by ideas of inner transmutation in the face of anxiety, post-war Japanese and wet-plate photography, early music, the secret life of trees, wolves, drone, the drawings of Francis Bacon, the images of Francesca Woodman, the films of Chris Marker, the experiential collapse of community, and the power of the lone human voice. It is a deeply powerful and enigmatic record that ultimately transcends its disquiet roots.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Dark red vinyl.
Originally released in 1986, "Voodoo" shows the Sonny Clarke soulful Hard Bop conception as seen through the oblique perspective of a NY Downtown Allstar quartet featuring John Zorn - alto sax, Wayne Horvitz, piano, Bobby Previte - drums and legendary bassman Bill Drummond. This unique and iconic album stands as one of Zorn's first declared tributes to the art of an influential musician and composer. All compositions are by Sonny Clark including such hits as "Cool Struttin" and "Something Special" both from his classic late Fifties / early Sixties "Blue Note" sessions. A full catalogue of opened up Hard Bop structures and advanced Jazz modes.
Andrew Weatherall turns in two thudding, low slung tracks. Expect clattering effects, outer space bleeps, and hypnotic bass. Andy Bell returns to join Andrew in the studio, layering a haunting, tripped-out guitar line over the top. File under cosmic dub. 1000 vinyl only. Remixes on the digital edition from Andrew’s Two Lone Swordsmen partner Keith Tenniswood, and Lithuanian taste-maker Manfredas. Mastered by Noel Summerville. Artwork by G.S-L Studio.
Daisies is a co-release presented by K and Perennial.From the minds that brought you CCFX, "What Are You Waiting For?", and Daisies "2" comes the 3rd release from the purveyors of the electronic paisley underground, "Cherries". Originally self released on the prolific JGAP label, now widely available on wax through Perennial and K Records. This avant pop project features Olympia, WA performance artists Chris McDonnell (CCFX, TransFX) and Valerie Warren. Along with frequent collaborator David Jaques (CCFX, CC DUST) co-producing. Recorded by the the band and Cooper Rosenthal, this release continues the Olympia tradition of singular artist blazing trails for others to soon follow. Look for the video for single "Everybody's Moving to London". Also Available From Daisies: What Are You Waiting For?
Glaswegian psychedelic heavyweights Helicon are soon set to release their second album, the aptly- titled ‘This Can Only Lead to Chaos.’ it follows on from their 2017 self-titled debut and a recent three-track ‘Zero Fucks’ EP, released earlier this year. A 9-track effort, it sees the band delve even deeper into their self-confessed “evil psych rock with smatterings of sentient sitar” - coming out of the other end with something more raw and heavy, and far closer to the all-consuming live show that they’ve spent the last decade frying minds with. As angry and acerbic as ever, vocalist and guitarist John-Paul Hughes says of the themes explored on the album: “We are living in unprecedented times.
This age of greed, individualism, fear, ignorance and manipulation of the masses has brought us to the point we are electing predatory liars and con men who bully and discriminate, then wear it as a badge of honour. They encourage and embolden others to follow suit then wash their hands of the consequences like some fucking modern-day Pontius Pilate and his privileged prick pals. We live in a society that denies climate change. We make stupid people famous. The Sun is the best-selling newspaper. Ed Sheeran is named ‘artist of the decade’. There are more food banks than McDonalds in the UK. The whole shit house is going up in flames whilst fuckwits watch Love Island and flick through which filter to apply to their latest selfie.”
As such, JP says the album – made at Glasgow’s Anchor Lane Studio with Luigi Pasquini (The Cosmic Dead, Trembling Bells, Acid Cannibals) – is inspired by “the rejection of mediocrity and mundanity. A shared spirit of rebellion that things can be better and the fucking balls to make it happen.” So, how do Helicon go about sticking a finger to the mediocre? Through a shape-shifting blast of transcendental sitar, oscillating synths, motorik basslines, echo-soaked vocals and huge walls of guitar thick with phaser and fuzz, cranked all the way up to 11. On their new album, Helicon have emerged with a record that sees them at their most forthright and ambitious and–delivered with the kind of wit only five disgruntled Glasweigians could muster–it couldn’t have arrived at a better time
This age of greed, individualism, fear, ignorance and manipulation of the masses has brought us to the point we are electing predatory liars and con men who bully and discriminate, then wear it as a badge of honour. They encourage and embolden others to follow suit then wash their hands of the consequences like some fucking modern-day Pontius Pilate and his privileged prick pals. We live in a society that denies climate change. We make stupid people famous. The Sun is the best-selling newspaper. Ed Sheeran is named ‘artist of the decade’. There are more food banks than McDonalds in the UK. The whole shit house is going up in flames whilst fuckwits watch Love Island and flick through which filter to apply to their latest selfie.”
