Black feminist punk band Big Joanie have announced their upcoming second album 'Back Home', set for release on Daydream Library Series in the UK and Kill Rock Stars in the US.

The brand new album 'Back Home' follows on from last month's one-off single 'Happier Still', and the release of their 2020 single ‘Cranes in the Sky’, a cover of Solange Knowles released on Jack White’s Third Man Records. Recorded at Hermitage Works Studios in North London, 'Back Home' was produced and mixed by Margo Broom (Goat Girl, Fat White Family) and features violin courtesy of Charlotte Valentine of the experimental art rock project No Home, who recently collaborated with the LA-based artist SASAMI. 'Back Home' is a dramatic leap forward for the band; the band build on their tightly knit, lo-fi punk formula to bring forth a collage of blazing guitars, down tempo dance punk, and melancholic strings that evoke the full depth of the band’s expansive art punk vision. The album title references a search for a place to call home, whether real or metaphysical. “We were really ruminating on the idea of a home and what it means,” explains Stephanie. “It’s about the different ideas of home, whether that’s here in the UK, back in Africa or the Caribbean, or a place that doesn’t really exist; it’s neither here nor there."

The band worked with multidisciplinary artist Angelica Ellis to design the striking embroidered cover art, which is a depiction of Chardine’s nephew at the barbers. The artwork is a reference to the embroidered wall hangings popular in Caribbean homes post-Windrush that were a callback to the homes they left behind. The album’s strength lies in the band’s bold and varied new sound. Album opener ‘Cactus Tree’ is an eerie, gothic folk tale that tells the story of a woman waiting for her lover while a wall of euphoric harmonies and screaming feedback roll in the background.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Big Joanie are back! This time forging on from their blistering debut, 2018's 'Sistahs' to an ever more ferocious and thematically diverse follow-up. Drawing influence from all over the musical spectrum, 'Back Home' is an accomplished and hugely enjoyable slice of art-rock tinged post-punk.

TRACK LISTING

1. Cactus Tree
2. Taut
3. Confident Man
4. What Are You Waiting For?
5. In My Arms
6. Your Words
7. Count To Ten
8. Happier Still
9. Insecure
10. Today
11. I Will
12. In My Arms (Reprise)
13. Sainted

With One Day, Fucked Up have delivered one of the most energizing and intricate albums of their career, a massive-sounding record that arrives in deceptively small confines. The Canadian hardcore legends have been known for their epic scale in the past, so it might be a surprise that Fucked Up’s sixth studio album is their shortest to date, written and recorded in the confines of one literal day (hence the title). Don’t mistake size for substance, though: The band’s sound has only gotten bigger, more hard-charging, with even denser thickets of melody.

“I wanted to see what I could record in literally one day.” That singular idea came to mind for guitarist Mike Haliechuk in the closing months of 2019. Haliechuk got himself into a studio and proceeded to write and record the record’s ten tracks over three eight-hour sessions, reconnecting with the core the band’s songwriting essence in the process.

Initially, Fucked Up vocalist Damian Abraham was also set to complete his vocals in similar fashion—that is, before the lockdowns of 2020 took place. As it turns out, the isolation yielded creative dividends, as Abraham returned to contributing lyrics as well for the first time since 2014’s Glass Boys. “It almost felt like it might be the last time I’d ever get to record vocals for anything,” Abraham says of the stakes he felt while putting his part to tape, before reflecting on how he approached the lyrical process: “What do I want to say to friends who aren’t here anymore? What do I want to say to myself?”

Over swarms of tuneful noise that evoke Sonic Youth circa Daydream Nation, Abraham lets loose on gentrification in “Lords of Kensington,” which was inspired by an “incredible” Toronto neighborhood that was regularly subject to life-ruining police surveillance and structural violence. “The police chief during that era he just opened a cannabis store,” Abraham explains. “It’s so cynical and gross, what society has come to but by being in a band, we’re culpable in changing the neighborhood, too, since the punk spaces and cool happenings that pop up are part of gentrification. Are you building a culture? Or are you ruining something that’s already been there?”

Then there’s the dusky burn of “Cicada,” a sonic cousin to Dose Your Dreams’ excellent standout “The One I Want Will Come for Me” that features Haliechuk taking lead-vocal duty. The song is dedicated to lost friends, and in his words, it’s about “what life is like after you lose people, and our responsibility to carry them forward into the future, using the things they taught us as a light. I like to imagine the sound of cicadas as a metaphor for our strange life in the subculture we all just live these weird little hidden lives under the dirt, and then once in a generation, one of us gets to bust out of the dirt and intone their song so loud that it can be heard allover.”

One Day is an undeniable work of confidence from a band that continues to operate at the top of their game, making music that’s guaranteed to last a lifetime and beyond.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Never a band to rest on their laurels, Fucked Up have been constantly moving and shifting their focus for a good couple decades now, and 'One Day' sees them turning back to the solid foundation of melodic hardcore and scathing percussive blasts. There are definitely echoes here of the post-hardcore luminaries of the early 00's (Hot Water Music, Icarus Line etc) but with Fucked Up's singular stylistic focus.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Found
2. I Think I Might Be Weird
3. Huge New Her
4. Lords Of Kensington
5. Broken Little Boys
SIDE B
6. Nothing’s Immortal
7. Falling Right Under
8. One Day
9. Cicada
10. Roar

Carlton Melton, from Northern California, are now a practising fourpiece in the arts of melted-minds psychedelia. With the added kraut-oomph and sike-flutter of fellow Californian Anthony Taibi (whom you may know as being a member of White Manna, and also DDT with Andy) Rich Millman, Andy Duvall, and Clint Golden have now embellished the Carlton Melton sound. Pushing forward as a fourpiece, the band recorded Resemble Ensemble in July 2021 (just before Andy moved back over East!) at Anthony’s home studio, 3D Light in Freshwater, CA. Anthony did all the recording and mixing. The Melton Magick Karpet settled, and our favourite contemporary sikedelic warlods plugged in, amped up and let it flow.. and flow it does. .from the krautrock fuelled pszych-raga of Prescribed Skies, the fluid dronescape of Elsewhere that welcomes you into its arms with a warming tone, almost a missing Spacemen 3 demo at the feast here… So The Story Grows has the drone scraping through a murk of dazzling feedback and pummel, with the fuller sounding Melton giving the genre a proper wobble, hold on to your brains people… High Alert.. whas this? Synth and guitar interplay jambusting, this is the Melton wigging out and almost interweaving 70s high table rock with some odd and downright perverse synthfunkpunk rhythms.. get weird.. or get wired..or both.. easily done here.. Closing out the album with Route Thirteen is the road trip home.. they’ve been, they’ve massaged and mangled your synapses, plug in the satnav and take the higher-route home.. if you get our drift.. Carlton Melton, starting 2023 in a better place than most, soaring high on their synaptic-dazzling magick karpet…

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: San Franciscan trio Carlton Melton have always, and will always be mind melters. Their unique brand of floating psychedelia has both moments of tension and grit as well as soaring, lysergic looseness. Soaring, beautifully rendered and perfectly measured as ever. Classic CM.

TRACK LISTING

1. Prescribed Skies
2. Elsewhere (Need To Be)
3. So The Story Grows
4. High Alert
5. Route Thirteen

LOUIE is the debut album from Kenny Beats, best known for producing seminal albums for some of the world’s most exciting artists (including Vince Staples, IDLES, Rico Nasty and Denzel Curry). On LOUIE Kenny subverts expectations with an almost entirely instrumental artist record, looping obscure 70s soul, lo-fi snippets of his fathers voice, along with guest 'vocals' from the likes of Jpegmafai and Slowthai over woozy beats. The cut'n'paste, sample heavy vibe brings to mind the likes of DJ Shadow and Avalanches in an LP that acts as a deeply personal tribute to his father.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Really nice cut-n-paste, (mainly) instrumental LP from this relatively new studio wizard who's already turned heads working with some fantastic high profile artists.

TRACK LISTING

Leonard
Parenthesis
Hold My Head
So They Say
Family Tree
Hooper
Still
Moire
Get Around
Eternal
Last Words
Drop 10
The Perch
Really Really
That Third Thing
Rotten
Hot Hand

London group The Tubs return to Trouble In Mind with their hotly anticipated full-length album entitled “Dead Meat”. The band were formed in 2018 from the ashes of beloved UK post-punk band Joanna Gruesome by former members Owen 'O' Williams and George 'GN' Nicholls. By incorporating elements of post-punk, traditional British folk, and guitar jangle seasoned by nonchalant Cleaners From Venus-influenced pop hooks and contemporary antipodean indie bands (Twerps/Goon Sax, et al).

“Dead Meat” is resplendent in hi-fidelity strum & thrum, incorporating fleeting elements of post-punk and indie jangle, but the group’s penchant for trad British folk & Canterbury folk-rock takes a noticeable, caffeinated step forward. Echoes of Fairport Convention’s decidedly English chime cross swords with singer Owen Williams’ lyrics directing Bryan Ferry’s “thinking man’s libertine” persona into a more dolorous outlook. Many songs (like “Round The Bend” and “Duped”) soar with an urgent strum under Williams’ acerbic lyrics, recalling a younger fiery Richard Thompson. They languish in an aching, bitter resignation (of both the situations described & the protagonist’s place in it), particularly near the album’s second half. Others like the previously released “I Don’t Know How It Works”, “Two Person Love” and “Illusion” (re-presented here as “Illusion Pt. II” and all rerecorded from their original 7-inch versions) up the urgency, implying that the journey for the person described in each tune is not over & may be even more desperate than before. The band has never been tighter & more dynamic, often imperceptibly ratcheting up the tension, an extra guitar strum overdubbed, a barely audible organ/synth cranking under a chorus or bridge, or unexpected backups from current Ex-Vöid (and ex-Joanna Gruesome) vocalist Lan McArdle. The Tubs are poised to take over your stereo - there’s no point in resisting.

TRACK LISTING

1. Illusion Pt. II
2. Two-Person Love
3. I Don’t Know How It Works
4. Dead Meat
5. Sniveller
6. Duped
7. That’s Fine
8. Round The Bend
9. Wretched Lie

There are times in our life when we feel magic in the air. When new love arrives, or we find ourselves lost in a moment of creation with others who share our vision. A sense that: this is who I want to be. This is what I want to share. It’s a fleeting feeling and one that Kyle Thomas, the singer-songwriter who records and performs as King Tuff, found himself longing for in the spring of 2020.

But knowing he couldn’t simply recreate this time in his life at will, Thomas—who hails from Brattleboro, Vermont—set out to write a love letter to those cherished moments of inspiration and to the small town that formed him. The one where he first nurtured his songwriting impulses, bouncing ideas off other like-minded artists. The kind of place where the changing of the seasons always delivered a sense of perspective and fresh artistic inspiration. Where he felt a deeper connection with nature and sense of community that had once been so close at hand. And so, Thomas seized upon his memories, creating what he calls “an album about love and nature and youth.”

The result is Smalltown Stardust, a spiritual, tender and ultimately joyous record that might come as a shock to those with only a passing knowledge of the artist’s back catalog. On Smalltown Stardust, Thomas takes us on his journey to a place where past and present collide, where he can be a dreamer in love with all that he sees. References to his Brattleboro upbringing abound, but at the core of Smalltown Stardust is Thomas’s desire to commune with nature on a spiritual level. Images of the natural world, from blizzards to green mountains to cloudy days, fill the songs. “I consider nature to be my religion,” he explains, and Smalltown Stardust is nothing if not a spiritual exploration.

While so much of Smalltown Stardust invokes idealized traces and places of Thomas’s past, the album’s recording process made his communal vision a reality. Thomas’s Los Angeles home in 2020 formed a micro-scene of sorts, with housemates Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) and Sasami Ashworth recording their own heralded albums (2021’s Fun House and 2022’s Squeeze, respectively) at the same time. A shared spirit dominated an era spent largely on the premises, with Thomas serving as engineer and contributor to both records, and Ashworth working as co-producer on Smalltown Stardust. Ashworth’s contributions are vital to the album: she co-wrote a majority of the record and contributed vocals, arrangements, and instrumentation to each song.

In the end, Smalltown Stardust is not merely a nostalgia trip. Thomas not only conjured a special time in his life, he found new inspiration, surrounded by collaborators and a sense of love and wonder for nature. If the first King Tuff record was content to merely state Thomas was no longer dead, Smalltown Stardust is a paean to what that life means. A statement of belief and a hymnal to the magic still to behold all around us.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Smalltown Stardust is at it's heart an exploration of psychedelia but it's so joyously presented, effortlessly lurching from 60s psych to folky minimalism, via clashing garage rock. There are snippets of uplifting synths and pristine production but it never sounds less that thoroughly organic and wholly absorbing.

TRACK LISTING

Love Letters To Plants
How I Love
A Meditation
Portrait Of God
Smalltown Stardust
Pebbles In A Stream
Tell Me
Rock River
The Bandits Of Blue Sky
Always Find Me
The Wheel

With 'Parallel Light', AndrewWasylyk offers an alternative mix album to 2020's spiritual-jazz and neo-classical masterclass in melody, 'Fugitive Light And Themes Of Consolation'. This new LP, his third with Athens Of North Records, is as much a different perspective as a companion piece.

The ten songs still circle landscapes for meaning, channelling half-heard melodies and misremembered memories; caught somewhere between settling down and setting out towards the shining levels of the estuary and beyond. Each magnifying the bold, expansive arrangements of FL&TOC with layers are lifted and peeled away.

The soft-focus glow of gently pressed piano keys, the well and wash of strings and brass remain, but the deduction of instrumentation serves to highlight the ornate and offers comfort with this new found space. In the warmth reshaped, a romanticism illuminated.

At the essence of these reframed compositions Wasylyk's blue and gold, mellifluous refrains prevail. It's a seamless, sublime flow from a restless artists and an album quietly reawakened.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Love a bit of Wasylyk, me. For those of you that loved Parallel Light, this is MORE of that stunning loveliness, brimming with moments of tension and release and the same tender melodies. Reworked versions still swim with the soul of the original LP but with the background and textures pulling into view a whole world of harmonic variation.

TRACK LISTING

1. A Further Look At Loss (Alternate Mix)
2. Last Sunbeans Of Childhood (Alternate Mix)
3. Fugitive Light Restless Water
4. The Violet Hour (Alternate Mix)
5. Everywhere Something Sublime (Alternate Mix)
6. In Balgay Silhouettes (Alternate Mix)
7. Awoke In The Early Days Of A Better World (Alternate Mix)
8. (Half Light Of) The Cadmium Moon
9. Black Bay Dream Minor (Alternate Mix)
10. Lost, Aglow

Many serendipitous moments have led to the creation of the musical project known as Complete Mountain Almanac. The first of these temporal alignments came at a chance meeting between two visionaries - Norwegianborn, Sweden-based singer and composer Rebekka Karijord and American-born, Italy-based poet, dancer, and multimedia artist Jessica Dessner.

Jessica and Rebekka began collaborating, with Jessica providing poems and lyrics for Rebekka to compose music to. While Jessica is not a musician per se, as a dancer she naturally has a deep understanding of music as an artform. On top of that, she comes from a musical family: her twin younger brothers, Aaron and Bryce Dessner, are accomplished multi-instrumentalists, most known as part of indie rock stalwarts The National.

The album consists of twelve tracks, each named after a month of the year. Some have a meditative, almost hypnotic quality, using Jessica’s words as healing mantras. Sonically, the album cycles through folk, classical, chamber music and everything in between, creating a cocoon-like atmosphere that draws the listener into a stand-alone universe. It’s a marriage of the inner and outer worlds, illness and rejuvenation, grief and joy.

Therein lies the idea of the almanac: having a guide to see you through each day, some kind of idea of what the future holds in uncertain times. But even as the project came together over the course of years, Rebekka and Jessica were always able to return to the core of their friendship to keep them on course, and the result is what might be one of the most important works of their respective careers.

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: An evocative, heartfelt collection of understated folky ballads and ethereal melodies, presented by Rebekka Karijord and Jessica Dessner. It's rich with atmosphere and aided in no small part by the inclusion of Rebecca's brothers Aaron and Bryce of The National. A perfectly balanced trade-off of melody and ambience.

TRACK LISTING

January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

London-based ‘indie-supergroup’ SUEP announce their long-awaited debut mini-album Shop, a collection of six oddball, car-boot-sale pop songs with a sprinkling of theatrical storytelling. Led by Georgie Stott (of Porridge Radio, Garden Centre) and Josh Harvey, SUEP was born out of a near-decade of playing in sheds and barns with like minded personnel, holding a mutual love for Paul McCartney, Jona Lewie, the B-52s, Devo and other performative freaks enjoying themselves.

Following a move to London from Brighton, the pair added George Nicholls (The GN Band, Joanna Gruesome, The Tubs), Will William Deacon (PC World, Garden Centre), and Ollie Chapman (Boil King) to the line-up. The five-piece take turns writing songs and taking the lead vocal duties in a wonderfully playful but coherent collaboration, with their debut mini-album Shop being a kaleidoscopic off kilter pop ride, taking the listener through haunted castles, deprived encounters, days lost to the imagination in bed, and through the integral friendships that give SUEP the energy to keep dancing to their own beat.

The album was arranged and recorded in the Red Lion Boys Club, an ex-youth centre in which Georgie and Josh both lived. Using equipment collected by Josh in his travels as a bootsale and market trader, the sports hall was transformed into a makeshift studio for a few days, with sessions conducted by producer Matthew Green (Sniffany & The Nits, The Tubs, etc.)

Mark Riley (BBC 6 Music) described SUEP’s debut single and album opener, ‘Domesticated Dream’ (2021) as “perfect pop music.” The joyfully kitsch track brims with a 70s Yamaha disco beat, deep bass, nostalgic drum machines, and hooky melodies. Possibly the most psychedelic and infectious track born out of lockdown, it tackles homelife, drinking too much, and making big plans that never come to fruition, but with a big technicoloured positivity for the future of the human-race, with the chorus’ refrain, “the psychedelic 4000s,” predicting the return of the psychedelic Age of Aquarius in a couple of millennia time.

The following single ‘Misery’ (2021) is pure cosmic swing-pop wizardry in part inspired by spy music and The Supremes. Ollie, The track’s baritone vocalist, describes it as “A love song disguised as a song about loss. It's about cherishing the things that matter but it’s also about having the courage to say goodbye,” with each line of the song a small story about a different character.

Whilst latest Shop taster ‘In Good Health’ is darkly euphoric like a pleasantly strange meeting of Siouxsie Sioux and Jona Lewie. It’s a playfully discombobulating mix of 80s jangly guitar, chirpy keyboard and moody post-punk tackling mental health, drug addiction, and the power of friendship, written after the song’s vocalist Georgie came out of hospital following a mental health crisis. “I wanted to write a song that encapsulated how important my relationships with my friends and boyfriend were at that time” she explains “…and one that also felt dark like I did at the time. I couldn’t go outside due to anxiety surrounding my health so I stayed inside for weeks. People would visit and watch films with me or let me tattoo them or make music with me. My community helped me recover.”

Elsewhere on Shop is ‘Just The Job’ fronted by Harvey and described by him as “About the relief of accepting a menial existence, and allowing life to be boring - but (within that) how the small things are the important ones, how pulling a sicky or extra long lunch break are important things to do for yourself, and how easy it is to miss the joy of every day once you get comfortable in a routine.” It’s an anthem for working people who’ve had enough - and a crowd favourite at SUEP gigs.

The darker undertones and post-punk angles of the Georgie-fronted ‘Onions’ is inspired by the crapness of cliques, with the band calling the song “A cry of welcome to all;” and finally the hooky ‘Friend of Mine,’ described as “A love letter to all the people that come and go throughout your life no matter how long you know them” - another number recalling Jona Lewie, mixed with a little sprinkling of Jonathan Richman in Harvey’s vocal delivery.

SUEP have received coverage in Independent & Clash, (among many others), with big support from Mark Riley and Steve Lamacq (BBC 6 Music) for early singles. They have played countless gigs over the last couple of years, with their first ever headline show at London’s Stag Head selling out immediately, toured with contemporaries such as Garden Centre and Ex-Void, and performed at 2022’s The Great Escape.

SUEP’s mini-album Shop was recorded in February 2020 within two days with producer Matthew Green (Sniffany & The Nits, The Tubs, etc.) at Georgie and Josh’s old home, the Red Lion Boys Club youth centre in Surrey Quays, with the old sports hall being made into a makeshift studio. It was later mixed by Mike O’Malley (caroline, Girl Ray).

STAFF COMMENTS

Andy says: 'Shop' is an endlessly joyous and fiendishly hummable selection of upbeat pop anthems skilfully spanning disco, lounge jazz and art rock and pulling them all together into a surprisingly cohesive whole. At points quaint and minimalistic, while wonderfully widescreen in others. It's a perfect example of a fun release, without ever being too twee to enjoy.

TRACK LISTING

A
1) Domesticated Dream
2) Friend Of Mine
3) Onions
B
4) Misery
5) In Good Health
6) Just A Job

Green Dream in F# is a culmination of The Bug Club universe that has been constructed over the course of two sold out EPs, a couple of standalone singles, and the kind of relentless touring the band has quickly become known for. ‘It’s Art’ is a typically short piece of garage pop perfection, beginning quietly and with singer and guitarist Sam Willmett listing the band’s musical heroes in the manner similar to one of those he namechecks: Jonathan Richman. The band’s ever-present sardonic wit is at the forefront, as they question the meaning and purpose of art - and in turn themselves - before throwing in a blistering guitar riff and the trademark duel-vocals between Sam and Tilly Harris (bass, vocals) before things get too serious.

The band say this first single sets the tone for the album, and musically it presents us with a refined version of what we have come to expect on the basis of previous releases: whip-smart pop songs performed flawlessly and with humour by one of the tightest musical units going. As indicated by the names of both first single and album, The Bug Club’s debut LP shows the band taking a long, hard look at the way the music industry - and by extension the art world - takes itself so seriously, and deciding to ignore that and carry on doing things on their own terms.

Riding atop drummer Dan Matthew’s relentlessly solid foundation, Green Dream in F# packs in 14 tracks covering favourite The Bug Club topics including space, small town life, love and swearing. Sam and Tilly’s playing could be virtuosic if they were in any way arrogant, but they’re not, and so well-crafted and at times complex guitar work sits neatly within the sharp song structures that never stick around too long, and backs engaging and, at times, laugh-out-loud funny lyrical storytelling.

Following the remarkable DIY success of early EPs Launching Moondream One and Pure Particles (also available via Bingo Records), Green Dream in F# shows a band not at all phased by the prospect of putting out their debut full length. Instead, they use the space to stretch their abilities and create something as cohesive, involved and engrossing as you’d expect the imaginary, dog-directed symphony their LP’s name pokes fun at to be.

TRACK LISTING

1. Only In Love
2. Six O’Clock News
3. Little Coy Space Boy
4. Love Is A Painting
5. It’s Art
6. Love For Two
7. My Guy
8. Going Down
9. Yesterday’s Paper
10. Sitting On The Rings Of Saturn
11. Christmas Lullaby
12. Love Letters From Jupiter
13. Some Things Sound Better In Space
14. Green Dream In F#

New York’s very own JW Francis announces his brand new album ‘Dream House’ – his third with London based label Sunday Best Recordings. Coinciding with the announcement is the gloriously up-beat new single ‘Casino,’ which offers a glimpse into what to expect on his forthcoming feel-good LP. When JW isn’t writing songs about his own life or surreal imagery, he writes about other people – most notably around the month of February when he writes valentines songs on his fans’ behalf. ‘Dream House’ encapsulates all of this and forms a collection of glorious tracks written for other people: “Every year, about 6 weeks before Valentine’s Day, I make the following post on social media: “If you send me the name of your Valentine, and the reason you love them, I’ll write a song for them on your behalf.” That is how Dream House was born, 3 years ago. Over the past three years, I have received over 300 requests from fans to write songs for their loved ones. All of the songs on Dream House come from this project, some of them have been reworked to speak more to the artist’s life, others have remained exactly as they were first written.

Ultimately, this is an album about caring for others, and the way we express it.” Written and recorded at the start of 2021 in NYC, ‘Dream House’ is slightly reminiscent of The Strokes and even has hints of Lou Reed, however the project is still quintessential JW Francis with its blissful melodies and dreamy instrumentation; perfectly fitting given the album’s title.

TRACK LISTING

1. Going Home To A Party
2. Casino
3. Dream House
4. Our Story
5. Swooning
6. Keep It Cool, Steve
7. All Night Long
8. Dream Big
9. I Wanna Be Your Basketball
10. Take Me Away
11. You're Changing
12. Sweet As A Rose

If naming is a form of claiming, of being claimed, how is one tethered to both the physical landscape that surrounds us, as well as our own internal emotional landscape at times calm, at times turbulent, and ever changing? H.C. McEntire’s new album Every Acre grapples with those themes that encompass grief, loss, and links to land and loved ones. And naming claiming land, claiming self, being claimed by ancestry and heritage permeates the hauntingly beautiful landscape that is this poignant collection of songs.

The songs straddle the line between music and poetry. In “New View,” McEntire cites poets “Day, Ada, and Laux, Berry, and Olds” fixtures in the world of writing, whose works are beacons of light over bleak horizons. The beginning of the song is backed by soft guitar plucks that fall on the downbeat and spangle like stars, and, throughout, guitar, bass, and drums swell together gently, mimicking ebbing and flowing tides under the moon. McEntire’s voice (at once tender and fierce) intones the truth of both giving and taking, releasing and claiming: “Bend me, break me, split me right in two. Mend me, make me I’ll take more of you.”

Permeated by heartbeat-like drums, “Shadows” develops quiet ruminations on surrender and loss reminiscing, moving on. This ponderous, dreamlike song asks the question of how “to make room.” How does one make room, for self and for renewal and surrender, when it is so difficult to leave what you know behind? Playing with slivers of descending chromatics, along with the occasional downward-stepping bass, here McEntire yearns for home, and for nesting.

Perhaps one of the more grief-stricken songs, “Rows of Clover” is a lamentation, one that touches on the loss of a “steadfast hound.” The lone piano in the beginning of the song is rhythmically hymn-like. The stark verse arrangement gradually leads to a chorus that reads like a moody exhale, swollen with lush guitar strums and a Bill Withers–esque understated soul groove. But what stands out the most is an image of being “down on your knees, clawing at the garden” the only explicit mention of a person in the song. “It ain’t the easy kind of healing,” sings McEntire, seemingly from further and further away as her voice echoes; and healing ta;kes time, time takes time truths that linger painfully.

“Dovetail” is a song that tells of various women. The song moves back and forth between solo piano and the addition of bass and drums under vocals. McEntire’s gentle, trembling vibrato harmonized in thirds in a celebratory manner calls to mind a rejoicing psalm and shines through these images, leaving the listener cuttingly fraught with emotions such as wonder, sadness, nostalgia that can only arise with these juxtapositions.

Gracious (and graceful) with its lilting melodies and lush harmonies, Every Acre explores the acres of our physical and emotional homes. These songs are reaching for the kind of home that we all seek: one where we can rest and lay down (or tuck away) our burdens of loss. And maybe, moving through every acre of a world that often tries to tear our sense of identity and heritage down, McEntire sheds light on what it is to be human in this life both stingy and gracious, both hurtful and kind.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. New View
2. Shadows (feat. S.G. Goodman)
3. Turpentine (feat. Amy Ray)
4. Dovetail
SIDE B
5. Rows Of Clover
6. Big Love
7. Soft Crook
8. Wild For The King
9. Gospel Of A Certain Kind

Oozing Wound are comprised of members Zack Weil (guitar, vocals), Kevin Cribbin (bass) and Kyle Reynolds (drums).

The members of Oozing Wound are veterans of Chicago’s underground scene, having played in Cacaw, Unmanned Ship, ZATH and Bad Drugs

TRACK LISTING

Bank Account Anxiety
Total Existence Failure
The Good Times (I Don’t Miss ‘Em)
Hypnic Jerk
Crypto Fash
Between Cults
Chudly
Midlife Crisis Actor
Old Sludge
Face Without Eyes

15 years after the album’s release, ‘City Of Echoes’ is now available in a deluxe 2LP edition, newly remastered by Josh Bonati and featuring a full LP’s-worth of bonus material, including original album demos, alternate takes, and pieces originally only available on the rare ‘Pink Mammoth’ EP.

‘City Of Echoes’, originally released in 2007 by Hydra Head Records, marked a paradigm shift for Pelican. Coming off the heels of the glacial ‘Australasia’ and their even more expansive and acclaimed follow-up, ‘The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw’, their third album is a study in precision.

Inspired by their non-stop tour schedule following ‘The Fire In Our Throats Will Beckon The Thaw’’s release, the quartet composed ‘City Of Echoes’ to be a lean powerhouse of non-stop melodic hooks and lurching rhythms that reflected the energy of live performance.

Guitarists Trevor Shelley de Brauw and Laurent Schroeder-Lebec trade crisp riffs that twirl in opposition before thundering together in monoliths. The sheer amount of potent interplay between the two, often borrowing from disparate edges of rock and metal at a whim before completely transforming, is mind-boggling. Bassist Bryan Herweg and rhythm section compatriot / drummer / brother Larry Herweg lock into a wider array of grooves than ever before. Their considered bedrock guides the band’s dynamics into some of the ensemble’s most tender moments as well as their most ferocious.

Recorded by Andrew Schneider at Electrical Audio Cover. Art designed by ISIS and SUMAC founder Aaron Turner, with photography by Robin Laananen.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: One of my favourite post-metal bands of all time, Pelican so seeing this beautiful LP again a full FIFTEEN years after its original release is a big treat. Churning grooves, walls of sound and cathartic, doom-laiden noise. Unlike 'The Fire In Our Throats...' and 'Australasia', we see a lot more melody and melodic-leanings on this LP, and though they were both classics, the lightening of the instrumental palette works wonders for them. Ace.

TRACK LISTING

Bliss In Concrete
City Of Echoes
Spaceship Broken - Parts Needed
Winds With Hands
Dead Between The Walls
Lost In The Headlights
Far From Fields
A Delicate Sense Of Balance

Gemma Ray takes an unexpected detour from her acclaimed psych-soul and torch song oeuvre with a hard-edged experiment in cinematic electronica.

Epic despite its underlying simplicity and groove, ‘Gemma Ray & The Death Bell Gang’ blends the funereal and the sinister with tenderness and yearning, with a dash of automaton-pop and a Dada-esque playfulness for good measure. Front and centre are Gemma’s trademark stirring voice and harmonies.

Released on eco-mix and splatter coloured vinyl formats, with download card and exclusive pull-out poster by British painter Deryk Thomas (Swans, Angels of Light).

The record was recorded at Tempelhof Flughafen in Berlin and features collaborations from sound designer Ralf Goldkind (Fantastichen Vier, Mona Mur), lap steel player Kristof Hahn (Swans), and syncussion by Andy Zammit (Jon Spencer).

Accompanying videos for the singles ‘Come Oblivion’, ‘Howling’ and ‘Procession’ by animator Lucy Dyson (Paul McCartney, Beyonce, Courtney Barnett).

TRACK LISTING

No Love
Procession
Be Still
Howling
Come Oblivion
Tempelhof Desert Inn
I Am Not Who I Am
The Point That Tears
All These Things
Blowing Up Rocks

Sightless Pit is Lee Buford (The Body) and Dylan Walker (Full of Hell), two unparalleled artists at the forefront of redefining heavy music.

‘Lockstep Bloodwar’ is Sightless Pit’s sophomore album, following the band’s acclaimed debut ‘Grave of a Dog’, which featured Lingua Ignota, as well as The Body and Full of Hell’s collaborative album, ‘Ascending a Mountain of Heavy Light’.

The album includes eclectic and celebrated guest artists, including Gangsta Boo (Three 6 Mafia), YoshimiO (Boredoms), Frukwan (Gravediggaz), claire rousay, Midwife, Lane Shii Otayonii (Elizabeth Colour Wheel), Foie Gras, and more.

TRACK LISTING

On A Knife (feat Midwife)
Calcified Glass (feat YoshimiO & Gangsta Boo)
Flower To Tomb (feat Lane Shi Otayonii)
Lockstep Bloodwar
Low Orbit (feat Frukwan & Industrial Hazard)
False Epiphany (feat Claire rousay)
Shiv (feat Crownovhornz)
Morning Of A Thousand Lights
Futilities (feat Foie Gras)

In 2015, Dan Auerbach entered the studio with Leon Michels, Nick Movshon, Homer Steinweiss, and the late Richard Swift (who passed away in 2018) to record The Arcs' debut album Yours, Dreamily in a handful of freewheeling sessions over two weeks. Now, more than 7 years later, those same sessions became the bedrock on which the surviving members fleshed out the anticipated follow-up album, Electrophonic Chronic, a collection of psychedelic rock, gritty funk, and heady, soulful grooves.

The Arcs was formed when Dan Auerbach enlisted Leon Michels, a multi-instrumentalist who was part of the studio crew on Auerbach’s GRAMMY-nominated production projects for Dr. John and Lana Del Rey – "I just wanted to do my thing and get extra weird." Auerbach headed into the studio with Michels, Movshon, Steinweiss, and Swift, and made their debut Yours, Dreamily, which was recorded in a handful of freewheeling sessions lasting less than two weeks and released in September 2015.

Those same sessions produced a second unfinished album worth of tracks, the bedrock on which the surviving members fleshed out the highly anticipated follow-up album, Electrophonic Chronic.

"Like a cigarette flicked on a stream of gasoline. The snarling melodies, warbling horn lines and in-the-pocket beats transport listeners into the album's pulpy world of '70s exploitation films and gritty biker-gang movies." - NPR

Produced by Dan Auerbach and Leon Michels, and mixed by the legendary Tchad Blake. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Keep On Dreamin’
2. Eyez
3. Heaven Is A Place
4. Califone Interlude
5. River
6. Sunshine
7. A Man Will Do No Wrong
8. Behind The Eyes
9. Backstage Mess Interlude
10. Love Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
11. Only One For Me 

There’s a line on Honey, the latest album from Nashville-via-NYC songwriter Samia, about Aspen Grove, a collection of 40,000 trees in the plains of North America, all connected by a single expansive root system. There’s no stronger metaphor for the audience the 25-year-old empathy engine has been generating since she began releasing music seven years ago. Her songs, her fans, her friends: one enormous, interconnected ecosystem. Honey, comprised of eleven new moments of catharsis, is by and for that organism. The album was recorded at North Carolina studio Betty’s – owned and operated by Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sandborn and Amelia Meath, frequent touring partners of Samia’s. It was produced by Caleb Wright, part of the team that helmed Samia’s breakthrough 2020 debut The Baby, and a founding member of one of Samia’s favorite bands, The Happy Children. It features some of her nearest and dearest friends: Christian Lee Hutson, Briston Maroney, Jake Luppen, Raffaella. Its songs were surreptitiously road tested for her devotees while opening for Lucy Dacus, Courtney Barnett, and more. The end result is what Samia calls simply “a real community record.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Kill Her Freak Out
2. Charm You
3. Pink Balloon
4. Mad At Me
5. Sea Lions
6. To Me It Was
7. Breathing Song
8. Honey
9. Nanana
10. Amelia
11. Dream Song

"It is my great pleasure to introduce you to the second volume of the "Japanese Jazz Spectacle" series. Following the first compilation which focused on recordings from the Nippon Columbia catalog, this time we are digging into the King Records archives. It is almost impossible to capture the whole picture of Wa-Jazz in a couple of compilation albums since it is such a broad and deep genre, however, by extracting tracks from the Nippon Columbia and King Records collections - both labels having an extensive archive of jazz music - we may be able to glimpse a part of its allure and essence. This time again, I have made the music selection with this idea in mind. The music in this compilation was recorded between 1962 and 1985 and is a brief history of Japanese jazz on King Records. Listening is believing, so I hope these tracks will capture your heart and that you will enjoy the charms of Japanese jazz." - Yusuke Ogawa

Yusuke Ogawa has been running the Universounds store in Tokyo since 2001, specializing in jazz and second-hand, rare, and collector records. He is also a reissue supervisor, label manager, DJ, and music writer. Known for his vast musical knowledge, eye for detail, and archival skills, Ogawa has worked on more than 250 reissues and compilations – including the highly praised Deep Jazz Reality and Project Re:Vinyl series. He is the co-author of the Wa-Jazz Disc Guide and the Independent Black Jazz of America books.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Another winning set from WaJazz, shining a light on Japan's King Records across two decades. Ranging from wild honk to louche lounge and dazzling jazz-funk; it's a supreme collection for any lover of the genre.