As such, JP says the album – made at Glasgow’s Anchor Lane Studio with Luigi Pasquini (The Cosmic Dead, Trembling Bells, Acid Cannibals) – is inspired by “the rejection of mediocrity and mundanity. A shared spirit of rebellion that things can be better and the fucking balls to make it happen.” So, how do Helicon go about sticking a finger to the mediocre? Through a shape-shifting blast of transcendental sitar, oscillating synths, motorik basslines, echo-soaked vocals and huge walls of guitar thick with phaser and fuzz, cranked all the way up to 11. On their new album, Helicon have emerged with a record that sees them at their most forthright and ambitious and–delivered with the kind of wit only five disgruntled Glasweigians could muster–it couldn’t have arrived at a better time
”Minimum Resistance” is Jonas Munk's most abstract and minimalist album to date. Ten ambient pieces based on guitars – often processed into soft, slow billows of sound. There's a rare aesthetic clarity in these pieces, allowing each sonic component to breathe and resonate. Here Munk works with a restrained sonic palette and it's an album which demands patience from the listener. Yet, in its bold simplicity, it carries enough emotional weight to be deeply rewarding. It's an immersive album, an invitation for the listener to sink deep into a series of mesmerizing, but peculiarly undefined, moods. ”Minimum Resistance” celebrates slowness, reclusiveness and simplicity.
There's hardly anything groundbreaking about this kind of music, but rarely does it flow as naturally and effortless as on this set. It's clear this is the work of someone who has been refining his craft over the course of two decades. Besides producing his own music, Jonas Munk also works as a recording and mastering engineer, and has slowly but surely established his own sonic signature. It's the kind of work where subtle gradual changes and miniscule textural details has a tremendous impact on the listener.
There's hardly anything groundbreaking about this kind of music, but rarely does it flow as naturally and effortless as on this set. It's clear this is the work of someone who has been refining his craft over the course of two decades. Besides producing his own music, Jonas Munk also works as a recording and mastering engineer, and has slowly but surely established his own sonic signature. It's the kind of work where subtle gradual changes and miniscule textural details has a tremendous impact on the listener.
Rebecca Foon, the composer and musician behind Saltland and Esmerine (and former longstanding member of Silver Mt. Zion) presents a new album entitled Waxing Moon. While best known as an incomparable cellist crafting textural soundscapes and instrumental chamber-rock in the aforementioned projects (and more recently recognized for her creative and organisational work as cofounder of Pathway To Paris), this new collection of songs finds Foon emphasizing piano and voice with striking intimacy and elegance, showcasing a captivating evolution in her always resplendent songwriting. The climate crisis has profoundly framed Foon's political and artistic life for many years now, and Waxing Moon finds her writing and singing her most arrestingly direct yet poetic words, tapping universal and personal heartbreak in both despair and hope.
With Waxing Moon, Rebecca sets side the Saltland moniker - her electronically-tinged string-centric project from the past five years - to release this more personal new work under her own name. The album's ten songs are predominantly minimal and delicate, immersive and hauntingly beautiful - with vocal-driven tracks booked-ended by piano-based instrumentals, along with one up-tempo guitar-driven number ("Wide Open Eyes") that closes out Side One. While piano figures most prominently on the record, Foon continues to play cello on several tracks, complemented by gentle touches from a close coterie of musical guests including Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire) and Mishka Stein (Patrick Watson) on acoustic and electric basses, Sophie Trudeau (Godspeed You Black Emperor) on violin, Jace Lasek (The Besnard Lakes) on electric guitar, and Patrick Watson as co-vocalist on the dreamlike "Vessels". Foon co-produced the album with Lasek at Montreal's Breakglass studio and it sounds glorious. Waxing Moon is Rebecca Foon's first eponymous release: a sublimely stunning, bracingly intimate, glimmeringly full-hearted new chapter in her celebrated musical catalog
With Waxing Moon, Rebecca sets side the Saltland moniker - her electronically-tinged string-centric project from the past five years - to release this more personal new work under her own name. The album's ten songs are predominantly minimal and delicate, immersive and hauntingly beautiful - with vocal-driven tracks booked-ended by piano-based instrumentals, along with one up-tempo guitar-driven number ("Wide Open Eyes") that closes out Side One. While piano figures most prominently on the record, Foon continues to play cello on several tracks, complemented by gentle touches from a close coterie of musical guests including Richard Reed Parry (Arcade Fire) and Mishka Stein (Patrick Watson) on acoustic and electric basses, Sophie Trudeau (Godspeed You Black Emperor) on violin, Jace Lasek (The Besnard Lakes) on electric guitar, and Patrick Watson as co-vocalist on the dreamlike "Vessels". Foon co-produced the album with Lasek at Montreal's Breakglass studio and it sounds glorious. Waxing Moon is Rebecca Foon's first eponymous release: a sublimely stunning, bracingly intimate, glimmeringly full-hearted new chapter in her celebrated musical catalog
New 7” single! Features exclusive B-side! A brand new 7” single from Billy & The Chatham Singers. The A-side is a reworking of a Childish classic, done in a Chicago blues style. It's taken from the band's new LP Kings Of The Medway Delta (DAMGOOD528CD/LP). The B-side is exclusive to this release, a cover of Willie Dixon's 'I'm Ready'.
The first Damaged Goods release of 2020 is a brand new album featuring Wild Billy and his regular cohorts Nurse Julie and Wolf Howard. It's the third album they've released as The Chatham Singers and features twelve tracks of gritty Chess Studio style blues with Billy on great vocal and lyrical form throughout. We asked Billy a few questions about the record... This album follows CTMF’s Last Punk Standing LP and is something of a left turn. What prompted the decision to make a blues album? I've been making blues recordings since the early 1980s. We've made a few Chatham Singers LPs over the years and I've been meaning to record another and just got round to it.
I'm still making regular CTMF recordings at the same sessions it's just the fun of working with different sounds. I was listening to Slim Harpo ('Got Love If You Want It') in a cafe, Jim form Ranscombe Studios was having a coffee and I said “this is a great song, we should try to get that echo chamber going.” Next day he said he'd been messing with it and I said “right, let's record!” How does this differ from the previous two Chatham Singers albums? Less country, no poetry, more developed sound, otherwise the same. It features fantastic blues harp playing by guest player Jim Riley, tell us a bit about him. Jim plays with us on the other LPs as well, I just wanted to highlight that a bit on this LP. I've known Jim since '77 when he was in the local R&B group, Wipeout, and I was in the local punk outfit The Pop Rivets.
We played together a few times and became pals back then. Jim now runs the local studio where we record with my drum kit from Thee Mighty Caesars. You’ve really captured that authentic gritty urban blues sound. Gearheads will want to know what guitars and amps you used? My same old Selmer Truevoice guitar 15 amp I've used since the Milkshakes, a 15 Selmer bass combo (15 quid from Rochester flea market. A '59 Jazzmaster guitar and an old Hagstrom bass that Thee Headcoats got on the cheap in Seattle. As the album is titled Kings of the Medway Delta, what do you think those other Kent-born musicians, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger would make of the album and how does it compare to their work? We got the sound of that Chess Studios echo chamber, so I guess they'd be pretty envious. I love the Rolling Stones when they were R&B fans, not so much after the rock set in. Your recent live shows have been very well-received. Any plans to play some specifically blues-based shows in 2020? Not at the moment, let's see.
I'm still making regular CTMF recordings at the same sessions it's just the fun of working with different sounds. I was listening to Slim Harpo ('Got Love If You Want It') in a cafe, Jim form Ranscombe Studios was having a coffee and I said “this is a great song, we should try to get that echo chamber going.” Next day he said he'd been messing with it and I said “right, let's record!” How does this differ from the previous two Chatham Singers albums? Less country, no poetry, more developed sound, otherwise the same. It features fantastic blues harp playing by guest player Jim Riley, tell us a bit about him. Jim plays with us on the other LPs as well, I just wanted to highlight that a bit on this LP. I've known Jim since '77 when he was in the local R&B group, Wipeout, and I was in the local punk outfit The Pop Rivets.
We played together a few times and became pals back then. Jim now runs the local studio where we record with my drum kit from Thee Mighty Caesars. You’ve really captured that authentic gritty urban blues sound. Gearheads will want to know what guitars and amps you used? My same old Selmer Truevoice guitar 15 amp I've used since the Milkshakes, a 15 Selmer bass combo (15 quid from Rochester flea market. A '59 Jazzmaster guitar and an old Hagstrom bass that Thee Headcoats got on the cheap in Seattle. As the album is titled Kings of the Medway Delta, what do you think those other Kent-born musicians, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger would make of the album and how does it compare to their work? We got the sound of that Chess Studios echo chamber, so I guess they'd be pretty envious. I love the Rolling Stones when they were R&B fans, not so much after the rock set in. Your recent live shows have been very well-received. Any plans to play some specifically blues-based shows in 2020? Not at the moment, let's see.
Across 13 keenly observed and beautifully orchestrated songs, Julian Cope’s new album SELF CIVIL WAR heaves with unrest and the spirit of 2020. Pure Cope: compelling earworms of barbarian intelligence. Celebrate the arrival of this new decade with Julian Cope’s rampant new album SELF CIVIL WAR. Crammed with songs that reach deep inside you, each possessed of its own micro-worldview, SELF CIVIL WAR showcases Cope’s songwriting at its most searching since JEHOVAHKILL. Road-testing the zeitgeist with kitchen sink psycho-dramas like ‘A Dope on Drugs’, ‘Your Facebook, My Laptop’ and ‘Billy’, SELF CIVIL WAR also showcases the insightful Heroic Ballads ‘Einstein’ ‘You Will Be Mist’ and ‘The Great Raven’. In typical Cope stylee, the 13 songs of SELF CIVIL WAR brim with sound FX, enormous orchestral arrangements, timeless uprisings of Ur-folk and hefty near-Krautrock anthems. It’s the first release in Cope’s ‘Our Troubled Times’ series, and a fine temporary refuge from our daily bombardment by media luvvies and fuckhead world leaders who take us all for idiots.Celebrate the arrival of this new decade with Julian Cope’s rampant new album SELF CIVIL WAR. Crammed with songs that reach deep inside you, each possessed of its own micro-worldview, SELF CIVIL WAR showcases Cope’s songwriting at its most searching since JEHOVAHKILL. Road-testing the zeitgeist with kitchen sink psycho-dramas like ‘A Dope on Drugs’, ‘Your Facebook, My Laptop’ and ‘Billy’, SELF CIVIL WAR also showcases the insightful Heroic Ballads ‘Einstein’ ‘You Will Be Mist’ and ‘The Great Raven’. In typical Cope stylee, the 13 songs of SELF CIVIL WAR brim with sound FX, enormous orchestral arrangements, timeless uprisings of Ur-folk and hefty near-Krautrock anthems. It’s the first release in Cope’s ‘Our Troubled Times’ series, and a fine temporary refuge from our daily bombardment by media luvvies and fuckhead world leaders who take us all for idiots.