TRACK LISTING

1. Toshiaki Yokota & The Beat Generation - Clair Deluge
2. Tadao Sawai & Toshiyuki Miyama & New Herd Orchestra - Constant Rain
3. Akira Miyazawa - Yamame
4. Various Artists - Ma Mère L'Oye
5. Masao Yagi - Blossom In The Water
6. Masahiko Togashi & Isao Suzuki - A Day Of The Sun
7. Yasuko Nagamine & Yasuaki Shimizu - Summer Wind
8. Hideo Shiraki - Sayonara Blues
9. Masahiko Togashi & His Improvisation Jazz Orchestra - Desireless
10. Takeru Muraoka & His New Group - Lady Boogie
11. Yoshio Ikeda - Down To The Sea
12. George Otsuka Quintet - Loving You

For the past 20 years Nostalgia 77 has become a catch all for the musical life of Benedic Lamdin. His schizophrenic offerings range from songwriting sessions, soundtracks, excursions into Soul and in this case Jazz. The Loneliest Flower in the Village is an album that sees Lamdin reunited with longtime collaborator and arranger Riaan Vosloo and experienced veterans from a host of Nostalgia 77 projects.

'It had been a long time since we'd gigged or recorded so the idea was as much a little reunion in the studio as any grand plan to record an album' says Lamdin. 'The idea wasn't to do anything new (the material is both a few originals and a few covers), more just hear these players and their easy familiarity with each other after the disruption of Covid'.

Playing a clutch of originals by Riaan Vosloo and James Allsopp and covers by long term influences from South Africa such as Chris MacGregor and Abdullah Ibrahim, the emphasis is on strong melodies and open reaches for the soloists. The title track draws upon the song written by South African bassist Johnny Dyani and the result is spectacular; British jazz at heart but awash with references to South Africa and its strong jazz heritage.

'I'm pleased to say that I think this record is the best account of how the band (playing in this lineup since about 2010 ) sounds live. Full of energy and ranging from serene to firing on all cylinders.'

TRACK LISTING

1. Dakar
2. Ishmael
3. The Sun Is Big
4. The Hooper
5. Flower
6. Love In Outer Space

*****COMPETITION TIME!****** ORDER A COPY OF THE LP ON ANY FORMAT THIS WEEK AND BE ENTERED INTO THE DRAW TO WIN A BANNER FEATURING THE ALBUM ARTWORK, SIGNED BY THE BAND!

The Murder Capital’s first album ‘When I Have Fears’ had all its songs written and recorded within the first 9 months of the band knowing each other.

Now, with ‘Gigi’s Recovery’, the band had to learn to navigate their personal relationships through the relationships they harnessed with these new songs. Without knowing what these songs would sound like, the band knew what they wanted them to feel like- and worked backwards from there - “We had this slightly tongue-in-cheek mantra at the near-beginning of writing this record, it was - The evolution will not be compromised. This kept us on a course, even when we didn’t know where we were going”. And that’s exactly how The Murder Capital ended up with an album that is both totally pure and yet completely confident in its direction.

STAFF COMMENTS

Liam says: Easily one of my most anticipated records of the year, 'Gigi's Recovery' sees The Murder Capital firmly acknowledging and thriving within their musical evolution. Whilst their post-punk core remains solidly intact, 'Gigi's Recovery' sees the Irish quintet striding towards new sonic territories - with some tracks showing glimpses of post-rock and Radiohead-esque breakdowns. Frontman James McGovern poetic lyricism remains one of The Murder Capital's strongest attributes, commanding each track with hypnotic exposition. Full of passion and spirited urgency, but also moments of tender nuance, 'Gigi's Recovery' firmly plants itself as an early contender for one of best albums of 2023.

TRACK LISTING

1. Existence
2. Crying 
3. Return My Head
4. Ethel
5. The Stars Will Leave Their Stage
6. Belonging
7. The Lie Becomes The Self
8. A Thousand Lives
9. We Had To Disappear
10. Only Good Things
11. Gigi's Recovery
12. Exist

Ladytron return with their highly anticipated 7th studio album ‘Time’s Arrow’. The scouse natives show off everything that hard earned fans can count on - crystalline melodies enveloped in icy textures and rippling arpeggios - with touches of indie pop, shoegaze, disco, and industrial music

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Ladytron return for their sleekest and most pristine offering yet, with euphoric synth sweeps and grand, 80's-tinged percussive rolls. It's a sound that's familiar in today's musical landscape but one that Ladytron have been doing for some time, and it shows. Perfectly produced synth-pop from one of the original and best.

TRACK LISTING

1. City Of Angels
2. Faces
3. Misery Remember Me
4. Flight From Angkor
5. We Never Went Away
6. The Night
7. The Dreamers
8. Sargasso Sea
9. California
10. Time’s Arrow

Relocating home to Zambia during the pandemic, Sampa sought to reconnect with a different side of herself, a side that is freer and closer in resemblance to the younger artistry she cultivated growing up in Africa. This process of discovery would become the gateway to revealing her highest version of self. Choosing to collaborate with creatives Rochelle Nembhard and Imraan Christian from South Africa, As Above, So Below introduces us to a 360 Sampa, unveiling her many sides for the first time. From the funny to the serious to the sensual, As Above is Sampa outside’s self, and So Below, is the Sampa within, together uniting to reveal the most authentic version of Sampa, without a mask, or role to play.

As Above, So Below is anchored by spoken word in Bemba. The record delves into Sampa’s memories of Africa, Africa’s relationship to the world and what womanhood in Africa means to the world. We are also introduced to the persona of Eve, the highest version of Sampa that speaks to all facets of her womanhood.

The musical styles of As Above, So Below reflect the hybridity of Sampa’s upbringing. Raised in Botswana (a different country to her birthplace in Zambia), and then going on to attend school in different countries again, Sampa picked up varied musical influences along the way. Each style has attached itself to her own musical encyclopedia, and finds a new mode for expression throughout the record.

TRACK LISTING

1. Shadows
2. Lane Ft. Denzel Curry
3. Never Forget Ft. Chef 187, Tio Nason, Mwanjé
4. Mask On Ft. Joey Bada$$
5. BONA
6. Can I Live Ft. W.I.T.C.H
7. Imposter Syndrome Ft. James Sakala
8. Tilibobo
9. Lo Rain Ft. Mwanjé
10. IDGAF Ft. Kojey Radical
11. Let Me Be Great Ft Angélique Kidjo

“I started to think about what I could do to challenge my own listeners,” says Ian Black aka SLUG. “And what would be my angle without just releasing 40 minutes of generic bad music?”

This was a question that Black found himself asking after thinking about albums made by revered artists who released specific records that some of their loyal fanbase hated - Arctic Monkeys and Tranquillity Base Hotel and Casino, Leonard Cohen and Death of a Ladies Man, Lou Reed and Berlin. “My friend likened Lou’s Berlin to ‘Andrew Lloyd Webber on a horrendous drug come down’. Andrew Lloyd Webber on a horrendous drug come down? That sounds amazing!”

Although Thy Socialite!, the first release from Field Music’s new record label Daylight Saving Records, is not the sound of Lloyd Webber quivering and sweating in a rotting Berlin flat but instead, a fun, joyous, audacious record of hard rock, glam, and pop that ranges from arena to art school. “I wanted to include a more rockist palette,” Black says. “My last album, Higgledypiggledy, had influences including The Cardiacs, Prince and The Residents. For this one I wanted to see what I could get out of less indie audience friendly artists such as Toto, Sweet, Wings, Def Leppard and ZZ Top and merge it with a SLUG sensibility. Due to the more rock approach, I was happy for the album to become a big classic rock unit - pompous even.”

However, simply a pastiche and nostalgic throwback this isn’t. Despite the playful nods to some of the more grandiose, theatrical and overblown elements of the aforementioned genre, it’s also an album with a contemporary pop edge, slick production and a tangible connection to SLUG’s previous deft mix of indie, rock and art pop.

The result of all of this is an album that is fun and unpredictable but also conceptually smart, ambitious and adventurous. A place where classic hard rock and smart art-pop are treated equal, and where taking the piss doesn’t have to equate to being novelty or disposable. It was all part of the challenge that Black set himself from the off when he asked himself “how could I challenge the SLUG listener but bring them on a new fresh journey which will confuse them at first but they will ultimately love?”

For David Brewis of Field Music, it was the ideal first record to kick off their new label. "This seemed like the perfect start for Daylight Saving Records," he says. "We've always loved what Ian does and it's been a thrill over the years to help Ian dig these wild musical ideas out from his brain. Now we can have a hand in putting them into people's ears too."

STAFF COMMENTS

Martin says: A reasonably bonkers, shockingly cohesive mashing together of spiky math-rock, dreamy prog and slick indie music that never strays far enough from the melody to be prohibitive. There are definitely echoes of fellow North-Easterner Richard Dawson here too and that's certainly no bad thing.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Insults Sweet Like Treacle
Please Turn It Up
Casual Cruelty
Instant Reaction
Honestly Subjective 'Bout Your Own Thing
Lovingly Legerdemain
Wow (Whatta Gurl)
Side B
Depends On What You Think Is Nice
Be A Good Martyr!
Settled With A Wink
I Love That Actually
Silly Little Things That We Do
Cut Of Your Jib

Eva Louise Goodman’s Nighttime project locates itself on a musical tree planted on the British Isles, perched atop the branch of folk leaning into sixties rock. Her upstate New York environs don’t stray far from that image. With tempered percussion, floating mellotron, and singing that evokes Bleecker & MacDougal on a fervent Saturday afternoon, her new album Keeper Is The Heart reaches deep into the essence of musicians such as Vashti Bunyan, Sibylle Baier and Pentangle, breaking down the decades into a sound thoroughly and bizarrely modern.

Through her years performing with Mutual Benefit, Goodman fell in love with life on the road and the collaborative energy of a band. In this third Nighttime album, she channels these experiences into her own music. The creative journey from writing to recording to mixing drove her deeper into a sense of self while expanding her sound. In the process, she put aside lo-fi origins and challenged herself to achieve the same intimacy with a bigger production.

Like most paths of self-discovery, the journey started with displacement. In October 2019, Goodman set out to record the album on her own, while cat-sitting at a friend’s empty Brooklyn apartment. Rather than recording, she was drawn to the overgrown garden, where she spent her days listening to music and reading old journals. Charlie Megira, The Incredible String Band and Roy Montgomery invoked the spirit of the album, as she realized that a new, more collaborative approach would be necessary to bring the songs to life.

In March 2021, after a pandemic year immersed in sound experimentation and writing, she entered the upstate New York studio of recording engineer Rick Spataro (Florist). Together, Spataro and Goodman dove into creating the album, recording one song a day, letting the spark and excitement of spontaneity be their guide. “I've always been fascinated with ‘automatic’ arts,” Goodman says, “where things are created intuitively and without premeditation, from the subconscious.” In this light, they worked with abandon– pushing through the heaviness of songs written years earlier with the same energy as songs which were not yet fully developed. Taking chances, improvising, they sought to strip away pretense, and elude perfectionism at all cost.

Among their experiments, the duo manipulated tape speeds–slowing or speeding up different instrument tracks, imbuing passages with altered perspectives. Improvisation was the key in track five, ‘The Way,’ a song about “the magical act of carving out a path through life, amidst all possibility.” After a long day of recording, the song was feeling heavy and uninspired. As night fell, Spataro picked up the Stratocaster and, in one take, laid down a rolling, roiling guitar line that defined the track.

This spirit of surrender weaves through the album. “Break free from time, and sink in the pool of the mind,” begins ‘Garden of Delight’, an energetic highlight, propelled by 60’s-era organ and Jefferson Airplane-esque vocals. The song was accidentally deleted after the first day of recording. By luck or fate, the one surviving file captured the song’s loose and free-wheeling essence. Inspired, Goodman encouraged her circle of collaborators to work similarly: “I gave everyone trust and total freedom to contribute as they felt called to, encouraging an intuitive approach of simply improvising, playing through the song a few times and then sending over the results.” Synth, cello, violin, saxophone and flute all appear, but often in unconventional ways.

Keeper Is the Heart reflects Goodman’s process towards greater creative freedom. The first words she sings: “Lift the veil of all of this hate/To see the fear at its base.” Her last lines: “We’ll follow the fates across the great expanse of time/To the source of the light within our mind.” In between is a work of art awash in personal awakenings that revel in the freedom of intuition, the lifting of veils, and the beauty of transformation. As Goodman states, “What is it you find when you look inward to see beyond, past your fears, to your heart's true desires?”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Drifting folky ballads, both psychedelic and rooted in melody, influenced by classics of the 60's but with influences of modern electronica. 'Keeper Is The Heart' flows beautifully, and carries you with it. Lovely.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Veil
2. When The Wind Is Blowing
3. Curtain Is Closing
4. The Fool
5. The Way
6. Garden Of Delight
Side B
7. Ring Of Fire
8. Spring, You Come Again
9. Feeling The Weeks
10. The Sea
11. Across The Ocean Of Time

Feral Child’s first release in what promises to be a hectic year for the label born from the ashes of Polytechnic Youth (and with nods to label head Dom’s previous labels Great Pop Supplement and Earworm as regards its genre crossing / ‘anything goes’ release policy).

“Omega 76” is a wonderful record, leaning more towards a full band kinda set up as Dom Keen is joined by ‘The Hologram People’ bandmate Jon Parkes on drums / percussion and Robin Waterson on various instruments. It is arguably more immediate than the previous (quickly sold out) “Alpha 77” set. 12 wonderful tracks that merge kraut / kosmische flavoured ambient electronics with psychedelia, which whilst recalling the works of Harmonia, Cluster, Klaus Schulze, Eno et al also sound remarkably fresh and of the moment, now….

Longterm supporters of both label and artist, ‘Concrete Islands’ write: “Omega 76” is a more animated and communalist collection, one during which we are ushered into the same bubbling waters as Harmonia (“Constellation in the North”), the psych-rock terrain of Amon Düül II (“Ethnic Forgery” and “Skimming Over Pluto”), the electro-fizz of Michael Bundt (“The Robots Cruise” and “Stuck in the Sequence”) and the lysergic fog of Spacemen 3 (“Blues in Space”)”.

Whilst J. Wasko of “The Ominous Drone”, a recent champion of the band, says “Inspired by early Kosmische pioneers like Cluster and Harmonia what you get is pastoral calming tunes that are neither purely ambient or drone but satisfyingly lies somewhere in-between. This is my wheelhouse. This is the stuff that relaxes and calms and lets me drift off to sleep or reflect on a quiet morning. Drones layered with subtle keyboard tones and pads punctuated by undulating effects, LFOs and syncopated bleeps and bloops. Just put this on and float driftless on the lazy river of your mind. It’s hard to explain but there are certain chord progressions and tones that always resonate for me. It’s why I like two chord rock and ambient inspired albums from artists like (label favourites) Ancient Ocean. It hits just right”.

There you have it. Another strongly recommended set from Dom Keen and destined to sell out super quick once more. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Another superb release from Keen in his 'Studio Kosmische' hat, with Jon From Hologram People joining in. Deep grooves, beautiful synth lines and as always from Dom of Polytechnic Youth / Deep Distance / Feral Child, a gorgeous looking end result. Wonderfully accomplishes and arguably even more hypnotic than the superb 'Alpha 77'

Does Spring Hide Its Joy is an immersive piece by composer Kali Malone featuring Stephen O’Malley on electric guitar, Lucy Railton on cello, and Malone herself on tuned sine wave oscillators. The music is a study in harmonics and non-linear composition with a heightened focus on just intonation and beating interference patterns. Malone’s experience with pipe organ tuning, harmonic theory, and long durational composition provide prominent points of departure for this work. Her nuanced minimalism unfolds an astonishing depth of focus and opens up contemplative spaces in the listener’s attention.

Does Spring Hide Its Joy follows Malone’s critically acclaimed records The Sacrificial Code [Ideal Recordings, 2019] & Living Torch [Portraits GRM, 2022]. Her collaborative approach expands from her previous work to closely include the musicians Stephen O’Malley & Lucy Railton in the creation and development of the piece. While the music is distinctly Malone’s sonic palette, she composed specifically for the unique styles and techniques of O’Malley & Railton, presenting a framework for subjective interpretation and non-hierarchical movement throughout the music.

Does Spring Hide Its Joy is a durational experience of variable length that follows slowly evolving harmony and timbre between cello, sine waves, and electric guitar. As a listener, the transition between these junctures can be difficult to pinpoint. There’s obscurity and unity in the instrumentation and identities of the players; the electric guitar’s saturation timbre blends with the cello’s rich periodicity, while shifting overtone feedback develops interference patterns against the precise sine waves. The gradual yet ever-occurring changes in harmony challenge the listener’s perception of stasis and movement. The moment you grasp the music, a slight shift in perspective guides your attention forward into a new and unfolding harmonic experience.

Does Spring Hide Its Joy was created between March and May of 2020. During this unsettling period of the pandemic, Malone found herself in Berlin with a great deal of time and conceptual space to consider new compositional methods. With a few interns left on-site, Malone was invited to the Berlin Funkhaus & MONOM to develop and record new music within the empty concert halls. She took this opportunity to form a small ensemble with her close friends and collaborators Lucy Railton & Stephen O’Malley to explore these new structural ideas within those various acoustic spaces. Hence, the foundation was laid for Does Spring Hide Its Joy.

In Kali’s own words: “Like most of the world, my perception of time went through a significant transformation during the pandemic confinements of spring 2020. Unmarked by the familiar milestones of life, the days and months dripped by, instinctively blending with no end in sight. Time stood still until subtle shifts in the environment suggested there had been a passing. Memories blurred non-sequentially, the fabric of reality deteriorated, unforeseen kinships formed and disappeared, and all the while, the seasons changed and moved on without the ones we lost. Playing this music for hours on end was a profound way to digest the countless life transitions and hold time together.”

Ideologic Organ is pleased to present Kali Malone’s Does Spring Hide Its Joy as a triple LP set of around two-hours duration. Mastered by Stephen Mathieu and cut at Schnittstelle Mastering, the record is pressed in perfect sound quality by Optimal in Germany. The album is packaged in a heavyweight laminated jacket with full-color printed inner sleeves, and also available as a three-hour triple CD and in all digital formats.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A stunning set of long-form drone and drifting oscillations on Editions Mego offshoot Ideologic Organ. It's a perfect home for Malone's hypnotic instrumental dialogue, and the perfect landscape for O'Malley & Railton's guest appearances. A grand and uncompromising work of sound design beauty.

TRACK LISTING

3xCDs
Disc 1 - Does Spring Hide Its Joy V1 (01:00:25)
Disc 2 - Does Spring Hide Its Joy V2 (01:00:54)
Disc 3 - Does Spring Hide Its Joy V3 (01:00:15)

3xLPs
1A - Does Spring Hide Its Joy V1.1 (21:05)
1B - Does Spring Hide Its Joy V1.2 (18:50)
2A - Does Spring Hide Its Joy V1.3 (20:30)
2B - Does Spring Hide Its Joy V2.1 (20:12)
3A - Does Spring Hide Its Joy V2.2 (18:08)
3B - Does Spring Hide Its Joy V2.3 (22:43)

Produced in collaboration with Jessy Lanza, Paul White, Greg Abrahams and regular collaborator Joe Brown, Lapsley’s third album is an intimate but universal exploration of those Cautionary Tales that - eventually - may also prove the making of you.

As eclectic as it is unguarded, the album is a form of therapy in the truest sense: a talking cure and a hauntingly beautiful confession, resulting in a thrilling yet soulful work of love, loss and growth.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Throbby bass, sleek vocals and sidechained synth sweeps are exactly what you'd expect from Lapsley but 'Cautionary Tales' runs effortlessly through the fringes of bass music, R&B and modern IDM as well as the perfectly accomplished sleek synth-pop we've come to know and love. The vocals here are vocoded and twisted around the instrumentals, sometimes unrecognisably but always with a keen ear on production. Lovely.

TRACK LISTING

1. 32 Floors
2. Hotel Corridors
3. Paradise
4. Close To Heaven
5. Dial Two Seven
6. Nightingale
7. War And Peace
8. Levitate
9. Smoke And Fire
10. Pandora's Box
11. Lifeline
12. Say I'm What You Need

For nearly 60 years, or at least since he was a young Welshman who moved to New York and formed The Velvet Underground, Cale has been reinventing his music with dazzling and inspiring regularity. There was the bewitching chamber folk of Paris 1919 followed instantly by the gnarled rock of Fear, the provocative and spare song cycle Music for a New Society followed more than 30 years later by mighty and unabashed electronic updates. Once again, here is Cale, reimagining how his music is made, sounds, and even works. His engrossing 12-track MERCY moves through true dark-night-of-the-soul electronics toward vulnerable love songs and hopeful considerations for the future.

On MERCY, Cale enlists some of music’s most curious young minds: Animal Collective, Sylvan Esso, Laurel Halo, Tei Shi, Actress. They’re only some of the astounding cast here, brilliant musicians who climb inside Cale’s consummate vision of the world and help him redecorate there. Cale turned 80 in March, and he’s watched as many peers have passed away, particularly during the last decade. MERCY is the continuation of a long career’s work with wonder. Cale has always searched for new ways to explore old ideas of alienation, hurt, and joy; MERCY is the latest transfixing find of this unsatisfied mind.

The writings and recordings that shaped MERCY piled up for years, as Cale watched society totter at the brink of dystopia. Trump and Brexit, Covid and climate change, civil rights and right-wing extremism—Cale let the bad news of the day filter into his lines, whether that meant contemplating the sovereignty and legal status of sea ice melting near the poles or the unhinged arming of Americans. Lessons from a life (still being) richly lived floated to the fore, too, nodded to on the previously released “NIGHT CRAWLING.” If we’re always regretting our past, aren’t we conscripting ourselves to permanent disappointment?

During “STORY OF BLOOD,” after the piano prelude gives way to a frame-rattling beat and synthesizers that feel like sunshine splashed across a snowfield, the voices of Cale and Weyes Blood’s Natalie Mering slide past one another, two phantoms trying to find a partner amid the modern din. “Swing your soul,” they both sing in aspiration. In the final verse, Cale remembers this existence is not just about himself. “I’m going back to get them, my friends in the morning. Bring them with me into the light.” The accompanying video by Emmy-winning director Jethro Waters is a mix of disturbing and serene featuring both Cale and Weyes Blood. Its deep tones and religious images emphasize the track’s dark, spiritual mood.

Cale elaborates: “I’d been listening to Weyes Blood’s latest record and remembered Natalie’s puritanical vocals. I thought if I could get her to come and sing with me on the ‘Swing your soul’ section, and a few other harmonies, it would be beautiful. What I got from her was something else! Once I understood the versatility in her voice, it was as if I’d written the song with her in mind all along. Her range and fearless approach to tonality was an unexpected surprise. There’s even a little passage in there where she’s a dead-ringer for Nico.”

TRACK LISTING

1. Mercy Feat. Laurel Halo
2. Marilyn Monroe’s Leg (Beauty Elsewhere) Feat. Actress
3. Noise Of You
4. Story Of Blood Feat. Weyes Blood
5. Time Stands Still Feat. Sylvan Esso
6. Moonstruck (Nico’s Song)
7. Everlasting Days Feat. Animal Collective
8. Night Crawling
9. Not The End Of The World
10. The Legal Status Of Ice Feat. Fat White Family
11. I Know You’re Happy Feat. Tei Shi
12. Out Your Window

If you find the time, please come and stay a while in abracadabra’s beautiful neighbourhood; a magically wonky wonderland where strangers leave as friends to a block party soundtrack as eclectic as it is infectious. The California duo’s album ‘shapes & colors’ is a dazzling collage of psych-fuelled synthscapes and contemporary Baroque-pop of anti-capitalist movements and escapism, precisely pieced around their own working lives in a blue-collar town. In the heart of Oakland’s industrial Jingletown above a former auto-repair shop in what was once a mechanics’ break room where poker rounds ensued, Hannah Skelton (Vocals, Synthesizers) and Chris Niles, (Bass, Synthesizers) constructed the angular 80s-tinged anthems (think John Hughes montages to Talking Heads) of their new album, to positively offset the pandemic’s amplification of dysfunctional society. “It reflects our current reality: a huge mess that is systematically broken but isn’t entirely lost,” Hannah tells. “We’re inviting listeners to conjure up every drop of hope and willpower left inside them, pour that into the giant vat of anger and frustration bubbling inside us all, and with this potion collectively enact the necessary change to bring love and light into this dark space.”

When Covid forced Hannah from her salon in San Francisco to become a backyard mobile hairdresser, what she saw inspired them both and the lyrical foundations for their new record. “I’d drive to mansions and people would complain about how hard the pandemic had been next to their swimming pool and tennis courts.” First meeting after the album’s co-producer Jason Kick (Mild High Club, Sonny and the Sunsets) recruited the pair for a Halloween band covering Eurythmics’ art-rock debut ‘In The Garden,’ the pair hit it off and shapes & colors is a product of the years that followed. It combines Chris’ own rhythmic demos following years on the road touring and opening for Amon Tobin, Matthew Dear and Generationals in Maus Haus with Hannah’s lyrical musings honed from project Cassiopeia, so even when topics are as heavy as the beats, they’re met with luminously positive arrangements of hope and warmth.

The by-product of a psychedelic New Year’s Eve escaping a monotonous 2020 reality, the title track itself captures fireworks over East Oakland as viewed from the pair’s couch whilst listening to Mort Garson’s Plantasia for 6 hours straight. The daydream collage of ‘inyo county’ is “a little souvenir taking me back into the bottled-up essence of a slow lazy morning, waking up in bed far from home,” Hannah tells recalling those enforced stay-at-home days. “It fell out of me because I was craving that blissful flavour.” Meanwhile ‘dawn of the age of aquarius’s new parallel reality evolved from a happy accident when their demos had reset to a drone which Jason reworked into a Laurie Anderson-esque breathy vocoder effect. Even bloops and beeps from a forgotten recording session at the Vintage Synthesizer Museum in Emeryville can be heard, where the pair used Mini Moog, Fairlight EMI and ARP 2600 to arrange their sound into shapes whilst distortion and dirt from mixing on 1979 Neve 5313 Console added to the recordings’ color.

Casting a brighter rainbow still, in all its pastel-hued glory, Hannah, also illustrated a self-portrait of the band for the album artwork. “It reflects our makeshift recording studio to encapsulate all aspects of that time and space,” she shares of their abode where, over an intense two-week period and fuelled by the aroma of fermenting vino from the winery below, their single chord, bass and drum-heavy, groove-first momentum took them on an unexpected journey whilst the next-door couple would fire pizzas in their yard and a grandfather across the road would sweep the street clean. “We’d drink coffee and start the day, consistently working, without interruption,” Chris tells of finding their flow. “The loft is a cool space with skylights, tall ceilings and no shared walls so we could be as loud as we wanted to be.”

Just as well. Diving into decades of electronica and crunchy sound effects, field recordings and animal sounds, blended with an infectious Latin influence, shapes & colors is bolstered by live percussionists Greg Poneris (drums), K. Dylan Edrich (Vocals, Percussion: congas, bongos, chimes, cow bells and wood blocks, tone drum and tri-tone whistle) and Tom Smith (Guitar, Synthesizers, Vocals). It shimmies with the charismatic energy of ESG, Tom Tom Club, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, and the dub hits of King Tubby, the melodic sensibilities of Prince, Stereolab, and idiosyncratic Deerhoof offering an ornate alternative to traditional guitar pop chord progressions as they layer wrecking ball-sized danceable motifs to rumble the dust off the cars on the street from the nearby concrete factory. “We take some big swings to create interesting moments,” Chris explains. NIMBY crews grab those earplugs now. abracadabra is your new noisy neighbour, and there’s no turning this party down.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Talk Talk
2. In A Photo
3. Telling Time
4. Swim
5. Inyo County
Side B
6. Don't Like U
7. Impactor
8. At The Zoo
9. Shapes & Colors
10. Dawn Of The Age Of Aquarius

After 45 years, the most acclaimed, revered horror franchise in film history reaches its epic, terrifying conclusion as Laurie Strode faces off for the last time against the embodiment of evil, Michael Myers, in a final confrontation unlike any captured on-screen before, one where only one of them will survive.

When the franchise relaunched in 2018, Halloweenshattered box office records, becoming the franchise’s highest-grossing chapter and set a new record for the biggest opening weekend for a horror film starring a woman. In 2021, Halloween Killsearned the biggest opening weekend for any horror film in the pandemic era and simultaneously set a new record for a non-live event premiere streaming on Peacock.

As Halloween Endsmarks the last chapter of the David Gordon Green trilogy, so it ushers the essential return of original director and composer John Carpenter to score the iconically hair-raising soundtrack alongside Cody Carpenter and Daniel Davies. Together they once again bring the celebrated music score to the horror movie series, one of the most distinctive aspects of the franchise to date

Similarly to the last two soundtracks, Halloween Endswas recorded in its entirety at John Carpenter’s home studio and Daniel’s studio. “The three of us compose,perform, and record all the music, and everything is mixed by Daniel together with John Spiker” says John Carpenter.

The unmistakable mix of software synths, vintage analogue equipment, and live instrumentation is utilized once again to provide the signature sound of Halloween. However, rumors have it that Halloween Ends is going to be somewhat different from the previous two films in the trilogy. With that comes an expanded soundtrack, one that matches the tone of a tangible rise in stakes and conveys the climatic feel of the film. The soundtrack of the third installment broadens old themes whilst creating new ones in an effort to bring renewed life to one of the most epic horror scores ever written. Carpenter elaborates, “The main themes have all been passed down from the original Halloween. We have refined them and created new themes for new characters.

”The soundtrack was tracked scene by scene but the album itself plays like a standalone piece of music. The general atmosphereis one of dread yet the record includes some groove laden moments reminiscent of Escape From New York or some of Carpenter’s other more dance-able scores. Exquisite and delicate ambient pieces weave their way between some of the score’s more arresting moments and yet maintain a subtle pop sensibility. The overall achievement showcases three master musicians, one of whom invented the entire horror-synth genre, crafting an evocative, playful and deeply listenable score that honors a legacy and expands on the decades of work that have been leading to this triumphant climax.

Carpenter is known for directing the original 1978 Halloween, as well as other horror classics like The Thing, The Fog, Escape From New York, Christine, Big Trouble in Little China, andThey Live. However John Carpenter is not only a cult movie-maker, he’s also a pioneering electronic composer. Halloween Endsis the soundtrack of the final battle against evil. Watch your back this Halloween, Michael may be near you.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: One of the most legendary soundtrack writers and directors of all time, in his newest guise with both Cody (his son) and Daniel Davies bring us the third and final bout of dystopian synths and tense atmospheric drone. A blistering, and perfectly fitting instrumental tour de force.

TRACK LISTING

1 Where Is Jeremy?
2 Halloween Ends (Main Title)
3 Laurie’s Theme Ends
4 The Cave
5 Cool Kid
6 Drags To The Cave
7 Evil Eyes
8 Transformation
9 Because Of You
10 Requiem For Jeremy
11 Kill The Cop
12 Corey And Michael
13 Corey’s Requiem
14 The Junk Yard
15 Where Are You?
16 Bye Bye Corey
17 The Fight
18 Before Her Eyes
19 The Procession
20 Cherry Blossoms
21 Halloween Ends

The debut studio album of American hip hop group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, originally released in October 1982 on Sugar Hill Records and featuring arguably the most influential hip-hop single of all time in “The Message”, together with “Scorpio” - one of the greatest electro recordings ever produced. A gritty, plain-spoken and vividly cinematic portrait of black street life in New York circa ‘82 and a fascinating time capsule of rap's early attempts with the album format - this album earned respect on its own terms. Out of print for many years, we are very pleased to make this iconic and revered hip-hop album available again for fans old and new to enjoy.

TRACK LISTING

She's Fresh
It's Nasty (Genius Of Love)
Scorpio
It's A Shame (Mt. Airy Groove)
Dreamin'
You Are
The Message
The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel
The Message (Instrumental)
New York, New York (Extended Version)
Message Ii (Survival)
The Birthday Party
Freedom (Instrumental)

‘Stranger Things 4 (Original Score From The Netflix Series)’ by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, is now available.

Split over two volumes - this is Volume 1.

“A pretty spectacular score from Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein” - Collider

“A stunningly creepy original score by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein” - Billboard

Score written, performed and produced by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein (‘Native Son’, ‘Valley Of The Boom’, ‘Spheres’, ‘Butterfly’, and their band S U R V I V E).

‘Stranger Things’ has won seven Emmy Awards, and has been nominated for 216 various awards, with 77 wins.

Starring Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Sheriff Jim Hopper), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), among many others

‘Stranger Things 4’ is Netflix’s most-viewed English language series of all time.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: You synth soundtrack fans are ALWAYS in safe hands with Dixon & Stein (aka Survive). With rich oscillator throbs and tense pads akimbo, it's yet another suite of perfectly manicured soundtrackery that's perfect for the series (obviously) and just as good on the home stereo. Lovely.

TRACK LISTING

What's The Internet?
I Wouldn’t Remember Me Either.
Teens
Journalistic Instinct
100% Convinced
In The Closet (At Rink O Mania)
Does That Make Us Friends?
My Boobs Hurt.
Unambiguous True Love
Stuck In 1983
Hawkins National Lab
Hellfire Club
Buried Memories
Fancy Bomb
We Are Not Heroes
Nine Feet Tall
Hail Lord Vecna
Powerful Psychic Connection
Ruth, Nevada
Hellfire Isn’t A Cult
I Know What I Saw
Curfew
You’re Regressing Eleven
Letter To Willy
Palm Tree Delight
Musso
Brenner’s Little Pet
Mr. Fibbly
It’s Just A Clock, Right?
Welcome To Kamchatka
A Nightmare Far Worse
Caught A Body At The Munsen Trailer
A War Is Coming To Hawkins
The Elephant
Hurtling Towards A Gruesome Death
Barefoot In The Snow
Kills You In Your Dreams
The Shire Is Burning
Blood Balloons
Burning Baby
Mugshot
There Are Some Things Worse Than Ghosts...
A Memory Within A Memory

‘Stranger Things 4 (Original Score From The Netflix Series)’ by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein, is now available.

Split over two volumes - this is Volume 2.

“A pretty spectacular score from Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein” - Collider

“A stunningly creepy original score by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein” - Billboard

Score written, performed and produced by Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein (‘Native Son’, ‘Valley Of The Boom’, ‘Spheres’, ‘Butterfly’, and their band S U R V I V E).

‘Stranger Things’ has won seven Emmy Awards, and has been nominated for 216 various awards, with 77 wins.

Starring Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers), David Harbour (Sheriff Jim Hopper), Finn Wolfhard (Mike Wheeler), Millie Bobby Brown (Eleven), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin Henderson), among many others

‘Stranger Things 4’ is Netflix’s most-viewed English language series of all time.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: You synth soundtrack fans are ALWAYS in safe hands with Dixon & Stein (aka Survive). With rich oscillator throbs and tense pads akimbo, it's yet another suite of perfectly manicured soundtrackery that's perfect for the series (obviously) and just as good on the home stereo. Lovely.

TRACK LISTING

A Proper Thump
Hiiiiiiiii
Still Dizzy
Reign Fire From Above
Religious American
Surf That Tasty Pie
Follow Me Into Death
Project Nina
Being Different
Undressing
I Want You To Watch
A Realm Unspoiled By Mankind
Four Gates
Sleeping Dracula
Praying Something Will Happen To me
Stained Glass Roses
One
Gates Of Kamchatka
Top Secret Location
You're The Heart
Sleepyhead
Skull Rock
Spellcaster
You Should Go East
Unfortunate Development
Slashing The Tires
Soteria
ELVIS CLONED BY ALIENS
[delicate, Intense Music Playing…]
Demogorgons In Tanks
The Cure
Patient Confidentiality
Stay Calm, Focus On The Game
It’s Time Max
All Evil Must Have A Home
Flashlights, Flashlights
You Have Already Lost

Hot on the heels of 2021’s Huffy (which reached #1 on the UK indie chart), New York indie rock legends We Are Scientists return with their 8th studio album, Lobes. Largely written at the same time as Huffy and once again self-produced, Lobes stays glued to the indie dance floor but showcases a darker, more electronic pop sound than its rock indebted predecessor. Always present though are the catchy melodies and soaring choruses which have become the band’s calling card over their near 2-decade career. 

TRACK LISTING

1: Operator Error
2: Dispense With Sentiment
3: Human Resources
4: Lucky Just To Be Here
5: Turn It Up
6: Settled Accounts
7: Here Goes
8: Parachute
9: Less From You
10: Miracle Of '22

Gilles Peterson re-imagines Lionel Loueke’s incredible and acclaimed album HH, released in 2020, featuring the music of his long-term mentor, the legendary Herbie Hancock, for release in 2022.

Gilles Peterson and Lionel Loueke have long term respect for each other's music and when an opportunity to collaborate together came about, both jumped at the chance. The result is a brilliantly chaotic clash of worldwide club rhythms and guitar loops.

The connection is the master Herbie Hancock - a massive influence on the London based DJ and the Beninese guitarist. Performing the music of his mentor HH, released on Edition Records in Sept 2020, was a pivotal album in Loueke's already fascinating journey from humble roots to illustrious career.

Reimagined, refocused and reinvented by Gilles and co-producer Alex Patchwork (Ninja Tune) with parts re-recorded by Lionel, this is a kaleidoscopic view of HH which realises the full range of colours inherent within it.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE 1
1. One Finger Snap Version
2. Watermelon Man Version
3. Driftin' Version
4. Hang Up Your Hang Ups Version

SIDE 2
1. Tell Me A Bedtime Story Version
2. Butterfly Version

Releasing 100% independently, with no label backing, The Reytons have announced their second album is set for release following their debut album that rocketed to Number 11 in the Official UK Charts. Setting The Reytons apart from the competition is their fiercely independent approach to the way they work. Not exactly welcomed with open arms by the industry from the very start, the band channel their working class grit and determination to overcome every obstacle thrown at them. Aided by the masses of loyal fans, no achievement is out of reach.

TRACK LISTING

15 Minutes In The Algorithm
Istanbul
Avalanche
Love In Transaction
Little Bastards
Cash In Hand & Fake IDs
WMC
One More Reason
Monthly Subscription
Fading
It's A Fuck About
Uninvited

One could be forgiven for getting that familiar feeling when listening to the music of Ghost Woman. And that's not just because songwriter & multi-instrumentalist Evan Uschenko is deeply steeped in classic guitar-led rock & pop songwriting (more on that later), it's that the music was, by design, intended to be evocative. But not evocative, however, of any one thing; what separates the music of Ghost Woman from a great many other bands working today is his openness to non-specificity. He's not trying to impart any sort of message to the listener; instead, the hope is that one will find themselves luxuriating in nuances of how the music is delivered, and the feelings it stirs up for each individual.

For the past couple of years Ghost Woman has been Evan Uschenko's outlet for his interest in songwriting and recording, which began after a number of years spent playing as a sideman in various Canadian indie ensembles, most notably in the Michael Rault band, a group that displays a similar affinity for perfectly dialed, partially yesteryear-looking guitar pop. Following 2022's self-titled debut, issued by UK-based Full Time Hobby to great critical acclaim, Anne, If presents a slightly more expansive vision of what Ghost Woman can offer.

The sound of Anne, If is certainly in keeping with past output: the music was performed and recorded (almost) entirely by Uschenko himself on his trusty Tascam 388 tape recorder, during what he describes as a “strange new chapter” in his life, living in a large, expansive house with nothing to do except record music, watch old VHS movies, and cook meals over an open fire in the backyard. “The ability to be making sounds and recording at any time of the day had a big influence on the way I worked and what was produced,” he says.

And the results are stellar; Uschenko manages to cover more stylistic ground than ever while maintaining a strong throughline from start to finish. Though some songs seem to almost directly reference certain bands and eras of rock music, none of it is ever pure imitation; Uschenko's melodic sense – at once detached (in a Pavement kind of way) and yearning (the winsome melodies and harmonies of Crosby, Stills, and Nash are summoned more than once) – glues the album together. Spot-on late-60s-style drum fills on title track could be lifted from any number of tracks on the Nuggets compilation; “Street Meet” betrays an interest in the endless horizon feel of bands like Can and Neu!, and the chiming 12-string guitar sounds pervading the album (see “The End of A Gun”) would be right at home on classic sides by The Byrds, Love, and Jefferson Airplane.

The warm, straightforward production – which recalls Safe As Milk-era Captain Beefheart, the first couple Beak albums, or Shel Talmy's 60s productions for The Creation or The Kinks – also knits the whole thing together, and its perfectly tape-saturated, analog sound offers a pleasing counterpoint to today's world of digital recording, plugin effects, and “we'll fix it in post” attitudes.

Uschenko eschews the notion that the band is – at least entirely – a “solo project”, as Ghost Woman's live show is very much a band-centric affair, these days comprised of creative and romantic partner Ille van Dessel (Poolface) at the drums, and longtime hometown co-conspirator Nick Hay handling whatever string-related duties need attending to. Hay also contributes a lead vocal to Anne, If, turning in a performance of the song “Tripped” that treads eerily close to Mark Lanegan levels of weariness, and the record is further bolstered by an appearance from Ryan “Skinny” Dyck's steel guitar on “Lo Extrano”. The songs from Anne, If that have found their way to the stage during this year's plentiful smattering of live dates around Canada and Europe (including a recent string of shows with indie-folk-pop darling Chad Van Gaalen) have already begun to take on new shapes, and the band – in whatever formation it appears – is not to be missed.

TRACK LISTING

1. Welcome
2. Broke
3. 3 Weeks Straight
4. Anne, If
5. Street Meat
6. The End Of A Gun
7. Lo Extrano
8. Arline
9. Down Again
10. Tripped
11. So Long

The second instalment from London Odense Ensemble digs deeper into the group's vision of what modern psychedelic jazz should sound like. Cut from the same sessions as Jaiyede Sessions vol. 1, released last summer, vol. 2 presents a more nuanced approach to the material. On this set the ensemble focuses on shorter, layered pieces - travelling from deep spiritual jazz grooves to gorgeous free-flowing minimalism to full-on acid jazz. There's echo-drenched flutes being absorbed into layers of analog synth pads and guitars, bossa beats and double bass sequences merging with electronics. It’s an intoxicating mélange of sounds and styles, spanning wide temporal and geographical distances. London Odense Ensemble came together when two of the finest exponents of London's flourishing jazz scene, flautist and saxofonist Tamar Osborn and keyboard specialist Al MacSween, came over to Denmark to explore new sounds with Causa Sui's Jakob Skøtt and Jonas Munk, as well as local bass player Martin Rude. For two days the group laid down grooves and ideas and experimented in the studio, and later the best segments were edited and mixed by Jonas Munk, who took a somewhat liberal approach to the mixing process, often dyeing the material with external effects and synthesizers. Jaiyede Sessions are the kinds of records that defy genre-terms, yet have its own instantly recognizable fingerprint. It carries a unique shared vision between the players of what modern psychedelic jazz sounds like. bios: Tamar Osborn: Saxophonist, composer and multi-wind instrumentalist is the creative force behind modal jazz ensemble Collocutor (On The Corner Records). She is a member of the Dele Sosimi Afrobeat Orchestra, performs and collaborates regularly with Sarathy Korwar, Jessica Lauren, Emanative, Ill Considered and DJ Khalab. Al MacSween: Keyboard player & founding member of Kefaya. Collaborations include American jazz legend Gary Bartz, Syrian qanun master Maya Youseff, London Community Gospel Choir, Palestinian jazz singer Reem Kelani & kora player Kadialy Kouyate. Martin Rude: Multi-string instrumentalist & lead singer in Sun River & Edena Gardens with members of Papir & Causa Sui. Jakob Skøtt: Drummer in Causa Sui with a slew of side projects on El Paraiso, including Chicago Odense Ensemble, as well as being responsible for the label’s visuals. Jonas Munk: Guitarist in Causa Sui & studio wizard on most releases on El Paraiso. Also works with a wide palette of electronic music.

Rowntree came to prominence as a founding member of the rock band Blur, one of the most successful British bands of the last two decades. The drummer's first solo single, London Bridge was produced with Leo Abrahams (Wild Beasts/Brian Eno/Ghostpoet). It heralds the start of an exciting new project for Rowntree, over three decades since Blur formed back in 1989. London Bridge is an enticing opening statement. Deceptively bright and upbeat, with its staccato ‘la-la-la-la’ hook line, the music belies a lyrical sense of dread. As proficient with a synth or guitar as he is behind the drum-kit, Rowntree’s innate ear for a melody is given free-reign on this scuzzy but impactful, lo-fi number.

TRACK LISTING

1. Devil's Island
2. Downtown
3. London Bridge
4. 1000 Miles
5. HK
6. Tape Measure, Feat Juliyah
7. Machines Like Me
8. Black Sheep
9. Volcano
10. Who's Asking

‘Turn The Car Around’ is a record that I’ve been building up to for the last seven years,” says Coombes. It’s a record of feeling, an album that captures the ups and downs of modern life and all the small print in between. Written and recorded by Coombes in his gloriously ramshackle Oxfordshire outhouse Studio, he has emerged with the best work of his illustrious career. It’s an album that both taps into the sonic palettes and lyrical themes of its predecessors and marks the third and final part of a trilogy of records alongside 2015’s Mercury and Ivor Novello nominated sophomore album Matador and 2018’s World’s Strongest Man. At the same time it carves a bold new way forward for one of the UK’s most gifted and cherished singer-songwriters. “There’s a lot of subject matter in there that I’ve played with and maybe not managed to see through in the past. I’ve evolved and I feel like I’ve got better at what I do”.

‘Turn The Car Around’ features additional instrumentation from members of Gaz’s live band, Garo Nahoulakian, Nick Fowler and Piney Gir. The album also sees Coombes reuniting with his live band’s vocal trio ‘The Roxys’ (a nickname given to them by Nile Rodgers when they shared the bill at a Later with Jools show) to create a rich and nuanced sonic tapestry. Cameo performances appear courtesy of Willie J Healey and Ride’s Loz Colbert, and Coombes shares co-production duties with long-term collaborator Ian Davenport.

As he celebrates 10 years of his lauded solo career since the release of his debut ‘Here Come the Bombs’, and riding a crest of the Supergrass reunion, the announcement of ‘Turn The Car Around’ solidifies Coombes status as one of the UK’s most interesting, enduring and effortlessly classy artists.

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: I'm really loving this album at the moment. It feels like his previous solo albums have been building up to this and he's absolutely nailed it. An album about coming to terms with modern life with all it's ups and downs, it feels deeply personal but at the same time tapping into a lot of peoples hopes and fears. Stylistically it covers a lot of ground, from the soulful "Don't Say It's Over", the glammy stomp of "Long Live The Strange", the gentle guitar strum of "Not The Only Things" and the Bowie-esque "Dance On".

TRACK LISTING

1. Overnight Trains
2. Don’t Say It’s Over
3. Feel Loop (Lizard Dream)
4. Long Live The Strange
5. Not The Only Things
6. Turn The Car Around
7. This Love
8. Sonny The Strong
9. Dance On

Austrian duo MOLLY return with their second album, Picturesque, via Sonic Cathedral.

The album’s seemingly brief tracklisting belies a work of great beauty and depth, and one which turned into a one-man crusade for singer/guitarist Lars Andersson, intertwining deeply personal stories with his love for the era of Romanticism.

“Every time I go to a museum and I’m about to pass through the era of Romanticism I stop in awe,” says Lars of the enduring appeal of the 18th century artistic movement. “Whatever it is – stories, paintings, music – it triggers something deep within me, something profoundly human.
It really hits a nerve, and it utterly immerses me to a point where I can’t move.”

The album replicates this feeling; a gloriously over-the-top blend of Slowdive and Sigur Rós, mixed with the single-mindedness of Daniel Johnston and the noisiness of Nirvana, it’s as bold and beautiful and every bit as ornate as the art that inspired it.

Unlike their acclaimed debut, 2019’s All That Ever Could Have Been, which gradually came into focus with a 15-minute opening track, Picturesque hits home from the very first note of the short and sweet opener, ‘Ballerina’. That’s not to say there aren’t epics here – ‘Metamorphosis’ is essentially a 12-minute suite of three movements; blistering closer ‘The Lot’ is 11 minutes of Swans-inspired heaviness – but everything is much more direct and focused. This isn’t an album to lose yourself in, it’s one to get swept away by.

“‘More is more’ was definitely the credo when making this record,” agrees Lars. “A big inspiration were bands like Pond and the way they manage to fill their songs up with stuff to the absolute maximum. While I definitely tried to give the listener some room to breathe at certain points and while, in good old post-rock fashion, it still builds up and breaks down, it relies much more on simple melody and harmony as opposed to noisy experimentation to transport feeling.”

Never more so than on the first single, ‘The Golden Age’, which is the album’s centre-piece; a soaring slice of über-shoegaze that is so stunning you can’t take your eyes or ears off it.

Like all the songs on the album, it’s based around a fairy-tale from the Romantic era. In this case, it’s Heinrich von Ofterdingen by the German poet, author and philosopher Novalis (other influences are: The Steadfast Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Andersen; The Seven Ravens and Hans in Luck by the Brothers Grimm; Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué and The Golden Pot by E.T.A. Hoffmann), with Lars drawing parallels between the titular character’s mystical and romantic searchings and his own personal quest.

This is apt as the album has been an overriding obsession for Lars for the past two-and-a-half years; as well as writing and recording the songs (bandmate Phillip Dornauer played drums), he also mixed and mastered them at his Alpine Audio studio and Picturesque is very much his Brian Wilson or Kevin Shields moment. MOLLY were in the middle of their European tour when Covid hit in early 2020, forcing Lars to retreat back to his home outside Innsbruck and giving him time and space to think about every detail of the record.

“Well, I was on a quest I guess,” he admits. “Like everyone, I was stranded at home and at some point I just said to myself, ‘If not now, then when?’ It was an intense process. I’ve worked on music from other bands and artists before but producing and mixing your own music is an utterly different animal. It was probably the most intense thing I’ve ever done, but it was also incredibly rewarding and the feeling of it all coming together piece by piece is incomparable.”

The artwork is just as effective. “I think of Radiohead’s OK Computer – what you hear on the record is what you see on the cover,” explains Lars. “We were inspired by what we call ‘wimmelbilder’ [hidden pictures] in German, a very specific style in art where there are a lot of little things happening. When you see it from further away, it looks organic like a lost painting from the area of Romanticism, but the closer you look the more digital it gets. It’s a nice analogy.”

He’s right, it perfectly sums up the conflict between Romanticism and 21st century life.

“Romanticism was basically an answer to the Industrial Revolution as well as the social and political norms of the Age Of Enlightenment,” concludes Lars. “Now, we all live in a much more industrialised, materialistic, individualistic and sterile society than any early Romanticist could have ever possibly imagined. Over 200 years later the Romanticists have lost the battle.”

With the divine and downright pulchritudinous Picturesque, MOLLY begin the fightback.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Ballerina
Metamorphosis
The Golden Age
Side B
Sunday Kid
So To Speak
The Lot

Belle and Sebastian hit the ground running in 2023 with new album Late Developers.

Arriving almost back-to-back to 2022’s Top Ten album ‘A Bit of Previous’, ‘Late Developers’ comes on like its predecessor’s sun-kissed cousin. It is a full-hearted embrace of the band's brightest tendencies that is not only fresh and immediate but possessing of that Belle and Sebastian je ne sais quoi of a group that will always be there for you with the perfect word or melody for the moment, while admitting tunefully that “Every girl and boy / each one is a misery” (“When The Cynics Stare Back From The Wall”).

“Juliet Naked” channels frantic Billy Bragg-energy with rugged electric guitar and a football stadium worthy chant from Stuart Murdoch. The aforementioned “When The Cynics Stare Back From The Wall” is an unearthed 1994-era pre-Belle and Sebastian gem, with help from Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell. "So In The Moment” is breathless psychedelic pop that is arguably one of Stevie Jackson’s best ever songs. “When We Were Very Young” is Smiths-esque jangle rock that is bittersweet, devotional and yearning: “I wish I could be content / With the football scores / I wish I could be content with my daily chores / With my daily worship of the sublime”.

TRACK LISTING

1. Juliet Naked
2. Give A Little Time
3. When We Were Very Young
4. Will I Tell You A Secret
5. So In The Moment
6. The Evening Star
7. When You’re Not With Me
8. I Don’t Know What You See In Me
9. Do You Follow
10. When The Cynics Stare Back From The Wall
11. Late Developers

Billy Nomates, the project of the Bristol-based songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Tor Maries, releases her much anticipated second studio album, CACTI,via Invada Records.

Recorded at her flat and Invada Studios, CACTI is a huge step up for the artist, who received widespread critical acclaim for her eponymous 2020 debut album, with heavy airplay across BBC Radio 6 Music and support from luminaries such as Iggy Pop, Florence Welsh and Steve Albini.

Though every bit as unrepentant as Billy Nomates’ debut, CACTI comes from a much more exposed place and sees Tor further develop her instinctive, inventive songwriting and production. Unafraid to wade into the traumas of the past two years and the eerie sense of apathy that lingers, alongside heartache and more political themes, the 12-track collection openly confronts uncomfortable truths, as Tor puts it, "70-80% of being bold is about being vulnerable as hell."

Maries said: “Writing CACTI took just over a year. I wrote very intensely and then none at all. (This seems to be the way I work best). I picked up old drum machines, mapped out things in my kitchen with the same small micro keyboard I always use and then raided the cupboards and rooms at Invada Studios, to play and experiment with old synths, an upright piano, this weird organ thing. I hope everyone finds their own narrative in CACTI. I think it's about surviving it all.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says: Ironically, Cacti is a much less, erm, spikey affair than her debut LP. The vocal delivery reminds me of the sort of female singer songrwiters that were filling stadiums in the 90s, but the self produced, sythn led sound keeps things just the right side of pop: rooted in a raw, authentic sound rather than coated in a bland pop sheen, which suits the deeply personal songwriting.

TRACK LISTING

Balance Is Gone
Black Curtains In The Bag
Blue Bones (deathwish)
CACTI
Saboteur Forcefield
Roundabout Sadness
Spite
Fawner
Same Gun
Vertigo
Apathy Is Wild
Blackout Signal

Rozi Plain returns with new album ‘Prize’ on Memphis Industries. 

Don’t ask Rozi Plain to explain her spellbinding fifth album Prize. Its ten, magical tracks exist as if in another realm, where feelings matter more than meanings, where thoughts have room to roam and where you can live in the moment for as long as you like.

Rozi’s signature, free-floating sound was set with her 2015 breakthrough Friend and cemented with 2019’s globally adored What A Boost (‘Like slipping between cotton sheets’ was Pitchfork’s description). Prize builds on both, but takes its cues from elsewhere. By a stretch, it’s Rozi’s most upbeat and daring album to date.

References to disco and rave, saxophone treated to sound like strings, silly synths and harp all play a part. Economy is key – every sound has an impact out of proportion to its size, every texture pays dividends. Rozi’s bewitching vocals are bolder and brighter than ever before. Male and female backing vocals feel like friends dropping by.

Begun pre-pandemic and composed and recorded everywhere from Glasgow and the Isle of Eigg to a seaside village in French Basque Country, Margate and London’s legendary Total Refreshment Centre, Prize may sound effortless but creating each song was as industry intensive as spinning a spider’s web. A cast of 15 feature, including Kate Stables, with whom Rozi has toured for the past decade in This Is The Kit, contemporary jazz titan Alabaster De Plume and Minneapolis based saxophonist Cole Pulice.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Aaah, it's always lovely to hear some more Rozi plain, and 'Prize' is by far her most spellbinding and focused work yet. The perfect backdrop to Plain's airy vocals has always been the more off-kilter instrumental backing (Múm's perfectly chaotic brand of childlike electronica comes to mind), and here we get the syncopated rhythms and jangling guitars of old, but with a more layered, intricate core. It's both beautifully meditative and hugely uplifting, the perfect balance.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Agreeing For Two
Complicated
Help
Prove Your Good
Side B
Painted The Room
Sore
Spot Thirteen
Standing Up

James Yorkston, Nina Persson and The Second Hand Orchestra release The Great White Sea Eagle, the follow up to James Yorkston and The Second Hand Orchestra’s The Wide, Wide River - a Guardian Top 10 Folk Album of 2021.

The record didn’t start life as a follow up; in early 2021, Yorkston began visiting his studio in Cellardyke, Fife and for the first time, starting writing songs on the piano as opposed to his usual guitar as he gazed upon the sea outside his window.

After sending the first five or six songs to Karl-Jonas Winqvist (the ringleader/conductor of TSHO), they began to discuss working on the music together. With Yorkston’s shift from guitar to piano, they thought about what other changes they could make to their process which led to the involvement of a guest singer and the legendary Nina Persson (The Cardigans) was brought into the fold.

They followed the same methodology as The Wide, Wide River – apart from James, Nina and KJ, none of The Second Hand Orchestra had heard the music prior to entering the studio – and the arrangements were made up on the spot. Yorkston summarises: “Everyone who was playing in The Second Hand Orchestra, in their own way they are all unique and colourful players. There was no-one there who didn’t know what to do. I would bring them the songs, we would start one - I would play it, and second time round people would start singing and playing, and by the time we had done it three or four times we would hit record and we would be ready to go. And the thing that they all had was the ability to give each other space and to come up with their parts based on what other people were playing naturally was a very quick process, and they were all so open, nobody was egotistical. Everything was just happy. I love the wildness in it.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's the second cracking Dinked release for the week and sees The Cardigans' Nina Persson team up with the endlessly talented James Yorkston and The Secondhand Orchestra for a beautiful LP brimming with brittle guitars and twinkling piano, all topped with those instantly recognisable vocal talents. A very welcome meeting of minds.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Sam & Jeanie McGreagor
An Upturned Crab
Keeping Up With The Grandchildren, Yeah
The Heavy Lyric Police
A Sweetness In You
A Forestful Of Rougues
Side B
Peter Paulo Van Der Heyden
Mary
Hold Out For Love
The Harmony
The Great White Sea Eagle
A Hollow Skeleton Lifts A Heavy Wing

Fantasy takes a more abstract approach to sampling than his previous work, bringing his own instrumentation and vocals to the fore, while folding elements from 1970s fantasy cinema into his distinctive strain of rhythmic, off-centre electronica and kinetic club music.

As Romare, Archie Fairhurst’s working practice is rooted in collage, building vivid new forms out of existing material. Playful and immediate, but also deeply researched and compelling, his albums and performances reaching back to 2012 unfurl as a patchwork of inspirations and obsessive lines of enquiry made up of a global panoply of source material.

He explains: “The inspiration of Fantasy came from long walks and fantasy films during lockdown. I used to draw monsters and mythical creatures as a child and that interest was reignited in isolation. The album is dedicated to my dad, so I’ve combined photos he took as a young man with my own from recent walks, to build a fantasy land and sea. The sun or moon is a drawing from when I was 4 or 5 years old and the beast is a collage of animals and birds from secondhand books I’ve picked up along the way.

The samples come more from film on this record, and the influence of Medieval music can be heard in some of the songs. I enjoyed listening to the band Gryphon at one point while making the album and was inspired by the 'otherworldly' instruments they used in their recordings. There is something spooky about combining film samples with sounds of popular instruments from the past.”

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Not only should it be applauded for championing new, eco-friendly methods of vinyl production; but "Fantasy" finds Romare exuding a level of coolness and poise even more refined than on previous works. From the BOC-indebted opener of "Quiet Corners..." onwards, we're guided by a playful and highly textured hand which is uniquely Romare's.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Quiet Corners Of My Mind
A2 Priestess
B1 Walking In The Rain
B2 Dungeon
C1 Seventh Seal
C2 Arthur
D1 Sunset
D2 The Fool

Produced by Margo Price and Jonathan Wilson (Angel Olsen, Father John Misty), Strays was primarily recorded in the summer of 2021, during a week spent at Fivestar Studio in California’s Topanga Canyon. While most of the songwriting took place the summer prior – during a six-day, mushroom-filled trip that Price and her husband Jeremy Ivey took to South Carolina – it was amongst the hallucinatory hills of western Los Angeles that Price experienced the best recording sessions of her career. Instilled with a newfound confidence and comfortability to experiment and explore like never before, Margo Price and her longtime band of Pricetags channeled their telepathic abilities into songs that span rock n roll, psychedelic country, rhythm & blues, and glistening, iridescent pop. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: 'Strays' perfectly epitomises the psychedelic country sound, and Margo Price is one of its greatest purveyors. From the opening moments of 'Been Up The Mountain' it's quite clear that her songwriting has hit a career high, flawlessly running through blues-tinged rock, hazy acoustic country and campfire balladry, and all topped with those unmistakeable vocals. A triumph of evocative and moving storytelling.

TRACK LISTING

Been To The Mountain 
Light Me Up (ft Mike Campbell) 
Radio (ft Sharon Van Etten) 
Change Of Heart 
County Road 
Time Machine 
Hell In The Heartland 
Anytime You Call (ft Lucius) 
Lydia 
Landfill 

"Dobaismo" is the debut release from Ema Dobao. The Argentinian producer harnesses frequencies from 80's synth wave to proto-house, along with a passion for Latin percussion that is truly felt throughout this album.

"Dobaismo" is thick and funky with a strong disco core that takes us through seven amazing cuts ready for the dancefloor or your living room.

All the music was written and recorded over 2020 from a studio called Nave in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires.

The album packs a punch across all the changing tempos that Dobao delivers with a suave and infectious style that we really love.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: SERIOUS! - if you've a penchant for anything Italo, proto-house, boogie or anything Italian in general (Nu Genea instantly spring to mind) ((the producer's Argentinian by the way)) - this LP is a MUST. No, they're not reinventing the wheel - but they execute the formula to PERFECTION. Slap this on yer deck in an 'all back to mine' scenario and you're nearly guaranteed some shenanigans.. sexual or otherwise...

TRACK LISTING

1. Baila
2. Goce
3. Blont
4. Chocolate
5. Arriba
6. Mambo
7. Contigo

CVC (or Church Village Collective in full) hail from this sleepy village 10 miles north of Cardiff, nestling atop a hill in the Welsh valleys. CVC is comprised of singer Francesco Orsi, bassist Ben Thorne, drummer Tom Fry, keyboardist Daniel ‘Naniel’ Jones and singing guitarists David Bassey and Elliott Bradfield. It’s worth noting that the latter two, despite never having met them, are related to Welsh royalty Dame Shirley Bassey and Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield. Maybe owing to genetics, Bassey states “I don't think I’d be able to not do this, I don’t actively choose to, I’m just drawn to it”. Their lush three-part harmonies echo the music they grew up on - contemporary pop’s building blocks: the Beatles, Neil Young and the Beach Boys - rich, melodic and pristine music that’s steeped in rock’s history.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It wouldn't be hard to listen to CVC's new LP and imagine that it came from the psychedelic rock movement of the 70's, until the softening influence of 00's synth-pop enters the fray. It's this dedication to melodicism mixed with a firm knowledge of the classics that make 'Get Real' such an alluring proposition. Funky, inventive and great fun throughout.

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
1. Hail Mary
2. Winston
3. Knock Knock
4. Sophie
5. Anogo
SIDE B
1. Good Morning Vietnam
2. Woman Of Mine
3. Music Stuff
4. Mademoiselle
5. Docking The Pay
6. American Ultra

After the haunting My Name Is Safe in Your Mouth (2018) and the dramatic, synth-loaded Who the Power (2020), Liela Moss’ new album Internal Working Model bristles with frustration at our disconnected culture but also – crucially – burns with a desire to reconnect – in her own words: “We see the beneficiaries of the status quo suppress realness and wellbeing by selling you a banal alternative that upholds their agenda. I want to add to the firepower to burn that old house down.”

With Moss’ expressive voice leading the way over fractious synth backdrops, the result is at once tense and tender, timeless and timely; determined to plug into positivity wherever it can be found. Personal and expansive, galvanic and inquisitive, it’s an album that sees the modern world’s mess through open eyes but isn’t willing to stop there: it wants to seek out solutions, source the potential in other ways of being and seeing.

TRACK LISTING

1 Empathy Files
2 WOO (No One's Awake)
3 Vanishing Shadows
4 The Wall From The Floor
5 Ache In The Middle
6 New Day
7 Come And Find Me
8 Welcome To It
9 Love As Hard As You Can

London-based DJ and producer 1991 has emerged as one of the most exciting artists in dance music. Since starting the project back in 2016, within a year he'd won the 'Best Newcomer' award at the 2017 Drum & Bass Awards. He has held down a steady release schedule of hits, collaborating with the likes of Sub Focus and Netsky, and remixed Axwell, Chase & Status, Claptone and Basement Jaxx. His touring schedule has seen him travel across the globe, with sell out tours across Europe, North America, Japan and Australia & New Zealand.

TRACK LISTING

1. On
2. Odyssey
3. Reloaded
4. Out Of My Head
5. Nothing Left To Lose
6. Life
7. We All Need Someone
8. Thinking About You
9. Eternity
10. Who Hurt You
11. Feels
12. When The Sun Goes Down

The alias returns with the second instalment of his new project, the Bobby Digital Trilogy, which will serve as the soundtrack to an upcoming graphic novel.

The trilogy was kicked off during the summer by Saturday Afternoon Kung Fu Theatre. Arriving on the heels of this critically acclaimed first instalment, Bobby Digital and The Pit of Snakes was produced by DJ Scratch. Under this moniker, RZA finds a freedom to musically depict his love of comic books through rich orchestral soundscapes and playful beats. As always, however, he reminds listeners of the legend status he earned in the Wu- Tang Clan, through authoritative and bold lyricism.

A wide emotional journey, taking in a scenery of cyborgs and kangaroos in the lyrical narrative; RZA finds great freedom in the idea of character on Bobby Digital and the Pit of Snakes.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: RZA & Bobby Digital collude again for some more comic book-themed mischief and lyrical abstraction. It's a winning formula which I'm hoping they continue to exploit.

TRACK LISTING

Under The Sun
Cowards
Troubleshooting
Fight To Win
Something Goin On
Celebrate Your Life
We Push
Outro

Oslo-based four-piece Legs 11 return to Beatservice Records with their third studio album, serving seven beguiling tracks on the delightfully off-kilter 'Welcome Home'.

Comprising of deviant players Sigmund Floyd, Torstein Dyrnes, Nils Tveten, and Audun Severin Eftevåg, Legs 11 have been Beatservice mainstays since making their label debut back in 2016. Fusing a disparate blend of esoteric sounds that include synth-pop, post-punk, new wave, house and more, the quartet journey from the murkiest depths into the pop-leaning stratosphere, taking in all manner of mind-altering detours along the way. Throughout their production journey, they've revelled in the unexpected, and 'Welcome Home' masterfully continues this aberrant trajectory.

Kicking things off in energetic mood, the new wave swagger of 'Flawless Logistics' dives deep into late-night rave abandon, Unhinged vocals and throbbing synth bass drive the cut through a futurist landscape of stripped rhythms and sinister tones before an atmospheric sax solo rises in to augment the searing lyrical message. Casting a critical eye on consumer-driven culture and mercenary musical forms, the vital composition is at once an unmissable social commentary and an irresistibly floor-filling groove.

Next, the glistening synths and sing-along vocals of 'Coup' saunter over bouncing bass notes and crisp machine drums. Acid licks rise in to add thrust to the club-primed groove while brooding pads and sultry spoken words meander through the sonic space. Elegantly sashaying into post-punk swirls, the hallucinatory swagger of 'Sax Consensual' bursts with theatrics. Seductive dart across the hyper-atmospheric backing track of pointed instrumentation, with glassy synths and fizzing drums joined by an evocative sax solo to vividly conjure late-night moods.

'Into The Darkness' bubbles with sinister intent, as striking bass and stripped rhythms charge through nocturnal synths, the serrated vocals purposefully projecting through the powerfully vivid subterranean mist. Maintaining the floor-focused tempo, 'This Is Your Home' sees sleazy vocals soar across an alien landscape. Distorted toms drive the groove as mysterious swirls and metallic textures fizz across the off-world horizon. Growling bass arrives alongside a searing sax lead as the endlessly-morphing rhythm undulates and evolves.

'The Crawley Within' sees darkly suggestive vocals enveloped by ominous synths and snarling acid licks, the determined rhythm steering the sparsely-woven instrumentation across alien topography as sensual whispers permeate the groove as the music undulates to an aberrant climax. Finally, completing a strikingly coherent collection, 'fuckboi' brims with attitude, with unhinged synths joined by growling rhythm guitar as the erotically-charged vocals project the steamiest of post-club invitations.

This is entirely unique work from Legs 11. Deviant, potent, and fiercely energetic, each track is propulsive enough to ignite dancefloors while embodied with more than enough profundity for headphone immersion. Utterly compelling.

TRACK LISTING

1. Flawless Logistics
2. Coup
3. Sax Consesuel
4. Into The Darkness
5. This Is Your Home
6. The Crawley Within
7. Fuckboi

Glaswegian soul star Joesef announces his debut album Permanent Damage. Representing the multilayers of the Scottish singer’s character and heart, over the past two years we have all witnessed an artist who has grown from bedroom pop to master and co-producer of new soul born from new heartbreak. Including singles 'It's Been a Little Heavy Lately' & 'East End Coast' the highly anticipated comes after a raft of media support from the likes of Radio 1, Vogue & Attitude Magazine & comes alongside the announcement of a headline European tour in Q1 of 2023 which includes headlining London's Roudhouse.

TRACK LISTING

1. Shower
2. Permanent Damage
3. Joe
4. It's Been A Little Heavy Lately
5. East End Coast
6. Blue Car
7. Moment
8. Just Come Home With Me Tonight
9. Last Orders
10. Borderline
11. Didn't Know How (To Love You)
12. All Good
13. Apt 22

Monks Road Social are an ever-changing collective of artists (some well-known, some just starting out) all with one thing in common - a love of making music.