Sound Of Speed' 25th release, "Semi-Vintage" is a collection of tracks by Satoshi & Makoto, Japanese twins who record with the Casio synth of the same name. Young Marco discovered them via YouTube videos they made demonstrating the synth'scapabilities, and then released an album's worth of music on his Safe Trip imprint. Like the album, this five-track EP is made mainly with the Casio CZ-5000 synthesizer.
They’ve been moving in the same circles and bouncing off the same vibe cosmology for years. But this is the first time Lithuanian Pletnev and Russians Panorama Channel have ever officially collaborated. And they’re doing it right here on Biologic. Three originals, two remixes, one consistent immersive vibe that envelops you from the start and builds in intensity; this is how it all goes down… ‘Blavatsky’ takes us on a theosophical trip. All mid tempos and woozy psychedelics weaving, layering, twisting and taking sudden detours, not only does it sets the scene for what’s to follow but it’s flipped by a sublime remix from You’re Me’s Yu Su who whips up an ageless nod to the legacy of Two Lone Swordsmen. ‘Eiffel Tower Syndrome’ follows. Intense, edgy, and prone to paranoid flurries over a heavy driving beat; unlike its medical namesake this will not result in disappointment. And neither will Simple Symmetry’s remix. Another thoughtful remix pairing from Biologic, here the Moscow brothers provide a flip that’s as similarly ageless as Yu Su’s; slower, heavier and rife with references, this one recalls the influence and energy of a young Coldcut when they first got fully paid. Finally this pop-up Baltic/Slavic threesome end the release with the heaviest, most intense tune of the set. ‘Black Market Weekdays’ is a hot slab of rolling technoid drama with more eye-raising surprises than a truck load of knock-off DVDs and more weight than a tonne of counterfeit Rolexes. Murky, mean and fully forward-focussed, let’s hot Pletnev and Panorama Channel find time to join forces again in the future…
Second Edition of Wolframs “Automatic Dub”, the Über Hit originally released in 2018. Wolfi has put some new touches on his dub + we handed the material to Rex The Dog and Cabletoy. Rex got back w/ some high energy trance, while Cabletoy takes a whole other route getting extra balearic. Suitable for all dance floors. P.P. Tipp.
Kicking off 2020 in style, Life And Death welcome Madrid based groove maker Bawrut for some of his distinctly off kilter brilliance. Italy born Bawrut makes warm, heartfelt electronic music that crosses the musical spectrum, doing so with a true left of centre perspective. He imbues his productions with weird and wonderful sounds and an exquisite sense of craft that make them both unusual and engaging. He has done so on the likes of his own Silencio label as well as Ransom Note and PETS Recordings and has become a mainstay of the DJ circuit as a result. Next to high profile shows at places like Nuit Sonores he has also toured as far afield as Vietnam, and here he brings some worldly perspective to this latest release for DJ Tennis’ always cultured label, Life And Death. First up is "Rollin'", almost ten minutes of synth based excellence that takes you on a real sonic adventure. The drums are firmly rooted and hypnotic while the various pads unfold like aural fireworks. It’s a tense track that never lets up and keeps you locked for the epic duration. Equally fantastic is "Terza" with its twisted, tortured synth lines and vocal yelps all bringing real drama to the deep and rolling drums. It’s a turbulent track to bring real edginess to the club. Lastly, the grinding "Drum Beat" has a menacing bassline and tribal vocal stabs cut up with rave sirens. It’s a sweaty, strobe lit monster that takes you to the heart of the dance floor. These are three perfectly slow-release but high impact tracks from this ever more vital talent.
Up next on Jimmy Rouge’s Orange Tree imprint is Moving Still aka Jamal Sul.
Following his Dar Disku release, supported by Hunee and Palms Trax, Jamal steps up with an eclectic four track EP full of Arabic influenced chuggers, a style quickly becoming synonymous with the young Dublin based producer.
Following his Dar Disku release, supported by Hunee and Palms Trax, Jamal steps up with an eclectic four track EP full of Arabic influenced chuggers, a style quickly becoming synonymous with the young Dublin based producer.
Please note, this is a charity record and a tribute to the late Paul "Trouble" Anderson. All profits will be directed to Macmillan Cancer UK.
The Boogie Twins aka Ashley Beedle and Ray Mang have reworked and edited one of Paul 'Trouble' Anderson's biggest signature tracks
A message from Ashley Beedle:
"My Electric Ballroom crew, that were later to become the infamous Shock Sound System, was myself, Stan Zepherin, Dean Zepherin, Paul Denton, Cecil Peters and Ricardo Da Force (R.I.P.) We loved going to the Electric Ballroom to see the legendary Paul 'Trouble' Anderson who was killing it in there with Boogie, Electro, Hip Hop and Disco - he was such a huge musical influencer. When he dropped 'Heaven and Earth' in the mid 80's, the joint went ballistic.
That tune ruled London and became not only a rare groove classic but remains a much loved staple of today's club scene - all because of Paul's exceptional ear for music.
The Boogie Twins aka Ashley Beedle and Ray Mang have reworked and edited one of Paul 'Trouble' Anderson's biggest signature tracks
A message from Ashley Beedle:
"My Electric Ballroom crew, that were later to become the infamous Shock Sound System, was myself, Stan Zepherin, Dean Zepherin, Paul Denton, Cecil Peters and Ricardo Da Force (R.I.P.) We loved going to the Electric Ballroom to see the legendary Paul 'Trouble' Anderson who was killing it in there with Boogie, Electro, Hip Hop and Disco - he was such a huge musical influencer. When he dropped 'Heaven and Earth' in the mid 80's, the joint went ballistic.