Following the three genre bending albums MRS has already released this time round Richard Clarke turned to WONDERFULSOUND head honcho Miles Copeland to navigate the the vibe alongside mainstay of the band, the inimitable Dr Robert of Blow Monkeys fame.

Miles first showed up on debut album Down The Willows with the dreamy 'Golden Day' featuring Isle Of White favourite Angelina.

First single 'I’ll Keep On Searchin’ featuring Dr Robert on vocals is a lilting soulful slice of summer pop combining sweet melancholy and wistful chord changes.

Dr Robert explains “The song came from a piece of music Miles presented to me. It put me in mind of “Friends” era Beach Boys or early Smokey so the song came very quickly. Lyrically its informed by a kind of yearning. A desire for change, growth and connection. The things we’ve all been missing so much that give life meaning”

Miles continues… “The idea for this single came about from these 2 loops sampled from some charity shop record creating this infectious lazy, jazzy groove but I knew the music needed to change and become its own thing… so when the Monks Road Social posse came knocking I knew the calibre of musicians involved would be able to flip it around, and that’s how a majority of the LP was written”.

TRACK LISTING

1. Rise Up Singing! (Feat Paul Weller)
2. I'll Keep On Searchin' (Feat Dr Robert)
3. By The Water's Edge (Feat Neil Jones)
4. Spirit Level (Feat Romy Deighton & Orphy Robinson)
5. Let Love Prevail (Feat Matt Deighton)
6. Borderline (Version) (Feat Angelina)
7. Lizabethan (Feat Matt Deighton)
8. Smoke & Mirrors (Feat Dr Robert)
9. Serafina (Feat Romy Deighton)
10. Easy Pickings (Feat Arthur Melo & Leah Weller)

Never Going Under is the band's highly anticipated fifth record, and the encapsulation of a continued upward trajectory for Circa Waves over the last decade. Becoming one of Britain's most influential and adored guitar bands, the four piece's dedication to constantly developing their sound has seen them secure increasingly high positions in the Official Album Charts, as well as amassing an army of dedicated fans.

Speaking about Never Going Under, frontman Kieran Shudall says: "Never Going under speaks to that uniquely modern phenomenon of genuinely not knowing what type of world our kids are going to find themselves in in 30 years. Physically, environmentally, politically we are completely in the unknown. That scares us all but ultimately we know we can never give up on the future because how can you? The songs on the album are written differently from the previous work we've put out. They are written from the perspective of my son and also from my own current experience of the climate today. 

Never Going Under is a snapshot of the fear we all feel today and the resilience we will need to get through it.”

TRACK LISTING

Never Going Under
Do You Wanna Talk
Hell On Earth
Your Ghost
Carry You Home
Northern Town
Electric City
Want It All Today
Golden Days
Hold On
Living In The Grey

La La Land doubles down on the intricate proggy-pop displayed on Guided By Voices’s last album Tremblers And Goggles By Rank. On a hot streak of critical acclaim, Robert Pollard continues expanding his songwriting towards extremes of prettiness, heaviness and poeticism. As always, unforgettable hooks are everywhere. But with this latest, it seems Pollard is playing with the extremes of his abilities as a songwriter, emboldened by the power of this lineup now on their fourteenth album together since 2017. The prettiest stuff is prettier than ever (“Queen Of Spaces”) and odder, more complex songs like “Slowly On The Wheel” combine minimalism, whimsy, and cinematic inclinations. There are the exquisite power pop bangers that fans come to expect like “Ballroom Etiquette” and “Pockets.” Tracks like “Instinct Dwelling” and “Caution Song” effortlessly display a cranked-up weight and complexity most bands could never muster. Celebrating forty years in 2023 with their thirty-eighth album, GBV has lately been garnering rave reviews from Rolling Stone, Stereogum, Brooklyn Vegan, Uncut, MOJO, Shindig, Paste, Popmatters, The Quietus and many more.

TRACK LISTING

1. Released Into Dementia
2. Ballroom Etiquette
3. Instinct Dwelling
4. Queen Of Spaces
5. Slowly On The Wheel
6. Cousin Jackie
7. Wild Kingdom
8. Caution Song
9. Face Eraser
10. Pockets

Pittsburgh’s feeble little horse is a 4-piece band that writes intricately catchy, digitized noise pop songs. Formed by Sebastian Kinsler (guitar, production, vocals, bass) and Ryan Walchonski (guitar, vocals) in Ryan’s student apartment in South Oakland, PA in February 2021, the duo soon added Ryan’s roommate Jake Kelley on drums, and, inspired by a wave of creativity, the trio released their first EP – modern tourism, in May 2021, with artwork contributed by future member Lydia Slocum (vocals, bass).

After officially joining the band in June of that year as bassist and vocalist, Lydia added her own sweet vocals, rich melodies, and punchy lyrics to the band’s heady mix. From summer to fall of that year, the quartet played their first shows at DIY establishments across Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, gaining a word-of-mouth reputation as one of the most exciting new bands on the scene.

In October 2021 feeble little horse released their first full-length album, Hayday, via Julia’s War Recordings. Full of dense textures and exhilarating tension, the album’s eleven songs bristle with pent-up energy, the mood flipping between sweet noise-pop elements and more visceral discharges, the whole thing balanced on a knife-edge between the light and dark, the earnest and unhinged.

The band continues to expand and evolve in 2022, with new music on the horizon that looks set to redefine the band’s sound once again. Before that, however, comes a reissue of Hayday, in conjunction with Unstable – a record label started by the band. Available on vinyl for the first time, this reissue also features two bonus tracks: the previously unreleased "Dog Song 2" and a remix of "Termites" by Full Body 2. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Worth It (Intro)
2. Termites
3. Chores
4. Tricks
5. Too Much
6. Sherman's Last Ride
7. Picture
8. You Got It Babe
9. Kennedy
10. Drama Queen
11. Grace (Outro)
12. Dog Song 2*
13. Termites*

*Bonus Track 

After discovering a once-in-a-lifetime player with a rocky past abroad, a down on his luck basketball scout (Adam Sandler) takes it upon himself to bring the phenom to the States without his team's approval. Against the odds, they have one final shot to prove they have what it takes to make it in the NBA.

Dan Deacon is a Baltimore-based recording artist and performer renowned for his five studio albums of innovative electronic music, his live performances in both contemporary and classical settings, and his extensive body of work in film scores.

Deacon has premiered compositions at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, and collaborated with artists and institutions including Kronos Quartet, Sō Percussion, The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the LA Philharmonic, and Justin Peck with the New York City Ballet. Deacon has also toured internationally with popular recording artists including Arcade Fire, Miley Cyrus, Future Islands, and The Flaming Lips. His albums Spiderman of the Rings and Bromst were both named Best New Music by Pitchfork, and his album Gliss Riffer received 4-star reviews from outlets such as AllMusic and The Guardian. His most recent studio album is 2020’s Mystic Familiar.

Deacon’s original film and television scores include Twixt (Francis Ford Coppola, 2011), Rat Film (Theo Anthony, 2016), Time Trial (Finlay Pretsell, 2017), Well Groomed (Rebecca Stern, 2019), Strawberry Mansion (Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley, 2021), the 2021 PBS documentary series Philly D.A., and All Light, Everywhere (Theo Anthony, 2021). Deacon also scored Jessica Kingdon’s Ascension, which won Best Documentary Feature at Tribeca 2021 and earned a nomination for Best Documentary Feature at the 2022 Academy Awards; Deacon’s work on the film took home the Best Score prize at the 2022 Cinema Eye Honors.

2022 sees the debut of Deacon's latest film score, the Adam Sandler Netflix feature Hustle, directed by Jeremiah Zagar, now available for pre-order on vinyl in collaboration with Diggers Factory. 

TRACK LISTING

A1. Combine
A2. Streetball
A3. Oak Tree
A4. Best Month
A5. Bo Vs Kermit Pt 1
A6. Run Up Hill Win
A7. Streetball One On One
A8. Drive To Combine
A9. Kermit First Contact
A10.Like I Was Not Even Here
B1. Court Walk
B2. Already Dead
B3. Bo Boards Bus
B4. Coaching Debut Pt 1 & Pt 2
B5. The Chase
B6. Run Up Hill Fail
B7. Are You Obsessed
B8. Coaching Moment
B9. Never Back Down

In its isolated cities, cut off from the fashions of the capital, a unique style of music began to develop, inspired equally by the sounds of the surrounding forests, the roll of the mighty Amazon and Ucayali Rivers, and the rhythms of cumbia picked up from distant stations on transistor radios. With the arrival of electricity, a new generation of young musicians started plugging in their guitars and trading in their accordions for synthesizers: Amazonian cumbia was born.Powered by fast-paced timbale rhythms, driven by spidery, treble-damaged guitar lines, and drenched in bright splashes of organ, Amazonian cumbia was like a hyperactive distant cousin of surf music crossed with an all- night dance party in the heart of the forest. While many of the genre's greatest tracks were instrumental, and others were simple celebrations of life in the jungle, the goal of every song was to keep the party going.

Radio stations in Lima remained unaware of the new electric sounds emanating from the jungle, but a handful of pioneering record producers ventured over the mountain passes to the cities of Tarapoto, Moyobamba, Pucallpa – even Iquitos, a city reachable only by boat or plane – and lured dozens of bands to the recording studios of the capital to lay down their best tracks. Although many became local hits, few were ever heard outside the Amazonian region … until now.

With eighteen tracks from some of the greatest names in Amazonian cumbia, Perú Selvatico is both the improbable soundtrack to a beach party on a banks of the Amazon and a psychedelic safari into the sylvan mysteries of the Peruvian jungle.

TRACK LISTING

Descarga Royal - Los Royal ´s De Pucallpa 03:30
La Cervecita - Sonido Verde De Moyobamba 02:09
Selva Virgen - Los Zheros 02:40
Moyobambina - Grupo Siglo XX De Rioja 02:43 
Humo En La Selva - Los Invasores De Progreso 02:58
La Hamaca - Los Cisnes 02:54
Cumbion Universal - Fresa Juvenil De Tarapoto 03:35
La Trochita - Los Rangers De Tingo Maria 02:40
La Bola Buche - Los Invasores De Progreso 03:21
Bailando En El Infinito - Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical 02:56
Safari En La Selva - Los Cisnes 02:52
Baila Bonito - Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical 02:55
Ali Baba - Los Zheros 02:43
La Palmerita - Fresa Juvenil De Tarapoto 02:57
Recordando A Aguaytia - Sonido Verde De Moyobamba 02:18
El Pasito De Miriam - Grupo Siglo XX De Rioja 02:51
Rio Mar - Los Cisnes 02:34
La Uñita - Los Zheros 02:22

Diggers Dozen presents it’s first compilation on BBE Music selected by Japan’s DJ Muro - King Of Diggin'. This exciting new release offers 12 stunning Japanese jazz-funk and latin-jazz gems which fuse Japanese traditional musical instruments and traditional melodies. These recordings were produced during the 70's for Nippon Columbia by master composers and musicians of Japan’s jazz and latin scene, including Kiyoshi Yamaya, Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys, Kifu Mitsuhashi, Toshiyuki Miyama and more. It's original vinyl releases that these tracks featured on have become scarce and super rare for the Japanese collectors market and now these magnificent tracks are available outside of Japan for the first time on this killer compilation.

The focus and selections made by Muro for this release is a continuation from his Wa Groove Mix “Nippon Breaks” released in 2020. DJ Muro known as King Of Diggin’ rightfully owns this title being one of the world's deepest and most respected collectors of specialist rare records and music related relics. Muro first and foremost is a globally renowned DJ who has made his mark in releasing countless ground breaking mixtapes of various sounds and genres - mainly funk, soul and disco all selected with rare and original pressings. As well as this Muro is widely known for producing, remixing and re-editing many monumental titles and releases, reigning as King in the various fields he prevails.

TRACK LISTING

Vinyl Tracklist
DISC 1
SIDE A
1. Fuke Jobutsu~ Part 1 Tohri (Edited By MURO) – Kiyoshi Yamaya & Contemporary Sound Orchestra
2. Osorezan (Edited By MURO) – Kiyoshi Yamaya & Contemporary Sound Orchestra
3. Souma Nagareyama – Kifu Mitsuhashi, Kiyoshi Yamaya
4. Tabaruzaka – Katsuya Yokoyama, The Million Pops
SIDE B
1. Seijinshiki Aka Adult’s Day – Toshiyuki Miyama & His New Herd
2. Asadoya Yunta – Kifu Mitsuhashi, Kiyoshi Yamaya

DISC 2
SIDE C
1. Nanbu Ushioi Uta – Kifu Mitsuhashi, Kiyoshi Yamaya
2. Saitara Bushi – Kifu Mitsuhashi, Kiyoshi Yamaya
3. Soran Bushi – Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys
4. Hanagasa Odori – Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys
SIDE D
1. Sakura Sakura – Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys
2. Yagi Bushi – Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys

CD Tracklist
DISC 1
1. Fuke Jobutsu~ Part 1 Tohri (Edited By MURO) – Kiyoshi Yamaya & Contemporary SoundOrchestra
2. Osorezan (Edited By MURO) – Kiyoshi Yamaya & Contemporary Sound Orchestra
3. Souma Nagareyama – Kifu Mitsuhashi, Kiyoshi Yamaya
4. Tabaruzaka – Katsuya Yokoyama, The Million Pops
5. Seijinshiki Aka Adult’s Day – Toshiyuki Miyama & His New Herd
6. Asadoya Yunta – Kifu Mitsuhashi, Kiyoshi Yamaya
7. Nanbu Ushioi Uta – Kifu Mitsuhashi, Kiyoshi Yamaya
8. Saitara Bushi – Kifu Mitsuhashi, Kiyoshi Yamaya
9. Soran Bushi – Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys
10. Hanagasa Odori – Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys
11. Sakura Sakura – Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys
12. Yagi Bushi – Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys

DISC 2 (Mixed)
1. Fuke Jobutsu~ Part 1 Tohri (Edited By MURO) (Mixed) – Kiyoshi Yamaya & Contemporary
Sound Orchestra
2. Osorezan (Edited By MURO) (Mixed) – Kiyoshi Yamaya & Contemporary Sound Orchestra
3. Souma Nagareyama (Mixed) – Kifu Mitsuhashi, Kiyoshi Yamaya
4. Tabaruzaka (Mixed) – Katsuya Yokoyama, The Million Pops
5. Seijinshiki Aka Adult’s Day (Mixed) – Toshiyuki Miyama & His New Herd
6. Asadoya Yunta (Mixed) – Kifu Mitsuhashi, Kiyoshi Yamaya
7. Nanbu Ushioi Uta (Mixed) – Kifu Mitsuhashi, Kiyoshi Yamaya
8. Saitara Bushi (Mixed) – Kifu Mitsuhashi, Kiyoshi Yamaya
9. Soran Bushi (Mixed) – Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys
10. Hanagasa Odori (Mixed) – Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys
11. Sakura Sakura (Mixed) – Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys
12. Yagi Bushi (Mixed) – Tadaaki Misago & Tokyo Cuban Boys

This 14-track LP gives us a solid glimpse into the current wave of Antipodean bruk / broken beat artists.

Allysha explains "the connection began with a guest mix for CoOp Presents Worldwide FM radio show. I was asked to guest on the show, so pulled together some heavy unreleased and unmastered "Australian" broken sounds. I immediately called Horatio, Close Counters and Setwun, some of my nearest and dearest inspirations and collaborators to get them in the mix! Within 24 hours I had a brand new beat from Setwun called 'H.B.Y', I ran up some vocals on a Close Counters track and landed a wild jazz-bruk collaboration called 'Fly' from Horatio Luna and Nikodimos! We all felt really blessed to be linking in with some of the innovators of the sound we love!

Also in the mix, I played a track by Lanu a.k.a Lance Ferguson, one of "Australia's" funkiest songwriters and producers. Mike Gurrieri and Chris Gill over at Northside Records had already been scheming to set Lance and I up on a music date for weeks, which turned into writing 'Rewind' . Lanu, along with Ennio Styles, have been integral in the broken beat sound down here from the early 2000s and they connected Jonny Faith in to bring 'Southern Stepper'.

After linking in over the music and working on some collaborations, Alex Phountzi and IG Culture asked me to put together this compilation. The first person that came to mind was Sampology. A wild ride of shifting harmony and incredible vocals, Sam delivered 'Sunny', featuring Maia. Also of Middle Name Dance Band acclaim and a beaming light of creative energy, Kuzko created 'Immunity' for the comp — their debut solo release!

Also up in Meanjin, Special Feelings and Squidgenini were making their own style of jazzy house music and we absolutely knew that they would kill it on the broken beat tip. They sent through 'On Heat' and 'Prophecy' respectively, and inspired me to write and produce 'Listen'. A track about the struggle to be heard as female and non-binary artists. A hard-hitter mixed by co-collaborator Yelderbert of our new duo project, Totek.

As my brother and the one that first introduced me to Agent K, I knew we had to get Ziggy Zeitgeist up in the mix! He immediately sent over a bunch of tunes, and from alongside all of the 30/70 Collective demo drum loops and fresh Z.F.E.X sounds, we selected 'Bruk Samba' featuring Cody Curry, the CC Dance Orchestra.

I had managed to pull together a bunch of tunes for the compilation and after a studio session one afternoon I was walking down Sydney Road and bumped into Silent Jay, Alien and A.KID a.k.a. ACID SLOP at their new spot, the Mandarin Dreams HQ. We were just chatting and above Jay's head I spotted the New Sector Movements record, 'Download This'! To see that they'd just been spinning this record felt so serendipitous, so I had to ask them to be on it! Acid Slop sent me through a tune literally the next day, called 'Everything Falls Apart' and within the week we got 'Walk Away', from Lori and Silent Jay. It felt complete.

The way that this music just effortlessly and lyrically fell together, is a testament to the broken beat undercurrent that runs within the jazz and dance music scene down-under. 'They're Energised' connects a scene of deeply talented and inspired musicians, collectively shaping the new wave of uniquely "Australian" bruk and broken beat music!"

TRACK LISTING

1. Sunny
2. Prophecy
3. Southern Stepper
4. Fly
5. Rewind
6. My Everything (feat. Erica Tucceri)
7. Walk Away
8. H.B.Y.
9. Immunity
10. Bruk Samba
11. On Heat
12. They're Energised
13. Listen
14. Everything Falls Apart

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

STAFF COMMENTS

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

TRACK LISTING

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

Electronic polymath BABii dropped her new collaborative mixtape SCREAMER this year, with features from Iglooghost, Jennifer Walton, kasus, Pholo, umru, and Warpstr. Fusing DnB, garage, and jungle with pop sensibilities, the project is a reflection of her experimental writing and production. To celebrate the mixtape, BABii is releasing a limited run of 200 vinyl, with extras designed and handmade by BABii herself. The vinyl are all recycled, a more sustainable (and ultimately creative way) of producing the product.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: While both 'Hide' and 'Mirror' were definitely showing signs of BABii's interest in modern EDM, garage and bass music, it's here on 'Screamer' that we really see her let lose to embrace those influences unhindered. Moments of breezy, bright electronica are offset with syncopated percussion and rich, booming sub-bass hits. A euphoric and transportive wonder.

TRACK LISTING

1.SATURATE_demo (feat. Umru)
2.SiiCKLE_(w/ Jennifer Walton)
3.NECTA_pholo (V.5)
4.FADE_130bpm_warpstr
5.ZERO_2.0
6.BUTTERFLY 11 (+PSYCHE)_w/pholo_ii
7.LiiTE_13-37 W/igloghost
8.EMBER (crashed) (crashed)_PHOLO
9.HEXXED_kasus
10.DUNE_prod.iglooghost_140522
11.FURY 325_w/sv1

Primarily recorded at my home studio in South London, Carrying Colour studio in Freetown, my old studio in Rotherhithe Old Police Station, and Casa Mahler in Spoleto.

Recorded on different pianos, including an upright in Freetown that had lost the felt of its hammers due to the humidity creating a harpsichord-like sound as the raw wood struck the
strings.

Other prominent instruments featured are Moog Grandmother, double bass, electric guitar and Juno-G.

Part of the piano recordings on 'Up' and 'Drift' were composed and recorded through April 2021, whilst I was an artist in residence at the Mahler & LeWitt Studios, Spoleto, for the 'Mahler, The Song of the Earth' project in partnership with Mahler Foundation. During the residency, I was studying and creating work in response to the life and work of Gustav Mahler, in particular 'Das Lied Von Der Erde' (The Song of the Earth) — a vast song cycle engaging with nature, forgiveness, friendship, and mortality themes.

While making this record, I wanted to explore what the natural environment means personally. I went on many trips into nature to engage with plant life and natural materials. These included everyday strolls around South London, walks with my mum in the hills surrounding Bath (Up), hikes through Freetown, the hills of Spoleto, up line in Ghana and nature sanctuaries in Sierra Leone (Wood). I found incredible examples of nature in all of these contexts, which I felt personally close to.

I made field recordings with my phone or Zoom recorder, documenting various birds, insects, monkeys, bats, plants, trees, stones and so on, which are all on the record.

---

180g Vinyl (Transparent purple in clear vinyl).
Full colour inner sleeve.
Shrink wrapped.
Insert of a specially commissioned text by Johanna Tagada Hoffbeck.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A stunning distillation of slow jazzy piano and found sounds, given life with shards of surrealistic glitch and staggered melodic counterpoint. Duval Timothy has crafted a wonderfully evocative whole, brimming with organic flow and peppered with moments of celebratory joy. Mindblowing work.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Plunge
A2. Wood Ft. Yu Su
A3. Mutate
B1. Up
B2. Thunder Ft. Fauzia
B3. Drift Ft. Lamin Fofana

DR. MYSTERY marks her debut release with Ono. "Far From Home" is an eight-track album that glides across the dreamscape of another world. DR. MYSTERY’s world, set in the future, exploring sounds that excite the mind and body, underpinning an eclectic take on leftfield techno.

DR. MYSTERY’s talent to traverse the intersections between dreams and reality through sonics, positions her as an electric producer who is only just at the beginning of her journey. Ono wishes to capture this moment in a way that feels special, they have handmade 300 sleeves for the "Far From Home" vinyl out of old record sleeves and screen-printed the artwork onto them. Therefore each sleeve is bespoke and one of a kind.

Landing inna indeed exotic and alien dreamscape. The first two, quite classic Detroit / electro influenced tracks quickly morph into a cybernetic-trip-pop masterpiece entitled "Petrichor" which sounds like if Portishead transmitted from Saturn. Peppered drum hits, ethereal vox and wavy synths decorate much of the remaining duration; as DR. MYSTERY drifts between hydroplaning electro and jarring mainframe kinetics. It's a seductive and immersive trip with a great deal of continuity, simplicity and sentiment holding the whole thing together. Like much of Ono's cherished discography, it's a leftfield, DIY epic which belies its underground ethos and aesthetic. Fully endorsed by us all here at Picc HQ it's great to see Ono back in action for 2023!

All tracks written, produced & mixed by DR. MYSTERY
Mastered by Nick Sinna at Hidden Sounds
Artwork by Dr Mystery, Michael Holland
Screen-printed by Luste Silkscreen Studio in Riga

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: For newcomers to Ono this is a quintessentially great entry point. Custom sleeves, screen printed artwork, featuring a truly underground artist - all aspects that the Michael Holland-directed label has celebrated over its many years of inception.

TRACK LISTING

1. Dialog That Needs Your Attention 04:24
2. Gaia 06:00
3. Petrichor 05:08
4. Zukunft 02:33
5. Opulence 04:22
6. Avalanche 04:24
7. Far From Home 05:11
8. Antares 03:41

A native of Los Angeles, Henry Franklin came of age while the city was producing a crop of exciting jazz talent. Frankin’s lasting impact on jazz can be evidenced by the long list of legends who sought him out for tours and recording sessions, Stevie Wonder, Bobby Humphrey, Freddy Hubbard, & Pharaoh Sanders to name a few. Franklin’s solo output is best remembered for his two solo outings with the Black Jazz label- “The Skipper” & “The Skipper At Home”. Together, they form one of the most compelling diptychs in the entire post-bop canon. Recognised by his peers and contemporaries, Franklin’s entry for Jazz Is Dead gives the living legend his flowers and recognises the contributions The Skipper has made as one of jazz’s most influential heartbeats.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: The imperative jazz-revival series continues in earnest. Henry Franklin updates crucial material from "The Skipper" and "The Skipper At Home", aided and abetted by Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge. A tour de force of modern jazz expression!

TRACK LISTING

1. Karibu
2. The Griot
3. People's Revolution
4. Memories Lost
5. Feedback
6. Café Nero
7. African Sun
8. A Song For Sigrid

The New Yorker Adam Green’s 11th and latest solo album, That Fucking Feeling, continues his musical explorations with longtime collaborators Loren Humphrey, James Richardson (MGMT), and Jesse Kotansky. The album places large-scale 'Wall of Sound' style productions alongside home-recordings done during COVID quarantine. Adam Green was touring in Europe in 2022 spring, and will tour in USA in November.

When talking about the title track, Adam says: “I wanted to release something home-recorded. Back in the Moldy Peaches days I used to record everything on my parent’s kitchen table, but it’s been 20 years since I put out something like that. I wrote a few songs in quarantine singing into my laptop, and I like how direct it feels. Not every song has to be big, this is just a little song that felt like a sweet moment captured. I think of myself as a singing man, maybe that’s how I’m most comfortable in life” 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Adam Green's latest outing is perhaps the closest yet to the warts-n-all production values of The Moldy Peaches, with stripped-back acoustic pieces sitting beautifully alongside more orchestrated and grand numbers. It's all swimming with Green's good humoured lyricism and iconically droll vocals. There are definitely hints of David Berman's self-effacing modesty here, and what more could you want that that? Lovely stuff.

TRACK LISTING

Black Out
That Fucking Feeling
Red Copper Room
Bitter Hearts
All Hell Breaks Loose
What's Her Face
Dreidels Of Fire
Black Out (accoustic)
What's Her Face (accoustic)
Little Failure

An ode to nature or the nostalgia of a fantasized city, it’s the character of Zaka, the Voodoo Loa (spirit), who gives its protection to this collection inspired by the wonderfully free world of Library Music.

This second volume shows Blundetto’s passion for nature and the mystic of the eco-systems. You’ll hear the realm of a studio placed in the center of a French forest, the chicken ballroom, the daily walks at the rhythm of seasonal transformations of oaks and chestnut trees, the summer wind in the jungle of the vegetable garden responding to vintage keyboards, folk guitars and the silky sound of Mellotron.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: An ambrosial and pastoral collection of library music-informed jazz by modern master Blundetto. With moody horns, skilled drumming, plucked strings and cinematic key changes guiding its form; it's a really engrossing set full of vitality.

TRACK LISTING

A1.Count Duke
A2.Mama Genso
A3.La Puce
A4.Capuche
A5.Les Dumands
B1.Doucement
B2.Melloguinch
B3.West Highland
B4.Nanana
B5.Les Fleurs De Carole
B6.Old Guard In A Yard

This year sees another superb selection of EOY favourites committed to vinyl for your budget priced listening pleasure. I remember TVAM playing at the launch of our end of year booklet way back in 2018, and thinking they were destined for great things, turns out that “great things” was kicking off our end of year compilation in 2022! (and writing one of the best albums we’ve heard all year too, obviously). From the distorted kosmische groove of “Piz Buin”, we segue into the similarly machinated throb of “Ploys” by Working Men’s Club before things take a more relaxed turn with the off-kilter jangle of shop favourite Cate Le Bon from February’s Pompeii.

I have to admit I hadn’t listened to that much Kokoroko when we were selling all their 12’s last year, but Could We Be More was where it really clicked for me, and I’d consider the brilliant “We Give Thanks” as the finest cut from the whole album. I’m pretty sure there isn’t a track from Luke Unabomber’s top-spot compilation I wouldn’t be happy to see here, but to have King Errisson’s “Space Queen” and Pye Corner Audio’s “The Warmth Of The Sun” closing out the A-Side seems like the perfect shot / chaser.

We’ve got post-rock leaning arty indie from caroline in the intoxicatingly climactic “Dark Blue” before the beautifully melodic “Stevie” from Warpaint’s Radiate Like This moves us into more airy downbeat territories. Next up we’re pulled into even more psychedelic realms by Gwenno’s Superb “An Stevel Nowydh” before the masters of modern psychedelia The Orielles present one of the more jagged but most alluring cuts on their brilliant Tableau. King Hannah’s “All Being Fine” grooves away perfectly before handing over to the unbeatable Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band to bring us home with “Gino And Rico”. What a collection!

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A
TVAM : Piz Buin
Working Men’s Club : Ploys
Cate Le Bon : Harbour
Kokoroko : We Give Thanks
King Errisson : Space Queen
Pye Corner Audio : Warmth Of The Sun (Edit)

SIDE B
Caroline : Dark Blue
Warpaint : Stevie
Gwenno : An Stevel Nowydh
The Orielles : Television
King Hannah : All Being Fine
Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band : Gino And Rico

Where the Viaduct Looms comprises nine Nick Cave cover versions with vocals and instrumentation by 14-year-old Nell Smith and instrumentation and production by The Flaming Lips. The album was mastered by Dave Fridmann at Tarbox Road Studios.

This inspiring and heartwarming story begin when Smith, originally from Leeds (UK), moved to Canada and first met Wayne Coyne at the age of 12 at The Flaming Lips’ headline show at the Sled Island Festival, Calgary, in 2018 with her family. Nell had already attended several Lips shows and was a regular at the front of the stage, dressed in a parrot costume and screaming out the band’s songs. Coyne soon began to notice the kid in the parrot suit and sang a David Bowie cover directly to her at the show in Calgary, with Nell singing every word back.

A musical bond formed with Coyne staying in contact with Nell and her father Jude as she learned to play guitar, while their creative relationship began to flourish when she started to write her own songs.

When a planned trip to record with the band in Oklahoma had to be cancelled due to covid Coyne suggested Nell record some Nick Cave songs and email them to Oklahoma to be backed by the band. Coyne chose Nick Cave because Nell didn't know him and wouldn’t have preconceived notions as to how to sing the songs.

TRACK LISTING

1 Girl In Amber
2 Weeping Song
3 Into My Arms
4 O Chrildren
5 The Kindness Of Strangers
6 No More Shall We Part
7 Red Right Hand
8 The Ship Song
9 We Know Who You Are

"You Always Will Be" is the new album by artist Dylan Henner.

The follow up to 2020's well received "The Invention of the Human", the new record touches on themes of nostalgia & longing for times passed; innocence yielding hardships and vice versa; ageing; the soul; life changes; parents and children; loss; love.

Dylan says:

'The piece tells the story of a single life, from birth to death. I've been thinking about the passage of life a lot recently as I lost all four of my grandparents but celebrated the birth of my daughter all within a short period of time. The brevity and preciousness of being really hit me.'

Veering between blissed out electronica, New Age ambience and manipulated acoustic jazz; the piece exists completely in its own world; an immersive listen and unique journey through heavenly and quite nondualistic realms. It would make perfect listening for Johns Hopkins University's guided psilocybin therapy sessions.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Almost like if Brian Eno and Steve Reich birthed a love child in the metaverse which went on to do psychedelic therapy sessions.

TRACK LISTING

A. You Will Always Be
B. You Will Always Be 

Outernational Live from Studio Two Abbey Road" is a unique live LP featuring new stars of UK jazz recorded at the world-famous Abbey Road Studios during the winter lockdown of 2021.

Tracks were originally laid down for a covid-friendly filmed show hosted by the South by Southwest (SXSW) music festival in March of that year following a run of ground-breaking live showcases at the Austin event since 2017.

Featuring UK rising jazz stars Doom Cannon, Camilla George, Richard Spaven, Theon Cross, Noya Rao, Daniel Casimir and Tess Hirst, this will be a VINYL ONLY release - limited to 500 copies.

Previous acts from these internationally celebrated showcases include Shabaka Hutchings, Nubya Garcia and Moses Boyd with this special-edition LP highlighting the best of the next wave.

Theon Cross stated, "The JRF/BU Outernational showcase for SXSW filmed and recorded at Abbey Road in Feb 2021 was a very special one. It was one of the first times since the start of the pandemic that we were able to play together and make music for an audience despite them not being in the room. We really hit our stride with Panda Village a track from my album FYAH channeling all the joy and emotion of this cathartic moment."

Jazz Re:freshed also confirmed they will be returning to SXSW in 2023 for another landmark showcase, with further details to follow.creditsreleased September 2, 2022

TRACK LISTING

1. Doom Cannon - This Too
2. Camilla George - Ekpe
3. Richard Spaven - Helsinki Trio
4. Theon Cross - Panda Village
5. Noya Rao - Red
6. Daniel Casimir & Tess Hirst - These Days

So after a an unfortunate dispute on the Sonia track, we decided to repress this with a .1 to be sure and distinguish the releases as well as a rather nice replacement track from Byron Walker & Sandra Edwards

We enjoyed comping Volume one so much and had such a positive response, we went right onto producing For the Love Of You Volume 2.1

Having bumped this in the car for months I can assure you Sam's selection here probably betters the first. Again it is strictly soul covers featuring interpretations of Grover Washington Jr., Midnight Star, Meli'sa Morgan and Simply Red and loads more.

Its been great working with Sam brining attention to such a wonderful UK music scene and we both would like to thank all the artists and producers who went the extra mile to make this happen…


…The end of 2022 just got a bit sweeter.

TRACK LISTING

1. Lorna Fletcher - Just The Two Of Us
2. Byron Walker & Sandra Edwards - Don't Look Any Further
3. Dave Barker - I'm Curious
4. Valerie Harrison - Fools Paradise
5. Chosen Few - Dont Keep Me Waiting
6. Sylvia Tella - You Might Need Somebody
7. Fallon Jennings - All Night Long
8. Pete Campbell - Holding Back The Years
9. Toyin Adekale - Smile
10. Derrick Cross - Never Too Much
11. Carl Johnson - I Wish He Didn't Trust Me So Much
12. Trevor Walters - Blood Is Thicker Than Water

You probably already know Duncan as a founding member of Maximo Park, but here he brings us a rather wonderful collection of his solo work: Beautifully understated, melodic pop songs.

More about the album from Duncan...

'Early last year in that strange sort of limbo of a time, I was releasing songs on Bandcamp as & when I’d finished messing around with them. It was kind of therapeutic to work as a musician in a more spontaneous way, no deadline or pressure other than to create songs that were a standard I was happy with and as a reaction to whatever was happening at that point. I started to build an album of these songs with no planned finishing point, making music to escape the strange days. Around the same time I received a message from Tom at Reveal Records asking if I’d like to release a compilation of my solo work. I already knew of Reveal Records as it is based back in my home town of Derby but even though we had lost touch over the years, I remembered Tom had been an enthusiastic early supporter of Maximo Park (we played a couple of in store sessions at his record shop around our first two albums). In fact our paths had crossed way before that even because I used to go into his shop as a young kid in the 90’s (saving up my pennies to buy records by Sonic Youth and Pixies and U.S. import Lemonheads t shirts). That all informed my path to becoming a musician so it feels fitting & fortunate that things have come full circle & we are now working together.

After going through the songs, we came up with, Green Grows Devotion. A collection of selected songs written & recorded all over the place and spanning nearly 12 years of writing.

The collection travels through a mixture of styles, veering from spacey experimental ideas to quieter acoustic songs, one, “Cathedral Doors”, was written shortly after I lost my Dad & pushed me further to explore my own self sufficiency and sound, from the rawer punk spirited to the sparser & psychedelic ones.

The recordings vary from lo-fi home recordings to full band recordings done in rehearsals spaces with a handful of microphones. Some of the songs are from short run albums I’ve released myself, some are unreleased & some are from EPs or singles I’ve put out leading right back to 2010 when I started. It's been exciting to hear them come out of the dark & cathartic to sequence them all like this on the new album.

Hope you enjoy listening.

TRACK LISTING

Branca Drive
Heads Of The Bastille
Red Moon
Freak Facade
Dear O
Cathedral Doors (Transit IV)
Historic Elements
Impossible To Define
Outside Notion (Featuring Sarah Suri)
Sam (Demo #2)
Filler In The Bodywork
A Chime

A well is a stone-encircled place of depth, keeping an abundance of water for survival. “Well” is also a phrase for pause, for transition in language. Our tears can well up and bubble over. To define ourselves as “well” is the most basic term of goodness.

What’s on the other side of the well? Inside the tunnel of change, or this life, we can either feel intimidated by the darkness of uncertainty, or excited by the possibility of nourishment. Songwriter, guitarist, and vocalist Jess Shoman wonders, “what the hell,” why don’t we go for the excess of love we deserve? Tenci’s album A Swollen River, A Well Overflowing becomes a gathering and collection of well-like vessels – cups, puddles, fists – to hold tight to this love and newfound joy.

A Swollen River, A Well Overflowing is Tenci’s second album, coming after their 2020 debut My Heart Is An Open Field, which introduced Jess Shoman’s music explorations to the world. Shoman admits that their first album dealt with letting go of painful life experiences, resulting in emptiness. In this recent collection of wiser years and distance from that former grief, Tenci carries an opposite feeling, a celebration of self-rejuvenation. A Swollen River, A Well Overflowing shows Shoman steering their inventive music further and wilder, spilling over with 12 fable-like songs. In a combination of milk, coins, glass, water, and light, each song forms a spell to “fill my heart back up,” Shoman says, “by reframing complex feelings by turning my head sideways and seeing them in a different way.” 

TRACK LISTING

SIDE A:
1. Shapeshifter
2. Vanishing Coin
3. Be
4. Great Big Elephant
5. Cold Dirty Water
6. The Ball Spins
7. Sharp Wheel
SIDE B:
8. Out Of Body
9. Sour Cherries
10. Swallow Me Whole, Blue
11. Two Cups
12. Memories

Shake Chain have been busy demolishing audiences and expectations for the best part of three years. Vocalist Kate Mahony sets that standard by starting each live performance by crawling from the back of the room through a disbelieving crowd’s legs in a shiny yellow raincoat. The resulting questions that frantically arise of ‘what’s going on?’, ‘am I hallucinating?’ and ‘is this part of the show?’ are hallmarks of how Shake Chain approach making their unruly, lyric-bespattered rock music.

The four-piece from London are completed by Robert Syres (guitar, synth), Chris Hopkins (bass, synth) and Joe Fergey (drums), all artists hailing from Goldsmiths College, Nottingham Trent and Wimbledon, University of the Arts. A mutual love of thought-provoking performance art and a yearning for disruption have helped Shake Chain lock into their wayward sound. Twitchy guitar lines jolt and jerk, synths burble noisily and tack-sharp drums pin things down for Kate’s reeling vocal to vault and slur. Kate’s singing has drawn comparisons with Yoko Ono, Su Tissue and even a seance with it’s unique embrace of flights of atonal fancy, head-first repetition and ecstatic frenzy. Opinion-dividing arguably, but singular in making Shake Chain dauntingly brilliant.

Shake Chain’s debut album ‘Snake Chain’ was recorded in the New Forest’s Chuckalumba Studios early in 2022. The tranquil setting only slightly skewed by the intense extratropical cyclone occuring outside. When asked to sum up the album the group collectively settled on it sounding like “crying in a Catholic sex dungeon with Eastenders on”, perhaps only half tongue in cheek given the soapy dramatics of opening track ‘Stace’. ‘RU’ is a stompy triumph of ad lib monotony, heavy and wonky, its vocal slowly unwinding into residual sense. Shake Chain’s songs are populated with cowboys, cherry-pickers, content-addicts, private investments, a careless driver called Mike, architects and by much lamentation at the state of our confusing existencies. This last point underlined in luminous marker pen with slow-building vortex ‘Highly Conpeptual’ and whispered closer ‘Duck’.

‘Copy Me’ races along with radiant headbangs of dynamic abandon, one part tumble, two parts pummel, “hold your breath til something changes” commands Kate whilst everything of course is in hammering flux. ‘Second Home’ is similarly coruscating yet bouyant, whilst ‘Arthur’ feels like it could tear inside in two amid sobbing wails and the twining of its disparate parts. Throughout all the unhinged freakouts, found sounds and blasting rhythms though is Kate’s questioning, resilient presence, anchoring everything. On bruising creeper ‘Birthday’ she asks most tellingly “Do we speak language or does language speak us? Is there a mouth in the middle of the desert? Do you ask how cups are designed? Would you say yes when you really mean I don’t know”? Shake Chain are cathartic and absurd, humorous and deadly serious yet always inspired. Its this tightrope walk which makes their album such a thrilling, vital listen.

TRACK LISTING

01. Stace
02. RU
03. Copy Me
04. Birthday
05. Cavalry
06. Highly Conceptual
07. Mike
08. Second Home
09. Arthur
10. Architecture
11. Internet
12. Duck

O’Flynn and Frazer Ray - two much-celebrated UK producers and DJs - release their collaborative album, "Shimmer", on Ninja Tune imprint, Technicolour. The album arrives as a result of the duo’s love for the UK dance music scene, from garage to breaks, trance and hardcore. Frazer and O’Flynn’s vast knowledge and respect for underground cultures and genres shine through as a direct influence.

Smothered in a very crisp, very glossy, very now patina; high fidelity throughout and stylishly showing off what modern soundsystems are capable of. It's one of those albums that'll play right through on long, nocturnal night drives or soundtrack your afters whilst still in the spirit of the night before. Half the tracks can also be cherry picked by DJs to smash apart dancefloors as we transition into 2023. A highly functionally, dare-I-say accessible album which still pushes boundaries in terms of production and arrangements.

For fans of Overmono, Soundbwoy Killah, Ross From Friends,HAAi.. Two Shell etc. 

TRACK LISTING

Luna Bay
Call For Noise
Love Fading
Troopa
Holsten
Kolfax
Satyr
Rosetta Feat. Byulah And Ekhe
Tando
Katara
Light It Out
You Need Me

Born into a strict fundamentalist Christian household in sinful Memphis and growing up in evangelist Abilene in Texas, Micah P Hinson has experimented with music and narcotics, suffered the seduction and the abandon of a femme fatale, served a brief stint in the local jail, known failure, bankruptcy, drug addiction and rehab - all before the age of 20

His debut was recorded in the winter of 2003 with assistance from Texas chamber pop collective The Earlies, followed by three albums of original material and one all-covers album. In 2011, a near-fatal car crash paralyzed his arms for months. He spent his recovery time listening to some demos he'd made before the crash. The material eventually culminated in the darkest and most intensely personal collection of songs from him thus far and garnered widespread critical acclaim. (Micah P. Hinson & The Nothing).

Since then, each record is a final confrontation with himself, each song shakes with danger. I Lie To You, the new Micah P. Hinson album, comes from five days and five nights of recording in Irpinia, South Italy, with production by Alessandro Asso Stefana (PJ Harvey, Mike Patton, Vinicio Capossela). Accompanying Micah and Asso are Raffaele Tiseo's celestial strings, Zeno De Rossi metaphysic drumming and the double bass gentleman Greg Cohen. On this new album he sings, with his weathered, husky, prophet-like voice, eleven tales of love, loss and regret, which once again reveal his heart as an artist laid bare.

TRACK LISTING

Ignore The Days
Carelessly
People
Find Your Way Out
Please Daddy, Don't Get Drunk This Christmas
What Does It Matter Now ?
Walking On Eggshells
The Days Of My Youth
Wasted Days And Wasted Nights
500 Miles

Lykke Li returns with her fifth studio album EYEYE. The LP is an eight track story about lust, attraction, attachment, and rejection; the landscape of love. The songs are inhabited by moving images that neither start nor end. Each film functions as a visual loop, concise as a haiku, yet continuing in perpetuity. The result is a somatic, repetitious experience. Compounding chapters between a dream and reality.

Lykke Li creates connection with the depth of emotion in her lyrics and her consistency has made her an iconic staple in music with a decade spanning career having created her own lane when it comes to genre and songwriting. In addition to selling out shows across the world, she has performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Conan, Jools Holland, and received praise from The New York Times, NPR, Pitchfork, The Fader, Complex, Rolling Stone and more. Last year, Lykke featured on Mark Ronson’s critically acclaimed single “Late Night Feelings” and joined him for a live performance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Outside of music, she starred in the Terrence Malick film Song to Song and also co-founded the female owned Yola Mezcal brand, which brought the inaugural all-female music and arts festival Yola Día to Los Angeles and featured performances from Megan Thee Stallion, Cat Power, and Courtney Love.

TRACK LISTING

1. No Hotel
2. You Don't Go Away
3. Highway To Your Heart
4. Happy Hurts
5. Carousel
6. 5D
7. Over
8. Ü&I

Recorded at the end of 2021, Between Two Waves, marks the latest chapter in the story of GoGo Penguin. A joyful, powerful collection of new music is now available on vinyl which also includes 5 postcards.

As the band regroup after the strange, challenging and at times, tragic couple of years which preceded it, this album captures a moment of rebirth and movement for one of contemporary music’s most exciting bands and explores that sense of excitement and anticipation as you move through life. With a new line-up, drummer Jon Scott joined pianist Chris Illingworth and bassist Nick Blacka a few months before the recording sessions at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios, and a new label, XXIM Records. For the band, it represented both business as usual with a welcome return to the recording studio, but also something of a fresh start. A chance to explore new ideas and experiment, as they expanded the range of sounds and voices within the tracks, and the Eurorack modular and Moog synths found their places between their signature piano, double-bass and drums on tracks like Badeep, Wave Decay and Lost in Thought. 

TRACK LISTING

Badeep
Ascent
Wave Decay
Lost In Thought
The Antidote Is In The Poison

At the beginning of the year it was reported that Tesco was phasing out CDs and DVDs in its UK stores, with plans to stop selling physical media altogether by the end of February 2022. So obviously the time is right to finally commit Bog Shed's recorded output to CD (and digital platforms) for the first time.

The band formed in 1983 and over the next four years released their debut EP Let Them Eat Bog Shed, followed by two albums; Step On It and Brutal, as well as a compilation of their John Peel Sessions (Tried & Tested Public Speaker, originally a 6-track EP). The version of Tried and Tested Public Speaker released here features 20 of their John Peel session tracks, 14 of which have never before been released.

Mike and Mark were born in Liverpool in 1961 but met at school in Ormskirk aged 9. Their 70s were T.O.T.P, Top 20, Fluff Freeman, John Peel, Probe, Eric's and the peculiar hippy/ punk crossover of the free festivals. Every Saturday they would play rubbish guitars through a home made amp. After leaving Polytechnic Mike and Mark moved to Hebden Bridge soon to be followed by Phil who moved into Northwell Cottage in Heptonstall. This was an ideal space to play and rehearse. Stone-built and clinging to a hill with the toilet in a shed down a steep path next to a well for your water.

Drummers were tried, but were either temporary or just plain wrong. Tris, who befriended the others drinking in the Trades Club, got the job having never played the drums. The Bradford gig on Who Scoffed The Trill? was 2 weeks later and these live songs are early tunes that never got recorded. There were many more, but C90's got recycled and we will never again hear Open Up In The Name Of Fred Feast or I saw Cleo Laine In A Phonebox. Who Scoffed The Trill?'s 22 tracks are exclusive to this box set and won't be available on streaming platforms.

Their debut EP Let Them Eat Bog Shed was released on John Robb's Vinyl Drip label in 1985 and led to their track Run To The Temple appearing on the NME's now-legendary C86 cassette. However, this was the age of DIY and Phil decided they should be even indie-er and start their own label, Shelfish, having declined offers from the Creation and Abstract labels.

Phil was technically the best musician in the band, he could play and sing every Beatles song. John Robb describes him and the cottage, 'A total one-off, Phil was a Stanley Baxter lookalike with flared nostrils and a flared mind who was funny as fuck and had a brilliant quirky worldview. His house was an extension of his unique personae. Every morning at breakfast a horse from the neighbouring field would poke its head through the kitchen window and nibble bits of toast and listen to the clatter of cans being swept up.'

Phil still organised gigs in Britain and Europe but the well-known stresses of travelling in the back of a van for miles and miles to be manic for an hour started to tell. What had been creative tension just became tension So in 1987 it stopped. Phil died of throat cancer in 2006 having fallen out with Mark and Tris. Tris went on to play with A Witness before joining Jackdaw with Crowbar. He played in many side projects on a variety of instruments until he died of brain cancer in 2008. Mike still draws and came up with the new sleeve artwork.

TRACK LISTING

CD1 – Let Them Eat Bog-Shed
1 Panties Please
2 Spencer Travis
3 Fat Lad Exam Failure
4 Slave Girls
5 City Girls
6 Hand Me Down Father

CD2 – Step On It
1 Mechanical Nun
2 Run To The Temple
3 Adventure Of Dog
4 Tommy Steele Record
5 Jobless Youngsters
6 Tried To Hide But Forced To Howl
7 Packed Lunch To School
8 Summer In My Lunchtime
9 The Fastest Legs
10 Oily Stack
11 Hell Bent On Death
12 Can't Be Beat
13 Little Car
14 Morning Sir
15 Story Of Bogshed

CD3 - Brutal
1 Raise The Girl
2 Geoff's Big Problem
3 Old Dog New Dance
4 No To Lemon Mash
5 I'm The Instrument
6 Opportunatist Knocks
7 People Equal Greedy
8 Sing A Little Tune
9 C'mon Everybody
10 Uncle Death Grip
11 Spring
12 Loaf
13 Excellent Girl
14 True Rope
15 Stop Revolving
16 Your Science My Sound

CD4 – Tried & Tested Public Speaker
1 Packed Lunch To School
2 Oily Stack
3 Hell Bent On Death
4 Can't Be Beat
5 Fastest Legs
6 Adventure Of Dog
7 Morning Sir / Little Car
8 Summer In My Lunchtime
9 Tried And Tested Public Speaker
10 Champion Love Shoes
11 Little Grafter
12 Raise The Girl
13 I Said No To Lemon Mash
14 The Gourmet Is A Baby
15 Loaf
16 From The Stubble
17 Six To One And Likely
18 Into Me
19 Duck Fight – US Bands – Wally Wallah

CD5 – Who Scoffed The Trill?
1 Budgies
2 This MUST Be Taken Seriously
3 Necktie Murder Shopping Trollies
4 Gathering Change
5 Proper Music
6 You Are This
7 Too Many Personalities
8 The Amazing Roy North Penis Band
9 Hardly Manky
10 I Feel Like A Thing
11 Are You Alive
12 Thankyou Horse
13 Pain Is Nice
14 Lodger Problem
15 Piano Vocal Easy Organ
16 I Taste Little Windmill
17 I Prayed In Your Parlour
18 Monument
19 Soon To Exist
20 Oh Regulation!
21 Sunday Man
22 My Little Heart's In A Whirl
23 Simple Spinal
24 Runner On A Blunder

It was back in April 2021 when Johnny Borrell, Andy Burrows, Björn Ågren and Carl Dalemo revealed they’d been back working together for the first time in over a decade, correcting the unsatisfactory conclusion to their original formation.

Crucial to the group’s reunion was an emotional meeting between Borrell and Burrows near Johnny’s home in the Basque country in summer, 2020, which plays a pivotal part in the groups forthcoming ‘Fall To Pieces’ documentary, premiering on November 4th at the Genesis Cinema in Whitechapel & is part of this year's Raindance film festival.

“I had to go and chat with Johnny and make things good,” recalls Burrows. “If I didn’t, I’d have gone on thinking about it for the rest of my life, that we should’ve met up, we should’ve played together again, it was too special to leave behind.”

Bridges have been built. The artistic, and sometimes unwieldy, connection between the two has been re-established. It has been a heartening experience for those involved. “My trust with Andy was at absolute zero so to get that back was really inspiring,” says Borrell. “That’s never happened before and it made me think a lot about my life, like if I can get my trust back with Andy, I could do it with anybody.” “Whilst our relationship hasn’t always been plain sailing, when Johnny and I sit down to write music together, there’s a magic that happens. I’m so grateful to have him and the band back in my life,” agrees Burrows.

TRACK LISTING

Golden Touch
In The Morning
Who Needs Love?
Before I Fall To Pieces
Violence Forever?
Stumble And Fall
America
Somewhere Else
You Are Entering The Human Heart
Rip It Up
Good Night

Soulside formed in Washington, DC, in 1985, split up in 1989, then reformed in 2014 and has continued playing and writing music since then. After releasing their debut album on Sammich/Dischord, they recorded Trigger (Dischord, 1988) and Hot Bodi-Gram (Dischord, 1989), which were combined on the Soon Come Happy CD in 1990. The band toured extensively in the US and Europe during these years, including groundbreaking shows in Poland and East Berlin shortly before the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.

In 2020, Soulside put out a new 7-inch, This Ship, their first release in 30 years, which was recorded in Prague. In late 2022, Dischord will release a 12-song Soulside album, A Brief Moment in the Sun, which was written during the heart of the coronavirus pandemic and recorded in person by J. Robbins in November 2021. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Times Like These
2. Day 2
3. Every Clover
4. Reconstruction
5. Runner
6. Walker
7. Tambourine
8. 70's Heroes
9. Resolved
10. Rediscovery
11. Survival
12. It's All About Love

A 6 trk 10” mini-LP from SHIBUYA STATION, an all-analogue synth project founded by Marc Schaffer (aka solitude fx, Endphase, Twins Natalia, as well as being the founder of the Anna Logue Records and Nadanna labels).

Finding his inspiration in the late ‘70s/early ‘80s synth music and the machines of that period, Marc recorded a few tracks back in 2013 which were further developed by fellow musicians Stefan Bornhorst (The Silicon Scientist), Dave Hewson (Poeme Electronique), Orpheo Weidelt (solitude fx), Kriistal Ann (Paradox Obscur) and Erik Söderberg (Kinder Aus Asbest) over the following years.

As Marc says: “Six tracks made it eventually onto international compilations “Tunes That R Attractive!”, “Sie Hat Schenkel Wie Godzilla”, “Jubilee Jamboree: 10 Years Of TuT/RuR” and “Synthesizer Music On Tape” vol.3, which are now presented on a 10” vinyl via the renowned Polytechnic Youth label, who say it’s their last release for awhile, as they concentrate on their new label, Feral Child.

Instruments used were Amdek Percussion Synthesizer PCK-100, Boss Voice Transformer VT-1, Casio VL-1, Crumar Performer, DSI Mopho, Korg KR-55B, Korg MS-20, Moog Little Phatty, Moog Voyager, Novation Bass Station II, Oberheim DPX-1, Roland CR-78, Roland SH-2, Yamaha CS01, and VST synthesisers ARP Odyssey, EKSSperimental Sounds ES101, Korg MS-20. The project name is reference to Hachikō, the dog who continued to wait for over nine years following his owner’s death at … Shibuya Station”.

10" vinyl features: a limited edition of 300 copies, black vinyl, 40 mm mini labels.

Mastering by Stefan Bornhorst (The Silicon Scientist). Artwork by Steve Lippert.

Invisible City Editions continues their 10 year anniversary in adventurous sounds. They've re-released Rico Toto’s 1993 CD recording "Fwa Épi Sajès". Mind melting synthesizers and drum machines fuse with ancient Guadeloupe Gwo-ka rhythms in this musical endeavour Rico Toto describes as 'Electro-ka.' The improvised live instruments of the Moundjahka ensemble meld with electronic abstraction to create a psychedelic, immersive digital diaspora dream state. With nods to Jon Hassell’s’ atmospheric soundscapes, YMO and Baldelli / TBC cosmic mixtapes, this selection of songs encompasses an entire spectrum of moods and sounds. The A side begins with fourth-world tropical percussions, opening with sounds of nature in “Jungle Meditation” and leading into the downtempo summer synthpop jam “Yadadé.” The B side takes a darker turn, starting off with the deep chugging rhythms of “Rawal Pindi” and continuing even deeper with synth sounds and haunting vocals that culminates into the dreamy meditative final track, “Golgotha.”

Limited vinyl pressing in collaboration with Rico Toto. Artwork by Floating Bstrd.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: So cosmic it had be looking at 2nd hand Citroen 2CVs on my lunch break. FIRST TIME on vinyl for this previously CD on masterpiece. Invisible City have really done the business here - miss at your peril!

TRACK LISTING

Jungle Meditation
Egyptian Song
Fwa Epi Sajes
Yadade
Rawal Pindi
First Odyssey
Akacia
Golgotha

Uusi Aika is a fresh new ensemble from Finland. Their self-titled debut album will be released by We Jazz Records on 25 November 2022. The band's music could be described as introspective and meditative, but that's only a part of the story. The instrumentation is acoustic and their sound organic to the bone, but the music's slowly unfolding character brings to mind some deep abstract electronic music or experimental dub explorations at times. That is, there's power just under the surface, just beautifully out of focus.

Otto Eskelinen says: "Lately I have been playing mostly folk music and using traditional instruments, such as ancient flutes. Now I felt that I wanted to play the saxophone again, and to do it in a small group setting, while searching for new compositional approaches and also ways of playing together with others. I wanted to create a band that would play something connected to free jazz, but with a distinctly melodic approach. I wanted the sound of the band to be gentle and peaceful, all acoustic. The main inspirations here stem from the history of Japanese sound aesthetics, new age, early 20th century art music and jazz giants such as Lester Young and Jan Garbarek."

Uusi Aika has already debuted live in Helsinki, where their performance at Odysseus Festival this summer was met with remarkable enthusiasm.

TRACK LISTING

1. Gudrid
2. Kaksi Puuta
3. Ajelehtivat Pilvet
4. Uusi Aika
5. Lumikenkä
6. Distances
7. Henget

From small beginnings in 1974 as a local cinema and university event, Film Fest Gent has grown yearly in stature and is now recognised as one of the major destinations for the film industry. A vital component is the celebration of film music in the shape of the World Soundtrack Awards which honours the very best composers at work in the world of cinema.

In 2016 the award went to one of the most brilliant composers of his generation, Ryuichi Sakamoto. This is the first overview of his remarkable catalogue of film scores, fully approved by the composer and performed by the masterful Brussels Philharmonic under the baton of Dirk Brossé. Sakamoto was already a celebrated pioneer in electronic music and composer/pianist/singer in Japan when director Nagisa Oshima asked him to write the score for Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence in 1983 and also to star alongside David Bowie.

In a 30 year plus career since then he has worked with the cream of film directors including Bernardo Bertolucci (The Last Emperor), Brian De Palma (Snake Eyes), Pedro Almodovar (High Heels) and most recently Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (The Revenant). This compilation is a fitting tribute to his status as one of the greatest living musicians and film composers.

Shigeru Umebayashi is an internationally renowned composer who is best known for creating ‘Yumeji’s Theme’ for Wong Karwai’s film In The Mood For Love. In addition to collaborating with Wong Kar-Wai on 2046, Umebayashi was the music producer and composer for Zhang Yimou’s films House Of Flying Daggers and Curse Of The Golden Flower.

This is an updated version of Film Fest Ghent’s 2010 tribute to the composer’s work which featured his most celebrated music. This edition includes material that has not been otherwise released featuring two pieces from A Single Man, a cue from the anthology film Hero and a new arrangement from his breakthrough score, Moyou from Sorekara, which features in the film The Grandmaster. Following the success of vinyl releases featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alan Silvestri in the same series, this double LP on white vinyl in a distinctive gatefold sleeve features a world-class recording by Brussels Philharmonic/Dirk Brossé of Umebayashi’s most impressive work.

“Umebayashi’s oeuvre can be found at the confluence of Western and Eastern music. It is unique, stylistically original, authentic in colour and has its own character. Its vibrant intensity transports us. It is Ume” – Dirk Brossé – Musical Director, Film Fest Ghent

TRACK LISTING

A Side
1. Yumeji’s Theme (From "In The Mood For Love")
2. Theme Of The Empress (From "Curse Of The Golden Flower")
3. Curse Of The Golden Flower (From "Curse Of The Golden Flower")
4. Mother & Jai (From "Curse Of The Golden Flower")
5. Polonaise (From "2046")
6. Interlude (From "2046")

B Side
1. 2046 Main Theme (From "2046")
2. Incendiary Main Theme (From "Incendiary")
3. Victoria Station (From "Incendiary")
4. Joan’s Cello (From "Hero")
5. Vendetta March (From "Tears For Sale")

C Side
1. George's Waltz (II) (From "A Single Man")
2. A Variation On “Scotty Tails Madeleine” / Carlos (From "A Single Man")
3. Hollow Inside (From "Hannibal Rising")
4. Train (From "Zhou Yu’s Train")
5. Moyou (From "The Grandmaster")
6. Sorekara Main Theme (From "And Then")

D Side
1. In Times Past And Gone
2. No Way Out (From "House Of Flying Daggers")
3. Farewell No 2 (From "House Of Flying Daggers")
4. Lovers (From "House Of Flying Daggers")

The story about the lost recordings of Ghia continues. Following the recently released "At The Hilton" single, The Outer Edge present "Curaçao Blue", the band's first full-length album. And it is simply mind-blowing to say the least! The LP features 10 unreleased tracks in a similar Balearic vein as featured on the single.

Incredibly, it was only just a few months ago that these tracks were rediscovered on some old tapes by band members Lutz Boberg and Frank Simon. Could anyone imagine that two physics students from a small German town could create such beautiful, thrilling music in their home studio? Although the technical aspects in the creation of the band's earliest tracks may have been straightforward, the outcome is high-quality, creative, modern jazz-funk, with one step in the electro-funk genre due to the use of a drum machine and synthesizer basslines. The album features mostly 4-track recordings, based mainly on the musicians' weapons of choice: a DX21 keyboard (later updated to the legendary DX7) and a guitar. Many things had to be done live in just one take, though the artists were unafraid of using overdubbing techniques to weave their instrumental journeys. The DIY aesthetics just add more beauty and uniqueness to the songs and compositions, and the result is an extremely harmonic work of undeniable musicality. Ghia delivers Balearic jazz-funk at its finest.

Though the music was recorded in Germany, Ghia had a true relationship with the Balearic region and effortlessly applied the vibes to their compositions. As a side note, one track on their earliest demo tapes was called "3 AM at Moëf Gaga" and we did not know what it meant. The band explained that Moëf Gaga is a nightclub on the Spanish coast that is actually still active today. Boberg and Simon, the two original band members of Ghia, visited the club in the early 80s and spent their holiday close to the sea. With their music, they intended to create a summery vibe, capturing a relaxed and soulful view of the seashore, likely with a drink in hand... Perhaps a Blue Curaçao?

The album starts with a revised version of the title track. The drums in this take are much punchier, and we thought that it would fit just perfectly as an introduction. We continue with the already classic "Down At The Hilton" that was featured on the single, but like us, we are sure you could happily listen to this track on repeat. Next up, "Jump In The Water" opens with a catchy delayed melody, which develops into another perfect jazz-funk piece with an extended guitar solo. Another remarkable song might be "In The Fast Lane". As the name suggests, an uptempo number, now with an electro-funk beat combined with speedy keyboard solos that almost sounds like a marimba. On side B, the album keeps the relaxed seaside vibes flowing. To round out the album, we are treated to two pieces that originated after the return home, with memories of the Spanish coast fading but still lingering, likely recorded between 1986 and 1988. Both are instrumental versions of songs to be used later for studio sessions with their new band member, singer Lisa Ohm (who you will hear on Ghia's next album!). On "Crystal Silence In Dub" we get a perfect downtempo groove, positively reminding us of the sound of the 1980s UK funk scene. The album ends with "Keep Your House In Disorder", here as an earlier, rougher, and funkier take than on the final vocal version, which could be found on the B-side of the "What's Your Voodoo" single.

The Outer Edge is the new label by record collector DJ Scientist, aka John Raincoatman. Frederic Stader is responsible for mastering and sound restoration of the material on this LP.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Teasing us with a 7" a few weeks ago; we now get the full length LP from these German maestros. Balearic jazz-funk with a touch of elegance, class and sophistication which should find it soundtracking the most stylish of poolside haunts. The whole thing plays like a day of decadence spent at Pikes Hotel.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Curaçao Blue (Introlution)
Down At The Hilton
Jump In The Water
Close To You ('85 Interlude)
In The Fast Lane

Side B
Flowerplay
Curaçao Blue
Through The Window
Crystal Silence In Dub
Keep Your House In Disorder (Instrumental)

Battlefield 2042 soundtrack pressed on 2 x 'Hazard Zone' (Green w/ Blue Markings) vinyl, exclusive variant outside The Americas.

Includes gatefold sleeve plus printed inner sleeves.

"Guðnadóttir has established her signature sound: a moving fusion of ambient drone and contemporary classical that places an emphasis on her exceptionally controlled tone; she’s capable of conjuring entire worlds out of just a few carefully chosen notes.” pitchfork.com

"We are thrilled to be writing our first video game score for Battlefield 2042, and teaming with Electronic Arts,” … "It was such a deeply creative experience to dive into this world and create a truly unique and disruptive musical environment for the game.” Gudnadóttir and Slater

TRACK LISTING

Orbital
The Observation Of Beautiful Forms
Irreversible
Between The Bows
Wall Jazz
Load Bearing
When Does A Country Stop Being A Country?
5 Degrees Of Warming
Olivine
Hauled Over The Coals
The Long Haul
Hourglass (Inverted)
Wet Bulb
Shipping Forecast
Deploy
Tipping Points
Battlefield 2042

Falling Floors is a psych-rock three piece, formed in the pandemic out of a desire for distraction from dark times and an unending stream of shit news (seriously, what the fuck is going on?) There’s no master plan, no grand ambition, no product-market fit, just a shared love of 60s psych, 70s rock, and the fearless, genre-less experimentation of Krautrock and early prog to get us through.

Riding the trans-Pennine underground (up the hill and out of the crags, down there, you know?), you can hear magical sounds coming out of the Valley. On a cold and wet Calderdale winter, the band recorded their self-titled first album, DIY, live, in two days in Hebden Bridge. Rawness not perfection and feel over finesse were the aims. This album, a trans-Atlantic joint release by Riot Season (UK) and Echodelick (US), lives by slips, fuck-ups, and simple, joyous expression.

Falling Floors is Rob Herian (ex-feral stoner rockers Early Mammal) on guitar and vocals, Harry Wheeler (no ravers The Family Elan) on bass and keys, and Colin Greenwood (ex-shoegaze folk rockers No Sorrows) on drums. It’s no one’s project, and no one’s in charge. But there’s enough in common to keep it honest.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Infinite Switch (8:05)
A2. Interlude 1 (Making A Scene) (0:58)
A3. Ridiculous Man (4:41)
A4. Interlude 2 (Negotiations) (1:16)
A5. Flawed Theme (4:50)
A6. Interlude 3 (Going Quietly) (2:00)
B. Elusive And Unstable Nature Of Truth (18:48)

Berlin-based psychedelic post-punk group The Third Sound (led by Brian Jonestown Massacre guitarist Hákon Aðalsteinsson) are set to release a new Fuzz Club Session LP on December 9th. Recorded live at Berlin's Marie Antoinette club, the 10-track double album sees The Third Sound perform a discography-spanning set with tracks from last year's highly-praised 'First Light' LP (2021), 'All Tomorrow's Shadows' (2018), 'Gospels of Degeneration' (2016), 'The Third Sound of Destruction and Creation' (2013) and 'The Third Sound' (2011). The session is released on vinyl, digitally and as a series of videos by Fuzz Club Records. It's number 19 in the London label's ongoing Fuzz Club Session series which has also seen the likes of A Place To Bury Strangers, Night Beats, Holy Wave, Heaters, The Entrance Band, The Myrrors, Lumerians, The Underground Youth, 10000 Russos and more. 

TRACK LISTING

Ghosts Of Memphis
We Will Be Together
Dissociation
Your Love Is Evol
For A While
You Are Not Here (ft. Lucy Kruger)
This Is The Only Way I Know
Half Alive
Nine Miles Below
Re-Elevation

Garrie’s album "The Nightmare Of J.B. Stanislas" became a cult album in the truest sense of the word which has been re-released several times, and rightly so. Gradually, a new generation of music fans and musicians came to appreciate Garrie's work, he was collaborating with the likes of Duglas T. Stewart (BMX Bandits), Norman Blake, Francis McDonald (both Teenage Fanclub) and Gary Olson (The Ladybug Transistor) and releasing critically acclaimed albums in recent years. The latest find from the Nick Garrie cosmos is a session he recorded in Portugal at the beginning of the millennium: "Summer Nights - The Lost Portuguese Session".

Gondwana Records and Portico Quartet announce a strictly limited edition collectors-item. Featuring an expanded version of their long-form composition Terrain and re-arranged for the Portico Quartet Ensemble and recorded live in Studio One.

Terrain (Extended) features an expanded version of the composition re-arranged for the Portico Quartet Ensemble – a subtle re-configuration of the band that features a string quartet - and which allowed for the composition's deeper textures and resonances to be fully explored, along the way expanding the dialogue between tranquillity and a subtly unsettling melancholy, that makes Terrain such a beautiful, powerful piece.

9th November 2021 was a very special session. The band (who had first recorded at Abbey Road for their second album Isla back in 2009), brought long-term collaborator, recording and mix engineer, Greg Freeman over from Berlin to work with Abbey Road's Chris Bolster and the resulting concert film Terrain (Extended) - Live in Studio One An Abbey Road 90th Session received it's world premiere broadcast on the Gondwana Youtube channel on Thursday 20th October. Now Gondwana Records is super proud to announce the ultimate collector's edition of this special recording. Limited to just 1500 individually numbered and stamped LPs and 1000 CDs.

Recorded live at Abbey Road Studio One. Mixed in Berlin by the band's longterm collaborator Greg Freeman. Audio mastered by John Davis at Metropolis Studios. Vinyl cut by John Davis at Metropolis Studios

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Portico Quartet perfectly accentuate their exploration into American minimalism from last year, with the tasteful addition of a string quartet. Through the addition of strings, it's helped Terrain move more toward the buoyant levity of their earlier work while retaining the arrhythmic drift of the original release. A wonderful reworking and a lovely looking release too.

TRACK LISTING

1. Terrain I (Extended) - Live In Studio One: An Abbey Road 90th Session [Live]
2. Terrain II (Extended) - Live In Studio One: An Abbey Road 90th Session [Live]
3 .Terrain III (Extended) - Live In Studio One: An Abbey Road 90th Session [Live]

White Lung’s Premonition is about birth and rebirth. It’s about growing—and growing older—without losing the furious energy of youth. It’s the last album we’ll be getting from one of the best bands to ever do it. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: White Lung's self-professed last album is a roaring, scathing selection of blasting riffs and deft instrumentation, both reminiscent of 00's hardcore and the more poppy side of the punk spectrum. A perfect closing chapter for a band of singular talent.

Everything Returns reconvenes the original Black Ox Orkestar lineup after a 15-year hiatus. Arising from the fertile Montréal post-punk scene of the early 2000s, the band comprises Scott Gilmore, Jessica Moss and Thierry Amar of Thee Silver Mt. Zion (Amar also continues to compose and play bass for Godspeed You! Black Emperor) and Gabriel Levine of Sackville. Black Ox made two acclaimed albums of roiling acoustic avant-folk in the mid-2000s, exploring Eastern European and North African folkways through the lens of a gritty, resonant indie rock sensibility, juxtaposing interpretations of instrumentals from various Jewish, Romani and Arabic traditions with originals led by Gilmore’s politically-charged Yiddish vocals. These early albums have since become lodestars for many among a new generation of Yiddish, Klezmer and radical Jewish diasporic music practitioners and fans.