That tune ruled London and became not only a rare groove classic but remains a much loved staple of today's club scene - all because of Paul's exceptional ear for music.
Following up his latest "Jazzy Edition" Mr Al Kent now delivers the "Disco Edition".
We begin with a +11 min long mid tempo jam that will please any fans of Patrick Adams. On the flip we go more up-tempo with a power disco cut that clocks in over 12 min. Lots of things happening with many twists and turns on this one...epic stuff!
Another G.A.M.M sureshot !!
We begin with a +11 min long mid tempo jam that will please any fans of Patrick Adams. On the flip we go more up-tempo with a power disco cut that clocks in over 12 min. Lots of things happening with many twists and turns on this one...epic stuff!
Another G.A.M.M sureshot !!
Frédéric Gassita discovered music at the age of five. In 1977 he left Gabon to study in France. His tutors in France spotted the talent of the young man and decided to enroll him at the Conservatory of Music in Châteauroux, where he learned classical music, composition, and perfected his practice of piano, bass and guitar.
Back in Gabon in 1983, Frédéric decided to form the band "Surprise" with his longtime friend Jean-Jean Gateau. His musical influences – his parents introduced him to a lot of music: Afro-Cuban music, Jazz, Soul or RnB. - forged the sound of the band as well as a strong inspiration from the US Funk that invaded the radio waves of Gabon. The Guitarist Célestin Assélé Bongo joined the band and provided them the necessary means to record an album. Florence Nang Ekomye, a talented self-taught jazz singer, is immediately recruited, being the voice of Surprise.
Benefiting from the unique recording conditions of Studio N'Koussou in Libreville (set-up by Patience Dabany in the early 80s), one of the handful studios to use a Digital 48 Tracks recorder at the time, the young musicians had the strong desire to get the perfect sound: "It took us almost a year to finish the album. We were young and we wanted to do the best we could so we dithered a lot on the choice of songs ..." The result is a sensational production, the use of synthesizers is slamming and the charm of Florence’s voice makes the recording quite unique.
"Beleive Me" is an outlier considering what was being done in Gabon at the same time. Indeed, the vast majority of small Gabonese bands were still mimicking the sound of James Brown in cabarets… The record unfortunately did not meet the success the band expected and seemed to have never really benefited from a real marketing. A year after the release of "Beleive Me", Frédéric flew to the U.S. and joined the Berklee College of Music in Boston where he studied for six years; the band never recorded together again.
Totally unknown until recently, Surprise, primarily an early work from the great composer, still sounds fresh and crisp and we hope it will now get the attention it did not get upon release.
Back in Gabon in 1983, Frédéric decided to form the band "Surprise" with his longtime friend Jean-Jean Gateau. His musical influences – his parents introduced him to a lot of music: Afro-Cuban music, Jazz, Soul or RnB. - forged the sound of the band as well as a strong inspiration from the US Funk that invaded the radio waves of Gabon. The Guitarist Célestin Assélé Bongo joined the band and provided them the necessary means to record an album. Florence Nang Ekomye, a talented self-taught jazz singer, is immediately recruited, being the voice of Surprise.
Benefiting from the unique recording conditions of Studio N'Koussou in Libreville (set-up by Patience Dabany in the early 80s), one of the handful studios to use a Digital 48 Tracks recorder at the time, the young musicians had the strong desire to get the perfect sound: "It took us almost a year to finish the album. We were young and we wanted to do the best we could so we dithered a lot on the choice of songs ..." The result is a sensational production, the use of synthesizers is slamming and the charm of Florence’s voice makes the recording quite unique.
"Beleive Me" is an outlier considering what was being done in Gabon at the same time. Indeed, the vast majority of small Gabonese bands were still mimicking the sound of James Brown in cabarets… The record unfortunately did not meet the success the band expected and seemed to have never really benefited from a real marketing. A year after the release of "Beleive Me", Frédéric flew to the U.S. and joined the Berklee College of Music in Boston where he studied for six years; the band never recorded together again.
Totally unknown until recently, Surprise, primarily an early work from the great composer, still sounds fresh and crisp and we hope it will now get the attention it did not get upon release.
STAFF COMMENTS
Patrick says: Sublime groove-led music here from Africa's Atlantic coast, as Gabon's Surprise fuse reggae, disco, jazz and boogie into a shimmering digital delight, somehow overlooked on its mid 80s release.
Their previous release, the eponymous Flamingo Pier EP in February 2019, was the beginning of their relationship with Soundway - garnering support and praise from industry peers including Gilles Peterson, Tim Sweeney (Beats In Space), The Black Madonna, Gideon Coe, The Wire magazine, JD Twitch and more. Drawing inspiration again from cosmic disco, Afro-house and Italo - the Flamingo Pier members Luke, Brad and Dominic hone their craft further on the Indigo EP with tight percussion, balanced arrangements and hard-hitting grooves. The EP was recorded in Auckland and London over the course of 2019, with additional contributions from local New Zealand collaborators: percussionist Isaac Chadderton and brass player Finn Scholes. The full EP will be released on 12” vinyl on Friday 7 February 2020, to coincide with the hugely popular Flamingo Pier festival on Waiheke Island. The festival line-up includes Gilles Peterson, Sadar Bahar, Kamma & Masalo and Soundway Records label founder Miles Cleret.