First revealing its resurrection in February 2022 with a surprise flexi 7” single issued by leftist magazine Jewish Currents as a gift to its thousands of subscribers, Black Ox has indeed fully and fruitfully reunited. Exquisitely recorded by Greg Norman (Jason Molina, Nina Nastasia, Electrical Audio), Everything Returns picks up right where the band left off: an incisively atmospheric, melancholic yet resolute album of uniquely modern Jewish folk music, with piano, violin, upright bass, clarinet and cymbalom making up the core instrumentation, and the vocal tunes sung primarily in Yiddish, alongside album centerpiece “Viderkol” and closer “Lamed-Vovnik” where English also features.

This is not fusion music, but diaspora music: a cross-cultural call and response of musical lexicons, emerging from the history of Jewish persecution and displacement, the musicology of 19th century repertoire from Jewish shtetls, the improvisational traditions of nusakh in Jewish music and taqsim in Arabic music, and a wider polyglot dialogue of Jewish, Slavic, Arabic, and Central Asian musical traditions. Lyrically and stylistically, Everything Returns connects key current issues—from refugees forced to leave their homes, to the return of fascism and exclusionary nationalism—with the legacy of modernist Yiddish poetry and song.

The new Black Ox Orkestar album is a sublime, poetic, politically-informed statement of re-energized diasporic musical intent, where Gilmore’s voice and the band’s simmering arrangements conjure an ardent, doleful balladry that echoes the sound and sensibility of artists like Tindersticks, The National, Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen. Everything Returns is a haunting, richly textured, darkly sparkling song cycle at once from a vanished world and very much of our time and place.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: A hugely welcome return for one of the most affecting voices in CST history here, with Black Ox Orkestar bringing us the appropriately titled 'Everything Returns'. Swooning folksong and filmic whimsy come together with an unfalteringly well-written flair. There are many reasons that CST are probably my favourite label of all time, and Black Ox Orkestar are one of them. Beautiful.

TRACK LISTING

1. Tish Nign
2. Perpetual Peace
3. Oysgeforn / Bessarabia Hora
4. Mizrakh Mi Ma’arav
5. Skotschne
6. Viderkol (Echo)
7. Epigenetik
8. Moldovan Zhok
9. Lamed-Vovnik

Released this summer via her new home at Bella Union, Sophie Jamieson’s ‘Choosing’ is a strikingly personal document of a journey from a painful rock bottom of self-destruction to a safer place imbued with the faint light of hope. Focusing on the bare bones of each song and taking inspiration from the direct and melodic work of songwriters such as Elena Tonra, Sharon Van Etten, and Scott Hutchison, it’s an album that sings openly of longing and searching, of trying, failing, and trying again – and always and throughout, the strength of love in so many varying forms.

Following on from the pair of EPs she released in 2020, Choosing finds its own shape by a subtle reforming of Jamieson’s sound. Where those EPs flirted with playful experimentation, here the overriding sound is both organic and simpler – live drums, bass, cello, and piano are used across the album – allowing space for Sophie’s mesmerising voice to take the spotlight, the songs delivered with the most direct and intimate impact.

TRACK LISTING

1 Addition
2 Crystal
3 Downpour
4 Sink
5 Fill
6 Empties
7 Runner
8 Violence
9 Boundary
10 Who Will I Be
11 Long Play

With Jazz Is Dead Series 2, Younge and Muhammad have once again, together with a roster of world-renowned legends, crate digger patron saints, and an exciting vanguard of young talent, delivered another unimpeachable collection of fresh and captivating recordings inspired by jazz's past, present, and future. There are names that some may already be familiar with, such as Lonnie Liston Smith, Jean Carne, and Tony Allen, and those less so, like Henry Franklin, Phil Ranelin, Wendell Harrison, Garrett Saracho, & Katalyst. What unites each new collaborator is their unbent dedication to remaining original, preserving their creativity, and sharing it with the world.

TRACK LISTING

1. Love Brings Happiness Feat. Lonnie Liston Smith & Loren Oden
2. The Griot Feat. Henry Franklin
3. The Avenues Feat. Katalyst
4.Come As You Are Feat. Jean Carne
5. Sabor Del Ritmo Feat. Garrett Saracho
6. No Beginning, No End Feat. Tony Allen
7. Ursa Major Feat. Phil Ranelin & Wendell Harrison
8. Phoenix Feat. The Midnight Hour

Under the leadership of acclaimed French beat digger and producer Guts, Dakar became the creative centre of an exceptional encounter between "All Stars" musicians from Cuba, Africa and France: the 'Estrellas' A tribute to Afro-Cuban culture, between new versions of fnely selected songs and original compositions.

TRACK LISTING

1.  El Retorno 
2.  Última Llamada Feat. Kumar Sublevao-Beat 
3.  San Lázaro Feat. Akemis 
4.  Yebo Edi Pachanga Feat. José Padilla 
5.  Déjame En Paz Feat. Brenda Navarrete 
6.  Oda Feat. Al Quetz 
7.  Adduna Jarul Naawo Feat. Alpha Dieng & Assane Mboup 
8.  Medewui Feat. Pat Kalla & Assane Mboup 
9.  Dakar De Noche Feat. Iss 814, Samba Peuzzi, El Tipo Este & Kumar Sublevao-Beat 
10.  Nunca Pierdo Feat. Assane Mboup, Alpha Dieng, Akemis, Pat Kalla & David Walters 
11.  Nunca Pierdo Feat. Assane Mboup, Alpha Dieng, Akemis, Pat Kalla & David Walters 
12.  Por Qué Ou Ka Fè Sa Feat. Brenda Navarrete & David Walters 
13.  Sin Pantallas Feat. Cyril Atef & El Tipo Este 
14.  Barrio Feat. Iss 814, Samba Peuzzi, El Tipo Este & Kumar Sublevao-Beat  15.  Dansons Cadencés Feat. Annas G, DjeuhDjoah & Lieutenant Nicholson 
16.  Il N'est Jamais Trop Tard Feat. El Gato Negro 
17.  Estrellas Feat. Florian Pellissier

The Liverpool ‘Kitchencore’ band follow up their critically received album England’s Up For Sale in 2020 with their most commercial and musically ambitious album to date. Full of razor-sharp lyrics and musical twist and turns, What’s On The Inside Has To Come Out is briming with energy and ideas.

Whereas the previous album was an observational, sparse, post-punk style snap-shot of a Brexit Britain, the new record has a more personal style with witty tales of northern, working class life in songs like I’m Shy, Mum & Dad, Money & Art and the title track What’s On The Inside Has To Come Out, that you can easily relate to.

Through the bands constant gigging and riotous theatrical live shows, they have gained a big reputation as a great live act with festivalflyer.com including them in their list of the top festival bands in the UK. However, behind the fun and theatrics, the band have always had something serious to say.

The album has their usual garage punk and artrock sound fused with post-punk, folk and even gospel elements for a more eclectic record that should please their hardcore fans and those new to their lo-fi but accessible sound. This is a joyous, life-affirming record for the post-Covid era, by the ultimate people’s band... This is Kitchencore!

TRACK LISTING

1. What's On The Inside Has To Come Out
2. Mum & Dad
3. I'm Shy
4. Money & Art
5. In Toxteth
6. Elvis In My Dreams
7. Life Is Beautiful
8. Kind
9. Happy Birthday Syd
10. Jarg Bizzie
11. Badges
12. Everybody Has A Song

There’s been a lot written about how the Heavenly office is almost a living thing. Time and legend have anthropomorphised it into a towering character in the label’s rich history. Although the five-days-a-week workspace is ostensibly just four sturdy walls, a bunch of furniture, a vivid explosion of framed artwork charting a unique and particular journey through the history of music, multiple stacks of records, a bulging fridge and an overworked stereo, the Heavenly office has ended up becoming less a someplace and almost a someone.

The spirit of the office is a restless beast, yet it’s been loyal enough to have faithfully moved (almost) every time the label has relocated. And it’s a spirit that’s been emboldened whenever it has been based in Soho. Whatever the ley lines are that run under that square mile of central London, they seem to electrify the Heavenly office like a National Grid of vibes and volume; strange attractors to the ghosts of Soho’s rock & rollers, ravers, reprobates and roués alike who add a spectral joie de vivre to proceedings.

While the Heavenly office itself might be notorious, it’s the music that fills it up in the afterhours that truly gives the place life. While the open door has long offered something akin to a welcoming hug for both regular and first time visitors, it’s the always cranked up sound system that’s the equivalent of a mate leaning into you, guiding you through the peaks and troughs of the music.

As with any good party, the office soundtrack evolves track by track like selections from an overheating rebellious jukebox. Any average Monday night (the weekend always starts on Monday, right?) might take in music from the label’s artists that’s just pinged the inbox, freshly minted demos that have piqued curiosity, dusty old 7”s by long gone heroes or white label 12”s with minimal info scratched onto them in felt tip pen. And playing between those tracks, a bunch of secret sounds from the Heavenly vaults; remixes that write a rich, alternate history of Heavenly Recordings.

Since the first Heavenly recording, there have been striking remixes that reframe the original track. These remakes offer a parallel reading of the last four decades of releases; they take the music to places where genres can be pulled inside out before being reassembled for different dancefloors, or for a different state of mind.

It’s a selection of those secret sounds that make up the latest in this series of flawless compilations. Each presents a parallel reading of the Heavenly Recordings story, a version that’s best heard as the light fades and the furniture gets shoved to one side of the room in decent work places the world over.

TRACK LISTING

Holiday (Bruise Remix) - Confidence Man
Bobbi’s Second World (Confidence Man Remix) - The Orielles
All I Want (Ewan Pearson Dub Remix) - Out Cold
Iron Warrior (Raf Rundell Dubwise) - Revival Season 
The Doll (LCY Remix) - Audiobooks
You Don't Get Me (Urban Takeover Remix) - Espiritu
Automatic (Psychemagik Dub Mix) - Mildlife
Luxury (Trevor Jackson Reproduction Instrumental) - Raf Rundell Feat. Man & The Echo
Teeth (Anthony Naples Remix) - Working Men's Club
Chilli (Flying Mojito Bros Refrito Edit) - 77:78
Hope Is The Last Thing To Die (Daniel Avery Remix) - David Holmes Feat. Raven Violet
Like A Motorway (Chemical Brothers Chekhov Warp Vocal Mix) - Saint Etienne
It’s Over If We Run Out Of Love (Darren Emerson Huffa Remix) - David Holmes Feat. Raven Violet

There’s been a lot written about how the Heavenly office is almost a living thing. Time and legend have anthropomorphised it into a towering character in the label’s rich history. Although the five-days-a-week workspace is ostensibly just four sturdy walls, a bunch of furniture, a vivid explosion of framed artwork charting a unique and particular journey through the history of music, multiple stacks of records, a bulging fridge and an overworked stereo, the Heavenly office has ended up becoming less a someplace and almost a someone.

The spirit of the office is a restless beast, yet it’s been loyal enough to have faithfully moved (almost) every time the label has relocated. And it’s a spirit that’s been emboldened whenever it has been based in Soho. Whatever the ley lines are that run under that square mile of central London, they seem to electrify the Heavenly office like a National Grid of vibes and volume; strange attractors to the ghosts of Soho’s rock & rollers, ravers, reprobates and roués alike who add a spectral joie de vivre to proceedings.

While the Heavenly office itself might be notorious, it’s the music that fills it up in the afterhours that truly gives the place life. While the open door has long offered something akin to a welcoming hug for both regular and first time visitors, it’s the always cranked up sound system that’s the equivalent of a mate leaning into you, guiding you through the peaks and troughs of the music.

As with any good party, the office soundtrack evolves track by track like selections from an overheating rebellious jukebox. Any average Monday night (the weekend always starts on Monday, right?) might take in music from the label’s artists that’s just pinged the inbox, freshly minted demos that have piqued curiosity, dusty old 7”s by long gone heroes or white label 12”s with minimal info scratched onto them in felt tip pen. And playing between those tracks, a bunch of secret sounds from the Heavenly vaults; remixes that write a rich, alternate history of Heavenly Recordings.

Since the first Heavenly recording, there have been striking remixes that reframe the original track. These remakes offer a parallel reading of the last four decades of releases; they take the music to places where genres can be pulled inside out before being reassembled for different dancefloors, or for a different state of mind.

It’s a selection of those secret sounds that make up the latest in this series of flawless compilations. Each presents a parallel reading of the Heavenly Recordings story, a version that’s best heard as the light fades and the furniture gets shoved to one side of the room in decent work places the world over.

TRACK LISTING

It’s Too Late To Go To Bed (Confidence Man Remix) - The Parrots
Ploys (Erol Alkan Rework) - Working Men’s Club
Blow The Whole Joint Up (Let’s Slash The Beats Mix) - Monkey Mafia
Cultural Criminal (Raf Rundell’s Salty Man Dub) - Mattiel Feat. Raf Rundell
Baby I Wanna Live (Monkey Mafia’s Terminal Mix) - Espiritu
LaLaLa It's The Good Life (Herbert’s Vaccine Dub) - Audiobooks
Luvin U Is Easy (Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Remix) - Confidence Man
Weatherall’s Weekender (Audrey Is A Little Bit Partial Mix) - Flowered Up

This compilation follows ‘Heavenly remixes 1 & 2’ and ‘Heavenly remixes 3 & 4 - Andrew Weatherall volume 1&2’.

There’s been a lot written about how the Heavenly office is almost a living thing. Time and legend have anthropomorphised it into a towering character in the label’s rich history. Although the five-days-a-week workspace is ostensibly just four sturdy walls, a bunch of furniture, a vivid explosion of framed artwork charting a unique and particular journey through the history of music, multiple stacks of records, a bulging fridge and an overworked stereo, the Heavenly office has ended up becoming less a someplace and almost a someone.

The spirit of the office is a restless beast, yet it’s been loyal enough to have faithfully moved (almost) every time the label has relocated. And it’s a spirit that’s been emboldened whenever it has been based in Soho. Whatever the ley lines are that run under that square mile of central London, they seem to electrify the Heavenly office like a National Grid of vibes and volume; strange attractors to the ghosts of Soho’s rock & rollers, ravers, reprobates and roués alike who add a spectral joie de vivre to proceedings.

While the Heavenly office itself might be notorious, it’s the music that fills it up in the afterhours that truly gives the place life. While the open door has long offered something akin to a welcoming hug for both regular and first time visitors, it’s the always cranked up sound system that’s the equivalent of a mate leaning into you, guiding you through the peaks and troughs of the music.

As with any good party, the office soundtrack evolves track by track like selections from an overheating rebellious jukebox. Any average Monday night (the weekend always starts on Monday, right?) might take in music from the label’s artists that’s just pinged the inbox, freshly minted demos that have piqued curiosity, dusty old 7”s by long gone heroes or white label 12”s with minimal info scratched onto them in felt tip pen. And playing between those tracks, a bunch of secret sounds from the Heavenly vaults; remixes that write a rich, alternate history of Heavenly Recordings.

Since the first Heavenly recording, there have been striking remixes that reframe the original track. These remakes offer a parallel reading of the last four decades of releases; they take the music to places where genres can be pulled inside out before being reassembled for different dancefloors, or for a different state of mind.

It’s a selection of those secret sounds that make up the latest in this series of flawless compilations. Each presents a parallel reading of the Heavenly Recordings story, a version that’s best heard as the light fades and the furniture gets shoved to one side of the room in decent work places the world over.

TRACK LISTING

Heavenly Remixes 5
Holiday (Bruise Remix) - Confidence Man
Bobbi’s Second World (Confidence Man Remix) - The Orielles
All I Want (Ewan Pearson Dub Remix) - Out Cold
Iron Warrior (Raf Rundell Dubwise) - Revival Season
The Doll (LCY Remix) - Audiobooks
You Don't Get Me (Urban Takeover Remix) - Espiritu 
Automatic (Psychemagik Dub Mix) - Mildlife
Luxury (Trevor Jackson Reproduction Instrumental) - Raf Rundell Feat. Man & The Echo
Teeth (Anthony Naples Remix) - Working Men's Club
Chilli (Flying Mojito Bros Refrito Edit) - 77:78
Hope Is The Last Thing To Die (Daniel Avery Remix) - David Holmes Feat. Raven Violet
Like A Motorway (Chemical Brothers Chekhov Warp Vocal Mix) - Saint Etienne
It’s Over If We Run Out Of Love (Darren Emerson Huffa Remix) - David Holmes Feat. Raven Violet

Heavenly Remixes 6
It’s Too Late To Go To Bed (Confidence Man Remix) - The Parrots
Ploys (Erol Alkan Rework) - Working Men’s Club
Blow The Whole Joint Up (Let’s Slash The Beats Mix) - Monkey Mafia
Cultural Criminal (Raf Rundell’s Salty Man Dub) - Mattiel Feat. Raf Rundell
Baby I Wanna Live (Monkey Mafia’s Terminal Mix) - Espiritu
LaLaLa It's The Good Life (Herbert’s Vaccine Dub) - audiobooks
Luvin U Is Easy (Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs Remix) - Confidence Man
Weatherall’s Weekender (Audrey Is A Little Bit Partial Mix) - Flowered Up

Third Man Records is excited to announce Southeast Of Saturn Vol. 2, to be released December 2, 2022. The compilation is a follow up to 2020’s Southeast of Saturn, a collection of music from Detroit’s space-rock/shoegaze/dream pop scene of the ‘90s. The second volume expands upon the Michigan-centric aural delights purveyed on Vol. 1, by including groups from throughout the Midwest. Highlighting groups spanning Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, Vol. 2 works to cement the Midwest's status as a breeding ground for the space-rock and shoegaze subgenres, which more famously burgeoned in the UK.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Feel
A2. Barrette
A3. To Ecstasy
A4. How To Be A+
A5. Rhodes
A6. Low Profile
A7. Odyssey And Oracle
A8. Belle Chase
B1. It's No Lie
B2. Heavens Downward
B3. Turn On And On
B4. Abducted To Venus
B5. Supersonic Kid
B6. Impulse Red
B7. Sleepyhouse
B8. Painting Portraits
B9. King Of The Wide Eyed Girls
B10. Pure Surface Theory

Having won the Welsh Music Prize with their debut "Melyn" back in 2019, the Carmarthen trio return with their second LP, "Bato Mato" and they've only gone and done it again! Amongst stiff competition from the likes of Gwenno, The Manic Street Preacher, Cate Le Bon and Carwyn Ellis they've snagged the 2022 prize too! 

And it's no surprise they won given the strength of this LP: Ranging from moody post punk to hooky dream pop, "Bato Mato" is an absolute triumph! 

STAFF COMMENTS

Laura says:

TRACK LISTING

1. Cuddio
2. Sudd
3. Wedi Blino
4. Toddi
5. Yn Y Sŵn
6. Cwympo
7. Lan Y Môr
8. Nid Aur
9. Oren
10. Anialwch
11. Bywyd Syml
12. Amser Codi
13. ETO

TSHA returns to Ninja Tune with her long-awaited debut album ‘Capricorn Sun’. Recorded over the past two years, the record delivers on the promise of her previous EP’s and Singles with 12 tracks that perfectly encapsulate the emotive blend of underground electronic and hook-laden pop sensibilities that have led to her being one of the most talked about new artists of the past few years. From gracing the front cover of high-profile magazines, appearing on numerous billboards, being included in flagship playlists and programmes by multiple streaming services and being placed on countless ‘best of’ & ‘one to watch’ lists, alongside high-praise from across the music press and radio – TSHA shows no sign of slowing down in 2022.

‘Capricorn Sun’ is both a statement of where she is right now as an artist and producer, but also a reflection of time she spent writing and recording the album, and the impact of global events, familial upheaval and personal struggles during that period. 

As you move through the album’s remaining tracks there are noticeable shifts across moods and emotions - ranging from the more upbeat and positive “The Light” and “OnlyL” through to moodier cuts like “Anxious Mind” — a personal highlight of TSHA’s — and the brooding “Dancing In The Shadows”, both of which feature vocalist Clementine Douglas. Other tracks hold significance for particular points in TSHA’s life, such as the previously released single “Sister”, written during lockdown after finding out she had an older half sister via her estranged father, and “Water” which picks up on TSHA’s love of the Malian Griot singing traditions (as evidenced on previous single “Demba ft. Trio Da Kali”) and features Grammy-winning vocalist Oumou Sangaré.

As a Capricorn herself, TSHA was initially drawn to the tales of ancient Greek mythology that told of a creature with the body of a goat and tail of a fish, hinting at the dual nature of the sign and the idea of having two distinct sides to a personality. “I like to identify with some of the positive characteristics of a Capricorn: the hardiness and the work ethic… but also the sensitivity,” she explains. “Naming the album ‘Capricorn Sun’ was a good way of saying ‘this is me’”. It’s a theme that carries through the album’s creative and artwork, which features several pygmy goats that are “a visual representation of the different parts of me, like the songs on the album represent different parts of me,” says TSHA.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Stalwart label Ninja Tune release their latest outing, this time from TSHA, with her breathtaking debut, 'Capricorn Sun'. It's a wonderful melting pot of bright electronica, shimmering dub and UKG, topped with breakbeat vocals and housey key stabs. A wonderfully melodic but undeniably deep journey.

TRACK LISTING

1. Galdem (Intro)
2. The Light
3. OnlyL (feat. NIMMO)
4. Water (feat. Oumou Sangaré)
5. Dancing In The Shadows (feat. Clementine Douglas)
6. Giving Up (feat. Mafro) **
7. Anxious Mind (feat. Clementine Douglas)
8. Time
9. Power
10. Running
11. Sister
12. Nala (Outro)

Ireland based American songsmith Peter Broderick announces the release of Piano Works Vol. 1 (Floating in Tucker’s Basement) — a new comprehensive album of solo piano recordings out November 25. Shining a light on the artist’s ongoing piano-based compositions, this release offers an opportunity to celebrate his more intimate work.

A comprehensive collection of Peter Broderick’s piano work to date, these recordings were originally captured in Berlin to accompany the 2017 sheet music book Piano Works Vol. 1. The book contains 20 pieces for solo piano and a download code to access new recordings of all 20 pieces. Up until now, the only way to hear these recordings was to purchase the sheet music book.

This release sees the original recordings receiving further treatment and processing by Tucker Martine in the customised echo chamber of his studio in Portland, Oregon—the region where Broderick grew up. The clean and unaffected original recordings were intended for educational purposes, so for this release Erased Tapes founder Robert Raths suggested to ‘throw the recordings into the well’, for a more dynamic and conscious listening experience.

“We gave these recordings a bit of a makeover. We sent all the tracks over to legendary engineer/producer Tucker Martine, who processed all 20 of them with unique tape and reverb treatments, utilising the echo chamber of his Portland studio, Flora Recording & Playback,” explains Broderick.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Peter Broderick is a lovely man and a fine composer, with his interests and abilities spanning a huge variety of genres, but for my money is at his most profoundly moving (apart from on the spine-tingling 'Home') when he's behind the piano. Piano works is, predictably, exactly that (piano pieces) and spans all of his albums to date. Nuanced, tender piano pieces with Broderick's perfect melodic ear.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sonata For The Sirius
2. A Snowflake
3. Diverge
4. Pulling The Rain
5. Low Light
6. Bernard & Elba’s Waltz
7. Under The Bridge
8. Moment
9. Query
10. It’s A Storm When I Sleep
11. Eyes Closed And Traveling
12. Planes (Solo)
13. Ceasefire
14. Carried
15. Laden
16. Three Floats
17. Up Niek Mountain
18. Conspiraling
19. When I’m Gone
20. Dearest

Ilmiliekki Quartet and vocalist Emma Salokoski team up for a Christmas album We Jazz Records. Includes 10 stunning xmas vocal jazz gems sung in Finnish and Swedish, featuring three fantastic originals. Here's to better xmas listening.

TRACK LISTING

1. Lahjattoman Joulu
2. Gläns över Sjö Och Strand
3. Jouluaamu
4. Natten Före Aftonen
5. När Det Lider Mot Jul / Det Strålar En Stjärna
6. En Etsi Valtaa Loistoa
7. Varpunen Jouluaamuna
8. Jouluyö, Juhlayö
9. Pieni Rumpalipoika
10. Hymni: Nyt Tahdon Käydä Vastaan

Goodbye, Asshole is the first studio album by San Francisco scuzz-wave merchants Fuckwolf—its a rat’s nest of deep grooves, lost ’70s rock riff intentions and art punk damage. These conundrums of time inform Goodbye, Asshole, but they are hardly romanticized in its music. The band, Eric Park (bass, vocals), Simon Phillips (drums) and Tomo Yasuda (guitar) sound blazing and scuzzy, a tight low-fi energy blasted onto tape at renowned Bay Area indie studios summarizing the last twenty years of San Francisco’s wild artistic soul – one that is now hard to find much evidence of in the city itself, but impossible to miss in the band’s sound. Fans of OSEES, Pink Fairies, late ’70s NYC, Emotional Rescue-era Stones, trashy post-punk dub and solvent-huffing rejoice!

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Fuzzed-out guitars, syncopated percussion and psychedelic double-dropped vocals all mixed together in a lysergic soup, smashed through some distortion pedals and presented for your listening pleasure. It's undeniably heavy, hugely in keeping with the legendary SF garage rock scene, and a great listen.

TRACK LISTING

1. Flamin' Hot Cheetos
2. King Cake Stakeout
3. White Claw
4. Beef Broth
5. My Life
6. Nu Shooz
7. SF?
8. Hi Skool
9. Bats
10. Rock Song #1

Founded in 2014, Katalyst Collective has never been one for labels. Rather than strictly a live act, they’ve acted as an incubator for a fresh crop of local talent, helping hone the voices and talents of individual members, while collectively advancing like a phalanx. Each ‘Kat’ writes their own solo material, and everyone contributes and works together on each project, feeding off the communal energy. Leading to the group’s upping collaboration for Jazz Is Dead, Katalyst has poised themselves as the next breakout stars of Los Angeles’ rapidly expanding Jazz universe - a small army of creative firebrands, each burning more brightly together.

TRACK LISTING

1. The Avenue
2. Daybreak
3. Corridors
4. Summer Solstice
5. Juneteenth
6. Dogon Cypher
7. Reflections

Soothsayers' project with New York-born, São Paulo-based producer-engineer-bassist, Victor Rice. Soothsayers Meets Victor Rice & Friends features 11 instrumental recordings, lovingly assembled between London, São Paulo and Lisbon.

The project blossomed from earlier sessions in São Paulo for Soothsayers’ vocal album ‘We Are Many’ and continued across continents and technologies during dark days and uncertain times , strengthening the already powerful musical connection between Soothsayers' incredible core musicians and some of Brazil's top musicians, resulting in a whole new set of uplifting and defiant instrumentals.

The release is accompanied by a second, companion album, Soothsayers Meets Victor Rice In Dub, showcasing 11 of Rice’s haunting flipside mixes. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Flying East
2. Last Days
3. The Slow Life
4. Effra Nights
5. The Slow Life Dub
6. Flying East Dub
7. Last Days Dub
8. Effra Nights Dub

Kolinga on Underdog Records is a truly spectacular album blending from multilingual songs that encapsulate soul and energy throughout.

"I wanted to talk about what I know best, which life from my perspective" Rébecca M'Boungou is not unaware of the universal part of her mixed race life so many upheavals, splendors, melancholies, pleasures or pains present in this century. Kolinga tells much more than the musical adventure of a dark-skinned country girl from southwestern France who expresses herself in French, English and Lingala on a music which drawsfrom pop, Congolese rumba, jazz, soul, song, hip hop...”

TRACK LISTING

1. Mister Unknown
2. Mama (Don't Let Me)
3. Ça Va Aller (Mbo Buba)
4. Les Fantômes
5. I Can See You
6. Inner Truth
7. Je Ne Suis Pas De Ce Monde
8. Fire
9. Mateya Disko
10. Je Suis Née Sous La Lune

The Land of Kali’ (co-produced by Youth), is the first new Essential Logic studio album in 43 years, and features the forthcoming new single ‘Prayer for Peace’, a re-imagining of the X-Ray Spex track from the tragically overlooked album, ‘Conscious Consumer’ (1995) on which Lora also played sax. “Poly Styrene and I were living in a Krishna community in Worcestershire in the early 80s. We came together for the first time musically after X-Ray Spex to record the original version of this song. In 2019, I decided to record my own take as a tribute to the special times we shared. I hope Poly likes this new version too.” The 7” release of ‘Prayer for Peace’ is exclusive to the 5 LP box set “Logically Yours” via The bands DTC site and features a picture of Lora and Poly together during their time living at the temple. Further tracks penned for release from the album include the dystopian, lockdown-inspired ‘Alien Boys’ and ‘Sky Rocket’, written with daughter Malini, about the fairground of life. 

TRACK LISTING

A1 ‘Prayer For Peace’
A2 ‘Alien Boys’
A3 ‘Mother Earth’
A4 ‘Never Know’
A5 ‘Charming Every Cupid’
B1 ‘Sky Rocket’
B2 ‘Serious’
B3 ‘Fallible Soldiers’
B4 ‘Land Of Kali’
B5 ‘Beyond’…
Bonus Track: Land Of Kali – (Adamski's Kali-Kiss Remix) – CD Only 

Sweet Billy Pilgrim, now multi-instrumentalist duo Jana Carpenter and Tim Elsenburg, have described ‘Somapolis’ as a concept album. They explain “Somapolis (body of the city, or city of the body depending on how metaphorical you’re feeling!) begins with two people looking out over a nameless metropolis. They are artists, their job being to observe, curate and commemorate the world around them. The first song explores the experience of creating before we swoop down into the individual stories of the people living in the city; a sort-of Wings of Desire, but with artists instead of angels. Then, towards the end, the album zooms back out to the observers for the final two songs, finishing - depending on the listener - on either a note of hope or resignation.”

Their story involves a Mercury Music Prize nomination, the IT Crowd, the Royal Albert Hall, Glastonbury Festival, Late Junction and The Culture Show. Now Sweet Billy Pilgrim release their sixth album, Somapolis, a crowdfunded, conceptual hymn to the cities we build inside and outside of ourselves, on the 4th of November 2022. Liberated from a traditional band lineup and working with a handpicked group of talented collaborators, the band combine their avant-pop instincts (Prefab Sprout; Steely Dan) with their love of Prince, their fascination with the soulful electronica of Jon Hopkins and their discoveries while exploring the low frequencies of modern R&B, jokingly referring to early drafts of the album as their 'Kid Aja'. One half of the band, Tim summarises: “Yes, it’s a concept album, and there’s plenty to unravel for post-lockdown brains, but it also feels a bit more physical. People might not be able to actually dance to it, but for the first time, they might be able to imagine dancing to it.”

TRACK LISTING

1. We Are Bright Carvers
2. Bliss Maps
3. Attacus Atlas
4. Pass Muster
5. Down I Go
6. Dead Man Dancing
7. Stress Position
8. The Night Watch
9. Pilgrim
10. Get Back To What You Started
11. Skywriting 

For some, melancholy is the joy of being sad. But for A Rocket In Dub, the reawakened project of Düsseldorf producer Stefan Schwander, also known under pseudonyms like Antonelli Electr. or Harmonious Thelonious, Viktor Hugo's famous saying always applies. Two years ago, the Düsseldorf producer and musician released a 4x 7" box set on Krachladen Dub, his first release after a break of 17 years at the time. Now, two years later, 9 new tracks follow as a longplayer on double vinyl. Even more experimental, more playful, more hypnotic and with a trombone! Monotony is nice! The rocket is back in the club, teaching genres like house and minimal Jamaican dub deepness once again. Recommended.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Mr. Fix-It
A2 B-Boy Drum Machine
B1 Low Tide
B2 Shut Up And Dub
C1 Magnificent
C2 Rhythm 77
D1 Singalong Dub
D2 Abstract Dub
D3 Monotony Is Nice

Upupayāma is the musical persona of Alessio Ferrari, an Italian multi-instrumentalist and songwriter who lives in a small mountain village above the city of Parma. Upupayāma’s music is rooted strongly in Eastern and Western folk traditions, an approach that Ferrari blends with his own modern sensibilities and style. In addition to playing guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums, Ferrari himself also incorporates a number of other instruments into his sound, including sitar, erhu, flute, and a variety of percussion instruments.

For Ferrari, Upupayāma's 2020 debut was all about the journey. The album served a series of musical vignettes that visited and weaved its way through a succession magical settings. The Golden Pond, conversely, is all about location. Inspired by his frequent visits to a small lake near his mountain home, Ferrari intentionally focused on the details of the place he inhabited, a practice he decided would translate well with his approach to writing music. This is something Ferrari feels is best exemplified with the album's opening companion pieces, "Cuckoos from the House of Golden Tin" and "Entering the Time of Wilderness." The Golden Pond also continues Ferrari's practice of using "invented language" in his lyrics. Ferrari wants his voice to be heard as if it were an additional instrument, a tool that does not convey specific messages. His goal is to allow the listener to assign personal meaning to the music. He says, "I want my incorporating invented language is a way of breaking down the barriers that are sometimes created by language, by having to define something at all costs. Ferrari adds, "I think one of my unconscious dreams is not to have to define any[1]thing, but just to be carried away by our feelings." Earlier this year Ferrari put together a group of musicians to help him deliver his live vision of Upupayāma. They made their debut in Rome in May, and they will play a couple of shows in advance of the album being released. Both dates will be in October, one in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland and the other in Esslingen, Germany. Plans to tour throughout Eu[1]rope in the spring of 2023 are currently in the works via El Borracho Booking. The Golden Pond will be Upupayāma's second album with Centripetal Force and Cardinal Fuzz, the first being the well-received self-titled debut in 2021, which is being repressed to coincide with the release of The Golden Pond in November.

To continue the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of their critically acclaimed Homework album.

Includes remixes from I:Cube,Roger Sanchez & Junior Sanchez,Motorbass, Dj Sneak, Masters At Work, Todd Terry,Slam, Ian Pooley.

TRACK LISTING

CD Tracklisting:
1.Revolution 909 (Roger Sanchez & Junior Sanchez Remix)
2.Around The World (I:Cube Remix)
3.Burnin’ (Ian Pooley Cut Up Mix)
4.Around The World (Motorbass Vice Mix)
5.Around The World (Kenlou Mix) (Masters At Work)
6.Burnin’ (Slam Mix)
7.Around The World (Tee’s Frozen Sun Remix) (Todd Terry)
8.Burnin’ (Dj Sneak Main Mix)
9.Around The World (Mellow Mix) (Masters At Work)
10.Around The World (M.A.W Remix)
11.Revolution 909 (Revolution Accapella)

Vinyl Tracklisting:
Side A
1.Around The World (I:Cube Remix)
2.Revolution 909 (Roger Sanchez & Junior Sanchez Remix)
Side B
1.Around The World (Motorbass Vice Mix)
2.Burnin’ (Dj Sneak Main Mix)
3.Revolution 909 (Revolution Accapella)
Side C
1.Around The World (Kenlou Mix) (Masters At Work)
2.Around The World (Mellow Mix) (Masters At Work)
Side D
1.Around The World (Tee’s Frozen Mix) (Todd Terry)
2.Burnin’ (Slam Mix)
3.Burnin’ (Ian Pooley Cut Up Mix)

Parlophone Records proudly announces DAVID BOWIE DIVINE SYMMETRY, a four-CD, one blu-ray box set. This collection celebrates the twelve months running up to the release of the album HUNKY DORY in December 1971 via home demos, BBC radio sessions and live and studio recordings.

DIVINE SYMMETRY contains 48 previously unreleased tracks/demos from the period, and new alternative mixes of HUNKY DORY tracks by original co-producer Ken Scott.

Two books accompany DIVINE SYMMETRY, a 100-page hardback book featuring exclusive memorabilia and photos alongside a 60-page replica composite of Bowie’s notebooks from the era featuring handwritten lyrics, costume drawings, recording notes and set lists. The sleeve notes have been written for the release by Bowie expert Tris Penna, along with contributions from HUNKY DORY co-producer Ken Scott, lifelong Bowie friends Geoff MacCormack and George Underwood, singer Dana Gillespie, guitarist Mark Pritchett, Friars Aylesbury promoter David Stopps, publisher Bob Grace and photographer Louanne Richards.

‘KOOKS’, recorded by Bowie and guitarist Mick Ronson for the BBC’s Sounds Of The 70s presented by Bob Harris is available now for download and streaming single. It was recorded at Kensington House, Shepherds Bush, London, Studio T1 for BBC Radio on 21st September, 1971 and broadcast on 4th October, 1971. 1971 was a pivotal year for Bowie. He signed a record deal with RCA, he met Andy Warhol, Lou Reed, and Iggy Pop while in New York, became a father and penned the song ‘KOOKS’ as a show of paternal pride, played live for the first time that June with Mick Ronson, Woody Woodmansey and Trevor Bolder, the band that would later be christened the Spiders From Mars and recorded the classic album HUNKY DORY.

TRACK LISTING

Tracklist 4CD
* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
CD 1: THE SONGWRITING DEMOS PLUS
1 Tired Of My Life (demo) *
2 How Lucky You Are (aka Miss Peculiar) (demo) *
3 Shadow Man (demo)
4 Looking For A Friend (demo) *
5 Waiting For The Man (San Francisco Hotel Recording) *
6 Quicksand (San Francisco Hotel Recording) *
7 King Of The City (demo) *
8 Song For Bob Dylan (demo) *
9 Right On Mother (demo) *
10 Quicksand (demo)
11 Queen Bitch (demo) *
12 Kooks (demo) *
13 Amsterdam (demo) *
14 Life On Mars? (demo) *
Bonus Acetate Dubs:
15 Changes (demo) *
16 Bombers (demo) *

CD 2: BBC RADIO IN CONCERT: JOHN PEEL
David Bowie And Friends
(mono)
1 Queen Bitch *
2 Bombers
3 The Supermen *
4 Looking For A Friend
5 Almost Grown
6 Kooks
7 Song For Bob Dylan *
8 Andy Warhol *
9 It Ain't Easy
David Bowie And Friends (stereo)
10 Queen Bitch *
11 The Supermen *
12 Looking For A Friend *
13 Kooks *
14 Song For Bob Dylan *
15 Andy Warhol *
16 It Ain't Easy *

CD 3:
BBC RADIO SESSION AND LIVE
1 The Supermen
2 Oh! You Pretty Things
3 Eight Line Poem
4 Kooks *
5 Fill Your Heart *
6 Amsterdam *
7 Andy Warhol *
8 Introduction*
9 Fill Your Heart*
10 Buzz The Fuzz*
11 Space Oddity*
12 Amsterdam*
13 The Supermen*
14 Oh! You Pretty Things*
15 Eight Line Poem*
16 Changes*
17 Song For Bob Dylan*
18 Andy Warhol*
19 Looking For A Friend*
20 Round And Round*
21 Waiting For The Man*
Recorded Live To 2 Track Tape.

CD 4:
ALTERNATIVE MIXES, SINGLES AND VERSIONS
BOWPROMO Mixes
1 Oh! You Pretty Things
2 Eight Line Poem
3 Kooks
4 Queen Bitch
5 Quicksand
6 Bombers – Andy Warhol Intro. 
7 Lightning Frightening (aka The Man)*
8 Amsterdam (early Mix)
9 Changes (mono Single)
10 Andy Warhol (full Length Mono Single)
11 Amsterdam (single B-side Mix)
12 Life On Mars? (2016 Mix)
2021 Mixes
13 Changes (2021 Alternative Mix)
14 Life On Mars? (original Ending Version)*
15 Quicksand (2021 Mix – Early Version)*
16 Fill Your Heart (2021 Alternative Mix)*
17 Bombers (2021 Alternative Mix)*
18 Song For Bob Dylan (2021 Alternative Mix)*
19 The Bewlay Brothers (2021 Alternative Mix)*

Tracklist (Blu-ray Audio)
* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
HUNKY DORY 2015 REMASTER
1 Changes
2 Oh! You Pretty Things
3 Eight Line Poem
4 Life On Mars?
5 Kooks
6 Quicksand
7 Fill Your Heart
8 Andy Warhol
9 Song For Bob Dylan
10 Queen Bitch
11 The Bewlay Brothers

A DIVINE SYMMETRY (AN ALTERNATIVE JOURNEY THROUGH HUNKY DORY)
1 Changes (2021 Alternative Mix)
2 Oh! You Pretty Things (BOWPROMO Mix)
3 Eight Line Poem (BOWPROMO Mix)
4 Life On Mars? (original Ending Version)*
5 Kooks (BOWPROMO Mix)
6 Quicksand (2021 Mix – Early Version)
7 Fill Your Heart (2021 Alternative Mix)*
8 Bombers (2021 Alternative Mix)*
9 Andy Warhol (original Mix)*
10 Song For Bob Dylan (2021 Alternative Mix)*
11 Queen Bitch (BOWPROMO Mix)
12 The Bewlay Brothers (2021 Alternative Mix)*
Bonus Mix
13 Life On Mars? (2016 Mix)

SOUNDS OF THE 70S: BOB HARRIS
14 The Supermen
15 Oh! You Pretty Things
16 Eight Line Poem
17 Kooks*
18 Fill Your Heart*
19 Amsterdam*
20 Andy Warhol*

In 2022, Machine Head are back with their most crushing and complete album yet. ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN is an hour-long conceptual monolith, rich in colour and dynamics but hell-bent on destruction. Set in a futuristic wasteland where the sky is always crimson red, ØF KINGDØM AND CRØWN tells the tale of two characters, both faced with incalculable trauma, whose stories become bloodily entwined as this deep, dark record progresses.

TRACK LISTING

Slaughter The Martyr/
Chøke øn The Ashes øf Yøur Hate/
Becøme The Firestørm
øverdøse/
My Hands Are Empty/
Unhalløwed

At the turn of the century and after three albums, Karate’s tenure within the insular east coast indie rock scene had expired, but the band was just getting started. Collected here is the band’s spacious, adventurous, and sometimes difficult second half presented in fastidious detail. This five LP box includes the trio’s Unsolved, Some Boots, and Pockets albums, a first time vinyl pressing of their Cancel/Sing EP, and recently unearthed rehearsal recordings of two unreleased tracks, all annotated by Geoff Farina’s account of Karate’s adulthood and Andy Hong’s insights into the trio’s recording process.

TRACK LISTING

A: Unsolved
1 Small Fires
2 The Lived-But-Yet-Named
3 Sever

B: Unsolved
4 The Roots And The Ruins
5 Number Six
6 One Less Blues
7 The Halo Of The Strange

C: Unsolved
8 The Angels Just Have To Show
9 This Day Next Year

D: Unsolved
10 Get Reborn (Rehearsal)
11Old Code (Rehearsal)
12 The Angels Just Have To Show (Rehearsal)

E: Cancel/Sing
13 Cancel

F: Cancel/Sing
14 Sing

G: Some Boots
15 Original Spies
16 First Release
17 Ice Or Ground?
18 Remain Relaxed

H: Some Boots
19 In Hundreds
20 Airport
21 Baby Teeth
22 South

I: Pockets
23 With Age
24 Water
25 “The State I’m In” Aka “Goode Buy From Cobbs Creek Park”
26 Cacophony

J: Pockets
27 Alingual
28 Tow Truck
29 Pines
30 Concrete

Vega Records present the 3rd series of the "5 Pack Unreleased Vinyl", containing never released tracks by various VR artists. From the dub oriented summer scorcher “The Curse” by Mr. X, a Northern Jersey newcomer, to the sounds of Honeysweet by Josh Milan, you are taken through the musical landscapes and colors of House. Michel Cleis brings us a dance floor anthem with “Baza SOS Fever” (A Congolese Tribute) and Louie Vega introduces a brand new Elements Of Life “Let Us Shine” Featuring Josh Milan with lyrics by Nico Vega along with the jazzy instrumental “Los Tonos Sagrados” Featuring Axel Tosca. Newcomers Two Soul Fusion who have remixed the likes of MF Robots, Conclave, Brian Jackson and the soon Robert Glasper Club Remix have gifted “Dancing In The Streets” showing the demo stages of their tracks in full form with a summertime vibe. Funki Cadets who brought you the V.R. Anthem on Launch Entertainment have “World Collisions” on the Vega Records 5 pack steering you to the underground sound made especially for the dancers and NYC underground culture. Here’s a little something about Honeysweet produced by Josh Milan, “Last Night” featuring Lawrence Clark on sax is the kind of groove that keeps its dance floor value while holding up the banner of true musicianship. Rhodes, picked bass guitar, rhythm guitar and drum kit is all that’s needed on this one. “Exodus” the manipulation of major and minor chords in this groove make it complex and interesting. The listener is lead by the organ solo featured here. The song is a mental escape. A mental exodus. “Being Free” is a message that captures the point of this entire project. Musical freedom and expression is where this project gets its fuel. Horns, are included on this production. A true expression of soulful music. “Being free should be all the time I’m your mind all the time”. All this amazing music is carefully curated music by Vega Records CEO Louie Vega making the "Vega Records 5 Pack Unreleased III" a sure fire collectors item for dancers, DJs and house aficionados alike. Super limited copies (apparently left over from ADE in Amsterdam!), do not sleep on these folks! 

TRACK LISTING

A. Mr X - The Curse
B. Funki Cadets - World Collisions
C. Tony Touch - Apaga La Luz
D. Michel Cleis Ft. Zaïko Langa Langa - Baza Sos Fever
E. Honeysweet - Exodus (Of 21)
F. Honeysweet - Last Night Changed It All
G. Elements Of Life Ft. Josh Milan - Let Us Shine
H. Elements Of Life Ft. Axel Tosca - Los Tonos Sagrados (Demo Instrumental)
I. Honeysweet - Being Free
J. Two Soul Fusion - Dancing In The Street (Demo Instrumental)

A new compilation titled Erased Tapes 十五, encompassing a two hour cross-section of the label's 15-year history including hidden gems and previously unreleased material, will be available on November 4 to coincide with specially curated festivals in London and Berlin.

The first offering comes from UK producer Kevin Richard Martin aka The Bug and Japanese voice artist Hatis Noit who share their paranormal first collaborative cut After the Storm amongst other unique pairings such as The Art Ensemble of Chicago featuring Moor Mother, Bell Orchestre interpreted by Colin Stetson, Douglas Dare joined by The London Contemporary Orchestra and Ben Lukas Boysen remixed by Kiasmos.

Premiered exclusively via The Wire magazine in form of a free download ahead of their debut live performance at Le Guess Who? Festival 2019 in Utrecht, the track is now finally made available on vinyl and streaming platforms alongside other previously unreleased pieces from electronic producer Ryan Lee West aka Rival Consoles and Icelandic composer Högni.

“As a solo vocalist and voice artist, I’d always dreamed of floating and being drowned in a beautiful sonic storm. And then I met Kevin Martin” — Hatis Noit

The artwork was created with calligraphy by label founder Robert Raths and designed by Munich-based graphic designer Bernd Kuchenbeiser.

TRACK LISTING

Rival Consoles Them Is Us
The Art Ensemble Of Chicago Mama Koko (feat. Moor Mother)
Bell Orchestre The Stars In His Head / Bernard 33 - Dark Lights (Colin Stetson Remix)
Masayoshi Fujita Book Of Life
Hatis Noit Aura
Anne Müller Nummer 20
Lubomyr Melnyk Son Of Parasol
Daniel Brandt Flamingo
Ben Lukas Boysen Clarion (Kiasmos Remix)
Crayon Ithinkso (feat. Bastien Brison)
Penguin Cafe Harry Piers 2021
Peter Broderick Sonata For The Sirius
Qasim Naqvi Aftertouched
Kevin Richard Martin & Hatis Noit After The Storm
Rival Consoles I Love This, I Love You
Douglas Dare Heavenly Bodies (feat. London Contemporary Orchestra)
Roedelius & Story Spirit Clock
Högni Anda Þinn Guð (feat. Hatis Noit)
Daniel Thorne From The Other Side Of The World
Michael Price Sandham (feat. Shards)
Shards Inner Counterpoint
David Allred The Garden
Nils Frahm O I End

Java, the most populous island in the archipelago of over 17,000 islands and 1300 distinct ethnic groups, and its capital city Jakarta, was where most of the post-colonial national identity, politics, administration and music production was centered. Traditional songs from Java, Sumatra, Bali and beyond were reimagined by a small group of state-sponsored musicians that also composed and arranged new music. These songs aimed at consolidating a geographically disparate country with a new language and new ideas of national character.

This compilation brings together a handful of these recordings that combine elements of regional popular music, Islamic Gambus, Javanese & Balinese Gamelan and Kroncong, with jazz, Afro-Latin music & instrumentation, and vocal harmonies influenced by banned American doo-wop and rock & roll.

The results are a unique blend of styles that have remained mostly insulated from the world outside of Indonesia until a recent worldwide resurgence in the interest of recorded music of all forms has shone a new light on these nearly forgotten recordings.

TRACK LISTING

Orkes Teruna Ria - Bulan Dagoan
Yanti Bersaudara - Gumbira
Orkes Suita Rama - Tepui Tepui
Band Nada Kentjana - Djaleuleudja
Orkes Lokananta - Nganggo Teklek Nang Krikilan
Orkes Teruna Ria - Budjang Talalai
Orkes Kelana Ria - Ya Mahmud
Orkes Teruna Ria - Geleang Sapi
Zaenal Combo - Ampat Lima Dalam Djambangan
Zaenal Combo - Seruling
Orkes Kelana Ria - Sojang
Mus D.S. - Neleng Neng Kung
Orkes Gumarang - Malin Kundang
Orkes Tropicana - Pantjaran Kasih
Orkes Teruna Ria - Tak Ton Tong
Orkes Lokananta - Tari Bali
Orkes Kelana Ria - Emplek Emplek Ketepu
Mus D.S. - Ahai Dara
Orkes Kelana Ria - Semoga
Zaenal Combo - Kaden Sadje
Orkes Irama - Gendjer Gendjer
Orkes Teruna Ria - Modjang Parahyangan
Orkes Sendja Meraju - Bubuj Bulan
Mus D.S. - Tautjo Tjiandjur
Nada Kantjana - Nelengnengkung
Ivo Nilakreshna - Ka Huma
Zaenal Combo - Tandung Tjina

Although Panda Bear and Sonic Boom are no strangers to each other’s music, Reset marks their first collaborative release. When SB pitched an idea to take their working relationship to the next level, he reckoned PB might reject the proposition outright—in the nine gloriously, feverishly hook-bound tracks of Reset, though, you can hear exactly how much he loved the prospect.

SB’s notion was simple enough: After lugging his records to Portugal years ago, his fascination was renewed by old favorites and standards he had not heard in years. Something struck him, the way the ornate intros by Eddie Cochran or the Everly Brothers felt largely like stage curtains, compelling in their own right even if they had very little to do with the hits that followed. SB began crafting loops from these preambles, twisting and bending the parts like scrap metal before sending them onto PB.

The kernel of Reset emerged not long after international lockdowns began. If making it supplied temporary medicine for the duo, it is now permanently so for the rest of us, a reminder that sometimes playing and singing along to old favorites with friends can be enough to make the world feel a bit better.

STAFF COMMENTS

Darryl says: Noah Lennox AKA Panda Bear and Pete Kember AKA Sonic Boom are longtime collaborators so it seemed only a matter of time before they’d team up together on an album. Reset is a 60s concept record built around intros to rock’n’roll 45s, before being reshaped with harmony overloads, repetitive loops, and psychedelic heavy samples. A perfect sonic melding of their previous bands, Animal Collective and Spacemen 3.

TRACK LISTING

1. Gettin’ To The Point
2. Go On
3. Everyday
4. Edge Of The Edge
5. In My Body
6. Whirlpool
7. Danger
8. Livin’ In The After
9. Everything’s Been Leading To This

Long-awaited follow-up to Weyes Blood’s 2019 breakthrough album Titanic Rising.  And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow was co-produced by Weyes Blood and Jonathan Rado, with engineering by Andrew Sarlo (Big Thief), and additional instrumentation by Meg Duffy (Hand Habits) and Mary Lattimore. 

Technological agitation. Narcissism fatigue. A galaxy of isolation. These are the new norms keeping Weyes Blood (aka Natalie Mering) up at night and the themes at the heart of her latest release, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow.  The celestial-influenced folk album is her follow-up to the acclaimed Titanic Rising. (Pitchfork, NPR, and The Guardian admiringly named it one of 2019’s best.) While Titanic Rising was an observation of doom to come, And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow is about being in the thick of it: a search for an escape hatch to liberate us from algorithms and ideological chaos. “We’re in a fully functional shit show,” Mering says. “My heart is a glow stick that’s been cracked, lighting up my chest in an explosion of earnestness.” And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow opens with the wistful, winsome “It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody,” a song about the interconnectivity of all beings, despite the fraying of society around us. “I was asking a lot of questions while writing these songs. Hyper-isolation kept coming up,” Mering says. “Our culture relies less and less on people. Something is off, and even though the feeling appears differently for each individual, it is universal.” Other tracks follow in kind. The lullaby-like “Grapevine” chronicles the splintering of a human connection. The otherworldly dirge “God Turn Me into a Flower” serves as allegory about our collective hubris. “The Worst Is Done” is an ominous warning, set against a deceivingly breezy pop melody. “Chaos is natural. But so is negentropy, or the tendency for things to fall into order,” she says. “These songs may not be manifestos or solutions, but I know they shed light on the meaning of our contemporary disillusionment.” 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The wonderful Weyes Blood returns for her most expansive and musically accomplished outing yet. Hazy, mid-century Americana meets smoky lounge bars and wistful folk music in a stunningly evocative and quintessentially Weyes Blood work. From strength to strength (including a stint as JOMF's bass player no less!), Mering pulls out all the stops for 'And In The Darkness', and it's come out a treat.

TRACK LISTING

It's Not Just Me, It's Everybody
Children Of The Empire
Grapevine
God Turn Me Into A Flower
Hearts Aglow
And In The Darkness
Twin Flame    
In Holy Flux
The Worst Is Done
A Given Thing

In February of 2020, singer-songwriter Caitlin Rose settled in at Nashville’s Sound Emporium Studios for a week of tracking with William Tyler, Brian Kotzur, Jack Lawrence, and Luke Schneider. After a seven year absence following the release of her sophomore LP, The Stand-In—a self-described Sisyphean nightmare of false starts and career blocks—Rose was ready, with the encouragement of close friend and producer Jordan Lehning, to give the rock a final push. “It happened so fast that there was no time to worry about what could go wrong; all I walked in with was the excitement,” she says. When she and Lehning planned to return for overdubs in early March, neither expected that the world would turn on its head in little more than a week, that a tornado would soon wipe half of east Nashville off the map, or a global pandemic would, as it has for so many others’ projects, further delay completion.

Paradoxically, though, sitting with her songs a little longer turned out to be exactly what Rose needed. “I had all the pieces,” she says. “It just took a while to make them fit. The initial charge of going into the studio with people I trusted and seeing it through was so inspiring, and then the world just stopped. It was a terrifying shift, but Jordan set the path for us and figured out how to utilize this new uncomfortable freedom of time. It led to a process more joyful than any I’ve experienced making music.”

The resulting record, CAZIMI, finds itself released into the world at the exact right time. We’re not quite post-pandemic but we’re certainly post-vibe shift. Things are falling apart, systems are failing in front of us; chaos and danger await us the moment we step out our front doors. The perpetual mood is that of a constant hum of anxiety as we try to cope, with varying degrees of success, with the collective trauma that has consumed us unrelentingly for the past few years.

Taking its title from the astrological term for when a planet is in such close, specific proximity to the sun that it’s considered to be in the heart of it, CAZIMI finds the listener at the moment with its examination of trauma, chronicling “the slow motion unraveling of somebody’s life” in the aftermath. The thing about cazimi is that it’s fleeting, accidental, even—a moment of exaltation that goes just as fast as it comes. It’s a phenomenon that Rose could relate to: “I was never prepared to take on everything that happened to me in my early twenties. Being all of a sudden thrust into spotlights that I had little business being under was rarely empowering, often more so debilitating, and being in the rush of it all, I never could quite catch up,” she explains. “I was living that ‘combust to the sun’ narrative and the burnout was inevitable”

A standout staple of Nashville’s rock scene, Rose is “witty, brilliant company” (Pitchfork) and a “promisingly wry lyricist” (The Guardian) with a “wily and impressive blend of melancholy and cheek.” (New York Times) Her 2011 full-length Own Side Now earned her praise for her “sweet, knowing voice and a penchant for lyrics that are far darker” (New York Times), nestled in “simply adorned song-craft which…never seem constrained by Nashville tropes, old or new.” (BBC Music)

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: In many ways, it seems like Caitlin Rose's brand of swooning country music is reasonably traditional, but its when the songs open up into bracing pop progressions and bright, soaring ballads that Rose's skill really shows. Wonderfully new take on the tried-and-tested Nashville formula, and most importantly, a wonderful listen without being too familiar.

TRACK LISTING

1. Carried Away
2. Modern Dancing
3. Getting It Right
4. Nobody’s Sweetheart
5. Lil’ Vesta
6. Black Obsidian
7. How Far Away
8. Blameless
9. Gemini Moon
10. All Right (Baby’s Got A Way)
11. Holdin’
12. Only Lies

Pop in your earpiece, close your eyes and embrace the wonders (and horrors) of augmented reality and prepare to travel 500 years into the future as Richard Dawson returns with…The Ruby Cord. These seven tracks plunge us into an unreal, fantastical and at times sinister future where social mores have mutated, ethical and physical boundaries have evaporated; a place where you no longer need to engage with anyone but yourself and your own imagination. It’s a leap into a future that is well within reach, in some cases already here. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Richard Dawson hits the legendary Domino once again for a new album of wonderfully off-piste songwriting, both wildly inventive and full of stylistic turns that he alone pulls off so seamlessly. I admit that I didn't quite get Dawson's music for a while, but I definitely do now, and this is for my money, his finest work to date.

Acid Klaus, the new collaborative solo project from songwriter-producer and Northern England cult leg-end, Adrian Flanagan (The Moonlandingz, International Teachers of Pop, Eccentronic Research Council & lots more) releases his debut concept album co-produced with his music partner in the ERC, Dean Honer titled Step On My Travelator: The Imagined Career Trajectory of Superstar DJ & Dance-Pop Producer, Melvin Harris via Yard Act's ZEN F.C. label.

The album features contributions from Adrian’s long-time collaborators and friends including actress, Maxine Peake, US musician and video director, Charlotte Kemp Muhl (Ghost of a Sabertooth Tiger), Maria Uzor from Sink Ya Teeth and the Bradford-born pop-noir singer (currently singing in The Specials), Hannah Hu who is joined on lap steel guitar on a track by Richard Hawley. The album is completed by a whole host of fresh and exciting artists (as well as the aforementioned Lieselot Elzinga) – there's the enigmatic Queen Bee of the Calder Valley, solo artist, Bianca Eddleston who goes under the name Soft Focus and finally from South Wales (and the current talk of the South London scene), the incredible welsh language singer-songwriter, Cat Rin.

Flanagan proclaims about the album: “I hereby herald in a masterclass of conceptual brilliance and sonic floor-shaking heroism. A record that is both mocking and hugging in its stance – a solid and weighty brick in the face to the horrid and cod sincere, brat histrionics of the easy-on-the-eye careerist indie minstrel. Where I, an invisible bruised and battered craftsman of high (and low) art for nigh on two decades is finally (and begrudgingly) held aloft like a prize-winning Champion Cock at a village fete whilst a demonically futurist/modernist B-Boy B-Girl group bring the gathered throng, deep, penetrative, body music!”

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The superb Adrian Flanagan returns this week for a grooving, gritty dancefloor wonder, featuring bandmate and all-round musical polymath, Dean Hohner, Maria Uzor of Sink Ya Teeth, the wonderful Maxine Peake and MANY more. The perfect odyssey, and no surprise at all given the roster of talent. Ace.

TRACK LISTING

1. Step On My Travelator
2. Party Sized Away Day (feat Maria Uzor)
3. Bethlehem Or Bust (feat. Cat Rin)
4. Blow Your Speakers (feat. Soft Focus)
5. Crashing Cars In Ibiza (feat Maria Uzor)
6. Bad Club Bad Drugs Bad People
7. Elevate (feat. Charlotte Kemp Muhl)
8. The Three Rooms Of Nightclub Marilyn (feat Lieselot Elzinga)
9. I Used To Be A DJ In A Club (But Now I'm Just A DJ In My Bedroom)
10. My Hats On Fire (feat. Hannah Hu And Richard Hawley)
11. Eulogy To A Quiet Life (feat. Maxine Peake)

Emanating from a ‘prehistoric’ existence near the end of the last millennium, Andy Votel and his slightly older college mates were once best recognised in Mancunian clubs and bars as teenage vinyl nerds and bum-fluffed battle rappers under the collective name Violators Of The English Language (which in acronymic form explains Andy’s own exotic pen-name).

As steadfast supporters of the 1980s / 90s Brit-core rap scene coming out of London, the multicultural Violators’ Mancunian accents were perhaps a bridge-too-far to secure dream job contracts for humble labels like Kold Sweat and Music Of Life. An unlikely constructive meeting with Gang Starr’s DJ Premier (while Andy helped out at a radio station), plus playing warm up DJ sets for countless US rap heroes might have temporarily added inspirational fuel to the fire, but after an active period combining graffiti, rapping, scratching, obsessive record digging and beat making into their daily operations, adulthood eventually began to rear its unwelcome head.

A decade later, Andy Votel and his digging skills would begin to provide direct sample material for the likes of Madlib, Mos Def, Jay Z, Nas, Dr Dre, Ghostface Killa and Action Bronson, amongst others, and the Violators’ black book of breakbeats and catalogue numbers soon began to feed a same-butdifferent rap beast.

For a project that has taken thirty years, it would be totally inadequate to call the formation of Hypocritical Beatdown Records a lockdown-project. There’s a deep history and psychology in these records by Violators Of The English Language and their spin-off groups Magnets (Rap Group) and ProVerbs, that combines stage-fright, loss, pride, creative-schizophrenia, racial inequality, surrealism, personal politics, brotherhood, artistic-constipation, better judgment, love, anti-love, soul searching and much more.

As well as Andy Votel taking care of both production and part of the microphone duties, some might recognise fellow MC and solo recording artist Figure Of Speech as a prominent voice here. The trio of Magnets (Rap Group) sees Andy also joined by local B-Girl legend Jeni Chan aka Penny Chew, and rapper and DJ Benjamin Hatton who has previously recorded with Kid Acne, The Mongrels and Sheffield’s Invisible Spies’ long-running squadron. Widely respected visual artist Rick Myers (now living in Massachusetts) also contributed scratches for many of these recordings via file sharing and custom dub-plates to keep the Violators’ authentic line-up intact, as well as galvanising the crew’s semi-reluctant art-school roots.

Extra production credits for the label also go to Sean Canty from Demdike Stare, and the late great Dan Dwayre aka Black Lodge (Mo Wax) who sadly passed away during the completion of these recordings. The members of Violators Of The English Language who you’ve not yet heard of will quickly make themselves known as the needle drops on this long-mooted debut vinyl release.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: New material from this cult adored, quirky and singular northern English rap troupe featuring Andy Votel, Sean Canty and Dan Blacklodge (RIP) alongside a wealth of fresh collaborators.

TRACK LISTING

Ages
Brain Stimulated
Dragonwyck
Statues & Limitations
Battlescar Vernacular
Doper Dogfood
Kackaboom
Def Laid An Egg
Rewind
Plantocracy
Split Light Prism

Profound Mysteries III will bring the acclaimed series to a climax, having worked with a cast of global visual and musical collaborators to create an incredible 30 tracks, 30 artefacts, 30 visualisers and 30 films that have been revealed throughout the year.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: The final and arguably most impactful piece in Röyksopp's stunning 'Profound Mysteries' collection. A mix of technical electronica, shadowy dub and immersive ambient into a dynamically complex, but wonderfully listenable whole. Another top release from Röyksopp.

TRACK LISTING

01. So Ambiguous Feat. Jamie Irrepressible
02. Me&Youphoria
03. Stay Awhile Feat. Susanne Sundfør
04. The Night Feat. Alison Goldfrapp
05. Lights Out Feat. Pixx
06. Speed King
07. The Next Day Feat. Jamie Irrepressible
08. Just Wanted To Know Feat. Astrid S
09. Feel It Feat. Maurissa Rose
10. Like An Old Dog Feat. Pixx

Following the highly acclaimed record Fading in 2021, Pole continues his release series for Mute in 2022 with a new album, Tempus. Pole is Düsseldorf-native musician, producer and mastering engineer Stefan Betke, and is known for his unique musical language oscillating between melody and avant-garde in electronic music, with audible influences from Dub and Jazz music. While the subject of Fading focussed on coping with dementia and the loss of memory over time, Tempus focuses on the connection between the past, the present and the future. Translating to tense in English, Tempus investigates whether music that was created in the past, can still be audible and influential for the present, and how much can this music shine into the future. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I'm always up for another Pole release, and Betke's latest mines deeply into the furrow of dub that he's artfully crafted out, but this time with a rich melodic overtone lightening the impossibly organic sub-bass throb he's so well known for. A perfect meeting of celestial lightness and indescribable heft. Classic Pole.

TRACK LISTING

A1 Cenote
A2 Grauer Sand
B1 Alp
B2 Stechmück
C1 Firmament
C2 Tempus
D1 Allermannsharnisch

Sunda Arc are brothers Nick Smart and Jordan Smart, best known as two-thirds of jazz-influenced minimalists Mammal Hands, and on the 18thNovember, they are set to release their sophomore album 'Night Lands' via Gondwana Records, home to such artists as GoGo Penguin, Portico Quartet, Hania Rani and Forgiveness.

Releasing their debut EP 'Flicker' in 2018, Sunda Arc have performed live at AB Brussels, Blue Dot Festival, The Roundhouse, Jazz Café, Reworks Festival, the Royal Albert Hall and Albert Hall, Manchester with GoGo Penguin. Their debut album 'Tides', released in 2020, received high praise from numerous tastemaker media including DJ magazine who described their music as "sounding like John Hopkins' long-lost sibling".

Sunda Arc channels Nick and Jordan's love of electronic and dance music, without losing any of their deep musicality. Drawing on techno, electronica, neo-classical and post-rock influences, Sunda Arc compose and perform using both electronic and acoustic instruments, including analogue synthesisers, home-made software patches, piano, saxophones and bass clarinet – all finessed and channelled through their own unique creative strategies. Integrating electronic elements and experimentation with the expressiveness and energy of acoustic instruments and live performance, Sunda Arc's music is expansive and compelling. "We wanted 'Night Lands' to be an exciting listen, deliberately keeping some elements under control and having other elements of the tracks feeling like they were on the edge of tipping over into being pretty chaotic. There was also the idea of generally keeping the drums and bass pretty heavy sounding when they kick in, imaging how they would sound over a big system and then holding back and focusing on melody and texture when they weren't needed."

From the warm, melodic textures of 'Distant Siren' and 'Beacons' to the ethereal rumblings of 'Endless Fields' and 'Night Lands', Sunda Arc immerse and engulf the listener, expanding simple melodies into bold rhythmic patterns, allowing the acoustic sounds to submerge with the electronic for maximum emotional and dramatic effect. A common theme for 'Night Lands', the duo's enthusiasm to incorporate digital and analogue sounds seamlessly and blur the line between the two, results in a sound world that has both the warmth of analogue sounds and the cold, crispness of digital. "We wanted to manipulate acoustic instruments to make them sound more like samples or older recordings at points, like with the Turkish Ney flute on 'Neon Forest' that we pitch shifted and saturated to sound more like we'd sampled an old 70s recording."

Elsewhere, 'Static Waves' and 'Forgotten Dream' use familiar and foreign sounds with an emphasis on tone and atmosphere to create a soundscape that feels like home and alien at the same time. ""We were trying to make sure the ambient moments felt really alive on this record, like a living, breathing sound world, trying to avoid things sounding too placid. We wanted them to feel just as engaging as the tracks with heavy beats so were always looking at ways to inject as much life and character into them as we could, often recording things to tape and using real tape delays to add a bit of character and fuzzy warmth to things and combining that with more cold, clinical elements."

At times, Sunda Arc create a harsh, brutal world allowing the sound to manipulate the listener's emotional response to each track. "We were talking about dystopian themes a fair bit when we were writing the tunes and I think being in London during the lockdown definitely had an impact on our mindset at the time. The two radio samples on 'Neon Forest' and 'Static Waves' are both just random stations we found on fm radio and recorded some short sections but I both were talking about Covid related stuff. We definitely didn't feel like making a celebratory or joyful record at that point, it was much more of an introspective and moody set of tracks we were focusing on and I guess the feeling of missing being able to go out or see friends and family played a part in this."

TRACK LISTING

1. Distant Siren
2. Phantom's Gift
3. Beacons
4. Endless Fields
5. Night Lands
6. Static Waves
7. Neon Forest
8. Forgotten Dream
9. Mirai
10. Ritual
11. Endless Skies

3 real deep, minimalist cuts from the project’s formative period- heavy Berlin School dark, sequenced electronica which ticks all boxes for Krautrock, T.Dream / Klaus Schulze heads, with nods to Conrad Schnitzler, some Ashra and other heroes from that time…

Opening piece “xx10” is incredible. Epic in depth and intensity, a brooding masterpiece of deep electronic psych to these ears, and a track that incredibly lay by the curbside unused, as Dirk began assembling his first CG record, “xx10 was only ever -and still is- it’s working title, and it lay unmixed for a long time until in 2018 I finally made a good mix”. Side one closer “Frost” was recorded in 2013 and was previously lost on Dirk’s hard drive until found fairly recently and added to his “Relics” series on bandcamp.

Side two is fully taken up with the epic “Sanctum”; and was the first recorded Cosmic Ground piece ever; prior to this new project even having a name. A long lost, discarded piece, recently found again and released on vinyl here for a first time. Cavernous synth swells give way to deeply beautiful heavily sequenced electronics, interspersed with percussive bursts and intense horror soundtrack-esque fills and thrills!

Just magnificent and released on orange wax in an edition of 250 w/insert.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It feels fitting that my first intoduction to Cosmic Ground was on Polytechnic Youth sister-label Deep Distance and this latest should come through Dom's wonderful new Feral Child imprint. Cosmic ground craft a spiritual, evolving web of woozy synths and psychedelic ambience, and it looks as good as it sounds. Any synth music fans should always grab a PY / DD / FC press on sight.

18th November sees the release of a brand new album from Neil Young with Crazy Horse entitled ‘World Record’. It is the follow-up to last year’s acclaimed ‘Barn’ record.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: It's impossible to overstate the importance Neil Young has had on the world of music, and here he returns with possibly his most famed collaborator, Crazy Horse for another impeccably put-together selection of well written melodies and skilful musicianship.