For this first volume of Musax Background Music Library, Farfalla Records continues exploring the maze of the french library music through one of its most discreet and prolific representatives: Jacky Giordano and one of his many projects, the Musax label.
Farfalla Records carefully selected this tracklisting among LPs recorded between 1978 and 1979 of which the originals became particularly sought after by the collectors. Jacky Giordano who appears under his aliases Joachim Sherylee and José Pharos, is surrounded by qualified and renowned musicians such as Jean-Pierre Decerf, Jean-Claude Pierric, Serge Planchon, Patrick Petitbon, Gérard Gesina, Jean-Charles Capon, Daniel Humair and also a band composed of members from the legendary Crazy Horse cabaret, namely Pedro Perea, Claude Brisset, Bruno Bompard, Jean-Claude Guselli, Claude Thirifays, Vincent Momplet and Joseph Gatineau.
This selection mixing explosive jazz-funk, lascivious jazz and electronic music more spacey or experimental, which could also be the soundtrack for a TV show, a porn movie or a car chase between cops and gangsters in the bad neighbourhoods of Paris. A fascinating slice of the French music scene of the late 70 is brought to life before our very eyes.
Farfalla Records carefully selected this tracklisting among LPs recorded between 1978 and 1979 of which the originals became particularly sought after by the collectors. Jacky Giordano who appears under his aliases Joachim Sherylee and José Pharos, is surrounded by qualified and renowned musicians such as Jean-Pierre Decerf, Jean-Claude Pierric, Serge Planchon, Patrick Petitbon, Gérard Gesina, Jean-Charles Capon, Daniel Humair and also a band composed of members from the legendary Crazy Horse cabaret, namely Pedro Perea, Claude Brisset, Bruno Bompard, Jean-Claude Guselli, Claude Thirifays, Vincent Momplet and Joseph Gatineau.
This selection mixing explosive jazz-funk, lascivious jazz and electronic music more spacey or experimental, which could also be the soundtrack for a TV show, a porn movie or a car chase between cops and gangsters in the bad neighbourhoods of Paris. A fascinating slice of the French music scene of the late 70 is brought to life before our very eyes.
STAFF COMMENTS
Patrick says: Killer selection of grooving jazz funk, psychedelic sounds and electronic ambience revived from the archives of the Musax library, including the incredible "Man Fly" by Gerard Gesina, which is worth the entry fee alone!
Ultraísta have announced their first new album since 2012's self-titled debut with the release of "Tin King." The trio will release Sister on March 13, 2020. It’s a collection that defies easy categorization, and one that proves that Ultraísta — GRAMMY-winning producer/engineer/musician Nigel Godrich, best known for his two decades helming Radiohead’s groundbreaking studio output; celebrated drummer Joey Waronker, who’s toured and recorded with everyone from R.E.M. and Beck to Roger Waters and Elliott Smith; and singer Laura Bettinson, an acclaimed solo artist whose work combines synth-driven electropop and dreamy vocal looping — is far more than just the sum of its remarkable parts.
GENE arrives five years after the iconoclast variously known as Sam Eastgate, Sam Dust and LA Priest thrilled the world with the cosmic pop of his debut album Inji, his first LP for Domino and his first solo output following the disbanding of former outfit, Late Of The Pier. GENE also follows the 2016 project Soft Hair in which Sam teamed up with Connan Mockasin for an instant cult-classic album.
GENE, the album, is named after a brand-new analogue drum machine Sam dreamt up and built alone. Working in isolation for more than two years in California, Wales and England’s south coast, soldering iron in hand, Sam developed the inners of GENE using dozens of electrical circuits he made up himself. The creation came after a search for an alternative to the structure and rigor of standard drum machines. Its unique rhythmic patterns are the focal point for the album, which is coloured by lush, pastoral tones, paired with the influence of his environmental changes.
The product of clear-eyed focus, the record offers a one-way ticket into a dimension entirely of Sam’s own making.
GENE is the most complete realisation of his vision yet. These songs are on a quest for meaning, exploring the limits of their maker’s abilities.
Coaxed into life with the juicy groove of “Beginning”, the record struts and sparkles through “Rubber Sky” and “What Moves” towards the melancholic interlude of “Sudden Thing” and the gigantic noise of centerpiece “Monochrome”, taking a sharp turn in the final third towards something darker and more mystical.
GENE was produced alongside London based artist, producer, DJ and founder of Phantasy records, Erol Alkan.
GENE, the album, is named after a brand-new analogue drum machine Sam dreamt up and built alone. Working in isolation for more than two years in California, Wales and England’s south coast, soldering iron in hand, Sam developed the inners of GENE using dozens of electrical circuits he made up himself. The creation came after a search for an alternative to the structure and rigor of standard drum machines. Its unique rhythmic patterns are the focal point for the album, which is coloured by lush, pastoral tones, paired with the influence of his environmental changes.
The product of clear-eyed focus, the record offers a one-way ticket into a dimension entirely of Sam’s own making.
GENE is the most complete realisation of his vision yet. These songs are on a quest for meaning, exploring the limits of their maker’s abilities.
Coaxed into life with the juicy groove of “Beginning”, the record struts and sparkles through “Rubber Sky” and “What Moves” towards the melancholic interlude of “Sudden Thing” and the gigantic noise of centerpiece “Monochrome”, taking a sharp turn in the final third towards something darker and more mystical.