TRACK LISTING

1. Love Earth
2. Overhead
3. I Walk With You (Earth Ringtone)
4. This Old Planet (Changing Days)
5. The World (Is In Trouble Now)
6. Break The Chain
7. The Long Day Before
8. Walkin’ On The Road (To The Future)
9. The Wonder Won’t Wait
10. Chevrolet
11. This Old Planet (Reprise)

Los Angeles Forum - April 26, 1969 presents an extraordinary live performance by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Before a raucous, sold-out house, Hendrix, drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding tore through a unique set featuring highlights such as "I Don't Live Today," "Purple Haze," "Red House," and an astonishing medley of "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" and Cream's "Sunshine Of Your Love". This pristine recording, newly mixed by Hendrix's long-time engineer Eddie Kramer, captures the original Jimi Hendrix Experience in their unrivalled, peak form.

A portion of this performance was previously included as part of a short-lived Westwood One radio documentary box set [Lifelines 1990-1992] but has been unavailable in any form for two decades. The CD release with a 24 page booklet--complete with liner notes from ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons who witnessed the show first hand--gives this seminal performance its proper platform, presenting the complete performance mixed directly from the original eight-track master tapes.

TRACK LISTING

Side A
Introduction
Tax Free
Foxey Lady
Side B
Red House
Spanish Castle Magic
Side C
Star Spangled Banner
Purple Haze
I Don’t Live Today
Side D
MEDLEY Voodoo Child (Slight Return) / Sunshine Of Your Love / Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

What do you get when you mix a Culture LP with the dub stylings of the master of dub Scientist? An extraordinary LP that is, simply put, out of this world! By implementing the vocals of the great Joseph Hill from Culture and flavoring these with his dub touch, Scientist has flavored this concoction in a way that only he is capable of doing. This stellar release will take you where no man has gone before. Deep into a solar system that has no bounds and where the infinite endless vastness of space has no beginning. And no end. Take the journey beyond our galaxy into a parallel universe and rediscover a dubwise experience that will have you drifting weightless into the inexplicable unknown. Let your mind and body go.

And in addition to this brilliant musical journey you may also feast your eyes upon the impressive album cover art which has been thoughtfully created by noted American artist extraordinaire Eric White (ewhite.com). Eric’s work has created much excitement in art galleries and collections around the world and it is an honor to have him lend his artistic eloquence to such an important project. Working in tandem with noted art director and designer Geoff Gans they have created an impressive package that has utilized special silver paper to create a 3D holographic cover that makes this release an instant collector’s item.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: A brand new set of Scientist dubs is sure to get even the most square, non weed smoking reggae lover worked up into a frenzy. Originally set for release in 2020, we've waited an eternity for this! Utilizing a now thoroughly digital console, Scientist takes us deeeeep into his echo chamber with a rather hallucinatory offering that up there with some of his best work to date.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Spacetime Continuum
A2. Return Of Mr. Mxyztplk
A3. Beam Me Up Dubby
A4. Photon Phaser Phever
A5. Intergalactic Excursion
B1. Quantum Physics Revisited
B2. Black Hole
B3. To Go To Where No Dub Has Gone Before
B4. E Equals MC Squared
B5. Unified Field Theory
B6. Plasma Conduit 

Written and recorded between 1972 and 1982 in Western Oregon, Back to the Woodlands is a previously unreleased, and nearly lost, album made by Ernest Hood during the same era as his near mythical album Neighborhoods. A visionary combination of field recordings, zithers, and synthesizers, Back to the Woodlands offers an unprecedented depth of access to this singular artistic mind.

Born into a musical family, Ernest Hood began a promising career as a jazz guitarist during the 1940s, touring internationally with his brother Bill Hood and the saxophonist Charlie Barnet, before contracting polio in his late twenties. The disease left Ernest unable to play the guitar and confined him to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. It also forced him to adapt and innovate around his musical practices in the face of adversity; Hood’s value of sound matured with a remarkably democratic and nonhierarchical approach and application.

Taking up the zither, a less physically-demanding stringed instrument to the guitar, embarking upon the unprecedented process of incorporating field recordings into his work as early as 1956, and eventually discovering the synthesizer, Hood’s music became imbued with optimism and subtle cultural critique. This ethos and technique - refined over the coming decades - would lay the groundwork for a sprawling body of radio work, mail order recordings for homebound listeners, and Neighborhoods, self-issued as a small vinyl edition in 1975.

Where Neighborhoods, a nostalgic opus, drawing from a well of collective memory of the 1950s, is defined by traces of human activity, Back to the Woodlands leaves the modern world behind, delving into Hood’s love for nature. Only recently discovered in his archives, the album dramatically expands his concept of “musical cinematography,” imagistically triggering states of sensory memory from within its zither and synthesizer melodies, intertwined with field recordings made during Hood’s extensive travels throughout Oregon. If Neighborhoods is a retreat into the gauzy joys of a romanticized past, Back to the Woodlands is an immersion in the timeless sanctuary of the natural world.

A fascinating counterpoint to its predecessor, Back to the Woodlands brings us even closer to Hood’s belief in the transportive qualities of sound; that field recordings could serve as a vehicle for the imagination and liberation, particularly for those with similar mobile disabilities as his own. Across the album’s twelve compositions, the rippling instrumental harmonics - shifting between abstraction and playful melody - fold so seamlessly into the birdsong, bubbling brooks, and other environmental ambiences, that they often give the impression of having been recording within the landscapes toward which they whisper.

Falling somewhere between the immersive calm of healing music and New Age, the creative field recording practices of sound ecologists

world building for Folkways, and the jazz infected ambiences during Obscure / Editions EG’s highest heights, Back to the Woodlands sculpts an singular proximity of music for its moment; a form of ambient sonic realism that draws the consciousness toward its surroundings as much as within.

Working closely with his estate to maintain his original vision, Freedom to Spend has restored and remastered this never before released, lost masterpiece by Ernest Hood from the original tapes. Ernest Hood’s Back to the Woodlands will be issued on vinyl, as well as on CD in combination with its contemporary Where the Woods Begin, with new liner notes by Michael Klausman. On behalf of Ernest Hood and Freedom To Spend, a portion of the proceeds from this release will benefit Oregon Wild, an organization dedicated to protecting and restoring Oregon’s wildlands, wildlife, and waters as an enduring legacy for future generations.

TRACK LISTING

1. Open Fields
2. Where The Woods Begin
3. Train To Grass Creek
4. Shadows On The River
5. Riffles
6. Hay Zephyrs
7. The Sleeping Gorge
8. Salmonberry
9. The Distant Hill
10. Watercourse
11. The Mosses
12. Cloud Across The Field
13. Little Bug
14. Sitka
15. Scintilla
16. Old Covered Bridge
17. The Brophy Road

A year after the cassette-only release of ‘Switched On Ra’, another format has fallen from whatever kind of rare ether Bitchin Bajas occupy when they’re at home. The LP edition of ‘Switched On Ra’ bears all the same riches (only richer of course) in its grooves, adding a lovely screen-printed rendering of the graphics to its larger-than cassette- cosmos dimensions.

‘Switched On Ra’ is the outcome of a typical Bajas exercise: pouring some out for the pioneers that came before (as they’ve done with Bitchitronics and their participation in the annual Chicago performance of ‘In C’ over the years). It’s a nice way to get a flow - they play a little of themselves, then some for the pioneers, then a little more for the band. Before long, they’re playing with the inspirations twined, as they can only come from within.

For ‘Switched On Ra’, this meant a deep delve into the song-book of one of their soul-predecessors, Sun Ra, whose music is literally written in the Bajas DNA. Digging into this music sounded wild on paper: the drone synth group taking on the Arkestra harmonies and Ra’s loose grooves? The trick was to get that sense of rhythm to translate across the spectrum, from Ra to Bajas, in a way that worked for them both.

Their rearrangements of the tunes went good - up and down the EQ band, they were finding the round sounds and jagged edges that brought Ra’s music into their own thing. Then at the last minute, there was another twist - why not pay tribute to the Queen herself, and think of the arrangements with a Wendy Carlos vibe? A little side homage? After all, ‘Switched on Bach’ was visionary, bringing analogue synths from the outside all the way into the mainstream in the late 60s - and this take on Ra’s meant to take him to new ears everywhere.

Sun Ra of course was his own kind of original keyboard visionary, using electric keyboards in the late 40s and 50s to fill a role in jazz that had traditionally been played on acoustic piano only. Once he’d done so, he took his writing in directions inspired by the electricity, places no one had thought to go before then. Doing what he did on the keys was a stand for individuality that became the background radiation of his journey through the cosmos; the search for a place beyond earthly dominance.

Bitchin Bajas have been content to dominate in a microtonal world, usually without a single chord to be found anywhere. But here, they step up righteously, their vibe triangulated as they bring Ra’s music forward with some Wendy Carlos style, making an unexpected space for all to thrive. There’s a real feeling of joy as these collected signals bounce off the platter and through the speakers into your space.

To get this unique colloid exactly right, Bitchin Bajas used nineteen different keyboards. They abstained from deploying their arsenal of reed and woodwind instruments: everything had to be on the keys. This meant Yamahas, Rolands, Korgs, Casios, a MicroMoog and of course their trusty Ace Tone organ. They even broke out the Crumar DS-2, to have some of Ra’s chosen tone in the mix. Then Jayve Montgomery added an EWI as a solo voice on a few tunes, just to get some air-blown signal (and a natural shout out to EWI master Marshall Allen) in there, after all. It felt like somewhere in the universe, Ra was decreeing it.

‘Switched On Ra’ is an effervescent celebration of music throughout time and space.

TRACK LISTING

Space Is The Place
A Call For All Demons
Outer Spaceways Incorporated
Moon Dance
Lanquidity
Opus In Springtime
Island In The Sun
We Travel The Spaceways

16 years on from its deliverance, Killing Joke release the deluxe version of arguably one of their darkest albums to date, ‘Hosannas From The Basements of Hell’. In addition to the 9 bludgeoning tracks featured on the original incarnation of ‘Hosannas…’ the deluxe version has three deep cuts - ‘Afterburner’, ‘Afterburner (alternative version)’ and ‘Universe B’ - all regarded as some of the best and most powerful Killing Joke songs ever.

TRACK LISTING

1. This Tribal Antidote
2. Hosannas From The Basements Of Hell
3. Invocation
4. Implosion
5. Majestic
6. Walking With Gods
7. The Lightbringer
8. Judas Goat
9. Gratitude
10. Afterburner
11. Afterburner (Alternative Version)
12. Universe B

Parlophone Records are proud to announce the musical accompaniment to the critically acclaimed forthcoming MOONAGE DAYDREAM, a film by Brett Morgen. The album companion to the critically acclaimed film by Brett Morgen. Featuring unheard versions, live tracks and mixes, created exclusively for the film. ***** The Guardian, ***** The Telegraph, ‘Astounding’ Vogue.

Coming to cinemas in September, MOONAGE DAYDREAM illuminates the life and genius of David Bowie, one of the most prolific and influential artists of our time. Told through sublime, kaleidoscopic, never-before-seen footage, performances and music, Brett Morgen’s (The Kid Stays in the Picture, Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, Jane) feature length experiential cinematic odyssey explores David Bowie’s creative, musical and spiritual journey. The film is guided by David Bowie’s own narration and is the first officially sanctioned film on the artist.

The companion album features songs from spanning Bowie’s career and includes previously unheard material, unique mixes created for the film and this release along with dialogue from Bowie himself. Highlights include a previously unreleased live medley of 'The Jean Genie / Love Me Do / The Jean Genie’ recorded live at the final Ziggy Stardust concert at Hammersmith Odeon in 1973, featuring Jeff Beck on guitar. Other rarities include an early version of the Hunky Dory favourite ‘Quicksand’ and a previously unreleased live version of ‘Rock ’n’ Roll With Me’ from the legendary 1974 ’Soul Tour’.

TRACK LISTING

CD1
“Time… One Of The Most Complex Expressions…”
Ian Fish U.K. Heir (Moonage Daydream Mix 1)
Hallo Spaceboy (Moonage Daydream Remix Edit)
Medley: Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud / All The Young Dudes / Oh! You Pretty Things (Live)
Life On Mars? (2016 Mix Moonage Daydream Edit)
Moonage Daydream (Live)
The Jean Genie / Love Me Do / The Jean Genie (Live) (featuring Jeff Beck)
The Light (Excerpt)*
Warszawa (Live Moonage Daydream Edit)
Quicksand (Early Version 2021 Mix)
Medley: Future Legend / Diamonds Dogs Intro / Cracked Actor
Rock ‘n’ Roll With Me (Live In Buffalo 8th November 1974)
Aladdin Sane (Moonage Daydream Edit)
Subterraneans
Space Oddity (Moonage Daydream Mix)
V-2 Schneider

CD2
Sound And Vision (Moonage Daydream Mix)
A New Career In A New Town (Moonage Daydream Mix)
Word On A Wing (Moonage Daydream Excerpt)
“Heroes” (Live Moonage Daydream Edit)
D.J. (Moonage Daydream Mix)
Ashes To Ashes (Moonage Daydream Mix)
Move On (Moonage Daydream Acappella Mix Edit)
Moss Garden (Moonage Daydream Edit)
Cygnet Committee/Lazarus (Moonage Daydream Mix)
Memory Of A Free Festival (Harmonium Edit)
Modern Love (Moonage Daydream Mix)
Let’s Dance (Live Moonage Daydream Edit)
The Mysteries (Moonage Daydream Mix)
Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide (Live Moonage Daydream Edit)
Ian Fish U.K. Heir (Moonage Daydream Mix 2)
Word On A Wing (Moonage Daydream Mix)
Hallo Spaceboy (live Moonage Daydream Mix)
I Have Not Been To Oxford Town (Moonage Daydream Acappella Mix Edit)
“Heroes": IV. Sons Of The Silent Age (Excerpt) *
˜

Rightful Ruler returns the legendary Jamaican vocalist Earl 16 to the center stage of international roots reggae music. This four song showcase style ep demonstrates that matching an A-class veteran singer/ songwriter with the sounds of the Zion I Kings (ZIK) production team serves to revitalize the musical forces long associated with the classic reggae tradition- roots, reality, and culture!

Earl 16's career now spans five decades and is marked by hits and highlights throughout. HIs Jamaican recordings from the cornerstone studios (Studio One, Black Ark, Channel One) are still sought after gems from the golden age. But, unlike many of his peers, Earl 16 successfully adopted the changing sounds and styles of reggae in the U.K.(where he resides) and collaborated with top producers like Mad Professor and Nick Mannaseh. He has remained current into the new millennium with "Release The Pressure", a notable vocal to LeftField's breakthrough drum & bass hit.

The all star lineup of musicians on RIGHTFUL RULER is anchored by drums provided by ace producer and multi-instrumentalist Roberto Sanchez (A-Lone Productions). Keyboards by Pau "Nattykeyz" Dangla Valls and trumpet by Patrick "Aba Ariginal" Tenyue complement the rhythmic foundations set by ZIK core players David "JAH David" Goldfine (bass) and Laurent "Tippy I" Alfred (rhythm guitar, piano, organ). Sheldon Bernard's flute and Errol "Blacksteel" Nicholson's background vocals are heard on the title track and lead guitars by David Prout and Andrew "Moon" Bain appear on "Find A Way", a feature with the dynamic toasting of Mr. Williamz. All dub mixes are done by JAH David with cover art by Ato K.D. Roberts .

TRACK LISTING

1. JAH Earth
2. JAH Dub
3. Rightful Ruler
4. Rightful Dub
5. Find A Way (feat. Mr. Williamz)
6. Find A Dub (feat. Mr. Williamz)
7. Take Some Time
8. Take Some Dub

Having previously lived for extended periods in Vienna and Los Angeles, London-born SOHN now resides in the pine forests of Catalunya, Spain, and it is this new environment that inspired ‘Segre’. Named for the river that feeds into the Pyrenees in Northern Catalunya, SOHN explains, “during the last years of immense change and upheaval, following that river up to our mountain home has become my way of re-centring myself.” The single’s official video was directed by and stars Spanish dance duo LOOKATHINGSDIFFERENT.

Trust marks a seismic shift in perception and direction for the solo artist, echoing SOHN’s new responsibility as the father of three children. Moving from Los Angeles to the serenity of Catalunya and the experience of parenthood changed his mindset. “I felt this kind of openness I hadn’t felt before, and I realised I couldn’t do it alone anymore - I was missing community and friendship in life and the creative process,” SOHN says. For the first time in his decade-long career the producer invited others to help him bring a new album to life, returning to LA (where he recorded Rennen) to work with Yakob, Mike Sonier, Chris Tabron, Jesse Boykins III, Ryan Linvill, Noah Le Gros and Emile Mosseri. Community, intimacy, family, and openness are key themes on Trust as the British producer reflects on his past life (Vienna in ‘Figureskating, Neusiedlersee’) and present reality (‘Montardit’, ‘Segre’). By opening up his creative process to others Toph Taylor invites the listener to experience his most intimate and personal work to date. “On [debut album] Tremors it was like I was behind glass, but Trust feels like you could be sat in that room, and not just with me; you're sitting in this room with me, some musicians, some friends.”

TRACK LISTING

Start
Antigravity
Figureskating, Neusiedlersee
M.I.A.
I Won’t
Riverbank
Life Behind Glass
Truce
Montardit
Serge
Station
Basis
Caravel

Myself in the Way is the band’s fifth full-length album, and it follows their first pause in consistent touring in almost 10 years. While the world was shut down, Turnover’s four bandmates spent time meditating, painting, volunteer firefighting, skateboarding, and working in state parks - deepening interests and growing roots in places they hadn’t been able to while living life on the road for so long.

Over 18 months, these individual experiences acted as the soil in which Myself in the Way grew into Turnover’s next album. Returning to Pennsylvania to track with longtime friend and producer Will Yip, vocalist & guitarist Austin Getz cites Quincy Jones, Chic, and Dark Side of the Moon as influences in the way that songs like the infectiously-rhythmic “Ain’t Love Heavy” and the trippy, disorienting “Tears of Change” feel wider, deeper and more whole than anything in the band’s catalog to date. Drummer Casey Getz’ new skills behind the drum set that open up songs on Myself in the Way to more improvisation and fluidity, pairing well with bassist Dan Dempsey’s infectious bass-lines and Nick Rayfield’s sharpened guitar and piano playing.

On Myself in the Way, Turnover’s creative vision takes center-stage in every way. The album’s cover art - a sparkling array of multicolored gems scattered across a neutral canvas - was painted during lockdown by Dempsey. Music videos for the record were directed and filmed by the band, including the dizzy “Wait Too Long” video shot on retreat in upstate New York with friends and collaborators Kyle Lamb and Blair Kemp. Austin’s increased involvement on the production side earned him his first-ever co-producer credit, and Nick Rayfield contributed a new perspective as a songwriter for the first time in the recording process. For a band that has never stopped evolving, Turnover has always remained authentic with every release. Myself in the Way is an achievement that ties new and exciting ideas in with the band’s unique artistic ambition. 

TRACK LISTING

Side A
1. Stone Station
2. Tears Of Change
3. Myself In The Way Feat. Brendan Yates
4. Wait Too Long
5. People That We Know
6. Mountains Made Of Clouds
Side B
1. Ain’t Love Heavy Feat. Bre Morell
2. Pleasures Galore
3. Stone Station Reprise
4. Fantasy
5. Queen In The River
6. Bored Of God / Orlando

After a period of rest, refection and transformation, in 2021 PABH signed to their new home at Alcopop! Records for the release of their longawaited forthcoming ffth studio album 'Reality Cheques', wowing press, radio and adoring fans across the country. All big riffs, beautifully crafted song structures and full on contemporary rock hits, the next PABH chapter is inspired by late ‘70s garage rock, post-punk, and heavy weight rockers like Iggy and The Stooges, The Rolling Stones, Bowie and The Cramps... This is Pulled Apart at their very best!

TRACK LISTING

Pipe Dream
First World Problems
Sleep In Your Grave
Rinse And Repeat
Devil Inside
Rat Race
Positive Place
Fear Of Missing Out

For Helen Ganya, entering her thirties made her question and pull away from the heteronormative social constructs that surround us. On her new album polish the machine, the Brighton-based songwriter stretches away from the suburban nightmare, seeking a cathartic reprieve that looks beyond the ordinary. “I was looking to the truth of removing any expectations that we’ve acquired along the way,” she says.

Previously performing under the moniker Dog in the Snow, Ganya’s 2017 album Consume Me (Battle Worldwide) introduced a meticulous and elegant voice, while 2019 album Vanishing Lands (Bella Union) - inspired by the striking imagery in a period of vivid dreams - utilised swirling dream-pop and haunting post-punk to present an eerie, unflinching look at the often nightmarish reality of the present world. polish the machine leans further into Ganya’s interiority, but refuses to succumb to despondency, instead pursuing a platform for community and tentative optimism. Here, the constraints of societal roles are loosened to encourage a different route: a wandering, ever-evolving path.

TRACK LISTING

1 I Will Hold That Hand For You
2 Young Girls Never Die
3 Wedding In The Night Time
4 Delicate Graffiti
5 Afterparty
6 The Crowd
7 Deep Sea
8 Devotion
9 Polish The Machine
10 Blue Fruit
11 Birdsong

Molly Lewis’s compositions seem to float into our ears from distant shores. They’re otherworldly, drawn more from landscapes of dream than from anywhere you could find on a map. Lewis is a unique presence in music today. Her trademark whistle, which brings to mind the great Peruvian soprano Yma Sumac, has graced recordings of everything from Schumann lieder and Brazilian jazz to Spaghetti Western ballads and noir lounge.

Lewis’s 2021 debut EP, The Forgotten Edge, was produced by Tom Brenneck (Charles Bradley, Amy Winehouse). It was a critical success, drawing praise from The New York Times and NPR, and landing Lewis a spot on CBS Sunday Morning.

Now, Lewis and Brenneck have teamed up again for her second EP, Mirage, bringing aboard Brazilian guitarist Rogê, as well as percussionist Gibi Dos Santos and keyboardist Roger Manning. Capacious and atmospheric, Mirage is Lewis’s most hypnotic effort yet. Like Eden’s Island (1970) by eden ahbez - whose “Nature Boy” is covered in one of Mirage’s standout moments - the album is based on Lewis’s visions of an imaginary island. The lush, oceanic textures of Mirage transport us to the sands of an unknown beach - all alone or in the company we’ve always dreamt of keeping.

TRACK LISTING

1. Mirage
2. Miracle Fruit
3. Dolphinese
4. Cabana Del Mel
5. The Green Ray
6. Nature Boy

A career-spanning retrospective showcasing 23 essential recordings from 1971-2020, Dolly Parton - Diamonds & Rhinestones: The Greatest Hits Collection includes new liner notes penned by Robert K. Oermann, who collaborated with Dolly on her 2020 autobiography, Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics.

A cross-label anthology, Dolly Parton - Diamonds & Rhinestones: The Greatest Hits Collection brings together, for the first time on one album, recordings originally released on Dolly Records, RCA Victor and Columbia Records, as well as the Butterfly Records digital single, "When Life Is Good Again," written and recorded in 2020 as Dolly's musical message of hope to fans as the pandemic rolled in.

Gems on Diamonds & Rhinestones include Dolly's performances with Kenny Rogers ("Islands in the Stream" and "Real Love"), Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette ("Silver Threads and Golden Needles" from Honky Tonk Angels) and "Faith," her delightfully surprising 2020 collaboration with the Swedish electropop dance duo Galantis (featuring Mr. Probz). The album features songs from Dolly's films including "9 To 5" (from 1980's 9 To 5 And Odd Jobs), "Red Shoes" (from 2018's Dumplin') and "Tennessee Homesick Blues" from 1984's Rhinestone).

TRACK LISTING

1. 9 To 5 - From The RCA Victor Album 9 To 5 And Odd Jobs (1980)
2. Jolene - From The RCA Victor Album Jolene (1974)
3. Here You Come Again - From The RCA Victor Album Here You Come Again (1977)
4. Islands In The Stream (with Kenny Rogers) - From The Kenny Rogers Album Eyes That See In The Dark (1983)
5. I Will Always Love You - From The RCA Victor Album Jolene (1974)
6. Coat Of Many Colors - From The RCA Victor Album Coat Of Many Colors (1971)
7. My Tennessee Mountain Home - From The RCA Victor Album My Tennessee Mountain Home (1973)
8. The Bargain Store - From The RCA Victor Album The Bargain Store (1975)
9. Baby I'm Burnin' - From The RCA Victor Album Heartbreaker (1978)
10. Better Get To Livin' - From The Dolly Records Album Backwoods Barbie (2008)
11. Why'd You Come In Here Lookin' Like That - From The Columbia Records Album White Limozeen (1989)
12. Love Is Like A Butterfly - From The RCA Victor Album Love Is Like A Butterfly (1974)
13. Heartbreaker - From The RCA Victor Album Heartbreaker (1978)
14. Red Shoes - From The Dolly Records/RCA Records Album Dumplin' (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2018)
15. The Seeker - From The RCA Victor Album Dolly (1975)
16. Together You & I - From The Dolly Records Album Better Day (2011)
17. Two Doors Down - From The RCA Victor Album Here You Come Again (1977)
18. When Life Is Good Again - From The Butterfly Records Digital Single (2020)
19. Tennessee Homesick Blues - From The RCA Victor Album Rhinestone (Original Soundtrack Recording) (1984)
20. It's All Wrong But It's All Right - From The RCA Victor Album Here You Come Again (1977)
21. Real Love (with Kenny Rogers) - From The RCA Victor Album Real Love (1985)
22. Silver Threads And Golden Needles – Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton And Tammy Wynette - From The Columbia Records Album Honky Tonk Angels (1983)
23. Faith – Galantis & Dolly Parton (featuring Mr. Probz) - From The Galantis Album Church (2020)

A timeless rock & roll band for the modern world, The Prescriptions sharpen their sound with Time Apart. Produced by Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes) and Brendan Benson (The Raconteurs), the album funnels a half-century of American and British influences including taut power pop, explorative indie rock, jangling heartland hooks, and New Wave nuances into something sharp and singular. The result is a warm, widescreen follow-up to The Prescriptions' 2019 debut, Hollywood Gold, its songs balanced halfway between classic craftsmanship and progressive exploration. Fiery and forward-looking, Time Apart explores both sides of the pop/rock divide. It's a 21st century album rooted in everything that made the classic stuff so compelling sharp songwriting, ringing refrains, percussive stomp, and guitars that chime one minute and churn the next. Time Apart is an album for the heart, head, and hips. The Prescriptions have been never been shy about nodding to the hook-driven rockers who came before them, but here, they carry those influences into uncharted territory, uncovering something that's truly theirs along the way. It was time together that created Time Apart, and The Prescriptions have never defined their ambition or abilities so clearly before. 

TRACK LISTING

April Blossoms
Long Past Tonight
Love Is Red
I Get Lost
Compartmentalize
Fire Moon
On Satellite
Not The Issue
I Might Try
Baby Be Nice
Camp Hill

Triple CD set collecting rare cuts and cult favourites from the worlds of psychedelic, pastoral and funky folk, 1968-1975.

Focusing on the outpouring of psychedelic folk flavours that emerged swiftly after the first psychedelic era.

Featuring some wonderful selections from long collectable acts such as Sunforest, Mellow Candle, Trees, Heron, Trader Horne, Christine Harwood and many more. 

Compiled by Richard Norris (Beyond The Wizards Sleeve/The Grid) , the compilation is themed around UK and Irish music from that hallowed period, and comes with a 7000 word essay and sleeve notes from the musician/producer.

Celebrating the collision of traditional folk with new psychedelic studio techniques, new and exotic textures, and a developing groove. It's a wide and broad range of styles, drawing from folk, its oral storytelling tradition, and also from jazz, beat, rhythm and blues, and the more mind opening sounds of psychedelia.

Housed in a 3 CD digipack, designed in a striking wraparound collage by Lyndon Pike .

TRACK LISTING

DISC ONE
1. FAT MATTRESS Leafy Lane
2. KNOCKER JUNGLE Not Even A Letter
3. DUFFY POWER I Need You
4. MIKE HURST Face From The Past
5. RAY FENWICK I Wanna Stay Here
6. HARDIN AND YORK Natural Gas
7. OPEN ROAD Mother Earth
8. PAUL BRETT Motherless Child On A Merry-Go-Round
9. THE WOODS BAND Noisey Johnny
10. MEIC STEVENS Yorric
11. MARC ELLINGTON You Just Can’t Believe What You See
12. ALAN JAMES EASTWOOD Crystal Blue
13. ARRIVAL La Virra
14. DANDO SHAFT Cold Wind
15. LINDA HOYLE Hymn To Valerie Solanas
16. NIRVANA Nova Sketch
17. BRIAN DAVISON’S EVERY WHICH WAY Castle Sand
18. JADE WARRIOR Yellow Eyes
19. WRITING ON THE WALL Buffalo

DISC TWO
1. CHRIS HARWOOD Wooden Ships
2. BRIDGET ST. JOHN Fly High
3. DANDO SHAFT Rain
4. HERON Lord And Master
5. MELLOW CANDLE Silversong
6. TREES Murdoch
7. KEITH CHRISTMAS Foothills
8. TRADER HORNE Morning Way
9. MILLER ANDERSON Shadows ‘Cross My Wall
10. THE GHOST Time Is My Enemy
11. KEVIN COYNE Flowering Cherry
12. SECOND HAND Hangin’ On An Eyelid
13. FUCHSIA Shoes And Ships
14. MIKE HURST Place In The Country
15. AMBER Swan In The Evening
16. GLOBAL VILLAGE TRUCKING COMPANY The Inevitable Fate Of Ms Danya Sox
17. MIGHTY BABY Jug Of Love

DISC THREE
1. SUNFOREST Magician In The Mountain
2. CHRIS HARWOOD Crying To Be Heard
3. WIZZ JONES City Of The Angels
4. JADE WARRIOR Lady Of The Lake
5. KNOCKER JUNGLE Oh To Be Free
6. BRIDGET ST. JOHN Silver Coin
7. FRIENDS In The Morning
8. ALAN JAMES EASTWOOD Lotus Child
9. THE DEVIANTS Bun
10. JADE Amongst Anemones
11. PRINCIPAL EDWARDS MAGIC THEATRE The Death Of Don Quixote
12. YVONNE ELLIMAN Hawaii
13. THE OCCASIONAL WORD The Evil Venus Tree
14. IAN A. ANDERSON Goblets And Elms
15. BILL NELSON Rejoice
16. ZIOR Time Is The Reason
17. CURTIS KNIGHT WITH ZEUS New Horizon
18. LINDA LEWIS Reach For The Truth

Born and raised in Ecuador, Nicola Cruz has found his own unique way to tap into Latin America’s illustrious musical past to create something utterly contemporary.

Cruz’s ‘fabric presents’ shows awareness of the power of ancestral cosmology over art and music whilst driving fiercely towards the strange, experimental, and unexpected of underground electronica. From here he curates the first of the fabric mixes with strong roots in South America.

Opening on the powerfully stabbing ‘Everything Falls Into Place’ from MMM (Errorsmith & Fiedel), the mix sweeps through bass, breaks, techno, analogue-glitch, all the way to the folky Portuguese lyrics of ‘Mensagem Enviada’ from Rico Jorge.

Nick León, Verraco, Veruna, machìna and Marcela Días Sindaco - whose sultry vocals also weave through Cruz’s own ‘Contato’ - are a few of the artists who have provided exclusives that count towards the fourteen unheard tracks on an essential delivery to the fabric series.

TRACK LISTING

CD
MMM (Errorsmith & Fiedel) - Everything
Falls Into Place [MMM]
Saphileaum - Antique Bronze Vase
[NORITE]
Syz - Unearth [Peach Discs]
CNDSD - Available Slot [CNDSD]
Nicola Cruz - Contato Ft. Marcela Días
[fabric Records]
Konduku - Antippen [Nous’klaer Audio]
Spike - Are These The Future [Meltdown
Communications]
Radial - Vandal [Audio Assault]
Lovable Rogues - Twilight Manoeuvres
[Evasive Records]
B-Flow - Flashbulb [House D’arret]
Nick León - Multiplex [Nick León]
Jonny From Space - Mambo N.305
[OMNIDISC]
Marcela Días Sindaco - Ficção Inédita [Oto
Casa Discografica]
Nicola Cruz - Polimetría [Nicola Cruz]
The Electric Company - Electronique
(Zach’s Soniq Toniq) [Ind X Records]
Klahrk - NuNegative [SFX]
Rapid Antics - Constant Seizure [ПИР]
Baseck & Pilo - FEEL307 [Boysnoize
Records]
Varuna - Reer [Varuna]
Machìna - Glued [machìna]
Nicola Cruz - System Mass [Nicola Cruz]
Fauna Extinta - IER [Fauna Extinta]
Anderson - Sea Glass [Anderson]
Rico Jorge - Mensagem Enviada [Rico
Jorge]
Verraco - Interpasividad [Verraco]
Marco Shuttle - Polylayering What I’ve Got
[Marco Shuttle]
2LP
Nicola Cruz - Contato Ft. Marcela Días
Syz - Unearth
Nick León - Multiplex
Rico Jorge - Mensagem Enviada
Baseck & Pilo - FEEL307
Nicola Cruz - System Mass
Fauna Extinta - IER
Verraco - Interpasividad
Anderson - Sea Glass
Machìna - Glued
Marcela Días Sindaco - Ficção Inédita
Varuna - Reer

The second volume of El Búho's "Tributaries" remix compilation series brings together 14 more remixes from UK born producer and remix extraordinaire Robin Perkins aka El Búho. Building on 2018's first volume, the evolution of the producer's sound and influences becomes clear. The album is threaded together by reinterpretations of traditional music in a new electronic-organic context. Be it Galician, Estonian, Colombian, Irish, Garifuna, Reunionnaise or Frenchfolkmusic, El Búho makes his own unique tribute to the originals, bringing them into his owlish universe.



The album mixes club-ready bangers with beautiful and moving interpretations, easily making sense both in your living room or behind the decks. We are treated to a wide delta of influences, styles and sounds, moving between the slow, psychedelic electronic cumbia take on Chadian group Pulo NDJ's Dabadji Am Alcorama across the Atlantic to the upbeat, dancefloor fire remix of Garifuna Collective Ideruni, from an anthemic version of No Más Velorio by Colombia's Plu Con Pla to a refreshing, driving remix of up and coming Reunionnaise producer Eat My Butterfly.



Tributaries offers both a nod to the past, paying tribute to traditions andfolkmusic around the world, and a vision of the future, carving out new channels and directions, transporting the flows of the past into the future.

Redcar is only the beginning. This is all an opera.

It will take some time to unveil, the same way it is unveiling to Redcar, as he acknowledges his crazy freedom. Angels and stars, the sovereign verb, the heart at its center.

Redcar is not really there to affirm anything but the need to say who we are and what we pray for every day.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: I've always been a big fan of Christine And The Queens, and Redcar is surprisingly, an even more accomplished number than the nigh-perfect 'Chris'. Eminently melodic and rich with groove, Letissier is the quintessential pop-electronic producer.

TRACK LISTING

1. Ma Bien Aimée Bye Bye
2. Tu Sais Ce Qu'il Me Faut
3. La Chanson Du Chevalier
4. Rien Dire
5. La Clairefontaine
6. Les étoiles
7. Mémoire Des Ailes
8. Looking For Love
9. My Birdman
10. Combien De Temps
11. Je Te Vois Enfin
12. Angelus
13. Les âmes Amantes