GENE was produced alongside London based artist, producer, DJ and founder of Phantasy records, Erol Alkan.
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Limited edition glow-in-the-dark LP
Formed in 2015 in Amsterdam, the duo of Ajay Saggar and Merinde Verbeek released their debut album “Deeper And Deeper” in 2016 to widespread acclaim:
“Fans of transfixing shoegaze post-punk vibes will zone out in their glory” ALL MUSIC GUIDE
“Awe-inspiring” ROCK A ROLLA
“Extraordinarily sexy” – TIME OUT UK
“Amazing, heartbreaking sound” 20 JAZZ FUNK GREATS
“Obsessed.” 8/10 NME
“A musical suicide pact between Siouxsie & The Banshees and Cocteau Twins” PLAYLOUDER.
From the off, their sound was raw and visceral, with chiming guitar pedals caking Verbeek’s vocals in sonic grit. The band follow up “Deeper And Deeper” with the release in February 2020 of their second album “Whisper Om”. Recorded and mixed at Saggar’s Soundation Studio, and mastered in Berlin at D&M, “Whisper Om” is a neo-pop opus, with the bands homespun sound now developed into something more spacious and immersive; tracks like “Stumbleweed” sound like a club anthem anaesthetised and played at 33rpm, and the narcotic, shamanistic rhythms of “Glitterheap” cement the band as a formidable unit. Material dipped headlong into some of the things that make humans tick: love, loss, and desire. The album features much-loved Deutsche Ashram hallmarks - the combination of space and intimacy, the unmistakable interplay between Saggar’s guitars and Verbeek’s vocals - returning to the duo’s underground rock past with the stylistic playfulness and variety of a modern mixtape.
“Fans of transfixing shoegaze post-punk vibes will zone out in their glory” ALL MUSIC GUIDE
“Awe-inspiring” ROCK A ROLLA
“Extraordinarily sexy” – TIME OUT UK
“Amazing, heartbreaking sound” 20 JAZZ FUNK GREATS
“Obsessed.” 8/10 NME
“A musical suicide pact between Siouxsie & The Banshees and Cocteau Twins” PLAYLOUDER.
From the off, their sound was raw and visceral, with chiming guitar pedals caking Verbeek’s vocals in sonic grit. The band follow up “Deeper And Deeper” with the release in February 2020 of their second album “Whisper Om”. Recorded and mixed at Saggar’s Soundation Studio, and mastered in Berlin at D&M, “Whisper Om” is a neo-pop opus, with the bands homespun sound now developed into something more spacious and immersive; tracks like “Stumbleweed” sound like a club anthem anaesthetised and played at 33rpm, and the narcotic, shamanistic rhythms of “Glitterheap” cement the band as a formidable unit. Material dipped headlong into some of the things that make humans tick: love, loss, and desire. The album features much-loved Deutsche Ashram hallmarks - the combination of space and intimacy, the unmistakable interplay between Saggar’s guitars and Verbeek’s vocals - returning to the duo’s underground rock past with the stylistic playfulness and variety of a modern mixtape.
Pressed On Red Vinyl! Live jazzy orchestral interpretations of the Jay Dee aka J Dilla produced Slum Village classic Fantastic Vol 2! The end result is Fantastic 2020, a hybrid blend of smooth, funky brass rhythms with boom-bap sensibilities that is just the kind of tribute that an often unsung, but highly influential group like Slum Village deserves, and is a more than welcome addition to any Dilla completist's library
FORMAT INFORMATION
Coloured LP Info: Pressed On Red Vinyl!
Continuation is a remarkable work in which the interplay of emotional experience and life motion experienced by band leader Tamar Osborn [AKA Tamar Collocutor] is channelled and explored by Collocutor.
The band’s third LP assuredly strides forward following the critical acclaim awarded to ‘The Search’ from 2017 from the likes of The Wire, Vinyl Factory and Gilles Peterson. Continuation is an album about coping with grief and loss/bereavement: The music charts the many (and sometimes surprising) emotional states encountered, moving from acknowledgement, trying to keep ‘normal’ life going, the need to sometimes put a pause button on the world/existence and let the waves of feelings crash and roll, sudden anger & confusion, finally to moving (perhaps with uncertainty) forward.
Tamar Osborn has led Collocutor through a line-up shift from septet to quintet for Continuation. The modified line-up creates space for the musicians to express themselves through the shadows of Continuation's movement. The quintet allows for more group improvisation, based on just a few motifs and thereby giving the musicians more space to converse. The tracks Lost & Found and in particular the album’s title track, Continuation (the only piece with 3 horns) hark back to the intricate arrangements of ‘The Search’. It’s a deeply personal album, the writing of which acted as Tamar's way of processing and understanding experience and the need to channel feeling.
In listening truly ‘Continuation’ bares that rare and precious gift of a morsel of the human experience being illuminated by artistic genius.
The band’s third LP assuredly strides forward following the critical acclaim awarded to ‘The Search’ from 2017 from the likes of The Wire, Vinyl Factory and Gilles Peterson. Continuation is an album about coping with grief and loss/bereavement: The music charts the many (and sometimes surprising) emotional states encountered, moving from acknowledgement, trying to keep ‘normal’ life going, the need to sometimes put a pause button on the world/existence and let the waves of feelings crash and roll, sudden anger & confusion, finally to moving (perhaps with uncertainty) forward.
Tamar Osborn has led Collocutor through a line-up shift from septet to quintet for Continuation. The modified line-up creates space for the musicians to express themselves through the shadows of Continuation's movement. The quintet allows for more group improvisation, based on just a few motifs and thereby giving the musicians more space to converse. The tracks Lost & Found and in particular the album’s title track, Continuation (the only piece with 3 horns) hark back to the intricate arrangements of ‘The Search’. It’s a deeply personal album, the writing of which acted as Tamar's way of processing and understanding experience and the need to channel feeling.
In listening truly ‘Continuation’ bares that rare and precious gift of a morsel of the human experience being illuminated by artistic genius.
Completing a compelling trilogy of albums since his late-flowering return to solo songwriting and singing six years ago, Ben Watt releases his fourth LP, "Storm Damage" on 31 January 2020, and with it a new sound and fervency.
"I needed a fresh approach," says Watt, 56. "The album came out of an intense period of personal anguish and political anger. Sometimes repeating yourself musically feels disrespectful to the sharpness of your feelings. You have to search for a new way to capture the energy."
Across four decades Watt has maintained a committed forward-looking course, from the ardent echo-drenched folk of his early solo work with Robert Wyatt, through seventeen years as musical mainspring and co-lyricist in the best-selling Everything But The Girl with Tracey Thorn - and ten at the helm of his smart electronic label Buzzin' Fly - to his recent moving non-fiction and mid-life solo albums, the award-winning "Hendra" (2014) and "Fever Dream" (2016). New album "Storm Damage" is no exception. Sonically adventurous, lyrically detailed and engaged, the album - written and produced by Watt - is a personal journey through anxiety and change cut through with an insistent defiance.
"I needed a fresh approach," says Watt, 56. "The album came out of an intense period of personal anguish and political anger. Sometimes repeating yourself musically feels disrespectful to the sharpness of your feelings. You have to search for a new way to capture the energy."
Across four decades Watt has maintained a committed forward-looking course, from the ardent echo-drenched folk of his early solo work with Robert Wyatt, through seventeen years as musical mainspring and co-lyricist in the best-selling Everything But The Girl with Tracey Thorn - and ten at the helm of his smart electronic label Buzzin' Fly - to his recent moving non-fiction and mid-life solo albums, the award-winning "Hendra" (2014) and "Fever Dream" (2016). New album "Storm Damage" is no exception. Sonically adventurous, lyrically detailed and engaged, the album - written and produced by Watt - is a personal journey through anxiety and change cut through with an insistent defiance.
For their first release of 2020, Kalita unearth New York-based band Cross Island's highly sought-after 1978 disco single 'East of the Apple'. Originally privately released on Raja Records as a promotional single to attract tourism and businesses to Long Island, New York, the record has since become highly prized by both DJs and collectors alike, in particular for its B side 'Just A Little Different' mix. Here, as a 12” single, we re-release it officially for the first time, twinned with Al Kent remixes of both ‘East of the Apple’ and the band’s unreleased recording ‘Wave’, both sourced from the original multi-track master tapes. In addition, Kalita accompany the release with never-before-seen press photos and extensive interview-based liner notes.
Cross Island consisted of seven Long Island-based musicians, influenced on one side by The Beatles and The Beach Boys and on the other by George Martin, Quincy Jones and Peter Frampton. In 1978 the Long Island Tourism Commission approached the band to ask if they would write and release a record to help promote the local area. The resulting single 'East of the Apple' was recorded over the space of just five days in Syosset, a town on the north shore of the island.
Although ten thousand copies of 'East of the Apple' were pressed, its local purpose and the lack of a distribution network meant that it failed to receive a great amount of airtime outside of the surrounding area, available to purchase only in nearby record shops, on merchandise tables at gigs and as Long Island tourism souvenirs. However, as band co-leader Rob Meade explains, it's purpose had been achieved – “it was written to be a theme song for Long Island businesses and to draw attention to what a cool place Long Island was. After we released the record, many people were singing the hook, 'If you do it, do it better on Long Island', and so in that regard it was a great success”.
Here, Kalita gives this massive disco single its just deserts, with Al Kent's two accompanying remixes extending and remoulding the recordings into two modern club weapons whilst retaining and respecting the authenticity of their original sound.
Cross Island consisted of seven Long Island-based musicians, influenced on one side by The Beatles and The Beach Boys and on the other by George Martin, Quincy Jones and Peter Frampton. In 1978 the Long Island Tourism Commission approached the band to ask if they would write and release a record to help promote the local area. The resulting single 'East of the Apple' was recorded over the space of just five days in Syosset, a town on the north shore of the island.
Although ten thousand copies of 'East of the Apple' were pressed, its local purpose and the lack of a distribution network meant that it failed to receive a great amount of airtime outside of the surrounding area, available to purchase only in nearby record shops, on merchandise tables at gigs and as Long Island tourism souvenirs. However, as band co-leader Rob Meade explains, it's purpose had been achieved – “it was written to be a theme song for Long Island businesses and to draw attention to what a cool place Long Island was. After we released the record, many people were singing the hook, 'If you do it, do it better on Long Island', and so in that regard it was a great success”.
Here, Kalita gives this massive disco single its just deserts, with Al Kent's two accompanying remixes extending and remoulding the recordings into two modern club weapons whilst retaining and respecting the authenticity of their original sound.
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